Misplaced Pages

George VI received numerous decorations and honorary appointments, both during and before his time as monarch of the United Kingdom and the dominions. Of those listed below; where two dates are shown, the first indicates the date of receiving the award or title, and the second indicates the date of its loss or renunciation.

Titles, styles, and honours

Styles of King George VI
Reference style	His Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty

Titles and styles

George VI was from birth a Prince of the United Kingdom, and was subsequently created a royal duke. It was as a duke that he succeeded his brother, King Edward VIII, to the throne.

• 14 December 1895 – 28 May 1898: His Highness Prince Albert of York
• 28 May 1898 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York
• 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Cornwall and York
• 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Wales
• 6 May 1910 – 3 June 1920: His Royal Highness The Prince Albert
• 3 June 1920 – 11 December 1936: His Royal Highness The Duke of York
  • Subsidiary titles: Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney
• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King

Titles vested in the Crown

Certain titles are borne and held by the reigning sovereign.

Isle of Man

• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King, Lord of Mann

Church of England

• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England

Other titles traditionally attributed to the reigning sovereign are Duke of Lancaster, to reflect that the Duchy of Lancaster is a private estate of the sovereign, and Duke of Normandy in the sovereign's capacity as head of state of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.

Titles held personally

George VI has held certain titles in a personal capacity, either by virtue of birth, or otherwise.

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

• 14 December 1895 – 17 July 1917: Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony

Commonwealth of Nations

• Late April 1949 – 6 February 1952: Head of the Commonwealth

Title in the dominions and India

The Dominions were self-governing entities which had the as their respective head of state the same person as was the British sovereign. These Dominions typically used the style and title of the sovereign as proclaimed in the United Kingdom, which, from the reign of Edward VII came to include the phrase, “and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas”, signifying their reign over said Dominions. However, the sovereign reigned in these Dominions in a capacity independent from their position as monarch of the United Kingdom, similar in meaning and usage to, but not the same as modern-day Commonwealth realms, in that they lacked a separate title for each Dominion, until the reign of Elizabeth II. George VI's reign in the Dominions does not completely match his reign in the United Kingdom and his role as monarch in the Irish Free State is debated.

Per the terms of the Indian Independence Act, the imperial title was to be abolished. However, George VI issued a royal proclamation for that purpose and to that effect only on 22 June 1948, effectively reigning as king in the newly created Dominions of India and Pakistan whilst still bearing the imperial title for himself and his consort.

The title of Kaisar-i-Hind was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G. W. Leitner as the imperial title for the sovereign and was also employed in an official capacity, most notably to denote Crown property in India. This title continues to persist as a placeholder to the modern day in official records dating to the British era, despite the prohibition and deprecation of the use of the said title and all its variants for any and all purposes. Its usage is to be so understood as to denote the Government of India per the relevant provisions of the Government Grants Act, read alongside and in the context of the Transfer of Property Act and the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act.

Military ranks

Flag	Date	Rank	Branch	Ref
Australia
	2 June 1938	Admiral of the Fleet	Royal Australian Navy
		Field Marshal	Australian Army
		Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force	Royal Australian Air Force
United Kingdom
	15 May 1916	Sub-Lieutenant	Royal Navy
	29 December 1918	Temporary Captain and Staff Officer (3rd Class, Air)	Royal Air Force
	1 August 1919	Flight Lieutenant
	1 November 1919	Squadron Leader
	31 December 1920	Commander	Royal Navy
	1 June 1920	Wing Commander	Royal Air Force
	30 June 1921	Group Captain
	3 June 1932	Rear Admiral	Royal Navy
		Major General	British Army
		Air Vice-Marshal	Royal Air Force
	1 January 1936	Vice Admiral	Royal Navy
		Lieutenant General	British Army
		Air Marshal	Royal Air Force
	21 January 1936	Admiral	Royal Navy
		General	British Army
	11 December 1936	Admiral of the Fleet	Royal Navy
		Field Marshal	British Army
		Marshal of the Royal Air Force	Royal Air Force
	8 October 1948	Captain General Royal Marines	Royal Marines

Orders and decorations

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (September 2021)

British

Orders of Chivalry

• KG: Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, 14 December 1916
• KT: Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, 1 May 1923
• KP: Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, 17 March 1936
• GCMG: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
• GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1 January 1921

Campaign Medals

• 1914–15 Star, December 1918
• British War Medal, 26 July 1919
• Victory Medal with Mention in Despatches, 1 September 1919
• 1939-1945 Star, 8 July 1943
• Italy Star, May 1945
• France and Germany Star, May 1945
• Defence Medal, May 1945
• War Medal 1939-1945, 16 August 1945

Coronation/Jubilee medals

• Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal, 20 June 1897
• King Edward VII Coronation Medal, 9 August 1902
• King George V Coronation Medal, 22 June 1911
• King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, 6 May 1935

Foreign

Appointments

• Knight 4th Class with Swords of the Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir, 5 June 1917
• Knight of the Military Order of Savoy, 11 August 1917
• Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the White Eagle, 1918
• Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, 1919
• RE: Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 30 November 1920
• Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Carol I, 18 October 1922
• StkStOO m kjede: Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav, 26 April 1923
• Grand Cross of the Civil and Military Equestrian Order of Saint Marinus, 20 February 1937
• RSerafO: Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, 10 May 1937
• MCK: Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 2 July 1938
• BTO: Grand Cross of the Riband of the Three Military Orders, 2 May 1939
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Karađorđe, 19 July 1939
• MWO: Grand Cross of the Military William Order, 1 July 1946
• Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Charles, 13 November 1947
• SKmd: Grand Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog, 8 May 1951
• Member of the Order of Liberation, 2 April 1960 (posthumous)

Decorations

• War Cross
• Cross of Valour
• European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 with bronze palm

Undress ribbons

The undress ribbons worn by George VI in undress uniform were as follows:

Honorary appointments

Personal Aide-de-Camp

• King George V, 5 June 1919
• King Edward VIII, 26 June 1936

Civil

Privy Counsellor

• Member of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, 25 June 1925

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2021)

Freedom of the City

• London, 28 October 1919
• Londonderry, 1924
• Glasgow, 26 October 1926
• Stirling, 29 October 1928
• Ilford, 1929
• Perth, 10 August 1935

Honorary degrees

• Doctor of Laws, University of Sydney, 1927
• Doctor of Laws, University of Glasgow, 1932
• Doctor of Laws, Brown University, 1939

Honorific eponyms

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)

A number of geographical features, roads, and institutions are named after George VI. These include King George Hospital in London; King George VI Reservoir in Surrey, United Kingdom; King George Highway and King George Boulevard in Surrey, British Columbia; Kingsway in Edmonton; George VI Sound in Antarctica; and the King George VI Chase, a horse race in the United Kingdom.

The fourth future Dreadnought-class submarine will be named as HMS King George VI.

See also

• Style of the British Sovereign
• Title and style of the Canadian monarch
• List of titles and honours of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
• List of titles and honours of Elizabeth II
• List of titles and honours of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• List of titles and honours of George V
• List of titles and honours of Mary of Teck
• List of titles and honours of Charles III
• List of titles and honours of Queen Camilla
• List of titles and honours of William, Prince of Wales
• List of titles and honours of Catherine, Princess of Wales
• List of titles and honours of Anne, Princess Royal
• List of titles and honours of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
• List of honours of the British royal family by country

Notes

1. The legal basis for the sovereign’s use of the title has been disputed. George VI’s father, George V was given legal advice that it was “extremely unlikely” that he was, in fact, the Duke of Lancaster.
2. There is no basis in law for the title and the legal basis of the monarch’s sovereignty is as successor to the Dukes of Normandy. Jersey and Guernsey and the other Channel Islands were part of the Duchy of Normandy when the Duke of Normandy was also the king of England. Under the Treaty of Paris (1259) the king of England renounced his claims to the Duchy but retained possession of the islands.
3. George VI held his German titles by virtue of being a descendant of the Prince Consort. All German degrees, styles, dignities, titles, honors, and appellations were renounced on 17 July 1917 by George V for himself, his descendants, and all other descendants of Queen Victoria. An amendment to the House laws of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha barred any descendant of a member of the ducal house who was in 1917 a national of a country which waged war against the German Empire from succeeding to the ducal throne, effectively removing any remote succession rights that the British royalty still held by virtue of the partial renunciation by Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales.
4. Later dropped in its entirety in favour of “and of Her other Realms and Territories” during the reign of Elizabeth II.

References

1. "No. 28401". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 26 July 1910. p. 5485.
2. "Duchy of Lancaster". Lancaster Castle. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
3. Hibbert, Christopher; Weinreb, Ben; Keay, John; Keay, Julia (9 September 2011). The London Encyclopaedia (3rd ed.). Pan Macmillan. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-230-73878-2.
4. ^ "Crown Dependencies". The Royal Family. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
5. Matthews, Paul (June 1999). "Lé Rouai, Nouot' Duc". Jersey Legal Information Board. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011.
6. Alder, John (2013). Constitutional and Administrative Law. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-137-05000-7.
7. Patourel, John F. Le (1984). Feudal Empires. A&C Black. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-8264-3810-2.
8. "SCG – UNITED KINGDOM". Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
9. Archives, The National (17 July 2017). "The National Archives – Wettin to Windsor: changing the royal name". The National Archives blog. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
10. London Declaration (PDF), Commonwealth Secretariat, 1949, archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2012, retrieved 29 July 2013
11. "How we are run". The Commonwealth. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
12. Inter-Imperial Relations Committee Report, Proceedings and Memoranda (PDF). His Britannic Majesty’s Government. 1926. pp. 2–6.
13. Statute of Westminster, 1931 (PDF). England: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. pp. 1–3.
14. "Page 3023 | Supplement 39873, 26 May 1953 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
15. "Page 7137 | Issue 27372, 5 November 1901 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
16. McMahon, Deirdre (1984). Republicans and imperialists : Anglo-Irish relations in the 1930s. Internet Archive. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-03071-6.
17. "Page 153 | Issue 1408, 18 June 1948 | Belfast Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
18. B.S. Cohn, "Representing Authority in Victorian India", in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (1983), 165–209, esp. 201-2.
19. "Naresh Kumar vs The State Of Jharkhand on 8 December, 2020". Indian Kanoon. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
20. Rajguru, Bharat Prabhakar (11 July 2020). Law of Nazul, Lease and Bhu Mafia Sarkar. Blue Rose Publishers.
21. "The Government Grants Act, 1895" (PDF).
22. "The Transfer of Property Act, 1882".
23. "The Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2017". 5 January 2018.
24. "No. 84". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 2 June 1938. p. 1651.
25. "No. 29583". The London Gazette. 16 May 1916. p. 4852.
26. "No. 31131". The London Gazette. 17 January 1919. p. 906.
27. "No. 31486". The London Gazette. 1 August 1919. p. 9867.
28. "No. 31663". The London Gazette. 28 November 1919. p. 14703.
29. "No. 32178". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 10.
30. "No. 31929". The London Gazette. 4 June 1920. p. 6189.
31. "No. 32376". The London Gazette. 1 July 1921. p. 5245.
32. "No. 33831". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1932. p. 3582.
33. "No. 34238". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1935. p. 15.
34. "No. 34256". The London Gazette. 18 February 1936. p. 1057.
35. "No. 34351". The London Gazette. 18 December 1936. p. 8186.
36. "No. 34351". The London Gazette. 11 December 1936. p. 8187.
37. "No. 32819". The London Gazette. 1 May 1923. p. 3135.
38. "No. 34265". The London Gazette. 17 March 1936. p. 1738.
39. "No. 32178". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 8.
40. ^ https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30108577
41. "No. 30116". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 5 June 1917. p. 5591.
42. "No. 30227". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 11 August 1917. p. 8208.
43. Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 595.
44. M. & B. Wattel (2009), Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers, Paris: Archives & Culture, p. 463, ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9
45. Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1944) . Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1944 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1944] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. p. 17. Retrieved 16 September 2019 – via da:DIS Danmark.
46. "Ordinul Carol I" [Order of Carol I]. Familia Regală a României (in Romanian). Bucharest. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021.
47. "Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden", Norges Statskalender for Aaret 1930 (in Norwegian), Oslo: Forlagt av H. Aschehoug & Co. (w. Nygaard), 1930, pp. 995–996 – via runeberg.org
48. "The Equestrian Order of San Marino". Consulate of the Republic of San Marino to the UK. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
49. Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), vol. 2, 1940, p. 8, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
50. "ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง ถวายเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์แด่พระบาทสมเด็จพระมหากษัตริย์แห่งอังกฤษ" (PDF). Royal Thai Government Gazette (in Thai). 21 February 1937. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
51. "Banda da Grã-Cruz das Três Ordens: Jorge VI (Rei do Reino Unido, da Grã-Bretanha, Irlanda e dos Territórios Britânicos e Imperador das Índias)" (in Portuguese), Arquivo Histórico da Presidência da República. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
52. Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 364.
53. "Militaire Willems-Orde: Winsor, Albert Frederick Arthur George of" [Military William Order: Windsor, Albert Frederick Arthur George of]. Ministerie van Defensie (in Dutch). 1 July 1946.
54. Journal de Monaco
55. Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1952) . Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1952 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1952] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. p. 18 – via da:DIS Danmark.
56. "George Vi".
57. "No. 13453". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 June 1919. p. 1823.
58. "No. 15294". The London Gazette. 26 June 1936. p. 552.
59. "No. 33060". The London Gazette. 25 June 1925. p. 4259.
60. Denis, Judd (8 March 2012). George VI. I.B.Tauris. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-85773-041-1.
61. British Pathé (23 August 2021). "Prince Albert receives freedom to the city (1919)". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via YouTube.
62. "Freedom of city was last granted in 1963". The Irish Times.
63. "Freedom of the City Recipients". Glasgow City Council. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
64. "The Calgary Daily Herald – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
65. British Pathé (23 August 2021). "Duke And Duchess Of York (1928)". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via YouTube.
66. British Pathé (23 August 2021). "ROYAL: Duke of York receives Freedom of Borough of Ilford (1929)". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021 – via YouTube.
67. "The Glasgow Herald – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
68. "His Royal Highness the Duke of York" (PDF). University of Sydney. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
69. "The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, to receive honorary degree". University of Glasgow. 8 March 2001. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
70. "King George to get degree". Brown University. 25 March 1939. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
71. "Defence Secretary praises 50 years of nuclear service as new submarine is named". Retrieved 4 May 2019.

• Lists of titles by person of the United Kingdom
• Monarchy of Australia
• Monarchy of Canada
• Monarchy of New Zealand
• British monarchy-related lists
• George VI
• Commonwealth royal styles