Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (56 page)

Meanwhile, Sir Douglas Haig had taken command of British forces in Belgium and France. It brought no great improvement as the four-month Battle of the Somme gained seven miles at a cost of over 600,000 Allied casualties and almost 500,000 German casualties. With all the evidence being that defence was easier than attack, the Germans took defensive positions. Then, horrifying the world, they started to use poison gas.

At home, Asquith was overthrown as leader of the coalition government, having been blamed for mismanaging the war, the criticism brought to a head in the Shell Scandal – an allegation that defeats had been caused by the failure to supply the army with sufficient quantities of high explosives. Asquith was replaced by the dynamic David Lloyd George, born in Manchester but brought up in Wales. He would lead Britain through the war and beyond.

With the anti-foreigner sentiment in England increasing, King George was made very aware of his German antecedents. It did not help that the German aircraft sent to bomb London was called the ‘Gotha’. George decided to change the name of his House from ‘Saxe-Coburg and Gotha’ to the very English ‘Windsor’. When the Kaiser (not a man known for wit) was told, he is said to have responded by saying that he would celebrate by going to the theatre to see the well-known Shakespeare play,
The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
. At the same time, all German titles held by George’s family were abandoned; Battenberg became Mountbatten, and Teck became Cambridge. In addition, the peerages of those who fought with the Germans (such as the Prince of Hanover who had also been Duke of Cumberland, and Queen Victoria’s grandson the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who had also been Duke of Albany) were revoked.

Then, on 31st January 1917, in response to the British Navy’s blockade, the Germans announced unrestricted submarine warfare; all shipping, including neutrals, would be sunk on sight in the eastern Atlantic. America immediately broke off diplomatic relations with Germany. Anger in America rose with the torpedoing of seven US merchant ships and the revelation (by British code-breakers) that the Germans had promised to help Mexico recover New Mexico and other territories lost to the United States.

Good news came for the Allies in June 1917: America joined the war. When British and American troops were fighting in Belgium, they became aware of the custom of the locals of accompanying their meals with small river fish, which they deep fried. In winter, when the rivers were frozen, the fish were not available, so instead the locals cut potatoes into narrow strips to resemble the fish and then deep fried the potato strips. They called them ‘
frieten
’ or ‘
frites
’, Flemish and French for ‘fries’. French being the official language of the Belgian Army, the British and Americans who tried the
frites
, called them ‘French fries’.

Although the Russians had defeated the Austro-Hungarian Army, they could not cope with the Germans. The incompetence of the Russian leadership and the heavy casualties (after two years the Russians had already suffered two million dead, wounded or taken prisoner) led to military and civil unrest. Tsar Nicholas had been forced to abdicate in March, and a liberal government had taken over. In an effort to cause trouble, the Germans sent the exiled revolutionary Lenin from Switzerland to Russia in a sealed train. It was a success; by November the Bolsheviks had seized power. They were the faction of the Marxist Party led by Lenin, called Bolsheviks (meaning ‘the majority’) as they won a particular vote on membership against the other leading faction who then became known as the Mensheviks (the ‘minority’). The Bolsheviks later became the Communist Party.

Immediately agreeing an armistice with the Germans, the Bolsheviks signed a treaty in March 1918 under which huge areas of territory were ceded to Germany. That allowed the Germans to withdraw troops from the east and send them to the western front. With those additional troops, the Germans launched a major offensive in the west, seeking victory before the bulk of the American troops arrived. After initially being driven back, the Allies halted the German advance 56 miles from Paris. Like the British before them, the Germans were worn down by their own offensive. They now saw the prospect of victory disappearing.

There was bad news for George when he heard that his cousin the Tsar and his immediate family had been shot. Perhaps not realising the danger the Tsar was in, George had overruled the Government’s plan to offer the Tsar sanctuary, unwilling in times of unrest and republican sentiment to be associated with his despotic cousin. Also, the Tsarina was German and even more autocratic than her husband. However, after the war was over, a ship was sent to Sebastopol to rescue the late Tsar’s mother (George’s aunt, Dagmar) and some other aristocrats and their servants.

Finally, in the summer of 1918 the Allies started to make progress as the ‘One Hundred Day Offensive’ forced the German Army back towards Germany all along the line. The Germans lost troops by the thousand to death and captivity, as fresh American troops arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day. In the Middle East, British forces drove the Turks back to Turkey. On 30th October, Turkey capitulated; on 3rd November it was Austria-Hungary; the German fleet having mutinied, on 9th November the Kaiser abdicated and the Germans declared themselves a republic; on 10th November the Kaiser escaped to exile in the Netherlands; and on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the Armistice came into effect.

King George had been injured in the war, although it was not in battle. When visiting the troops in October 1915, in a repetition of his 4 x great-grandfather King George II’s experience at Dettingen, King George V’s horse took fright at the cheers of the Royal Flying Corps. This time, rather than galloping towards the enemy, the horse reared twice on the muddy ground, threw George, and then fell on top of him. George’s pelvis was broken in two places. As a result, he would suffer from pain for the rest of his life.

With the war over, negotiation of the Treaty of Versailles commenced. France was eager for revenge, the USA was more interested in establishing a new ideal world, and Britain was looking for colonial scraps. As Lloyd George said, “It was like sitting between Napoleon and Jesus Christ”.

At President Wilson’s insistence, the Treaty included the creation of the League of Nations, an organisation that would prevent war. However, the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty, so the US never signed it (instead signing a separate treaty two years later) and did not join the League of Nations, rendering that organisation ineffectual.

France recovered Alsace-Lorraine, Poland was recreated, German colonies were shared out, and Germany lost part of Schleswig and other European territory. In addition, the size of Germany’s army and navy was limited, and they were banned from having submarines, tanks and aircraft. Other provisions included the payment of reparations totalling £6.6 billion (at today’s value: £284 billion – the final instalment was paid in October 2010). Lloyd George correctly feared that France’s demands for money and territory would lead to another war. Finally, Germany and its allies had to accept guilt for starting the war. Germany had not been a party to the negotiations, they were just told where to sign. The Germans were furious, they said that Austria and Russia were responsible for starting the war, and the Jews and the Communists were responsible for Germany losing it. The Germans now decided that they were the victims. French Major-General Foch declared: “This is not peace, it is a 20-year armistice.”

Britain’s gain was some former German colonies in Africa, but little else. The loss of 750,000 dead and 1,500,000 injured or crippled by gas brought almost full employment and an increase in wage levels. Other problems were dealt with as all men over 21 and 78% of women over 30 were given the vote. A general election in 1918 returned the coalition government led by Liberal Prime Minister Lloyd George, although two-thirds of the coalition’s members were Conservatives.

Now Ireland had to be dealt with. Financed and armed from America, the Irish Republican Army began a guerrilla war for independence to include the Protestant north-east. British troops responded with violence and reprisals. In the end, Ireland became independent as a dominion within the Empire, with the parliament of Northern Ireland opting for its territory to remain part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Parliament ratified the Anglo-Irish Treaty, but many Irishmen objected to the loss of the six Ulster counties. Irish President de Valera (actually born in New York to an Irish mother and a Cuban or Mexican father (Juan de Valeros)) refused to accept the vote and resigned (as he was not a UK citizen, he had escaped execution for treason after the Easter Rising). Civil war began, and anti-treaty forces murdered the leader of the Irish government, Michael Collins. Nevertheless, the pro-treaty side prevailed.

There was a story that de Valera had organised a plot to assassinate George. If true, it was the first attempt to kill George; but nothing came of it.

In Britain the Government was more concerned with domestic matters as union agitation and strikes broke out across the country. Conservative minister Stanley Baldwin started a revolt in 1922 against Conservative membership of a coalition led by a Liberal. Lloyd George resigned, and the Conservatives took power under Andrew Bonar Law, the only foreign-born Prime Minister – he was born in the colony of New Brunswick, soon to be part of Canada.

For George there was celebration as his second son, Albert, married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923. In politics, Bonar Law fell ill with throat cancer, and was replaced as Prime Minister by Baldwin. The Conservatives won the 1923 election; although with three large parties, they no longer had an overall majority. Baldwin refused to consider a coalition, and he resigned. Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald became Prime Minister, but he needed the support of the Liberals to govern.

A Labour government did not prevent further strikes, and unemployment grew to one million. Then MacDonald lost the support of the Liberals, and in the 1924 election Baldwin and the Conservatives took power. The Liberals were destroyed; it was once again a two-party system.

Political stability may have returned, but the economy was rocked by the General Strike
⁴⁶
. It all started when German and Polish coal became cheaper than British coal on the European market. The coal companies’ response was to increase working hours and lower wages. That was rejected by the unions, and the pit owners reacted with a lock-out. The transport workers, railwaymen, builders, and gas and electricity workers came out in sympathy. After nine days, the strike was called off. The miners remained out for six months, going back to increased working hours and lower wages.

46 The word ‘strike’was first used for a withdrawal of labour in 1768, when support for anti-government demonstrations in London saw sailors strike (lower) the topgallant sails of merchant ships, thereby preventing them from leaving port.

Following the 1929 election (women could now vote at 21, like men), Ramsay MacDonald again became Labour Prime Minister with Liberal support. It was the time of the Great Depression, and unemployment grew to three million. There was a run on sterling and panic in the City. The Government had to borrow, but banks would not lend unless the Government took steps to mend the economy. That had to include a reduction in unemployment pay. Labour ministers were unable to take such a decision. First they did nothing, then rather than act they resigned. So MacDonald was forced to form a coalition with the Conservatives.

Most Labour members left the coalition, Labour supporters treating MacDonald as a class traitor. However, with a reduction in unemployment pay, devaluation of the pound and £80 million borrowed, the economy slowly recovered.

At the 1931 election, the National Government of Conservatives, Liberals and Labour supporters won a massive majority, MacDonald leading a coalition that was composed mainly of Conservatives.

In the same year, after a gap of centuries, a challenge was made to the monarch’s right to the throne. Anthony Hall, a former police inspector from Shropshire, claimed that he was the true king. He said that he was the descendant of Thomas Hall, the son of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, born before they were married. An illegitimate child had no right to inherit the crown, but perhaps Hall contended that Thomas Hall was legitimised by his parents’ subsequent marriage.

He is unlikely to have known that as a peculiarity, it is well established that an illegitimate passed over in deciding succession to the crown does not have his or her right created on being legitimised. As far as the crown is concerned: ‘once a bastard, always a bastard’. Otherwise, people could turn up years later to upset the current monarch – just as Hall was trying to do.

In the Midlands, Hall held public meetings that were attended by crowds of several hundred. They approved of his rants against the German occupants of Buckingham Palace and his promise that once he became king he would abolish the government, end taxation, build houses for working men, pay off the national debt, electrify the railways, provide free medical and dental treatment and would popularise portrait painting, wrestling and boxing.

Then Hall went too far; he said that he would have no hesitation in shooting the King as he would shoot a dog, adding that he wanted to become the first policeman to cut off the King’s head. George wanted it stopped, but he did not want Hall to be sent to prison. Hall was arrested, and two doctors were appointed to examine him. To the Palace’s disappointment, the doctors refused to certify Hall as insane, one of them saying that Hall had “… a case of a sort.”

Instead, Hall was fined £10 for using quarrelsome and scandalous language liable to cause a breach of the peace. He was also bound over to keep the peace in future, failing which he would be fined £25 or sent to prison for two months with hard labour.

He made one more speech, ending by saying that he was going away for a while, and would be back later. “Goodnight my friends, you may be my subjects one of these days.” With that he ended his campaign.