Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 16, 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George VI was the King of the United Kingdom, and each of the British Dominions from 11 December 1936 until his death. He was the last Emperor of India (until 1947) and the last King of Ireland (until 1949). As the second son of his father, King George V he was not expected to inherit the throne, and spent his early life in the shadow of his elder brother, Edward. After the death of his father in 1936, his brother ascended the throne as Edward VIII. Less than a year later Edward VIII unexpectedly abdicated in order to marry the twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. The British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had informed Edward that he could not marry Mrs Simpson and remain King. In the first 24 hours of his accession the Irish parliament (the Oireachtas) enacted the External Relations Act, which essentially removed the power of the monarch in Ireland. Within three years of his accession the British Empire was at war with Nazi Germany, within four years at war with Italy and within five years at war with the Empire of Japan. With the independence of India and Pakistan, and the foundation of the Republic of Ireland, his later reign saw the acceleration of the break-up of the Empire, and foretold its eventual demise as it developed from Empire into Commonwealth. (more...)
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