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Mourning letter acknowledging message of condolences on death of King George V. This death caused a constitutional crisis and the eventual abdication of Edward VIII.
Typewritten letter dated 6th February 1936 to Pierre Degand, Reims France:
“…directed by His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs….desired by Her Majesty Queen Mary…Her sincere thanks for your kind…message of condolence on the occasion of the deeply lamented death of His Majesty King George V.”
Signed by Sir George Nevile Bland.
Embossed seal at top. Paper is black bordered indicating mourning letter.
Mourning envelope from ‘FOREIGN OFFICE’ with postmarks on front and back. Embossed seal on back. Stamped at UR with ‘FOREIGN OFFICE’, and signed 'A. Eden', which would be Anthony Eden, then the foreign secretary, later to become Prime Minister.
Some rust spots on letter and envelope.
Envelope: 9.5 x 22.5 cm
Letter: 24 x 19 cm
George V (3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Queen Victoria, George was third in the line of succession behind his father, the Prince of Wales, and his own elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. On the death of his grandmother in 1901, George's father became King-Emperor of the British Empire as Edward VII, and George was created Prince of Wales. He became king-emperor on his father's death in 1910.
…In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, which he renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a result of anti-German public sentiment…He had smoking-related health problems throughout much of his later reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII
Sir George Nevile Maltby Bland KCMG KCVO (1886 –1972) was a British diplomat who served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands from 1938 through the war years until 1948.
After a long spell serving as Private Secretary to various senior diplomats and then as Counsellor, Nevile Bland was knighted KCVO in the 1937 Coronation Honours. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Netherlands in 1938, and narrowly escaped internment by the Nazis by escaping in 1940. He remained with the Netherlands government in exile in England during the war, and then again in The Hague until March 1948.
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (1897 – 1977) was a British Conservative politician who served three periods as Foreign Secretary and then a relatively brief term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957.
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