They were so devoted to one another that they used to exchange waves across a park at breakfast time. The man she called ‘Grandpa England’ was a huge influence on Queen Elizabeth II’s early years and, as she makes her final journey, it seems King George V still holds sway.
For the king was notorious for punctuality. He was so concerned with being on time that he set the clocks in his royal residences forward so that no one was ever late. His own Jubilee in 1935, attended by his granddaughter, included a procession with the most precise timings. And as that granddaughter, now the longest reigning Monarch in British history, leaves the Palace they both ruled for the final time, she will do it spot on 2.22pm.
The time has been chosen as the final procession to Westminster Hall takes 38 minutes and the coffin of Her Late Majesty is due to arrive there at 3pm. To ensure she makes that time precisely, the gun carriage carrying her coffin will leave at 2.22pm. There is no question of Elizabeth II being late.
The close relationship between George V and Elizabeth was celebrated, even in his lifetime. The king was as well known for being a little gruff as he was for being extremely punctual but in the presence of his eldest granddaughter, he was never anything other than delighted. When he fell gravely ill in 1928, the young princess spent lots of time with him and her presence seemed to aid his recuperation. As she grew up, she was a familiar sight at the side of George and his queen, Mary, on carriage rides. And it was under their watchful gaze that Elizabeth made her first appearances on the balcony of Buckingham Palace which she would make her own in the years that followed.
In fact, George was so fond of his granddaughter than he expressed a hope that nothing would stand between her and his throne.
In the end, he got his wish. And as she passes under that balcony where they stood together smiling in past times, his influence can be felt in the final journey of the young princess he helped raise and who became one of the greatest Monarchs Britain has ever known.
