CovSoc member Peter James tells us the interesting story of the last king’s visits to Coventry. Peter writes…..
On 14th December 1895 Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor was born in York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate. After serving in the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force he studied at Trinity College Cambridge becoming the Duke of York on 3rd June 1920. Shortly afterwards in 1925 he purchased a Lanchester 40 hp Limousine, this was the beginning of royal patronage for Lanchester Cars. It was the first of three which were all bought for use by himself, his wife and eventually his daughters. Jn 1931 Lanchester merged with Daimler with all manufacture in Coventry. The Duke then purchased two 10 hp models for Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. This was followed by an order for a sports car, two Lanchester straight eight saloons, a limousine and a Landaulette.
By the time of his succession to the throne following his brother’s abdication Albert and Frank Lanchester the Lanchester Cars sales director had become friends. Albert had now become King George VI because Queen Victoria never wanted any future ruler to be called Albert.
Frank was held in such high regard he was selected to greet the king at Tile Hill Station in 1938 and guide him on a tour of the Shadow Factories being built in Coventry in preparation for hostilities. By 1940 the country was at War and on 8th August King Geeorge and his wife Queen Elizabeth paid a visit to Coventry. She had never been before but as Duke of York he had officially opened the Council House in 1920 and the Technical College in 1938. Due to war regulations their movements had been kept secret until the last minute. They were in Coventry principally to see companies involved in War-work. They spent about an hour at Alfred Herbert and then at Coventry Gauge & Tool.
Two months later the King visited Coventry again. It was the 16th November, the day after the blitz when over a thousand people had been killed and injured. In the centre of the city the medieval cathedral had been destroyed. He spent hours walking around the town centre and the cathedral ruins speaking to a number of people in an effort to raise morale.
The King was accompanied by the Queen for his next visit to the city while the war was still being fought . On the 25th February 1942 they visited St. Mary’s Hall and met Donald Gibson the city architect. Plans and a model were used to forward his revolutionary proposals which included a traffic free shopping precinct. The Cathedral ruins and Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital were also part of the itinerary.
The King’s final visit to Coventry was on 5th April 1951 where he initially visited the Police Training College at Ryton and inspected police officers. In the city he was shown the model of a proposed new Godiva clock to be sited in Broadgate. It would use the clock mechanism rescued from the market tower which had been deemed unsafe after bomb damage. On seeing Godiva and Peeping Tom the King reportedly asked “ Won’t the nude lady cause traffic problems” The royal couple also travelled by Lanchester limousine to Broadgate where a new island had been built featuring a Godiva statue. They were greeted enthusiastically by about 3000 school children and spoke to the mayor who described the redevelopment programme for the area.
A year later on 6th February 1952 George VI a man who was not born to be king passed away. On the same estate in Sandringham, Norfolk where he had been born 56 years earlier.
Winston Churchill expressed his view that “ For fifteen years George VI was King. Never at any moment in all the perplexities at home and abroad, in public or in private, did he fail in his duties. Well does he deserve the farewell salute of all his governments and peoples. It is at this time that our compassion and sympathy go out to his consort and widow.”