Curated playlist
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
- George VIGeorge VI, known to his family as Bertie, wrote an anguished line in his diary about the day before his brother gave up the crown. He had gone to London to tell his mother, Queen Mary, what had happened. His entry read: "When I told her…
- Edward VIIEdward VII was barely a month old on the 8th of December 1841 when he was created Prince of Wales. He would carry that title until the 22nd of January 1901, a span of 59 years and 45 days. No heir in British history had waited so long, and…
- Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and GothaPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha never wore a crown, yet the clerk of the Privy Council, Charles Greville, once wrote of him: "He is King to all intents and purposes." Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria, and Greville's line…
- John Russell, 1st Earl RussellLord John Russell was barely five feet five, and cartoonists mocked him for it. He still reshaped British democracy.
- Édouard DaladierCheering Parisians greeted Édouard Daladier in 1938, and he privately called them fools.
- Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount ChelmsfordA lifelong Conservative, Lord Chelmsford ran the navy under Labour's first government. He never joined the party.
- David AttenboroughAt 11, David Attenborough sold newts to a university for three pence each.
- John BuchanJohn Buchan, the Scottish novelist, ended his life as Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada. In Montreal in 1937 he stood with a typed speech that reporters already held. By hand, he added the words "and to Canada's King" to a line…
- John Maffey, 1st Baron RugbyOne word, "in" versus "to", decided the title of Britain's man in Dublin in 1939.
- Nevile HendersonNevile Henderson wore a red carnation every day of his diplomatic career. Hitler privately despised him.
- Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of WillingdonLord Willingdon quit a Bombay yacht club after it refused his Indian friends.