The Death of King George V, 1936
Was his death hastened so that it would be announced in The Times before the tabloids?
On 20th January 1936 King George V died of influenza at the age of 70, having been on the throne since 1910. A mystery has always surrounded his death, with the suggestion being that it was hastened by his personal doctor who gave him an overdose of morphine. The reason for so doing, it is alleged, is that if the king died early enough (it was about 11pm) there would be time for The Times to announce it the following day; however, if the death was later than this the deadline would be missed by The Times but not necessarily by the tabloid newspapers.
There is no absolute proof that King George died at a time of someone else’s choosing but it is entirely possible given the class system that was rife at the time. For The Times to be beaten to the punch by the working-class Daily Mirror would have been seen as a terrible social faux pas.
King George was not the most inspiring of monarchs. He had no great personal or social qualities and no intellectual gifts, although by the end of his life he was highly respected by the mass of the British people for his honesty and decency, especially when compared with his wayward son the Prince of Wales, who would succeed him as King Edward VIII.