George VI the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, J. H. Thomas. King George V had severe reservations about Prince Edward, saying "After I am dead, the boy will ruin himself in twelve months" and "I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne." On 20 January 1936, George V died and Edward ascended the throne as King Edward VIII. In the Vigil of the Princes, Prince Albert and his three brothers took a shift standing guard over their father's body as it lay in state, in a closed
George Mason VI the Mason family to inhabit Gunston Hall. She was later the subject of a lawsuit brought against her by George Mason of Hollin Hall which resulted in the Gunston Hall tract being sold at public auction to her son, from her second husband Colonel George Graham (d. 1830), George Mason Graham on 9 February 1842. Eleanor was given the right to live there for her lifetime. She and Graham sold the property in 1866. George Mason VI was a grandson of George Mason (1725–1792); son of George Mason V (1753–1796); brother of Richard Barnes Mason (1797–1850); grandnephew of Thomson Mason