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 VI of Imereti George VI of Imereti Giorgi-Malakia Abashidze () (died October 15, 1722) was a Georgian nobleman and King of Imereti as George VI (or George V) from 1702 to 1707. He was a member of the prominent Abashidze family. The youngest son of Prince Paata Abashidze, he served as a priest until about 1684 when he entered politics after the death of his elder brother Paata Abashidze and began aggressively expanding his patrimonial fiefdom. He dispossessed the Chkheidze family of Shorapani, and the Agiashvili of Tsutskhvati, and took control of the royal domain in Upper Imereti. His daughter, Tamar, was married