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
Godfrey Huggins up their brother Africans a bit; and then we can perhaps consider it. Huggins' successor, Welensky, spent his time in office trying to prevent an inevitable break-up of the Federation. Having served 23 years as Prime Minister, Huggins became the longest serving Prime Minister in British Commonwealth history, beating the records of Mackenzie King of Canada and Sir Robert Walpole of Great Britain and Ireland. He is the only Prime Minister in British Commonwealth history to serve under four monarchs (George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II). He lived out the remainder of his life in Southern Rhodesia,