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 George Mason VI George Mason VI (August 11, 1786 - August 21, 1834) was a prominent Virginia planter. Mason was the eldest son of planter and businessman George Mason V and grandson of United States patriot, statesman, and delegate from Virginia to the United States Constitutional Convention, George Mason. Born on 11 August 1786 in Fairfax County, Virginia, Mason was the eldest son of George Mason V and his wife Elizabeth "Betsey" Mary Ann Barnes Hooe. Mason inherited Gunston Hall and by 1825, he had also acquired the Fairfax family seat of Mount Eagle. George married his cousin Elizabeth Thomson