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The King at the Cenotaph

On November 11th, 1920, the Cenotaph, commemorating all the valour and loss of the Great War, was unveiled by the King in Whitehall; and perhaps the Capital of the Empire has never known a day of such spontaneous and deep emotion. The Unknown Warrior, with Admirals, Marshals and Generals as pall-bearers, was borne to the Cenotaph, where the King stood motionless at the salute. As the gun carriage halted, His Majesty laid a wreath upon it. The hour of eleven sounded, and the King with a quick movement pressed the electric button that swept aside the veiling flags. He is seen at the end of the Silence, laying the first tribute.

The Three Princes at the Derby

On June 1st, 1921m a perfect Derby Day, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York and the Duke of Gloucester (then Prince Henry) watched Humorist fight out the last furlong with Lord Astor's Craig an Eran and win by a neck. Mr. J. B. Joel thus scored his second triumph in the great race and Steve Donoghue began his record sequence of Derby successes. Before the start the three Princes, with complete informality, mingled with the crowd in the paddock, and the King and Queen set a precedent by motoring down the course from Tattenham Corner. So great was the press of vehicles that the airship R 33 was employed to control traffic by wireless.

Establishing the Parliament of Northern Ireland

On June 22nd, 1921, the tenth anniversary of his Coronation, the King, after a triumphal progress with the Queen through Belfast, established the Parliament of Northern Ireland; and what he termed "the age-long Irish problems which for generations embarrassed our forefathers" were in large measure settled. The new Legislature met at the City Hall, and in that improvised Senate House was staged a dignified replica of the annual Parliamentary pageant at Westminster. The Sovereign is reading his memorable inaugural speech to the assembled Commons, the Speaker attending on his right.

The Opening of King George V Dock

Something of the old pageantry of the Thames was revived when the King, taking with him the Queen, the Duke of York and Princess Mary, opened on July 8th, 1921, the spacious Dock at Woolwich that bears his name. Embarking at Westminster in a steam launch and transferring below London Bridge to Lord Inchcape's yacht, the Rover, His Majesty passed down a river bright with flags, while from the Rower and the Arsenal sounded the salutes of guns. Entering the new basin, the Rover's prow parted a silken band; and one more improvement in the Port so "deeply interwoven," as the King said, "with the fabric of English history," was completed.

The Marriage of Princess Mary

A subject became allied with the English Royal House when, amid great popular enthusiasm, Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles, the descendant of an ancient Yorkshire family, were married at Westminster Abbey on February 28th, 1922. The Primate, Archbishop Davidson, before whom the bride and bridegroom are kneeling in the Sanctuary, bade them God-speed-a wish that vast crowds echoed as Princess Mary and her husband returned to the wedding breakfast at Buckingham Palace. To the delight of the multitude they appeared hand-in-hand on the balcony facing the Mall. The honeymoon was spent in Shropshire.