Letter about ‘shy’ King George VI as a boy is up for auction

A letter penned by King George VI’s father discussing his “shy” son is going under the hammer.

The note was penned by Prince George before he became George V, in 1908, a day after the then 12-year-old Prince Albert attended an interview committee for entry as a cadet to the Royal Navy.

Prince George says he is sorry that his son is “rather shy” but that many boys “in our days” are “too forward”.

George VI became king in 1936, following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.

“It was very kind of you writing to tell me about my second son having been up before the interview committee yesterday of which you were the President,” his father wrote to Admiral Sir Wilmot Hawksworth Fawkes.

Letters to Sir Wilmot Fawkes (Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers)

“The Princess and I are both delighted to hear that you were pleased with the way in which he answered the questions put to him.”

He adds: “I am sorry that in spite of all you did, you were unable to put him at his ease, he has always been rather shy, but I think it is better than being too forward, which many boys are in our days.”

Michael Kousah, specialist consultant at Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, said: “This letter is remarkable because the long personal acquaintance of its sender and recipient casts a relatively intimate picture of the thoughts and feelings of the then heir to the throne about his second son, showing how aware both he and his wife, Princess Mary of Teck, were of his shyness and sensitivity, aspects of his character that would make it so much more difficult for him to take on the unexpected mantle of kingship after his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated.”