The Death of King George V: A Royal Murder Mystery

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2022

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Just before midnight on January 20, 1936, King George V died at Sandringham, in Norfolk, England. The scandal of King George V’s reign would not be revealed publicly until 1986, in the diary of his physician, Lord Bertrand Dawson. Dawson had written about the night of January 20, detailing that he had injected the king with a lethal concoction of morphine and cocaine, intending to both grant the king a painless death and to guarantee that his passing would be announced in the morning papers rather than the evening journals.

Jane Ridley is a historian, author and broadcaster who teaches Modern History at the University of Buckingham. Jane joins Dan on this episode of the podcast to discuss who King George V was, the major events of his reign, and the injection that resulted in the king’s death - an act alternately referred to as “euthanasia,” medically assisted suicide or murder.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone, welcome to Dance in those history. I would like to report a murder. I would
0:05.0	like to report a murder taken place that police did nothing about it. It took place in Norfolk.
0:10.6	It'll place called Sandringham, the 20th of January 1936. The victim was Mr. George Windsor,
0:18.6	otherwise known as King Emperor George V. Yes, folks, the King of the United Kingdom was
0:24.7	killed by his personal physician on the night of the 20th of January. He was 70 years old.
0:31.0	This is a bunker story and it's true. But you can decipher yourself whether you think murder is
0:35.0	the correct noun or verb for what took place. I think it probably is, in fact, a very lawyer.
0:41.0	Please let me know. Get on the old social media rising and let me know. This is a story of the
0:46.4	Eucanasia of King George V. The Queen's grandfather. Fascinating stuff. I got Jane Ridley, professor
0:52.1	of modern history at the University of Buckingham. She's just a book about George V. Never a dull moment.
0:55.8	So talk about the man, his service during the war, how he helped to stabilize the monarchy
1:01.4	at a very dangerous time for monarchs. When the cousins of his were being strung up and shot all
1:06.1	around the continent and then how he met his end. Cocaine was involved. It's got all folks. Drugs,
1:14.8	power, generational conflict and the tabloid press. There you go. So if you want to learn more about
1:20.9	George V. We've actually got a great episode on George V. We talked to Alexandra Churchill about
1:25.7	George V in World War One. You can go back and listen to that where we get pods. Or you can go back
1:30.0	and listen to all of our George V. Adjacent content on History Hit TV. There's audio on there.
1:35.4	There's video on there. We've got hundreds of hours documentaries. We've got thousands of podcasts.
1:39.2	It's all on History Hit TV. It's like Netflix, but just for history. Click on the link in the
1:43.9	description of this podcast. It's right there in front of you. You're listening on the phone. It's
1:46.9	right there. Just give it a little click with your thumb now. Go and check it. I can't hurt anyone.
1:49.9	Come on. Go and check it out. It'll get two weeks free if you sign up today. It'll be great to
	...

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