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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 4637856, member: 101855&quot;]As we all know, modern British kings and queens don&#039;t have much say in the political policies and issues that face the country. They are now no more than symbols with the official name, “Head of State.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Why do I admire George VI? I admire him because of his symbolic leadership during the Second World War.</p><p><br /></p><p>During the war, England took the brunt of it. The Germans bombed London night after night, and the damage was devastating and wide-spread. Staying in the city was dangerous and highly unpleasant. George VI could have run for cover, but he didn’t. George and the Queen Elizabeth (The mother of the current queen) stayed at Buckingham Palace and risked his life along with everyone else. At one point a bomb landed within 30 yards of where the king and queen were sitting.</p><p><br /></p><p>George used his tools to manufacture weapon parts, shared in the rationing of scare goods, at one point marking the royal bathtubs are rationing levels. He also recycled the cloth from his uniforms when possible. He toured the bombed out sections of the city and met with those who had lost everything. Most important, he came on the radio and gave people hope in his halting pattern of speech.</p><p><br /></p><p>René Massigli, who was the French ambassador to the Court of St. James penned this quote:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>If the “greatness” of a king can be measured by the extent of which his qualities responded to the needs of a nation at a given moment in history, then George VI was a great king, and perhaps a very great king.”</i></p><p><br /></p><p>George was a heavy smoker and the addiction finally caught up with him. He died of lung cancer on February 6, 1952.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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