Editing George V (section)

===First World War===
[[File:A Good Riddance - George V of the United Kingdom cartoon in Punch, 1917.png|upright|thumb|alt=George V in the ceremonial robes of the Garter sweeps aside assorted crowns labelled "Made in Germany"|"A good riddance" – a cartoon of 1917 shows George sweeping away his German titles]]

On 4 August 1914, George wrote in his diary, "I held a council at 10:45 to declare war with Germany. It is a terrible catastrophe but it is not our fault.&nbsp;... Please to God it may soon be over."<ref>Nicolson, p. 247</ref> From 1914 to 1918, [[Allies of World War I|Britain and its allies]] were at [[World War I|war]] with the [[Central Powers]], led by the [[German Empire]]. German Kaiser [[Wilhelm II]], who for the British public came to symbolise all the horrors of the war, was the King's first cousin. George's paternal grandfather was [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]; consequently, the King and his children bore the German titles Prince and Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke and Duchess of Saxony. Queen Mary, although born in England like her mother, was the daughter of the Duke of Teck, a descendant of the German [[Dukes of Württemberg]]. George had brothers-in-law and cousins who were British subjects but who bore German titles such as Duke and Duchess of Teck, Prince and Princess of Battenberg, and Prince and Princess of Schleswig-Holstein. When [[H. G. Wells]] wrote about Britain's "alien and uninspiring court", George replied: "I may be uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I'm alien."<ref>Nicolson, p. 308</ref>

On 17 July 1917, George appeased British nationalist feelings by issuing a royal proclamation that changed the name of the British [[royal house]] from the German-sounding [[House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]] to the [[House of Windsor]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30186|date=17 July 1917|page=7119 |mode=cs2}}</ref> He and all his British relatives relinquished their German titles and styles and adopted British-sounding surnames. George compensated his male relatives by giving them British peerages. His cousin [[Prince Louis of Battenberg]], who earlier in the war had been forced to resign as [[First Sea Lord]] through anti-German feeling, became Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Queen Mary's brothers became [[Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge]], and [[Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone]].<ref>Rose, pp. 174–175</ref>
[[File:Tsar Nicholas II & King George V.JPG|thumb|left|upright|alt=Two bearded men of identical height wear military dress uniforms emblazoned with medals and stand side-by-side|George V (right) and his cousin [[Nicholas II of Russia]] in German uniforms in May 1913]]

In [[letters patent]] gazetted on 11 December 1917, the King restricted the style of "Royal Highness" and the titular dignity of "Prince (or Princess) of Great Britain and Ireland" to the children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of a Prince of Wales.<ref>Nicolson, p. 310</ref> The letters patent also stated that "the titles of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness, and the titular dignity of Prince and Princess shall cease except those titles already granted and remaining unrevoked". George's relatives who fought on the German side, such as [[Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover]], and [[Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]], had their British peerages suspended by a 1919 [[Order in Council]] under the provisions of the [[Titles Deprivation Act 1917]]. Under pressure from his mother, George also removed the [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle#Heraldry|Garter flags]] of his German relations from [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]].<ref>Clay, p. 326; Rose, p. 173</ref>

When Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, George's first cousin, was overthrown in the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, the British government offered [[political asylum]] to the Tsar and his family, but worsening conditions for the British people, and fears that revolution might come to the British Isles, led George to think that the presence of the [[Romanovs]] would be seen as inappropriate.<ref>Nicolson, p. 301; Rose, pp. 210–215; Sinclair, p. 148</ref> Despite the later claims of [[Lord Mountbatten of Burma]] that Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] was opposed to the rescue of the Russian imperial family, the letters of Lord Stamfordham suggest that it was George&nbsp;V who opposed the idea against the advice of the government.<ref>Rose, p. 210</ref> Advance planning for a rescue was undertaken by [[MI1]], a branch of the British secret service,<ref>{{citation|last=Crossland|first=John|title=British spies in plot to save Tsar|newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]]|date=15 October 2006}}</ref> but because of the strengthening position of the [[Bolshevik]] revolutionaries and wider difficulties with the conduct of the war, the plan was never put into operation.<ref>Sinclair, p. 149</ref> Nicholas and his immediate family remained in Russia, where they were [[Execution of the Romanov family|killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918]]. George wrote in his diary: "It was a foul murder. I was devoted to Nicky, who was the kindest of men and thorough gentleman: loved his country and people."<ref>Diary, 25 July 1918, quoted in Clay, p. 344 and Rose, p. 216</ref> The following year, Nicholas's mother, [[Marie Feodorovna]], and other members of the extended Russian imperial family were rescued from [[Crimea]] by a British warship.<ref>Clay, pp. 355–356</ref>

Two months after the end of the war, the King's youngest son, [[Prince John of the United Kingdom|John]], died aged&nbsp;13 after a lifetime of ill health. George was informed of his death by Queen Mary, who wrote, "[John] had been a great anxiety to us for many years&nbsp;... The first break in the family circle is hard to bear but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has helped us much."<ref>Pope-Hennessy, p. 511</ref>

In May 1922, George toured Belgium and northern France, visiting the First World War cemeteries and memorials being constructed by the [[Imperial War Graves Commission]]. The event was described in a poem, "[[The King's Pilgrimage]]" by [[Rudyard Kipling]].<ref>{{citation|editor=Pinney, Thomas|year=1990|url=https://archive.org/details/lettersofrudyard0006kipl/page/120|title=The Letters of Rudyard Kipling 1920–30|volume=5|publisher=University of Iowa Press|at=note&nbsp;1, p.&nbsp;120|isbn=978-0-87745-898-2}}</ref> The tour, and one short visit to Italy in 1923, were the only times George agreed to leave the United Kingdom on official business after the end of the war.<ref>Rose, p. 294</ref>