9123

Study portrait

Prince Albert Windsor, Duke of York 1931

Half-length in profile to the left, head turned in three-quarter profile, wearing a buff coloured jacket with a blue shirt and tie

Oil on canvas, 89.5 x 69.9 cm (35 ¼ x 27 ½ in.)

Inscribed lower left: de László / 1931 / July   

Laib L17017 (151) / C8 (12)  

NPG Album 1931, p. 31

Sitters’ Book II, opp. f. 70: Albert July 30th -1931

Private Collection

In the summer of 1931, the Duchess of York and her brother, the Honourable David Bowes Lyon, commissioned de László to paint pendant portraits of their parents, the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorn [11641] & [11642], in celebration of their golden wedding anniversary. The Duchess of York accompanied her mother to de László’s studio for the first appointment and the artist, who had not seen her since she sat to him in 1925 [4460], was so charmed that he expressed the wish to paint her again. Firm arrangements were not immediately made, and de László discussed his plans further during subsequent sittings with the Countess. He wrote in his diary 4 July 1931: “We had an interesting talk – she desirous to paint the Duke of York in Scotch evening dress – I could do of him something and may induce The Duchess to come to me!!”^[1] A letter to Princess Karageorgevich [5857] suggests that he did not charge for the portraits of the Duke and Duchess: “I was asked unexpectedly to paint the portraits of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore which are to be presented to them by the Duchess of York and their tenants next Monday on the occasion of their Golden Wedding, for which occasion I have also done sketch portraits of the Duke and Duchess of York.”^[2]

These pendant portraits represented a momentous change in de László’s relationship with the British Royal Family. They had turned their backs on him during his internment in the First World War, no doubt eager to stay away from any hint of scandal as they dealt with their own difficulties. The Royal Family had close family connections with Germany and efforts were made to distance themselves, most notably by changing the family name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor and by renouncing all their German titles.. An invitation for de László to a Buckingham Palace garden party and his commission to paint the Duchess of York [4460] in 1925 were the start of his rehabilitation and these portraits confirmed it: “So matter [sic] are beginning to change here – it takes long to disperse that heavy cloud. The lyes [sic, i.e. ‘lies’] The persecution during the war when the Royal family were possessed against me – twice as much knowledge – work I have to do to gain back the clear air – which is my whall [sic, i.e. “whole”] life & heart – never – was clouded. The Duke of York was a good sitter & very sympathetic – I gave him the mirror in which he followed me painting This kept him very interested: & gave him a very nice expression.”^[3] 

The Duke of York only gave de László one sitting for the present study-portrait. He attended the studio 30 July with the Duchess and Princess Elizabeth [10531] and Harwood, the studio assistant, filmed the family in the garden at Fitzjohn’s Avenue.^[4] The Duchess arrived first for her sitting in the morning [9126]. De László recorded: “The Duke of York came 2 45 – at the beginning shy. It is five years since I painted the Duchess when he came & had tea in the studio – since he grow more to manhood – he has changed for the better & much liked his present – meanwhile the clever Duchess came - & was very happy about the sketch – she had to leave earlier – I took in the studio Tea with the Duke – he could not have been more natural & nice – We touched many conversations but as I wished to finish the sketch in the afternoon I concentrated more on it – I got through splendidly he was happy about [sic], also about her pic.”^[5] 

The two pendant portraits were widely reproduced in the press, particularly at the time of the coronation in May 1937, when the Duke and Duchess were crowned at Westminster Abbey as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

Prince Albert (Bertie) Frederick Arthur George was born 14 December 1895 at York Cottage, Sandringham, the second of five sons of King George V (1865-1936) and his wife Mary of Teck (1867-1953). He was born on the anniversary of the deaths of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert and daughter Princess Alice, which greatly upset the Queen and influenced the use of Albert as his first name.^[6] 

The sitter spent his childhood at York Cottage, where he and his siblings were educated by Henry Peter Hansell. A strong stammer contributed to his shyness, and through speech therapy he partly overcame this in adult life. He studied at the naval colleges of Osborne in 1908 and Dartmouth from 1909 until 1912. He was confirmed in 1912 and remained a devout Christian for the rest of his life. After training on HMS Cumberland, he was appointed midshipman on HMS Collingwood. Despite severe pain due to an ulcer, he was determined not to be invalided out. He saw active service at the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916, and in November 1917 he transferred to the Royal Air Force. He was made a Knight of the Garter on his twenty-first birthday. In October 1918 he was sent to France and was there for the Armistice on 11 November. From October 1919 he spent a year at Trinity College, Cambridge, while also carrying out an increasing number of public engagements. He was good at sport, particularly at tennis, and an excellent shot and skilled horseman. In the King’s birthday honours of 1920, George V appointed him Baron Killarney, Earl of Inverness and Duke of York.  

On 26 April 1923, after a long courtship, he married Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon (1900-2002) at Westminster Abbey, the daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his wife Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck. There were two daughters of the marriage: Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary (born 1926) and Princess Margaret Rose (born 1930). The Duke and Duchess carried out many public engagements and he was made a Privy Councillor in 1925 and in 1929 was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He had a passion for education, and developed the experimental Duke of York’s Camps, which brought together boys of working-class and privileged backgrounds in sports activities and discussions, in order to encourage social integration.

His brother Edward VIII abdicated 11 December 1936, after a prolonged constitutional crisis over his wish to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. These unexpected circumstances led to Prince Albert’s succeeding as King George VI of Great Britain and Emperor of India. His father George V had expressed reservations about his eldest son’s capacity to rule and had prepared his second son to undertake the role: “I pray God that my eldest son will never marry and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."^[7] 

The Coronation took place 12 May 1937 in Westminster Abbey and was attended by the new King’s mother Queen Mary, a sign of support for her son. His early reign was overshadowed by impending war in Europe. In 1938, the King and Queen broke with tradition by publicly supporting Neville Chamberlain’s attempts to broker peace. They invited him to make an appearance on the balcony at Buckingham Palace on his return from negotiating the Munich Agreement. The couple made a royal tour of Canada in 1939 to gain support in the event of war. They also visited the United States and were received by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

War was declared 3 September 1939 and the King broadcast the announcement to the Empire. Throughout the Second World War he and his family lived between Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, which exposed them to German bombing. Buckingham Palace suffered nine direct hits, the most serious destroying the chapel, which is now the site of the Queen’s Gallery. The King and Queen made visits to bombed cities throughout the country but are remembered particularly for those to London’s East End. The Queen famously declared: "I'm glad we have been bombed. Now I can look the East End in the face." The King and Winston Churchill met privately for lunch every Tuesday, which kept him at the heart of political matters and enabled him to monitor the effects of war on his people.

At the height of the Blitz in 1940 the King instituted the George Cross to honour military and civilian gallantry and it ranked next to the Victoria Cross in order of importance. In 1943 he travelled some 6,700 miles visiting his troops in places where the Axis forces had surrendered. Throughout the war, he personally bestowed more than 44,000 decorations and medals.

D-Day commenced in the early hours of 6 June 1944, and as Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy he broadcast to the Empire. Ten days later he visited the site of the successful operation, which heralded the start of the Allied victory on the Western front. A further broadcast was made after the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 and, with the Queen and Churchill, he made several appearances on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

The King was a heavy smoker throughout his life and this, combined with the stresses of the war, contributed to serious health complications. During his 1951 Christmas broadcast, the King informed his subjects that he had overcome his illness, but on 6 February 1952, he was found dead in his bed at Sandringham House in Norfolk. His body lay in state in Westminster Hall for three days, and 300,000 people paid their last respects. He was buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, where a memorial chapel was built and dedicated in 1969. His wife survived him for fifty years and she died at Windsor 30 March 2002, in her one-hundred-and-second year.

EXHIBITED:

•Victoria Art Galleries, Dundee, Exhibition of recent Portraits and Studies by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., September 1932, no. 1

•M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., London, Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O., Loan Exhibition held in aid of The Artists’ General Benevolent Institution, June - July 1933, no. 17

•Christopher Wood Gallery, London, Edwardian Elegance, English Portraits and Figure Subjects, 1890-1930, 2-29 November 1987

LITERATURE:

•M. Knoedler & Company, inc. Portraits by Philip A. de László, M.V.O: Loan Exhibition Held in Aid of the Artist’s General Benevolent Institution, London, Strangeways, 1933, p. 6, ill.

•DLA 1936 parcel, Képes Vasárnap, Budapest, front page, ill.

•L’Illustration, no. 4894, 19 December 1936, p. 491, ill.

•DLA 1936 parcel, Supplement to The Illustrated London News, 16 December 1936

•The Birmingham Gazette, 22 June, 1933

•The Illustrated London News [supplement], 19 December 1936, ill.

•Pesti Hírlap Képes Vasárnapja, Budapest, 30 May 1937, front cover ill.  

•Rutter, Owen, Portrait of a Painter, London, 1939, p. 374

•Wheeler-Bennett, John W., King George VI: His Life and Reign, Macmillan & Co, London, 1958, ill. facing p. 258

•Warwick, Christopher, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth, A portrait, London, 1985, ill. dust cover

•Cornforth, John, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at Clarence House, London, 1996, pp. 29, 121, ill. p. 27, pl. 30

•Field, Katherine ed., Gábor Bellák and Beáta Somfalvi, Philip de László (1869-1937); "I am an Artist of the World", Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, 2019, p. 78

•Field, Katherine, with essays by Sandra de Laszlo and Richard Ormond, Philip de László: Master of Elegance, Blackmore, 2024, p. 48

•DLA115-0095, letter from de László to Princess Karageorgevich, 8 August 1931

•László, Philip de, 1931 diary, 30 July entry, p. 215

•DLA162-0405, Pesti Hírlap, 24 June 1933, p. 7

•DLA162-0247, Pesti Hírlap, 15 December 1936, p. 5

•DLA162-0014, “Az angol királyné édesanyjának levele a Pesti Hírlaphoz” [Letter fom the Mother of the Queen of England to the Pesti Hírlap], Pesti Hírlap, 1 July 1937, p. 9

KF 2020