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HISTORIC ROYAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS

GEORGE VI (r. 1936-1952)
Broadcast, outbreak of war with Germany, 3 September 1939
In this grave hour, perhaps the most fateful in our history, I send to every
household of my peoples, both at home and overseas, this message, spoken
with the same depth of feeling for each one of you as if I were able to cross
your threshold and speak to you myself.
For the second time in the lives of most of us we are at war. Over and over
again we have tried to find a peaceful way out of the differences between
ourselves and those who are now our enemies. But it has been in vain. We
have been forced into a conflict. For we are called, with our allies, to meet the
challenge of a principle which, if it were to prevail, would be fatal to any
civilised order in the world.
It is the principle which permits a state, in the selfish pursuit of power, to
disregard its treaties and its solemn pledges; which sanctions the use of force,
or threat of force, against the sovereignty and independence of other states.
Such a principle, stripped of all disguise, is surely the mere primitive doctrine
that might is right; and if this principle were established throughout the world,
the freedom of our own country and of the whole British Commonwealth of
Nations would be in danger. But far more than this - the peoples of the world
would be kept in the bondage of fear, and all hopes of settled peace and of
the security of justice and liberty among nations would be ended.
This is the ultimate issue which confronts us. For the sake of all that we
ourselves hold dear, and of the world's order and peace, it is unthinkable that
we should refuse to meet the challenge.
It is to this high purpose that I now call my people at home and my peoples
across the seas, who will make our cause their own. I ask them to stand calm,
firm, and united in this time of trial. The task will be hard. There may be dark
days ahead, and war can no longer be confined to the battlefield. But we can
only do the right as we see the right, and reverently commit our cause to God.
If one and all we keep resolutely faithful to it, ready for whatever service or
sacrifice it may demand, then, with God's help, we shall prevail.
May He bless and keep us all.

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Christmas Day broadcast, 1939
The festival which we know as Christmas is above all the festival of peace
and of the home. Among all free peoples the love of peace is profound, for
this alone gives security to the home.
But true peace is in the hearts of men, and it is the tragedy of this time that
there are powerful countries whose whole direction and policy are based on
aggression and the suppression of all that we hold dear for mankind.
It is this that has stirred our peoples and given them a unity unknown in any
previous war. We feel in our hearts that we are fighting against wickedness,
and this conviction will give us strength from day to day to persevere until
victory is assured.
At home we are, as it were, taking the strain for what may lie ahead of us,
resolved and confident. We look with pride and thankfulness on the neverfailing courage and devotion of the Royal Navy, upon which, throughout the
last four months, has burst the storm of ruthless and unceasing war.
And when I speak of our Navy today, I mean all the men of our Empire who
go down to the sea in ships, the Mercantile Marine, the mine-sweepers, the
trawlers and drifters, from the senior officers to the last boy who has joined
up.
To every one in this great Fleet I send a message of gratitude and greeting,
from myself as from all my peoples. The same message I send to the gallant
Air Force which, in co-operation with the Navy, is our sure shield of defence.
They are daily adding laurels to those that their fathers won.
I would send a special word of greeting to the Armies of the Empire, to those
who have come from afar, and in particular to the British Expeditionary Force.
Their task is hard. They are waiting, and waiting is a trial of nerve and
discipline. But I know that when the moment comes for action they will prove
themselves worthy of the highest traditions of their great Service.
And to all who are preparing themselves to serve their country, on sea or land
or in the air, I send my greeting at this time. The men and women of our farflung Empire working in their several vocations, with the one same purpose,
all are members of the great Family of Nations which is prepared to sacrifice
everything that freedom of spirit may be saved to the world.
Such is the spirit of the Empire; of the great Dominions, of India, of every
Colony, large or small. From all alike have come offers of help, for which the
Mother Country can never be sufficiently grateful. Such unity in aim and in
effort has never been seen in the world before.
I believe from my heart that the cause which binds together my peoples and
our gallant and faithful Allies is the cause of Christian civilisation. On no other
basis can a true civilisation be built.

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HISTORIC ROYAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS

Let us remember this through the dark times ahead of us and when we are
making the peace for which all men pray.
A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how
thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle we shall remain
undaunted.
In the meantime I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in
the lines which, in my closing words, I would like to say to you: 'I said to the
man who stood at the Gate of the Year, "Give me a light that I may tread
safely into the unknown." And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put
your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and
safer than a known way."'
May that Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.
Broadcast, VE (Victory in Europe) Day, 8 May 1945
Today we give thanks to Almighty God for a great deliverance. Speaking from
our Empire's oldest capital city, war-battered but never for one moment
daunted or dismayed - speaking from London, I ask you to join with me in that
act of thanksgiving.
Germany, the enemy who drove all Europe into war, has been finally
overcome. In the Far East we have yet to deal with the Japanese, a
determined and cruel foe. To this we shall turn with the utmost resolve and
with all our resources. But at this hour, when the dreadful shadow of war has
passed from our hearths and homes in these islands, we may at last make
one pause for thanksgiving and then turn our thoughts to the tasks all over the
world which peace in Europe brings with it.
Let us remember those who will not come back, their constancy and courage
in battle, their sacrifice and endurance in the face of a merciless enemy: let us
remember the men in all the Services and the women in all the Services who
have laid down their lives. We have come to the end of our tribulation, and
they are not with us at the moment of our rejoicing.
Then let us salute in proud gratitude the great host of the living who have
brought us to victory. I cannot praise them to the measure of each one's
service, for in a total war the efforts of all rise to the same noble height and all
are devoted to the common purpose. Armed or unarmed, men and women,
you have fought, striven, and endured to your utmost. No one knows that
better than I do; and as your King I thank with a full heart those who bore
arms so valiantly on land and sea, or in the air; and all civilians who,
shouldering their many burdens, have carried them unflinchingly without
complaint.
With those memories in our minds, let us think what it was that has upheld us
through nearly six years of suffering and peril. The knowledge that everything
was at stake: our freedom, our independence, our very existence as a people;

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but the knowledge also that in defending ourselves we were defending the
liberties of the whole world; that our cause was the cause not of this nation
only, not of this Empire and Commonwealth only, but of every land where
freedom is cherished and law and liberty go hand in hand. In the darkest
hours we knew that the enslaved and isolated peoples of Europe looked to us;
their hopes were our hopes; their confidence confirmed our faith. We knew
that, if we failed, the last remaining barrier against a world-wide tyranny would
have fallen in ruins. But we did not fail. We kept our faith with ourselves and
with one another; we kept faith and unity with our great allies. That faith and
unity have carried us to victory through dangers which at times seemed
overwhelming.
So let us resolve to bring to the tasks which lie ahead the same high
confidence in our mission. Much hard work awaits us, both in the restoration
of our own country after the ravages of war and in helping to restore peace
and sanity to a shattered world.
This comes upon us at a time when we have all given of our best. For five
long years and more, heart and brain, nerve and muscle have been directed
upon the overthrow of Nazi tyranny. Now we turn, fortified by success, to deal
with our last remaining foe. The Queen and I know the ordeals which you
have endured throughout the Commonwealth and Empire. We are proud to
have shared some of these ordeals with you, and we know also that together
we shall all face the future with stern resolve and prove that our reserves of
will-power and vitality are inexhaustible.
There is great comfort in the thought that the years of darkness and danger in
which the children of our country have grown up are over and, please God, for
ever. We shall have failed, and the blood of our dearest will have flowed in
vain, if the victory which they died to win does not lead to a lasting peace,
founded on justice and established in good will. To that, then, let us turn our
thoughts on this day of just triumph and proud sorrow; and then take up our
work again, resolved as a people to do nothing unworthy of those who died for
us and to make the world such a world as they would have desired, for their
children and for ours.
This is the task to which now honour binds us. In the hour of danger we
humbly committed our cause into the Hand of God, and He has been our
Strength and Shield. Let us thank him for His mercies, and in this hour of
Victory commit ourselves and our new task to the guidance of that same
strong Hand.

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HISTORIC ROYAL SPEECHES AND WRITINGS

Broadcast, VJ (Victory over Japan) Day, 15 August 1945
Three months have passed since I asked you to join with me in an act of
thanksgiving for the defeat of Germany.
We then rejoiced that peace had returned to Europe, but we knew that a
strong and relentless enemy still remained to be conquered in Asia. None
could then tell how long or how heavy would prove the struggle that still
awaited us.
Japan has surrendered, so let us join in thanking Almighty God that war has
ended throughout the world, and that in every country men may now turn their
industry, skill, and science to repairing its frightful devastation and to building
prosperity and happiness.
Our sense of deliverance is overpowering, and with it all, we have a right to
feel that we have done our duty.
I ask you again at this solemn hour to remember all who have laid down their
lives, and all who have endured the loss of those they love. Remember, too,
the sufferings of those who fell into the hands of the enemy, whether as
prisoners of war or because their homes had been overrun. They have been
in our thoughts all through these dark years, and let us pray that one result of
the defeat of Japan may be many happy reunions of those who have been
long separated from each other.
The campaigns in the Far East will be famous in history for many reasons.
There is one feature of them which is a special source of pride to me, and
also to you, the citizens of our British Commonwealth and Empire to whom I
speak. In those campaigns there have fought, side by side with our allies,
representatives of almost every unit in our great community - men from the
Old Country, men from the Dominions, from India, and the Colonies. They
fought in brotherhood; through their courage and endurance they conquered.
To all of them and to the women who shared with them the hardships and
dangers of war I send my proud and grateful thanks.
The war is over. You know, I think, that those four words have for The Queen
and myself the same significance, simple yet immense, that they have for you.
Our hearts are full to overflowing, as are your own. Yet there is not one of us
who has experienced this terrible war who does not realize that we shall feel
its inevitable consequences long after we have all forgotten our rejoicings of
today.
But that relief from past dangers must not blind us to the demands of the
future. The British people here at home have added lustre to the true fame of
our Islands, and we stand today with our whole Empire in the forefront of the
victorious United Nations. Great, therefore, is our responsibility to make sure
by the actions of every man and every woman here and throughout the
Empire and Commonwealth that the peace gained amid measureless trials
and suffering shall not be cast away.

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In many anxious times in our long history the unconquerable spirit of our
peoples has served us well, bringing us to safety out of great peril. Yet I doubt
if anything in all that has gone before has matched the enduring courage and
the quiet determination which you have shown during these last six years. It is
of this unconquerable spirit that I would speak to you tonight. For great as are
the deeds that you have done, there must be no falling off from this high
endeavour. We have spent freely of all that we had: now we shall have to
work hard to restore what has been lost, and to establish peace on the
unshakeable foundations, not alone of material strength, but also of moral
authority. Then, indeed, the curse of war may be lifted from the world, and
States and peoples, great and small, may dwell together through long periods
of tranquillity in brighter and better days than we ourselves have known.
The world has come to look for certain things, for certain qualities from the
peoples of the Commonwealth and Empire. We have our part to play in
restoring the shattered fabric of civilisation. It is a proud and difficult part, and
if you carry on in the years to come as you have done so splendidly in the
war, you and your children can look forward to the future, not with fear, but
with high hopes of a surer happiness for all. It is to this great task that I call
you now, and I know that I shall not call in vain.
In the meantime, from the bottom of my heart I thank my Peoples for all they
have done, not only for themselves but for mankind.

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