The King's serious illness in 1925 elicited sympathy, not only from his own subjects throughout the Empire, but from practically every country in the world. It gave practical proof of the loving respect which King George had earned by years of self sacrificing devotion to public duty. No bulletins have ever been mute eagerly scanned than those issued by his physicians during these days of trial when the King was fighting for his life. When at last he had recovered sufficiently to be removed to Bognor the joyful relief of the public was heartfelt. On April 23, five months after he was taken ill, the King announced his recovery and a public service of thanksgiving was held in July. Even on his sickbed the King was not entirely free from the worry of State affairs. The Royal authority was vested in a Commission of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minister as "Counsellors of State." This was done at a Special Council held in the Audience Chamber next to the King's bedroom. The door between the two rooms was left open and the Home Secretary, standing in the doorway, read out the Order Paper so that the King, lying in bed only a short distance away could be fully aware of its purport. The King then signed the document with his own hand. When the General Election of 1929 resulted in the return of the second Labour Government the good relations established between the Sovereign and his Ministers in 1924 were resumed.

The King showed his great interest in the problem of the Government of India by personally associating himself with the opening of the first Round Table Conference on Indian Constitutional Reform in November 1930. In the following year, 1931, the country was plunged into the political and financial crisis which led to the departure of Great Britain from the Gold Standard and the fall of the Labour Government. The latter had for some time been in some embarrassment, and when the report of the May Committee was issued forecasting big deficits in the Budget, there appeared to be some danger of a flight from the pound. The Labour Government as a whole were unable to agree on measures to restore confidence. The King, ever ready to respond to the call of the country when in need, returned post haste from Balmoral by special train to London on Sunday, August 23. There he saw all the party leaders, Mr. Baldwin and Sir Herbert Samuel having been sent for "on the Prime Minister’s advice." The King once more adhered strictly to Constitutional practice, and there was no attempt by him to interfere with policy. But by suggesting an association of Ministers by whom be could be advised His Majesty enabled the National Government to be formed. An ugly and dangerous situation was thus happily solved mowing to the flexibility of our Constitution. The King later gave practical evidence of his desire to share in the sacrifices which the nation was to be called upon to suffer as a result of the financial crisis by consenting to a reduction of £50,000 in the Civil List.

As time went on, and there was a marked improvement in the King's health, he was seen more and more in public and he performed a number of important official duties, including the making of a speech to the delegates of the World Economic Conference, which unfortunately failed to grasp the opportunity which His Majesty declared had now come "to harness the new consciousness of the interdependence of nations to the service of mankind." In 1934 the King was able to visit Aldershot, be present at Trooping the Colour, and pay a State visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh accompanied by the Queen. Their Majesties also paid a memorable visit to Lancashire. The marriage of the Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece was the occasion for a great outburst of popular loyalty and rejoicing which gave a foretaste of the great Silver Jubilee celebrations of 1935. Those who lived through that wonderful Jubilee week will never forget it as long as they live. The mighty and spontaneous outburst of national and imperial thanksgiving was worthy of the occasion.

As Professor Pollard pointed out in a letter to The Times this was the first "Silver" Jubilee recorded in the annals of the British Empire. Queen Victoria had a "Golden" Jubilee in 1887 and a "Diamond" Jubilee in 1897. The death of the Prince Consort in 1861 made a Silver Jubilee celebration in that year inappropriate. George III also, for historic reasons, though he lived to celebrate a "Golden" Jubilee in 1809, did not celebrate a "Silver" Jubilee.

The world was thrilled at the tremendous tribute of loyalty and affection which the British Empire lain at the feet of its beloved Sovereign on May 6, 1935. It was decided that it should be distinctly an Empire family celebration, but the world outside the Empire showed its eagerness to participate. Many important foreign countries went out of their way to show their deep respect for His Majesty King George, and more particularly their recognition of his noble efforts in the cause of international peace and understanding. On the day following Accession Day there was hardly a country of any importance where the newspapers were not full of articles devoted to King George's Jubilee and its significance, not merely for the British Commonwealth of Nations, but for the entire world. The writers emphasised the extent to winch the Monarchy in Great Britain had been strengthened by the personal character of King George and how, through his august influence, the barriers of class and creed were being broken down. In New York, Paris, and other foreign capitals on Jubilee Day the Union Jack was prominently displayed; in Berlin there was a broadcast account in German of the Jubilee thanksgiving service at St. Paul's, and a Japanese Prince and Princess attended a service in the British Church at Tokyo. Even in far-away Iceland the people were reported to have celebrated the great event with almost as much enthusiasm as if they had been part of the British Empire.

His Majesty and Queen Mary were the recipients of many cordial messages of congratulation from the heads of States and from the Pope. President Roosevelt referred to the "wise and steadfast influence" exercised by King George for a quarter of a century, and Herr Hitler begged His Majesty to accept his congratulations and the assurance that the German people followed with warm sympathy all the efforts of His Majesty and the British Government for the consolidation of peace.

"The cause of peace is very dear to me." King George said in his reply to the Fuhrer. The French Prime Minister also associated his country with the "brilliant homage" which the Empire was paying to His Majesty. These and many other foreign tributes – especially that which was paid by the Diplomatic Corps in London through the mouth of the Brazilian ambassador – indicated the intense desire of foreign nations to share in the Jubilee celebrations.

The King was deeply moved by the tokens of goodwill and affection showered on him from all quarters. Later on Jubilee Day he broadcast a message of gratitude to his subjects in which he said: "I dedicate myself anew to your service fro the years that may still be given to me."

The Jubilee celebrations continued until the end of July. One of the most striking incidents of the festival was the historic gathering on May 9, in Westminster Hall when His Majesty in person, accompanied by the Queen, the Priuce of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood and Princess Alice and the Earl of Athlone received addresses from both Houses of Parliament.

No building is more fitted to symbolize the long and unbroken pageant of British Constitutional history than Westminster Hall. It was originally built by William Rufus, and rebuilt in the reign of Richard II, and it has been the stage of some of the greatest and most dramatic scenes in our history. On May 9, 1935 it witnessed a scene which will never be forgotten by those who saw it.

The great hall was filled to overflowing with one of the most distinguished gatherings which the Empire could muster. The presence of the Indian Princes and the Prime Ministers of the Dominions not only testify to the immense area of the world’s surface covered by the King’s Dominions today, but also symbolised the great Constitutional change which the Empire has undergone during the Georgian epoch. The Imperial Conference has laid down a definition of Dominion status in terms which assure to every self-governing nation of the Commonwealth an authentic and unqualified sovereignty equal to that of the Mother Country. The Statute of Westminster embodies the principle of this formula and translates it into legal and constitutional form. The Crown is now the silken bond willingly accepted by every member of the Commonwealth as the symbol of the Empire’s unity. It is the crowning achievement of King George’s life that he succeeded in making that bond stronger than it was when he ascended the Throne.

One of the most noteworthy political developments of King George's reign was the growth, (if the policy of Imperial Preference leading up to the Ottawa agreements which in their turn are probably only the beginning of a much more perfect system of trade co-operation between the various parts of the Empire which will be devised as the years pass. At the very time when the King's Jubilee was being celebrated the British Parliament was passing through its final stages perhaps the most ambitious experiment ever made in our Imperial history - the new constitution for India. The status of women has undergone a great revolution during the past quarter of a century. Politically women have attained first a measure of equality, then universal adult suffrage with the right to seats in the House of Commons and consequently in the Government. Peeresses in their own right are still debarred from sitting in the House of Lords, although several attempts have been made in recent years to secure for them that privilege. But a peeress by marriage, who is an American by birth, was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. The advances made in the means of travel during King George's reign have been enormous and distances which took weeks to cover in 1911 are now covered in a few days. King George was himself a great traveller. Very early in his life, as long ago as 1880, through the foresight of his father he was given the advantage at an impressionable age of a voyage round the globe, occupying nearly eleven months. His knowledge of other countries was still further widened by hi~ service in the Navy, and when he became Heir Apparent one of his first duties was to undertake with his wife an Empire tour. Their voyage was a long one - all round Australia, then to South Africa and thence to Canada which was traversed from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back. In 1905-6 the King and Queen, as Prince and Princess of Wales, paid their first visit to India. King George paid a second visit to the great Dependency in 1911 after his accession to the Throne. It is certain that the intimate knowledge of the Empire which King George acquired in his long and strenuous journeys overseas proved of inestimable value to him. Hi wisely decided that his sons should have the same advantage which he had in this respect, and the remarkable record as a Royal traveller set up by the father has only been broken by his eldest son, our present King.

In all branches of science there have been great advances since King George came to the Throne, not least perhaps in medical and surgical science on which the happiness and well-being of mankind so largely depends. King George always showed the keenest interest in medical and surgical charities and especially in such beneficent agencies as the British Empire Cancer Campaign, Hospitals, the Red Cross, and particularly the Ambulance work of the Venerable Order of St John, to all of which he gave valuable support. The great invention of wireless broadcasting, which was perhaps one of the outstanding innovations of the Georgian epoch, was freely used by King George as a means of communication between him and his subjects. His famous Christmas broadcasts, which began in 1932, will long be remembered in even the remotest parts of the British Empire. The King sitting in his study at Sandringham spoke in homely but obviously sincere language to a mighty unseen audience who came to look upon the King's message as an indispensable part of the Christmas festival which must on no account be missed.

Another scientific wonder, the perfection of which belongs to the Georgian epoch, is aeronautics. The progress of flying since the War is one of the most astonishing and momentous happenings in the history of the world. Its grim potentialities in the warfare of the future we can but dimly apprehend, but we know how on its civil side the modern aeroplane and airship have already proved a wonderful boon to travellers and a means of securing the rapid transmission of goods and mails which has revolutionised all previous ideas of transport. British industry has also made huge strides in the last quarter of a century; the economic aftermath of the War has laid a heavy, hand on some of our principal industries, and the steady departure of trade from huge areas which were formerly prosperous and the home of large populations was one of the pressing social problems which were constantly in King George's mind.