The Queen was just nine years old when her grandfather died in January, 1936. George V’s death was all the more poignant for the fact that just seven months earlier he had celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his coronation, an event marked by our Set of the Month, Ardath’s 50 Silver Jubilee. The series sets the scene by beginning with cards on Queen Victoria, Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, before devoting twelve cards to picturing George V from his days at the age of twenty as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Navy over a period of fifty years to May, 1935 with the narrative backs taking us from his birth at Marlboro’ House through to broadcasting his message to the Empire on Christmas Day 1934. Queen Mary receives similar treatment from her birth at Kensington Palace in 1867 to the launch of the liner Queen Mary in 1934. Heir to the throne, Edward, Prince of Wales comes next, but as we know he was to abdicate less than a year after his father’s death, making way for his brother Albert to succeed to the throne as King George VI, presented in this series as the Duke of York, together with his wife Elizabeth and their children Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. An historic set to take away.

This set of 50 Silver Jubilee issued by Ardath in 1935 in very good condition is catalogued at £35.00.