| George VI was the second son of King George V of England; he was born 14 December 1895. Since Albert Arthur Frederick George was the second son and not likely to become king, he went into the Navy, and actually saw combat in World War I, and was mentioned in dispatches to England as having distinguished himself at the Battle of Jutland.
George was never a terribly healthy man, though; he had a speech impediment and a duodenal ulcer. Nonetheless, he tried to help people, establishing in 1920 the Duke of York's camps for bringing different classes of schoolboys together in camps by the beach; these went on every year until 1939.
George married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in April 1923. The two had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, and did tours of the Commonwealth representing the royal family. George never expected to be king, and when his older brother Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936, George felt he was completely wrong for the job, but he assumed the throne anyway. He followed the example of his grandfather Edward VII in using a middle name instead of his first name, Albert, to reign under.
World War II started within a few years of George's accession, and the royal family was a very strong example for the people of England, refusing to flee London during German bombings (or even to send their children to a safer place); this helped morale of both military and civilians.
After the war ended, the king and queen toured the Commonwealth, but George's health was deteriorating. An operation revealed part of his left lung to be cancerous in 1951. He was in better condition for a while after its removal, but eventually died in his sleep on 6 February 1952. His older daughter became the current Elizabeth II. | 
