Killing of King George V was secret until 1986 | Letters
Euthanasia of King George V | Underclass carriages | Guardian merchandise | Cakes of yore | Making zabaglione
In answer to Dr Simon Gibbs (Letters, 18 March), Lord Dawson was not charged with regicide in respect of the death of King George V because no one knew about it. It was only in 1986, when Dawson’s diaries were published, that the involuntary euthanasia came to light. In 1936, the royal family and the general public believed that the king had died of natural causes in his sleep.
Professor emeritus John Bryant
Exeter
• Ian Jack’s article (18 March) brought to mind the “amiable pronouncement made by Charles Saunders, secretary of the Great Western, before a parliamentary committee in July 1839 that perhaps the company would arrange later on to convey the very lowest orders of passengers, once a day at very low speed in carriages of an inferior description, at a very low price, perhaps at night” (taken from John Julius Norwich’s More Christmas Crackers 1992).
Philip Browning
Newport, Shropshire
Source: Guardian Transport
<a href="Killing of King George V was secret until 1986 | Letters” target=”_blank”>Killing of King George V was secret until 1986 | Letters