LONDON, Jan. 21, 1936 (UP) -- His face bearing the marks of grief for his dead father, Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, was formally proclaimed King Edward VIII today by the Privy Council.
The age-old ceremony was held just sixteen hours after King George V had died in a painless coma at Sandringham house, at 11:55 P. M.
The state funeral of King George V was set today for next Tuesday at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
The body will arrive in London on Thursday and lie in state in Westminster Abbey in the interval.
From Westminster Hall to Paddington Station, en route to Windsor, a full state procession will accompany the body.
The new King and his brother, the Duke of York, now heir presumptive to the throne, flew from Sandringham to London for the ceremony making him ruler of one-fourth of the world, King of Great Britain and Ireland and of the Dominions Beyond the Seas and Emperor of India.
First King of England ever to fly, King Edward landed at Hendon Airdrome, on the outskirts of London.
King Edward went directly to York House, in St. James's Palace, where he lived as Prince of Wales, through street throngs that doffed hats and stood in respectful silence, mingling a greeting to the new King with mourning for the dead one.
Then, an hour later, as thousands of the new King's subjects milled outside, the Councillors and assisting dignitaries approved the proclamation, saying, that "We, therefore, the Lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being assisted with these of his late Majesty's Privy Council, with numbers of other principal gentlemen of quality, with the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and citizens of London, do now, hereby, with one voice and consent, publish and proclaim that the high and mighty Prince Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David is now, by the death of our late sovereign of happy memory, our only lawful Liege Lord, Edward VIII."
King Edward then took the oath to respect the Church of Scotland and signed a proclamation preserving the continuity of office of his ministers and the public services.
The King did not appear before his people, who clamored outside. After spending a quiet hour at York House, his residence, he walked hatless across the Ambassadors' Court direct to the state apartment of St. James' Palace, perfectly groomed and wearing mourning dress. He held himself erect, but the lines on his face told of a sleepless night of sorrow.
The King wore mourning garb for the first part of the ceremony, which consisted of a meeting of the Lords in council. Then he changed quickly, dashing back across the courtyard and reappearing for the meeting of the Privy Council itself in full Admiral's dress, complete with cloak, cocked hat and sword. A military guard saluted as he appeared.
The arrival of the Lord Mayor's coaches for the ceremony, with the Privy Councillors in scarlet coats and cocked hats, the Judges in wig and gown, and other dignitaries, caused the crowd to break through the police lines at the rear of the palace court.
Mounted police rode into the throng, pushing them back. Several among the crowd of 5,000 were knocked down and the police had difficulty clearing the way for the Lord Mayor's coaches and the limousines of the others.
The Lord Mayor alighted from his gilded coach, dressed in gay medieval trappings. Four coachmen in buff great coats and gold cockaded top hats, manned the coach.
After approving the proclamation, the Privy Councillors and others took the oath of fealty to the King, kissing his hand as they knelt. The proclamation will be read to the public by royal heralds at St. James' Palace tomorrow. Then it will be read at Charing Cross, Temple Bar, the corner of Chancellery Lane and on the steps of the Royal Exchange in "the city."
The Privy Council meeting marked the first engagement of the Duke of Gloucester, third son of the late King, outside Buckingham Palace since he became ill recently. Wearing his familiar Hussar's uniform with the Ribbon of the Order of the Garter, he arrived late with the Duke of York. They had been held up by traffic congestion.
The Duke of York wore a naval uniform, with the Ribbon of the Garter. The brothers dashed up the stairway at top speed.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, dressed in purple and white vestments, stumbled as he stepped from his car, but a footman seized his arm and saved him from falling.
The crowd watching the pagent extended deep into St. James' Park, jammed the Marlborough gate along side the palace and overflowed into the square in front of it.
The public proclamation of the accession of the new King will be made by royal heralds at St. James' Palace at 10 A. M. (5 A. M. New York time) tomorrow.
The King's first official act on arriving here today was to order a nine months' period of mourning in the royal court.
Full court mourning is to endure until July 21, after which there will be half-mourning until October 21.
For the time being King Edward will continue to live in York House, although he probably will return to Sandringham tomorrow pending the funeral.
Edward will mount the throne for the first time at a joint session in Lords scheduled for early February, to make the solemn declaration in substance as follows: --
"I will maintain the true intent of your enactments to the best of my powers, according to law."
At the first formal new session of Parliament, or after his coronation, if that comes first-the coronation will be held a little more than a year from now-the King must formally declare his adherence to the Protestant Church.
This is no empty ritual. Edward VIII, the first man to ascend to the throne as a bachelor since George III, may never marry a Roman Catholic. England and Scotland have not forgotten the Stuarts. He is the head of the churches of England and Scotland and their defender.
When the heralds proclaim Edward King the flags that are at half-mast for George V will be hoisted to full staff for six hours in his honor. Then they will be lowered, to remain until after George V's burial.
The first official sign of the late King's death was at 12:20 A. M. when the white ensign on the flagstaff at Admiralty Arch, off Trafalgar Square and at the other end of the mall from Buckingham Palace, was lowered to half staff.
Twenty minutes later a functionary posted the notice of the death on the framed, glass-covered notice board on the high iron gate of Buckingham Palace. There were thousands awaiting the news, jammed in the concrete space before the palace, and in the roads to the surrounding parks.
Immediately afterward the old cannon in St. James Park, adjoining the palace, and at the tower of London in the city, were fired to announce the King's death and the accession of the new King.
Next the notice of the King's death was posted outside the Lord Mayor's Mansion house in the ancient city, which resembles a graveyard in quiet at night. A handful of people scurried across the street to read it. The men took off their hats.
The Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, in accordance with tradition, was formally notified and he ordered "Big Tom," the great Cathedral bell, to be tolled at 8 A. M. and 10 A. M. Men and women who were passing fell to their knees in prayer at the first note.
As the bell tolled, the fighting services flashed out order all over the world to officers and men, in barracks in England, in the desert of Egypt, in the ships of the fleet, steaming in a never ceasing patrol through the Mediterranean, to the army in India, to the little gunboats and sloops in the Yangtze in China, that King George was dead.
The War Office gave orders for a seventy-gun salute, the shots to be given at intervals of one minute, in mourning for the late King-one for each year of his life-to start at noon.
People who went to work today wore black ties. They did not wait for the young sixteenth Duke of Norfolk, head of the proudest noble line in England and hereditary Earl Marshal, to issue his formal proclamation today: --
"All people are expected to put themselves in decent mourning."
This for men is either a black necktie or a black armlet; for women, black, black and white, gray or mauve clothing.
The full mourning will continue six weeks for the public, six months for the royal court, with another three months of half mourning. Then the coronation, and subsequently the visit of the new King to India, to be crowned at Durbar as Emperor.
Because of the known wish of the late King that employees' interests be safeguarded, it was decided that motion picture theaters should be closed only today and on the day of the funeral.
The Stock Exchange was closed except for the settling room, where yesterday's transactions were cleared. Banks and foreign exchange offices were open. They will be closed on the day of the funeral.
Night clubs, restaurants and dance halls closed at the moment the late King's death was announced. Bands played the national anthem and the dancers went home.
Blinds were drawn at all royal residences, at post offices and other public buildings.
All British broadcasting stations were silent today, except to carry the tolling of "Big Ben," the clock bell in the tower of the Houses of Parliament, to give the time each quarter of an hour, and for shipping, weather forecasts, gale warnings and public announcements.
Prime Minister Baldwin will address the nation over the wireless at 9:30 P. M. (4:30 P. M. New York time).
These wireless broadcasts helped today, for the first time, to inaugurate a new royal regime. Broadcasting stations sent out the summons to members of Parliament to return for their special session: --
"We are authorized by the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Clerk of Parliament to announce that pursuant to the succession to the Crown act of 1707 the House of Lords and House of Commons will meet today at 6 P. M."
(Copyright 1936 by the United Press)
