British Royalty: Prince John (1905-1919)


Figure 1.--This photograph taken about 1907 shows Queen Mary and all of the children. Princess Mary and David (Edward VIII) are at the back. Prince George and Prince John are in the baby buggy. Prince Henry and Prince Albert (George VI) are at the front. Prince John looks to be about 2 years old and still wears baby clothes.

Prince John was the sixth and last child of King George V and Queen Mary. John was was born in 1905 and is the least known of George V's five sons because of his tragically short life. John was an epileptic. It is also alleged that he suffered from some form of mental retardation. He was a special favorite of his grandmother, Quenn Alexandra, perhaps because of his handicaps. He was finally separated from the family where he was cared for by his devoted nurse, Lala Bill. He died in his 13/14th year after an epileptic seizure.

Clothes

Queen Mary outfitted the boys, including John, in dresses until about 5 years of age. As a small child, he wore cotton frocks with tartan sashes tied at the waist with lace-edged pantaloons showing just beneath the hem of the frock. Quite a few images exist of the younger boys wearing dresses. The dresses were usually long, worn well below the knees. While still in the nursery, John and the other boys wore tussore silk smocks. They do not appear, however, to have been commonly photographed wearing them. After breeching at about 5 years of age, Queen Mary almost always dressed John, like his older brothers in sailor suits. They also wore kilts, especially on trips to Scotland, but sailor suits were the normal everyday wear for the boys and sometimes even for Princess Mary. There appear to be many more images of John in sailor suits than knickers. HBC is not sure if this was a reflection of how commonly he wore the two garments. As the boys got older, the King would increasingly have them outfitted in kilts. They almost always wore kilts while on trips to Scotland, but there were occasiond for kilts in England as well. While both older and younger boys wore kilts, there were subtle differences. As younger boys they wore Eton collars and military-style jackets.

Dresses

Queen Mary outfitted the boys, including John, in dresses until about 5 years of age. As a small child, he wore cotton frocks with tartan sashes tied at the waist with lace-edged pantaloons showing just beneath the hem of the frock. Quite a few images exist of the younger boys wearing dresses. The dresses were usually long, worn well below the knees. This shows that the practice of dressing little boys in dresses was quite common right up to World War I. Photographs exist of Henry and his younger brother George wearing cotton frocks with tartan sashes tied at the waist with lace-edged pantaloons showing just beneath the hem of the frock. I'm not sure at what age the princes were breeched. King George and Queen Mary may have had a specific age for all the boys. Or they have decided individually for each boy. The princes' long lasting nurse maid Lala, who Georgev V and Queen Victoria constantly criticised, took care of John, like the other children.


Figure 2.--This photograp taken about 1909 shows prince John and his older brother George. Prince John looks to be about 5 or 6 years old and still wears a lacey white dress with a fancy ruffled collar. He looks a bit older than his brothers were while still wearing dresses. Notice how George is protectively holding his younger brother.

I have no information confirming this, but available photographs suggest that John may have been kept in dresses longer than the other boys. Perhaps as the baby of the family, Queen Mary may have wanted to coddle him a bit. The King may have humored her a bit or may have changed some of his strict attitudes toward raising children with their last child. John's serious medical problems may have also affected this. Although the impression that he wore dresses longer than the other boys may be just an idea left by the availability of photographs. Note however that Prince George in figure 1 is already wearing a sailor suit (perhaps a sailor dress), but he looks younger than John does in several images showing John in lacey white dresses. Quite a few images exist of him in a white lacey dress while his older brother, Prince George wears a more boyish long pants sailor suit. George was reportedly very protective of his younger brother. Certainly by the 1910s it was becoming increasingly less common for boys to wear dresses, especially the frilly dresses in which Prince John was often dressed.

Smocks

While still in the nursery, John and the other boys wore tussore silk smocks. They do not appear, however, to have been commonly photographed wearing them. I have noted know images of Prince John and his broithers or even earlier generations of British royals wearing smocks. Perhaps the King and or Queen did not approve of them being photographed in such informal clothes.


Figure 3.--This photograh taken about 1910 in another image of Prince John and his older brother George who were quite close. Prince John looks to be about 5 or 6 years old. The Prince is still wearing a frilly white dress.

Sailor Suits

After breeching at about 5 years of age, Queen Mary almost always dressed John, like his older brothers in sailor suits. They also wore kilts, especially on trips to Scotland, but sailor suits were the normal everyday wear for the boys and sometimes even for Princess Mary. There appear to be many more images of John in sailor suits than knickers. HBC is not sure if this was a reflection of how commonly he wore the two garments. It may be an age factor in that the boys appear to have worn kilts more when they were a little older. The Victorians very commonly made small distinctions in the boys' clothes to reflect the age of the older boys. Princess Mary also wore sailor suits, but usually appeared in smocks and dresses. Many of her dresses had sailor motiffs. Such distinctions sometimes were barely noticeable, but no doubt important to the children. George V before and after the boys were breeched appears to have been particularly partial to sailor suits, first with kilt skirts and then as the boys got older, knee pants. I have not seen images of the boys in long pants sailor suits. As younger boys they mostly wore sailor suits. I'm not sure what Queen Mary thought of this or would have preferred to dress the boys in other clothes. However, in all such matters, she deferred to the King. Photographs of John's brothers as younger children show them wearing their sailor suits with short panrs. The white suits were worn with short pants and short socks while the blue winter suits were worn with kneepants and long stockings. At a quite young age, however, they began to wear their sailor suits with long pants. I'm not sure precisely when this happened, but they appear by about 8 years of age to be wearing long pants. John's brothers Henry and George on this page are pictured in a white middy blouse sailor suit with both white and dark long pants. Presumably the white long pants are for the summer and dark pants for the winter. John looks to be about 11 years of age in the photographs of him in a white sailor suit. I have not seen photographs of him wearing short pants with his sailor suits.


Figure 4.--This photograph taken about 1910 or 1911 shows all of George V's and Queen Mary's children. Princess Mary is the girl. Albert (the future George VI) is in his cadet uniform and rather tenderly holds John. Prince Henry and George wear sailor suits, the normal dress for the boys. Prince John who looks to be about 5 years old still wears a dress, a long white one.

Kilts

As the boys got older, the King would increasingly have them outfitted in kilts. They almost always wore kilts while on trips to Scotland, but there were occasiond for kilts in England as well. While both older and younger boys wore kilts, there were subtle differences. As younger boys they wore Eton collars and military-style jackets.

Hair Styles

Prince John and his brothers were given short hair cuts at a very early age. I assume King George was behind this decission. I'm not sure what Queen Mary thought about the idea. Clearly from the photographic record the boys wore short boyish haircuts while still wearing frilly dresses. Many mothers at the time believed in more elaborate hair styles for boys, sometines even well after breeching.

Medical Problems

Prince John at 4 years of age developed severe epilepsy which was then a medically untreatable condition. The condition worsened with age. There are rumors that he was also midly retarded, but I am not sure about that.

Home Life

I currently have little information on Prince John, especially his home life. I am unsure of the relationship between John and his mother and father. Queen Mary, touched by his spirited charm, spent more time with him than with any of her other children, including John’s elder brothers the future Edward VIII, to whom John bore a resemblance, and the future George VI. His father King George seems to have found it hard to acknowledge an imperfect son. John is, for example, the only child missing from his parents’ silver wedding photograph, taken in July 1918, only 6 days before Prince John's 13th birthday. Prince John only 6 months later he was dead, after an epileptic seizure.

Play

We have little information ob Prince George's play. As a younger boy when he was easy to control, he presumably played with the other royal children. We note a charming photpgraph with Prince Olav (later King of Norway) and his brother Prince George (later Duke of Kent). It is a posed photograph, but like most little boys that tge, we suspect that they played soldier. There are similar photographs of George V's children, suggesting that it was common. Unfortunately we have not yet found much information on the games the royal children played. We would be very interested in any information our readers have found on the royal children's play.


Figure 5.--Prince John was eventually dressed like his brothers in sailor suits. Note that he wears a long pants sailor suit despite the fact that it is a white summer suit. George V's sons only wore short pants sailor suits as younger boys. Note his wide-brimmed hat. I have mostly seen the other boys wearing caps instead of this style of sailor hat.

Relationships

I also have few details on John's relationship, with his siblings. The few photographs I have show that he was generally dresses like his brothers at similar ages. Probably di not know have a particularly close relationshipnwith his two oldest brothers. But he probably ha more interaction with Henry and George who were closer to him in age. Prince George seems to have been particularly close to him, but I do not have any information on this.

Attitude Toward Clothes

I'm not sure what John and his brothers thought about these difference or whether they discussed them with each other, their parents, or their governesses. John did not have had a brother that he was particularly close to, unlike the two oldest brothers (Edward and Albert) and next two brothers (Henry and George) that were particularly close and went to school together. John was educated by himdself at home alone.The fact that there clothing was closely ordered by age means that the issue must have been picked up on by the boys. The formality in their relationship probably meant it was difficult for the boys to raise the issue with their parents. The did, however, almost certainly have raised it with their nannies and governesses. Presumably the issue was then raised by the nannies and governesses when discussing the boys with their parents.

Tutors and Governesses

John lived at Wood Farm, on a quiet corner of the Sandringham estate, well away from the main house. We are not sure just when this was set up for him. Here he lived with only Mrs Bill and a male orderly for company. John was eduvcated by tutors and governesses. His two oldest brothers (Edward and Albert) were educated at home. Perhaps because the results were disappointing band the princes had been unprepared forthe Royal Naval Cadet School at Osbourne, the two younger boys were sent to a preparatory school. His parents, however, did not feel that John with his medical problems could attend a prep school. King George was very strict with John's brothers, especially as they got older, and their relationship was very formal. I'm not sure if his relationship with John was different. Queen Mary was also not emotionally giving to the boys, but I'm unsure about the relationship with John.


Figure 6.--Prince John is seen here in the same sailor suit that he wore in above. Notice the same braoad-brimmed sailor cap to the left. Also notice how hios middy blouse appears to be the exact same style as worn by his older brothers.

Separation

Prince John's parents in 1917 decided that he had to be separated from the family. I do not yet have details yet on just why this was deemed necessary. Presumably his epilepsy became more severe. A house was set up for him near Sandringham. He was cared for by his devoted nurse Lala Bill. His grandmother, the Queen Mother Alexandra, was not happy with this, but acquised. She was especially concerned that he would be lonely, separated from his brothers and sister. [Battiscombe, p. 280.]

Death

Prince John died at the age of 13 after a severe epileptic fit. He was burried in the Sandringham churchyard next to Queen Mother Alexandra's son John who died at birth. Queen Alexandra wrote in a poigent letter to Prince George's mother Queen Mary, "now our two darling Johnies lie side by side". [Battiscombe, p. 280.]

The Lost Prince

This made for TV BBC production done in 2002 chronicles the sad life of Prince John, the youngest son of King George V. It is directed by Stephen Poliakoff. The drama and Prince John's life is set against the backdrop of one of the momentous periods in European history, the period leading up to World war I and the War years. The production provides a view of both King George V and Queen Mary. John was diagnosed as an epileptic and waa proabaly also autistic. The drama presents events from the boy's his disarmingly honest point of view. The production stars Miranda Richardson, Tom Hollander, Gina McKee, Frank Finlay and Michael Gambon.

Sources

Battiscombe, Georgina. Queen Alexandra (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1969).






HBRC








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Created: 11:20 PM 9/18/2009
Last updated: 11:20 PM 9/18/2009