The Queen of England was happy when Buckingham Palace was bombed in 1940. “Now I can look the women of East London directly in their faces.” The King and Queen often visited bombing victims as did Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He often came back moved to tears at the quiet heroism of ordinary people who expressed their faith in ultimate victory to him and never breathed a word of defeatism. Churchill’s personal motto was KBO (Keep Buggering On). The West used to be made of very stern stuff indeed.
Charles II gained great respect in the eyes of Londoners for his circulation among and comforting of the victims of the Great Fire (1666) and for his charitable dealing with the poor. Even Pepys, who was alway frustrated in his dealings with Charles and his brother James over the Navy, praised him for that. I often wonder whether that earned the King the grace of a deathbed conversion.
My dad was in the London Blitz a few times. He said first you heard the air raid sirens, then the whine of the incoming rocket, then the silence, then the explosion. British actor Anthony Andrews starred in a TV series Danger UXB about a bomb disposal unit in London. My parents watched it with my dad commenting to my mother about his experiences. They also watched Victory At Sea and other programs about WWII.
Edward VIII after abdicating, lived with his wife in France and had a treasonous correspondance with Hitler. Edward wanted Hitler to invade England and restore him to the throne. He encouraged Hitler to keep the Britz up as the English populace had no backbone and would capitulate. Was he ever wrong. George VI and his Queen and the rest of the royal family were great examples for their subjects..
Interesting that Charles III has a close friendship with an Orthodox archbishop and has visited a monastery in Greece many times. Apparently the bishop is helping the king spiritually through his fight with cancer. Charles’ late paternal grandmother became an Orthodox nun though her influence, if there was any, has not been mentined.