(Very Rare!) King George V & Queen Mary of England - Empire Day Messages (1923)

Very rare recording from British Royal Family.

King George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert of Windsor, 1865.6.3.~ 1936. 1.20 ), and his consort, Queen Mary (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes, 1867.5.26. ~ 1953.3.24) read their Empire Day Messages to the Boys and Girls of the "British Empire".

This record was specially recorded for request by His Master's Voice in 1923. Recorded at Buckingham Palace.

As far as I know, this is the first 'commercial' recording made by a British Monarch (Although Queen Victoria and King Edward VII made some cylinder recordings, it was never released for public issues.) This is also the only surviving voice recording of Queen Mary.

The speech itself is nothing so special; just some instructive (or 'didactic'?) comments for some average youngsters. Played on my Victor J1-50 machine with Mica soundbox. Little bit worn out, but just okay enough to listen.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• King
• George
• The
• Fith
• Queen
• Mary
• England
• British
• Royal
• Family
• Monarch
• Empire
• Day
• Message
• 1923
• 78rpm
• Phonograph
• Gramophone

[dan4lau]

I can't exactly tell since you're playing it through a horn gramaphone, but it sounds to me like your recording could actually be in better shape than the one held by the british library. Ever thought of having it proffessionally digitally transfered? the result might be rather good.

[transformingArt]

@dan4lau I have made the digital transfer of this recording. Would post it some time later.

[wartenberg7]

Why shouldn´t she sound english? I mean, she was born at Kens. Palace and raised in England, surrounded by english nobles and courtiers...

[mc0558]

Queen Mary was a real Queen! Majestic from the tip of her toes to the top of her tiara. They don't make them like that any more.

[carrionrock]

just a question to throw out there, I have this record,the 78 with the similar logo to the one above, in its original sleeve, are there rare?

[TheAlysheba]

I always thought it was cold of George V to deny his first cousin, the Tsar Nicholas, and his family some type of help during the revolution... I can understand the ramifications if George V had given them asylum in GB itself. Still, George V was powerful and could have possibly sent them somewhere... If not Nicholas and Alex, at least the children...

[redfire20003]

I am curious as to why there are many stories of her speaking with a GERMAN accent.

There is a story of her singing along to a recording of "We have no Bananas" in a German accent.?

Her accent is R.P. (Received Pronunciation) which developed when courtiers imitated GEO I's accent as he spoke very poor english. E.g."Square" is pronounced "Squaar", and clipped vowels, imitate a German accent. Queen Victoria and Albert spoke German amongst themselves.

[toddsmitts]

@kracken63 Actually it's stands for His MASTER'S Voice. It was taken from the title of a painting of the now-famous image of a dog listening to a gramaphone. Supposedly, after his brother's death, the original artist had inherited the dog and several recordings his brother had made. He noticed the dog was interested in the sound of "his master's voice" emanating from the horn and put it to canvas.

[TheChampiony]

where did u get this recording from

[TheSolitaryHeart]

@CaptainGrimes1 "A typical politically correct and naive answer" A typical response of somebody who is obsessed with "political corectness" if you ask me.

[evanstj5]

Recording made on Empire Day, 24th May 1923

[taxiride1]

They don't sound anything like Tom Hollander and Miranda Richardson though!

[ashpan23]

The odd thing is queen mary sounds almost german, although born and raised in england....george sounds much younger on later recordings....good post though, interesting