Titles and styles

George VI was from birth a Prince of the United Kingdom, and was subsequently created a royal duke. It was as a duke that he succeeded his brother, King Edward VIII, to the throne.

• 14 December 1895 – 28 May 1898: His Highness Prince Albert of York
• 28 May 1898 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of York
• 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Cornwall and York
• 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Wales
• 6 May 1910 – 3 June 1920: His Royal Highness The Prince Albert^[1]
• 3 June 1920 – 11 December 1936: His Royal Highness The Duke of York
  • Subsidiary titles: Earl of Inverness and Baron Killarney
• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King

Titles vested in the Crown

Certain titles are borne and held by the reigning sovereign.

Isle of Man

• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: His Majesty The King, Lord of Mann

Church of England

• 11 December 1936 – 6 February 1952: Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England

Other titles traditionally attributed to the reigning sovereign are Duke of Lancaster, to reflect that the Duchy of Lancaster is a private estate of the sovereign,^{[2][lower-alpha 1]} and Duke of Normandy in the sovereign's capacity as head of state of the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey.^{[4][lower-alpha 2]}

Titles held personally

George VI has held certain titles in a personal capacity, either by virtue of birth, or otherwise.

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

• 14 December 1895 – 17 July 1917: Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony^{[8][9][lower-alpha 3]}

Commonwealth of Nations

• Late April 1949 – 6 February 1952: Head of the Commonwealth^[10][11]

Title in the dominions and India

The Dominions were self-governing entities which had the as their respective head of state the same person as was the British sovereign.^[12][13] These Dominions typically used the style and title of the sovereign as proclaimed in the United Kingdom, which, from the reign of Edward VII came to include the phrase, “and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas”,^{[lower-alpha 4]} signifying their reign over said Dominions.^[15] However, the sovereign reigned in these Dominions in a capacity independent from their position as monarch of the United Kingdom, similar in meaning and usage to, but not the same as modern-day Commonwealth realms, in that they lacked a separate title for each Dominion, until the reign of Elizabeth II. George VI's reign in the Dominions does not completely match his reign in the United Kingdom and his role as monarch in the Irish Free State is debated.^[16]

Per the terms of the Indian Independence Act, the imperial title was to be abolished. However, George VI issued a royal proclamation for that purpose and to that effect only on 22 June 1948, effectively reigning as king in the newly created Dominions of India and Pakistan whilst still bearing the imperial title for himself and his consort.^[17]

The title of Kaisar-i-Hind was coined in 1876 by the orientalist G. W. Leitner as the imperial title for the sovereign^[18] and was also employed in an official capacity, most notably to denote Crown property in India.^[19] This title continues to persist as a placeholder to the modern day in official records dating to the British era, despite the prohibition and deprecation of the use of the said title and all its variants for any and all purposes.^[20] Its usage is to be so understood as to denote the Government of India per the relevant provisions of the Government Grants Act,^[21] read alongside and in the context of the Transfer of Property Act and the Repealing and Amending (Second) Act.^[22][23]