The second son of George V and Queen Mary, he served in the navy from 1909 to 1917 and qualified as a pilot in the Royal Air Force in 1919. He was President of the Industrial Welfare Society, an area of special concern. He married Lady Elizabeth Bowes to Lyon in 1923 and became King on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936. He and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, were held in great affection by the population for the courage and sense of duty they showed during the war. Following his death in 1952, he was succeeded by his eldest daughter, who became Elizabeth II.