Prince Albert (Wiser Kaiser)

Prince Albert, Duke of York (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1899 – 6 February 1957) was the third son and fourth child of King Edward VIII and Queen Mary.

Known as "Bertie" among his family and close friends, Albert was born in the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria and was named after his great-grandfather Albert, Prince Consort. As the third son of King Edward VIII, he was not expected to inherit the throne and spent his early life in the shadow of his eldest brother, Edward. He attended naval college as a teenager, and served in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force during the First World War. In 1923, he was made Duke of York upon his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in with whom he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret. In the mid-1920s, he had speech therapy for a stammer, which he never fully overcame.

From 1939 to 1940, Albert served in the Navy. He performed military and diplomatic duties during the rest of the war. Albert attended the coronation of his niece Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and carried out several overseas tours, often accompanied by his wife. The sudden death of his eldest brother, King Edward had a large emotional impact on Albert and he became a heavy smoker which led to him becoming beset by smoking-related health problems in the later years of his life and died of coronary thrombosis in 1957. Upon his death, he was succeeded as the Duke of York by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth who later became Queen after the death of her uncle, King Henry in 1966.