When Churchill and King George VI fell out over D-Day: Monarch branded wartime PM 'selfish' over his desire to lead troops into battle without him and wrote furious letter insisting he back down, writes historian CHRISTOPHER WILSON
They stood shoulder-to-shoulder through six long years of war – the warrior-like leader and his steadfast sovereign.
Yet with D-Day at hand and with victory within reach, there was a monumental bust-up between King George VI and his prime minister, Winston Churchill.
The row, unprecedented in history between a monarch and his first minister, threatened to compromise the Allied invasion of France – alarming generals, admirals and other top brass.
But they were powerless to intervene. And the dispute was all about who should first set foot in enemy-held northern France – the King, or the PM, a commoner.
The argument, which spiralled over several days, started just as the final preparations for Operation Overlord – the codename for the secret mission which would send a taskforce of 850,000 men onto the Normandy beaches – were being put in place.
They stood shoulder-to-shoulder through six long years of war – the warrior-like leader and his steadfast sovereign. Yet with D-Day at hand and with victory within reach, there was a monumental bust-up between King George VI and his prime minister, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill seen on board a Royal Navy vessel off the coast of Normandy on June 12, 1944. In the end, Churchill upstaged his sovereign by getting to Normandy first – not on D-Day, but six days later
On May 30, 1944 the King invited Churchill to lunch at Buckingham Palace, only to discover it was the old warhorse's plan to watch the first day's invasion from the bridge of a Royal Navy battleship and, if everything went well, to step ashore and mingle with the troops.
'The King, who'd been thinking of doing exactly the same, suggested he should go too,' wrote George VI's biographer Sarah Bradford.
The King's private secretary Alan 'Tommy' Lascelles, effectively CEO of House of Windsor plc, was appalled at what he heard.
He pictured both Churchill and the King 'being sent to the bottom of the English Channel'.
And even if they escaped enemy gunfire, he feared 'the paralysing effect their presence on board would have on the unfortunate captain, trying to fight his ship in the middle of the inferno.'
Lascelles persuaded his royal boss to climb down. Write to Churchill, he advised, order him to do the same - stay away from the action.
This Bertie duly did - but got no reply. Churchill wouldn't play ball.
King George VI's letter to Churchill imploring him not to go to Normandy for the start of Operation Overlord. The monarch had agreed not to be there over safety fears
The King finished his letter by saying, 'I ask you most earnestly to consider the whole question again, & not let your personal wishes which I very well understand lead you to depart from your own high standard of duty to the State'
The next day the King attended a secret briefing from Admiral Ramsay, commander-in-chief of the Expeditionary Force, which only had the effect of exacerbating the argument.
Churchill, also present, declared he'd have to get his Cabinet to agree to the King sailing to France – and that he would recommend them to vote against it.
George protested furiously. It was pointed out that, constitutionally, Churchill couldn't leave the country without the say-so of his sovereign.
But that only made the prime minister dig his toes in further.
'His naughtiness is sheer selfishness, plus vanity,' complained Lascelles. 'Just to gratify his love of theatre.'
So that night an angry King George sat down to write again to Churchill.
His letter said: 'I want to make one more appeal to you not to go to sea on D-Day. Please consider my own position.
It took until June 16 – D-Day plus ten – for King George to step ashore and congratulate his troops. Above: King George VI greeting General Montgomery in Normandy on June 16, 1944
'I am a younger man than you, I am a sailor, & as king I am the head of all three services.
'There is nothing I would like better than to go to sea but I have agreed to stay at home; is it fair that you should then do exactly what I should have liked to do myself?
'You said yesterday afternoon that it would be a fine thing for the King to lead his troops into battle, as in old days; if the King cannot do this, it does not seem to me right that his Prime Minister should take his place.
'Then there is your own position. You will see very little, you will seem a considerable risk, you will be inaccessible at a critical time when vital decisions might have to be taken, & however unobtrusive you may be, your very presence on board is bound to be a very heavy additional responsibility to the Admiral & Captain.
'As I said in my previous letter, your being there would add immeasurably to my anxieties, & your going without consulting your colleagues in the Cabinet would put them in a very difficult position which they would justifiably resent.
'I ask you most earnestly to consider the whole question again, & not let your personal wishes which I very well understand lead you to depart from your own high standard of duty to the State.'
But, fumed Lascelles, Churchill still wouldn't capitulate. He was 'just like a naughty child when he starts planning an escapade [like this]'.
It was a battle of wills, an arm-wrestling match like no other in history.
Who would be the first to give in? The King noted in his diary: 'His selfish way of looking at the matter - he doesn't seem to care about the future, or how much depends on him.'
Hours, which seemed like days, passed without the obstinate Churchill responding to the King's demand to stay home.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill on board a Royal Navy vessel off the coast of Normandy, June 12, 1944
Winston Churchill visits jubilant British troops in Normandy after the success of Operation Overlord, July 23, 1944
Winston Churchill strokes General Montgomery's dog Rommel during a visit to Normandy, August 7, 1944
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pictured on his visit to Normandy in Northern France, six weeks after the Allied D-day landings, July 23, 1944
British troops take positions on Sword beach during D-Day, June 6, 1944
Troops from the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings, June 6, 1944
Allied planes bomb German boats to prepare for the landing of troops, Normandy 1944
Churchill on the Buckingham Palace balcony with King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret on VE Day in 1945
Finally, with D-Day now just two days away, there came a telephone call from Churchill to Lascelles saying he'd bow to the King's request.
There followed a 'grumpy, waspish and ungracious letter' confirming his decision.
There were sighs of relief all round - but the battle of wills wasn't over yet.
In the end, Churchill upstaged his sovereign by getting to Normandy first – not on D-Day, but six days later.
It took until June 16 – D-Day plus ten – for King George to step ashore and congratulate his troops.
Both men received an equally enthusiastic reception, but on the drive home, George spoke bitterly of the way he'd been outfoxed.
But the war's end was in sight, and their personal game of one-upmanship faded into the distance as the Allies scored their final victory over the Nazi threat.
Together the two men stood, friends once more, on the Buckingham Palace balcony as peace was declared.
But it left behind a fascinating constitutional question – who, in the end, wields more power? The king, or his prime minister?
D-Day: Huge invasion of Europe described by Churchill as the 'most complicated and difficult' military operation in world history
Operation Overlord saw some 156,000 Allied troops landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
It is thought as many as 4,400 were killed in an operation Winston Churchill described as 'undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place'.
The assault was conducted in two phases: an airborne landing of 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French airborne troops shortly after midnight, and an amphibious landing of Allied infantry and armoured divisions on the coast of France commencing at 6.30am.
The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved.
US Army troops in an LCVP landing craft approach Normandy's 'Omaha' Beach on D-Day in Colleville Sur-Mer, France June 6 1944. As infantry disembarked from the landing craft, they often found themselves on sandbars 50 to 100 yards away from the beach. To reach the beach they had to wade through water sometimes neck deep
US Army troops and crewmen aboard a Coast Guard manned LCVP approach a beach on D-Day. After the initial landing soldiers found the original plan was in tatters, with so many units mis-landed, disorganized and scattered. Most commanders had fallen or were absent, and there were few ways to communicate
A LCVP landing craft from the U.S. Coast Guard attack transport USS Samuel Chase approaches Omaha Beach. The objective was for the beach defences to be cleared within two hours of the initial landing. But stubborn German defence delayed efforts to take the beach and led to significant delays
An LCM landing craft manned by the U.S. Coast Guard, evacuating U.S. casualties from the invasion beaches, brings them to a transport for treatment. An accurate figure for casualties incurred by V Corps at Omaha on 6 June is not known; sources vary between 2,000 and over 5,000 killed, wounded, and missing
The operation was the largest amphibious invasion in world history, with over 160,000 troops landing. Some 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over 5,000 ships were involved.
The landings took place along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
The assault was chaotic with boats arriving at the wrong point and others getting into difficulties in the water.
Destruction in the northern French town of Carentan after the invasion in June 1944
Forward 14/45 guns of the US Navy battleship USS Nevada fire on positions ashore during the D-Day landings on Utah Beach. The only artillery support for the troops making these tentative advances was from the navy. Finding targets difficult to spot, and in fear of hitting their own troops, the big guns of the battleships and cruisers concentrated fire on the flanks of the beaches
The US Navy minesweeper USS Tide sinks after striking a mine, while its crew are assisted by patrol torpedo boat PT-509 and minesweeper USS Pheasant. When another ship attempted to tow the damaged ship to the beach, the strain broke her in two and she sank only minutes after the last survivors had been taken off
A US Army medic moves along a narrow strip of Omaha Beach administering first aid to men wounded in the Normandy landing on D-Day in Collville Sur-Mer. On D-Day, dozens of medics went into battle on the beaches of Normandy, usually without a weapon. Not only did the number of wounded exceed expectations, but the means to evacuate them did not exist
Troops managed only to gain a small foothold on the beach - but they built on their initial breakthrough in the coming days and a harbor was opened at Omaha.
They met strong resistance from the German forces who were stationed at strongpoints along the coastline.
Approximately 10,000 allies were injured or killed, including 6,603 American, of which 2,499 were fatal.
Between 4,000 and 9,000 German troops were killed - and it proved the pivotal moment of the war, in the allied forces' favour.
The first wave of troops from the US Army takes cover under the fire of Nazi guns in 1944
Canadian soldiers study a German plan of the beach during D-Day landing operations in Normandy. Once the beachhead had been secured, Omaha became the location of one of the two Mulberry harbors, prefabricated artificial harbors towed in pieces across the English Channel and assembled just off shore
US Army Rangers show off the ladders they used to storm the cliffs which they assaulted in support of Omaha Beach landings at Pointe du Hoc. At the end of the two-day action, the initial Ranger landing force of 225 or more was reduced to about 90 fighting men
