Card of the Day: The King at a Test Match, Lords

Who knows what any of this means? It’s something about Cricket. King George V, being a typically British Royal, enjoyed sports and things like this. Queen Mary—not so much. Ever since her childhood as Princess May of Teck, Mary much preferred museums and garden teas to running around and sweating. I’m with Mary on that. However, the Queen was very supportive of her husband’s sporting interests. In fact, when she was pregnant with their children, she encouraged George to go play even though he worried about leaving his beloved wife alone. She knew that his sporting endeavors meant a lot to him. And, so, for this reason, it means something to me, too.

In the series of 1935 Silver Jubilee Cards that Wills’s Cigarette Co.mpany produced in honor of King George V and Queen Mary, a number of the King’s sporting interests were depicted. Here’s one of them.

The reverse of the card reads:

THE KING AT A TEST MATCH, LORDS


The King's visit to Lord's on June 25th, 1934, for the second Test Match of the series was a happy augury for England, the home side winning on that ground for the first time for thirty-eight years by an innings and 38 runs. A crowd which filled every seat saw His Majesty walk down the pavilion steps to say a word to the teams. The English side are being presented, and the King is shaking hands with Bowes, who secured four wickets. The hero of the match, however, was his fellow-Yorkshireman, Verity, who, on a pitch exactly suiting his "slows," took fifteen wicket for 104 runs-an outstanding feat among the bowling performances of Test Cricket.