The twenty-sixth card in the series of commemorative cards produced by Wills’s Cigarette Company for the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary shows another event in the campaign to bolster Britain upon which the King and Queen embarked following the Great War. Here, we see the King welcoming the public, for the first time, to the then-new National Museum of Wales. Just a historical note, George was never Prince of Wales. That title had been held by his late brother (as well as the initial engagement to Mary). Upon his coronation, George V was The Duke of York, just as his son, the future King George VI was the Duke of York upon his accession to the throne.
The reverse of the card reads:
THE OPENING OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES
The King opened the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff on April 21st, 1927, having laid the foundation stone about fifteen years before. Having rapped for admission on the massive doors with a mallet offered by the Chief Architect, the Sovereign entered, and praised the ideal of the founders of the Museum, “to teach the world about Wales and the Welsh people about their own Fatherland.” This fine building provides both for the general public and the special student. Among those privileged to see the opening was a detachment at Chelsea Pensioners, invited as guests of the Lord Mayor.
The National Museum of Wales stands today, the façade largely unaltered. It faces the world with the same spirit with which it was founded.
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