Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her sapphire anniversary Monday, marking 65 years of reign on the British throne, but the day also marks the death of her father King George VI. The queen’s father was a heavy smoker and died from lung cancer Feb. 6, 1952, ending more than 15 years of his monarchy.
George VI ascended the throne December 1936 at the age of 40, after the death of his father George V and the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. He was crowned on May 12, 1937, at Westminster Abbey, London. The king went through serious health issues after he underwent surgery to remove a tumor in one of his lungs, and died suddenly in the winter of 1952. The official cause of George VI’s death was coronary thrombosis, which is a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart, according to the royal family’s official website.
George VI married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 and had two daughters — Elizabeth, who later became Queen Elizabeth II, and Margaret Rose, or ‘Princess Margaret.’
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