On 29th January 1936, three days before my 16th birthday, George V died and the country was in mourning.
People were dressed in black, or wearing black arm-bands and black ties; shop windows were draped in black and purple; dance halls, cinema and theatres were closed; the wireless played solemn music and my parents cancelled my birthday party.
It was unthinkable that we should be playing party games when the late Sovereign was lying in state in Westminster Hall. Instead I was allowed to bring one friend home for tea to share my birthday cake.
On December 11th of the same year Edward V111 abdicated, and that was on the birthday of my mother and younger brother.