Title:HIS MAJESTY THE KING ARRIVING IN FRANCE DECEMBER 1939 [Allocated Title]
Film Number:BCY 12
Other titles:
Summary: Unedited and uncensored newsreel rushes with natural sound showing HM King George VI arriving in France to see for himself the activities of the British Expeditionary Force.
Description: Filmed on a dull day as daylight begins to fade, the destroyer HMS Codrington with HM King George VI on board makes her way slowly towards the camera to dock at Boulogne. A large reception committee waits on the quayside to greet the monarch. A gangway is dragged into position level with HMS Codrington's aft set of 21-inch torpedo tubes and a delegation of senior French and British officers led by General Lord Gort, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), steps onto the destroyer. The light is fading rapidly by the time the King makes his way from the destroyer's aft deck house past the ship's officers drawn up on deck; following him is Lord Gort and a senior French officer. The monarch bids farewell to HMS Codrington's captain and first lieutenant and, illuminated by flashbulbs from press cameras, he steps ashore. Dark and out-of-focus shots of HM King George VI as he is escorted to a large limousine on the quayside by Lord Gort and the rest of the reception committee.
Production Details: British Movietone News (Production company)
Cotter, J (Production individual)
Gray, M (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: George VI, King (person)
Vereker, John Standish Surtees Prendergast (6th Viscount Gort) (person)
British Expeditionary Force (regiment/service)
Keywords: Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, France (geography)
Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event)
British Army 1939-1945 (theme)
France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme)
Royal Navy 1939-1945 (theme)
