Video: 'ROYAL: The death of King George VI (1952)'

(Wednesday, February 6, 1952, George VI was discovered by his valet at 7:30 a.m. GMT; during the death and state funeral of George VI) — Britain’s King George VI, 56, died in his sleep today at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England, , 60 miles north of London, ending a 15-year reign that brought England the glory and the dregs of victory in World War II.

He had suffered from lung cancer, but apparently a blood clot was the immediate cause of death.

Video: 'Death of King George VI | Being The Queen'

George VI was discovered by his valet at 7:30 a.m. GMT and the news was conveyed to Buckingham Palace by telephone, using the code “Hyde Park Corner” to avoid alerting switchboard operators to the news.

The news was not broken to the wider world until 11:15 a.m. when BBC newsreader John Snagge read the words “It is with the greatest sorrow that we make the following announcement…”

Video: 'Death Of King George VI : Britain Mourns (1952)'

The House of Commons met at 11:58 a.m. to express its grief before adjourning to await the decision of the Accession Council as to the next monarch. The Council met at 5 p.m. in the Entrée Room of St James’s Palace and confirmed the King’s eldest child, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, 25, as his successor and reign over one-quarter of the world’s surface and population.

Video: 'Death of King George VI'

In early 1952, Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Philip, set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand by way of Kenya. On Feb. 6, they had just returned to their Kenyan home, Sagana Lodge, after a night spent at Treetops Hotel, when word arrived of the death of the King and consequently Elizabeth’s immediate accession to the throne. Philip broke the news to the new queen.

She would be crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953.