King George V’s Volunteer Artillery Officer’s Full Dress Tunic

This full dress tunic belonged to King George V and was presented to the Royal Artillery Collection by Her Majesty Queen Mary in July 1936.

Tailored by Meyer & Mortimer—renowned for their exquisite ceremonial uniforms—the tunic reflects the firm’s long-standing relationship with the Crown, serving British monarchs since 1820. 

Though King George V served in the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1892, he remained closely involved with the Army. As Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Artillery during the First World War, he regularly visited troops at the front, wounded soldiers in hospitals, and communities across Britain to boost morale.

One such visit is vividly recalled by Lt-Col Stewart Montague Cleeve, commander of 471st Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. On 8 August 1918—the opening day of the Battle of Amiens—the King visited the battery at Maroeuil. Cleeve later recorded the event in a short memoir titled The Story of the King’s Shot, and again in a 1983 oral history interview for the Imperial War Museum.

The battery was operating two 14-inch Mk III railway guns, nicknamed ‘His Majesty’s Gun Boche Buster’ and ‘His Majesty’s Gun Scene Shifter’, used to target key German positions. The King engaged in detailed discussion with the officers on topics such as barrel wear, muzzle velocity, and range calculation. He then proposed a night harassing fire mission on Douai railway junction—20 miles away and likely used by German reinforcements. The fire was executed, and the King watched the demonstration without stepping back or covering his ears.

Only after the war did Cleeve learn the full impact of that shot: it had destroyed several enemy train carriages and reportedly killed hundreds of German troops.