ON his six-hour-long visit to Glasgow in January 1932, Prince George was keen to demonstrate his sympathy for Clydeside’s unemployed. Across Britain, there were 2.2 million “wholly unemployed” people, though signs of general improvement had lately been noted.

Thus did the Prince drive to Govan, where he spent 90 minutes listening to a sing-song organised for jobless men at the Pearce Institute. He told them he admired “the patience and courage with which you are all bearing up in these very hard times.”

He also took in a boxing exhibition, and visited social clubs run by the Govan Pals’ Association before paying a surprise visit to tenements in one of Govan’s most congested areas.

The Prince, who was spending the weekend in St Boswells as a guest of the Earl and Countess of Dalkeith, visited Glasgow Cathedral and the nearby Provand’s Lordship (left, with the Rev Robert Dollar, assistant at the Cathedral). He was applauded by workers as he left the Templeton carpet factory, and toured the bridge-building and engineering works of Sir William Arrol & Co.

“Although the visit was private and informal,” wrote the Glasgow Herald, “it evoked a remarkable demonstration of enthusiasm and loyalty on the part of all classes and ages of the citizens, and everywhere the Prince went he was greeted by cheering crowds.”