While the future British King George VI (1895–1952) was serving in the Royal Navy during the First World War, he became plagued with gastric problems. Being at sea seemed to have intensified his long-standing abdominal complaints. This was potentially problematic given that the presence of a prince in the navy formed a integral element of the monarchy's traditional relationship to war. Invaliding him out was therefore not a decision to be taken lightly. Accordingly, his appendix was removed in August 1914 to cure him of his afflictions, and also with the hope of allowing him to return quickly to military service. However, he continued to be crippled by agonizing gastric pains following the procedure and was eventually diagnosed as suffering from a duodenal ulcer in August 1916. A lengthy period of rest alleviated many of his symptoms, yet he became increasingly weak once again upon returning to sea duties in May 1917. Eventually a surgical operation was performed to remove the anomaly on 29 November 1917.

Yet twenty years earlier, Prince George would have been highly unlikely to have been found suffering from a duodenal ulcer. In fact, the complaint was then rarely diagnosed. Even as recently as 1903, the Edinburgh Medical Journal had claimed that while ‘cases of duodenal ulcer occur from time to time, still the disease cannot be called common’.