The illness and death of King George VI has received renewed attention based on the events portrayed in the Netflix blockbuster series, The Crown. The King, a heavy smoker, underwent a left total pneumonectomy in September 1951 for what euphemistically was called "structural abnormalities" of his left lung, but what in reality was a carcinoma. His physicians withheld this diagnosis from him, the public, and the medical profession. The continuation of hemoptysis following surgery suggested that his cancer had spread to his right lung. Although he made a slow and uneventful recovery from his surgery, King George VI died suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep on February 6, 1952, at the age of 56. Since the King had a history of peripheral vascular disease, it was assumed that the cause of death was a "coronary thrombosis." In this report, we explore the cardiovascular and oncologic findings relating to his illness and death and consider an alternative explanation for his demise, namely, that he may have died of complications from a carcinoma that had originated in his left lung and spread to his right lung, as evidenced by continued hemoptysis. We suggest that this possibly could have led to his sudden death due to either a pulmonary embolus or a massive intra-thoracic hemorrhage rather than a "coronary thrombosis."

根据 Netflix 大片《王冠》中描绘的事件，乔治六世国王的疾病和死亡再次受到关注。国王是一个重度吸烟者，他于 1951 年 9 月接受了左肺全肺切除术，因为他的左肺被委婉地称为“结构异常”，但实际上是癌。他的医生向他、公众和医学界隐瞒了这一诊断结果。手术后继续咯血表明他的癌症已经扩散到他的右肺。尽管他的手术恢复缓慢且平安无事，但乔治六世国王于 1952 年 2 月 6 日在睡梦中突然意外去世，享年 56 岁。由于国王有外周血管疾病史，因此推测死因是“冠状动脉血栓形成”。在这份报告中，我们探讨了与他的疾病和死亡相关的心血管和肿瘤学发现，并考虑对他的死亡提出另一种解释，即他可能死于起源于左肺并扩散到右肺的癌的并发症，正如所证明的那样由于持续咯血。我们认为这可能导致他的猝死是由于肺栓塞或大量胸腔内出血而不是“冠状动脉血栓形成”。