This steel helmet was worn by King George V on a visit to the Western Front during the First World War. The King toured the trenches and nearby military hospitals in France and Belgium several times, attending church services with troops, presenting docrations and observing drill practice. The Royal Collection contains many photographs of such visits, including one image of the King speaking with an infantryman in France in 1917 (RCIN 2509923). After the war, the King created a 'War Museum' at Windsor Castle to display items he had collected at the Front alongside trophies and momentoes sent to him by soldiers in the trenches. Among the objects exhibited were a clock set into a steel shell case, a fragment from Ypres Cathedral and an English Red Cross flag.