In 1937, he was an advertising director of one of his uncle's newspapers when he formed a partnership with journalist Hugh Cudlipp. When he was made a senior director, he chose Cudlipp as his new editor. At the age of 23, Cudlipp became the youngest chief editor in Fleet Street. Between them, both men turned the Daily Mirror into the world's largest selling daily paper. In 1967, the Daily Mirror reached a world record circulation of 5,282,137 copies. By 1963 King was chairman of the International Publishing Corporation, then the biggest publishing empire in the world, which included the Daily Mirror and some two hundred other papers and magazines. His influence in British public life was enormous. He himself believed that criticism of Winston Churchill's government by the Mirror had caused that government's collapse after the war. King was involved in, and may have instigated, a 1968 meeting with Louis Mountbatten, among others, in which he proposed that Harold Wilson's government be overthrown and replaced with a temporary administration headed by Mountbatten. He had no support from them for this, so he decided to override the editorial independence of the Mirror and wrote and instructed to be published a front-page article calling on Wilson to be removed by some sort of extra-parliamentary action. The board of IPC met and demanded his resignation for this breach of procedure and for damaging the interests of IPC as a public company. He refused, and was dismissed by the board on 30 May, leaving command to Sydney Charles Burt who later expanded IPC's business in the United States.
He married firstly Agnes Margaret Cooke, daughter of Canon George Albert Cooke and Frances Helen Anderson, in 1923. They had four children: Michael, Francis, Priscilla and Colin. He and Agnes Margaret Cooke were divorced. He married secondly Dame Ruth Railton in 1962, founder of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, daughter of Rev David Railton and Ruby Marion Wilson. In 1974, King moved from London to Dublin with his second wife. He died at his Dublin home, The Pavilion, 23 Greenfield Park, Donnybrook, following a long illness. He was survived by Dame Ruth as well as two children from his first marriage, his sons Michael and Colin having predeceased him.
Cultural depictions
He appears in Netflix's The Crown in episode five of season 3, portrayed by actor Rupert Vansittart.
Primary sources
King, Cecil Harmsworth. The Cecil King Diary, 1965–1970.
King, Cecil Harmsworth. The Cecil King Diary, 1970–1974.
