"I had just finished doing my third symphony and Walter Barnes turned up and he and my Father went off and next morning at breakfast these two grumbling away about the state of music in England and Walter Barnes said. "Oh well, you know with opera in Italy and opera in Germany and opera in France they all have their schools but we’ve got no school of opera. Isn’t it terrible.  isn’t it awful!"  Finally Walter Barnes said “Well if they can’t produce English Opera what about Cornish opera? now you two get to work and write an opera” he said. “If you write it. we’ll do it down in Penzance” so my Father said, “You serious” “Oh yes” he said “I will”  "So my father disappeared into his study and after 3 or 4 days he turned up, yes, very quick he turned up with the libretto of Iernin."

George's father and mother both played in the orchestra for the opening run of Iernin, and his mother was the répétiteur at the Lyceum, teaching the singers their parts.  The composer conducted, and Sydney Russell produced.  

"Some people came night after night, or 5, 6, 7 times they would come to Iernin - they just went overboard. There were others who thought that I should go back to school that I didn’t know anything at all and who really very actively disliked it. And it’s exactly as the same as happens now - they exaggerate to such an extent that I can’t understand it, and then other people exaggerate the other way. That is what has happened to my music right from the beginning. "

In 1936 George travelled to Chateaux D'Oex in Switzerland, to work on his next opera, The Serf, and there he met Nancy Juvet. Her mother was Irish, and her father a Swiss watchmaker. Nancy helped her mother run a small pension guest house, where George's parents had stayed. At first George seldom took a break from his scores and paid little attention to Nancy. When she went to the Netherlands for a holiday, they corresponded, hoping to see each other again, and when Nancy returned she and George began to go out walking together. He proposed to her in a roundabout way, and she accepted. 

Nancy accepted, on condition that they were married as soon as possible. They had to wait two weeks for a marriage licence, and on the day it came in the post, in February 1937, they rushed outside and rode their luge sledges down the hill to the registry office, calling 'we are off to get married' to the astonished neighbours.  A church wedding followed.  They honeymooned in Italy, visiting the opera houses in Lucca, Naples, Florence, La Scala in Milan and Rome. George could not settle back into his writing at Chateaux D'Oex, so they moved to Viareggio, where they could live cheaply while George finished his opera,which he estimated would take 5 months.  

Nancy was to prove more than George's companion - she became his muse and, following his wartime injuries, she became his nurse and his healer, convincing the doctors at the Royal Naval Hospital to discharge him into her care. She nursed him from 1942 until 1945 at West Wittering, then took him to her home in Switzerland where she studied psychology and alternative healing methods including mantras, mental discipline, exercise and herbal remedies. Under her dedicated care, he slowly recovered 

George and his father had set their sights on a premiere for The Serf  at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and after months of negotiations and manoeuvring, they succeeded.
The Serf was conducted by Albert Coates, produced by Vladimir Rosing. It was well received at its premiere, and immediately taken on the Covent Garden company's national tour. The outbreak of war prevented further performances, and clearly hindered the development of Lloyd's highly promising career.