"THEIR MAJESTIES"

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 141, 17 June 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

"THEIR MAJESTIES"

THE Prince of Wales had gone to war a pink-cheeked youth. He emerged a grown man. From that time on. the Prince who was to become KrJward VIII. showed more and more unmistakable signs of a will of his own that would brook no interference— paternal, maternal or Governmental. His father, kindly old King George V., was indulgently tolerant of his sons spirited independence. Stately Queen Mary never quite reconciled herself to it.

The Prince of Wales loft Mm f H inilv hearth nt Buckingham Palace. He set up his own lioiiti-tiold «t St. .James' Palace, published his nwii C.iurt (iiiii!:ir, nnd in many ways H.sserted his individuii.l i t v. Prince Albert meanwhile had I,nil a taste of win- himself aboard H..M.S, t'ollingwood in tin; famous Bait In of Jutland. Kven in tliat great drama of the seo, Prince Albert'* role somehow remained inconspicuous. He performed nil tho routine duties to which he was aligned, but did nothing spectacular to flro tho omotions of his countrymen.

The Prince had insisted on being railed simply "Mr. Johnstone" in the navy. Onco a party of tourists had mine aboard liis ship and he wns assigned to guide them around. One of them stopped to ask a sailor where they could entch a glimpse of Prince Albert and was flabbergasted when the grisly tar laughed and told him it was the Prince himself who had been acting as the party's guide.

During the Battle of Jutland, "Mr. Johnstone" was second officer of a gun crow in the fore turret of the ('ollingwood. The crew had a narrow escape when a shell tired by a ("iceman battleship zoomed acrois tlie ship a few feet from the fore turret where "Mr. Johnstone" and his men were stationed. After the smoke of battle had cleared, all that, his superior nflicer could recall about. Prince Albert's part in the fray he summed up in the*c words: "Oh, yes, 1 remember he came down and made cocoa for me and the gun crew as usual."" Throughout the war, Prince Albert had suffered intermittently from a gastric ailment and finally in November. 11)17, he had to undergo an operation for ulcers. This left him in a weakened condition. He was compelled to leave the Navy. The Prince fretted so much about not being able to continue bis war service that his doctors finally relented and permitted him to enter the Air Corps as a ground officer In charge of personnel. One month before the end of the war, hn finally managed to get to France but none of the adventuresome exploits of the Air Corps fell to his lot. It wa* not until the following year that he was able to begin his training for the pilot's license which he Anally got in July, 11)10. After the war the Prince of Wales embarked on his world-famous career as Britain's travelling salesman. He covered more than 100.000 miles in his goodwill tours. K very where he went, his great personal charm dramatized the

111—Abdication Prologue (b)

trademark "Made in England." Lloyd • ieorge, wartime Prime Minister, paid a tribute to tie- Prince of Wales with these words in 1!»-.J.">: "I cannot recall anyone in history who has rendered "icaler service to the Itriti-h Kinpire lluin the Prince of Wale- not by force of arms but by a v. insulin- pci -una lit v." Howard toured nut only the world at large but hi- native Kiiglaml. To study conditions under which working ni• ■ n toiled, he descended into the Sooty depths of coalmines, he ,n-peelei| sweltering steel mills and factories. His democratic manner during these visits, the ring of sincerity in his sympathetic concern for the betterment of the ordinary worker's standard of living, won him popular recognition as a friend of labour.

By that time the striking dissimilarity between the two brothers was ,:u self-evident,' it was taken for granted. While the Prince of Wales —gay, da-h----ing, debonair—danced his way in find out of the fluttering hearts of the world's most beautiful debutantes, making bonds of political friendship as well as feminine conquests wherever he went, Prince Albert, was satisfied to plug along iinromaritieally in the background.

In 11)20, after completing at Cambridge the studies which the war had interrupted, he was created Duke ol York by his father. It had been a tradition that each of the Royal sons upon coming ol age. should devote him self to a specific career of public service. Here again, Albert was greatly handicapped in compal ison to hi* brother. His stomach trouble had left him in uncertain health much of the time although he struggled as stoically as a Spartan not to show it. While Edward easily overcame his dislike for making public, speeches and developed a facile and articulate manner of win nillg over any kind of crowd, t lie Duke of York bad an impediment of speech which made it excruciating agony for him to deliver an address; the agony was multiplied by the number of lis teners he saw before hi in. The Duke of York preferred sitting at home reading or working crossword [■lizzie* to making the rounds of London.'* smart May fair nightclubs where Kdward and his aristocratic friends found diversion.

In the realm of sport, however, he managed through sheer perseverance to become more than the equal of tinPrince of Wales and, despite hi* physical handicaps, be played a good enough game of tennis to compete for the national championships at Wimbledon. although he did not emerge a victor. When the Royal Family sought to find a career that might' be suitable to the Duke of York's nature and interest, it wa* decided that he should become the "Industrial Duke." Since the war relation* between capital and labour had become more and more •trained. The Duke of York wan dedicated to the task of helping to inspire mutual understanding and peace lwtween the opposing eampe of industry. He worked hard to justify the title of "Industrial Dnke." He had a natural flair for mechanical things and an encyclopaedic mind for detail. With the •ante plodding peiseverance that characterised eo many other phase* of his

life, he set himself to learning in detail what make- the wheels of industry go round. He went behind the scenes of industry after industry throughout the British Isles. He learned how to drive a locomotive, how to cast an iron plate in a smelting plant, how to run foundry lathes and linotype machines, how to l>iiil■! a. radio -et with his own hands. The Duke of York funned the Indus-

trial Welfare Society to inject a "human clement" in the relations between employers and employee-. As a jmm-uii.il experiment in combating the evils of cla-ir, aii he created the Diir.e of fork's ramp. Kverv summer fiiire 1!'21 a group of 400 boys has been assemble*! in this camp. Half the hoys are selected from such school* as Kton. Harrow and and the other half from the families of pour industrial workers who could not afford to send their suns to thos ( > schools.

It was the Duke of York's own idea of how to break down class barriers noil even after becoming King (ieorjje \F. lie has continued to oversee the camp. He invites the boys personally iiml foots all the bills out of liis own kot. A few summers ago. be played a game of pushball with the hoys. One of the excited youths from a mill town was too busy shoving his weight against the slender player next to him to Mtice who it was.

By--. Seymour Berkson

"Push like hell!" the lad ordered. '•1 am pushing like hell!" the Duke of York replied. As George VI., ho flew to the camp year and joined with the youngsters in singing '-Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree."

It has been a British tradition that whoever is Prince of Wales shall not be free to marry whomever he chooses, t>nt must wed a Royal princess, selected for reasons of State to strengthen Britain's political bonds. The Dukes of York, not destined in the normal course of events to inherit the Throne, have had a little more freedom in selection of their brides.

For centuries, it was a rule of the British Royal Family that their sons and daughters could marry only Royal princes and princesses. * During the world war, when the field of eligible foreign prince* and princesses was nari owed down and such marital alliances were not likely to be popular. King li.'orgc V. decreed that his younger children would be permitted to choose their consorts from the families of tlie first ibree ranks of the British nobility— dukes. marquesses and earls. This special dispensation, however, did not apply to tbe Prince of Wales, and almost from his boyhood days he was the target of matchmakers of all of the world's leading Royal Families. At one lime or another, he was reported engaged to virtually every unmarried princess in Europe. Such a constant din of matrimonial talk resounded about him. tbe Prince grew to hate tbe very thought of ma living.

Ambitious Queen Marie of Bumania bad hopes for her daughter. Princess Ilcana. Queen Wilhelmina of [Tolland at one time entertained similar ambitions for Princes* Tuliana. For a time flic likeliest prospect was Princess Alexandrine of Denmark. Her father. King Christian X. and the Prince of Wales' father. Clcorge V.. were close friends. Both were in favour of a match and had even discussed it hefore their children were of but they had not reckoned with Edward's own notions about love and romance.

There was a parade of others: Princes* rugrid of Sweden. Princess Eugenie of Creece. Princess Maria of Italy. Orand Duchess Kvra of the exiled Romanoffs, Princess Frederica of the dethroned Hohenzollerns fo name a few of the young ladio trotted out hopefully for tlf most eligible bachelor-Prince in the world.

It may he more than mere coincidence that not until Edward's determination * marry "the woman T love" was broadcast to the world did the Royal matchmakers of Europe give up hope and permit the eligible princesses to accept as consolation prizes whatever < ther hachnlor-princes were availahle on the international marriage market.

Edward's life luul been lie*et n<>t only liy the matrimonial hopes of foreign Royal houses; Init liy constant pressure on the part of his mother, Queen Mary, who was especially anxious for her son make a traditional Royal marriage. Kaeh year brought the same question, the same rumours At 21— whom will the Prince of Wales many. At 2."> will it he the Danish princess? At .'?<) -what, nut married yet ? At -10 —an imposing list of eligible princesses. At 42 -the Bachelor-King, first in Britain's history since 17li0. What few people knew and none of his own family fully realised was that, as far hack as his college days, Kdward hail formed definite ideas about women and romance. He was determined that if ever lie should marry it would lie for love - not polities. As a youth of IS, while he was at Oxford, just hefore the World War, the Prince of Wales met the attractive daughter of Colonel Burkin, a wealthy manufacturer, and became infatuated with her. She was five years older than the prince, gay and charming. That same year, however, she became Mrs. Dudley Ward, wife of a man 20 years her senior. Kdward went off to the war. When he returned, he renewed his friendship with Mrs. Ward, and for the next 17 years lie was seen frequently in her company, while the gossips wagged their tongues. When the Prime of Wales danced, Mrs. Ward was his favourite dancing partner; when he entertained at informal parties, she was his hostess. He made no secret of his infatuation for her. When she divorced her politicianhushand in 1030, their friendship whs

abruptly dissolved. Some say that Queen Mary, who had watched the attachment with misgivings from the beginning, was horror-stricken at the idea Kdward might lie planning to wed Mrs. Ward, and put her Royal foot down. Others say that Kdward himself decided to put an end to their friendship. In any event, the Prince of Wales left quite suddenly on another of his Slobe-girdling tours- this time to Africa and South America. Those who have been closest to Kdward since say that Mrs. Ward left such a profound impression on him that most of the women to whom he found himself subsequently attracted bore a striking resemblance to her. This is true of Lady Thelma Kurness as well as of the former Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson, who supplanted Lady Kurness. Both were endowed with the same general characteristics: boyish figures, rather sharply-chiselled faces and prominent cheek bones, broad lines of mouth, vivid brunette colouring. <!ossip had it that Kady Kiirness. an American, twin sister of Mrs. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, first encountered the Prince of Wales alone when she "inadvertently" invaded his private bathiii!*heach at Biarritz in 1!>32. Lady Furness is a much-travelled woman of the world, a sparkling adept at repartee; and it was only a day or so after that first chance meeting that her friends at the French resort were amazed to see her seated alongside the Prime on his beach popping peanuts into his mouth from a paper bag and laughing gailv as thev chattered as if they had known each other all their lives. From that time on, Furness became the Prince of Wales' favourite dancing partner and his hostess at those

informal parties he delighted in giving at Fort Belvedere. At this country retreat he sometimes left the dinner table and played a jazz tune on his bagpipes to amuse his guests, and here he kept one of the biggest collections of American jazz phonograph records ever assembled. Lady Furness wielded tremendous influence over the Prince, and is even credited with having induced him to give up falling off horses and adopt the less perilous sport of golf. Soon the bright people of EnropeSs fast international set were asking: — "If the Lord saved Daniel from the lion's den, who will save Edward from the fiery Furness?" • The answer was: Mrs. Simpson. Lady Furness made a tactical blunder when she introduced the Prince to Mrs. Simpson and left her to amuse him during her absence after she went to the United States in 1934. Mrs. Simpson, until then a comparatively unknown figure on the fringe of society in London, where her husband, Krnest Simpson, was a shipbroker, amused the Prince so much he fell in love with, her. Mrs. Simpson was as sparkling as either of her predecessors and made no pretence at being British. She retained her "southern drawl" intact. She Mas natural, witty, charming, without affection. For some time the romance was a great secret. Many of their friends didn't even know about it until they suddenly bobbed up together in the autumn of 1034 at Biarritz, the same seaside playground where the Prince's romance with Lady Furness had its initial setting. • Whatever doubt there may have been of how seriously the Prince was impressed by Mrs. Simpson was erased when he was seen waiting two hours

in a Biarritz beauty shop for the American lady. By the time Lady Furness returned to Europe- her place next to the Prince of Wales had been usurped. From then on, everywhere that Wales went Mrs. Simpson was in the party. To the Austrian Alps for winter sports ... to Paris for shopping ... to the Mediterranean for a cruise. In affairs of the heart, Edward and his brother, the Duke of York, were as unlike as they were in most other respects. The Duke of York was no lady's man. No breath of scandal, no romantic gossip revolved about him. His life was an open book of simple devotion to duty. The first time his name was actually linked to that of a woman was when his engagement to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, of whom Queen Mary had approved, was announced in the Court Circular of Buckingham Palace. Once married, the Duke of York promptly settled down to the life of a model family man, but the Prince of Wales had to wait for the English Courts to grind out a divorce for Mrs. Simpson before he could make her his wife. Thus the stage was set when George V. died. Almost everybody in England, including Queen Mary, expected Edward to give up Mrs. Simpson now that he was to mount the Throne—everybody but Edward. Ha made known his emphatic determination to marry the lady. Thd storm that had been brewing from the earliest days of hie reign as Edward VIII. burst suddenly upon a surprised England.