THE KING AND HIS SONS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 142, 12 December 1935, Page 36

THE KING AND HIS SONS

A NOBLE WORK

King Edward once remarked that King George would be. in a better position than he himself had been because he would have four sons to help him with his work, notes the Bishop of Norwich in a recent article. No Sovereign can devolve his constitutional responsibilities upon anyone else. But in the many ways in which it is desirable that the King or his family should take the lead in national concerns, our four Princes and the Princess Royal are doing a noble work for our country and Empire; and as they move easily among all classes they do much to promote loyalty and good will and a happy sense of solidarity or family feeling in the community. All this was not possible in the same degree in the reign of King Edward, and perhaps it was not asked. But the changes that have come over the country in the last twenty-five years have led to more being claimed from the Royal Family. Obviously it would be impossible, even if it were desirable, that the King, with all the responsibilities which he bears upon his shoul-' ders, could have the time to be out and about like his four sons. And it must be noted that it is because the King is in the background, performing the incessant tasks of his high office, and reserving himself for the greater occasions, that it is possible for his sons to mix as freely as they do with other people in all sorts of engagements and functions. While the King, the head of all, stands back at a little distance they can, without any loss of prestige or position, give all the pleasure and all the help that they do afford to good causes and to light or serious enterprises.