THE CORONATION OF EDWARD VIL.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 1049, 24 June 1902, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE CORONATION OF EDWARD VIL.

Kiso Edw.akd was born at Buckingham Palace, November 9th, 1841, He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by patent under the Great Seal, December 4th the same year. He was baptised at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, January 25th, 1842. The King was educated at Christ Church, Oxford (D.C.L., 1868), at Trinity College, Cambridge (LL.D.), and Edinburgh University (LL.D.) He is also LL.D. Dublin, 1868, and Calcutta, 1874. He is the Sovereign Prince of the Britains, and as Prince of Wales was Duke of Saxony, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Great Steward of Scotland, Duke of Cornwall and Rothsay, Earl of Chester, Carrick, and Dublin, Baron Renfrew, and Lord of the Isles, K.G., K.T., K.P., G.C.8., G.C.5.1., G.C.M.G., G.C.1.E., P.C. Most of these titles and all his knighthoods he still holds. Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Army, as he is of the Navy, he is a Field-Marshal of the Forces, Colonel-in-Chief of Ist and 2nd Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards, Colonel 10th Hussars, Hon. Colonel of the Oxford and Cambridge University Corps, of the Middlesex Civil Service Corps of Rifle Volunteers, of the 3rd Batt. Gordon Highlanders, and the Sutherland Highland Rifle Volunteers, Hon. Admiral of the Fleet. He holds many honorary military ( offices abroad, including a Fidd-Marshalship of the German Army, and the Colonelcy of the Austro-Hungarian 12th Regiment of Hussars. /

The King is a barrister, having been admitted to the Middle Temple and called to the Bar in 1861. He ia also Elder Brother of Trinity House, and is Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of English Freemasons. He holds numerous other offices, the majority of which will go to his heir, the Duke of Cornwall and York, on his becoming Prince of Wales. In his exalted position as head of the English Freemasons he was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of Connaught. The King was married on March 10, 1863, to H.R.H. the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, eldest daughter of King Christian IX., to whom was granted on the occasion by Parliament an annual allowance of £IO,OOO. This lapsed on her husband's succession for the more liberal allowance of Queen Consort. The King and Queen celebrated their silver wedding, as Prince and Princess of Wales, in 1888. Their surviving family consist of George, Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Fife (now Princess Royal of England), Princess Charles of Denmark, and one unmarried daughter. The King has had an eventful career, the mere summary of which would consume more space than is now available. Suffice it to say he has been an extensive patron of Literature, of Art, of Field, Turf and River, and of the Stage. In 1859 he visited Canada and the United States and paid " homage" at the tomb of General Washington. Then he made a tour of the Holy Land and later of India, 1875-6. In 1885, he and the Queen, then Prince and Princess of Wales, made a tour of Ireland. The King is an Imperialist and a. Liberal, and to him is due the existence of the Imperial Institute, which has, however, proved a failure. He is a finished and a remarkably diplomatic |j speaker, and is credited with being one of the best informed men of the time.