EDWARD VIII. REIGNS

Manawatu Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 4601, 25 January 1936, Page 4

EDWARD VIII. REIGNS

(Concluded from page 3.)

Cantei'bury, and then he set about growing into a lusty lad. He was a very natural child. Once he drew a pig on a State document submitted to Queen Victoria for her approval. His Royal Highness had the happy boyhood of an English boy. The boyhood of his grandfather had been “torture.” He had been kept “apart” and his education for kingship had begun practically in the cradle, with tutors of all kinds and several races around him. King Edward’s own sons had been freed from this oppi’ession, and both had gone to sea as midshipmen at an early age. Naturally Prince Edward had the full benefit of the change of method in his training. He had to study, but nothing prevented him from developing along the lines adopted for the son of an ordinary English gentleman. With brothers and a sister not widely removed'from him in age, he had the ordinary.rights of childhood to play and “lark” through childhood, and in this manner he reached the age of 13 years, when it was considered wise to send him to Osborne Naval College, where, from a romping, hero-worshipping he tackled his first task in life, but not too precipitately, for he was still young enough, when the late Tsar visited the establishment, to appreciate the “treat” there provided for him and his friends by the Russian ruler.

His training for the Royal Navy was the kind one would have expected to be approved by a trained sailor, as his father was. Naturally, - he remained “E. of P.,” as his kit was labelled, but beyond the superficial privileges due to “Royalty” his training was precisely that of any other boy entered for the Navy in the college. The “soft” life —the “cushie” job, as he would have called it in his soldiering -days —had no appeal for him, and he fought his way into manhood by the well-worn tracks of discipline, hard work and athletics. He was whip of the “Beagles” and achieved some distinction among his fellows as a cross-country runner, although not then as robust as many. He was “Cadet Edward of Wales” at Dartmouth when King .Edward VH. died, and the position of direct Heir brought him titles and a certain awe-inspiring dignity. But the King was not yet willing to allow his son to relinquish his naval training. With great joy Prince Edward received the news that he was to go to sea on H.M.S. Hindustan, and on her he served as an ordinary junior officer, but had to work harder, for his tutor demanded study of more than nautical subjects. At a Scottish port an effort was made to entertain the Prince as the Prince, but the reply of the King’s secretary was, “Impossible for Prince of Wales to make any exception while visiting ports on board Hindustan. H.R.H. will'on all occasions be considered an officer of the Navy. This means the Prince will only accept general invitations to officers.” Just before the King and Queen departed for their Indian Durbar in November, 1911, the Prince of Wales “went over the side” and terminated his active connection with the Navy. At the moment he was a disappointed youth. While fully alive to the sense of duty that demanded the presence of the heir ashore, he felt regrets, natural to any young officer who loved the sea life, at havihg to abandon it. “Good bye, my boy,” said the King, when bidding the' Prince farewell. “Do not forget all I have told you. Our duty is to England always.”

And with that message in his mind —'“Duty to England always” —the Prince of Wales settled down to “serve”’ as the King’s heir. He had to study—among other things to perfect himself in the French language, for which a stay in France was necessary^—and then he had to go to Oxford, where he tried, as far as circumstances would allow, to be an ordinary undergraduate. He began by dining in the hall and slipped into the life of Magdalen College with ease. He was “of Magdalen” in the true sense of the term. He was not surrounded by “influence,” as was his grandfather at IChrist Church, nor was he restricted, after) the Victorian tradition. His old tutor was not so prominent as formerly, and he had the liberty of the junior common room. Once at a private dinner, at which there were to have been no speeches, one of the students called on him for a speech. “I wish you 'fellows would not make such a fuss,” said the Prince, who sat down and went on with his meal.

In 1913 the Prince yisited Germany and a year later was a junior officer in France fighting the Germans, and there he served throughout the war, with occasional “leaves” to England. As a soldier he gained a unique experience for a monarch, often moving about incognito and roughing it in the mud. Thousands of treasured memories of the Prince endear him to the Empire’s soldiers. After the war it was his proud duty to visit the Dominions to thank them on behalf of the Sovereign for their aid in the struggle. Travelling on the battle cruiser Renown he first went to Canada, leaving in August, 1919, and returning the following 1 December, the tour having concluded with a visit to the United States. In* March, 1920, he proceeded on a visit to Australia and New Zealand. Having touched at Barbados, the Renown passed through the Panama Canal, called at San Diego and then at Honolulu, 1 and Fiji, arriving at Auckland on April 24, where the Royal Ambassador received a tumultuous welcome. He remained in

the Dominion until May 19 and then sailed from Lyttelton to Australia. On the homeward route the Renown touched at Fiji, Samoa and the West Indies. The third tour commenced in October, 1921, and it took the Prince on his triumphant way to India, via Gibraltar, Malta, Suez and Aden. Then via Singapore and Hongkong the Prince proceeded to Japan and thence home via Manila, Borneo and Egypt. The fourth tour was to South Africa and West Africa. This time H.M.S. Repulse was employed. He left England in March, 1925, and returned in October, Argentine, Uruguay and Chile being visited on the homeward way.

A few years ago he went to Central Africa, and could then claim to have seen more British territory than any member of the Royal Family and much more than any British statesman. He earned the title of the “greatest British traveller,” but wherever he .has gone it has not been in the frame of mind of -the ordinary tourist, but in that of a conscious servant of the State, with a clear eye for men and things, a strong desire to know the realms of the Empire and purpose in all his doings. His visits abroad have been the occasions for much more than outbursts of loyal fervour. Personal regard has been behind it all. Ho has won tfre affections of the people in a very remarkable manner and he begins his reign already enthroned in the hearts of his subjects.