RITAIN'S NEW KING

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 30

RITAIN'S NEW KING

' A MOST POPULAR. PRINCE. SOCIAL LIFE AND CHARACTER IS- / TICS. A WOMAN’S VIEW. - In the “Lady’s Realm” the Prince of "Wales, no>w King Edward VII., was described recently as the most popular man in the Empire and the most ropuiar Prince in Europe. At the time of tneQueen’s Diamond Jubilee a “wag ’ suggested that it would make a pieasing feature of the pageant if the Prince ol Wales sat in his mother’s carriage, and the Duke of York beside him with Prince Edward upon his knee. One' may laurti at the ultra-domesticity of such an arrangement, hut, per se, it would have been an instructive object-lesson illustrative of an amiable union c-f generations in the Royal Family which forms a marked contrast to the earlier annals 01 the-House of Hanover, wheto. the Georges and their heirs lived in open feud and divided the allegiance of the nation. M 1 HIS VISIT TO AMERICA. •

' " When, in 1860, the Princ-e visited Canada and the United States, he won golden ,opinions by his bonhomie and utter absence of undue Royal assumption. The visit was .one of grave importance) so far as the United States was concerned, and might have proved disastrous to future feeling between the two count-rich if it, had been managed less tactfully, for this was the first time that a Royal prince from old England had set foot on American soil since George Washington was a rebel. The Prince was barely nineteen, but he displayed in a marked degree those social qualities l ;—the faculty or doing agd saying the right thing- - which have served him in good stead on many occasions since. We see him during the voyage sitting for hours, crosslegged, on the deck of the Here-, telescope in hand, amusing himself with signalling to the other ships of the squadron, and carrying on a running fire of banter and repartee. All on board were .delighted with his lively social manner, and he permitted no one to be dull in his vicinity. The. fair Republicans, of course, lost their hearts tc the nandsome, merry Prince, and, forgetting that he was the great-grandson of George 111., flung; bouquets at bkrfeet when he-stepped ashore, and his Royal Highness gallantly stooped and picked them up with looks or

dmpr easement. lie danced with the belies of New York, and stood bare-headed by the grave of Washington. It seemed that he left nothing undone which could give pleasure to our transatlantic cousins, save choosing a bride from amongst them, in which event America- might even have returned to the maternal foul. SOCIAL LIFE. The marriage of the Prince took place a little more than a year after the death of the Prince Consort, when the Queen was living in retirement, and, in consequence, he and the Princess became the virtual leaders of society, taking, in this respect, the place of the monarch. They wetre extremely youthful for the task, the Prince (being twenty-one and Ills bride a little: younger, but they entered upon the position with a gay abandon, and, thoroughly enjoying the gaieties of Court life, gave a brightness and chic to state ceremonials -which had house was the centre of much gaiety, and hitherto been wanting.- Marlborough House-was the centre of much gaiety, and of the ancient ducal mansions. Beaut;/ and grace reigned! supreme amongst the women, and the men wore distinguished for smartness, courtliness of manner, and ability. But although the Prince widened the circle of the Royal entourage, his. - democratic leanings had , their limits. Not the Queen herself was mere exacting in all matters of etiquette than was the Heir-Apparent, and those who presumed upon his youth and affability tq indulge in undue “ familiarity were quickly made aware, of their presumption. • A.=. Both : the Prince and Princess were exceedingly fond of dancing, and generHouse during the season, in addition /to tlie ' state balls at Buckingham Palace, ally gave two large balls at .Marlborough TTis Royal Highness took part in these gay functions'with zest and spirit; he was an accomplished dancer himself, and was not a little critical of the dancing of his partners. “We must- have a few dancing lessons,’? was the kindly but significant “aside” of His Royal Highness to beautiful Lady ——, when she made a false moye in the lancers.

Under the new regime at the Maidborough House balls the more spirited and piquant dances, such as the polka, scliottische, and mazurka, came into vogue, and there was less of dull, formal dancing than prevailed in the first part of the reign. The valse, too, was great I v in favour ; and on occasions, at the Sandringham balls, the Prince would abandon himself to a hornpipe or Highland fling in. a manner calculated to make a Scotsman fling his tam-o’-shanter into the air, “A PROGRESSIVE.” M Prior to his almost fatal illness m 1871, the Prince was chiefly distinguished as the genial, gay, and accomplished leader cf society, the first gentleman in England, which was practically the only role open to him. The Queen took no one into her counsels after the death < f the Prince Consort, save her Ministers, so that the Heir-apparent was not called upon to be adviser to the Crown. He could not, like his brothers, devote himself either to the army or the navy, and the bent of his mind was not in the direction of art or literature. There was little left to him but to be a spec-ids ci unofficial Master of Cekemoni.es. The outburst of loyalty and affection evin.o xl by the people during his illness, and the: joy shown afc his recovery, touched the Prince very deeply, and found a response in the manner in winch, lid subsequently threw himself into public life, and endeavoured to further, by his patronage, the educational, philanthropic, and socialistic movements of the day, es-pe&ially hospitals and schemes for the better housing of the poor,

THE WOMEN THE KING ADMIRES. The attitude of the Prince to the women’s movement must not be overlooked, and while His xioyal Highness abhors anything which destroys the charm of femininity, he is very much imposed to give place aux dames. The Prince has not been a pampered elder son or orother, and his courtesy :o women is proverbial. "When he married, his beautiful Princess captured the na - tion uy storm, and the Prince has been unselfishly gratified at her immense popularity. Ho considers that it is desirable for ladies to give the grace of their v>rcscnco to public ceremonials, and he will never attend one, if he can avoid it, without having the Princess and! Jiis daughters with him; ana, failing them, the Duchess of York or Princess Louise generally accompanies him. His Royal Highness has been one of the most induigent of fathers, and has never coerced his daughters into, loveless' marriages for State reasons. While the Prince abhors a “blue,” he admires a clever and vivacious woman, and has full sympathy with the higher education movement and the opening c. professions to women. He and the Princess showed their approval of the

“lady doctor”" by opening the new laboratory of the London Medical School for Women in the summer of last year, and the speech which the Prince delivered on that occasion clearly revealed nis sympathy with the. pioneer efforts of Mrs Garrett-Anderson, whom he was careful to address as "Doctor. ' DRESS AND JEWELLERY. Oa matters of lady’s dress His Royal Highness is an acknowledged authority, and his taste is largely that of the fair Parisienne, who generally contrives to wear the exact costume suited to the occasion. Splendid jewels or costly materials do.net compensate in the Prince’s eye, for want of style and fit, and the Princess would not appear in his presence with wrinkles in her bodice “for worlds. The elegance of her toilettes reflects the taste of his' Royal iiighnees. The influence of the Prince in society has certanly been in the direction, of giving power and influence to women. We ■have advanced a long way from the time when ladies peered from the window of an upper chamber at their lords feasting 'below'in the hall of the castle; and the rapid change in the social intermingling of" the sexes lias been accelerated oy the Prince, who has made hard drinking and thd use of profane language “bad form” at social gatherings where ladies are present—a matter of decorum which would have been laughed to scorn by William IV.

His Royal Highness is as great a stickler for the forms of outward propriety as he is - panctilious about the observance of the most trivial detail At Court etiquette. His influence upon fashions for men Las been salutary. It cannot ha said of him, as it was of cite Prince Regent, that his greatest achievement was the invention of a shoe-buckle. The Prince of Wales lias always discountenanced foppery, dandyism, and effiminacy, and set an example of severe simplicity in male attire, not uncombined with elegance. A man in frills and with heavy bejewedled hands would give the Prince the colic.