King Edward VII A popular Sovereign

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVIII, Issue XXV, 21 June 1902, Page 1260

King Edward VII A popular Sovereign

- CAREER IN BRIEF. 1841—Born at Buckingham Palace. 1841—Created Prince of .Wales. 1854—Took his place, for the first time, beside the Queen and Prince Consort upon the Throne. 1858—Colonel in the army. 1858— Receives the Garter. 1859 — Studies at Edinburgh. t 1859— Studies at Oxford. 1860 — Visited Canada and United States. 1861— First term at Cambridge. 1861— Military training, Curragh. 1862 — General. 1862— Travelled on the Continent. 1863 — Married. 1864— Duke of Clarence born. , 1864— Visited Denmark, Sweden and Russia. 1865 — Duke of York born. 1869—Egypt. 1871—Attacked with ty- ' phoid fever. ■ 1872—Thanksgiving service, St. Paul’s. 1874— Grand Master of the Freemasons in Eng- ' land. 1875— Field-Marshal, j 1875—Visited India. ' 1884 — Maiden speech House of Lords. ' 1885—Tour through Ire- ’ land. 1888—Silver wedding. 1892 —Death of Duke of ’ Clarence. • 1897—Prince of Wales’ Hospital Fund. 1901 — Proclaimed King. 1902— Crowned at Westminster.

His Majesty King Edward's coronation at Westminster this month will be celebrated as loyally by his subjects in the remotest corners of the Empire as by the hundreds of thousands who in London obtain a glimpse of some portion of the magnificent ceremonial itself. For King Edward holds a place in the regard of his people both at Home and beyond the sens .absolutely unique in the history of our throne. The career of His Majesty has been such as to attach him by the most intimate and enduring ties to the hearts of his people. The fact that he Is the son of the Prince Consort and of our be-

loved Queen, who rests in God, might alone give him a foremost place in the heart of the nation, but his marriage and his happy life with thej Princess who is now our Queen; his illness thirty years ago, when he escaped death by a miracle; his ardent interest in our national life, our charities, our social reforms, our sports and pastimes; his attempted assassination in Brussels: his heroic bearing during the trying period of the war, the illness of the Queen, and her death, have all endeared him to us in such a manner as to make him the most popular man not only in the restricted field of the United Kingdom, but in the wider realm of the Empire.

To give an adequate account of the King in the small space at odr disposal is not an easy matter, and such a description as follows must be accepted merely as a rough sketch of an exceptionally interesting life story. EARLY YEARS. His Majesty, King Edward VII., was born on the 9th of November, 1841, at Buckingham Palace. From Windsor, to which the Court removed on the 6th of December, his mother, the lamented Queen, wrote next day to King Leopold—“We arrived here safe and sound, with our awfully large nursery establishment, yesterday morning'. I wonder very much whom our little boy will be like. You will understand how fervent are my prayers, and I am sure everybody's must be, to see him resemble his father in every respect, both in body and mind.” The Prince was baptised in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, on the 25th ’of January, 1842. King Frederick William of Prussia was invited to be the boy’s godfather, and he came over personally to undertake the office. When the Prince and the other Royal children came to be under governesses and teachers, they were taught well the usual branches of early education, and were also trained in practical ways, the boys in the use of tools, and the girls in household work, especially when the Swiss Cottage at Osborne was occupied by the young folk. When the then Heir Apparent was barely six years old the Queen and the Prince Consort with their two eldest children embarked at Osborne in the Royal yacht, and proceeded along the coast of Wales and then past the Isle of Man to the Scottish coast. At Rothesay, in the Isle of Bute, the Prince Consort wrote —

“The people were as much rejoiced to see the Duke of Rothesay as the Welsh to salute the Prince of Wales on their native ground.” In the spring of 1849 Prince Albert

wrote to the Dowager Duchess of Gotha —“The children grow more than well. Bertie will be given over in a few weeks into the hands of a tutor, whom we have found in Mr fciireii, a young, good-looking, amiable (man, who was a tutor at Eton, and (who not only himself took the highest {honours at Cambridge, but whose pupils have won especial distinction. Ji is an important step, and God’s blessing be upon it, for upon the good education of Princes, and especially of those who are destined to govern, the welfare of the world in these days very greatly depends.” As in the earlier years, so when the young Prince was under tutors, the real education for public life was less In . study than in the companionship and the example of his parents. A man of wide knowledge and of varied accomplishments like the Prince Consort had higher views of education than mere scholastic routine. He took his son to all places where a love of arts and sciences might be encouraged and fostered, and hence the Prince obtained knowledge and acquired tastes not universal among young Englishmen in times before the subjects of academic training and honours had been enlarged, mainly through the influence of the Prince Consort as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. From his father also he inherited the taste Jor music which has been since turned to national benefit. But, above all, he was often taken to meetings and festivals connected with charitable institutions, a Princely duty in which the son has been proud to follow the example of his lamented father. The youth of the Prince of Wales does not appear to have been marked by any showy performances of brilliant promise. His mind seems to be

of that order which develops gradually and flowers late. Each step in his career has succeeded its predecessor In fair and natural gradation. As early as the 3rd of April, 1854, when the addresses from both Houses of Parliament were presented to the Queen, in answer to Her Majesty’s message announcing the opening of war with Russia, the Prince of Wales took his place for the first time beside the Queen and Prince Albert upon, the throne. SECONDARY AND UNIVERSITY

EDUCATION. “I was once,” a writer in one of the magazines many years ago tells us, “at a pretty place in the Rhine, staying in a dwelling which had, for some months, been the abode of the Prince. He was then, I believe, attending lectures at the University of Bonn, in pursuance of the original scheme that he should attend a circuit of Universities. Anyone in the village was ready to talk about the Prince. The very boys who accompanied me up the Draehenfels were ready to shout for Old England, and told how the Prince had tossed to them largess.”

Wnen he was afterwards at Rome, the ladies were simply delighted with him. The thoughtful aspect, the modest, unassuming manner, the kind graciousuess, were quite his own, and propitiated the warmest regard. At Edinburgh, where he was a pupil of the Royal High School, and in 1859 studied for one session at the University, his instructors spoke of him as possessing more than the common ability, and much more than the common assuidity. Tn very much the same vein was the language of the authorities at Oxford and Cambridge. When the Prince arrived at Oxford for the purpose of matriculating at Christ Church,, in the streets the plaudits were loud enough; but when he had passed the massive gates, and entered the spacious quadrangle,

there was a very different scene. Scarcely a sound was heard, but as the simple carriage drove up, every: collegiate cap was uplifted. At first the Prince attracted the general gaze, but town and gown soon became familiarised with the appearance of His Royal Highness moving carelessly with his friends down the High-street. It was evident that the Prince was at Oxford with a serious purpose. He read regularly, giving a larger attention to natural science than was usual at that time among Oxford men. His attendance at College chapel in the Cathedral was most exemplary, and must have rather! raised the average attendance among the men; for College tutors would sternly ask delinquents how, if the Prince of Wales attended so regularly, they could not at least follow so eminent an example. To the debates at that mimic St. Stephen’s, the Oxford Union, the Prince gave great attention, and was pretty constant in his attendance. The whole assembly would rise for a minute while he was entering or leaving, but beyond this the freedom of the debate was not at all interfered with. Indeed, this freedom was sometimes carried to a great length. Young political enthusiasts are net very guarded in their language, and it frequently happened the Prince was called upon to listen to a great deal of democratic and violent language, which he used to do with unimpaired cheerfulness and close observation. On some occasions he was challenged for his vote, but this he always declined to give. EXTENSIVE TRAVELS. Before he left Cambridge the Prince made his famous trip across the Atlantic in redemption of a promise that he would visit Canada, given to the Canadians during the Crimean War, for which Her Majesty’s loya-X subjects in the Dominion had levied and equipped a regiment. The ton* was made in 1860, the Prince travelling as “Lord Renfrew.” Through Canada he made quite a triumphant progress. The newspapers pronounced him “the most perfect production oi nature,” and gave full details of his doings. They were especially struck by the gracefulness of his dancing, and by the fact that he took a fresh partner to each dance. The projected visit had no sooner become known on the other side of the water than the President of the

United States, James Buchanan, ad- ' dressed a letter to the Queen offer- • ing a coydial welcome to the States, and assuring Her Majesty that the Prince would be everywhere greeted in a manner that could not fail to be gratifying to the Queen. The Prince started foi- the New World in July, and landed at St. John’s, Newfoundland. His arrival caused a fever of excitement. The rough fishermen and their wives were delighted, and were full of admiration. “God bless his pretty face, and send him a good wife!” was their most frequent exclamation. The same enthusiasm was shown everywhere in Canada. Besides laying the foundation stone of the buildings for the Parliament House at Ottawa, the Prince performed another memorable action in driving home the last rivet of the magnificent Victoria Bridge at Montreal. He visited Niagara Falls, and it was here than Blondin offered to carry him across the thunderous waters on his back, balanced on a tight-rope. Not strangely, the invitation was declined. Proceeding to the United States, his reception in Chicago was remarkable. It was the same in Cin.innati, and at St. Louis. A pleasant record of the prevailing

feeling is given in a letter from a well-known American author. “The Prince is decidedly a popular character with ua. and he may consider himself a xucky lad if he escapes nomination for President before he reaches his home-bound fleet.” The Prince visited the home and burialplace of George Washington at Mount Vernon. The great-grandson of George HI. stood bare-headed at the foot of the coftin of Washington. For a few moments the party stood mute and motionless, and the Prince then proceeded to plant a chestnut by the side of the tomb. “It seemed when the Royal youth closed in the earth around the little gerip,” wrote a newspaper correspondent, “that he was burying the last faint trace of discord between us and our great brethren in the West.” The Prince reached home after an absence of four months.

This tour was by no means the first of His Majesty’s voyages, for he started early to see the world. He has been an indefatigable tourist and traveller from the day when, as Baron Renfrew, he made the conventional “Grand Tour.” When just 18 he started for Italy, afterwards passing to Malta and Gibraltar, and through northern Spain. After the visit to the New World, except for a trip to Germany, he had a brief rest. In 1861 an extensive Eastern tour was arranged. The impression made upon the Prince by the sacred places of Jerusalem was deep and lasting, as the late Dean Stanley, vyho accompanied him, bears witness. From Jerusalem to Damascus, on the edge of the Syrian desert, by Baalbec to Beyrout, and so to Tripoli (Syria), thence by the Greek islands to the Golden Horn and back to Athens: this astonishing round of instructive sightseeing ended at the stairs of Malta, Where the Prince once more touched on British ground. A deeper and more useful purpose underlaid the g-reatest and most distant. of the King’s many peregrinations, that which took him through the vast, dominions that have so lately acclaimed him Kaiser-i-Hind, Emperor of India. His route led him through Italy to Brindisi, where he embarked Upon H.M.S. Serapis, one of the finest of the great Indian troopships, and passing by Athens, Port Said, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea (after a third short halt at Cairo) reached his first point, Bombay. Here began that exuberant welcome that greeted him throughout India, shown in such a

wealth of passionate enthusiasm and unrivalled gorgeous display as is possible only in the “shiny” East. From Bombay* to Ceylon, from Ceylon to Madras, and finally to Caleutta, at all the coast-wise stations which had grown from trading posts to rank with the richest cities of any time or people, it was the same. The tour practically ended with a visit to Nepaul, when the Prince proved himself a mighty hunter, a great shikari, and shot many tigers and other big game iu the famous jungles of the Terai. AN IDYLLIC LOVE STORY. It was the year after this that the romance of our King's life occurred. The Prince's courtship and marriage savoured of the most poetical traditions of the Middle Ages. Before the Prince Consort’s death it had been almost settled between him and the Queen that the Prince of Wales should seek a wife among the German princesses; and the young Prince, brought up as he had been in the strictest habits of obedience, was prepared to accede to ths wishes of his parents, till the merest accident upset all calculations. A young German officer, who was a friend of the Prince, informed His Royal Highness one day that he was engaged to be married, and that he would like to show him the portrait of his bride-elect. He gave the Prince a -photograph of a beautiful young girl, wearing the plainest of white muslin frocks, with her hair brushed back from her brow and a narrow black velvet ribbon tied round her throat. The Prince immediately asked the name of the original, when the young officer discovered that by mistake he had given the Prince the portrait of the King of Denmark's second daughter. When the mistake was explained the Prince refused to return the photograph, and a few days later, on seeing a miniature of the same lady in the Duchess of Cambridge’s drawing room, he declared there and then that he would marry only the original of these two pictures.

There is no doubt that at first the Queen was not disposed to abandon her original intention; but the young Prince, full of ardour and enthusiasm, pleaded his cause so well with King Leopold of Belgium (the Uncle Leopold of the Queen’s diaries) that when, a little later, Her Majesty paid the Belgian King a visit at Laeken. he succeeded in inducing her to consent to the marriage.

Previous to this the Prince, as though by accident, had met the Prin-

cess Alexandra of Denmark at Heidelberg. The Danish Royal family and the Prince of Wales chanced at the same time to be visiting the beauties of the old university town. In this artless fashion the Prince met his bride, and fell more deeply in love with her than he had with her picture.

The coming of age of the Prince was not celebrated with great ceremony, for he was abroad at the timff, and the shadow of sorrow was still over the Royal Household. But when the Prince brought home his bride the joy of the nation was unbounded. The passage of the Prince and Princess through the streets of London was a scene of an outburst of popular joy. The Prince and Princess spent the honeymoon at Osborne, and were afterwards presented with a succession of marriage congratulations. These demonstrations continued throughout the summer, the last being at Edinburgh, where their Royal Highnesses remained for a night on the way to Abergeldie, their Highland home near Balmoral. From the moment of the arrival of the Princess on Britain’s shores the Prince, as the happiest and proudest of bridegrooms, assumed a manly protectorship over her- who had the nation’s sympathy and affection to win. That this proved an easy task for the “Sea-kings' daughter from over the sea” we all know. Her beauty and graciousness proved even greater than had been believed; and from the moment of her arrival in England she who is now our Queen has held a position in the hearts of the people in which she has been without a rival. A GRAVE ILLNESS. If was after many years of married happiness that the greatest crisis in the King’s life came. Very few members of the younger generation realise that at one time it seemed as though Edward VII. were destined never to come to the Throne. On November 20, 1871, the nation was alarmed by the intelligence that the heir to the Throne lay smitten with typhoid fever at Sandringham. Following, as this grave news did, on the heels of Queen Victoria's illness a few weeks previously, when Her Majesty had a breakdown from overwork which resulted in her being much troubled with her throat, it was but natural that the public evinced the gravest anxiety concerning the course of the Prince of Wales’ illness.

Moreover, what enhanced the gene-

ral apprehension, if that were possible, was the fact that his father, the Prince Consort, had been cut off iu bis prime by the same fell malady. It is generally supposed that the disease was contracted while the Prince was staying with Lord Loudesborough at Scarborough; on the other band, some trace it to the then existing bad sanitation at Sandringham. Very few people cun realise the intense anxiety with which the natiou read the bulletins day by day and hour by hour—an anxiety which has only been equalled by that with which we all so recently awaited the news of the course of the Queen’s last illness. Excited crowns gathered outside the Mansion House and Marlborough House, eagerly scanning the latest bulletins.

The Queen herself took her place at the sufferer's sick bed, and the public anxiety was further relieved by the knowledge that Princess Louis of Hesse, a nurse of great technical skill, had installed herself in charge of the sick room.

Prayers were offered up in every church in the kingdom. After five-and-twenty weary days the Prince, who had shown signs of recovery, had a severe relapse, and his death was expected at auy moment. What added to the anxiety of the time was the fear that the shock of the bereavement might prove fatal to the Queen. The people bethought them that now only two precarious lives stood between the Empire and a Regency, and they remembered how fatal this had been to France. When, on December 9, it was announced that the members of the Royal family had been hurriedly summoned to Sandringham securities in the money market fell considerably. The medical advisers twice told Her Majesty that the end was at hand; but oh the tenth anniversary of his father’s death —December 14—the Prince made a rally, and before the year closed an ofnClal announcement had dispelled all apprehension.

Shortly after this the Queen sent a grateful and gracious message to her people. Nevertheless the convalescence of the Prince of Wales obscured all other topics of political interest during the first weeks of 1872. All of us have heard of Thanksgiving Day—that memorable Tuesday, February 27, when the Queen went in State to St. Paul’s Cathedral to return thanks for her son’s recovery.

It was a splendid pageant, on which the wintry sun shone clear and bright on that cold day. Not even during the first Jubilee procession was tne demand for tickets and seats greater than on thia occasion. Lord Shaftesbury haa told us that every vehicle was engaged weeks before, many at fabulous prices, and on the great day “thoroughfares like St. James’ street were impassable, because "for two days before the event they were blocked by crowds who had come to see the preparations.” The day was celebrated as a national holiday, the spectators along the route numbering nearly a couple of millions.

IVe have not sufficient space at our disposal to describe in detail the procession which set out from St. James' Palace five minutes after noonday. Suffice it that in the last of the nine Royal carriages sat the Queen, looking supremely happy, and the Prince and Princess of Wales. Though somewhat haggard and pale, the Prince’s face was "radiant with gratitude”; and well it might be, for never was a more magnificent demonstration of love and loyalty than the Queen and her son received that day, the shouts of the populace echoing on all hands.

The Lord Mayor met the procession at Temple Bar, and preceded it to St. Paul’s, the Royal party entering the Cathedral on the stroke of one o’clock.

Never was a more impressive service witnessed inside the Cathedral, the 13,000 members of the congregation being nearly all men and women who were either of distinguished rank and birth, or whose talents had made their names household words. The Empire, the Court, the Army, the Navy, and all the learned professions were represented as they have probably never been represented before or since.

The Bishop of London received Her Majesty, who, leaning on her son’s arm, walked up the nave in a procession; the service being begun by the singing of the “Te Deum” by a choir of 250 voices. Archbishop Tait pronounced the Benediction, and delivered the sermon, the ceremony ending at two o’clock, when the procession returned to Buckingham Palace. That, night the dome of the west front of St. Paul’s was illuminated, being picked out by a double row of coloured ship's lanterns; the Cathedral itself standing out in lurid splendour, when transient shafts of limelight fell on it at frequent intervale.

None who took a part, no piatter how humble, in that day’s doings, will ever forget the events he witnessed, and the whole-hearted enthusiasm of the pebple at our present King’s recover v.

A SYNOPSIS OF IMPORTANT EVENTS.

The Prince has always been an ardent supporter of Freemasonry. Initiated in Sweden in 1868 by the late King, he was made a Past Grand Master in England in 1869. When the Marquis of Ripon resigned, the Prince was elected Grand Master. He has been several times Worshipful Master of the Royal Alpha Lodge, which consists of thirty-three Grand officers, generally noblemen. He was installed on 12th October, 1870, as patron of the Freemasons of Scotland, a position held by George IV. and William IV. Of the many festivals over which he has presided, one of the most remarkable was the centenary of the Masonic Girls’ School, held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1888, when the King of Sweden was present, and the list of subscriptions then announced reached the sum of £51,500, perhaps the largest amount raised at a festival dinner.

There is hardly any need to refer to the great interest which His Royal Highness has taken in the Volunteer movement. On several occasions he lias shown his regard for those who devote their spare time to training that they may be able to defend their country in time of need. He has always been proud of being a Volunteer, and in 1862 when he was honorary colonel of the Civil Service Volunteers, he addressed the men aa “ brother Volunteers." In the following year he went to Berlin to take

part in the Court festivities in connection with the celebration of the Hirer wedding of the Crown Prince and Princess Royal of England. He was afterwards made a Field-Marshal in the German Army. The Prince and Princess of Wales paid another visit to Ireland in April <jf 1885. The political affairs of that country while not in the same state of unrest as on their former visit in 1868 were even then far from tranquil. The Royal visit greatly exercised all classes of the community of Dublin. Unsuccessful attempts were made by the Nationalist party to foment hostility, and the landing at Kingston duly took place, the Royal visitors remaining in the country for eight days, visiting among other towns Mallow and Cork. The fiery speeches of Home Rule leaders, recklessly employed for exciting the rougher elements of th e populace, only served to accentuate the warmth t i the welcome to the distinguished visitors. Addresses were presented from different bodies, and the Degrees of Doctor of Laws and Doctor of Music were conferred upon him. A new dock was opened, industrial and other houses visited, and the remarkable success of the whole arrangements gave great satisfaction to the Irish people.

The Prince visited Paris’ Exhibition in 1889, and later in the same year attended the wedding of the Duke of Sparta at Athens. In May, 1891, he became a grandfather through the birth of the Duchess of life’s daughter. He was a member of the Poor Law Commission in 1893, and attended its sittings with assiduity.

The Prince joined the Russian Imperial family at the death of the Czar in 1894. By his courteous attention to Russian etiquette, and constant attendance at the various ceremonies, he won the affection of the Russians to a marked degree. Of more recent years the events in the King's life are too well remembered to need lengthy reference. Evryone recollects how he represented the Queen at the great Naval Review in connection with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, in which 150 vessels of war took part; and how he rode by Her] Majesty’s side in the grand and memorable procession of Diamond Jubilee Day. Two other incidents that cannot be forgotten were of a less pleasant character. In July, 1898, when on a visit to Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor, he slipped on a staircase and fractured his knee-cap. It was a serious accident, and it was

feared that he would be lamed for life. But with skilful surgery and careful nursing, he recovered entirely from ita effects. The accident called forth from far and near expressions of cordial sympathy with His Royal Highness. These expressions were, however, as nothing compared with the sympathy, allied with indignation, when, in the early part of 1900. the Prince of Wales had a narrow escape from assassination. He was travelling to Denmark with the Princess, and the train was just moving from Brussels station when a young anarchist jumped up to the carriage door and fired at the Prince. One of the bullets went startlingly near the Prince, hut, happily, he escaped injury, and his assailant was promptly captured. News of the attempt on the prince’s life created an immense sensation, end when he returned to England after hrs visit to the Princess’ home, he got a reception such as even he had never experienced beforeAS A CHURCHMAN. When the establishment at Sandringham was in full swing, the list of visitors who were invited to stay there from Saturday till Monday generally included a notable divine, who was expected to preach on Sun-

day. Men of almost all opinions have stood up in the carved pulpit, but the King follows the late Queen’s example in preferring short to lengthy sermons. At the same time, whether the preacher be brilliant or dull, the demeanour of the Royal Family in church sets an excellent example to the rest of the congregation.

Neither King Edward nor Queen Alexandra are merely theoretical “good people.” Their charity is immense, and is seldom, if ever, advertised. They both have passed many anxious hours planning and devising for the good of their fellow men, and more especially for the lower classes, with whom they are personally brought in contact on their estate. A strong note in the King’s religion is the extreme reverence he has for the dead. When he visited the Crimea he was deeply moved and troubled to find that the burying places where the English lay were in a shocking condition of neglect. Many of them were almost obliterated for want of oare, and there was frequently no record of the names of those who lay beneath the sod. So deeply did he feel on this subject that on his return to England he agitated very strongly for some improvement in this matter, and worked so persist-

ently at the question that at length’ the late Lord Clarendon, then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, had to take steps to inclose the graves of the men who had fought and fallen for their country.

His views are decidedly broad, and he prefers that a service should ba choral, and accompanied by due observances and dignity. Yet his admiration for the picturesque has never induced him to attend service in anything but an English church, although he has of course visited as a sightseer all the great cathedrals in Europe. The King was once in Rome at Easter, a time when the rest of the world puts aside all religious conviction and flocks to see the splendid ceremonials at St. Peter’s or at other famous fanes of the Papal City. Yet on Easter Sunday, when people of every sect and religion were crowding into Roman Catholic churches, the King went quietly into the plain little English church, remarking as he did so that when Church of England people were in Rome they should be more than usually particular to uphold their own form of faith.

Of the Turf the King has always been a constant devotee; but he had to wait long before the fickle goddess

of- fortune would smile upon him; unlike his great uncle, who won the Derby in 1788, and in four years carried off 184 races. But perseverance and good judgment have their reward, and when Florizel 11., son of St. Simon and Perdita JI., carried Calder to victory in the Prince’s first real success, it was a very popular win. After this Persimmon and Diamond Jubilee won him still higher honours. His interest in “the sport of kings” is only equalled by that in yachting. His yacht Britannia has frequently carried his colours to victory. THE MONARCH’S QUALIFICATIONS. And so our King ascended the throne a man of versatile tastes and keen perceptions, eminently fitted to fill the difficult office to which he was called. He has lived much in the public eye, and haa never been hedged about by secrecy. He has taken part in all such pursuits as engross his countrymen, and has performed all the civic duties which fall to the lot of patriots. He has worked hard and persistently. There is nothing that affects the welfare of the State that is alien to him. He is tireless in making speeches upon his favourite topics; he is indefatigable in or-

ganising the enterprises to which he baa given approval. Of late years he has professed a keen and intelligent interest in the most important question of our time —the housing of the poor. What the hospitals of London owe to him is incalculable, and on many a committee his presence has been a guarantee of good work successfully accomplished. And it is in the domain of eharity and social legislation that a prince may most wisely exert his influence. «

Politics are beyond his reach, and it is the best proof of our King's tact that during all the years that he has sat in the House of Lords, he has played no active rote tn party politics.

There is a superstition, strengthened no doubt by many an illustrious example, that the Heir to the Throne sympathises with the Opposition. The liberalism of youth and" the reaction against a lofty position have, we are told, thrown many a prince into the dangerous field of political intrigaie. The heir - apparent, thought Maeanlay, was driven to sympathise with the Opposition by every feeling of ambition and vanity. “He cannot be more than second in the estimation of the party which is tn. He is kure to be the first member of the party that is out,” If Macaulay spoke the truth, then the conduct of the Prince of Wales is a sure augury that our King will rule well and wisely. For as heirapparent he thought as little of the Opposition as the Government. The affairs of the country were in the hand of Ministers to whom Her Majesty had entrusted them, and the Prince of Wales made no comment. Never has he cast a party vote; never has he spoken in a violent debate. The housing of the poor, for instance, is a subject in which all humane men may take an Interest, and the Bill to legalise marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, which he has always supported, is not likely to upset Governments or to Increase the din of party strife. Wherefore, it is impossible for us to divine the political sympathies of our King. He has always abstained, as we have said, from the hasty expression of views which might be controverted, and we cannot say whether the ruler who now sits upon our throne is Tory or Radical. One thing is abundantly clear—he is a patriot, who, we are confident, will rule Ms (and our) country with a firm hand and a wise head. But if his position has shut him out from politics, there are many enterprises in which he has taken a conspicuous interest. The Exhibitions, which in London, Paris, and elsewhere have done so "inch to encourage commercial reciprocity, and to discover the achievements of the nations, have found no more zealous patron than Edward VII. Moreover, musicians have never appealed to him in vain, and he has done his utmost for the cause of musical education. But above all, he is endeared to all Englishmen by his love of sport. At Sandringham he has always lived the life of a Country gentleman, and he has neglected nothing which properly belongs to a country life. He once described himself in a speech as “a farmer on a small scale,” and in Norfolk the encouragement he gives to farming is well understood. He is the President of the Koyal Agricultural Society, and a famous breeder of cattle. HOME LIFE. Few people outside the Royal Family and the circle of the King’s intimate friends are aware of the high standard of domestic life that he set himself and always has observed. The true affection that exists between the King and his relations is remarkable when judged by the records of other royal families, who as a rule are anything but united. While the King as a husband and father has never deserved any scathing criticism, he has never been fully credited with the affection and devotion he has shown as a family man. The romantic love that induced him, when little more than a boy, to overcome all obstacles to his union with Princess Alexandra of Denmark

baa never waned. During the illueea which in the late sixties kept her for many mouths bound to her couch his devoted attention to her slightest wish, his grief at her sufferings, and his delight at her restoration to health, were proofs of his sincere affection. ....

Further proof, if such were needed, of the King's claim to be considered a thoroughly domesticated man is the wonderful love and respect that from the very first his children have shown to him. Boys are very quick to see holes in their fathers’ armour when they exist, but his two sons always regardeel him as the beau ideal of all that a father a man and a prospective King should be. They rightly considered that in point of etiquette, tact and knowledge he could do little wrong, and in oil ways they have re-

garded bia taste as a reliable model. The King and Queen have, of course, been subject to the “fierce light that beats upon the throne.” but so far as their domestic life is concerned, they can afford to laugh at and defy criticism, while they remember that a good husband has other and graver duties in life than paying attentions to a pretty wife.

They have had six children, four of whom are living. Their eldest son, the Duke of Clarence, born in 1864, died in 1892, only a few weeks after his betrothal to his cousin, the Princess May of Teck. The Duke of York, now Prince of Wales, is their second son, and was born in 1865, and married to the Princess May in 1893. Of the three daughters of the King and Queen one is l>uch“ss of Fife, another Princess Charles of Denmark, and the

third. Princess Victoria, rem ai ns unmarried. The sixth child. Prince Alexander, died shortly after his birth in 1871. God bless the King! He has the nation’s warmest wishes for a glorious reign. There has never been an unworthy King Edward of England yet. nomen!