THE LIFE OF KING EDWARD VII
WITH A SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF KING GEORGE V
By J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.S.S.
1910
_Author of "Queen Victoria, Her Life and Reign;" "Life and Work of
Mr. Gladstone;" "The Story of the Dominion", &c., &c._
Profusely Illustrated
Copyright 1910, by
W. E. Scull.
PREFACE
During a number of years' study of British institutions in their modern
development and of British public life in its adjustment to new and
changing conditions I have felt an ever-growing appreciation of the
active influence exercised by the late Sovereign of the British Empire
upon the social life and public interests of the United Kingdom and an
ever-increasing admiration for his natural abilities and rare
tactfulness of character. King Edward the Seventh, in a sixty years'
tenure of the difficult position of Heir to the British Throne, built
into the history of his country and Empire a record of which he and his
people had every reason to be proud. He had for many years the
responsibilities of a Royal position without the actual power; the
public functions of a great ruler without the resources usually
available; the knowledge, experience and statecraft of a wise Sovereign
without Regal environment.
The Prince of Wales, however, rose above the apparent difficulties of
his position and for more than a quarter of a century emulated the wise
example of his princely father--Albert the Good--and profited by the
beautiful character and unquestioned statesmanship of his august mother.
As with all those upon whose life beats the glare of ever-present
publicity and upon whose actions the press of friendly and hostile
nations alike have the privilege of ceaseless comment, the Heir to the
British Throne had to suffer from atrocious canards as well as from
fulsome compliments. Unlike many others, however, he afterwards lived
down the falsehoods of an early time; conquered by his clear, open life
the occasional hostility of a later day; and at the period of his
accession to the Throne was, without and beyond question, the best liked
Prince in Europe--the most universally popular man in the United
Kingdom and its external Empire. Upon the verge of His Majesty's
Coronation there occurred that sudden and dramatic illness which proved
so well the bravery and patience of the man, and increased so greatly
the popularity and _prestige_ of the Monarch.
Since then the late King has yearly grown in the regard of his people
abroad, in the respect of other rulers and nations, in the admiration of
all who understood the difficulties of his position, the real force of
his personality and influence, the power with which he drew to the
Throne--even after the remarkable reign of Victoria the Good--an
increased affection and loyalty from Australians and South Africans and
Canadians alike, an added confidence and loyal faith in his judgment
from all his British peoples whether at home or over seas.
In the United States, which King Edward always regarded with an
admiration which the enterprise and energy of its people so well
deserved, he in turn received a degree of respect and regard which did
not at one time seem probable. To him, ever since the visit to the
Republic in 1860, a closer and better relation between the two great
countries had been an ideal toward which as statesman and Prince and
Sovereign he guided the English-speaking race.
The reader of these pages will, I hope, receive a permanent impression
of the career and character of one who has been at once a popular
Prince, a great King, a worthy head of the British Empire and of his own
family, a statesman who has won and worn the proud title of "The Royal
Peacemaker."
J. CASTELL HOPKINS.
_Toronto, Canada, 1910._
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
The Crown and the Empire 17
CHAPTER II.
Early Years and Education of the Prince 31
CHAPTER III.
Royal Tour of British America and the United States 47
CHAPTER IV.
The Royal Marriage 69
CHAPTER V.
Early Home Life and Public Duties 79
CHAPTER VI.
Travels in the East 99
CHAPTER VII.
Serious Illness of the Prince 117
CHAPTER VIII.
The Prince of Wales in India 131
CHAPTER IX.
Thirty Years of Public Work 162
CHAPTER X.
Special Functions and Interests 181
CHAPTER XI.
The Prince and His Family 191
CHAPTER XII.
The Prince as a Social Leader 203
CHAPTER XIII.
The Prince as a Sportsman 211
CHAPTER XIV.
Habits and Character of the Prince 218
CHAPTER XV.
The Prince as an Empire Statesman 234
CHAPTER XVI.
The Prince as Heir Apparent 248
CHAPTER XVII.
Accession to the Throne 268
CHAPTER XVIII.
The First Year of the New Reign 286
CHAPTER XIX.
Empire Tour of the New Heir to the Throne 305
CHAPTER XX.
The King and the South African War 351
CHAPTER XXI.
Preparations for the Coronation 368
CHAPTER XXII.
Serious Illness of the King 380
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Coronation 391
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Reign of King Edward 420
CHAPTER XXV.
The King as a Diplomatist and Peace-maker 432
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Death of King Edward 440
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Solemn Funeral of the King 451
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The New King and His Imperial Responsibilities 461
CHAPTER I.
The Crown and the Empire
The great development of a political nature in the British Empire of the
nineteenth century was the complete harmony which gradually evolved
between the Monarchy and a world-wide democracy. This process was
all-important because it eliminated an element of internal discord which
has destroyed more than one nation in the past; because it permitted the
peaceful progress of scattered states to continue through the passing
years without having questions of allegiance to seriously hamper their
growth; because it trained political thought along lines of stability
and continuity and made loyalty and liberty consistent and almost
synonymous terms; because it made the Crown the central symbol of the
Empire's unity, the visible object of a world-wide allegiance, the
special token of a common aspiration and a common sentiment amongst many
millions of English-speaking people--the subject of untutored reverence
and unquestioned respect amongst hundreds of millions of other races.
THE POSITION OF THE CROWN
The chief factor in this development was the late Queen Victoria, and to
the inheritance of the fabric thus evolved came a son who was educated
amid the constitutional environment in which she lived and was trained
in the Imperial ideas which she so strongly held and so wisely impressed
upon her statesmen, her family and her people. King Edward came into
responsibilities which were greater and more imposing than those ever
before inherited by a reigning sovereign. He had not only the great
example and life of his predecessor as a model and as a comparison; not
only the same vast and ever-changing and expanding Empire to rule over;
not only a similar myriad-eyed press and public to watch his every
expression and movement; but he entered with his people upon a new
century in which one of the first and most prominent features is a decay
in popular respect for Parliament and a revival of the old-time love for
stately display, for ceremonial and for the appropriate trappings of
royalty. With this evident and growing influence of the Crown as a
social and popular factor is the knowledge which all statesmen and
constitutional students now possess of the personal influence in
diplomacy and statecraft which was wielded by the late Queen Victoria
and which the experience and tact of the new Monarch enabled him to also
test and prove. Side by side with these two elements in the situation
was the conviction which has now become fixed throughout the Empire that
the Crown is the pivot upon which its unity and future co-operation
naturally and properly turns; that the Sovereign is the one possible
central figure of allegiance for all its scattered countries and
world-wide races; that without the Crown as the symbol of union and the
King as the living object of allegiance and personal sentiment the
British realms would be a series of separated units.
These facts lend additional importance to the character and history of
the Monarchy; to the influences which have controlled the life and
labours of King Edward; to the abilities which have marked his career
and the elements which have entered into the making of his character. He
may not in succeeding years of his reign have declared war like an
Edward I., or made secret diplomatic arrangements like a Charles II. He
may not have manipulated foreign combinations like a William III., or
dismissed his Ministers at pleasure like a George III., or worked one
faction in his Kingdom against another like a Charles I. None of these
things have been attempted, nor will his successor desire to undertake
them. But none the less there lay in his hand a vast and growing
power--the personal influence wielded by a popular and experienced
Monarch over his Ministry, his Court, his Diplomatic Staff throughout
the world, and his high officers in the Army and Navy. The prestige of
his personal honours or personal wishes and the known Imperialism of his
personal opinions must have had great weight in controlling Colonial
policy in London; while his experience of European and Eastern
statecraft through many years of close intercourse with foreign and home
statesmen undoubtedly had a marvelous effect in the control of British
policy abroad.
To the external Empire, as constituted at the beginning of the twentieth
century, the Crown is a many-sided factor. The personal and diplomatic
influence of the Sovereign is obvious and was illustrated by Queen
Victoria in such historic incidents as the personal relations with King
Louis Philippe which probably averted a war with France in the early
forties; in the later friendship with Louis Napoleon which helped to
make the Crimean War alliance possible; in the refusal by the Queen to
assent to a certain _casus belli_ despatch during the American War which
saved Great Britain from being drawn into the struggle; in her influence
upon the Cabinet in connection with the Schleswig-Holstein question,
which was exerted to such an extent (according to Lord Malmesbury) as to
have averted a possible conflict with Germany.
The political power of the Crown and its wearer is proven to exist in
the dismissal of Lord Palmerston for his rash recognition of the French