King Edward VII

“ On these principles, therefore, King Edward VII. was educated, namely, that the best way to build up a noble and princely character was to bring it into intelligent sympathy with the best movements of the age.
After some further discussion Prince Albert opened negotiations with Mr. Henry Birch, afterwards rector of Prestwich, near Manchester, the gentleman who was ultimately entrusted with the responsible position of tutor to the future ruler of the British Empire. This young man had been educated at Eton, where he had been captain of the school and obtained the Newcastle medal. ”

“ Certainly we have become more cosmopolitan since those days; we have come to see that the manners and customs of foreign nations are not perhaps always so absurd as our forefathers, at any rate, supposed, and may even in some few respects be worthy of adoption and imitation.
In this salutary process of national illumination King Edward VII. undoubtedly played a considerable part. From the beginning of his public career he endeared himself to his future subjects by his natural bonhomie, his tact, and a certain indefinable touch of human sympathy which characterised all his actions and speeches. ”

“ The first year's reign of a Sovereign must always be important, and when that Sovereign rules over a third of the earth's surface and a quarter of its population, it is more than usually so. King Edward VII., when he came to the Throne, found himself the first of Mohammedan rulers, with more Moslem subjects than the Sultan of Turkey; the first of Brahmin and Parsee Sovereigns; the head of various Confucian colonies and the possessor of the most sacred of Buddhist shrines; the ruler of Christian sects and idolatries of every conceivable kind and variety. ”

“ Never had a country a more popular king than King Edward VII, nor a more gracious queen than Queen Alexandra, and never was a happier day for the English people than that on which King Edward was crowned. ”

“ Probably no wiser monarch ever reigned over a nation." To the New Brunswick press the local Premier, Hon. Douglas Hazen, said: "King Edward's reign was a comparatively short one, but the verdict of history will undoubtedly be that he was one of the wisest and greatest rulers that ever sat upon a throne. He took a most keen and active interest in all his country's institutions, endeavouring at all times to promote the well-being of his subjects and to show his appreciation of the British Dominions beyond the Seas." ”

“ He gave his best, his last—for England's sake.
⁠⁠
The regal purple and the ring of gold
⁠As fraught with new significance, he wore:
The sceptre handed from his sires of old
⁠Had meanings it had never known before:
To heal the sick, the sorrowful to cheer,
⁠The poor and desolate his friends to make,
He held as sovereignty: and, void of fear,
⁠Counted no cost too great—for England's sake.
⁠⁠
King among Kings, man among simple men,
⁠With all humanity for kith and kin,
What better guerdon can we wish him, then,
⁠Than Peace—that peace where he has entered in? ”

“ 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. ”

“ King Edward's life as a devotee of duty, as a sportsman in the best sense of the word, as an ardent and discriminating patron of the arts, as a good business man at the head of a great business community, possessed of intuitive shrewdness in the management of men and difficult situations, as a keen social reformer with "no self apart from his people," was then dwelt upon. It would be impossible in any limited space to analyze the views of the British press. The Times declared that "his people loved him for his honesty and kindly courtesy. ”

“ Addressing a British Parliamentary Delegation to Paris on November 26th, the Premier, M. Combes, eulogized King Edward and toasted him as the sovereign to whom they owed the treaty. At the annual banquet of the British Chamber of Commerce in Paris on December 3d, its president, Mr. O. E. Bodington, made a similar reference to the King. To the Montreal Witness on December 7th, Senator Dandurand, who had just returned from England, paid the following French-Canadian tribute to His Majesty: "The King is the most popular crowned head in Europe to-day. ”

“ It is sometimes forgotten that the King not only embodies the authority of his vast realm in his position, but must concentrate in his own person a natural strength of pride in his Empire so great as to be far beyond the possibility of a reflection upon its patriotism. He would hardly be human in his qualities if the most intense patriotic pride in the unity and power of his realms was not the first and strongest instinct of his nature. ”

“ He is beloved at home, he is admired and praised in France, he is respected by every Power on the Continent."
But the Continental tour of 1903 by King Edward did more than effect great results in France. The signing of a Treaty of Arbitration with Italy in January, 1904, with Spain in March, and with Germany on July 12th—following upon the King's visit to Berlin in June—were supposed to be largely due to His Majesty's personal influence with the rulers of those countries and to a popularity with the masses which, in two cases at least, helped greatly in soothing current animosities. ”

“ He is a man of great compass of mind. Let us welcome him with our warmest appreciation." From across the Atlantic came the voice of the Prime Minister of Canada, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in his eloquent speech in Parliament on February 8th: "We have believed from the first that he who was a wise Prince will be a wise King, and that the policy which has made the British Empire so great under his predecessor will also be his policy." ”

“ The King during the reception was seated on a silver throne, and everything was done to invest the affair with the greatest pomp and circumstance. His suite all stood round him in full uniform; behind the throne was a portrait of Queen Victoria; and although the King was not supposed to hold durbars, the ceremony being simply styled a private visit or reception, it was in every way as impressive and remarkable as if it had carried full official significance.
An immense number of native Princes and Rajahs paid their respects in person to their future Sovereign. ”

“ Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.
After the Painting by Thorburn
When the King was fourteen he started on an incognito walking tour in the West of England with Mr. Gibbs and Colonel Cavendish. His father wrote to Baron Stockmar: [33] “Bertie’s tour has hitherto gone off well and seems to interest him greatly.” ”

“ All over the British Empire King Edward was proclaimed amid rejoicings which were tempered only by a vivid sense of the common bereavement under which His Majesty and his subjects were alike suffering.
The marvellous and unprecedented outburst of sorrow for her late Majesty, which showed that not only the British Empire but the whole of the civilised world shared in King Edward’s grief, undoubtedly brought His Majesty some consolation, which was increased by the decision of the German Emperor, who had been joined by his eldest son, the Crown Prince, to remain for the funeral. ”

“ Intimately connected with these characteristics of his was the unquestioned ability to judge human nature. This quality enabled the Prince to play his difficult part so well as he did, to keep him in touch with all classes and the masses, to cultivate all the varied elements of a changing national life, and to be as much at home amongst business men as at the Royal Academy—amongst the aristocracy of London as with the farmers of Norfolk. He was ever a good judge of the people around him and, perhaps, no man in modern life was so well and faithfully served. ”

“ After the homage of the Heir Apparent each Peer of the realm should have followed the traditionary form in the order of his rank and touched the Crown and kissed the King's cheek. This was modified, however, so as to enable each grade of the nobility to perform the function through its representative of oldest patent—the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquess of Winchester, the Earl of Shrewsbury, the Viscount Hereford and the Baron de Ros. After this had been done the trumpets once more sounded their acclaims and the audience joined in shouting "God save King Edward." ”

“ When His Royal Highness arrived at Dover, the welcome was immense in numbers and enthusiastic in character. The same thing occurred at Charing-Cross Station, London, where he was met by the Duke of York and the King of Sweden and Norway and wildly cheered by thousands of people on his way to Marlborough House. As the Standard put it next day: "No address of congratulation, presented by dignitaries in scarlet and gold, could have been nearly as eloquent as that sea of friendly faces and the ringing cheers of loyal men." ”

“ In every continent, in every land,
Shall wield a power invincible for peace.
And mongrel peoples and untutored tongues,
Daring to hurl hatred and insolence
Broadcast against a treaty-keeping power,
Wisdom shall find in dire adversity.
VII.
Now rest we at the topmost arch of day,
And while, aloft along the sculptured clouds,
Alfred's high throne centres Antiquity
And all the valour of England's feudal reigns,
The flashing fires along the grim sea-walls
And bulwarks of Britannia's broadening zone
Send up a sacred flame around the towers
Of old Westminster. Here King Edward comes! ”

“ In all these multiform manifestations of national and Imperial life, the history of the world will assign a part of singular dignity to the great ruler Great Britain has lost. In external affairs King Edward's powerful influence was directed not only to the avoidance of war, but to the causes of and pretexts of war, and he well earned the title by which he will always be remembered, the Peace-maker of the World. ”

“ At the dinner in 1877 the Prince again presided and in the proposing his health the late Earl of Derby said: "His Royal Highness has not only now, but for many years past done all that is in the power of man to do, by genial courtesies towards men of every class and by his indefatigable assiduity in the performance of every social duty, to secure at once that public respect which is due to his exalted position and that social sympathy and personal popularity which no position, however exalted, can of itself be sufficient to secure." ”

“ The accession of a Prince so universally beloved to the throne of his ancestors amid the deeply-felt joy of a great and free people is an inspiring spectacle. Perhaps, however, it is not fully realised how much King Edward, in the years of his public life as Prince of Wales, shared in the duties of the British Crown. ”

“ 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. ”

“ King Edward’s fourth child, the Princess Victoria, was born on 6th July, and after a quiet summer spent at Sandringham the King and Queen, attended by a small suite, left Marlborough House in November for a long Continental tour, which extended over some months and enabled them to renew [101] old ties and make new friendships. They spent a few days in Paris, and paid a visit to the Emperor and Empress of the French at Compiègne, where, during a stag hunt organised in honour of King Edward, an accident happened which might easily have cost him his life. ”

“ The Hallelujah Chorus ended the ceremony accordingly.
[9]
The Christening of King Edward VII.
From the Painting by Sir George Hayter
“It is impossible,” wrote Queen Victoria in her Journal, “to describe how beautiful and imposing the effect of the whole scene was in the fine old chapel, with the banners, the music, and the light shining on the altar.” It was significant of the [10] young Queen’s native simplicity that the Prince was only christened Albert, after his father, and Edward, after his grandfather, the Duke of Kent. ”

“ The very air is vivid with the glow of popular enthusiasm. From all parts of the earth our brethren have come to rivet anew the links which bind them to our ancient Monarchy. And now come the tidings that this King is laid low with sickness and that the great day has been postponed. We are bewildered. We cannot realize, except in imagination, the dislocation of the life of a whole Empire." Meanwhile, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York had asked their clergy to hold intercessory services on June 26th, and Cardinal Vaughan, for his Church, had given similar orders. ”

“ If Queen Victoria, remaining very largely at home, could wield an immense and undoubted personal influence in Europe, partly because of an ability which made the late Lord Tennyson describe her as "the greatest statesman in Europe" and the Earl of Rosebery say that in matters of foreign policy she advised her Minister of Foreign Affairs more then he advised her, [7] how much more was King Edward entitled to personal prestige in Europe and fitted for diplomatic work amongst its rulers. His Royal Mother had known many Sovereigns and seen many Kings and statesmen come and go ”