HRH Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales

Edward, eldest son of QueenVictoria and PrinceAlbert^? was born in BuckinghamPalace^? in 1841. He was educated privately and at EdinburghUniversity^?, OxfordUniversity^? and CambridgeUniversity^?.

In 1860 Edward became the first member of the royal family to tour the USA. When he returned to England he was involved in a scandal with an Irish actress. Prince Albert died a few weeks later and Queen Victoria blamed her son for her husband's death. Victoria later declared that was never able to look at the boy without a shudder.

After the death of Prince Albert Edward took his seat in the HouseOfLords^? as the Duke of Cornwall. Edward, who spoke (not always fluently or well) French, German, Spanish and Italian, toured the world on behalf of the royal family. This included trips to Italy, Spain, Canada, India, Egypt, Denmark, France, Germany, Belgium and Russia.

In 1863 Edward married PrincessAlexandra^?, eldest daughter of King Kristian IX of Denmark. Alexandra had six children, Albert (Eddy), Duke of Clarence (1864-1892), George (1865-1936), Louise (1867-1931), Victoria (1868-1935), Maud (1869-1938) and Alexander, who died soon after being born.

Edward had a regular annual routine. He spent Christmas at Sandringham, three of four weeks at Buckingham Palace, Biarritz in February and March, Easter at WindsorCastle^?, summer in London with regular visits to the racecourse, an official tour of a foreign country, country-house visits for grouse-shooting, three weeks at a foreign spa, October at Balmoral and November and December at Buckingham Palace.

Prince Edward had a great appetite, famously eating five large meals, each consisting of ten or more courses, a day. By the time he was middle-aged he had a waist of forty-eight inches. Edward also smoked twelve large cigars and twenty cigarettes a day.

Queen Victoria disapproved of Edward's interest in horse-racing, theatre-going and yachting. Edward had several mistresses including LilyLangtry^?, AliceKepple^?, LadyBrooke^?, PrincessDeMouchy^? and PrincessDeSagan^?. Edward was involved in several scandals. On one occasion it was discovered that he had been playing in an illegal card-game and in 1870 he was accused in court of having an affair with LadyMordaunt^?. Victoria was horrified by her son's behaviour and warned that evidence of a pleasure-loving and immoral aristocracy might provoke the working class into adopting radical political ideas.

Edward attempted to gain the support of the working-class by inviting their representatives, such as JosephArch^? and HenryBroadhurst^?, to stay at his country house at Sandringham. When Broadhurst visited Sandringham he did not take with him the right evening dress, and so he had to eat his meals in his bedroom.

Edward VII became king on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Although he was 59 when he became king, he restored some vitality to the monarchy. He made several royal visits and helped to prepare the way for international treaties with France and Russia. The king took a particular interest in military matters. He opposed attempts to reduce public spending on the armed forces and was a strong advocate of the Dreadnought building campaign.

• Material adapted slightly from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MOedwardVII.htm

See TheRoyals

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 29 Dec 2004

This page is linked to by: ChristopherSykes, DictionaryM, DictionaryP, DictionaryS, LondonTheatres, PlaceDirectoryM, PrinceEddy, SpecialBranch, TheRoyals, WhosWhoP, WhosWhoS,