rejoicings. The king spent several weeks (partly in a yachting trip round the coast and up to Stornoway) in recruiting his health, and on the 25th of October he went in procession through the main streets of south London, when he was most enthusiastically received. Next day the king and queen attended St Paul’s cathedral in state to return thanks for his restoration to health. On New Year’s day 1903 the coronation was proclaimed in India at a magnificent durbar at Delhi.
At home the king opened parliament in person in February 1903, and on the 31st of March he sailed from Portsmouth to pay a visit to the king of Portugal at Lisbon, leaving Lisbon for Gibraltar on the 7th of April. On the 11th he held a review of the garrison troops and next day left for Malta, and the tour was continued to Naples (23rd of April). On the 27th of April he was received at Rome by the king of Italy—the first time an English king as such had been there; and two days later he paid a visit to Leo XIII. at the Vatican. On May day he was received in Paris by President Loubet. Later in the year return visits were paid to England by President Loubet (July) and the king and queen of Italy (November). On the 11th of May His Majesty paid his first formal visit to Edinburgh, and held courts at Holyrood. In July the king and queen went to Ireland, and though the Dublin corporation refused to vote a loyal address the reception was generally cordial. In September the king took his annual “cure” at Marienbad, and paid a visit to Vienna, where he was received by the Austrian emperor. In 1904 again the king and queen went to Ireland; in June the king was cordially received by the German emperor at the yacht-races at Kiel, and he included a visit to Hamburg, where the welcome was hearty. In November the king and queen of Portugal were entertained at Windsor and at the Guildhall.
The success of King Edward as a promoter of international friendliness, and the advantage of so efficient a type of kingship, attracted universal attention, and treaties of arbitration were concluded by Great Britain with France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Portugal in 1903 and 1904. In his first two years the king had already earned the title of Edward the Peacemaker, and established his position as a source of new strength to the state. This reputation was confirmed in the years which followed, during which the royal hand was to be seen in the progress of foreign affairs in a manner somewhat new to old-fashioned politicians. The entente with France was promoted by his influence, notably by his reception of President Fallières in England in 1908. It was noticed that the permanent under-secretary for foreign affairs, Sir Charles Hardinge, generally accompanied the king, as one of his suite, on his visits abroad: and the conclusion of the Anglo-Russian agreement (1907)—which was attributed with some reason to royal policy—was hotly criticized in Radical quarters. It was pointed out that neither the foreign secretary (Sir E. Grey) nor any other secretary of state accompanied the king on his foreign visits. These objections were, however, scouted by the government, and undeniably public opinion approved of the sovereign’s personal activity in a sphere peculiarly his own. The strengthening of British influence in Europe, which was the marked result of the Anglo-French and Anglo-Russian ententes, and of the closer ties between England and countries like Portugal and Spain (whose young king Alfonso married Princess Ena of Battenberg, King Edward’s niece), had, indeed, temporarily the effect of rousing German suspicion, the view taken being that the object of British foreign policy was to isolate Germany; and during 1907 and 1908 the political situation was coloured by the discussions in the press with regard to Anglo-German rivalry. But in February 1909 the king and queen paid a state visit to the Kaiser in Berlin, where the greatest cordiality was displayed on all sides; the event was prepared for, in both countries, as a means of dispelling the clouds which had gathered over the relations between England and Germany, and the success of the visit proved once more how powerful King Edward’s personality could be as an agency for peace and international amity.
During the year 1909, however, the political situation at home was developing into an acute constitutional crisis, which seemed likely to involve the Crown in serious difficulties. Mr Lloyd-George’s budget convulsed the House of Commons and the country, and was eventually rejected by the House of Lords; and the Liberal government now put in the forefront of its programme the abolition of the Peers’ “veto.” As was hinted, not obscurely, later by the doctors, King Edward, although certainly not prejudiced against a Liberal ministry, was seriously disturbed in mind and health by the progress of events, which culminated in the return of Mr Asquith to office after the elections of January 1910, and in his statement that, if necessary, guarantees would be sought from the Crown for the purpose of enforcing the will of the representative chamber. A remarkable sign of the king’s discomfort was his insertion, in the official “King’s Speech” at the opening of parliament, of the words “in the opinion of my advisers,” in connexion with the passage dealing with the House of Lords. The king had been far from robust for some little time, and while he was taking change and rest at Biarritz in the early spring of 1910 he had a bronchial attack which caused some anxiety, although the public heard nothing of it. When he returned to England there is no doubt that he was acutely affected by the prospect of being forcibly dragged into the political conflict. In the country at large there was indeed considerable confidence that the king’s tact and experience would help to bring order out of chaos; but this was not to be. Within two days the public heard with consternation that he was ill, and then was dead. On May 5 it was announced that he had bronchitis; and he died at 11.45 p.m. on the 6th, of heart failure. On May 17, 18 and 19 there was an impressive lying-in-state in Westminster Hall, attended by unprecedented crowds; and on May 20 the burial took place at Windsor, after a great funeral procession through London, the coffin being followed by the new king, George V., and by eight foreign sovereigns—the German emperor, the kings of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Bulgaria—besides the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary), the prince consort of Holland and many other royalties, and a number of special ambassadors, including Mr Roosevelt as representative of the United States. Mourning was as sincere as it was universal; for not only England and the British Empire, but the world, had lost a king who was both a very human man and a tried and trusted statesman.
Queen Victoria’s long reign had solidly established the constitutional monarchy; it remained for her son to rehabilitate the idea of English kingship by showing how the sovereign could be no less constitutional but personally more monarchical. While prince of Wales he had had little real training in statecraft, but when he became king his genuine capacity for affairs was shown. Ably advised by such men as Lord Knollys and Lord Esher, he devoted himself to the work of removing the Throne from its former isolation, and bringing it into touch with all sections of the community for the promotion of social happiness and welfare. His own love of pageantry and his interest in the stately ordering of court functions responded, moreover, to a marked inclination on the part of the public and of “society” for such things. It was significant that even Radicals and Socialists began to advocate extensions of the prerogative, and to insist on the active part which the Crown should play in public life. The king won the genuine affection and confidence of the people; and in Queen Alexandra he had an ideal consort, to whom all hearts went out. (H. Ch.)
EDWARD, prince of Wales, known as “The Black Prince” (1330–1376), the eldest son of Edward III. and Philippa of Hainaut, was born at Woodstock on the 15th of June 1330. Contemporaries called him Edward of Woodstock, and his surname of the Black Prince cannot be traced back earlier than the 16th century. It is supposed to have been derived from his wearing black armour. In 1333 he was made earl of Chester, and in 1337 duke of Cornwall, being the first duke ever created in England. Nominal warden of England during his father’s absences abroad in 1338 and 1342, he was created prince of Wales in 1343, and in 1345 he first accompanied his father on a foreign expedition.
