We think little of kings and princes nowadays. They appear chiefly in our fairy stories when we know they are pure creations of somebody's imagination. Possibly some of you have wished you had been born a prince or princess. This story will give you a glimpse of the real life of a prince who was the son of one of the most powerful kings of England.

Almost everybody knows something about Queen Elizabeth, the famous queen who made England such a powerful country long ago in the sixteenth century. And almost everybody knows something about her older sister, Queen Mary, who caused so much sorrow to England because of religious persecution. But not nearly so many people know about their younger brother, King Edward the Sixth, who came to the throne before either of his sisters, and whose short life was full of burdens and anxieties. This story tells something about the way in which a boy had to be educated if he was going to be a king. You will see that he had very little chance for freedom or happiness.

Read the story through quickly, and then glance back and make an outline of it. Your teacher will let two or three of you tell the story from the outline you have made.

Almost four hundred years ago all London was rejoicing because of the birth of a prince, the son of the wicked Henry the Eighth. To be sure, Henry had two other children, Mary and Elizabeth; but there were reasons, it was thought, why neither of them could inherit the throne. So the people were glad when little Edward was born; anthems of joy were sung in all the churches; bonfires were lit, and bells rang.

Three days later, when the baby prince was baptized, the way from the palace to the chapel was hung with silk and velvet and cloth of gold, and lined with torch-bearers. Noble lords held a shining canopy over his head, and others carried the towels and basins needed in the ceremony. His sister Mary, a gracious lady of twenty-one, was his godmother, the archbishop was his godfather, and little red-haired Elizabeth, only four years old, also had a share in the ceremony.

Ten days later joy was turned to mourning, for the Queen died, and little Prince Edward was left motherless. The baby, however, had a kind nurse and many servants, four of whom were called "rockers", as it was then thought right to rock a baby in his cradle or in the arms. All these servants were charged to watch and guard the Prince night and day lest any harm should befall him, for, as King Henry said, he was "the whole realm's most precious jewel".

While Edward was a little child he lived chiefly in the country, and was brought up till he was six years old by the women of the household. After that he had learned men for his schoolmasters, and they taught him languages, philosophy, and such art and science as were known at the time. Such studies sound like very grown-up lessons for a little boy, do they not? A large part of education in those days consisted of Greek and Latin. Both Edward and his sister Elizabeth were very fond of books, and many were the happy mornings that the two children spent together over their lessons.

Besides his sister, Edward had other school companions. In order that he might not be alone, several boys, the sons of noblemen, were brought up in the palace along with the Prince. One of them, it is said, was known as Edward's "whipping boy"; that is, if the Prince misbehaved, as he seldom did, this boy was punished for it, as it was not thought proper to punish the Prince himself.

By the time he was eight, the boy could both read and write Latin. He wrote his letters in Latin, and several of them, along with three of his exercise books, have been handed down to the present time. The books are filled with Greek and Latin exercises. He must have been a clever boy, and must also have studied hard and long.

One winter morning when Edward was nine years old, gentlemen came riding out from London with the news that his father, King Henry, was dead, and that Edward was the new King. He wept bitterly, for to him his father had always been loving and gentle, however cruel he was to others. But the boy could not weep long, for he had to mount his horse and ride to London to be welcomed by the people. The next day all the nobles came and knelt before him to kiss his hand and swear that they would always be loyal. But Edward was still too young to be really king. His father had left the government in the hands of eighteen men whom he named. These men now decided that they would put all the power into the hands of the most important one among them, Edward's uncle, the Duke of Somerset, who should be called Lord Protector.

For a long time hardly a day passed without some tiresome state ceremony to which the little King had to go. You can imagine that he grew very tired of so much showing off. At last came the coronation. The day before it, King Edward rode through the streets in solemn procession, clad in a suit of white velvet and silver, adorned with pearls and diamonds. The trappings of his horse were crimson and gold embroidered with pearls. The progress of the procession was very slow, lasting from noon till nightfall; for in every open space was a raised platform hung with gay curtains, where a company of actors, acrobats, or singing children would give some kind of exhibition which the King must stay to watch. One thing that we must suppose he particularly liked was a wonderful tightrope walker. But after all, he was only a little nine-year-old boy, and you can imagine that he was very tired when the long day was over and he went home to bed.

Next day at nine Edward was on his way to Westminster Abbey for the long and splendid ceremony of the coronation, at which he was formally presented to the people and crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury. After two more days of feasting and celebration, the young King settled down to a quiet life again. But now it was a very lonely life and not so happy a one. He saw little of his sisters; and though he went on with his lessons, they were often interrupted by the business of the state. For though he had no real power, and the Lord Protector actually ruled England, yet the little boy had to go through the form of approving or disapproving of what was done.

Now the Duke of Somerset was very ambitious, and since he had so much of the power of a king, he began to act and to talk as if he were really king. This made some people angry and other people jealous. One of the jealous ones was Lord Seymour, the Protector's brother. Somerset was very stern with Edward, and kept him very short of money, so Seymour tried to win the young King's liking by kindness and by gifts of pocket-money, which kings like as well as other boys. But Seymour's enemies were too strong for him; he was shut up in the tower, and Somerset so influenced the child king that he consented to have his kind uncle condemned to death. It seems a pity that a boy so wise and good should have been so cold-hearted. It must have been because all the men around him were hard and cold; if he had only not been a king he might have been warm and loving and full of gratitude for kindness.

Meantime Somerset went on being more and more proud and ambitious and making more and more people hate him. Finally, after he had put down two rebellions by very cruel means, another nobleman, the Duke of Northumberland, formed a plot to kill Somerset and become Protector himself. When Somerset heard this, he went to Edward's palace, and frightened the boy into going away with him on his flight. He thought that the people would spare his own life out of love and respect for Edward, and like a coward he used the young King as a shield. It was dusk when they set out, and the crowded courtyard of the palace was alight with moving torches and glittering armor. Confused and alarmed by the champing of the horses, the rattle of steel, and the sound of voices, the boy cried out, "I pray, good people, be good to us and to our uncle."

Then Somerset made a long, angry speech to the people, telling them that he knew of the plot to kill him and seize the King. He finished his speech in truly cowardly fashion. "I tell you," he said, "if anything is attempted against me, here," pointing to the King, "is he who shall die before me."

The King and his uncle fled away safely to Windsor. They rode almost all night, and arrived at dawn. Nothing was ready for them; they were not expected, and there was neither food nor fire. The October nights were cold, and the boy, who was never strong, fell ill of cold and weariness and fear. At Windsor he lived closely guarded, and felt as if he were in prison, for the place was then only a fortress, not a beautiful castle as it is now.

He did not stay long at Windsor, however. Somerset's enemies came after him, and presented to Edward all their charges against the cruel, ambitious Protector. Edward seems to have listened to them very readily, and not to have tried to save his uncle when he was taken and shut up in the Tower of London. And later, when Somerset was beheaded, the King cared little about his uncle's fate. It seems strange that so lovable a boy should have said not one word of regret, even though he had never liked his uncle.

So, in the midst of anxiety and strife and scenes that hardened his boyish heart, Edward grew to be fifteen years old. He was now beginning to take great interest in the government, and to show that he had a mind and will of his own. Yet, King though he was, he still went on with lessons. So earnest was he that he was held up to all the boys of England, as an example. At the same time, however, he liked to play, though he had sadly little chance for it. He played a game something like baseball, and tennis, and was fond of archery as a sport.

You will be interested to read what were the things that a boy who was to be a king had learned by the time he was fifteen. He could speak and write Latin and French as well as English. He read Greek, Italian, and Spanish. He had studied the geography of his own country thoroughly, and knew all about the chief ports of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France. He had studied fortifications, and the places where they needed to be built or strengthened. He astonished his advisers by the intelligence with which he could talk about affairs of state.

It seems likely, does it not, that Edward would have made an excellent King if ever he had taken the government into his own hands? For the only fault that shows plainly in him is his coldness of heart. But he had never been strong, and before he was sixteen he became very ill, as a result of a cough that he had had for a long time. He had not strength to fight off the disease; so, patiently and gently as he had lived, the boy King died. He had had a chance to be neither a real boy nor a real King.