In view of all that has been said in the last chapter to show how anxiously Queen Victoria and Prince Albert considered the education of the future King of England, it is amusing to record that the latter was quite five years old before it occurred to the public to take an interest in the question. It was then that a pamphlet was published, entitled Who should educate the Prince of Wales? This contribution to the subject was carefully read by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and Baron Stockmar drew up another long memorandum, dealing this time with the question of the Prince’s education alone. He was fully sensible of the importance of the subject.

“On the choice of the principles on which the Prince of Wales shall be educated,” he wrote, “will in all probability depend whether the future Sovereign of England shall reign in harmony with, or in opposition to, the prevailing opinions of his people. The importance of the selection of principles is increased by the consideration that opinion in Europe is at this moment obviously in a state of transition, and that by the time the Prince shall ascend the throne many of the maxims of government and institutions of society now in the ascendancy will, according to present probabilities, have either entirely passed away, or be on the very verge of change.”

After enlarging on this topic, the Baron lays down that the great and leading question is—whether the education of the Prince should be one which will prepare him for approaching events, or one which will stamp, perhaps indelibly, an impression of the sacred character of all existing institutions on his youthful mind, and teach him that to resist change is to serve at once the cause of God and of his country. Baron Stockmar recommends the former course, but he utters the warning that:—

“The education of the Prince should, however, nowise tend to make him a demagogue or a moral enthusiast, but a man of calm, profound, comprehensive understanding, imbued with a deep conviction of the indispensable necessity of practical morality to the welfare of both Sovereign and people. The proper duty of the Sovereign in this country is not to take the lead in change, but to act as a balance-wheel on the movements of the social body. When the whole nation, or a large majority of it, advances, the King should not stand still; but when the movement is too partial, irregular, or over-rapid, the royal power may with advantage be interposed to restore the equilibrium. Above all attainments, the Prince should be trained to freedom of thought and a firm reliance on the inherent power of sound principles, political, moral, and religious, to sustain themselves and produce practical good when left in possession of a fair field of development.”

As regards the religious faith in which the future King was to be brought up, the law prescribed that of the Church of England, and Baron Stockmar therefore does not discuss that point, but he does put a question arising out of it, which naturally seemed in that year—1846—more difficult than it would seem nowadays. The Baron asks in effect whether the Prince should be made acquainted with the changes then going on in public opinion in regard to matters of faith, and the important influence on the minds of educated men which the discoveries of science were likely to exert in the future? Without suggesting a definite answer to his own question, the Baron goes on to say:—

“The Prince should early be taught that thrones and social order have a stable foundation in the moral and intellectual faculties of man; that by addressing his public exertions to the cultivation of these powers in his people, and by taking their dictates as the constant guides of his own conduct, he will promote the solidity of his empire and the prosperity of his subjects. In one word, he should be taught that God, in the constitution of the mind and in the arrangement of creation, has already legislated for men, both as individuals and as nations; that the laws of morality, which he has written in their nature, are the foundations on which, and on which alone, their prosperity can be reared; and that the human legislator and sovereign have no higher duty than to discover and carry into execution these enactments of Divine legislation.”

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also consulted the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Wilberforce) and Sir James Clark, both of whom recorded their views in long and carefully considered papers, in which they came to conclusions substantially the same as those of Baron Stockmar. 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. He had taken high honours at Cambridge, and had then gone back to Eton as an assistant master.

The Prince Consort had an interview with Mr. Birch in August 1848, and says in a letter to Lord Morpeth, “The impression he has left upon me is a very favourable one, and I can imagine that children will easily attach themselves to him.” Writing to his stepmother, the Dowager Duchess of Gotha, in April 1849, Prince Albert observed:—

“Bertie will be given over in a few weeks into the hands of a tutor, whom we have found in a Mr. Birch, a young, good-looking, amiable man, who was a tutor at Eton, and who not only himself took the highest honours at Cambridge, but whose pupils have also won especial distinction. It is an important step, and God’s blessing be upon it, for upon the good education of Princes, and especially of those who are destined to govern, the welfare of the world in these days very greatly depends.”

During the years 1848 to 1850 a Mr. George Bartley, well known at that time as an actor, was engaged to read at Buckingham Palace translations of the Antigone and the trilogy of Œdipus. Queen Victoria was so much pleased with the ability which Mr. Bartley showed that she engaged him to give lessons in elocution to her eldest son, who certainly profited by them, to judge by the ability which His Majesty afterwards showed as a public speaker.

In the summer of 1849 King Edward VII. visited Ireland for the first time. He landed with his parents at Queenstown, and received a splendid welcome, which probably laid the foundation of his hearty sympathy with and liking for the Irish character. Queen Victoria, after vividly describing the enthusiasm with which the Royal visitors were greeted at Dublin, Cork, and elsewhere, writes in her Journal on 12th August:—

“I intend to create Bertie ‘Earl of Dublin,’ as a compliment to the town and country; he has no Irish title, though he is born with several Scotch ones (belonging to the heirs to the Scotch throne, and which we have inherited from James VI. of Scotland and I. of England); and this was one of my father’s titles.”

Accordingly the Prince of Wales was soon afterwards gazetted Earl of Dublin, but in the peerage of the United Kingdom, not, as had been done in the case of the Duke of Kent, in the peerage of Ireland.

It is a curious fact that King Edward visited Ireland, and, as we have seen, Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland, and made an excellent impression upon the “Celtic fringe” before he was brought before the public notice of his future English subjects.

He made his first official appearance in London on 30th October 1849. It had been arranged that Queen Victoria was to be present at the opening of the Coal Exchange, but she was not able to go as she was suffering from chicken-pox. Accordingly it was arranged that the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales should represent their Royal mother.

“Puss and the boy,” as the Queen called them, went with their father in State from Westminster to the city in the Royal barge rowed by twenty-six watermen. All London turned out to meet the gallant little Prince and his pretty sister. Lady Lyttelton, in a letter to Mrs. Gladstone, gives a charming account of the event, and tells how the Prince Consort was careful to put the future King forward. Some city dignitary addressed the young Prince as “the pledge and promise of a long race of Kings,” and, says Lady Lyttelton, “poor Princey did not seem to guess at all what he meant.” In honour of the Royal children a great many quaint old city customs were revived, including a swan barge, and both the King and the Empress Frederick seem to have retained a very delightful recollection of their first sight of the City.

It must have been about this time that Miss Alcott, the author of Little Women, paid a visit to London, and sent home to her family the following description of the Prince:—

“A yellow-haired laddie, very like his mother. Fanny, W., and I nodded and waved as he passed, and he openly winked his boyish eye at us, for Fanny with her yellow curls and wild waving looked rather rowdy, and the poor little Prince wanted some fun.”

Two years later the King was present at the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and in the following year Mr. Birch retired from his responsible post, greatly to the sorrow of his young pupil, who was a most affectionate and open-hearted little boy.

In June 1852 Viscountess Canning wrote from Windsor Castle:—

“Mr. Birch left yesterday. It has been a terrible sorrow to the Prince of Wales, who has done no end of touching things since he heard that he was to lose him three weeks ago. He is such an affectionate, dear little boy; his little notes and presents, which Mr. Birch used to find on his pillow, were really too moving.”

As was natural, there were many discussions as to who should become the Prince’s next tutor. On the recommendation of Sir James Stephen, Mr. Frederick W. Gibbs was appointed. He remained in his responsible position till 1858, and was rarely separated from his Royal pupil during those seven years.

But although so much attention was devoted to the education and mental training of the King, he spent a very happy and unclouded childhood; and, like all his brothers and sisters, he retained the happiest memories of the youthful days spent by him at Balmoral, Osborne, and Windsor.

The Baroness Bunsen in her Memoirs gives a charming account of a Masque devised by the Royal children in honour of the anniversary of the Queen and the Prince Consort’s marriage. King Edward, then twelve years old, represented Winter. He wore a cloak covered with imitation icicles, and recited some passages from Thomson’s Seasons. Princess Alice was Spring, scattering flowers; the Princess Royal, Summer; Prince Alfred, Autumn; while Princess Helena, in the rÔle of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, who was, according to tradition, a native of Britain, called down Heaven’s benedictions on her much-loved parents.

Shortly before this pretty scene took place, King Edward had made his first appearance in the House of Lords, sitting beside his Royal mother upon the Throne. It was on this occasion that the addresses of the two Houses in answer to the Queen’s Message announcing the beginning of hostilities in the Crimean War were presented, and there is no doubt that the sad and terrible months that followed made a deep and lasting impression on the King’s mind. He took the most vivid interest in the fortune of the war, and in March 1855 went with his parents to the Military Hospital at Chatham, where a large number of the wounded had recently arrived from the East.

The popular concern was exhibited in many ingenious and touching ways. An exhibition was held at Burlington House in aid of the Patriotic Fund, and all the Royal children who were old enough sent drawings and paintings, the King’s exhibit obtaining the very considerable sum of 55 guineas.

The worst of the terrible struggle was over by the time King Edward and the Empress Frederick accompanied their parents to Paris in August of the same year. The visit was in many ways historically eventful. Queen Victoria was the first British Sovereign to enter Paris since the days of Henry VI., and the Royal Party received a truly splendid welcome. The young Prince and his sister, however, were not allowed to be idle, and, though they shared to a great extent in the entertainments organised in honour of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, their headquarters remained the whole time in the charming country palace of St. Cloud, and after sightseeing in Paris all day, they were always driven back there each evening. It is undoubtedly to the impression left by this visit that the King owes his strong affection and liking for France and the French people. When present at a splendid review, held in honour of Queen Victoria, he attracted quite as much attention as any of his elders, for he was dressed in full Highland costume, and remained in the carriage with his mother and the Empress, while the Emperor and Prince Consort were on horseback.

The British Royal party remained in France eight days. The last gala given in their honour was a splendid ball at Versailles, and on this occasion both the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal were allowed to be present, and sat down to supper with the Emperor and Empress. A dance had not been given at Versailles since the days of Louis XVI.

One of the most pleasing traits in Napoleon III.’s character was his great liking for children. As was natural, he paid considerable attention to his youthful guests, who both became much attached to him; and later, when he was living at Chislehurst a broken-hearted exile, King Edward never lost an opportunity of paying him respectful and kindly attentions. Indeed, the King enjoyed his first Continental holiday so heartily that he begged the Empress to get leave for his sister and himself to stay a little longer after his parents were gone home. When with some embarrassment she replied that Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort would not be able to do without their two children, he exclaimed, “Not do without us! don’t fancy that, for there are six more of us at home, and they don’t want us”; but it need hardly be added that this naÏve exclamation did not have the desired effect, and the young people duly returned home with their parents.

A few days later, the Prince Consort, writing to Baron Stockmar, observed: “You will be pleased to hear how well both the children behaved. They made themselves general favourites, especially the Prince of Wales, qui est si gentil.” And on the same topic Prince Albert wrote to the Duchess of Kent: “I am bound to praise the children greatly. They behaved extremely well and pleased everybody. The task was no easy one for them, but they discharged it without embarrassment and with natural simplicity.”

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: “Bertie’s tour has hitherto gone off well and seems to interest him greatly.” Then followed a short time spent in Germany, as to which Prince Albert wrote to Baron Stockmar on 26th July, 1857: “Bertie set out to-day at noon for KÖnigswinter—he will take a week to get there. Of the young people only Lord Derby’s son will go with him in the first instance; Wood, Cadogan, and Gladstone will follow.”

This visit of the Prince of Wales to KÖnigswinter was for purposes of study, and he had with him General Grey, Colonel (afterwards General) H. Ponsonby his domestic tutor, Mr. Gibbs his classical tutor, the Rev. Charles Tarver (afterwards Canon of Chester), and Dr. Armstrong. During the Prince’s stay at KÖnigswinter Mr. W. Gladstone, Mr. Charles Wood (now Lord Halifax), the present Lord Cadogan, and the present Lord Derby, then Mr. Frederick Stanley, were with him as companions. It may be conveniently recorded here that in 1858, when Mr. F. W. Gibbs retired, Mr. Tarver was appointed the Prince’s Director of Studies and Chaplain, in which capacity he accompanied him to Rome, Spain, and Portugal, and then went with him to Edinburgh, remaining with the Prince till the autumn of 1859, when his education ceased to be conducted at home.

The King was confirmed in 1858, and the Prince Consort, writing to Baron Stockmar on 2nd April, gives an interesting account of the ceremony:—

“They were all three [Lords Palmerston, John Russell, and Derby] yesterday at the confirmation of the Prince of Wales, which went off with great solemnity, and, I hope, with an abiding impression on his mind. The previous day, his examination took place before the Archbishop and ourselves. Wellesley prolonged it to a full hour, and Bertie acquitted himself extremely well.”

The day following his confirmation the King received the sacrament with his father and mother, and here may be fittingly ended the story of His Majesty’s boyhood.