Part 12 (1/2)

CHAPTER XIV.

Habits and Character of the Prince

During forty years of his career as Prince of Wales, King Edward VII.

was probably the most talked-of man in the United Kingdom. Good-natured stories, ill-natured anecdotes, criticisms grading down from the malicious to the very mild, praise ranging from the fulsome to the feeble point, falsehoods great and falsehoods small, have found currency not confined to the English language and ranging through ”yarns” of gutter journals in London, Paris, Berlin, New York or Calcutta, in varied languages, and in many degrees of fabrication. Outside of the United Kingdom some of these stories have been more or less believed; even in his own national home there were always people ready and willing to accept the worst that they heard about a great public personage.

Where he was known best, however, the influence of these things upon the reputation of the Prince of Wales was least and, in fact, so small as to afford little or no excuse for dealing with them. Abroad, however, it had always been different, and in the United States, thirty years before his accession to the Throne, it was conspicuously so. With the pa.s.sing years, of course, and with growing knowledge of the Prince's position and character, the situation greatly changed.

As a matter of fact the Prince of Wales, from the early days of his manhood, was in his personal and private relations a jovial, honest and honourable English gentleman; possessed of a full sense of his responsibility in much burdensome work and ceremonial and with a growing appreciation, as years pa.s.sed, of his place as a sort of impartial Empire statesman; possessed, also, of a large fund of animal spirits and capacity for enjoying the pleasures of life. Within the full limits of his rights and his position he lived his life of work and pleasure, of public responsibility and of private rest and recreation.

Yet it was almost always in the blaze of a noon-day publicity and few, indeed, were the times and seasons in which the Heir Apparent could amuse himself in any genuine _incognito_. Attempt it he might, but if any evil-minded critic were to seriously or conscientiously consider the situation--both of which suppositions are improbable--he might have seen that the best-known and most photographed man in the world would indeed have been foolish to trust to an _incognito_ for any but the simplest and most innocent of objects. The actual impossibility of the Prince of Wales escaping from his _entourage_, his ident.i.ty, and his surroundings, were sufficient to make Continental fictions and foreign fancies about him absolutely farcical to those who knew something of his daily life--aside altogether from those who knew and understood his real character.

THE MORDAUNT CASE

There was only one matter involving moral considerations which ever emerged from the low region of back-door insinuation to the upper air and it was threshed out in a _cause celebre_--that of Lady Mordaunt. Her husband, an English baronet, sued for divorce before the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, alleging the usual grounds, and naming as co-respondents, Viscount Cole and Sir Frederick Johnstone. The case was heard on February 16th, 1870, and following days, and the defence on the part of Lady Mordaunt was insanity. The Prince of Wales, though not specified in the indictment, was so widely gossiped about as being connected with the case that he asked to be heard and swore positively that there had been no improper relations between himself and the defendant. Two of the Judges on Appeal--Lord Penzance and Mr. Justice Keating--agreed with the jury's verdict that Lady Mordaunt was insane, while Chief Baron Kelly differed. The woman in the case was for years afterwards confined in a lunatic asylum, and it has long since been quite well understood that the only basis for scandal was the fact that a Royal visit which had been paid upon one occasion was made under the invariable rule of etiquette, which prescribes that no other caller shall be received while the visit lasts. Before and after the trouble Lady Mordaunt's sisters, and especially the Dowager Countess of Dudley, were amongst the Princess of Wales' warm friends, while the daughter of the plaintiff in the case was, in later years, received at Sandringham, and was given many beautiful presents by the members of the Royal family upon her marriage to the Marquess of Bath. Such conditions would have been absolutely impossible to imagine with the Princess of Wales had she entertained the slightest belief in the stories floating about regarding that famous trial. During the succeeding thirty years, however, there was never even an apparent excuse for the repet.i.tion of such stories, and the happy home life of the Prince and Princess was patent to all who were willing to believe the evidence of their eyes and ears.

What may be said of the characteristics and habits of this many-sided heir to Royal position? Probably his first and most p.r.o.nounced quality was one of difficult definition--tactfulness. Through its means he led society without rivalry and with unique success; promoted reforms without violence of agitation or the creation of antagonisms; carried out countless varied and delicate duties, with noiseless celerity, in an age of intense and active curiosity. In forty years of ceaseless political change and frequently acute political crises not a whisper of his private views became known to the million-tongued press or the curious public. He had known every kind of partisan and been liked by leaders of the ma.s.ses as well as the cla.s.ses--by Joseph Arch and Henry Broadhurst, as well as by the Earl of Derby or the Marquess of Salisbury. If he visited Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden on one occasion he paid the same honour to Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden at another time.

If Lord Randolph Churchill was a personal friend so also was Lord Rosebery, or Mr. Balfour. His genial manner and sometimes cosmopolitan view of society encouraged a popular opinion as to his natural democracy; while a personal dignity, never forced, or a.s.sumed, but always present, prevented the most courageous person from taking undue advantage of the freedom from ceremonial which he sometimes liked to encourage. His preferences in international matters were as little known as his political opinions, and yet, at times, his influence in this respect was very great.

SPORTING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRINCE

The next and perhaps most prominent characteristic of the Prince of Wales was his love for sports and his embodiment of qualities which, in everyday life, const.i.tute the English country gentleman. Some reference has already been made to his interest in racing, yachting and shooting.

But most of the lesser sports and games were also attractive to him at different periods, and there was hardly one with which he was not more or less familiar. Boating and riding in his University days and fox-hunting at Sandringham from time to time in later years, were incidents of this record. Croquet he was an expert in, but never very fond of. Lawn-tennis, when first introduced and for years afterwards, was a game to which he was very partial, and on the _Serapis_ when traversing the route to India he played deck-tennis until everyone else was exhausted. The bowling-alley at Sandringham was one of the best in England and the Prince was always fond of a game of bowls. Quoits he played well, and billiards he played with frequency and skill--his daughters being also able to handle the cue with success. Hockey was a favourite game, especially on the lakes at Sandringham, and of this sport the other members of his family were equally fond. Skating and hockey parties were frequent during severe winter seasons and the Prince played in many specially arranged hockey matches--one of them against members of the House of Commons in the winter of 1894-5 included Mr.

Balfour, Lord Stanley, Lord Willoughby de Eresby and Mr. Victor Cavendish.

Fis.h.i.+ng never appealed to him and was, apparently, too quiet and easy a sport. He liked pigeon-flying, and bred some very fine birds at Sandringham for this purpose. Tricycling he was very fond of and kept good machines both at Marlborough and Sandringham. As soon as motor cars came into use he could be frequently seen driving a smart carriage along the country roads of Norfolk. Chess the Prince never mastered nor cared for. In dancing he was an expert, as well as in skating, and was always exceedingly fond of the amus.e.m.e.nt. At his Sandringham b.a.l.l.s he was an indefatigable dancer, and at great b.a.l.l.s all over the world he delighted many a partner and varied social circle by his obvious pleasure in the entertainment. From Halifax to Montreal, from Toronto to New York, in Canada and the United States, in Egypt and India, in Turkey and Greece, in all the greater Courts of Europe, from the days of Napoleon III. at Paris, to those of William II. at Berlin, he had been the central figure of some such occasions. Golf was played by His Royal Highness on the links of Musselburgh in early days and at a later time in Windsor Park.

Cricket he was fond of in his younger days, but latterly he only showed his interest by patronizing matches as an onlooker. In these and other pursuits the Prince represented in his mode of life and his manner of enjoying himself the qualities of a distinct type amongst his countrymen and a type most popular throughout the community.

Another characteristic of the Prince was his good manners. The ”first gentleman in Europe” always knew how to be pleasant without being familiar, dignified without being pompous, genial without being free.

Myriads of stories are told in this connection. At the skating and hockey parties on the Sandringham lakes the farmers' wives and daughters were included and no d.u.c.h.ess in the land would be handed a cup of tea with more courtly manner by the Royal host than would the wife of a tenant on his estates. His servants, in houses and farms and stables, in sport or travel, at home and abroad, were treated in such a way as to make every one of them wish to serve the Prince for a life-time. No more charming incident is on record than the way in which His Royal Highness approached Mrs. Gladstone at the state funeral of her great husband, bowed low before her and kissed her proffered hand. Whether in high circles, or in those of ordinary people, in expected surroundings or amid unexpected conditions, the Prince seemed to always retain this faculty of politeness in the true sense of the word--a product of heart and mind rather than of mere instruction or habit.

His manner and style of public speaking was an incident in the Prince of Wales' career which exercised considerable influence upon his personal popularity. The p.r.o.nounced factors in his style were not oratory, gestures, or brilliancy. Plain in matter and manner the speeches always were; full of meat and substance they frequently were; neat and effective they were generally considered. Mr. Gladstone once went further than this description would seem to warrant when he declared that there were few speakers whom he listened to with more pleasure.

”His speeches are invariably marvels of conciseness, graceful expression and clear elocution”. His voice was a good one, clear and distinct and well-trained. Nervous in his younger days and accustomed to learn the speeches off for delivery, he gradually changed with age and experience into the delivery of _impromptu_ after-dinner remarks and speeches which did not show traces of the midnight oil or earnest preparation--although often full of facts and incidents about the immense variety of subjects with which he had to deal.

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 cla.s.ses and the ma.s.ses, 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. His memory for names and faces was extraordinary and would remind Canadians of the unique faculty in this connection possessed by the late Sir John Macdonald. He always hated affectation and toadyism and liked sincerity and simplicity. Marie Corelli, writing in 1897, used the following expressive words: ”To entertain the Prince do little; for he is clever enough to entertain himself privately with the folly and humbug of those he sees around him, without actually sharing in the petty comedy. He is a keen observer and must derive infinite gratification from his constant study of men and manners, which is sufficiently deep and searching to fit him for the occupation of even the throne of England. I say 'even', for at present, till time's great hourgla.s.s turns, it is the grandest throne in the world”.

Patronage of music, art and the drama were characteristic incidents in the life and work of the Prince. The day for helping literature had perhaps gone when he came upon the scene and newspapers were then supposed to do for budding genius what royalty and aristocracy did for Johnson, Goldsmith, Swift or Pope. It is a curious fact of later-day democracy that, with the obvious exception of Kipling, most of the greater lights in literature--Browning, Rossetti, Tennyson, Mathew Arnold or Swinburne--were born with fairly comfortable means. This in pa.s.sing, of course. Something has been said elsewhere as to His Royal Highness's patronage of music and there is no doubt that he taught smart society to support the opera, while his personal enthusiasm for Wagner was p.r.o.nounced and sincere.

THE THEATRE AND THE CHURCH

He patronized the theatre for many years with regularity and discrimination; his taste in all matters of light comedy and opera was known to be good; and it goes without saying that his approval of a play or actor made many a reputation and fortune. He used to make his own selection of theatre or play, pay handsomely for his own box, arrive punctually on time and remain till the end, or very near it. His dislike of ostentation soon did away with the old fas.h.i.+on of a manager walking upstairs backward before royalty and his leaving a little early was to avoid causing delay and confusion with their carriages amongst the other guests of the theatre. Actors have greatly exaggerated the extent of his patronage and friends.h.i.+p. But he more than once took supper with Sir Henry Irving and it is understood to have been by his advice that the great tragedian was knighted. He it was who encouraged the late Queen to resume her patronage of the theatre and to begin by having Mr. and Mrs.

Kendal appear before her at Osborne. He never liked, however, the appearance of members of the aristocracy on the stage and his daughters are said to have never taken part even in private theatricals. He is said to have enjoyed a private visit and smoke behind the scenes and George Grossmith is stated to have been one of those who were most patronized in this respect.

An interesting feature of his many-sided career and character was the Heir Apparent's attention to his religious duties. At Marlborough and at Sandringham prayers were read daily, in the morning, and guests, staff and servants were expected, though not compelled, to be present. On Sunday the Prince invariably attended morning service either at the Chapel Royal in London, or at the quaint and beautiful little Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, in the country. The latter was filled with handsome Memorial windows and tablets and there, for many years, wors.h.i.+pped the future King with the humblest labourers on his estate. The only distinction made was in the private entrance for the Prince and the reserved pews for his guests and family. His daughters taught in the Sunday School and the Princess had charge of the music. It has been said that the Prince never attended Divine service on a Sunday in any but an Episcopal church. Certainly the records of his travels and habits appear to confirm this statement. Whether in Bombay, or Montreal, or New York, he seems to have always attended the services of the Established Church or its daughter Churches. Even in Rome, where he once spent Easter Sunday, impressive ceremonies conducted by the Pope at St. Peter's did not prevent him from attending a quiet little English church and explaining that when members of the Church were in foreign lands they should be especially particular in encouraging their own form of faith.