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Edward (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew)

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"EDWARD (EDWARD ALBERT CHRISTIAN GEORGE ANDREW Patrick David), Prince of Wales (1894-), eldest son of King George V. and Queen Mary, was born June 23 1894, at White Lodge, Richmond Park, and baptized twenty-five days later by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1902, Mr.

H. P. Hansell was appointed his tutor, and remained with him from that time until Aug. 1914. During 1902-7 the Prince was prepared for the navy, and in the spring of 1907 he entered Osborne, where he remained for two years before going on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. During his time at Osborne, Capts. E. Alexander-Sinclair and A. H. Christian were in command, and Capts. T. D. L. Napier and H. EvanThomas at Dartmouth. On June 24 1910 he was confirmed in the private chapel at Windsor Castle. While still a cadet at Dartmouth he performed his first public duty on March 29 1911, by presenting to the mayor and corporation of that town the silver oar which they held formerly as a symbol of the rights associated with the Bailiwick of the Water of Dartmouth. At the close of his Dartmouth training in June 1911 he was invested as a Knight of the Garter, and on July 13 1911 he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. He was shortly afterwards invested as Prince of Wales in Carnarvon Castle, of which Lloyd George was at that time constable, and on this occasion for the first time an English prince addressed the Welsh people in their own tongue. Shortly after this event the Prince became a midshipman, and was appointed to H.M.S. " Hindustan," in which ship he served for three months under Capt. Henry Campbell. The months which followed this cruise were spent quietly at Sandringham in preparing for Oxford, but during the spring of 1912 the Prince spent five months in Paris as the guest of the Marquis de Breteuil, during which period he was ably coached by M. Maurice Escoffier in the language and history of the country. In Oct. 1912 the Prince, accompanied by Mr. Hansell and Maj. the Hon. William Cadogan (loth Hussars), who had recently been appointed his equerry, became a freshman at Magdalen College, Oxford. During his time at Oxford the Prince entered heartily into the corporate life of his college and the usual athletic amusements of the undergraduates. The Prince resided in college rooms, dined in hall or at one of the university clubs, and mixed freely with his fellow undergraduates. Some of his vacations he spent in European travel, visiting Germany twice, in 1912 and 1913, and Denmark and Norway in 1914. The Prince's university career was ended by the outbreak of the World War in Aug. 1914 on the eve of his third year. On Aug. 7 he was gazetted 2nd lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, and on the 11th he joined the 1st battalion at Warley Barracks, Essex.

In Nov. 1914 the Prince, who had been appointed aide-decamp to Sir John French, arrived in France and took up his new duties at British G.H.Q. at St. Omer. During the next 18 months he served with the Expeditionary Force in Flanders and in France in various parts of the line, being first attached to the 2nd division under Maj.-Gen. Horne, to the I. Corps under the command of Lt.-Gen. Sir Charles Monro, and later to the Guards division under Maj.-Gen. the Earl of Cavan. In March 1916 he was appointed to the staff of the G.O.C. the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and proceeded at once to Egypt. He took the opportunity of seeing the troops in various parts of the line on this front, and also went as far south as Khartum. On his return journey he paid a visit to the Italian headquarters at Udine, and by the middle of June had returned to the British armies in France. He was then attached to the XIV. Corps (Lord Cavan) in Flanders and France, taking part in the battles of the Somme and Passchendaele, and subsequently proceeded with this corps, in Oct. 1917, to the Italian front, where he remained till Aug. 1918. In May 1918 the Prince paid a semi-official visit to Rome. The Prince then returned to France and was attached to the Canadian Corps, with whom he was serving at the time of the Armistice. He was attached to the Australian Corps in Belgium till the beginning of 1919, after which he visited the Army of Occupation on the Rhine, spending a few days with the New Zealand division, and paying a short visit to General Pershing at the American headquarters at Coblenz.

On his return to England at the end of Feb. 1919 the Prince almost immediately took up a number of public duties which had of necessity been deferred during the war, and on May 29 was admitted to the freedom of the City of London. On Aug. 5 1919 he left Portsmouth in H.M.S. " Renown " for Newfoundland and Canada, first setting foot on Canadian soil on Aug. 15 at St. John, New Brunswick. His tour extended through the entire Dominion from E. to W., and five days after reaching Victoria on Sept. 23 the return journey began by a slightly 20,853,516 I 60

7 119.8 105,194 545,515 276,827 8635 1,983,508,818 821,517,040 S580,619,460 $101,305,057 $33,434, 88 5 8119,082,944 8436,477,090 5208,118,055 $7.26 $49.12 $.307 D.; N. M. B.) different route. The Canadian tour ended at Ottawa, and on Nov. Io the Prince left for Washington to pay a short official visit to the President of the United States. New York was subsequently visited, and after a long series

of official engagements, the Prince sailed for Halifax, where he bade good-bye to Canada, and reached Portsmouth on Dec. 1.

After a short stay in England the Prince sailed again in H.M.S. " Renown," on March 16 1920, for New Zealand and Australia. The first port of call was Barbados, and then, passing through the Panama Canal, short visits were paid to San Diego (Cal.), Honolulu and Fiji, Auckland being reached on April 24 after a voyage of 14,000 miles. A month was spent in New Zealand, visiting all parts of the North and South Is., and on May 26 the Prince landed at Melbourne. During his stay in Australia he visited all states of the Commonwealth, and eventually sailed from Sydney harbour on Aug. 19. On the return journey stops were made at Fiji, Samoa, Honolulu and Acapulco, and, after passing once again through the Panama Canal, three weeks were spent in the West Indies. The last port of call was Bermuda, and H.M.S. " Renown " eventually reached Portsmouth on Oct. II 1920. The Prince received a magnificent reception on his arrival in London, and, as had been done on his return from Canada and the United States, the conclusion of his world-tour was celebrated by the King and Queen at a banquet at Buckingham Palace, and the Prince was shortly afterwards entertained by the Lord Mayor at the Guildhall, where he gave an account of his travels.

After a brief holiday, spent for the greater part in the hunting-field, he resumed his public duties after Christmas, 1920. During the first six months of 1921 H.R.H. was occupied chiefly in London, but found time to visit, among other places, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow and the Clyde; his Duchy of Cornwall property in Devon, Cornwall and the Scilly Is.; Cardiff, Newport and Bristol. On June 23 1921 the Prince spent part of his 27th birthday with 1,000 East End children who were entertained by the Fresh Air Fund in Epping Forest. On Oct. 26 he sailed in the " Renown" on a State visit to India.