The Life of King Edward VII: with a sketch of the career of King George VHopkins, J. Castell (John Castell)
History
The Life of King Edward VII: with a sketch of the career of King George V
Hopkins, J. Castell (John Castell)
Edward VII, King of Great Britain, 1841-1910
Something has already been said of the qualities with which King Edward
entered upon his task and with which it was conducted to the moment when
in passing to his rest he said: "It is all over, but I think I have done
my duty." The unique feature of his career in a personal sense was his
amazing popularity, the real affection with which every class in the
great community of the British Isles regarded him. In the days of his
unofficial labours as Prince of Wales, Lord Beaconsfield greatly
esteemed him and Mr. Gladstone was "devotedly attached" to him. At the
latter's funeral the Prince went up to Mrs. Gladstone and in a spirit of
spontaneous courtesy bent over her hand and kissed it with an air of
sympathy so great as to be beyond the expression of words. It was little
acts such as this that won unstinted liking for the man as well as
loyalty to the King. It was this magnetism of the kindly heart, this
instinctive courtesy of character, coupled with a remarkable dignity of
bearing at the right moment and in the right place, and a rare memory
for faces and incidents and peoples and places, that made King Edward so
truly the Sovereign of his people. In this connection a religious orator
of the Radical type in London--Rev. R. J. Campbell--told an audience in
Toronto, Canada, on July 22, 1903, that "Queen Victoria is gone but her
son remains and I would not exchange King Edward, with all the criticism
that has been directed against him, for any Sovereign ruler on the face
of the earth or any President of any Republic on either side of the
water."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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