Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

5 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

Edward VII.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

Edward VII. King, Statesman, and Sportsman, Incidents in a Notable Career, His Regard for the Welsh Miners. Rhondda Royal Visit Recalled. Saturday morning last, the whole civil- ised world was shocked at the news that His Majesty King Edward had succumbed to the bronchial attack which had con- fined him to hiis. room during the latter Part of the week. His Majesty's illness had been kept from the public up to the last moment, and it was only the fact that he was unable to meet the Queen On her arrival home after her Mediter- raneau trip, as was his custom, which lecesissitated the publication of the news. Even then his indisposition was accounted to be of a character that need not give cause to any alarm, but the complaint developed so rapidly that the bulletins on Friday assumed a graver tone. The Public was, however, hardly prepared for Saturday's tragic news, and the crowds which congregated around the Palace gates during the day hardly realised that the popular monarch had breathed his last. His death caused the greatest con- sternation throughout the land, and the Centres of commercial activity were ren- dered temporarily stagnant. In his death the world realises that not only has a great King laid down his Sceptre, but that one of the greatest forces for the Aeace and Prosperity of nations had been l^iiiovect. To tins, ample testimony is borne by the hundreds of messages of Ctj>iidolence. £ ent to the stricken family by all the leading nations of the world. All sPeak of the aead Monarch as the Peace- maker, and the future historian, in facing the causes of the concord of yfu.l0ue during the opening years of the p-*th Century, will 'have to set aside a chapter to the immense influence fielded among the Councils of nations -England's lamented King. In the ex- pressions of condolence with the bereaved family every loyal Briton will unite, and is the Empire's fondest hope that King George the Fifth will worthily maintain Uie glorious traditions <tf the great Throne to which he has succeeded. Long live King. Sing Edward the Seventh was born at Uckingham Palace on November 9th, 0^1. On the 4th of the following month ween. Victoria issued letters patent gating him Prince of Wales and Earl of He was christened at St. .^°rSe s Chapel, Windsor, on January jv]1' 1842, receiving the names of Albert ffward. He followed the example of his Rented mother in selecting the second his names for his style as Sovereign. J1 the family circle the late King was fways called in his younger days "Berty." 11 the late Queen's journals he is often referred^ to. One instance may be Queen. Victoria wrote of a happy ^chtuig excursion in Cornwall in 1S46, that the whole population of ^uro came to the banks of the river at j^&y Corner and were enchanted when jv6l'tie was held up for them to see the ^ke of Cornwall." Lord Palmerston JJd (so referred to the young Prince in gating him out at Penrhyn to the Cor- ^ration there; anti the Queen recorded fe- journals how the old Mayor had in reply, he hoped he would grow J* a blessing to his parents and to his i Ulltry." 1.t young Prince was a student, in a ^ession, at Edmburgli—where he was ^ruPU of Dr..Lyon Playfair, and of Dr. -^idtz, at Oxford, where he was entered H Christ Church, and also at Cambridge, iveie he was at Trinity College. 'JLJie had already had an unusual ex- in travel and in knowledge of J Sorts and conditions of men. He Jsited Canada and the United States, ^cler the guidance of the Duke of New- ^ie, in 1860, and his welcome at Ellington and in the great American r was hardly less enthusiastic than which he met with within the bounds the British Empire. fittst before the death of his estimable p rince Albert-in 1861, the Prince of Wales, who had been if- a 9olonel *u the Army and a K.G. his eighteenth birthday, had his first O^ience of soldiering in Ireland, at the itiHragh. of Kildare, and, in the same during a short tour in Germany, i^et the gentle and beautiful lady CeSs,l^ed to be his future wife, the Prin- 1*6^Alexandra, whose father had not then King of Denmark. It had been {lis lQusly arranged that the Prince, by itt sPecial wish, as his father recorded 111 o of his letters, was to make a tour ^Sypt and the Holy Land, during bej^h he had the great advantage of j^companied by Dean Stanley. Not W; J0uS after hie return home the °f the Prince of Wales to the Wisi06,88 Alexandra became an accom- \1¡4Ü fact. and on March 10th, 1863— ML the bridegroom was in his 22nd | ^o,^he marriage took place in St. Vp s Chapel, Windsor, and in con- '6ioi with the ceremony there were N ClUgs and public illuminations all \j, the kingdom. Never before had been seen in London such crowds i'W^h excitement as when the Sea- vith daughter from over the sea came be married to the heir to the ifch throne. 1871° wb°se memories carry them back tf caunot but have vivid recollections r%v ^re&t public excitement and sym- °Ccasi°ne(i when the then Heir- h ^as struc^ down with typhoid, f6lx.iu every town in the kingdom l A.t o his death was gravely feared. ?-^dringham, where so much of the LSt!l 6 our ^nS was sPent, there is *• 0 £ cross over the grave of the groom | aUght the fell fever at the same Royal master; and the in- W V13,, is: One was taken and the la+6'0f +^"5' The tension of the time is Jfi facts in connection with the Vs to that the country remem- ^d°K keenly- His recovery was cele- b's ■ y a memorable ceremony at St. It February, 1872. lv^0e Sflli 1875 that King Edward, then AP <jJ?. Wales, made the tour of what to be his Indian Empire. j/,000 was voted for the ex-' At J+ifnd the journey was conducted Jv st nf direction of Sir Bartle Frere, 'w^an 1 Russell, the famous d Co.1'respondent of the Times," CHs a secretary, and was after- JUce .^historian of the scenes. The < • kec* Brindisi on board the! 9,etober> and by way! Egypt he reached Bombay,! visUmg Poonah and the Gaikwar of Baroda, went on to Ceylon, I and so to Calcutta, first touching at Madras. From there be proceeded to the great cities of the Ganges, and through Lahore to the frontier of Cashmere and i\'epaut, returning by way of Allahabad to Bombay. It was at this time that the Queen assumed the title of Empress of India, and partly on that account the Prince was acclaimed on his return home great cities of the Ganges, and through Lahore to the frontier of Cashmere and Nepaul, returning by way of Allahabad to Bombay. It was at this time that the Queen assumed the title of Empress of India, and partly on that account the Prince was acclaimed on his return home with more than usual ceremony and wel- come. Taking a keen personal interest in all public affairs, religious, social, and charit- able, educational and recreational, the late King as Prince of Wales made him- self familiar to all in almost every part of his vast domain. One thing, however. he had never been; he kept clear of party politics. While listening to the views of statesmen of every thinking, he strictly refrained from taking sides," and one cannot say with surety whether he would be Liberal or Conservative were he free to speak out. In the House of Lords he took part in several ceremonial introductions. Thus he acted as a sponsor to his brothers and the Duke of Fife, and to his own two sons. When the Duke of Clarence was introduced as a peer in 1890, his father, noting his nervousness, prompted him quietly and unobtrusively. If the King's position shut him out happily from politics, there were many enterprises in which he took a con- spicuous interest. The Exhibitions, which in London, Yaris, and elsewhere have done so much to encourage commercial recip- rocity, and to discover the achievements of the nations, found no more zealous patron than Edward VII. Moreover. musicians never appealed to him in vain, and he did his utmost for the cause of musical education. He also took particular interest in agriculture. He once described himself as a "farmer on a small scale." He was a trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society, and was a famous breeder of cattle. In addition, as befitting the King of the Mistress of the Seas," he was a good sailor. He owned and sailed yachts, whilst on the Turf he enjoyed great and deserving popularity. He was an enthu- siastic patron of cricket, and the Ken- nington Oval would not have been the Mecca of Surrey cricketers had it not .been for his liberality. Two incidents in the late King's career that cannot be forgotten were of an un- pleasant character. In July, 1898, when on a visit to Baron Ferdinand de Roths- child at Waddesdon Manor, the Prince dinned on a staircase and fractured his kne^-cat). It was a serious accident, and it was feared that he would be lamed for life. But with skilful surgery and care- ful nursing, he recovered entirely from its effects. The accident called forth from far and near expressions of cordial sympathy with His Royal Highness. These expressions were, however, as nothing compared with the sympathy, allied with indignation, aroused in the early part of 1900, when the King, as Prince of Wales, had a narrow escape from assassination. He was travelling to Denmark with the Princess, and the train was just moving from Brussels Station when a young Anarchist jumped up to the carriage door and fired at the Prince. One of the bullets went startlingly near the Prince, but, happily, he escaped injury, and his assailant was promptly captured. News of the attempt on the Prince's life created an immense sensation here, and when he returned to England after his visit to the Princess' home, he had a reception such as even he had never experienced before. No memoir of the late King can be complete without a reference to the lady who for half-a-century shared with him the burdens and honours of his exalted position. Eldest daughter and second child of the Duke of Holstein, who later became King Christian IX. of Denmark, Queen Alexandra was born in the Red Palace. Amaliegarde, Copenhagen, on December 1st, 1844. Of the first 20 years of her life there is little to record. Brought un in a family circle in which luxury and splendour were absent, this period of her life was paisked in a quiet, uneventful way, although anecdotes of her early days her studies, her abilities, and family devotion, cannot fail to interest. Princess Alexandra had scarcely reached her seventeenth birthday when she first met the Prince of Wales. The meeting took place at Worms, and is the subject of various romantic stories. Her first visit to England was made shortly afterwards, and she had an audience with the Queen in the absence of the Prince of Wales, who was allowed or instructed to be abroad at the time. At once the widowed Queen took her son's fiancee to her heart, and closer union could not possibly have existed than that which was then cemented between them. In every trouble they remained until death divided these true women to one another. During his all too brief reign the cor- dial affection which King Edward inspired in the nation at large was largely shared by his gracious Consort. She won the hearts of the people by her possession of all the qualities that go to make up womanly grace and worth. As Princess of Wales she was universally popular and beloved; and as Queen Alexandra she increased her held upon the nation's affections by maintaining m her life and Court all the high traditions upheld by Queen Victoria. She has long been the recognised head of British Charity, and her devoted labours in connection with the hospitals became Queen Alexandra even better than her crown. Nor can we draw this brief sketch of the late King's career to a close without a. passing reference to his associations with Wales and her people. The Heir- A.pparent to the British Throne exercises a special fascination upon the minds of Welshmen, because he derives his title from the Principality. King Edward's visits to our little country, from the time when he passed through the Menai Straits with his parents when he was only six years of age, have been red-letter days in the history of the Principality, and asso- ciated as they were with the openings of docks, and University functions, they stand as landmarks in the onward march of the nation's progress, intellectually and industrially. Though he never graced the Rhondda with his presence, the late King took a special interest in the life and arduous calling of its inhabitants, and the colliers will recall with interest the establishment of the Edward Medal for bravery in mines—the miners' V.C. When Her Royal Highness Princess Louise visited the Rhondda last year, she was much struck with the loyal enthusiasm of the people, and she remarked that she would have much pleasure in telling her brother of what she had seen and heard during her visit. •

Funeral of the Late King.

At Toil-Pentre Police Court.…

------------Treorchy.

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