CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
BIRTH AND INFANCY
A Crown's Demise—Imperial Development—A Political Crisis—Looking Backward—An Eventful Morning—Buckingham Palace—Birth of Edward VII.—Rejoicings in London—Punch is Topical—A Royal Mother—Early Honours—The Christening at Windsor—The Popularity of Protestantism—Some Early Pictures Described—"Princey" at Five—The Home Circle in 1848—The Duke of Cornwall Visits the Duchy—The Early Environment of the Future King—The Power of Heredity . . . 1
CHAPTER II
THE ANCESTRY OF THE GUELPHS
The House of Brunswick—Flight of James II.—The Wars of Religion—Powers of the Bill of Rights—Queen Anne and Sophia, Electress of Hanover—A Crown in the Balance—Why the Pretender Failed—The Coming of the House of Guelph—George I. and his Descendants—A Match-making King—Threatened Opposition—Girlhood of Victoria—Early Days at Rosenau—A Character Sketch of Prince Albert—The Cousins Together—Cares of a Crown—A Determined Lover—Marriage of Victoria and Albert . . . 18
CHAPTER III
SOME EARLIER EDWARDS
An Edward of A.D. 901—The Submission of Mercia—The Supremacy of Edward the Elder—Edward the Martyr's Brief Reign—Early Antagonism to Monasticism—Edward the Confessor—Robert the Devil—A Coronation at Winchester—Godwin's Growing Power—Climax and Flight—The Welsh Invade England—A Forerunner of Westminster Abbey—The Consolidation of England—Edward I. on the Throne—The Land Question in 1275—The First Prince of Wales—The Rule of Edward II.—Edward III. and the "Shameful Peace"—Downfall of Mortimer—Edward IV.—The Wars of the Roses—The Pathetic End of Edward V. and its Sequel—The Brief Reign of Edward VI. . . . 37
v
