EDWARD VI

King of England, son. of Henry VIII by Jane Seymour, was born in 1537, died in July, 1553. At his father’s death he was only nine years of age. His education was entrusted to men of the first character for learning, under whose training he made great progre , and grew up with a rooted zeal for the doctrines of the Reformation. His reign was, en the whole, tumultuous and unsettled. In Oct., 1551, the Protector Somerset, who had hitherto governed the kingdom with energy and ability, was deposed by the intrigues of Dudley, Duke of North umber land, who became all-powerful. He induced the dying Edward to set aside the succe ion of his sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and settle the crown upon Lady Jane Grey, to whom he had married his son Lord Guild ford Dudley. Edward VI restored many of the grammar schools suppre ed by Henry VIII, and these schools are still known as King Edward’s schools. EDWARD VIi, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, eldest son of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, was born at Bucking ham Palace on 9th Nov., 1841, died 6th May, 1919. In Dec., 1841, he was created Prince of Wales. He was educated under private tutors and at Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge; visited Canada and the United States in 1860; and underwent military training at the Curragh camp in 1861. Promoted to the rank of general in 1862, he visited Palestine and the Hast, and next year took his seat in the House of Lords. On 10th March, 1863, he was married in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, to Prince Alexandra, eldest daughter of Christian IX of Denmark, and from this time onwards he discharged many public ceremonial functions. Attacked by typhoid fever in the winter of 1871, his life was for a time despaired of, but he recovered carly in 1872, his recovery being made the occasion of a thanksgiving service in St. Paul’s Cathedral. During 1875 and 1875 he visited India. He was a member of the Poor Law Commi ion of 1893. He promoted the establishment of the Imperial Institute as a memorial of Queen Victoria’s jubilee (1887), and he commemorated her diamond jubilee (1897) by founding the Prince of Wales’s (now King’s) Hospital Fund for the better financial support of the London hospitals. On the death of Queen Victoria on 22nd Jan., 1901, he succeeded to the throne, and was crowned on 9th Aug., 1902. King Edward did much to promote friendly relations with foreign powers, especially with France and the United States. It was through his personal influence that the Entente Cordiale with France was brought about. To him and Queen Alexandra were born: Albert Victor Christian Edward, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, born 1864, died 1892; George Frederick Ernest Albert, who succeeded his father as George V, born 1865, married 1893, to Prince Victoria Mary of Teck; Prince Louise, now Prince Royal, born 1867, married 1889, to the Duke of Fife, who died 29th Jan., 1912; Prince Victoria, born 1868; and Prince Maud, born 1869, married 1896, to Prince Charles of Denmark, now King of Norway as Haakon VII. —BIBLIOGRAPHY: Life of the King, by ‘One of His Majesty’s Servants’; Holt-White, The People’s King; EK. Legge, King Hdward in his true Colours; J. P. Brodhurst, The Life ~ and Times of Edward VII; W. H. Wilkins, Hdward the Peacemaker.