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Show DEATH OF BELOVED RULER OF ENGLAND KING EDWARD VII LAID LOW BY ATTACK OF PNEUMONIA AND BRONCHITIS. Monarch Was Greatly Beloved by His People and Had Shown Genuine Ability as a Statesman Prince of Wales Ascends Throne, Assuming Title of George V. "London. Edward VII, King of England, Eng-land, has succumbed to the ravages of disease, and the English people in fact the whole civilized world -is mourning the passing of 'a monarch who had shown genuine ability as a statesman, and a capacity for ruling his people in a manner that will en-shrine en-shrine his memory in the hearts of his countrymen. King Edward, after a brief illness from pneumonia, following bronchitis, died at 11:45 o'clock Friday night, - May 6. Gathered around the bedside of the dying king were the queen and princesses. prin-cesses. No hope had been held out through the day for the recovery of his majesty. Only a day or two previous pre-vious the king was conducting the Princess Maud Charlotte, who was married to Prince K?H of Denmark, now King Haakon VII of Norway. The king was of the house of Hanover, Han-over, which dates from the succession to the throne of King George I, in 1714. Edward VII assumed the throne on: (he death of Queen Victoria, January'1 22, 1901, so that he was king less than ten years. George Frederick Ernest Albert, Prince of Wales, who now becomes king, is the second son of K.ng Edward Ed-ward and Queen Alexandra. He was born at Mar borough House, June 3, !S65, seventeen months after the birth of his older brother, the late Duke of Clarence. He and his brother entered the navy together as cadets and he spent two years on the Britannia. He then .started on a three years' voyage around the world on the Bacchante. In 1892, when his brother 'Med, he became be-came heir apparent and took his seat in the house of lords as Duke ot York. In May, 1893, his engagement was announced to Pritcess Victoria. Ma; of Teck, and they were married Ju) IS, 1893. The prince became Duke of Cornwall Corn-wall when his father took the throtie, and soon after he started on a tour of the colonies. He opened the first parliament par-liament of the commonwealth of Australia. Aus-tralia. In the fall of 1905 lie went to India. His Indian trip was generally regarded as unsuccessful from a political polit-ical point. In 1908 he visited Canada to attend the celebration at Quebec, and on that occasion met Vice-President Fairbanks. Fair-banks. The prince is less democratio than his father and does not have such an ardent love for sports.- It has been predicted, therefore, that after his accession to the throne the court gaiety that was always a feature during dur-ing Edward's reign will be less marked. The new queen is the only daughter daugh-ter of the late Francis, Duke of Teck. She was born May 26, 1867, and married mar-ried Prince George, Duke of York, July 18, 1893. Six children five sons and one daughter bless the household of the new monarch. . The eldest, Prince Edward Albert, now heir api parent, is a manly lad, who will be 16 years old in June. He is serving as a naval cadet. Prince Albert Frederick, the second son and heir presumptive, also is a naval cadet. He is 13 years old. The other boys are Prince Henry William, Prince George Edward and Prince John Charles. The daughter is Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary. She was born in 1897. According to a circular issued from Marlborough house Sunday night the designation of the new queen will b Queen Mary. The role she will play at the new court has been the subject ol considerable speculation. " As Prince and Princess of Wales, the new king and queen lived such re. tired lives that it is difficult to form an opinion but it is almost safe to assume as-sume that the court will be far lesa " ., -"J' , : ' -V--'.'.1.1 KING EDWARD. Va4 ft business of state and giving audiences, but on Wednesday he was compelled to submit to physicians' orders. Since then until the end his decline was rapid. The king was seriously ill hardly more than three days. One of the last utterances attributed attribut-ed to King Edward was: "Well, it is ill over, but I think I have done my luty." The Prince of Wales succeeded to the throne immediately, according to the laws of the kingdom, without official of-ficial ceremony, assuming the title of George V. His first official act, in pursuance pur-suance to custom, was to dispatch to the lord mayor the announcement of his father's death. Besides the social gloom which the king's death casts over England, several sev-eral important and long-planned official of-ficial events must be abandoned. The Prince and Princess of Wales were to go to South Africa with the squadron, and the prince was to open the first parliament of the new confederation, but his .accession to the throne will now prevent this. The death of his majesty will also mean the abandonment of the principal princi-pal functions of ex-President Roosevelt's Roose-velt's tour. The official receptions and the embassy entertainments will be canceled, and the presentation of the freedom of the city and the luncheon at the Guild Hall probably will be given up. Wlien Edward VII breathed his last there came to a close (the life of a unique personality. He Vas loved almost al-most universally, first of all as a man whose natural attributes made him dear to the hearts of his subjects, and next as a monarch whose ability to fulfill the roll he was called on to assume as-sume was demonstrated conspicuously. He was born at Buckingham palace, November 9, 1S4L the son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-1 Saxe-1 Coburg and Gotha. Educated by private pri-vate tutors on a plan outlined by his father, he later studied at Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge. A long period of travel followed, during which ho went over Europe and the east. In 1S60 he made a triumphant tour through the United States and Canada. The prince was married March 10, 1SG3, to Princess Alexandra, oldest daughter of the Danish prince, who some months later became King Christian Chris-tian IX. Six children were born, two of whom, the Duke of Clarence and Piiuce Alexander, died. The surviving children are George Frederick, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and York, who now becomes king; Princess Louise, Lou-ise, who was married to the Duke of Fife; Princess Victoria Alexandra and GEORGE V, KING OF ENGLAND. brilliant than it was under King Edward. Ed-ward. The latter atached the fullest weight and dignity to the cert-monies cert-monies of the kingly office and all state functions under his reign were invested with the pomp and magnificence magnifi-cence he considered befitting the court of a great empire. He attracted to his court a brilliant array of wealthy social so-cial figures, in which American heiresses heir-esses married to English aristocracy, played a prominent part. x It is quite certain that great changes will be seen In the constitution constitu-tion of the court circle. Queen Mary is credited with great strength of character char-acter and is likely to exert far more influence on the court surroundings than did Queen Alexandra. She is deeply religious and lias a love for charitable work connected with the church, while King George, so far as is known, is more fond of couutry life and pursuits thau of courtly pomp. Hence there is a general belief that the new court will be of a simpler and more austere type and that many o' those who heretofore exercised a paramount influence will be obliged to seek comparative retirement. |
