"It is melancholy to reflect that Mankind has suffered more from ill-judged philanthropy than [from] calculated malice. The road to Hell is no less harrowing for being paved with good intentions. Prince Albert's plans for bringing up his eldest son could scarcely have been better meant or worse contrived. If they had [any one] redeeming feature, it was their failure to achieve the purposes inspiring them."
So wrote Professor Giles St. Aubyn, in his 1979 biography of our humble Royal Person. And yet, one cannot deny that Prince Albert's plans for bringing up his eldest son were nonetheless the first step in the successful guidance of the path and ultimate destiny of Edward the Seventh --- by the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and of his other Realms and Territories beyond the Seas; Emperor of India; Defender of the Faith!
There is, I suspect, a strange irony involved in having been presented with the opportunity of welcoming you to my homepage: I grew up, as I recall, during the reign of my mother, Queen Victoria, at the sunset of the 19th Century; the decade during which I reigned as King was the very first decade of the 20th Century --- and now, here I am greeting my faithful Junior Edwardians (as I shall henceforth refer to you) with a World Wide Web homepage at the dawn of the 21st Century! Quite interesting! What will people imagine next, I wonder?
But naturally, I suppose that there are many of you among my People who are asking yourselves this:
Is King Edward VII, he who ruled Great Britain from January 1901 until his death in May 1910, truly deserving of a home in what the Mortals call "cyberspace"?
Well, there's an impressionably passionate and clever young fellow by the name of Richard Washington who apparently seems to think so; and it is by his efforts and through his services that we, the King, humbly welcome our most loyal online subjects!
The Edwardian Era, as you call it, was my Era. It heralded the beginning of the 20th Century --- and led to all sorts of predictions by all sorts of people about how that Century would signal the start of a truly Golden Age. Of course, even today there are a good many people (including some of you reading this right now) who might tend to disagree with such assertions. I, on the other hand, having literally experienced every single aspect of the story from the very moment I was born in 1841, would choose to recall my 9 1/2 years on the Throne of all Britain as a moment in time during which men, women and children all over the world dared to believe in themselves; and, indeed, dared to cast their eyes and their hopes upon what they believed would be the beginning of a Glorious Future!
What's more, the Edwardian Era also literally produced an entire cornucopia of interesting people, places and events. The purpose of Edward VII: The Homepage is to introduce you (or, rather, to reintroduce you, as the case may be!) to some of them --- starting, as you might expect, with the Royal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, featuring myself and my beloved and faithful Queen Alexandra [Alix, as we affectionately call her]; my son George and his wife May, the Prince and Princess of Wales; our three daughters, Victoria (the Princess Royal), Louise and Maud (later, Her Majesty Queen Maud of Norway); our adorably wonderful brood of grandchildren --- and last, but not least, our two always loyal dogs, Caesar and Little Marvel!
Our homepage will, no doubt, include a cross-section of Family Photos; but this will not be the only thing you will see here. The Royal Household will individually introduce themselves to you here, as will members of all the Palaces' Staffs, and (naturally!) a number of the more famous Lords and Ladies with whom I held court. In addition, we will meet a few Edwardian Villains, for even my Era was not without its share of bad deed-doers! You'll also discover how I underwent the rituals of The Coronation, and follow a timeline, as they call it nowadays, of some of the major Events of the Period that occured whilst I occupied the Throne. Of course, today my great-granddaughter --- known to a good many of you as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II --- is presently where I once was; therefore, our Royal Homepage would not be complete without the inclusion of a Message to the Present Monarch. A few words of kindly wisdom from one ruler of Britain to another, as it were. (Heh-heh!)
And of course, this being a homepage about a King, it only seems fitting that our cyber-realm, so to speak, should include a few of my favourite places to journey upon the web! Appropriately, I've decided to call that section His Majesty's Links of Merit! Interesting idea, don't you think?
Oh yes! I almost forgot: Did you know that, during the late 1970's, I was actually a television star? Yes, it actually happened: the late Lord Lew Grade and the good Mortals of ITC Entertainment were kind enough to take Sir Phillip Magnus' marvelous biography of this rather rotund fellow now speaking to you --- and squash its entire contents into thirteen hour-long episodes. And what a miniseries it was! They originally called the show "The Royal Victorians;" but wisely they chose a more sensible title: "Edward the King." And they could not have chosen a more sensible fellow to portray me than Timothy West. And Timothy came from good stock, if I remember correctly: Lockwood West, Timothy's father, portrayed me in several episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs! In any case, another reason for the existence of our Royal Homepage is to perhaps talk the History Channel into broadcasting "Edward the King" in prime-time again, just for old time's sake! (Heh-heh!)
So, now you know what this Edwardian website seeks to present as it recounts the tale of my life and adventures as King..... adventures from a time when the 20th Century was, if only briefly, the sanest period in the history of our world. Proud I am to say that we, the Edwardians, were among the many both in and out of Britain who helped to make it that way. Even if, in the end, our efforts were doomed to failure, we still managed to have a great deal of fun making it all happen. This, then, is a homepage about how we did it, why we did it, and all that occured in between.
And I, Edward VII, King of Great Britain, am more than delighted and honoured to serve as your guide to all the aforementioned. And, naturally, I expect decorum and restraint (as well as a sensible degree of dignity) from my online subjects. Remember, you are standing in the presence --- the cyberpresence, so to speak --- of Royalty!
And if you like our Royal Homepage and all that it contains, please do not hesitate to share your thoughts! Our addresses are: pirate1_power@hotmail.com blackbeardian@yahoo.com and blackwolfmmi@aol.com. Our humble Kingdom would be pleased to hear from you!
As my great-granddaughter, Elizabeth II, observes the Golden Jubilee celebrations of her reign, the joyous occasion is interrupted by the passing, on March 30th, 2002, of Her Majesty Quen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. She was 101 years old, and had witnessed literally the entire 20th Century! BBC News has prepared a tribute to this beloved guardian of British elegance, class, and dignity; a similar tribute may be found on the British Monarchy's homepage.
And after you've left here, please explore the rest of Richard Washington's Blackbeard's Castle website collection: KringleQuest.com; Blackwolf the Dragonmaster's Dark Chambers; Uncle Fergus' Bagpipers' Paradise!; The Quartet of the Longbeards; our newest resident, Old Man Fiddler; The Sterlingshire Pages, with Lord Olen Forkbeard; and, of course, my fellow crowned head, as it were (Heh-heh!) --- King Humphrey, with his Tales from Berenicia. All these websites, mine included, are mostly under construction, but will always be in a constant state of becoming. Before long, they'll all be put together just the way Richard himself --- and, hopefully, you as well --- will like it! Thus, I entreat you: keep watching us, won't you, for we have so much to offer here at the Castle. And we certainly hope that you will enjoy our merry cornucopia of ... well, practically everything!
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