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Lot Essay
Edward VII (1841-1910), the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, reigned from 1901 after a sixty-year apprenticeship as the Prince of Wales. Given little responsibility during Victoria's lifetime, 'Bertie', as he was known by his family, devoted himself to a life of pleasure. It was recorded that it was at the Moulin Rouge, in 1890, that the famous challenge was posed to His Royal Highness, 'Hey, Wales, you pay for the champagne'. His marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, by whom he fathered six children, did little to suppress his appetite for exotic living and numerous mistresses, perhaps the most famous of whom was the actress Lillie Langtry (1853-1929), with whom a long affair endured. Despite his mother's misgivings, Edward surprised many when he proved a diligent and hard-working Monarch, popular and much beloved by his subjects. When he died in 1910, his mourning Queen commented ruefully 'At least I'll know where he is now'. He was succeeded by his oldest surviving son, King George V.
There are few men in the Kingdom who have worked so hard or travelled so much as he to attend social gatherings, to lay stones, to open public works, and to preside at Charity dinners.... His intimates are naturally good companions from among the young men of rank of his own age; there is not indeed a Fox or a Burke or a Sheridan among them, yet he willingly admits to intimacy even a grey-beard or a bald-head who may be equal to making themselves sources or subjects of amusement.... His attraction to women is perceived as a natural consequence of his personal qualities and rank.... He is simply to his wife and children, one of the very best husbands and fathers in England. Indeed, the Prince and Princess of Wales are now after nearly eleven years of married life rather like lovers than husband and wife.
This was a Vanity Fair reject.
There are few men in the Kingdom who have worked so hard or travelled so much as he to attend social gatherings, to lay stones, to open public works, and to preside at Charity dinners.... His intimates are naturally good companions from among the young men of rank of his own age; there is not indeed a Fox or a Burke or a Sheridan among them, yet he willingly admits to intimacy even a grey-beard or a bald-head who may be equal to making themselves sources or subjects of amusement.... His attraction to women is perceived as a natural consequence of his personal qualities and rank.... He is simply to his wife and children, one of the very best husbands and fathers in England. Indeed, the Prince and Princess of Wales are now after nearly eleven years of married life rather like lovers than husband and wife.
This was a Vanity Fair reject.