PRINCE OF WALES

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 57, 4 September 1926, Page 20

PRINCE OF WALES

AN INTERESTINO BIOGRAPHY.

Major F. E. Verney, a personal friend of the Prince of Wales, who accompanied him in an unofficial capacity on his Sout,h African tour, is writing, in " Hutehinson's Magazine," an "intimate and authentic life study of the Prince, who, he. declares, is "the man who attracts more attention than ■ any other living person." ? In his first article Major Verney gives many details of the Prince's early days, analysing the influences which have moulded his character and the gradual effect of environment and cultivation. "The Prince," he writes, "has never had any illusions "of divine favouritism or provi dential partiality." On the other hand, there have been occasions when he has suspected the opposite. In his earliei days his rank was more than a handicap to him; it was a heavy burden. In fact, to use* his own words, 'As a kid j it was the very devil.' From the cradle his future was marked out for him by the relentless laws of his own destiny, and by the high sense of service to the State which governs his family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but a curb bit. Nature provided _the Prince with a large stock ol the spirit of adventure, but spiritually and physically he was forbidden acquaintance with chance. The whole stimulus of the gamble of existence was placed by circumstances within a ring fence marked with the warning inscription: 'No admittance for the Prince of Wales." However, Major Verney disclaims any design of picturing the Prince as a "tragic figure of human disappointment, sitting gravely on the steps of the Tyrone reading warning notices and staring sadly at the might-have-been. He i» nothing of the kind, | and never will be. Tie is much too ' sane and vital for morbid introspection." Sidelights, into the Prince's life as child and boy are presented. One of his ambitions "was inspired by his envy of the physical proportions and authority of the police on duty in Ambassador's Court,'and the dominating autocracy of the constables on point duty in the traffic through which he was sometimes taken in a carriage. He informed his grandfather of his intention to become a policeman on reaching the necessary size, and King Edward agreed that the idea was remarkably sound. . . King.- Edward used %o tell an amusing story of the Prince of Wales when a child. Asked who Perkin Warbeck was,: the Prince replied, 'He said he was the son of a king. He wasn^t —he was the "son of respectable parents.' His first lesson in Royal tact, which was taught by a lady called Mme. Bricka, who had much experience of Royal schoolrooms, was surprising. It was pointed out to him that when he grew tired in company he was not to show it, or admit it, but to observe if the other person was showing signs of fati-, gue, and then to say, 'I am sure you are gotting weary, JVould you like to rest, a little?' • I am'informed that he learned this lesson rapidly, and applied it sometimes, with a mischievous readiness that robbed it of its diplomatic value."