[C19fan]

Bertie sure took after Victoria's father and uncles.

[Williams]

Guess that stutter wasn’t such an impediment after all.

[Chainmail]

It’s good to be King.

[ichabod1]

Never too late to destroy the reputation of a royal, I suppose. I recently saw the Masterpiece Theater version of Bertie’s life story. They hinted strongly at the infidelity, so I guess this is nothing new. The problem was, they sort of portrayed Bertie as being perfectly fine and Vicky and Albrecht as being the ones with the problem. But there are two sides to every story. At any rate, Bertie seems like a jolly enough old chap, a symbol of his age, a bit like his nephew Nicky, nothing like his nephew Willie.

[Cincinatus]

Part of the problem was that Bertie was an old man by the time Victoria died and he became Edward VII. He showed no responsibility because he was given none. His job was basically to hang around and wait for his mother to die.

Sound familiar?

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Some fat old horndog “lunging” at women, who felt they couldn’t resist his advances because of his powerful position. Who does that sound like?

[AnAmericanMother]

He was known as "Edward the Caresser" for a reason.

But if you fail to educate a young man properly so that he has no life of the mind, fail to train him in athletics so that he has no outlet for his energy, and fail to give him a job . . . this is what you're going to get.

Victoria & Albert tried to educate him along strict German force-feeding lines . . . completely inappropriate for his personality and intellect. When he finally got to Cambridge and had a tutor who saw how to get the best out of him (the excellent Charles Kingsley - who I wish wasn't a rabid anti-Catholic, but I still would have attended his lectures), he did quite well (but his habits and personality were already formed).

[AD from SpringBay]

What is the smell of tobacco infused hasty grope?

[submarinerswife]

I took a college class last year of English history of the Tudor-Stewart Dynasty. It was a blast (if you like History). I read everything I can about the history of the British monarchy all the way back to William the Conquerer. It’s fascinating to me.

The Daily Mail does a good job of printing stories of the Monarchy. The series on Elizabethth II was done with a great deal of class and respect.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Scene from THE LION IN WINTER.

KING Henry: (disowns his sons) says to his wife Elanore of Aquataine...”I have no sons!”

Elanore: “We could populate a country town with country girls who have born you sons!”

[what's up]

Many believe that if Bertie hadn't died there would have been no WW1.

Apparently he had quite a bit of influence over his nephew in Prussia.