"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 you, my faithful Junior Edwardians (as I shall henceforth refer to you) with a World Wide Web homepage in the 21st Century! Quite interesting! What will these Mortals 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 named 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, starring myself and my beloved and faithful Queen Alexandra [Alix, as we affectionately call her]; along with 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 13 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! Originally, when this Royal Homepage was first conceived, one of its primary reasons for being was to talk the good people who run the History Channel into broadcasting "Edward the King" in prime-time again, just for old time's sake! (Heh-heh!) These days, of course, there are one or two of you out there, I would suspect, who would rather that the show be issued on (what do they call that again?) Digital Video Disc; I, for one, can't say that I blame you, dear Junior Edwardians, for feeling thus.
Well, enough about the Royal Emotions for the moment. 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: electric_pirates@hotmail.com and blackbeardian@yahoo.com. Our humble Kingdom would be pleased to hear from you!
And, of course, after you've left here, please explore the rest of Richard Washington's Blackbeard's Castle website collection: Blackwolf the Dragonmaster's Dark Chambers; Uncle Fergus' Bagpipers' Paradise!; The Quartet of the Longbeards; Superman: The Movie --- The Richard Washington Site; La Movida; Old Man Fiddler; 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!
Well, it was only a matter of time before this 21st Century found itself witness to two big Coronation Ceremonies --- one in Bhutan, whereby Jigme Khesar Wangchuck succeeded his father, to help mark 100 years of the Wangchuck Dynasty's reign; the other in Tonga, as King George Tupou V finally had his own Coronation after a long and controversial first two years on his throne. Indeed, the Ceremony itself was so extensive that TVNZ's Tagata Pasifika series had to split the event into an unprecedented 2-part miniseries! Click here, here, here, here and here for the .... well, almost complete chronicle!
Well, I fear that one might suggest, to quote our younger Junior Edwardians, that it's pretty much lights out for NBC's Kings. The concluding eight episodes will now be seen Saturdays at 9 p.m., 8 p.m. Central, before making the inevitable leap to the Digital Video Disc format, under the all-too-obvious title Kings: The Entire Series.
Her Majesty the Queen, my great-granddaughter, broke a record or two recently, on her 82nd Birthday! That glorious lady who could only be Elizabeth Alexandra Mary just might, by September 2019, surpass my dear mother, Queen Victoria, as Britain's longest-reigning Monarch! After all, even if she does feel a bit long-in-the-tooth to some of you, there are those for whom it can be said that this particular Royal still knows how to keep her loyal subjects coming back for more! But, as a USA Today cover story from several years ago wondered, how long has the British Monarchy left --- and can it stay relevant in an ever-changing dotcom world?
