479 



attaching not only to the opening of a new reign but to the increasing importance of 

 the activities of the Throne under modern conditions of British social and political 

 life. Much inevitably depends on the extent to which popular respect 

 anc * a ff ect i n surround the whole Royal Family, and also on the amount 

 porters. of assistance available for the Sovereign, in the varied and exacting func- 



tions which the Throne is expected to perform, from others among its 

 members. In these respects King George was able to benefit from a continuous growth 

 of mutual confidence, on the part of the Royal Family and the public at large. In his 

 mother, Queen Alexandra, and his consort, Queen Mary, the national affection had 

 always been unchangingly concentrated; and his aunts, King Edward's sisters, Princess 

 Christian, Princess Louise (Duchess of Argyll) and Princess Henry of Battenberg, 

 remained, as they had long been, active and popular figures in English social life. His 

 one surviving uncle, the Duke of Connaught, a man admired and respected throughout 

 the British Army and indeed among all classes, not only for his distinguished ability but 

 also for his camaraderie and good sense, was still able and willing to take an important 

 and most useful part in public life; he went in October, 1910, to South Africa with great 

 success to open the Union Parliament on the King's behalf, and in 1911 was appointed 

 to succeed Earl Grey as Viceroy of Canada, where he and the Duchess quickly made 

 themselves popular, and their charming daughter, Princess Patricia, not less so ; The 

 Duke of Connaught's son, Prince Arthur of Connaught, was meanwhile chosen by the 

 King to be his representative on several important missions to foreign countries, and 

 was appointed one of the four councillors of State (the others being the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, Lord Chancellor Loreburn and Viscount Morley of Blackburn) empowered 

 to transact business in the King's stead while absent on the Royal visit to India. With 

 such supporters among the Royal Family, the work of the Throne was ably assisted; 

 nor was the support confined only to these. Queen Mary's brother, Prince Francis of 

 Teck, a gallant officer whose death on October 22, 1910, cut short a career of much 

 promise, had thrown himself into social service at home by becoming chairman of the 

 Middlesex Hospital, and his brother, Prince Alexander, followed his example. It was 

 generally recognised as being the pride of English Royalty to use their position for 

 public ends and to spare no effort on behalf of national causes. 



But the character of the Sovereign himself is necessarily the central factor in the 

 realisation of those potentialities for social and political influence which have become 

 Kiag so marked in the democratic development of the British Monarchy. At 



George's the very outset of his reign King George found it necessary to vindicate 

 vindication. ^ s personal character against certain remarkable aspersions, and in doing 

 so he gave a proof of his own confidence in the public, which had excellent effect. It 

 is now purely a curious episode in the history of scandal-mongering that, at the time when 

 he came to the Throne, in spite of the genuine liking which existed in all classes for King 

 Edward's sailor son, stories were current in various quarters, founded on irresponsible 

 gossip, in the first place that he was addicted to drink, and in the second a still more 

 serious matter that he had been secretly married before his marriage with the Queen 

 and that this earlier wife was alive though for dynastic purposes the union was ignored. 

 Even while King Edward was alive reports somehow became prevalent that the Prince 

 of Wales drank too much. At " Grand night " at one of the Inns of Court the Prince 

 bluntly told the Treasurer who was his host that people said so, and asked him how to 

 get the impression removed, a question more easily asked than answered. Those more 

 immediately in the Prince's entourage know that it was nonsense, but the more such 

 things are denied the more publicity they generally get. When King George came to 

 the Throne however it became desirable that the progress of this lie should be checked, 

 and the Dean of Norwich in July, 1910, by the King's desire, spoke out plainly with 

 excellent effect. Right-minded people felt moreover that a King who was prepared to 

 abandon the usual reticence in such a matter had a straightforward way of acting which 

 was preferable to the arts of diplomacy. 



Reports with reference to the second allegation had indeed been spread at the time 



