Edward VII Wettin King of PLANTAGENET, ENGLAND

                   	2  GIVN Edward VII
	2  SURN WETTIN


Note: Edward was christened Albert Edward and called Bertie by his family. But on his succession he announced that he would be called Edward VII, tactfully explaining that there could only be one Albert, who by universal consent is, I think deservedly, known by the name of Albert the Good. Edward was brought up with strict severity as a vicarious atonement for the wickedness of George IV. But there were moments in his later life when he was publicly compared with the profligate Prince Regent. His mother had a physical aversion to him for a long time after the death of his father when Edward was 20, which Victoria wrongly attributed to Albert's collapse at the disclosure that Edward had recently had an affair with an actress. Edward was barred from exerting any political influence for forty years, and he bitterly resented this, particularly in the field of foriegn police. Here his extensive family contacts in Europe, and his easy sociability which was in marked contrast to his mother's withdrawn isolation, gave him, he considered, an expertise which was neglected. In consequence, he devoted himself to a life of personal indulgence, which was not dimished in debauchery by the cover of social grace and exquisite manners under which it was carried out. When Edward came tardily to the throne he was active in changing a traditional British alignment in foreign policy. He gained the goodwill of France and began not only foreign alliances but also active rearmament against the military aggrandizement of Prussia under Kaiser Wilhelm, a nephew of Edward whom he thoroughly detested.