His elder brother， Prince Albert Victor (Prince Eddy)， while
personally charming， was by character and temperament unsuitable to be King. He
had feeble health and he has been described as having an inert， apathetic nature ，
as being backward and utterly listless ， and more picturesquely as aimless as a
gleaming goldfish in a crystal bowl . When he died at the age of twenty-seven， he
was much mourned by his family and the nation， but he was clearly not the stuff
through which the monarchy might have been preserved in a period that saw the
disappearance of most of the crowned heads of Europe.
In addition， it may be argued that， quite apart from the accident which in this
case substituted a good and able King for one who must inevitably have been danger-
ously weak， to be born at the centre and apex of a world which compounds so many
of the elements of fantasy， may cast too great a burden on any but the strongest
mind. We have the example of Edward viii to encourage this belief， and we may
hold with certainty the view that follows from it， that it has been of benefit to the
monarchy that so many of our Kings and Queens have passed their formative years
in circumstances which， if unusual were not unique， and which were comparatively
free from responsibility and homage. I will be good ， the young Victoria said when
she learned that she was next in succession to the throne， and one can feel the impact
in her words of the tremendous thing that had happened to her. A similar sense
of awe and dedication seems to have been experienced by George v， George vI and
Elizabeth II when they learned in turn that theirs would be the supreme position.
We know that George v， travelling in India as heir to the throne， received a notion
which was to grow in strength until it dominated his life， of what must henceforth
be expected of the man or woman called to wear the Imperial Crown .
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