The Washington times., 1936-05-19
400 Million to Honor
King on Birthday

VIII OF EHgLGuu DLLL cGLSOTuLE ms
torty-Second birthday neTt month.
International NetDS SerUice here
NTH presents the first of q series
of tiUe authoritative articles giU-
ing neW and up-to.the- minute
picture OF the Dorld'S most famous
monarchy
BY CHARLES A. SMITH
Copyright, 1886. by International News
Service)
ONDON, May 10 G.N.SD.
Four hundred million subjects of
his Britannia Majesty, scattered
over quarter of the earth's sur
face, will honor the forty-Second
birthday of the new king, Ed
ward VIII, on June %.
The slim, still fair.haired and
pink skinned king of less than six
months will, on that day, lead
his troops in a glittering military
review here while cities, towns
and villages throughout the en-
pire will toast him; battleships
and garrisons of the land forces
will fire salutes, and millions of
school children, standing before
his portrait, will sing, God Save
Our Gracious King"
1t requires no prophet to fore
cast that the royal birthday this
year will be celebrated with more
than customary fervor, for the
man who endeared himself to
the nation during the 25 years
he bore the title of Prince of
Wales has risen to new heights
of popular esteem in the brief
time he has occupied the throne.
No "PIaybOy" King
Confounding those who pre-
dicted he would be a "playboy
king" Edward VIII. has con-
Quoted himself with kingly dig
nifty since that sunlit morning
last January on which he was
proclaimed monarch from the
balcony of St. JameS's Palace.
His obvious respect for his Job
and his determination to do it
thoroughly, his Solicitude for his
widowed mother, Queen Mary, and
his many affectionate references
to the memory of his father, the
late King George V, and above all
his attitude toward the poorer of
his subjects - these things have
served to make the British people
believe that in Edward they have
a ruler destined to be numbered
among the greatest of England's
kings.
His modernity and his demo-
cratic ways at first gave promise
of alternating those richards who
still believe that king of Eng
land should act like a mid-Victo-
rian, but today it is increasingly
realized that Edwards many in
novations in court life have been
all to the good. that many redun-
dant features have been weeded
out to the benefit of the throne
and those who surround it.
Loved by Poor
His flair for doing and saying
the right thing at the right mo-
ment - never better exemplified
than on the occasion of his first
broadcast to the empire when he
asked his subjects to continue to
think of him as "the man you
knew as the Prince of Wales" is
proving one of his greatest assets
and is enabling him to increase
his hold on the affections of the
working classes.
In only one thing has Edward
failed his admirers thus far. He
still gives no indication of want
ing to find a queen-consort to
share his throne. His recent mes
sage to Parliament asking the
faithful Commons" to take into
consideration the possibility of his
marriage, when fixing the amount
of his annual salary, excited atten-
ton throughout the world and
caused scores of people to starr
naming the bride.
Still Heart Free
However. it was later officially
revealed that Edwards mention of
marriage was purely a routine pro-
cedure. His intimates declare he
continues to be heart free and,
perhaps more important, that he
continues to have a strong mind
of his own in the matter of pos
Sible matrimony.
They insist that no amount of
observation-disclosures wirepulling will
cause him to change his often
expressed determination that if he
decides to take a wife it must be
a woman of his own choosing,