page_title: Prince John of the United Kingdom
section_title: Childhood and illness
hierarchical_section_title: Prince John of the United Kingdom / Childhood and illness
caption_attribution_description: English: A photo of Prince John, "the lost prince," and his brothers and sister.
context_page_description: Prince John of the United Kingdom was the fifth son and youngest of the six children of King George V and Queen Mary. At the time of John's birth, his father was the Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom, King Edward VII. In 1910, George succeeded to the throne upon Edward's death and John became fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.
  In 1909, John was discovered to have epilepsy. As his condition deteriorated, he was sent to live at Sandringham House and was kept away from the public eye. There, he was cared for by his governess, "Lala" Bill, and befriended local children whom his mother had gathered to be his playmates. Prince John died at Sandringham in 1919, following a severe seizure, and was buried at nearby St Mary Magdalene Church. His illness was disclosed to the wider public only after his death.
  Prince John's alleged seclusion has subsequently been brought forward as evidence for the inhumanity of the royal family. However, records show that the Prince was in some ways given favourable treatment by his parents, in comparison with his siblings.
context_section_description: Much of John's early life was spent at Sandringham with his siblings—​Prince Edward (known as David to the royal family), Prince Albert, Princess Mary, Prince Henry and Prince George—​under the care of their nanny Charlotte "Lala" Bill.
  Though a strict disciplinarian, the Prince of Wales was nonetheless affectionate toward his children;
  the Princess of Wales was close to her children and encouraged them to confide in her.
  In 1909, John's great-aunt, the Dowager Empress of Russia wrote to her son, Emperor Nicholas II, that "George's children are very nice ... The little ones, George and Johnny are both charming and very amusing ..."Princess Alexander of Teck described John as "very quaint and one evening when Uncle George returned from stalking he bent over Aunt May and kissed her, and they heard Johnny soliloquize, 'She kissed Papa, ugly old man!'"
  George once said to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt that "all [his] children [were] obedient, except John"—​apparently because John alone, among George's children, escaped punishment from their father.
  Though a "large and handsome" baby, by his fourth birthday John had become "winsome" and "painfully slow".
  That same year he suffered his first epileptic seizure and showed signs of a disability, probably autism.
  When his father succeeded as George V upon Edward VII's death in 1910, John was awarded the title "His Royal Highness The Prince John".
  John did not attend his parents' coronation on 22 June 1911, as this was considered too risky for his health; nonetheless, cynics said that the family feared their reputation would be damaged by any incident involving him.
  Although John was deemed not "presentable to the outside world," George nonetheless showed an interest in him, offering him "kindness and affection".
  During his time at Sandringham, John exhibited some repetitive behaviours as well as regular misbehaviours and insubordination: "he simply didn't understand he needed to [behave]."
  Nonetheless, there was hope his seizures might lessen with time. Contrary to the belief that he was hidden from the public from an early age, John for most of his life was a "fully-fledged member of the family", appearing frequently in public until after his eleventh birthday.
  In 1912 Prince George, who was nearest in age to John and his closest sibling, began St Peter's Court Preparatory School at Broadstairs.
  The following summer, The Times reported that John would not attend Broadstairs the following term, and that George and Mary had not decided whether to send John to school at all.
  After the outbreak of World War I, John rarely saw his parents, who were often away on official duties, and his siblings, who were either at boarding school or in the military.
  John slowly disappeared from the public eye and no official portraits of him were commissioned after 1913. In spite of his physical and mental decline, John was not removed from the line of succession.
caption: The royal children in 1912: (l-r) Albert, John, Henry, Mary, Edward, and George
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