39. The young Edward was a long way from the model young man his parents wanted him to be, and he knew it
As the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Edward was the heir to the British throne. As such, he was not allowed to have a normal childhood. Instead, he was educated at home. Moreover, his education was designed by Prince Albert himself and designed to mould the young boy into a diligent model constitutional monarch who respected both tradition and modernity. Perhaps not surprisingly, young Edward was a very lonely boy and, since he struggled in his studies, felt himself a huge disappointment to his demanding parents.