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