Nancy Cordeiro, age 16, of Marquette, Mich., for her question:
WHEN WAS ENGLAND'S EDWARDIAN AGE?
England's Edwardian Age followed the 64 years during which Queen Victoria sat on the empire's royal throne. The period of time was named for Victoria's oldest son, who served from the time of her death in 1901 until 1910 as Edward VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India.
The Edwardian Age continued the glorious Victorian Age.
Edward VII didn't become the monarch until he was 59 years old and he only ruled for nine years. But during that time he was active in international diplomacy and he made himself England's unofficial ambassador to the world.
Edward was born in London's Buckingham Palace and had an excellent education that included work at Edinburg, Oxford and Cambridge universities. In 1863, when he was 22 years old, he married Princess Alexandra, daughter of Denmark's King Christian IX. They had three daughters and two sons, one of whom became King George V in 1910.
During most of his life, Edward as the Prince of Wales was the leader of English society. He loved yachting and horse racing. Although Queen Victoria thought he wasn't serious enough, the people loved him.
Edward also was very fond of traveling. He made a trip to Canada and inaugurated the custom of good will visits by members of the British royalty to foreign countries and to British dominions.
Edward and Alexandra took over most of the burden of court ceremonials and public functions, which Queen Victoria had put aside in 1861 when she went into something almost like retirement after the death of Edward's father and her husband, Prince Albert.
As the Prince of Wales, Edward traveled to such places as Russia and France. He made many valuable contacts in both social and political arenas.
When Edward moved up to the throne in 1901, he put into effect a policy of promoting international peaceful harmony and friendship. He was called the "Peacemaker" by many. His visits to the European capitals between 1901 and 1904 helped smooth out much of the political tension that had been mounting.
Edward's visits helped to pave the way for the signing of arbitration treaties in 1904 between Great Britain and France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Portugal. He also paved the way for two agreements that strengthened the place of Great Britain on the Continent: the Entente Cordiale of 1904 between France and Great Britain and the 1907 pact between Russia and Great Britain.
Edward and Alexandra paid a diplomatic visit to Emperor William II of Germany in 1909 to help put aside the talk that increased friendly relations between Great Britain and France and Russia was a threat that might weaken Germany. William II, by the way, was Edward's nephew.
Earlier, one of Edward and Alexandra's three daughters, Princess Maude Charlotte Mary Victoria, married her cousin, Prince Charles of Denmark. He later became King Hakon VII of Norway.
When Edward died in 1910, his son became George V.