H.R.H. : A CHARACTER STUDY OF THE PRINCE OF' WALES.
By Major F. E. Verney, M.C. (Hutchinson. 20s.). —Perhaps the best thing to be said for this book is that no one after reading it is likely to wish it had not been written. It is unnecessarily slangy and once or twice, unless a printer's error is responsible, words are used in a meaning which is not theirs. But on the whole Major Verhey has given a good idea of the Prince's education and the different parts played in it by early years, navy cadet training, Oxford, the Guards, and finally, the War. One may-easily believe Major Verney that regimental life, especially in war time, turned the young man into what he was not by nature—a " good mixer " : and it is certainly true that anyone who has been through a cadet's education for the navy and a cruise on a battleship in the wardroom is, at fifteen, far more of a man than most under- graduates at nineteen. The second part of the book is post- War and describes .the Prince's life and work, and paints in full detail his South African tour—when indeed his friendly informal ways seem to have broken down many ancient antipathies. But the pleasantest story, and one of the most typical, tells how at one camp Hottentots came to play outside his quarters with their primitive instruments. The Prince got out his ukulele, picked up the air, and then went and sat down and joined the party in playing it. Undoubtedly, as one Dutch Labour man said to Major Verney, it was not the royalty of the person but the personality of the royalty that made the notable success of that tour.
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