The Life of King Henry the Eight • Paragraph 270
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Following his return from foreign travel and the fulfilment of a brief round of public functions and duties came the now historic and really eventful illness of the Prince of Wales. It was a critical period in his career. Boyhood, youth and the first flush of manhood were gone; his marriage had taken place and his family been born into a position of present and future importance; his own training in public duties and experience in foreign travel and observation had been completed up to a very high point of efficiency. The one element which seemed to be a little lacking was that of a full appreciation of his own responsibility to the nation and the Empire. The brilliant light which blazed around the Throne could find no fault in the actual performance of any duty; but the critical eye and caustic pen had been prone for some years to allege an overfondness for pleasure and amusement and the pursuits of social life.