13. Queen Victoria might have wanted her son to keep away from public engagements, but Bertie loved the limelight
Thanks mainly to his playboy ways, Queen Victoria was reluctant to have her son involved in affairs of the estate. This became something of a vicious circle; since he had so few official engagements, the Prince of Wales found other ways to keep himself busy, and these usually involved women, drink, gambling or a combination of all three. At the same time, however, Prince Edward often took the initiative. According to some experts, it was ‘Bertie’ who invented the modern royal public engagement. For instance, he opened the Thames Embankment in person in 1871 and also cut the ribbon for Tower Bridge in 1894.
