Royal Responsibility Quotes
The Emperor had made his brother King of Holland, thinking of it as an unimportant backwater of the French Empire. But Louis took his oath and job very seriously, and although he did not have the great talent of his brother, he made a serious effort to be a good king.
The Princess was Victoria who was to become the Sovereign of England but at the time was only 11 years old. The Duchess was her mother and guardian and responsible for her upbringing and education. However, note that because a future sovereign was involved, the official Church of England was required by the existing law to provide oversight to her upbringing, and this memo was one of the Duchess’s periodic report to the Church. Also it is interesting that this young princess, destined to be the most powerful person in the world at the time, was brought up to “live for others” and not to be pompous or dazzled with power. The Duchess did a terrific job because not only was Victoria to reign over the British Empire for 62 years, but Queen Victoria is regarded by many historians as one of the best, if not the best, monarch who ever reigned anywhere.
This first duty is more and more difficult in a large nation. Yet the expectation is so basic in almost every society, that it behooves the leader to learn as much as possible of the important aspect of his government and nation. This was one of the reasons that President George W. Bush was unpopular with many irrespective of his policies. He had little intellectual curiosity and did not spend much time learning and informing himself of things that were not of immediate necessity.
