Rare painting by Prince George to widow of author Charles Kingsley to go on view

April 4, 2011 - PRLog -- A delightful handpainted card is amongst the exhibits in the forthcoming Royal Connections Exhibition at The Edenbridge Galleries Open Weekend on 7th & 8th May. The card painted on Sandringham headed notepaper was sent by Prince George to the widow of author Charles Kingsley and is inscribed “For Mrs Kingsley from George with My birthday love. June 3rd 1875” and depicts a guardsman and battle scenes.
His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales, later to become King George V, was born on 3  June 1865, the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was little expectation that George would become King. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, Prince Albert Victor. George was only seventeen months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. Neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually and as their father thought that the navy was "the very best possible training for any boy", when George was twelve years old, both brothers joined the cadet training ship HMS Britannia at Dartmouth, Devon.
Clergyman and author Charles Kingsley, a proponent of Christian socialism, was especially concerned with the plight of the poor and down-trodden. Kingsley's controversial philosophy on social reform can be found in his fictional works. In 1854 Kingsley helped establish the Working Men's College. “Westward Ho!” was published a year later, the Crimean War was raging and England delighted in his adventure/romance on the Spanish Main. Kingsley also wrote fiction for children including” The Water Babies” (1863).

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