Edward, Prince of Wales
Henry VIII's son and heir, thrown out of his own palace in beggar's rags. He learns what his father's laws do to ordinary people.
He wants his throne back, and he wants to punish every cruelty he sees along the way.
The book
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain
At a glance
- Edward VI · Son of Henry VIII, king of England from 1547. Twain invents the swap and the adventures.
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeEdward is proud, brave and quick to anger, and he never stops insisting that he is the king. Nobody believes him. What he sees on the road, from branded slaves to burning women, turns him toward mercy.
How Edward, Prince of Wales Is Portrayed
- The bruise on Tom's handIn Chapter III he sees the bruise the guard gave Tom, stamps his bare foot, and runs out to punish the man. He is thrown into the road instead.
- Christ's HospitalIn Chapter IV the charity boys mock him and set dogs on him. He decides that when he is king such boys will get books as well as bread.
- The mother's testIn Chapter X Tom's mother wakes him three times in the night. He never makes Tom's startled gesture with his hand, and her doubt grows.
- Knighting Miles HendonIn Chapter XII he knights Hendon with Hendon's own sword and grants him the right to sit in the king's presence.
- Thou shalt notIn Chapter XVII he hears Yokel, a farmer branded and sold as a slave for begging, and shouts that the law will end that day. The beggars laugh at him.
- Kings should go to schoolIn Chapter XXVII he sees his two Baptist friends burned. After hearing the other prisoners' stories he says kings should go to school to their own laws.
- Where he hid the SealIn Chapter XXXII he cannot remember where he put the Great Seal until Tom retraces the moment for him. Then he names the Milanese armour on the wall.
Edward, Prince of Wales quotes
The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy.
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