After a century of rule by Kings who were essentially Frenchmen, Edward can be called the first truly English King - given an old Anglo-Saxon name and imbued with the frightening certainty that it was England's imperial mission to take its rule to the four corners of the British islands. His many enemies compared him to one of the big cat predators. Perhaps he will rightly be called a leopard, Leo - brave, proud and fierce, the powered, wily, devious and treacherous. The Leopard Prince was born to splendid, impossible expectations. His father, Henry III, had named his son for England's royal saint, Edward the Confessor - the paragon, so it was then thought, of kingly perfection.


此前的一个多世纪里，国王基本上都是法国人。爱德华是第一位真正意义上的英格兰国王，他拥有古老的盎格鲁撒克逊式的名字。内心膨胀着骇人的欲望，坚信英格兰的终极使命，统一不列颠群岛。他的敌人们将其喻为一种大型猫科食肉动物，或许猎豹是对他最贴切的称谓，如猎豹般，勇敢，傲慢而残忍，大权在握。狡猾，刁钻而阴险，猎豹王子生来就被寄予宏伟。近乎不切实际的厚望，他的父亲，亨利三世，以英格兰皇室圣贤，忏悔者爱德华为其命名。[1042-1066年在位，倒数第二位盎格鲁－撒克逊国王]在当时人民的心中，他是帝王的完美代表。