Mighty
Tom Canty’s biggest dream to meet the Prince came true. What was more, the Prince was so generous that he invited the poor boy in. Edward took Tom “to a rich apartment in the palace, which he called his cabinet.” As soon as he sent away the servants, “so that his humble guest might not be embarrassed by their critical presence,” the young Prince sat “near by” and asked questions “while Tom ate.” Tom told him about everything: the place where he lived, what his parents did, how poorly his father treated him and his sisters, and whatnot. The irony was that the Prince was well-educated and spent all his time learning various subjects, but he knew nothing about the real world. He didn’t even know that there were places in his kingdom where people were so poor that they had to live on dry bread and water.
A child
There was only one way to prove that he was the real Prince: to say where the Seal was hidden. Unfortunately for him, he named the wrong place. However, Tom insisted that the boy dressed in rags was the King. He was so eager to put an end to that game that he did everything he could to help the King to remember where the Seal was. There were no doubts left who was the true King when Tom confessed that he had used the Seal “to crack nuts with.” The irony was that a child – no matter how privileged and entitled he or she is – stayed a child no matter what.
Quick thinking
As soon as the Lord Protector understood that Tom was not the King, he spoke up: “Let the small varlet be stripped and flung into the Tower.” But the new King, “the true King” objected that. He reminded his dear uncle that the latter was not grateful, for Tom had made him “a duke.” However, he still had to sue to the true King “through” Tom, for his title’s conformation, “else no duke, but a simple earl” would remain. The irony was that after that “rebuke,” his “Grace the Duke of Somerset” became his charming and kind fake-self. He didn’t care about Tom, but he did care about his title.
