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One day in 1916 my driver took me to the town of Loos in Belgium. I got out of the car and walked to the top of the hill. Down below me there was heavy fighting and I felt very sad.

I lived in a house with twenty-five other soldiers. At night we talked about our lives and our families. It was very interesting.

After a year at Oxford University, Edward went to fight in the First World War. He wrote:

An hour later I returned to my car. I'll never forget what I saw. My driver was dead. While I was away, somebody shot him in the neck.

I could speak freely to different people rich and poor, young and old. But I also saw the blood and noise of war.

When the war finished in 1918, Edward returned to Buckingham Palace. One night he was talking to his father in the dining room.

"I don't understand why countries fight," the Prince said. "The war has finished, but nothing has changed. There are still millions of poor and hungry people. It's not right. Somebody must do something!"

"Well," King George replied, "you can't change the world if you sit by the fire. You must travel. Meet people. Talk to them. Listen to what they say. And then, when you are King, you can make the world a better place."

"Edward is the first royal star," one newspaper wrote, "and he is now the most famous man in the world. In the old days princes were cold and bored. But Edward is different. He gets out of his car and walks down the street. Every two or three minutes he stops and speaks with the crowd. He laughs. He smiles. He shakes a thousand hands. He is a man of the people with a heart of gold."

He saw India, Argentina, Nigeria, Mexico, New Zealand, Germany, and Japan. When he came to Toronto, in Canada, there were 500 000 people in the streets to meet him. Everywhere thousands of people waited to see him -- there were crowds of 190 000 in Cape Town, 300 000 in Paris, 500 000 in New York, and 750 000 in Melbourne.

And so, in 1920, Edward left England again. During the next five years he travelled 240 000 kilometres and visited 45 different countries.