Ted Carroll

Edward Bartholomew Carroll (usually called "Ted" at home) is one of the five protagonists of The Secret Country.

It's likely that he has light brown hair and blue eyes, as he is said to resemble his sister, who is described that way. He is "stubbornly short" compared to his friends, and, at home, can often be found reading. During the events of The Secret Country, he is 14 years old.

At home
Ted's sister is Laura; Ruth, Patrick, and Ellen are their cousins.

Another set of cousins he and Laura share are the Barretts (whose house they are staying in at the beginning of The Secret Country); these are Katie, David, Jennifer, and Tommy. Those cousins' parents (Ted and Laura's aunt and uncle) are Kathy and Jim.

Ted can ride a horse when he arrives in the Secret Country, having learned how to do so at home.

In the Secret Country
In the Secret Country, Ted is Prince Edward. He is a son of King William, brother of Prince Patrick (with whom he shares a room), and cousin of Princesses Ellen and Laura. He is related by blood to Lady Ruth, but the Secret Country no longer considers them related, as Ruth gave up her family relationships when she began studying the magic of the Green Caves.

Prince Edward's fencing master and "best friend" (according to Ellen) is Lord Randolph.

In the game narrative that the children played, after Lord Randolph kills King William, Edward becomes King, kills Randolph, dies himself in the battle, and is then revived from the dead. Ted describes these events as involving "talking to a lot of ghosts and killing God knows what-all over the battlefield and trying to run a kingdom when [he] hate[s] politics."

It is mentioned in The Secret Country that dwarves forged armor for Prince Edward (to wear when he is fully grown) at his birth.

Comparing Ted Carroll and Prince Edward

 * During the events of The Secret Country, it is revealed that Prince Edward is 17 to Ted's 14.
 * Ted has good eyes; Prince Edward doesn't.
 * Ted is right-handed; Prince Edward is left-handed.
 * Prince Edward is "shy, scholarly, and not good for much" in the game version that the children play, so Ted's outspokenness during the events of The Secret Country surprises other residents of High Castle. Designating the prince as shy was a deliberate choice on the part of the children when playing their Secret game. They found that Ted Carroll was useful for playing King William until William's death, and saw Prince Edward as being of limited use in their storyline initially, so they gave the prince a retiring personality to justify his character's being in the background before his ascension to the throne.
 * Ted does not care about the clothing other people wear, while Prince Edward does but is "much too shy to say anything about it."
 * According to Lord Randolph, Prince Edward is a good swordsman. (Randolph has been teaching Prince Edward for three years during the events of The Secret Country.)
 * Ted is shorter than Prince Edward, as Randolph notices during fencing training.