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'Edward VII' (Albert Edward;
9 November 1841 –
6 May 1910) was
King of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and
Emperor of India from
22 January 1901 until his death on
6 May 1910.
Before his accession to the throne, Edward held the title of
Prince of Wales, and has the distinction of having been
heir apparent to the throne longer than anyone in English or British history.
[1] During the long widowhood of his mother,
Queen Victoria, he was largely excluded from wielding any political power but came to represent the personification of the fashionable, leisured elite.
Edward's reign, now called the
Edwardian period after him, saw the first official recognition of the office of the
Prime Minister in 1905. Edward played a role in the modernization of the
British Home Fleet, the reform of the
Army Medical Services,
[2], and the reorganisation of the British army after the
Second Boer War. His fostering of good relations between Great Britain and other
European countries, especially
France, for which he was popularly called "Peacemaker", were sadly belied by the outbreak of
World War I in 1914.
He was the first
British monarch of the
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which was renamed by his son,
George V, to the
House of Windsor.
Early life
Edward was born at 10:48 am on
9 November 1841 at
Buckingham Palace. His mother was
Queen Victoria, the only daughter of
Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and granddaughter of
King George III. His father was
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, first cousin and
consort of Victoria. Christened 'Albert Edward' (after his father and maternal grandfather) at
St. George's Chapel, Windsor on
25 January 1842, his godparents were the
King of Prussia, the
Duke of Cambridge,
Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, King Consort of Portugal, the
Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the
Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg and
Princess Sophia. He was known as 'Bertie' to the family throughout his life.
[3]
As the eldest son of a British sovereign, he was automatically
Duke of Cornwall,
Duke of Rothesay,
Earl of Carrick,
Baron of Renfrew,
Lord of the Isles and Prince and
Great Steward of Scotland at birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and
Duke of Saxony. Queen Victoria created her son
Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on
8 December 1841. He was created
Earl of Dublin on
17 January 1850, and a
Knight of the Garter on
9 November 1858 and a
Knight of the Thistle on
24 May 1867.
[4] In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in favour of his younger brother,
Prince Alfred.
In 1846, the four-year-old Prince of Wales was given a scaled-down version of the uniform worn by ratings on the Royal Yacht. He wore his miniature
sailor suit during a cruise off the
Channel Islands that September, delighting his mother and the public alike. Popular engravings, including the famous portrait done by
Winterhalter, spread the idea, and by the 1870s, the sailor suit had become normal dress for both boys and girls in many parts of the world.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a model constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked upon a rigorous educational program devised by the Prince Consort, and under the supervision of several tutors. However, unlike
his elder sister, the Prince of Wales did not excel in his studies. He tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. He was not a diligent student — his true talents were those of charm, sociability, and tact.
Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent and of sweet manner.
[5]
After an educational trip to
Rome, undertaken in the first few months of 1859, he spent the summer of that year studying at the
University of Edinburgh under, amongst others,
Lyon Playfair. In October he matriculated as an undergraduate at
Christ Church, Oxford.
[6] Now released from the educational strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed studying for the first time and performed satisfactorily in examinations.
[7]
The following year he undertook the first tour of
North America by a British heir to the throne. His genial good humour and confident ''bonhomie'' made the tour a great success.
[8] He inaugurated the
Victoria Bridge, Montreal across the
St Lawrence River, and laid the cornerstone of
Parliament Hill, Ottawa. He watched
Blondin traverse
Niagara Falls by highwire, and stayed for three days with President
James Buchanan at the
White House. Vast crowds greeted him everywhere; he met
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Oliver Wendell Holmes; and prayers for the royal family were said in
Trinity Church, New York for the first time since 1776.
8
In 1861, his studies were transferred to
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was taught history by
Charles Kingsley,
[9] but he never graduated. The Prince of Wales hoped to pursue a career in the
British Army, but this was denied him because he was heir to the throne. He did serve briefly in the
Grenadier Guards in the summer of 1861; however, this was largely a
sinecure. He was advanced from the rank of lieutenant to colonel in a matter of months. In September that year, Edward was sent to Germany, supposedly to watch military manoeuvres, but actually in order to engineer a meeting between him and Princess
Alexandra of Denmark, the eldest daughter of
Prince Christian of Denmark. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry. They met at
Speyer on
24 September under the auspices of
Victoria, Princess Royal.
[10]
From this time, Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. In December 1861, his father died from
typhoid fever two weeks after visiting him at
Cambridge; Prince Albert had reprimanded his son after an actress,
Nellie Clifden, had been hidden in his tent by his fellow officers during army manoeuvres in
Ireland. The Queen, who was inconsolable and wore mourning for the rest of her life, blamed Edward for his father's death. At first, she regarded her son with distaste as frivolous, indiscreet, and irresponsible. She wrote, "I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder."
[11]
Marriage
Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life, and shortly after the Prince Consort's death, she arranged for her son to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting
Egypt,
Jerusalem,
Damascus,
Beirut and
Constantinople.
[12] As soon as he returned to Britain, arrangements were made for his engagement, which was acted out at
Laeken in
Belgium on
9 September 1862.
[13] Edward and Alexandra wed at
St. George's Chapel, Windsor on
10 March 1863.
Edward and his wife established
Marlborough House as their London residence and
Sandringham House in
Norfolk as their country retreat. They entertained on a lavish scale. Their marriage was met with disapproval in certain circles because most of Victoria's relations were German, and
Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories of
Schleswig and
Holstein. When Alexandra's father inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, the German Confederation took the opportunity to invade and annex Schleswig-Holstein. Victoria herself was of two minds as to whether it was a suitable match given the political climate.
[14] After the couple's marriage, she expressed anxiety about their lifestyle and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children.
Edward had mistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actress
Lillie Langtry, Lady
Jennie Churchill (mother of
Winston Churchill and wife of
Lord Randolph Churchill),
Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, actress
Sarah Bernhardt, dancer
La Belle Otero, and wealthy humanitarian
Agnes Keyser. The extent to which these social companionships went is not always clear, as Edward always strove to be discreet, but his attempted discretion was unable to prevent either society gossip or press speculation.
[15][16]
In 1869
Sir Charles Mordaunt, a British
Member of Parliament, threatened to name Edward as co-respondent in his divorce suit. Ultimately, he did not do so but Edward was called as a witness in the case in early 1870. It was shown that Edward had visited the Mordaunts's house while Sir Charles was away sitting in the
House of Commons. Although nothing further was proved, and Edward denied he had committed adultery, the suggestion of impropriety was still damaging.
7
Agnes Keyser, as recorded by author Raymond Lamont-Brown in his book ''Edward VII's Last Loves: Alice Keppel and Agnes Keyser'', held an emotional bond with Edward that others did not, due to her being unmarried herself, and preferring a more private affair to a public one. This trait also made her the favoured in royal circles of his last two loves. He also helped her and her sister fund a hospital for military officers.
[17]
His wife, Alexandra, is believed to have been aware of most of his affairs, and to have accepted them.
[18] The diary of one of her Ladies-in-Waiting records her looking out of a window overcome with giggles at the sight of Edward and his almost equally portly mistress riding side-by-side in an open carriage. He and
Lord Randolph Churchill did quarrel for a time during Edward's involvement with Churchill's wife (
Jennie Jerome), but eventually mended their friendship, which would then last until Lord Randolph's death. Alexandra was said to have been quite admiring of Jennie Jerome, enjoying her company despite the affair.
[19]
His last "official" mistress (although simultaneous to his involvement with Keyser), society beauty
Alice Keppel, was even allowed by Alexandra to be present at his deathbed in 1910 at his express written instruction, although Alexandra reportedly did not like her. Keppel also is rumoured to have been one of the few people who could help quell Edward VII's unpredictable mood swings. However, his outbursts of temper were short-lived, and "after he had let himself go … [he would] smooth matters by being especially nice".
[20] One of Keppel's great-granddaughters,
Camilla Parker Bowles, was later to become the mistress and then wife of
Charles, Prince of Wales, one of Edward's great-great grandsons. It was rumoured that Camilla's grandmother,
Sonia Keppel (born in May 1900), was the illegitimate daughter of Edward. However, Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children.
16
Heir apparent
During Victoria's widowhood, he represented her at public ceremonies and gatherings – opening the
Thames Embankment,
Mersey Tunnel, and
Tower Bridge, indeed he pioneered the idea of royal public appearances as we understand them today.
[21] But even as a husband and father, Edward was not allowed by his mother to have an active role in the running of the country until 1898.
2 He annoyed his mother by siding with Denmark on the
Schleswig-Holstein Question in 1864 (she was pro-German), and in the same year annoyed her again by making a special effort to meet
Garibaldi.
[22]
In 1870, republican sentiment in Britain was given a boost when the French Emperor,
Napoleon III, was defeated in the
Franco-Prussian War and the French
Third Republic was declared.
[23] However, in the winter of 1871, Edward contracted typhoid, the disease that had killed his father, while staying at
Londesborough Lodge. There was great national concern. One of his fellow guests (
Lord Chesterfield) died, but the Prince managed to pull through. His near brush with death led to an improvement both in his relationship with his mother, as well as in his popularity with the public.
7 He cultivated politicians from all parties, including republicans, as his friends, and thereby largely dissipated any residual feelings against him.
[24]
An active
Freemason throughout his adult life, Edward VII was installed as Grand Master in 1875, giving great impetus and publicity to the fraternity. He regularly appeared in public, both at home and on his tours abroad, as Grand Master, laying the foundation stones of public buildings, bridges, dockyards, and churches with Masonic ceremony. His presence ensured publicity, and reports of Masonic meetings at all levels appeared regularly in the national and local press. Freemasonry was constantly in the public eye, and Freemasons were known in their local communities. Edward VII was one of the biggest contributors to the fraternity.
In 1875, the Prince set off for India on an extensive eight-month tour of the sub-continent. His advisors remarked on his habit of treating all people the same, regardless of their social station or colour. The Prince wrote, complaining of the treatment of the native Indians by the British officials, "Because a man has a black face and a different religion from our own, there is no reason why he should be treated as a brute."
[25] At the end of the tour, his mother was given the title Empress of India, in part as a result of the tour's success.
[26]
He enthusiastically indulged in pursuits such as gambling and country sports. Edward was also a patron of the arts and sciences and helped found the
Royal College of Music. He opened the college in 1883 with the words, "Class can no longer stand apart from class…I claim for music that it produces that union of feeling which I much desire to promote."
[26] He laid out a
golf course at Windsor, and was an enthusiastic hunter. He ordained that all the clocks at Sandringham be put forward by half an hour in order to create more time for shooting. This so-called tradition of
Sandringham Time continued until 1936, when it was abolished by
Edward VIII.
[28] By the 1870s the future king had taken a keen interest in horseracing and steeplechasing. In 1896, his horse Persimmon won both the
Derby Stakes and the
St Leger Stakes; Persimmon's brother, Diamond Jubilee, won all five classic races (Derby, St Leger,
Two Thousand Guineas,
Newmarket Stakes and
Eclipse Stakes) in a single year, 1900.
[29] Edward was the first royal to enter a horse in the
Grand National; his Ambush II won the race in 1900.
[30] In 1891, he was embroiled in the
Royal Baccarat Scandal, when it was revealed he had played an illegal card game for money the previous year. The Prince was forced to appear as a witness in court for a second time when one of the players unsuccessfully sued his fellow players for slander after being accused of cheating.
16 The same year he became embroiled in a personal conflict, when
Lord Charles Beresford threatened to reveal details of Edward's private life to the press, as a protest against Edward interfering with Beresford's affair with Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. The friendship between the two men was irreversibly damaged, and their bitterness would last for the remainder of their lives.
[31]
In 1892, Edward's eldest son, Albert Victor, was engaged to
Princess Victoria Mary of Teck. Just a few weeks after the engagement, Albert Victor died of pneumonia. Edward was griefstricken. "To lose our eldest son", he wrote, "is one of those calamities one can never really get over". Edward told Queen Victoria, "[I would] have given my life for him, as I put no value on mine".
[32]
On his way to Denmark through
Belgium on
4 April 1900 Edward was the victim of an attempted assassination, when
Jean-Baptiste Sipido shot at him in protest over the
Boer War. Sipido escaped to France; the perceived delay of the Belgian authorities in applying for extradition, combined with British disgust at Belgian atrocities in the
Congo, worsened the already poor relationship between the United Kingdom and the Continent. However, in the next ten years, Edward's affability and popularity, as well as his use of family connections, would assist Britain in building European alliances.
[33]
King
When Queen Victoria died on
22 January 1901, the
Prince of Wales became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British
Dominions.
[34] Then 59, he had been heir apparent for longer than anyone else in British history. To the surprise of many, he chose to reign under the name Edward VII instead of Albert Edward, the name his mother had intended for him to use. (No English or British sovereign has ever reigned under a double name.) The new King declared that he chose the name Edward as an honoured name borne by six of his predecessors, and that he did not wish to diminish the status of his father with whom alone among royalty the name Albert should be associated. Some observers, noting also such acts of the new king as lighting cigars in places where Queen Victoria had always prohibited smoking, thought that his rejection of Albert as a reigning name was his acknowledgment that he was finally out from under his parents' shadows. The number VII was occasionally omitted in
Scotland, in protest at his use of a name carried by English kings who had "been excluded from Scotland by battle".
7
He donated his parents' house,
Osborne on the
Isle of Wight, to the state and continued to live at Sandringham.
[35] He could afford to be magnanimous; it was claimed that he was the first heir to succeed to the throne in credit.
[36] Edward's finances had been ably managed by
Sir Dighton Probyn, VC, Comptroller of the Household, and had benefited from advice from Edward's financier friends, such as
Ernest Cassel,
Maurice de Hirsch and the
Rothschild family.
[37]
Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were crowned at
Westminster Abbey on
9 August 1902 by the 80-year-old
Archbishop of Canterbury Frederick Temple who died only 4 months later. His coronation had originally been scheduled for
26 June but two days before on
24 June, Edward was diagnosed with
appendicitis. Thanks to the discovery of
anaesthesia in the preceding 50 years he was able to undergo a life-saving operation, performed by Sir
Frederick Treves. This was at a time when appendicitis was not treated operatively and thus carried with it a mortality rate of greater than 50%. When the King objected to missing the coronation to have the surgery, the famous surgeon
Sir Joseph Lister told him, "Then, Your Majesty, you will be attending it as a corpse". Treves, with Lister's support, performed a then radical operation of draining the infected appendix through a small incision. The next day he was sitting up in bed smoking a cigar.
[38] Two weeks later it was announced that the King was out of danger. Treves was honoured with a baronetcy (which Edward had arranged before the operation)
[39] and appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream for the first time in history.
Edward refurbished the royal palaces, reintroduced the traditional ceremonies, such as the State Opening of Parliament, that his mother had foregone, and founded new orders of decorations, such as the
Order of Merit, to recognise contributions to the arts and sciences.
[40] The Shah of Persia,
Mozzafar-al-Din, visited England around 1902 on the promise of receiving the
Order of the Garter. King Edward VII refused to give this high honour to the Shah, because the order was in his personal gift and the Government had promised the order without the King's consent. The King resented his ministers' attempts to reduce the King's traditional powers. Eventually, the King relented and Britain sent the Shah a full Order of the Garter.
[41]
As king, Edward's main interests lay in the fields of foreign affairs and naval and military matters. Fluent in
French and
German, he made a number of visits abroad, and took annual holidays at
Biarritz and
Marienbad.
28 One of his most important foreign trips was an official visit to France in spring 1903 as the guest of President
Émile Loubet. Following on from the first visit of a British or English king to the
Pope in
Rome, this trip helped create the atmosphere for the Anglo-French
Entente Cordiale, an agreement delineating British and French colonies in North Africa, and making virtually unthinkable the wars that had so often divided the countries in the past. Negotiated between the French foreign minister,
Théophile Delcassé, and the British foreign secretary, the
Marquess of Lansdowne, and signed on
8 April 1904 by Lord Lansdowne and the French ambassador
Paul Cambon, the Entente marked the end of centuries of Anglo-French rivalry and Britain's
splendid isolation from Continental affairs. It also was an attempt to counterbalance the growing dominance of the German Empire and its ally, Austria-Hungary.
Edward involved himself heavily in discussions over army reform, the need for which had become apparent with the failings of the
South African War. He supported the re-design of army command, the creation of the
Territorial Army, and the decision to provide an Expeditionary Force supporting France in the event of war with Germany.
[42] Reform of the navy was also suggested, and a dispute arose between Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, who favoured increased spending and a broad deployment, and the
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir
John Fisher, who favoured scraping obsolete vessels, efficiency savings, and deploying in home waters, as a means of countering the increasing menace of the German fleet. Edward lent support to Fisher, in part because he disliked Beresford, and eventually Beresford was dismissed. Beresford continued his campaign outside of the navy, and Fisher resigned. Nevertheless, Fisher's policy was retained.
[43]
"Uncle of Europe"
Edward VII relaxing at Balmoral, taken by his wife, Alexandra
Edward VII, mainly through his mother and his father-in-law, was related to nearly every other European monarch and came to be known as the "uncle of Europe".
2 The German
Emperor Wilhelm II,
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia,
Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by the Rhine and
Grand Duke Carl Eduard of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha were Edward's nephews;
Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain,
Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden,
Crown Princess Marie of Romania and
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia were his nieces;
King Haakon VII of Norway was his nephew by marriage and his son-in-law;
King George I of the Hellenes and
King Frederick VIII of Denmark were his brothers-in-law; and
King Albert I of Belgium, Kings
Charles I of Portugal and
Manuel II of Portugal,
King Ferdinand of Bulgaria,
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and
Prince Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, were his cousins. Edward doted on his grandchildren, and indulged them, to the consternation of their governesses.
[44] However, there was one relation whom Edward did not like – his difficult relationship with his nephew,
Wilhelm II, exacerbated the tensions between Germany and Britain.
[45]
He became the first British monarch to visit the
Russian Empire in 1908, despite refusing to visit in 1906, when Anglo-Russian relations were still low in the aftermath of the
Dogger Bank incident, the
Russo-Japanese war and the Tsar's dissolution of the
Duma.
[46]
In the last year of his life, Edward became embroiled in a constitutional crisis when the Conservative majority in the
House of Lords refused to pass the "
People's Budget" proposed by the Liberal government of Prime Minister
Herbert Henry Asquith. The King let Asquith know that he would only be willing to appoint additional peers, if necessary, to enable the budget's passage in the House of Lords, if Asquith won two successive general elections.
7
Edward was rarely interested in politics, although his views on some issues were notably liberal for the time, e.g. during his reign he said use of the word "
nigger" was "disgraceful" despite it then being in common parlance,
[47] and he had to be dissuaded from breaking with constitutional precedent by openly voting for
Gladstone’s
Representation of the People Bill in the
House of Lords. On other matters he was less progressive – he did not favour
Irish Home Rule (initially preferring a form of
Dual Monarchy) or giving votes to women,
7 although he did suggest that the social reformer
Octavia Hill serve on the Commission for Working Class Housing.
[48] Edward lived a life of luxury that was often far removed from that of the majority of his subjects. However, his personal charm with people at all levels of society and his strong condemnation of prejudice went some way to assuage republican and racial tensions building during his lifetime.
7
Death
The funeral procession of King Edward VII. London, 1910
In March 1910 the King was staying at Biarritz when he collapsed. He remained there to convalesce while Asquith remained in London trying to get the Finance Bill passed. The King's continued ill-health was unreported and he came in for some criticism for staying in France whilst political tensions were so high. On
27 April he returned to Buckingham Palace, still suffering from severe
bronchitis. The Queen returned from visiting her brother, King
George I of Greece, in
Corfu a week later on
5 May.
The following day, the King suffered several heart attacks, but refused to go to bed saying, "No, I shall not give in; I shall go on; I shall work to the end."
[49] Between moments of faintness, the Prince of Wales (shortly to be King George V) told him that his horse 'Witch of the Air' had won at
Kempton Park that afternoon. The King replied, "I am very glad", his final words.
7 At half-past-eleven he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died at 11:45 pm.
49
As king, Edward VII proved a greater success than anyone had expected, but he was already an old man and had little time left to fulfil the role. In his short reign, he ensured that his second son and heir, who would become
King George V, was better prepared to take the throne. Contemporaries described their relationship as more like affectionate brothers than father and son,
[50] and on Edward's death George wrote in his diary that he had lost his "best friend and the best of fathers … I never had a [cross] word with him in my life. I am heart-broken and overwhelmed with grief".
[51] Edward received criticism for his apparent pursuit of self-indulgent pleasure but he received great praise for his affable and kind good manners, and his diplomatic skill. As his grandson wrote, "his lighter side … obscured the fact that he had both insight and influence."
[52] Edward VII is buried at
St George's Chapel,
Windsor Castle. As
Barbara Tuchman noted in ''
The Guns of August'', his funeral marked "the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last."
Edward was afraid that his nephew, the Kaiser, would tip Europe into war.
[53] Four years after his death,
World War I broke out. The naval reforms and the Anglo-French alliance he had supported, and the relationships between his extended royal family, were put to the test. The war marked the end of the Edwardian way of life.
Legacy
The public park in Lisbon, named after Edward VII.
The
lead ship of a new class of battleships, launched in 1903, was named in his honour, as were four line regiments of the British Army —
The Prince of Wales's (North Staffordshire Regiment),
The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians),
The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment), and
The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry — and three yeomanry regiments —
King Edward's Horse,
The Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Wiltshire Yeomanry Cavalry and the
Ayrshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Earl of Carrick's Own). Only one of these titles is currently retained in the Army, that of
The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's).
A statue of King Edward VII and supporters constructed from local granite stands at the junction of Union Gardens and Union Street, in the city centre of
Aberdeen. An equestrian statue of him, originally from
Delhi, now stands in
Queen's Park, Toronto. Other equestrian statues of him are in
London at Waterloo Place, and in the city of
Sydney, Australia, outside the city's Botanic Gardens.
King Edward VII seems to be a popular name for schools in England. Two of the largest are King Edward VII Upper School, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, founded in 1908, and
King Edward VII School in Sheffield, founded in 1905 (formerly
Wesley College).
King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital is amongst the foremost teaching and medical care providing institutions in India. The hospital was founded in Bombay in 1926 as a memorial to the King, who had visited India as Prince of Wales in 1876.
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in
Subiaco,
Western Australia, is the largest maternity hospital in the
Perth metropolitan area. Two other Perth landmarks are named in his honour,
Kings Park and
His Majesty's Theatre, the latter a rare example of an Edwardian Theatre. The only medical school in the former British colony of
Singapore was renamed the King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1921. Originally named the Straits and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, its new name remained until the University of Malaya was founded in the city-state in 1949, whereupon the College became its Faculty of Medicine. The students' hostel adjoining the College of Medicine building retained King Edward's name. The hostel has kept the name since moving to the new Kent Ridge campus of the now-
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and is affectionately referred to as the "K.E.7 Hall" by students. The
Parque Eduardo VII in Lisbon,
King Edward Avenue, a major thoroughfare in
Vancouver, and King Edward Cigars are also named after him.
Portrayals
Edward's life was dramatised in the 1975
British television series ''
Edward the Seventh'', also known as ''Edward the King'' or ''The Royal Victorians'', and starring
Charles Sturridge as the adolescent Edward,
Timothy West as the adult Edward and
Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria. Edward was also portrayed in ''
The Duchess of Duke Street'', where he had a love affair with Louisa Trotter that only ended when Edward became King. The series was actually based on the story of Rosa Lewis, an Edwardian society cook who had risen from the ranks of a scullery maid to own the famous Cavendish Hotel. However, there is no evidence that Edward VII had an affair with Rosa. He is also portrayed in the 2003
BBC miniseries, ''
The Lost Prince'', and in one episode of ''
Upstairs, Downstairs''. King Edward is a significant character in
George MacDonald Fraser's novel ''
Mr. American''. Edward appears as the narrator and detective protagonist in three period mysteries by
Peter Lovesey, ''Bertie and the Tinman'', ''Bertie and the Seven Bodies'', and ''Bertie and the Crime of Passion''.
Fashion
King Edward VII made wearing
tweed,
Homburg hats and
Norfolk jackets fashionable. He popularised the wearing of black ties with dinner jackets, instead of
white tie and tails,
[54] and pioneered the pressing of trouser legs from side to side in preference to the now normal front and back creases.
[55] The tradition of men not buttoning the bottom button of suit-coats is said to be linked to King Edward VII, who supposedly left his undone due to his large girth.
716 His waist measured 48 inches (122 cm) shortly before his coronation.
[56] He introduced the practice of eating roast beef, roast potatoes, horseradish sauce and yorkshire pudding on Sundays, which remains a staple British favourite for Sunday lunch.
[57]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
★ '1841': ''His Royal Highness'' The Duke of Cornwall
★ '1841–1901': ''His Royal Highness'' The Prince of Wales
★
★ ''in Scotland:'' '1841–1901': ''His Royal Highness'' The Prince Albert Edward, Duke of Rothesay
★ '1901–1910': ''His Majesty'' The King
''and, occasionally, outside of the United Kingdom, and with regard to India''
★ '1901–1910': ''His Imperial Majesty'' The King-Emperor
Issue
Ancestors
See also
★ The
Edward VII 2d Tyrian plum, a rare stamp.
★ The
1908 Summer Olympics, which he opened.
Notes and sources
1. 59 years, 2 months and 14 days. Charles, Prince of Wales, the current heir apparent, could surpass this in late April 2011.
2. Edward VII
3. Edward VII: Image of an Era 1841-1910, , Dana, Bentley-Cranch, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1992,
4. Britains Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised Edition, , Alison, Weir, Random House, 1996,
5. Bentley-Cranch, p.4
6. Bentley-Cranch, p.18
7.
8. Bentley-Cranch, pp.20–34
9. Bentley-Cranch, p.35
10. Bentley-Cranch, p.36–38
11. The Life and Times of Edward VII, , Keith, Middlemas, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972,
12. Bentley-Cranch, pp.40–42
13. Bentley-Cranch, p.44
14. Middlemas, p.35
15. Middlemas, pp.74–80
16. The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens, , Mike, Ashley, Robinson, 1998,
17. Book synopsis on amazon.com
18. Middlemas, p.89
19. [1] Jesus Ibara, ''Edward VII, King of Great Britain (1841-1910)''
20. Sir Frederick Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby quoted in Middlemas, p.188
21. Bentley-Cranch, p.97
22. Bentley-Cranch, pp.59–60
23. Bentley-Cranch, p.66
24. Bentley-Cranch, p.67 and Middlemas, pp.48–52
25. Bentley-Cranch, pp.101–102
26. Bentley-Cranch, p.104
27. Bentley-Cranch, p.104
28. A King's Story, , HRH The Duke of, Windsor, Cassell and Co, 1951,
29. Bentley-Cranch, p.110
30. Middlemas, p.98
31. Middlemas, p.86
32. Middlemas, pp.95–96
33. Middlemas, p.65
34. Middlemas, p.104
35. The Duke of Windsor, p.14
36. King Edward VII: A Biography, , Sidney, Lee, Macmillan, 1927,
37. Middlemas, pp.38, 84 and 96
38. The Duke of Windsor, p.20
39. Bentley-Cranch, p.127
40. Bentley-Cranch, pp.122–139
41. Middlemas, pp.125–126
42. Middlemas, pp.130–134
43. Middlemas, pp.134–139
44. The Duke of Windsor, p.15
45. Middlemas, pp.60–61 and pp.172–175
46. Middlemas, pp.167 and 169
47. King George V, , Kenneth, Rose, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983,
48. Bentley-Cranch, p.98
49. Bentley-Cranch, p.151
50. Bentley-Cranch, p.155
51. King George V's diary, 6 May 1910. Royal Archives
52. The Duke of Windsor, p.69
53. Middlemas, pp.176 and 179
54. Bentley-Cranch, p.84
55. Middlemas, p.201
56. Middlemas, p.200
57. Bentley-Cranch, p.80
References
★
Edward VII: Image of an Era 1841-1910, , Dana, Bentley-Cranch, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1992,
★
King Edward VII: A Biography, , Sidney, Lee, Macmillan, 1927,
★
★
The Life and Times of Edward VII, , Keith, Middlemas, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972,
Further reading
★
Private Lives: Curious Facts About the Famous and Infamous, , Mark, Bryant, Cassell, 1996, ISBN 0-304-34315-3
★
England 1870-1914, , R.C.K., Ensor, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1936,
★
Recollections of Three Reigns, , Frederick, Ponsonby, , 1951,
★
The Savile Row Story: An Illustrated History, , Richard, Walker, Prion, 1988, ISBN 1-85375-000-X
External links
★
Illustrated history of Edward VII
★
The Peerage Entry
★
''Speeches and addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888'' (1889) at archive.org
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