The second child and eldest son ofQueen Victoria andPrince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Edward, nicknamed "Bertie", wasPrince of Wales andheir apparent to theBritish throne for almost 60 years. During his mother's long reign, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the leisured elite. Hemarried PrincessAlexandra of Denmark in 1863; the couple had six children. As Prince of Wales, Edward travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of theIndian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes. Despite this public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.
Edward inherited the throne onhis mother's death in 1901. He played a role in the modernisation of theBritish Home Fleet and the reorganisation of theBritish Army after theSecond Boer War of 1899 to 1902. He re-instituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised. He fostered good relations between Britain and other European countries, especiallyFrance, for which he was popularly called "Peacemaker", but his relationship with his nephew, German EmperorWilhelm II, was poor.
TheEdwardian era, which covered Edward's reign and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and heralded significant changes in technology and society, includingsteam turbine propulsion and therise of socialism. Edward died in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved by theParliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelectedHouse of Lords. Edward was succeeded by his only surviving son,George V.
The Queen and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a modelconstitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on a rigorous educational programme devised by Albert, and supervised by several tutors. Unlike his elder sisterVictoria, he did not excel in his studies.[8] He tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward 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.[9] After the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor Frederick Waymouth Gibbs was replaced byRobert Bruce as his personal governor.[10]
After an educational trip to Rome, undertaken in the first few months of 1859, Edward spent the summer of that year studying at theUniversity of Edinburgh under, among others, the chemistLyon Playfair. In October, hematriculated as an undergraduate atChrist Church, Oxford.[11] Now released from the educational strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed studying for the first time and performed satisfactorily in examinations.[12] In 1861, he transferred toTrinity College, Cambridge,[13] where he was tutored in history byCharles Kingsley,Regius Professor of Modern History.[14] Kingsley's efforts brought forth the best academic performances of Edward's life, and Edward actually looked forward to his lectures.[15]
Edward had hoped to pursue a career in theBritish Army, but his mother vetoed an active military career.[18] He had beengazetted colonel on 9 November 1858[19]—to his disappointment, as he had wanted to earn his commission by examination.[12] In September 1861, he was sent to Germany, supposedly to watch military manoeuvres, but actually in order to engineer a meeting between him and PrincessAlexandra of Denmark. The Queen and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry. They met atSpeyer on 24 September under the auspices of Edward's elder sister, Victoria, who had married theCrown Prince of Prussia in 1858.[20] Princess Victoria, acting upon instructions from her mother, had met Alexandra atStrelitz in June; Alexandra made a very favourable impression. She and Edward were friendly from the start, and marriage plans advanced.[21]
Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. Determined to get some army experience, he attended manoeuvres in Ireland, during which he spent three nights with an actress,Nellie Clifden, who was hidden in the camp by his fellow officers.[22] Albert, though ill, was appalled and visited Edward atCambridge to issue a reprimand. Albert died in December 1861, just two weeks after the visit. The Queen was inconsolable, wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life and blamed Edward for his father's death.[23] At first, she regarded her son with distaste as frivolous, indiscreet and irresponsible. She wrote to her eldest daughter, "I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder."[24]
Once widowed, the Queen effectively withdrew from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert's death, she arranged for Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt,Jerusalem,Damascus,Beirut andIstanbul.[25] TheBritish government wanted Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt's ruler,Said Pasha, to prevent French control of theSuez Canal if theOttoman Empire collapsed. It was the firstroyal tour on which an official photographer,Francis Bedford, was in attendance.
As soon as Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed atLaeken in Belgium on 9 September 1862.[26] Edward married Alexandra atSt George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 10 March 1863. He was 21; she was 18.
Edward and Alexandra on their wedding day, 1863
The couple establishedMarlborough House as their London residence andSandringham House in Norfolk as their country retreat. They entertained on a lavish scale. Their marriage met with disapproval in certain circles because most of the Queen's relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories ofSchleswig andHolstein. When Alexandra's father,King Christian IX, inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, theGerman Confederation took the opportunity toinvade and annex Schleswig-Holstein. The Queen was of two minds as to whether it was a suitable match, given the political climate.[27] After the marriage, she expressed anxiety about their socialite lifestyle and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children.[28]
Edward hadmistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actressLillie Langtry;Lady Randolph Churchill;[c]Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actressSarah Bernhardt; noblewomanLady Susan Vane-Tempest; singerHortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as "La Barucci"); wealthy humanitarianAgnes Keyser; andAlice Keppel. At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured.[30][31] How far these relationships went is not always clear. Edward always strove to be discreet, but this did not prevent society gossip or press speculation.[32] Keppel's great-granddaughterCamilla Parker Bowles became the mistress and subsequent wife of KingCharles III, Edward's great-great-grandson. It was rumoured that Camilla's grandmother Sonia Keppel was fathered by Edward, but she was "almost certainly" the daughter ofGeorge Keppel, whom she resembled.[33] Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children.[34] Alexandra was aware of his affairs, and seems to have accepted them.[35]
In 1869,Sir Charles Mordaunt, aBritish 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' house while Sir Charles was away sitting in theHouse of Commons. Although nothing further was proven and Edward denied he had committedadultery, the suggestion of impropriety was damaging.[12][36]
During his mother's widowhood, Edward pioneered the idea of royal public appearances as they are understood today—for example, opening theThames Embankment in 1871, theMersey Railway Tunnel in 1886, andTower Bridge in 1894[37]—but his mother did not allow him an active role in the running of the country until 1898.[38][39] He was sent summaries of important government documents, but she refused to give him access to the originals.[12] Edward annoyed his mother, who favoured the Germans, by siding with Denmark on theSchleswig-Holstein Question in 1864 and in the same year annoyed her again by making a special effort to meetGiuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian general and revolutionary, who was a leader in the movement forItalian unification.[40]Liberal Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone sent him papers secretly.[12] From 1886,Foreign SecretaryLord Rosebery sent himForeign Office despatches, and from 1892 someCabinet papers were opened to him.[12]
In 1870 republican sentiment in Britain was given a boost when the French Emperor,Napoleon III, was defeated in theFranco-Prussian War and theFrench Third Republic was declared.[41] However, in the winter of 1871, a brush with death led to an improvement in both Edward's popularity with the public and his relationship with his mother. While staying at Londesborough Lodge, nearScarborough, North Yorkshire, Edward contractedtyphoid fever, the disease that was believed to have killed his father. There was great national concern, and one of his fellow guests (Lord Chesterfield) died. Edward's recovery was greeted with almost universal relief.[12] Public celebrations included the composition ofArthur Sullivan'sFestival Te Deum. Edward cultivated politicians from all parties, including republicans, as his friends, and thereby largely dissipated any residual feelings against him.[42]
Edward (front left) in India, 1875–76
On 26 September 1875, Edward set off for India on an extensive eight-month tour; on the way, he visited Malta,Brindisi and Greece. His advisors remarked on his habit of treating all people the same, regardless of their social station or colour. In letters home, he complained 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."[43] Consequently,Lord Salisbury, theSecretary of State for India, issued new guidance and at least oneresident was removed from office.[12] He returned to England on 11 May 1876, after stopping off at Portugal.[44] At the end of the tour, Queen Victoria was given the titleEmpress of India by Parliament, in part as a result of the tour's success.[45]
Edward was regarded worldwide as an arbiter of men's fashions.[46][47] He made wearingtweed,Homburg hats andNorfolk jackets fashionable, and popularised the wearing of black ties with dinner jackets, instead ofwhite tie and tails.[48] He pioneered the pressing of trouser legs from side to side in preference to the now normal front and back creases,[49] and was thought to have introduced the stand-up turn-down shirt collar, created for him byCharvet.[50] A stickler for proper dress, he is said to have admonished Lord Salisbury for wearing the trousers of an Elder Brother ofTrinity House with aprivy councillor's coat. Deep in an international crisis, Salisbury informed Edward that it had been a dark morning, and that "my mind must have been occupied by some subject of less importance."[51] The tradition of men not buttoning the bottom button of waistcoats is said to be linked to Edward, who supposedly left his undone because of his large girth.[12][52] His waist measured 48 inches (122 cm) shortly before his coronation.[53] He introduced the practice of eating roast beef and potatoes withhorseradish sauce andYorkshire pudding on Sundays, a meal that remains a staple British favourite forSunday lunch.[54] He was a lifelong heavy smoker, but not a heavy drinker, though he did drink champagne and, occasionally, port.[55]
Edward was a patron of the arts and sciences and helped found theRoyal 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."[45] At the same time, he enjoyed gambling and country sports, and was an enthusiastic hunter. He ordered all the clocks at Sandringham to run half an hour ahead to provide more daylight time for shooting. This tradition of so-calledSandringham time continued until 1936, when it was abolished byEdward VIII.[56] He also laid out a golf course at Windsor. By the 1870s Edward had taken a keen interest in horseracing and steeplechasing. In 1896, his horsePersimmon won both theDerby and theSt Leger. In 1900, Persimmon's brother,Diamond Jubilee, won five races, including theTriple Crown of Derby, St Leger and2000 Guineas, as well as theNewmarket Stakes andEclipse Stakes.[57] The same year, another of Edward's horses, Ambush II, won theGrand National.[58]
In 1891 Edward was embroiled in theroyal baccarat scandal, when it was revealed he had played an illegal card game for money the previous year. He was forced to appear as a witness in court for a second time when one of the participants unsuccessfully sued his fellow players for slander after being accused of cheating.[59] In the same year Edward was involved in a personal conflict, whenLord Charles Beresford threatened to reveal details of Edward's private life to the press, as a protest against Edward interfering with Beresford's affair withDaisy Greville, Countess of Warwick. The friendship between the two men was irreversibly damaged, and their bitterness would last for the remainder of their lives.[60] Usually, Edward's outbursts of temper were short-lived, and "after he had let himself go ... [he would] smooth matters by being especially nice".[61]
In late 1891, Edward's eldest son,Albert Victor, was engaged to Princess VictoriaMary of Teck. Just a few weeks later, in early 1892, Albert Victor died of pneumonia. Edward was grief-stricken. "To lose our eldest son", he wrote, "is one of those calamities one can never really get over". Edward told the Queen, "[I would] have given my life for him, as I put no value on mine".[62] Albert Victor was the second of Edward's children to die. In 1871, his youngest son, Alexander John, had died just 24 hours after being born. Edward had insisted on placing Alexander John in a coffin personally with "the tears rolling down his cheeks".[63]
On his way to Denmark through Belgium on 4 April 1900, Edward was the victim of an attempted assassination when 15-year-oldJean-Baptiste Sipido shot at him in protest over theSecond Boer War. The culprit was acquitted by a Belgian court because he was underage.[64] The perceived laxity of the Belgian authorities, combined with British disgust atBelgian atrocities in theCongo, worsened the already poor relations 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, assisted Britain in building European alliances.[65]
Whenhis mother died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the BritishDominions.[66] He chose to reign under the name of Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name his mother had intended for him to use[d]—declaring that he did not wish to "undervalue the name of Albert" and diminish the status of his father with whom the "name should stand alone".[67] The numeral VII was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by thenational church, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were English kings who had "been excluded from Scotland by battle".[12]J. B. Priestley recalled, "I was only a child when he succeeded Victoria in 1901, but I can testify to his extraordinary popularity. He was in fact the most popular king England had known since the earlier 1660s."[68]
Edward donated his parents' house,Osborne on theIsle of Wight, to the state and continued to live at Sandringham.[69] He could afford to be magnanimous; his private secretary, SirFrancis Knollys, claimed that he was the first heir to succeed to the throne in credit.[70] Edward's finances had been ably managed by SirDighton Probyn,Comptroller of the Household, and had benefited from advice from Edward's financier friends, some of whom were Jewish, such asErnest Cassel,Maurice de Hirsch and theRothschild family.[71] At a time of widespreadantisemitism, Edward attracted criticism for openly socialising with Jews.[72][73]
Edward's coronation had originally been scheduled for 26 June 1902. However, two days before, he was diagnosed withappendicitis.[74] The disease was generally not treated operatively. It carried a high mortality rate, but developments inanaesthesia andantisepsis in the preceding 50 years made life-saving surgery possible.[75]Sir Frederick Treves, with the support ofLord Lister, performed a then-radical operation of draining a pint of pus from the infectedabscess through an incision in the king's abdomen; this outcome showed that the cause was not cancer.[76] The next day, Edward was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigar.[77] Two weeks later, it was announced that he was out of danger. Treves was honoured with a baronetcy (which the King had arranged before the operation)[78] and appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream.[75] Edward was crowned atWestminster Abbey on 9 August 1902 by theArchbishop of Canterbury,Frederick Temple.[74]
Edward refurbished the royal palaces, reintroduced the traditional ceremonies, such as theState Opening of Parliament, that his mother had foregone, and founded newhonours, such as theOrder of Merit, to recognise contributions to the arts and sciences.[79] In 1902, the Shah of Persia,Mozzafar-al-Din, visited England expecting to receive theOrder of the Garter. The King refused to bestow the honour on the Shah because the order was meant to be in his personal gift and the Foreign Secretary,Lord Lansdowne, had promised it without his consent. He also objected to inducting a Muslim into a Christianorder of chivalry. His refusal threatened to damage British attempts to gain influence in Persia,[80] but Edward resented his ministers' attempts to reduce his traditional powers.[81] Eventually, he relented and Britain sent a special embassy to the Shah with a full Order of the Garter the following year.[82]
As King, Edward's main interests lay in the fields of foreign affairs and naval and military matters. Fluent in French and German, he reinvented royal diplomacy by numerous state visits across Europe.[83] He took annual holidays inBiarritz andMarienbad.[56] One of his most important foreign trips was an official visit to France in May 1903 as the guest of PresidentÉmile Loubet. Following a visit toPope Leo XIII in Rome, this trip helped create the atmosphere for the Anglo-FrenchEntente Cordiale, an agreement delineating British and French colonies in North Africa, and ruling out any future war between the two countries. The Entente was negotiated in 1904 between the French foreign minister,Théophile Delcassé, and the British foreign secretary, Lord Lansdowne. It marked the end of centuries of Anglo-French rivalry and Britain'ssplendid isolation from Continental affairs, and attempted to counterbalance the growing dominance of theGerman Empire and its ally,Austria-Hungary.[84]
In April 1908, during Edward's annual stay at Biarritz, he accepted the resignation of British Prime Minister SirHenry Campbell-Bannerman. In a break with precedent, Edward asked Campbell-Bannerman's successor,H. H. Asquith, to travel to Biarritz tokiss hands. Asquith complied, but the press criticised the action of the King in appointing a prime minister on foreign soil instead of returning to Britain.[87] In June 1908, Edward became the first reigning British monarch to visit theRussian Empire, despite refusing to visit in 1906, when Anglo-Russian relations were strained in the aftermath of theRusso-Japanese War, theDogger Bank incident, and the Tsar's dissolution of theDuma.[88] The previous month, he visited the Scandinavian countries, becoming the first British monarch to visit Sweden.[89]
As Prince of Wales, Edward had come to enjoy warm and mutually respectful relations with Gladstone, whom his mother detested,[93] but the statesman's son,Home SecretaryHerbert Gladstone, angered the King by planning to permit Roman Catholic priests in vestments to carry theHost through the streets of London, and by appointing two ladies,Lady Frances Balfour andMay Tennant (wife ofH. J. Tennant), to serve on a Royal Commission on reforming divorce law—Edward thought divorce could not be discussed with "delicacy or even decency" before ladies. Edward's biographerPhilip Magnus-Allcroft suggests that Gladstone may have become awhipping boy for the King's general irritation with the Liberal government. Gladstone was sacked in the reshuffle the following year and the King agreed, with some reluctance, to appoint himGovernor-General of South Africa.[94]
Edward involved himself heavily in discussions over army reform, the need for which had become apparent with the failings of theSecond Boer War.[95] He supported the redesign of army command, the creation of theTerritorial Force, and the decision to provide anExpeditionary Force supporting France in the event of war with Germany.[96] Reform of the Royal Navy was also suggested, partly due to the ever-increasing Naval Estimates, and because of the emergence of theImperial German Navy as a new strategic threat.[97] Ultimately a dispute arose between AdmiralLord Charles Beresford, who favoured increased spending and a broad deployment, and theFirst Sea Lord Admiral SirJohn Fisher, who favoured efficiency savings, scrapping obsolete vessels, and a strategic realignment of the Royal Navy relying on torpedo craft for home defence backed by the newdreadnoughts.[98][99]
The King 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 ultimately announced his resignation in late 1909, although the bulk of his policies were retained.[100] The King was intimately involved in the appointment of Fisher's successor as the Fisher-Beresford feud had split the service, and the only truly qualified figure known to be outside of both camps wasSir Arthur Wilson, who had retired in 1907.[101] Wilson was reluctant to return to active duty, but Edward persuaded him to do so, and Wilson became First Sea Lord on 25 January 1910.[102]
Edward VII (left) and Kaiser Wilhelm II (right)
Edward was rarely interested in politics, although his views on some issues were notably progressive for the time. During his reign, he said use of the wordnigger was "disgraceful", despite it then being in common parlance.[103] In 1904, Wilhelm II and Edward met during an Anglo-German summit inKiel. Wilhelm, with the Russo-Japanese War in mind, started to go on about the "Yellow Peril", which he called "the greatest peril menacing ...Christendom andEuropean civilisation. If the Russians went on giving ground, the yellow race would, in twenty years time, be in Moscow andPosen".[104] Wilhelm went on to attack his British guests for supporting Japan against Russia, suggesting that the British were committing "race treason". In response, Edward stated that he "could not see it. The Japanese were an intelligent, brave and chivalrous nation, quite as civilised as the Europeans, from whom they only differed by the pigmentation of their skin".[104] Although Edward lived a life of luxury often far removed from that of the majority of his subjects, they expected it, and his personal charm with all levels of society and his strong condemnation of prejudice went some way to assuage republican and racial tensions building during his lifetime.[12]
In the last year of his life, Edward became embroiled in a constitutional crisis when theConservative majority in theHouse of Lords refused to pass the "People's Budget" proposed by theLiberal government of Prime Minister Asquith. The crisis eventually led—after Edward's death—to the removal of the Lords' right to veto legislation. The King was displeased at Liberal attacks on the peers, which included a polemical speech byDavid Lloyd George atLimehouse.[105] Cabinet ministerWinston Churchill publicly demanded a general election, for which Asquith apologised to the King's adviserLord Knollys and rebuked Churchill at a Cabinet meeting. Edward was so dispirited at the tone of class warfare—although Asquith told him that party rancour had been just as bad over theFirst Home Rule Bill in 1886—that he introduced his son toSecretary of State for WarRichard Haldane as "the last King of England".[106] After the King's horseMinoru won the Derby on 26 July 1909, he returned to the racetrack the following day and laughed when a man shouted: "Now, King. You've won the Derby. Go back home and dissolve this bloody Parliament!"[107]
In vain, the King urged Conservative leadersArthur Balfour and Lord Lansdowne to pass the budget, whichLord Esher had advised him was not unusual, as Queen Victoria had helped to broker agreements between the two Houses overIrish disestablishment in 1869 and theThird Reform Act in 1884.[108] On Asquith's advice, however, he did not offer them an election (at which, to judge from recent by-elections, they were likely to gain seats) as a reward for doing so.[109]
The Finance Bill passed the Commons on 5 November 1909, but was rejected by the Lords on 30 November; they instead passed a resolution of Lord Lansdowne's stating that they were entitled to oppose the bill as it lacked an electoral mandate. The King was annoyed that his efforts to urge passage of the budget had become public knowledge[110] and had forbidden Knollys, who was an active Liberal peer, from voting for the budget, although Knollys had suggested that this would be a suitable gesture to indicate royal desire to see the budget pass.[111] In December 1909, a proposal to create peers (to give the Liberals a majority in the Lords) or give the prime minister the right to do so was considered "outrageous" by Knollys, who thought the King should abdicate rather than agree to it.[112]
Talk of removing the Lords' veto played a major role in theJanuary 1910 election. Early in the election campaign, Lloyd George talked of "guarantees" and Asquith of "safeguards" that would be necessary before forming another Liberal government, but such talk ceased after the King informed Asquith that he would not be willing to contemplate creating peers until after a second general election.[12][113] Balfour refused to say whether or not he would be willing to form a Conservative government, but advised the King not to promise to create peers until he had seen the terms of any proposed constitutional change.[114] During the campaign, the leading ConservativeWalter Long asked Knollys for permission to state that the King did not favour Irish Home Rule, but Knollys refused on the grounds that it was not appropriate for the monarch's views to be known in public.[115]
The election resulted in ahung parliament, with the Liberal government dependent on the support of the third-largest party, thenationalistIrish Parliamentary Party. The King suggested a compromise whereby only 50 peers from each side would be allowed to vote, which would also obviate the large Conservative majority in the Lords, butLord Crewe, Liberal leader in the Lords, advised that this would reduce the Lords' independence, as only peers who were loyal party supporters would be picked.[115] Pressure to remove the Lords' veto now came from the Irish nationalist MPs, who wanted to remove the Lords' ability to block the introduction of Home Rule. They threatened to vote against the budget unless they had their way (an attempt by Lloyd George to win their support by amending whiskey duties was abandoned as the Cabinet felt this would recast the budget too much). Asquith now revealed that there were no "guarantees" for the creation of peers. The Cabinet considered resigning and leaving it up to Balfour to try to form a Conservative government.[116]
The King'sspeech from the throne on 21 February made reference to introducing measures restricting the Lords' power of veto to one of delay, but Asquith inserted a phrase "in the opinion of my advisers" so the King could be seen to be distancing himself from the planned legislation.[117] The Commons passed resolutions on 14 April that would form the basis for theParliament Act 1911: to remove the power of the Lords to veto money bills, to replace their veto of other bills with a power to delay, and to reduce the term of Parliament from seven years to five (the King would have preferred four[114]). However, in that debate Asquith hinted—to ensure the support of the nationalist MPs—that he would ask the King to break the deadlock "in that Parliament" (i.e. contrary to Edward's earlier stipulation that there be a second election). The budget was passed by both Commons and Lords in April.[118]
By April, the Palace was having secret talks with Balfour andRandall Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury, who both advised that the Liberals did not have sufficient mandate to demand the creation of peers. The King thought the whole proposal "simply disgusting" and that the government was "in the hands ofRedmond & Co".Lord Crewe announced publicly that the government's wish to create peers should be treated as formal "ministerial advice" (which, by convention, the monarch must accept), although Lord Esher argued that the monarch was entitledin extremis to dismiss the government rather than take their "advice".[119] Esher's view has been called "obsolete and unhelpful".[120]
Edward habitually smoked twenty cigarettes and twelve cigars a day. In 1907, arodent ulcer, a type of cancer affecting the skin next to his nose, was cured withradium.[121] Towards the end of his life he increasingly suffered frombronchitis.[12] He suffered a momentary loss of consciousness during a state visit to Berlin in February 1909.[122] In March 1910, he was staying atBiarritz when he collapsed. He remained there to convalesce, while in London Asquith tried to get the Finance Bill passed. The King's continued ill health was unreported, and he attracted criticism for staying in France while political tensions were so high.[12] On 27 April he returned to Buckingham Palace, still suffering from severe bronchitis. Alexandra returned from visiting her brother,George I of Greece, inCorfu a week later on 5 May.
On 6 May, Edward 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."[123] Between moments of faintness, his son the Prince of Wales (shortly to be KingGeorge V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won atKempton Park that afternoon. The King replied, "Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad": hisfinal words.[12] At 11:30 pm he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later.[123]
Alexandra refused to allow Edward's body to be moved for eight days afterwards, though she allowed small groups of visitors to enter his room.[124] On 11 May, the late king was dressed in his uniform and placed in a massive oak coffin, which was moved on 14 May to the throne room, where it was sealed and lay in state, with a guardsman standing at each corner of the bier. Despite the time that had elapsed since his death, Alexandra noted his body remained "wonderfully preserved".[125] On the morning of 17 May, the coffin was placed on a gun carriage and drawn by black horses toWestminster Hall, with the new king, his family and Edward's favourite dog,Caesar, walking behind. Following a brief service, the royal family left, and the hall was opened to the public; over 400,000 people filed past the coffin over the next two days.[126] AsBarbara Tuchman noted inThe Guns of August, his funeral, held on 20 May 1910, marked "the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last." A royal train conveyed the King's coffin from London to Windsor Castle, where Edward was buried atSt George's Chapel.[127]
Statues of Edward can be found throughout the former empire.
Before his accession to the throne, Edward was the longest-serving heir apparent in British history. He was surpassed by his great-great-grandsonCharles III on 20 April 2011.[128] The title Prince of Wales is not automatically held by the heir apparent; it is bestowed by the reigning monarch at a time of his or her choosing.[129] Edward was the longest-serving holder of that title until surpassed by Charles on 9 September 2017.[130] Edward was Prince of Wales between 8 December 1841 and 22 January 1901 (59 years, 45 days); Charles held the title between 26 July 1958 and 8 September 2022 (64 years, 44 days).[129][131][132]
As king, Edward VII proved a greater success than anyone had expected,[133] but he was already past the average life expectancy and had little time left to fulfil the role. In his short reign, he ensured that his second son and heir,George V, was better prepared to take the throne. Contemporaries described their relationship as more like affectionate brothers than father and son,[134] 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".[135]
Edward has been recognised as the first truly constitutional British sovereign and the last sovereign to wield effective political power.[136] Though lauded as "Peacemaker",[137] he had been afraid that German Emperor Wilhelm II, who was one of his nephews, would tip Europe into war.[138] Four years after Edward's death, theFirst World War broke out. The naval reforms he had supported and his part in securing theTriple Entente between Britain, France, and Russia, as well as his relationships with his extended family, fed the paranoia of the German Emperor, who blamed Edward for the war.[139] Publication of the official biography of Edward was delayed until 1927 by its author,Sidney Lee, who feared German propagandists would select material to portray Edward as an anti-German warmonger.[140] Lee was also hampered by the extensive destruction of Edward's personal papers; Edward had left orders that all his letters should be burned on his death.[141] Subsequent biographers have been able to construct a more rounded picture of Edward by using material and sources that were unavailable to Lee.[142]
HistorianR. C. K. Ensor, writing in 1936, praised the King's political personality:
...he had in many respects great natural ability. He knew how to be both dignified and charming; he had an excellent memory; and his tact in handling people was quite exceptional. He had a store of varied, though unsystematised, knowledge gathered at first-hand through talking to all sorts of eminent men. His tastes were not particularly elevated, but they were thoroughly English; and he showed much (though not unfailing) comprehension for the common instincts of the people over whom he reigned. This was not the less remarkable because, though a good linguist in French and German, he never learned to speak English without a German accent.[143]
Ensor rejects the widespread notion that the King exerted an important influence on British foreign policy, believing he gained that reputation by making frequent trips abroad, with many highly publicised visits to foreign courts. Ensor thought surviving documents showed "how comparatively crude his views on foreign policy were, how little he read, and of what naïve indiscretions he was capable."[144] Edward received criticism for his apparent pursuit of self-indulgent pleasure, but he received great praise for his affable manners and diplomatic tact. As his grandsonEdward VIII wrote, "his lighter side ... obscured the fact that he had both insight and influence."[145] "He had a tremendous zest for pleasure but he also had a real sense of duty", wrote J. B. Priestley.[146] Lord Esher wrote that Edward VII was "kind and debonair and not undignified—but too human".[147]
Edward VII wearing theOrder of the Star of India. He became an extra knight of the order in 1861, while Prince of Wales.[148] Portrait by Alfred James Downey.
Shortly after Edward's accession, he proposed an alternative version of the Royal Standard for use by the Sovereign, defaced in the centre with a purple oval containing the cypher and crown of the reigning monarch. However, he was persuaded that such a proposal was impractical.[208]
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^"Try our "98' Curzons!" A few fashion hints for men",Otago Witness, 3 November 1898,archived from the original on 15 September 2012, retrieved5 May 2010,It was actually the Prince of Wales who introduced this shape. He got them originally about eight years ago from a manufacturer calledCharvet, in Paris.
^Roberts, Andrew (2006),Salisbury: Victorian Titan, London: Sterling Publishing Co., p. 35
^Glencross, Matthew (2015),The State Visits of Edward VII: Reinventing Royal Diplomacy for the Twentieth Century, Palgrave Macmillan,ISBN978-1-137-54898-6
^Tozer, Charles W. (1975),The Insignia and Medals of the Grand Priory of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, London: J. B. Hayward and Son, p. 78
^abcdKimizuka, Naotaka (2004),女王陛下のブルーリボン: ガーター勲章とイギリス外交 [Her Majesty The Queen's Blue Ribbon: The Order of the Garter and British Diplomacy] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NTT Publishing, pp. 300–302,ISBN978-4-7571-4073-8,archived from the original on 25 November 2021, retrieved14 September 2020
^Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg (1869), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden"p. 18Archived 8 November 2021 at theWayback Machine
^Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1864), "Großherzogliche Hausorden"p. 13Archived 25 November 2021 at theWayback Machine
^M. & B. Wattel (2009),Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers, Paris: Archives & Culture, p. 460,ISBN978-2-35077-135-9
^Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1910) [1st pub.:1801],Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1910 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1910](PDF), Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish), Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri, pp. 3, 6,archived(PDF) from the original on 22 October 2020, retrieved2 September 2020 – viada:DIS Danmark
^Anton Anjou (1900),"Utländske Riddare",Riddare af Konung Carl XIII:s orden: 1811–1900: biografiska anteckningar (in Swedish), Eksjö, Eksjö tryckeri-aktiebolag, p. 177
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^abcdeBurke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1910, p. 12
Andrews, Allen (1975),The Follies of King Edward VII, Lexington,ISBN978-0-904312-15-7
Beer, Peter (2016),Playboy Princes: The Apprentice Years of Edward VII and VIII, Peter Owen
Buckner, Phillip (2003), "Casting daylight upon magic: Deconstructing the royal tour of 1901 to Canada",Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History,31 (2):158–189,doi:10.1080/03086530310001705656,S2CID162347515
Butler, David (1975),Edward VII, Prince of Hearts, Littlehampton Book Services Ltd,ISBN978-0-297-76897-5
Ridley, Jane (2016), "Bertie Prince of Wales: Prince Hal and the Widow of Windsor",Royal Heirs and the Uses of Soft Power in Nineteenth-Century Europe, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 123–138
Roby, Kinley E. (1975),The King, the Press and the People: A Study of Edward VII, Barrie and Jenkins,ISBN978-0-214-20098-4
Ryan, A. P. (1953), "The Diplomacy of Edward VII",History Today, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 352–360
1 Not a British prince by birth, but createdPrince Consort.2 Not a British prince by birth, but created a Prince of the United Kingdom. Princes whose titles were removed and eligible people who do not use the title are shown in italics.
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