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Canada 1905 25 Cents Silver purity 925 Coin with British King Edward VII
24mm (5.36 grams) .925 Silver
Bust of King Right.
25 CENTS CANADA 1905 within wreath, with crown above.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November
1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the
United Kingdom
and the
British Dominions
and
Emperor of India
from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. He was the
first
British monarch
of the
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, which was renamed the
House of Windsor
by his son,
George V
.
Before his accession to the throne, he served as
heir
apparent
and held the title of
Prince of Wales
for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long
reign of his mother,
Queen Victoria
, he was largely excluded from political power and came to
personify the fashionable, leisured elite.
The
Edwardian 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, including
powered flight
and the rise of
socialism
. Edward played a role in the modernisation of the
British Home Fleet
, the reform of the
Army Medical Services
,
and the reorganisation of the
British
Army
after the
Second Boer War
. Edward fostered good relations between Great Britain and
other European countries, especially
France
, for which he was popularly called “Peacemaker.”
Early life and
education
Portrait of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, by
Winterhalter
, 1846
Edward was born at 10:48 in the morning on 9 November 1841 in
Buckingham Palace
.[2]
He was the eldest son and second child of
Queen Victoria
and her husband (and first cousin)
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
. He was christened Albert Edward
at
St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
, on 25 January 1842.[3]
He was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
. He was known as Bertie to
the family throughout his life.[4]
As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically
Duke of Cornwall
and
Duke of Rothesay
at birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the
titles of
Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
and
Duke of Saxony
. He was created
Prince of Wales
and
Earl of Chester
on 8 December 1841,
Earl of Dublin
on 17 January 1850, a
Knight of the Garter
on 9 November 1858, and a
Knight of the Thistle
on 24 May 1867.[5]
In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
in favour of his younger brother,
Prince Alfred
.[6]
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should
have an education that would prepare him to be a model
constitutional monarch
. At age seven, Edward embarked on a rigorous
educational programme devised by Prince Albert, and supervised by several
tutors. Unlike his elder sister
Victoria
, Edward did not excel in his studies. 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.[7]
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, the chemist
Lyon Playfair
. In October, he matriculated as an undergraduate at
Christ Church, Oxford
.[8]
Now released from the educational strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed
studying for the first time and performed satisfactorily in examinations.[9]
In 1861, he transferred to
Trinity College, Cambridge
,[10]
where he was tutored in history by
Charles Kingsley
,
Regius Professor of Modern History
.[11]
Kingsley’s efforts brought forth the best academic performances of Edward’s
life, and Edward actually looked forward to his lectures.[12]
Early adulthood
Edward at
Niagara Falls
, 1860
In 1860, Edward undertook the first tour of North America by an heir to the
British throne. His genial good humour and confident
bonhomie
made the tour a great success.[13]
He inaugurated the
Victoria Bridge, Montreal
, across the
St Lawrence River
, and laid the cornerstone of
Parliament Hill, Ottawa
. He watched
Charles Blondin
traverse
Niagara Falls
by highwire, and stayed for three days with President
James Buchanan
at the
White
House
. Buchanan accompanied the Prince to
Mount
Vernon
, to pay his respects at the tomb of
George Washington
. Vast crowds greeted him everywhere. He met
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
,
Ralph Waldo Emerson
and
Oliver Wendell Holmes
. Prayers for the royal family were said in
Trinity Church, New York
, for the first time since 1776.[13]
The four-month tour throughout Canada and the United States considerably boosted
Edward’s confidence and self-esteem, and had many diplomatic benefits for Great
Britain.[14]
Upon his return, Edward hoped to pursue a career in the
British
Army
, but his military ranks were honorary. He was gazetted a
lieutenant-colonel without experience or any examinations in 1858.[9]
In September 1861, 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
and his wife
Louise
. 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 his elder sister,
Victoria
, who had married the
Crown Prince of Prussia
.[15]
Edward’s elder sister, acting upon instructions from their mother, had met
Princess Alexandra at
Strelitz
in June; the young Danish princess made a very favourable impression. Edward and
Alexandra were friendly from the start; the meeting went well for both sides,
and marriage plans advanced.[16]
From this time, Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. Determined to get
some army experience, Edward attended manoeuvres in Ireland, during which an
actress,
Nellie Clifden
, was hidden in his tent by his fellow officers. Prince
Albert, though ill, was appalled and visited Edward at
Cambridge
to issue a reprimand. Albert died in December 1861 just two weeks after the
visit. Queen Victoria was inconsolable, wore mourning clothes for the rest of
her life and blamed Edward for his father’s death. 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.”[17]
Marriage
|
British Royalty
|
|
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
|
|
|
Edward VII |
-
Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence & Avondale
-
George V
-
Louise, Princess Royal
-
Princess Victoria
-
Maud, Queen of Norway
-
Prince Alexander John
- Granddaughters in the female-line
-
Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
-
Maud, Countess of Southesk
|
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|
Once widowed, Queen Victoria 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
and
Constantinople
.[18]
In part political, the
British Government
wanted Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt’s ruler,
Said Pasha
, to prevent French control of the
Suez Canal
if the
Ottoman Empire
collapsed. It was the first
Royal Tour
on which an official photographer,
Francis Bedford
, was in attendance.[19]
As soon as he returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement,
which was sealed at Laeken
in Belgium on 9 September 1862.[20]
Edward and
Alexandra
married at
St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
, on 10 March 1863. Edward was 21;
Alexandra was 18.
Edward and
Alexandra
on their wedding day, 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 met with disapproval in certain circles because
most of Queen 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
. Queen Victoria was of two minds whether
it was a suitable match given the political climate.[21]
After the couple’s marriage, she expressed anxiety about their socialite
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 Randolph Churchill
(born Jennie Jerome, she was the mother of
Winston Churchill
);[22]
Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick
; actress
Sarah Bernhardt
; noblewoman
Susan Pelham-Clinton
; singer
Hortense Schneider
; prostitute Giulia Barucci; wealthy humanitarian
Agnes
Keyser
; and
Alice
Keppel
. At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured.[23]
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.[24]
One of Alice Keppel’s great-granddaughters,
Camilla Parker Bowles
, became the mistress and subsequently 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,
but she was “almost certainly” the daughter of
George Keppel
, whom she resembled.[25]
Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children.[26]
Alexandra is believed to have been aware of many of his affairs and to have
accepted them.[27]
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’
house while Sir Charles was away sitting in the
House of Commons
. Although nothing further was proven and Edward denied he
had committed adultery, the suggestion of impropriety was damaging.
Heir apparent
During Queen Victoria’s widowhood, Edward pioneered the idea of royal public
appearances as we understand them today—for example, opening
Thames Embankment
in 1871,
Mersey Tunnel
in 1886, and
Tower
Bridge
in 1894.[29]
However, his mother did not allow Edward an active role in the running of the
country until 1898.[1][30]
He was sent summaries of important government documents, but she refused to give
him access to the originals.[9]
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
Giuseppe Garibaldi
.[31]
Liberal
Prime Minister
William Ewart Gladstone
sent him papers secretly.[9]
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.[32]
However, in the winter of 1871, a brush with death led to an improvement both in
Edward’s popularity with the public as well as in his relationship with his
mother. While staying at Londesborough Lodge, near
Scarborough, North Yorkshire
, Edward contracted
typhoid
, 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.[9]
Public celebrations included the composition of
Arthur Sullivan
‘s
Festival Te Deum
. Edward cultivated politicians from all parties, including
republicans, as his friends, and thereby largely dissipated any residual
feelings against him.[33]
From 1886,
Foreign Secretary
Lord Rosebery
sent him Foreign Office despatches, and from 1892 some
Cabinet
papers were opened to him.[9]
Edward (front centre) in India, 1876
In 1875, Edward 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. 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.”[34]
At the end of the tour, his mother was given the title Empress of India by
Parliament, in part as a result of the tour’s success.[35]
Edward was 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.”[35]
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 fast to
create more time for shooting. This so-called tradition of
Sandringham Time
continued until 1936, when it was abolished by
Edward VIII
.[36]
He also laid out a golf course at Windsor. 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
. In 1900, Persimmon’s brother,
Diamond Jubilee
, won five races (Derby, St. Leger,
2,000 Guineas Stakes
,
Newmarket Stakes
and
Eclipse Stakes
)[37]
and another of Edward’s horses, Ambush II, won the
Grand National
.[38]
He was regarded worldwide as an arbiter of men’s fashions.[39][40]
He made wearing
tweed
,
Homburg hats
and
Norfolk jackets
fashionable, and popularised the wearing of black ties with
dinner jackets, instead of
white tie
and tails.[41]
He pioneered the pressing of trouser legs from side to side in preference to the
now normal front and back creases,[42]
and was thought to have introduced the stand-up turn-down shirt collar.[43]
A stickler for proper dress, he is said to have admonished the Prime Minister,
Lord Salisbury
, for wearing the trousers of an Elder Brother of
Trinity House
with a
Privy Councillor
‘s coat. Deep in an international crisis, the Prime Minister
informed the Prince of Wales that it had been a dark morning, and that “my mind
must have been occupied by some subject of less importance.”[44]
The tradition of men not buttoning the bottom button of waistcoats is said to be
linked to Edward, who supposedly left his undone due to his large girth.[9]
His waist measured 48 inches (122 cm) shortly before his coronation.[45]
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.[46][47]
Edward (right) with his mother (centre) and Russian relations:
Tsar Nicholas II
(left),
Empress Alexandra
and baby
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna
, 1896
In 1891, Edward 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.[48]
In the same year Edward was involved 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.[49]
Usually, Edward’s outbursts of temper were short-lived, and “after he had let
himself go … [he would] smooth matters by being especially nice”.[50]
In late 1891, Edward’s eldest son, Albert Victor, was engaged to
Princess Victoria Mary 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 Queen Victoria, “[I would] have given my life for him, as I put no
value on mine”.[51]
Albert Victor was the second of Edward’s children to die. In 1871, his youngest
son, John, had died just 24 hours after being born. Edward had insisted on
placing John in his coffin personally with “the tears rolling down his cheeks”.[52]
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, assisted Britain in building European
alliances.[53]
Accession
When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United
Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the
British Dominions
.[54]
He chose to reign under the name Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name
his mother had intended for him to use,[55]
declaring that he did not wish to “undervalue the name of Albert” and diminish
the status of his father with whom among royalty the “name should stand alone”.[56]
The number VII was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by the
national church
, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were
English kings who had “been excluded from Scotland by battle”.[9]
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.”[57]
He donated his parents’ house,
Osborne
on the
Isle
of Wight
, to the state and continued to live at Sandringham.[58]
He could afford to be magnanimous; his private secretary, Sir
Francis Knollys
, claimed that he was the first heir to succeed to the throne
in credit.[59]
Edward’s finances had been ably managed by Sir
Dighton Probyn
,
Comptroller of the Household
, and had benefited from advice from Edward’s
Jewish financier friends, such as
Ernest Cassel
,
Maurice de Hirsch
and the
Rothschild family
.[60]
At a time of widespread
anti-Semitism
, Edward attracted criticism for openly socialising with Jews.[61]
Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned at
Westminster Abbey
on 9 August 1902 by the 80-year-old
Archbishop of Canterbury
,
Frederick Temple
, who died only four months later. Edward’s coronation had
originally been scheduled for 26 June, but two days before on 24 June, Edward
was diagnosed with
appendicitis
.[62]
Appendicitis was generally not treated operatively and carried a high mortality
rate, but developments in
anaesthesia
and
antisepsis
in the preceding 50 years made life-saving surgery possible.[63]
Sir
Frederick Treves
, with the support of
Lord Lister
, performed a then-radical operation of draining the infected
appendix through a small incision. The next day, Edward was sitting up in bed,
smoking a cigar.[64]
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)[65]
and appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream.[63]
Edward refurbished the royal palaces, reintroduced the traditional
ceremonies, such as the
State Opening of Parliament
, that his mother had forgone, and founded new
orders of honours
, such as the
Order of Merit
, to recognise contributions to the arts and sciences.[66]
In 1902, the Shah of Persia,
Mozzafar-al-Din
, visited England expecting to receive the
Order of the Garter
. Edward refused to give this high honour to the Shah
because the order was meant to be his personal gift and the
Foreign Secretary
,
Lord Lansdowne
, had promised the order without his consent. Edward also
objected to inducting a Muslim into a Christian order of chivalry. His refusal
threatened to damage British attempts to gain influence in Persia,[67]
but Edward resented his ministers’ attempts to reduce the King’s traditional
powers.[68]
Eventually, he relented and Britain sent a special embassy to the Shah with a
full Order of the Garter the following year.[69]
“Uncle of Europe”
Edward VII relaxing at
Balmoral Castle
, photographed by his wife, Alexandra
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 in
Biarritz
and
Marienbad
.[36]
One of his most important foreign trips was an official visit to France in May
1903 as the guest of President
Émile
Loubet
. Following a visit 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 ruling out any future war between the two countries. The
Entente was negotiated between the French foreign minister,
Théophile Delcassé
, and the British foreign secretary,
Lord Lansdowne
. Signed in London on 8 April 1904 by Lansdowne and the French
ambassador
Paul
Cambon
, it marked the end of centuries of Anglo-French rivalry and Britain’s
splendid isolation
from Continental affairs, and attempted to counterbalance
the growing dominance of the
German Empire
and its ally,
Austria-Hungary
.[70]
Edward was related to nearly every other European monarch and came to be
known as the “uncle of Europe”.[1]
Kaiser Wilhelm II
and
Tsar Nicholas II
were his nephews;
Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain
,
Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden
,
Crown Princess Marie of Romania
,
Crown Princess Sophia of Greece
, and
Empress Alexandra of Russia
were his nieces;
Haakon VII of Norway
was both his nephew by marriage and his son-in-law;
George I of Greece
and
Frederick VIII of Denmark
were his brothers-in-law;
Albert I of Belgium
,
Ferdinand of Bulgaria
, and
Charles I
and
Manuel II of Portugal
were his second cousins. Edward doted on his
grandchildren, and indulged them, to the consternation of their governesses.[71]
However, there was one relation whom Edward did not like: Wilhelm II. Edward’s
difficult relationship with his nephew exacerbated the tensions between Germany
and Britain.[72]
In April 1908, during Edward’s annual stay at Biarritz, he accepted the
resignation of British Prime Minister Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
. In a break with precedent, Edward asked
Campbell-Bannerman’s successor,
H. H.
Asquith
, to travel to Biarritz to
kiss 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.[73]
In June 1908, Edward became the first reigning British monarch to visit the
Russian Empire
, despite refusing to visit in 1906, when Anglo-Russian
relations were strained in the aftermath of the
Russo-Japanese War
, the
Dogger Bank incident
, and the Tsar’s dissolution of the
Duma.[74]
The previous month, Edward visited the Scandinavian countries, becoming the
first British monarch to visit Sweden.[75]
Political opinions
Edward depicted in naval uniform by
Vanity Fair
magazine, 1902
Edward involved himself heavily in discussions over army reform, the need for
which had become apparent with the failings of the
Second Boer War
. He supported the re-design of army command, the creation of
the
Territorial Force
, and the decision to provide an Expeditionary Force
supporting France in the event of war with Germany.[76]
Reform of the Royal Navy was also suggested, partly due to the ever-increasing
Naval Estimates, and because of the emergence of the
Imperial German Navy
as a new strategic threat.[77]
Ultimately 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 efficiency savings, scrapping obsolete vessels,
and a strategic realignment of the Royal Navy relying on torpedo craft for home
defence backed by the new
dreadnoughts
.[78]
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.[79]
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 was
Sir Arthur Knyvet Wilson
, who had retired in 1907.[80]
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.[81]
As Prince of Wales, Edward had come to enjoy warm and mutually respectful
relations with
W. E. Gladstone
, whom his mother detested.[82]
But Gladstone’s son,
Home Secretary
Herbert Gladstone
, angered the King by planning to permit Roman Catholic
priests in vestments to carry the Host through the streets of London, and by
appointing two ladies, Lady Frances Balfour and Mrs
H.
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 biographer
Philip Magnus
suggests that Gladstone may have become a whipping-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 him
Governor-General of South Africa
.[83]
Edward was rarely interested in politics, although his views on some issues
were notably liberal for the time. During his reign he said use of the word
nigger
was
“disgraceful” despite it then being in common parlance.[84]
While Prince of Wales, he had to be dissuaded from breaking with constitutional
precedent by openly voting for
Gladstone
‘s
Representation of the People Bill (1884)
in the
House of Lords
. On other matters he was less progressive: he did not, for
example, favour giving
votes to women
,[9][85]
although he did suggest that the social reformer
Octavia
Hill
serve on the
Commission for Working Class Housing
.[86]
He was also opposed to
Irish Home Rule
, instead preferring a form of
dual
monarchy
.[9]
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.[9]
Constitutional crisis
Bust by
Francis Derwent Wood
Profile of Edward VII on a
half-penny
, 1902
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
H. H.
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
polemic speech by
David Lloyd George
at
Limehouse
.[87]
Cabinet minister
Winston Churchill
publicly demanded a general election, for which Asquith
apologised to the King’s adviser
Lord Knollys
and rebuked Churchill at a Cabinet meeting. Edward was so
depressed at the tone of class warfare – although Asquith told him that party
rancour had been just as bad over the
First Home Rule Bill
in 1886 – that he introduced his son to
Secretary of State for War
Richard Haldane
as “the last King of England”.[88]
After the King’s horse Minoru 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!”[89]
In vain, the King urged Conservative leaders
Arthur Balfour
and
Lord Lansdowne
to pass the Budget, which
Lord Esher
had advised him was not unusual, as Queen Victoria had helped to
broker agreements between the two Houses over
Irish disestablishment in 1869
and the
Third Reform Act in 1884
.[90]
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.[91]
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[92]
and had forbidden his adviser Lord 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.[93]
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 – the King did
talk of doing so that winter, but this was probably a symptom of his declining
health.[94]
The
January 1910 election
was dominated by talk of removing the Lords’ veto.
During the election campaign Lloyd George talked of “guarantees” and Asquith of
“safeguards” that would be necessary before forming another Liberal government,
but the King informed Asquith that he would not be willing to contemplate
creating peers until after a second general election.[9][95]
Balfour refused to be drawn on 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.[96]
During the campaign the leading Conservative
Walter Long
had asked Knollys for permission to state that the King did not
favour Irish Home Rule, but Knollys refused, as it was not appropriate for the
monarch’s views to be known in public.[97]
The
election
resulted in a
hung parliament
, with the Liberal government dependent on the support of the
third largest party, the
Irish nationalists
. The King suggested a compromise whereby only 50 peers
from each side would be allowed to vote, which would also redress the large
Conservative majority in the Lords, but
Lord 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.[97]
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 Irish 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 whisky 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.[98]
The King’s
Speech 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.[99]
The Commons passed resolutions on 14 April that would form the basis for the
Parliament Act
: 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[96]).
But 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.[100]
By April the Palace was having secret talks with Balfour and the 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 of
Redmond
& 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 obey) although Lord Esher argued that the monarch was entitled
in extremis to dismiss the government rather than take their “advice”.[101]
Esher’s view has been called “obsolete and unhelpful”.[102]
Death
Funeral procession of King Edward VII
, Windsor, 1910
Edward usually smoked twenty cigarettes and twelve cigars a day. Towards the
end of his life he increasingly suffered from
bronchitis
.[9]
In March 1910, the King was staying at
Biarritz
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 whilst political
tensions were so high. On 27 April he returned to Buckingham Palace, still
suffering from severe bronchitis. Alexandra 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.”[103]
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
.[9]
At 11:30 pm he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died
15 minutes later.[103]
Edward VII was buried at
St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
, on 20 May 1910. 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”.
Legacy
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Statue of Edward VII in
Queen Victoria Gardens, Melbourne
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Statue of Edward VII outside the
Holyrood Palace
in Edinburgh
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Statues of Edward can be found throughout the former empire, such as those in
Waterloo Place, London;
Centenary Square, Birmingham
;
Union Street, Aberdeen
;
Queen’s Park, Toronto
;
Phillips Square, Montreal
;
North Terrace, Adelaide
; Franklin Square,
Hobart
; and
outside the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
.
Before his accession to the throne, Edward was the longest-serving
heir
apparent
in British history, until surpassed by his great-great-grandson
Charles, Prince of Wales
, on 22 April 2011. As the title
Prince of Wales
is not exactly coincident with the position of heir
apparent, he remains the longest-serving holder of that title, at 59 years, 45
days; Charles has held the title for 54 years, 305 days.
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, George V, was better prepared to
take the throne. Contemporaries described their relationship as more like
affectionate brothers than father and son,[104]
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”.[105]
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.”[106]
“He had a tremendous zest for pleasure but he also had a real sense of duty”,
wrote J. B. Priestley.[107]
Lord Esher
wrote that Edward was “kind and debonair and not undignified –
but too human”.[108]
Edward was lauded as “Peacemaker”,[109]
but had been afraid that his nephew, the German Emperor
Wilhelm II
, would tip Europe into war.[110]
Four years after Edward’s death, World War I broke out. The naval reforms and
the Anglo-French alliance he had supported, as well as the relationships between
his extended royal family, were put to the test.
Titles,
styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 9 November – 8 December 1841: His Royal Highness The Duke
of Cornwall and Rothesay
- 8 December 1841 – 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness The
Prince of Wales
- 17 January 1850 – 22 January 1901: The Earl of Dublin
- 22 January 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Majesty The King
- with regard to India: His Imperial Majesty The King-Emperor
Honours
- 9 November 1858:
Knight of the Garter
- 24 May 1867:
Knight of the Thistle
The
lead ship
of a new class of battleships, launched in 1903, was named in his
honour. Many schools in England are named after Edward; two of the largest are
in
Melton Mowbray
and
Sheffield
.
King Edward VII School
in
Johannesburg, South Africa
, is one of the oldest schools in that country,
and was named in honour of Edward after his death.
King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital
in
Mumbai
, India,
the
King Edward Medical University
in Pakistan,
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women
in
Subiaco, Western Australia
, and
King Edward VII Hall
at the
National University of Singapore
carry King Edward’s name. The
Parque Eduardo VII
in Lisbon,
King Edward Avenue
in
Vancouver
,
Rue Edouard VII in Paris and King Edward Cigars are also named after him.
Arms
As Prince of Wales, Edward’s coat of arms was the
royal arms
differenced by a
label
of three points
argent
, and an
inescutcheon
of the
shield of Saxony
, representing his father. When he acceded as King, he
gained the royal arms undifferenced.
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