BIOGRAPHY:

Edward d VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.

The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne for almost 60 years. During his mother’s long reign he was in a position of political power and became the personification of the fashionable leisure elite. He traveled around Britain, famous for his public duties. His reputation across North America in 1860 and across the Indian subcontinent in 1875 was a success, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince spoiled him with his mother.

As king, Edward played a role in the modernization of the British Home Fleet and the reorganization of the British Army after the Second Boer War . He restored the traditional ceremony of public performances and expanded the circle of people. The “Peacemaker”, but him with his emperor, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, established good relations between the tribe and other European countries, especially France ., was bad. The Edwardian era , which spanned Edward’s reign and was named after him, coincided with a new beginning and marked significant changes in technology and society, including the steam turbine driving force and the rise of socialism . He died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis, which was resolved the following year by an Act of Parliament 1911 , limiting the powers of the unelected House of Lords .

Early years and education:

Edward was born at 10:48 am on 9 November 1841 at Buckingham Palace . He was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . It was altered by Albert Edward at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle , 25 January 1842. He was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known to the royal family as Bertie throughout his life.

As the eldest British son of a sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth. As the son of Prince Albert, he also bore the titles 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, Knight of the Garter on 9 November 1858, and Knight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867. In 1863 he renounced his rightful successions to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favor of his younger brother Prince Alfred .

The Queen and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son receive an education that would prepare him to be the model of a constitutional monarch . At the age of seven, Edward began an intensive educational program developed by Albert under the guidance of several mentors. Unlike his older sister Victoria , he did not excel academically. He tried to live up to his parents’ expectations, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student – his true talents were charm, sociability and tact – Benjamin Disraeli described him as an informed, intelligent and affectionate man. After completing his high school studies, his mentor was succeeded by his personal governor, Robert the Bruce .

. After an educational trip to Rome undertaken in the first few months of 1859, Edward spent the summer of that year. studied at the University of Edinburgh with the chemist Lyon Playfair . In October he began his undergraduate studies at Christ Church, Oxford . Now, having taken pleasure in the educational restrictions imposed by his parents, he enjoyed his studies for the first time and passed his examinations satisfactorily. In 1861 he moved to Trinity College, Cambridge , where he was taught history by Charles Kingsley , Regius Professor of Modern History . Kingsley’s efforts lead to the best academic achievements of Edward’s life, and Edward looked forward to his lectures.

Early maturity:

In 1860, Edward undertook the Prince’s first Welsh tour of North America. His good-natured humor and confident friendliness made the tour a great success. He inaugurated the Victoria Bridge in Montreal through the restoration of the St. Lawrence and laid the cornerstone of Parliament Hill in Ottawa . He watched Charles Blondin cross Niagara Falls by cable and stayed for three days with President James Buchanan at the White House . Buchanan accompanied the Prince to Mount Vernon to pay respects at the grave of George Washington . Huge crowds of people greeted him everywhere. He met Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , Ralph Waldo Emerson , and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Prayers for the royal family were read at Trinity Church, New York. , for the first time since 1776. The four-month tour of Canada and the United States increased Edward’s confidence and self-esteem, and also brought many diplomatic benefits to Britain.

Edward hoped so. pursue a career in the British Army , but his mother vetoed an active military career. He was declared colonel on November 9, 1858 – to his disappointment, since he wanted to obtain a commission by examination. In September 1861, Edward was sent to Germany, ostensibly to observe military maneuvers, but in reality to arrange a meeting between him and Princess Alexandra of Denmark , the eldest daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark and his wife Louise . The Queen and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry. They met in Speyer on 24 September under the patronage of his elder sister Victoria, who had married the Crown Prince of Prussia in 1858. Eduard’s sister, acting on her mother’s instructions, met Alexandra in Strelitz in June; the young Danish princess made a very favorable impression. Edward and Alexandra were friendly from the very beginning; the meeting went well for both parties and marriage plans moved forward.

Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. Determined to gain some army experience, he spent three nights with actress Nellie Clifden , who had been hidden in the camp by his fellow soldiers. Prince Albert, although ill, was shocked and visited Edward in Cambridge to reprimand him. Albert died in December 1861 just weeks after the visit. Queen Victoria was inconsolable, wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life and blamed Edward for her father’s death. At first she viewed her son with disgust as frivolous, immodest and irresponsible. She wrote to her eldest daughter: “I can never and will never look at him without shuddering.”

Marriage:

After being widowed, Queen Victoria effectively retired from public life. Soon after the death of Prince Albert, she organized an extensive tour of the Middle East for Edward, visiting Egypt , Jerusalem , Damascus , Beirut. and Constantinople . The British government wanted Edward to secure the friendship of the ruler of Egypt, Said Pasha , to prevent French control of the Suez Canal if the Ottoman Empire collapsed. This was the first royal tour to be attended by official photographer Francis Bedford . As soon as Edward returned to the preparation system, arrangements were made for his engagement, which was concluded at Laeken in Belgium on September 9, 1862. Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George’s Chapel , Windsor Castle on 10 March 1863. He was 21; she was 18 years old.

The couple founded Marlborough House as their London residence and Sandringham House in Norfolk as a country retreat. They had fun on a grand scale. Their marriage met with disapproval in certain circles because most of Queen Victoria’s relatives 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 advantage to invade and annex Schleswig-Holstein . The Queen is divided on whether the party is suitable given the political climate. After their marriage, she expressed concern about their secular lifestyle and tried to dictate matters to them, including their children.

Edward had mistresses throughout his married life. He associated with actress Lilly Langtry ; Lady Randolph Churchill ; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick ; actress Sarah Bernhardt ; noblewoman Lady Susan Vane-Tempest ; singer Hortense Schneider ; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as “La Barucci”); wealthy humanist Agnes Keyser ; and Alice Keppel . At least fifty-five connections are assumed. How far this relationship goes is not always clear. Edward always tried to be discreet, but this did not prevent public gossip or speculation in the press. Keppel’s great-granddaughter, Camilla Parker Bowles , became the mistress and predecessor of Charles, Prince of Wales , Edward’s great-great-grandson. It was rumored that Camilla’s grandmother, Sonia Keppel, was Edward’s father, but she was “almost certainly” the daughter of George Keppel , whom she resembled. Edward did not recognize illegitimate children. Alexandra knew about his affairs and seems to accept them.

In 1869, Sir Charles Mordaunt , a member of the British Parliament , threatened to name Edward after himself. co-defendant in his divorce suit. In the end, he did not, but Edward was called as a witness in the case in early 1870. Edward was shown to have visited the Mordaunt household while Sir Charles was away, sitting in the House of Commons . Although nothing more was proven and Edward denied that he had committed adultery , the suggestion of impropriety was devastating.

Accession:

When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became Crown Prince of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions . He decided to reign as Edward VII rather than Albert Edward (the name his mother intended to use for him), stating that he did not wish to “underestimate the name of Albert” and diminish the status of his father, with whom he had worked. “The name should stand alone.” The number VII was sometimes omitted in Scotland, even by the national church , in deference to protests that the previous Edwardses had been English kings “driven out of Scotland by battle.” J. B. Priestley recalled: “I was but a child when he succeeded Victoria in 1901, but I can attest to its extraordinary popularity. In fact, he was the most popular king of England since the early 1660s.”

Edward donated his parents’ house Osborne on the Isle of Wight to the state and continued to live at Sandringham. He could afford to be generous; His private secretary, Sir Francis Knollys , stated that he was the first heir to inherit the throne on credit. Edward’s finances were managed skillfully by Sir Dighton Probyn , controlled the household , and he took advice from Edward’s financier friends, some of the Jewish financiers such as Ernest. Cassel , Maurice de Hirsch and the Rothschild family . At a time of widespread anti-Semitism, Edward was criticized for openly associating with Jews.

Edward’s coronation was originally scheduled for June 26, 1902. However, two days before he was diagnosed with appendicitis . The disease was not treated surgically at all. It was associated with a high mortality rate, and developments in anesthesia and antisepsis over the previous 50 years had made life-saving operations possible. Sir Frederick Treves , with support from Lord Lister , performed a then radical operation to remove a pint of pus from an infected abscess through a small incision (through 4/2 inches of abdominal fat and abdominal wall); Fortunately, this result showed that cancer was not the cause. The next day Edward sat in bed and smoked a cigar. Two weeks later it was announced that he was out of danger. Treves was created a baronet (which the king granted before the operation), and appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream. Edward was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902 by the 80-year-old Archbishop of Canterbury , Frederick Temple , who died just four months later. 471>

Edward renovated the royal palaces, reintroduced traditional ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament that his mother had abandoned, and created new honors such as the Order of Merit in recognition of achievements in the arts and sciences. In 1902, the Shah of Persia, Mozzafar al-Din, visited England, hoping to receive the Order of the Garter . The king refused to honor the Shah because the order was supposed to be his personal gift, and the Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne, promised it without his consent. He also objected to the inclusion of a Muslim in the Christian order of chivalry . His refusal threatened to ruin British attempts to gain influence in Persia. He eventually relented, and the following year Britain sent a special embassy to the Shah with the full Order of the Garter.

Political Views:

While Prince of Wales, Edward had to be dissuaded from breaking constitutional precedent by openly voting for W. E. Gladstone’s Representation of the People Act (1884) in the House of Lords . On other issues he was more conservative: he did not, for example, favor giving women the vote , although he suggested that social reformer Octavia Hill should sit on the Commission . for working class housing . He was also opposed to Irish Home Rule , instead preferring a dual monarchy formula .

. As Prince of Wales, Edward established a warm and mutually respectful relationship with Gladstone, whom his mother hated. Herbert Gladstone, having angered the king, planned to allow Roman Catholic priests into the streets of London and appoint two ladies, Lady Frances Balfour, son of a statesman, Home Secretary and Mrs H. J. Tennant , member of the Royal Commission on Divorce Law Reform. Edward believed that divorce should not be discussed with “delicacy or even decorum” in front of women. Edward’s biographer Philip Magnus suggests that Gladstone may have become a whipping boy due to the king’s general dissatisfaction with the Liberal government. Gladstone was increased in a reshuffle the following year, and the king agreed, with some reluctance, to appoint him Governor-General of South Africa .

Edward participated in discussions on army reform, the need became obvious. with the failures of the Second Boer War . He supported the reorganization of the army command, the creation of territorial forces and the decision to provide support to France in the event of war. Reform of the Royal Navy is also proposed, partly due to ever-increasing estimates of the navy and the emergence of the Imperial Navy as a new strategic threat. The result was a dispute between Admiral Lord Charles Beresford , who favored increased spending and widespread deployment, and the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Fisher , who argued for efficiency savings, decommissioning of obsolete ships, and a strategic realignment of the Royal Navy, relying on torpedo ships for home defense , supported by new dreadnoughts .

. The king gave his support to Fisher, partly because he did not like Beresford, and Beresford was eventually sacked. Beresford continued his campaign outside the navy, and Fisher ended his policy at the end of 1909, although most of his policies were retained. The King was directly involved in the appointment of Fisher’s successor, as the Fisher-Beresford feud had divided the service, and the only truly qualified figure known to have been Sir Arthur Wilson , 1907. Wilson was reluctant to return to active service, but on 25 January 1910 Wilson became First Sea Lord.

Edward was rarely interested in politics, although his views on some issues were particularly progressive for his time. During his reign, he said that the use of the word “ Negro ” was “shameful”, despite the fact that at that time it was used in colloquial. In 1904, during the Anglo-German summit in Kiel between William II and Edward, Wilhelm, referring to the Russo-Japanese War, began to speak of the ” Yellow Peril “, which he called “the greatest danger threatening… Christendom and European civilization . If the Russians continue to give ground, the yellow race will find themselves in Moscow and Posen in twenty years .” William continued to attack his British guests for supporting Japan against Russia, suggesting that the British were committing “racial treason.” In response, Edward stated that ” cannot see this. The Japanese were an intelligent, brave and chivalrous nation, as civilized as the Europeans, from whom they differed only in the pigmentation of their skin. Although Edward lived a luxurious life, often far from the life of most of his subjects, they expected it, and ” his personal charm with all sections of society and his strong condemnation of prejudice went some way to alleviating the republican and racial tensions that had been building during his reign.

Constitutional crisis:

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 accept the ” People’s Budget ” proposed by Prime Minister Asquith’s Liberal government. The crisis eventually led – after Edward’s death – to the abolition of the Lords’ power to veto legislation.

The King was unhappy with liberal attacks on his peers, including David Lloyd George’s polemical speech at Limehouse . Minister Winston Churchill publicly demanded a general election, for which Asquith apologized to the king’s adviser, Lord Knollys , and rebuked Churchill at a cabinet meeting. Edward was so depressed by the tone of the class struggle – although Asquith told him that party rancor was just as strong because of the First Home Rule Act 1886 – that he introduced his son to Secretary of State for War Richard Haldane as “the last king of England”. After King Minoru’s horse won the Derby on July 26, 1909, he returned to the racetrack the next day and laughed when someone shouted, “So, King. You won the Derby. Come home. and dissolve this bloody Parliament! »

In vain the king urged the Conservative leaders Arthur Balfour and Lord Lansdowne to accept the budget, which Lord Esher advised him to carry out. This is not unusual, as Queen Victoria helped negotiate agreements between the two Houses for the dissolution of Ireland in 1869 and the Third Reform Act in 1884. However, on Asquith’s advice, he did not offer them elections (in which, judging by the last by-election, they were likely to win seats) as a reward for this.

The Finance Bill was passed by the House of Commons on 5 November 1909, but was rejected by the Lords on 30 November; instead they passed Lord Lansdowne’s resolution, which stated that they had the right to oppose the bill because it lacked an electoral mandate. The King was irritated that his attempts to get the budget passed were made public, and he forbade Knollys, who was an active Liberal peer, from voting on the budget, although Knollys suggested that this would be an appropriate gesture to indicate royal desire. to see the budget pass. In December 1909, a proposal to create peers (to give Liberals in the Lords) or to give the Prime Minister the power to do so was considered “outrageous” by Knollys, who believed that the King should abdicate rather than agree to it.

The elections of January 1910 were dominated by talk of the abolition of the Lords’ veto. During the election campaign, Lloyd George spoke of “guarantees” and Asquith of “guarantees” that would be required before the formation of a new Liberal government, but the king informed Asquith that he did not want to think about creating colleagues before or after the second general election. Balfour refused to say whether he would be prepared to create a Conservative government, but advised that the government should not promise to create one until he had seen the terms of any proposed constitutional changes. During the campaign, leading Conservative Walter Long asked Knollys for permission to state that the king did not support Irish Home Rule, but Knollys refused on the grounds that the monarch’s opinion would inappropriately be known in

The election resulted in a hung parliament , with the Liberal government dependent on the support of the third largest party, the Irish Nationalists . Lord Crewe, reported that this would reduce the independence of the Lords through the use of compromise compromises. since only those who were loyal supporters of the party would be selected. Pressure to overturn the Lords’ veto now came from Irish nationalist MPs who wanted to remove the Lords’ ability to block the introduction of Home Rule. They threatened to vote against the budget if they did not get their way (Lloyd’s attempt to secure their input by amending the Whiskey Duties to end as the Cabinet felt it would change the budget too much). Now Asquith has shown that there were no “guarantees” for the creation of peers. The cabinet considered resigning and allowing Balfour to attempt to form a Conservative government.

The king’s speech from the throne on February 21 was interrupted by the introduction of measures, limiting the repose of the lords, vetoed the delay, but asked for the phrase “in the opinion of my advisers,” so that it would appear that the king was distancing himself from the planned law. 14 April House of Municipal Submissions, which would form the basis of the Parliamentary Act 1911 : to remove the Lords’ veto on money bills, replace their veto on other bills with the power of prorogation, and reduce the term of Parliament from seven to five years (the King would have preferred four). In these debates, Asquith hinted – in order to gain the support of Nationalist MPs – that he would ask the King to break the deadlock “in this Parliament” (i.e. contrary to Edward’s earlier condition for a new election). The budget was passed by both the Commons and Lords in April.

By April the palace was holding secret talks with Balfour and Randall Davidson , Archbishop of Canterbury, who both said the Liberals were not doing it. have sufficient mandate to require the creation of peers. The King found the whole proposal “simply disgusting” and that the government “is in the hands of Redmond and Co.” Lord Crewe publicly declared that the government’s desire to create peers should be regarded as a formal “ministerial council”, although Lord Esher asserted that the monarch has the right in extreme government to resign, not their “council”. Escher’s view has been called “outdated and unhelpful”.

Death:

Edward usually smoked twenty cigarettes and twelve cigars a day. In 1907, rodent ulcer , a type of cancer affecting the skin near his nose, was cured using radium . Towards the end of his life he suffered increasingly from bronchitis . During a state visit to Berlin in 1909, he momentarily lost consciousness. In March 1910, he was in Biarritz when he lost consciousness. He was there to recuperate while in London, Asquith tried to implement the Finance Bill. The king’s continued ill health was not reported, and he was criticized for remaining in France while 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.

On May 6, Edward suffered several heart attacks but refused to go to bed, saying, “No, I won’t give up; I will continue; I will work until the end.” Between the moments of fainting, his son, the Prince of Wales (soon to become King George V ), told him that his horse, Air Witch, had won at Kempton Park that day. The king replied: “Yes, I have heard about it. I’m very happy”: his final words . At 23:30. he passed out for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later.

Alexandra refused to allow Edward’s body to be moved for eight days afterwards, although she allowed small groups of visitors to enter his room. On May 11, the late king was dressed in his uniform and placed in a massive oak coffin, which on May 14 was transferred to the throne room, where he was sealed and lay in state, with guards standing in each sector of the coffin. Despite the time that had passed since his death, Alexandra noted that the king’s body was “perfectly preserved.” On the morning of 17 May, the coffin was placed on a gun carriage and carried on black horses to Westminster Hall with the new king, his family and Edward’s favorite dog, Caesremesa , walking behind. After a short service, the royal family left and the hall was opened to the public; More than 400,000 people passed by the coffin over the next two days. As Barbara Tuchman notes in The Guns of August , his funeral , held on 20 May 1910, marked “the greatest gathering of royalty and dignity ever assembled. The Royal Train carried the King’s coffin from London to Windsor Castle, where Edward was buried in St. George .

Titles, styles, honors and weapons:

Titles and styles:

• 9 November – 8 December 1841: HRH The Duke of Cornwall
• 8 December 1841 – 22 January 1901: HRH The Prince of Wales
• 22 January 1901 – 6 May 1910: His Majesty the King

Honors:

• Royal Knight of the Garter , 9 November 1858
• Knight Companion of the Star of India , 25 June 1861; Grand Commander, May 24, 1866
• Fellow of the Royal Society , 12 February 1863
• Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom , 8 December 1863
• Knight Grand Cross of the Bath (military), 10 February 1865; Grand Master , 22 June 1897
• Knight of the Thistle , 24 May 1867
• Knight of St. Patrick , 18 March 1868
• Member of the Irish Privy Council , 21 April 1868
• Knight of Justice of St. John , 1876; Grand Prior , 1888
• Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George , 31 May 1877
• Grand Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Empire , 21 June 1887
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order , 6 May 1896
• Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts , 1901
• Founder and Ruler of the Order of Merit , 26 June 1902
• Founder and Ruler of the Imperial Service Order , 8 August 1902
• Founder of the Royal Victorian Chain , 1902