Canada 1905 25 Cents Silver purity 925 Coin with British King Edward VII i32338

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Canada 1905 25 Cents Silver purity 925 Coin with British King Edward VII i32338 :
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Item: i32338

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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 offerding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 â€“ 6 May 1910) was King of theUnited Kingdom and theBritish Dominions andEmperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. He was the firstBritish monarch of theHouse of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was renamed theHouse of Windsor by his son,George V.

Before his accession to the throne, he served asheir apparent and held the title ofPrince 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.

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, includingpowered flight and the rise ofsocialism. Edward played a role in the modernisation of theBritish Home Fleet, the reform of theArmy Medical Services, and the reorganisation of theBritish Army after theSecond Boer War. Edward fostered good relations between Great Britain and other European countries, especiallyFrance, 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 inBuckingham Palace.[2] He was the eldest son and second child ofQueen Victoria and her husband (and first cousin)Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward atSt George\'s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 25 January 1842.[3] He was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfatherPrince 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 automaticallyDuke of Cornwall andDuke of Rothesay at birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles ofPrince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha andDuke of Saxony. He was createdPrince of Wales andEarl of Chester on 8 December 1841,Earl of Dublin on 17 January 1850, aKnight of the Garter on 9 November 1858, and aKnight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867.[5] In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy ofSaxe-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 modelconstitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on a rigorous educational programme devised by Prince Albert, and supervised by several tutors. Unlike his elder sisterVictoria, 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 studentâ€”his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tactâ€”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 theUniversity of Edinburgh under, amongst others, the chemistLyon Playfair. In October, he matriculated as an undergraduate atChrist 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 toTrinity College, Cambridge,[10] where he was tutored in history byCharles 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 confidentbonhomie made the tour a great success.[13] He inaugurated theVictoria Bridge, Montreal, across theSt Lawrence River, and laid the cornerstone ofParliament Hill, Ottawa. He watchedCharles Blondin traverseNiagara Falls by highwire, and stayed for three days with PresidentJames Buchanan at theWhite House. Buchanan accompanied the Prince toMount Vernon, to pay his respects at the tomb ofGeorge Washington. Vast crowds greeted him everywhere. He metHenry Wadsworth Longfellow,Ralph Waldo Emerson andOliver Wendell Holmes. Prayers for the royal family were said inTrinity 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 theBritish 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 PrincessAlexandra of Denmark, the eldest daughter ofPrince Christian of Denmark and his wifeLouise. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry. They met atSpeyer on 24 September under the auspices of his elder sister,Victoria, who had married theCrown Prince of Prussia.[15] Edward\'s elder sister, acting upon instructions from their mother, had met Princess Alexandra atStrelitz 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 atCambridge 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

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, visitingEgypt,Jerusalem,Damascus,Beirut andConstantinople.[18] In part political, 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.[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 andAlexandra married atSt 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 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 Queen Victoria\'s relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories ofSchleswig andHolstein. When Alexandra\'s father inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, theGerman Confederation took the opportunity toinvade 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 actressLillie Langtry;Lady Randolph Churchill (born Jennie Jerome, she was the mother ofWinston Churchill);[22]Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actressSarah Bernhardt; noblewomanSusan Pelham-Clinton; singerHortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Barucci; wealthy humanitarianAgnes Keyser; andAlice 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 ofCharles, 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 ofGeorge 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 BritishMember 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 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 todayâ€”for example, openingThames Embankment in 1871,Mersey Tunnel in 1886, andTower 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 theSchleswig-Holstein Question in 1864 (she was pro-German) and in the same year annoyed her again by making a special effort to meetGiuseppe Garibaldi.[31]Liberal Prime MinisterWilliam 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 theFranco-Prussian War and theFrench 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, nearScarborough, North Yorkshire, Edward contractedtyphoid, 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 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.[33] From 1886,Foreign SecretaryLord Rosebery sent him Foreign Office despatches, and from 1892 someCabinet 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 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.\"[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 ofSandringham Time continued until 1936, when it was abolished byEdward 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 horsePersimmon won both theDerby Stakes and theSt. Leger Stakes. In 1900, Persimmon\'s brother,Diamond Jubilee, won five races (Derby, St. Leger,2,000 Guineas Stakes,Newmarket Stakes andEclipse Stakes)[37] and another of Edward\'s horses, Ambush II, won theGrand National.[38]

He was regarded worldwide as an arbiter of men\'s fashions.[39][40] He made wearingtweed,Homburg hats andNorfolk jackets fashionable, and popularised the wearing of black ties with dinner jackets, instead ofwhite 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 ofTrinity House with aPrivy 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 48inches (122cm) shortly before his coronation.[45] He introduced the practice of eating roast beef, roast potatoes, horseradish sauce andyorkshire 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 theRoyal 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, 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.[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 toPrincess 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, whenJean-Baptiste Sipido shot at him in protest over theBoer War. Sipido escaped to France; the perceived delay of the Belgian authorities in applying for extradition, combined with British disgust at Belgian atrocities in theCongo, 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 theBritish Dominions.[54] He chose to reign under the name Edward VII, instead of Albert Edwardâ€”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 thenational 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 theIsle of Wight, to the state and continued to live at Sandringham.[58] 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.[59] Edward\'s finances had been ably managed by SirDighton Probyn,Comptroller of the Household, and had benefited from advice from Edward\'s Jewish financier friends, such asErnest Cassel,Maurice de Hirsch and theRothschild family.[60] At a time of widespreadanti-Semitism, Edward attracted criticism for openly socialising with Jews.[61]

Edward VII and Alexandra were crowned atWestminster Abbey on 9 August 1902 by the 80-year-oldArchbishop 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 withappendicitis.[62] Appendicitis was generally not treated operatively and carried a high mortality rate, but developments inanaesthesia andantisepsis in the preceding 50 years made life-saving surgery possible.[63] SirFrederick Treves, with the support ofLord 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 theState Opening of Parliament, that his mother had forgone, and founded neworders of honours, such as theOrder 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 theOrder of the Garter. Edward refused to give this high honour to the Shah because the order was meant to be his personal gift and theForeign 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 inBiarritz andMarienbad.[36] One of his most important foreign trips was an official visit to France in May 1903 as the guest of PresidentÃ‰mile Loubet. Following a visit to thePope 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 between the French foreign minister,ThÃ©ophile DelcassÃ©, and the British foreign secretary,Lord Lansdowne. Signed in London on 8 April 1904 by Lansdowne and the French ambassadorPaul Cambon, 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.[70]

Edward was related to nearly every other European monarch and came to be known as the \"uncle of Europe\".[1]Kaiser Wilhelm II andTsar 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, andEmpress 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 andFrederick VIII of Denmark were his brothers-in-law;Albert I of Belgium,Ferdinand of Bulgaria, andCharles I andManuel 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 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.[73] 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.[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 theSecond Boer War. He supported the re-design of army command, the creation of theTerritorial 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 theImperial German Navy as a new strategic threat.[77] 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.[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 wasSir 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 withW. E. Gladstone, whom his mother detested.[82] But Gladstone\'s son,Home SecretaryHerbert 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 MrsH. J. Tennant, to serve on a Royal Commission on reforming divorce law â€“ Edward thought divorce could not be discussed with \"delicacy or even decency\" before ladies. Edward\'s biographerPhilip 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 himGovernor-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 forGladstone\'sRepresentation of the People Bill (1884) in theHouse of Lords. On other matters he was less progressive: he did not, for example, favour givingvotes to women,[9][85] although he did suggest that the social reformerOctavia Hill serve on theCommission for Working Class Housing.[86] He was also opposed toIrish Home Rule, instead preferring a form ofdual 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 theConservative majority in theHouse of Lords refused to pass the \"People\'s Budget\" proposed by theLiberal government of Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith. The crisis eventually led â€“ after Edward\'s death â€“ 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 byDavid Lloyd George atLimehouse.[87] 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 depressed at the tone of class warfare â€“ although Asquith told him that party rancour had been just as bad over theFirst Home Rule Bill in 1886 â€“ that he introduced his son toSecretary of State for WarRichard 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 leadersArthur Balfour andLord 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.[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 forofferden 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 â€“ the King did talk of doing so that winter, but this was probably a symptom of his declining health.[94]

TheJanuary 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 ConservativeWalter 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]

Theelection resulted in ahung parliament, with the Liberal government dependent on the support of the third largest party, theIrish 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, 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.[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\'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.[99]

The Commons passed resolutions on 14 April that would form the basis for theParliament 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 â€“ to ensure the support of the nationalist MPs â€“ 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 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 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 frombronchitis.[9] In March 1910, the King 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 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, KingGeorge I of Greece, inCorfu 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 beKing George V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won atKempton Park that afternoon. The King replied, \"I am very glad\": hisfinal words.[9] At 11:30pm he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later.[103]

Edward VII was buried atSt George\'s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 20 May 1910. AsBarbara 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 Statue of Edward VII in Queen Victoria Gardens, Melbourne Statue of Edward VII outside the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh

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 theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

Before his accession to the throne, Edward was the longest-servingheir apparent in British history, until surpassed by his great-great-grandsonCharles, Prince of Wales, on 22 April 2011. As the titlePrince 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 54years, 305days.

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 â€“ but too human\".[108]

Edward was lauded as \"Peacemaker\",[109] but had been afraid that his nephew, the German EmperorWilhelm 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 â€“ 8 December 1841: His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay
8 December 1841 â€“ 22 January 1901: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
- 17 January 1850 â€“ 22 January 1901: The Earl of Dublin
22 January 1901 â€“ 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

Thelead 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 inMelton Mowbray andSheffield.King Edward VII School inJohannesburg, 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 inMumbai, India, theKing Edward Medical University in Pakistan,King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women inSubiaco, Western Australia, andKing Edward VII Hall at theNational University of Singapore carry King Edward\'s name. TheParque Eduardo VII in Lisbon,King Edward Avenue inVancouver, 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 theroyal arms differenced by alabel of three pointsargent, and aninescutcheon of theshield of Saxony, representing his father. When he acceded as King, he gained the royal arms undifferenced.

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