9 November: Edward VII

9 November 1841 was the birthdate of King Edward VII, eldest son of Victoria and her prince consort, Albert. He was King of the United Kingdom from 1901 to 1910, which is known as the Edwardian period.

1. He was christened Albert Edward and was known as Bertie to his family. He was named after his father. His mother, Queen Victoria, wanted him to use Albert Edward as his regnal name, but when he came to the throne, he chose to be Edward VII because he did not wish to "undervalue the name of Albert" or diminish the status of his father. “The name should stand alone", he said.
2. Queen Victoria blamed her eldest son for Albert's early death. Edward had been carrying on with an actress, which his parents deemed most unsuitable behaviour for an heir to the throne. Albert, despite being ill at the time, travelled to see Edward to give him a telling off. When Albert died a couple of weeks later, Victoria blamed Edward. She even wrote to her daughter, "I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder."
3. He married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Although the couple got on well, it was a marriage arranged by the two families. They had six children. The eldest. Albert Victor, died of pneumonia as a young man, and the youngest, Alexander John, died when he was just a day old.
4. Edward lived somewhat of a playboy lifestyle. He enjoyed eating, drinking, gambling, shooting, watching Horse racing, sailing and, well, sex. He had a string of mistresses. His wife, it is believed, knew about his affairs and accepted them. The most famous of his mistresses was Lillie Langtry; but he was also known to socialise with Lady Randolph Churchill; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actress  Sarah Bernhardt; Lady Susan Vane-Tempest; singer Hortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni ("La Barucci"); wealthy humanitarian Agnes Keyser and Alice Keppel. Edward was always as discreet as possible and nobody knows for sure exactly how far these relationships went, but gossip was rife. Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children, although there was a rumour that Alice Keppel's daughter Sonia was Edward's, even though she looked like her father, George Keppel. Camilla Parker Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall, is Sonia Keppel's granddaughter.
5. Despite his rumoured affairs and extravagant lifestyle, the public loved Edward and copied the way he dressed. He made wearing tweed, Homburg hats and Norfolk jackets fashionable as well as the wearing of black ties at formal occasions (instead of the traditional white tie and tails). The tradition of men not buttoning the bottom Button of their waistcoats is said to have started with Edward, too, although in Edward's case it was a necessity rather than a fashion statement - his waist measured 48 inches (122 cm).
6. His eating habits, too, were widely copied, in particular his favourite Sunday lunch: roast beef and Potatoes with Horseradish sauce and Yorkshire pudding, still a popular Sunday lunch to this day. He drank Champagne and sometimes port, but he wasn't a heavy drinker. His vice was smoking – he smoked 20 cigarettes a day.
7. Through Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's other children, he was related to most of the royalty in the rest of Europe, and was nicknamed the 'Uncle of Europe'. As such, he would assist with foreign policy negotiations and he was the first British monarch to visit Russia.
8. Edward was 59 years old when he became King. He'd held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. His coronation was delayed for a few months because he went down with appendicitis. In those days, surgery as a cure for the condition was virtually unknown and a lot of people died from it. However, Sir Frederick Treves, with the support of Lord Lister, performed an operation on Edward which was radical for the time, and next day, Edward was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigar. Treves was made a baronet.
9. He reigned for ten years. Towards the end of his reign there was 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. Edward, meanwhile was in France, and unknown to the public, was unwell, suffering from bronchitis. He was criticised for remaining in France at his holiday home during the crisis.
10. He died at the age of 68 in 1910, after suffering a number of heart attacks in one day but refusing to go to bed. "No, I shall not give in; I shall go on; I shall work to the end," he declared. His last words were "Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad," when told his horse had won at Kempton Park. He was succeeded by his son who became George V.

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