66 Facts About Edward Vii

1.

Edward Vii was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years.

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2.

Edward Vii travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad.

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3.

Edward Vii re-instituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised.

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4.

Edward Vii fostered good relations between Britain and other European countries, especially France, for which he was popularly called "Peacemaker", but his relationship with his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, was poor.

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5.

Edward Vii died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords.

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6.

Edward Vii was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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7.

Edward Vii was christened Albert Edward at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 25 January 1842.

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8.

Edward Vii was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn.

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9.

Edward Vii was known as Bertie to the royal family throughout his life.

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10.

Edward Vii 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.

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11.

At age seven, Edward Vii embarked on a rigorous educational programme devised by Albert, and supervised by several tutors.

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12.

Edward Vii tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail.

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13.

In 1860, Edward Vii undertook the first tour of North America by a Prince of Wales.

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14.

Edward Vii inaugurated the Victoria Bridge, Montreal, across the St Lawrence River, and laid the cornerstone of Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

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15.

Edward Vii watched Charles Blondin traverse Niagara Falls by highwire, and stayed for three days with President James Buchanan at the White House.

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16.

Edward Vii had hoped to pursue a career in the British Army, but his mother vetoed an active military career.

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17.

Edward Vii had been gazetted colonel on 9 November 1858—to his disappointment, as he had wanted to earn his commission by examination.

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18.

In September 1861, Edward Vii 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.

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19.

Edward Vii's wrote to her eldest daughter, "I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder.

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20.

Edward Vii married Alexandra of Denmark at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 10 March 1863.

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21.

Edward Vii always strove to be discreet, but this did not prevent society gossip or press speculation.

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22.

Edward Vii was sent summaries of important government documents, but she refused to give him access to the originals.

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23.

Edward Vii cultivated politicians from all parties, including republicans, as his friends, and thereby largely dissipated any residual feelings against him.

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24.

On 26 September 1875, Edward Vii set off for India on an extensive eight-month tour; on the way, he visited Malta, Brindisi and Greece.

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25.

Edward Vii's advisors remarked on his habit of treating all people the same, regardless of their social station or colour.

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26.

Edward Vii returned to England on 11 May 1876, after stopping off at Portugal.

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27.

Edward Vii was regarded worldwide as an arbiter of men's fashions.

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28.

Edward Vii 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.

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29.

Edward Vii pioneered the pressing of trouser legs from side to side in preference to the now normal front and back creases, and was thought to have introduced the stand-up turn-down shirt collar, created for him by Charvet.

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30.

Edward Vii introduced the practice of eating roast beef and potatoes with horseradish sauce and yorkshire pudding on Sundays, a meal that remains a staple British favourite for Sunday lunch.

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31.

Edward Vii was not a heavy drinker, though he did drink champagne and, occasionally, port.

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32.

Edward Vii was a patron of the arts and sciences and helped found the Royal College of Music.

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33.

Edward Vii ordered all the clocks at Sandringham to run half an hour ahead to provide more daylight time for shooting.

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34.

In 1891 Edward Vii was embroiled in the royal baccarat scandal, when it was revealed he had played an illegal card game for money the previous year.

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35.

Edward Vii told Queen Victoria, "[I would] have given my life for him, as I put no value on mine".

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36.

Edward Vii had insisted on placing Alexander John in a coffin personally with "the tears rolling down his cheeks".

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37.

On his way to Denmark through Belgium on 4 April 1900, Edward Vii was the victim of an attempted assassination when fifteen-year-old Jean-Baptiste Sipido shot at him in protest over the Second Boer War.

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38.

When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward Vii became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions.

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39.

Edward Vii chose to reign under the name of Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name his mother had intended for him to use—declaring that he did not wish to "undervalue the name of Albert" and diminish the status of his father with whom the "name should stand alone".

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40.

Edward Vii was in fact the most popular king England had known since the earlier 1660s.

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41.

Edward Vii donated his parents' house, Osborne on the Isle of Wight, to the state and continued to live at Sandringham.

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42.

Edward Vii's finances had been ably managed by Sir Dighton Probyn, Comptroller of the Household, and had benefited from advice from Edward Vii's financier friends, some of whom were Jewish, such as Ernest Cassel, Maurice de Hirsch and the Rothschild family.

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43.

At a time of widespread anti-Semitism, Edward Vii attracted criticism for openly socialising with Jews.

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44.

Edward Vii's coronation had originally been scheduled for 26 June 1902.

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45.

Edward Vii was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902 by the 80-year-old Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, who died only four months later.

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46.

Edward Vii refurbished the royal palaces, reintroduced the traditional ceremonies, such as the State Opening of Parliament, that his mother had foregone, and founded new honours, such as the Order of Merit, to recognise contributions to the arts and sciences.

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47.

Edward Vii objected to inducting a Muslim into a Christian order of chivalry.

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48.

Edward Vii's refusal threatened to damage British attempts to gain influence in Persia, but Edward resented his ministers' attempts to reduce his traditional powers.

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49.

Edward Vii was related to nearly every other European monarch, and came to be known as the "uncle of Europe".

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50.

Edward Vii doted on his grandchildren, and indulged them, to the consternation of their governesses.

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51.

In June 1908, Edward Vii 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.

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52.

Edward Vii was opposed to Irish Home Rule, instead preferring a form of dual monarchy.

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53.

Tennant, to serve on a Royal Commission on reforming divorce law—Edward Vii thought divorce could not be discussed with "delicacy or even decency" before ladies.

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54.

Edward Vii involved himself heavily in discussions over army reform, the need for which had become apparent with the failings of the Second Boer War.

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55.

Edward Vii supported the redesign 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.

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56.

Wilson was reluctant to return to active duty, but Edward Vii persuaded him to do so, and Wilson became First Sea Lord on 25 January 1910.

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57.

Edward Vii was rarely interested in politics, although his views on some issues were notably progressive for the time.

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58.

Edward Vii was so dispirited 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".

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59.

Edward Vii suffered a momentary loss of consciousness during a state visit to Berlin in February 1909.

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60.

Edward Vii remained there to convalesce, while in London Asquith tried to get the Finance Bill passed.

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61.

Edward Vii was surpassed by his great-great-grandson Charles III on 20 April 2011.

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62.

Edward Vii was the longest-serving holder of that title until surpassed by Charles on 9 September 2017.

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63.

Edward Vii has been recognised as the first truly constitutional British sovereign and the last sovereign to wield effective political power.

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64.

Publication of the official biography of Edward Vii was delayed until 1927 by its author, Sidney Lee, who feared German propagandists would select material to portray Edward Vii as an anti-German warmonger.

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65.

Subsequent biographers have been able to construct a more rounded picture of Edward Vii by using material and sources that were unavailable to Lee.

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66.

Lord Esher wrote that Edward VII was "kind and debonair and not undignified—but too human".

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