Edouard VII of the United Kingdom

Edouard VII , born the November 9th 1841 and dead the May 6th 1910 was king of the the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, king of the kingdoms of the the Commonwealth, and Empereur of the Indies. He was the son of the queen Victoria and the first British monarch pertaining to the Maison of Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha. He reigned of January 22nd 1901 until his death, on May 6th 1910.

Before his accession with the throne, Edouard carried the title of Prince de Galles and was characterized by the fact of having been the Héritier to the throne for more the long period in the history of British monarchy, record strongly threatened by the Prince Charles, Prince de current Galles. The reign of Edouard, called now the Edwardian period, saw the first official recognition of the office of the Prime Minister. He was the first British monarch to visit the Russia (1907). Edouard also played a part in the modernization of the British fleet and the reform of the medical departments of the army after the Guerre of Boers.

First years

Edouard was born on November 9th, 1841 with the Palais from Buckingham. His/her mother was the queen Victoria, the only girl of the prince Edouard Auguste and the grand-daughter of the king George III. His/her father was Albert, prince of Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha, the first cousin and the Prince Consort of Victoria. Baptized Albert Edouard with the Saint-Georges vault, in Windsor, on January 25th 1842, it was called “Bertie” throughout its life.

As an oldest son of a British sovereign, it was automatically Duc of Cornouailles and Rothesay, Count de Chester and of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Islands and prince and large seneshal of Scotland. As wire of the prince Albert, it also held the titles of prince of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha and Duc of Saxony. The Victoria queen also titrated her son Prince de Galles and count de Chester on December 8th 1841. It was titrated Count de Dublin and knight of the Jumper on November 9th 1853 and Chevalier of the Thistle on May 24th 1867. In 1863, it gave up its death taxes with the duchy of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha in favor of sound younger brother, prince Alfred, duke of Edinburgh.

The Victoria queen and prince Albert had decided that their oldest son would have an education preparing it to be a model constitutional monarch. At the seven years age, Bertie started a rigorous educational program conceived by the Prince Consort under the control of several professors. However, contrary to his older sister, the prince of Wales did not excel in his studies. He tried to answer the hopes of his parents, but without result. He was not student diligent and its truths talents were its charm, its sociability and its tact. Other observers in its youth found it lazy, and from time to time cruel spoiled.

In its youth, it gained a reputation of charmer. In December 1861, his/her father dies of the Typhoïde two weeks after having returned visit with Bertie in Cambridge; prince Albert had reprimand his son in connection with his connection with an actress become the subject of commérage in the press. The queen, who was inconsolable and carried mourning for the remainder of her life, blamed Bertie for the death of her father. She regarded her son as frivolous, indiscreet, and irresponsible.

Marriage

After her widowhood, the Victoria queen withdrew herself from the public life, but shortly after the death of the Prince Consort, it arranged the marriage of her son with the very beautiful Alexandra of Denmark, oldest daughter of the king Christian IX of Denmark. The couple Maria with the Saint-Georges vault, Windsor, on March 10th 1862. They had four children: Albert-Victor (1864-1892), Duke of Clarence, Georges V, Louise-Victoire (1867-1931) who marries in 1889 Alexandre Duff (1849-1912), and Maud (1869-1938) which marries in 1896 Haakon VII (1872-1957) king de Norvège.

Edouard and his wife chose the hotel of Marlborough like London residence and the Hôtel of Sandringham in the Norfolk like country house, where they organized many receptions.

Their marriage met the disapproval of certain circles because the majority of the relations of Victoria were German, and the Denmark was in disagreement with the Germany in connection with the territories of the Schleswig and the Holstein. Victoria itself was divided on the subject. After the marriage of the couple, it expressed its anxiety on their manner of living and tried to impose to them its views on many subjects, until the names of their children.

Schleswig and Holstein having been annexed by Germany with the detriment of Denmark, it will follow an enmity of Alexandra, princess of Wales, towards Prussia. She will manage to convince of this Edouard enmity, then Victoria, thus contributing to detach the United Kingdom of Germany.

Edouard treated his marriage with lightness, continuing to have mistresses, of which the actress Lillie Langtry, and Jennie Jerome, the mother of Winston Churchill. Its last “official” mistress, Alice Keppel, was even present at her bed of died in 1910, on her request express.

The apparent heir

During the widowhood of Victoria, Bertie is charged to represent the sovereign one at the time of the public gatherings. But even once husband and father, it could not endorse a role of scale in the government of the kingdom. Several incidents - including a sham trial in divorce, notorious - enamelled the period preceding its accession with the throne and Bertie had bad press, seeming a bad candidate with monarchy.

He devoted himself with enthusiasm to the practice of the national sports. Edouard was also set on art and had a taste pronounced for sciences. He contributed to found the royal University of music.

King

When the Victoria queen died the January 22nd 1901, Bertie became king. Then 60 years old, it was the second older man to be gone up on the throne in the British history (oldest having been Guillaume IV, which is assembled at the 65 years age). With surprised of much, it chooses to reign under the name of Edouard VII instead of Albert-Edouard the Ist new king chose the name Edouard because it had been carried by six of his predecessors, and no British sovereign had never reigned under a double name. Edouard VII and the Alexandra queen was crowned with the Abbaye of Westminster the August 9th 1902 at the time of a very important ceremony, which gathered guests of the whole world, of which an Ethiopian envoy , the Ras Makonnen.

As a king, the principal interests of Edouard concern the field of the foreign affairs and the naval and military questions. Having facilities in French and German, it made several visits abroad. One of its most important voyages was an official visit in France in spring 1903, like host of the president Emile Loubet. This visit contributed to create the atmosphere necessary to the conclusion of the Harmony, a simple agreement delimiting the British colonies and Frenchwomen in North Africa, and making practically inconceivable the wars which had so often divided the two countries in the past. Negotiated between the French Foreign Minister, Theophilus Delcassé, and the secretary with the Foreign affairs British, the marquis de Lansdowne, and signed the April 8th 1904 by Lord Lansdowne and the ambassador French Paul Cambon, the Agreement marked the one century end of competitions Franco-British and put a term at the insulation of the United Kingdom of the continental businesses.

“The uncle of Europe”

Edouard VII was, mainly by his mother and his father-in-law, related with almost all the European monarchs and quickly became “the uncle of Europe. ”

the German emperor Guillaume II, the tsar Nicolas II of Russia, Alphonse XIII the king of Spain, and Carl Edouard, duke of Saxony-Cobourg-Gotha was the nephews of the British sovereign;
Haakon VII, the king of Norway, was his son-in-law and his nephew by alliance; Georges I {{er}}, king of Hellènes and Frederic VIII, king de Danemark was his brothers-in-law;
Albert I {{er}}, Manual king of the Belgians, II the king of Portugal, Ferdinand I {{er}} the king of Bulgaria, Wilhelmina the queen of the Netherlands, and the prince Ernst Auguste, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, were his cousins. The volatile relation between Edouard and his nephew, Guillaume II, worsened the tensions between Germany and the United Kingdom in the decade preceding the First World War.

In the last year of his life, Edouard was involved in a constitutional crisis initiated by the preserving majority with the House of Lords which refused to pass “the Budget of People” proposed by the liberal government of the Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith. The king died before the liberal victory into 1910 with the legislative elections which made it possible to solve the situation.

As a king, Edouard VII was more success than no matter who had announced it, but he was already an old man and had little time to learn his new role. He ensured himself that its second wire and its second heir, who would become Georges V, were better prepared to go up on the throne. Edouard VII was buried in the vault St Georges, with the Château of Windsor.

Simple: Edward VII off the United Kingdom

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