Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Full name
	Edward Frederick William

Edward VII
Edward VII
King of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms ;
Canada	1923-1951
Australia	1923-1951
New Zealand	1923-1951
British Leeward Islands	1923-1951
British Windward Islands	1923-1951
Ireland	1922-1937
Pakistan	1947-1951
India	1947-1950
South Africa	1923-1951
Ceylon	1923-1951
Ghana	1923-1951
Nigeria	1923-1951
Sierra Leone	1923-1951
Tanganyika	1923-1951
Uganda	1923-1951
Kenya	1923-1941
Malawi	1923-1951
Malta	1923-1951
The Gambia	1923-1951
Guyana	1923-1951
Mauritius	1923-1951
Fiji	1923-1951
Puerto Rico	1923-1951
Reign	5 January, 1923 - 7 July, 1951
Coronation	17 May, 1923
Predecessor	George V
Successor	Charles III
King of Hanover
Reign	5 January, 1923 - 20 November, 1924
Coronation	17 May, 1923
Predecessor	George V
Successor	Incorporation into the United Kingdom through the Kingdom of Hanover Act 1924
Emperor of India
Reign	5 January, 1923 - 15 August, 1947
Predecessor	George V
Successor	Post abolished
Prince Regent of the United Kingdom
Regency	1 March, 1921 - 5 January, 1923
Monarch	George V
Born	Edward Frederick William; 22 November 1895; Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Canada
Died	7 July 1951 (aged 57); Buckingham Palace, London
Burial	25 July 1951; Westminster Abbey, London
Spouse	Victoria Louise of Prussia (m. 1913)
Issue; Detail	Charles III; William, Duke of Edinburgh;
Full name
Full name
	Edward Frederick William
House	Hanover
Father	George V
Mother	Sophia of Prussia
Religion	Protestant

Edward VII (Edward Frederick William; 22 November, 1895 - 7 July, 1951) was King of the United Kingdom and King of Hanover from 1923 to 1951. He was also the last Emperor of India, reigning from 1923 to 1947 until the abolition of the British Raj and its subsequent partition into India and Pakistan. Additionally, he is the second British monarch to serve as a regent up until his ascension after King George IV, whom had previously served as a regent under the capacity of his father, George III.

An outspoken critic of Nazism, Edward primarily led the country throughout the Great Depression and the Second World War. In his final years, he oversaw the hastily drawn partition of India and Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of the British Raj and various armed conflicts stemming from the independence of Britain's colonies. He also presided over the formal incorporation of a Hanover with increased territory in the aftermath of the First World War into the United Kingdom. In the immediate aftermath of the London Declaration in 1949, he became the first official Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, replacing his previous title of Emperor of India.

Due to his heavy German ties, he was popularly known as "Edward the German" (Eduard der Deutsche), and was mockingly referred to as "Kaiser Edward" by British nationalists due to his familial ties with the last German Emperor.

Early Life

Edward was born on the 22nd of November 1895 during the reign of his grandfather William V. He was the eldest out of the four children of George V and was notably the first royal to be born outside of Britain, having being born instead in Canada, his parents' "principal" residential country. As a maternal nephew of the Wilhelm II, German Emperor, he was initially recommended to by his mother with several German imperial honours, but this was cut short by the antagonistic nature of the German Emperor, though he was given the title Prince of Prussia as a descendant of a Prussian princess. He was named Edward Frederick Wilhelm in honour of his maternal grandfather, the late German Emperor Frederick III who had then been the co-coordinator alongside Edward's paternal grandfather of the marriage between Edward's parents. Locally, he was known as the Canadian Prince as he was the very first British royal to be born inside the country.

Following his birth, his grandfather William took much interest in shaping the young Edward according to his own, hoping to deter the young prince from becoming like his own father who had grown distant from the king. Following a sizable opposition from both his grandmother and parents, a compromise however was reached where Edward would still be instilled with militaristic values but to a lesser degree. Subsequently, while Edward did received partial militaristic training, this was then added with the extensive exposure in liberal arts education, the latter in which Edward showed promising interest and development.

In addition to his studies, Edward frequently indulged himself in the rural and forested parts of Canada, with activities such as family picnics and occasional hunting trips alongside his father being common activities for the young prince. Furthermore, he also frequently accompanied his parents in their social events and public meetings with the Canadian populace during his father's tenure as Governor-General of Canada.

Edward's striking appearance garnered him much attention and care from his female relatives, and in particular Princess Mary. Due to the distinct similarities between the young Edward and Mary's own son named Edward, the two princes were remarkably close and the former Edward was a frequent subject of comparison by Mary of Teck who once wrote, "It is a joy for me to see just how alike my dear Eddy is with the prince", albeit at the cost of a friendly rivalry between Mary and his mother Sophia. He was also a favourite of his grandmother Charlotte who would often look after the young Edward during his parents' occasional leaves for their official engagements or state visits.

At the age of eleven, he began frequently accompanying his parents on their international trips as the respective Prince and Princess of Wales. During a controversial visit to Germany in 1907, while his parents conversed in a relatively calm manner with the German Emperor, the young Edward became good friends with the German Crown Prince and consequently became fond of the emperor's only daughter Victoria Louise, whom he then described as being "a living example of perfection and beauty, from head to toe".

Prince of Wales

As he aged well into his teens, his grandfather had seen the young Edward as a valuable diplomatic tool in his attempts to mend the strained relations between the German and British empires. While his own father had been married to the daughter of the late Frederick III, the aging king William was determined in continuing the tradition, exemplified by his constant support for a match between Edward and Victoria, who is 3 years his senior. While there had been several discreet discussions between William and his German counterpart on a possible marriage between the two as a sign of reconciliation, neither initially came into fruition when the suggestion was heavily scrutinized by some of the former's relatives who preferred the House of Hanover not being associated with the "warmongering" Wilhelm II and the Hohenzollerns. This was in turn complicated by the growing Anglophobe sentiment in Germany itself.

Even such prospects were discouraged by the Prime Minister who advised the king to look for another suitable bride that is not associated with countries that are deemed as Britain's enemies. At the same time however, despite the irony of the tension between their respective countries, Edward was close with the young German princess, whom he often referred to by her nickname "Vicky".

World War I

In 1913, despite heightened tensions between most of the major powers of Europe, the marriage ceremony of Edward and Victoria went on lavishly. Among the foreign guests were the Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II and Edward's own family, led by the sickly William V. In what would become the most notable feature of the event, Edward's grandfather William was given a special honour to hold his own speech, in which he dramatically reminded attendees of the heightened tensions and the need for the "old kings" of Europe to band together in preventing a major war from occurring. Following the conclusion of the ceremony, the newlywed couple was discouraged from returning to Britain. Instead, the royal couple then left back for Sweden where they were warmly received by the likes of Gustaf V and the pro-German government of Sweden.

Until 1921, the royal couple lived lavishly in exile in Sweden, where both royals kept themselves occupied with news of the Great War surrounding them. However, the misery was softened with the birth of their first surviving offspring, the future Charles III in 1917, which succeeded that of an earlier miscarriage two years later. While living in exile, Edward had initially contemplated on serving alongside his male relatives in the war but was discouraged by his wife who had saw the war as "extremely appalling" and wished for their family to not be associated with such conflict. However, the royal family was active in providing humanitarian care and aid to both participants of the war, exemplified in a risky but successful attempt in 1915, when the Swedish HSwMS Najaden safely dropped a large supplies of aid through the Netherlands.

Moved by his short-term desire to see some military action as to not present himself as a "weakling" among the British public, Edward went incognito alongside a small group of Swedish soldiers in occupying the Åland Islands, a Finnish-owned territory desired by Sweden due to the local residents' overwhelming favor in a Swedish annexation. Despite his brief stint in the campaign, he was made an Överste and later an honorary Major General of the Swedish Army following his ascension as sovereign.

Reign

On the death of Edward's father on the 5th of January that year, it was also by coincidence the 10th wedding anniversary of Edward and his wife, however plans for the subsequent celebrations were immediately nullified out of respect for the late king George. As news of the king's death reached London, Edward and Victoria Louise immediately headed back for Britain onboard the HMS Charlotte, which had been previously used to escort the couple from their exile in Sweden two years prior, while the now queen dowager continued to reside in Canada until her death nine years later, which was also attended by Edward and Victoria Louise and their closest relatives.

Amidst much public debate and displeasure at the prospects of having a daughter of the infamous German Emperor as queen consort of the country, preparations for their coronation were steadily underway. In the days leading up to their coronation, the royal couple briefly visited the war-torn Ireland, where despite political division among the Irish locals in regards to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, they were however warmly greeted by the local populace. At the same time, Edward and Victoria Louise briefly debated on the choice of the latter's future name as queen consort, as the practice of having double names as a queen consort had been rather unknown in Britain. However, this soon concluded with Victoria Louise choosing to drop her first given name Victoria, opting instead to be known as Queen Louise, honouring her paternal great great grandmother, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a renowned figure in her native country. On the 17th of May, exactly a week before the end of the Irish Civil War, Edward and Louise were formally coronated as king and queen of the United Kingdom.

Early Years

Edward's ascension came at a difficult time for his country. The United Kingdom, despite being the largest country in terms of landmass and population was embroiled in debt and was slowly ceding its status as the global industrial power to the United States and Japan. At the same time, socialist and nationalist fervour were on the rise in his own country, exacerbated by their heavy German roots. To that end, seeking to remedy the inability of his father to effectively address the post-war issues, Edward, with Parliament approval had the British titles and peerages of his relatives who had served under the Central Powers effectively revoked through the Royal Titles Revocation Act 1924. Edward's wife, a Princess of Prussia by birth subsequently abandoned her German titles, albeit reluctantly and was at times, said to had her private conversations monitored for any signs of sympathy for the former German Empire.

In 1931, Edward privately condemned his brother-in-law August Wilhelm for the latter's involvement with the NSDAP, citing the party's "hateful and extreme" rhetoric which, from the king's perspective greatly contrasted with his overwhelmingly liberal ideas. Three years later, he also refused a private invitation by Hitler whom had hoped for a meeting with the king in order to foster potential relations between Germany and the United Kingdom, due to the latter's strong German ties.

Hanoverian Issue

From the late 19th century, tensions between Germans and non-Germans in the United Kingdom had been gradually brewing as a direct consequence of the Anglo-German arms race propogated by the militarist Kaiser Wilhelm II. The tensions were further exacerbated by the onset of the First World War and by its end however, the themes surrounding the perceived "treachery" and "disloyalty" among the British-Germans in Hanover became a central issue of British nationalists, with the majority of them calling for a removal of the German-majority autonomous kingdom from the union itself, while the radical minority instead proposed for a continuation of the union which was to be achieved by a proposed "de-Germanisation" of the local populace.

The then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin had initially convinced the king to seek a "middle ground" as to appease both opposing sides. To that end, on November 1924, after weeks of heated debate, the British Parliament passed the Kingdom of Hanover Act 1924, which subsequently elevated Hanover to that of the same status and position as Scotland had been from the Acts of Union 1707. Immediate reactions were initially deeply polarised among the public, with some welcoming the new act as a symbol of unity among the varying major ethnic groups in the country, while others opposed the integration of Germans into society, backed by their popular view of the perceived treachery by British-Germans during the First World War. In addressing direct criticism towards the act, Edward notably declared: "The United Kingdom of today is here to remain, and never to dissolve".

Marriage Crisis

In contrast to his grandfather, Edward adopted a rather independent and hands-off approach in regards to the marital choice of his successor, Charles. However, due to the political climate at the time, Edward strictly forbade either of his sons from ever marrying a princess hailing from an enemy country. Regardless, in 1945, the Prince of Wales privately wrote a letter to Edward from the United States, in which he openly declared his interest into marrying Jewish American actress Lauren Bacall, whom is seven years the prince's junior. While this was met with mixed reaction by Parliament members, Edward himself remained indifferent however on the proposal, choosing not to veto it out of fear of disappointing his only surviving son and heir.

Despite his indifference, Edward partially sided with detractors by suggesting instead for a morganatic marriage, where the couple would be allowed to marry in exchange for Bacall, Charles's romantic partner receiving a courtesy title instead of the traditional title of queen consort. Additionally, a day prior to the eventual meeting between Charles and the British agents in New York, Edward was said to had personally met two of the suggested candidates, Sarah Baring and Lady Caroline Paget at their respective residences in an attempt to encourage either one of the leading candidates to seek the heir apparent's hand in marriage, with Baring in particular showing much interest in a marital offer. However, Charles's subsequent rejection of the alternative candidates proposed by the government brought all other prospects to an end.

Following Churchill's defeat and subsequent replacement by his Labour opponent Clement Attlee, with the latter's strong backing and later that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward promptly adopted a more supportive stance of his son's marital prospects, eventually granting his official permission as sovereign for the royal couple. They were subsequently engaged in February 1946 and were married a year later.

Marriage

At the time of his birth, Edward was second in line to the throne behind his father, the then George, Prince of Wales. Despite this, as the likely heir to his father, Edward's marital prospects fell under the responsibility of the royal family's then patriarch, King William V. At the time, the then ageing King had been subtly seeking for a reconciliation between the British and German empires, amidst the Anglo-German arms race between the two empires, instigated by the aggressive foreign policies of the German Emperor. As a result, after much deliberation resulting from internal opposition from several members of the Hanover royal family, William decided to orchestrate a visit between his grandson Edward and the Kaiser's only daughter Victoria Louise, who is three years Edward's senior.

On September 12th, 1910, a privately orchestrated visit was organised by King William V, who sent the princely family to Germany as to realise his dynastical ambitions under the guise of celebrating Princess Victoria Louise's 18th birthday the day after. While Edward and his family was warmly received in the foreign country, Edward's mother Sophia however generally avoided her brother, the Kaiser whose starkly differing views greatly differed with those of Sophia's. Regardless, Edward's partial admiration of the dominant German culture in the country allowed him to immediately foster warm relations with the Kaiser's sons, consisting of Crown Prince Wilhelm and his five brothers. However, upon being introduced to the youngest and the only female sibling of the group, the eighteen year old Victoria Louise, the fifteen year old Edward was said to had been instantly smitten with the Prussian princess though he would initially reserve these feelings, worried that he might upstage both the British and German royal families. Throughout the proceeding night however, much to the joy of both families, Edward and Victoria Louise were seemingly quick to bond together, with the pair oddly spending a lot of personal time deep into the night, only to be necessarily broken up by Edward's father later on.

For Victoria Louise's birthday, Edward first charmed the princess with a gift of two white Hackney horses, one of which belonged to Edward himself. During the later hours of the event, Edward and Victoria Louise were able to sneak out together to the palace grounds for a casual horse ride. Following a brief discourse relating to the increasing tensions between their respective countries, the two briefly kissed out of newfound infatuation for the other, with Victoria Louise herself suggesting for a possible marriage as a way to keep the two of them together. Upon his return to the United Kingdom a week later, much to the joy of the then King William V, the returning Edward was firmly infatuated with the Prussian princess and seemed onboard himself with the prospects of a marriage though due to his young age, he was to wait until he was approximately eighteen years old.

When this reached the knowledge of the then Prime H. H. Asquith however, the former advocated for a cautious approach towards the issue, as to avoid compromising the Entente Cordiale agreements with France, which deeply distrusted the Germans. Regardless, preparations for the ceremony, which after some deliberation which saw Berlin as its venue were soon underway, while Edward and Victoria Louise were said to had conversed on a daily basis through either letters or the telegraph.

Engagement & Wedding

On February 1911, through a private agreement between King William V and Kaiser Wilhelm II, the couple were engaged in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, a neutral country as to avoid any further complications. Soon after, out of the need to protect the royal pair from any threats or harm, Edward and Victoria Louise lived together as fiancées in Drottningholm Palace under the protection of King Gustaf V and his family. For the next two years, the couple was said to had lived "extremely happily" with one another in the Swedish royal residence, and they both kept a consistent streak of communication with their respective families back home.

On January 5th, 1913, the couple returned to Berlin where an extravagant wedding ceremony was held in their honour, which saw the attendance of the British and Russian royal families and numerous other guests. Soon after, faced with rising political pressure, the couple was "forbidden" from returning to either of their home countries, which led to the continuation of their self-imposed exile in Sweden, which was to continue for approximately eight years later. Prior to the First World War a year later, the wedding was to be the last time that Edward saw his grandfather, William V who passed away just twenty five days later.

Following the outbreak of war on July 28 the next year, both Edward and Victoria Louise, now Prince and Princess of Wales chose not to openly affiliate with either side, due to their differing background and slightly different views. However, in contrast to the war which had pitted their two nations together, Edward and his wife gradually solidified their relationship and at times, was said to had took turns consoling the other whenever they were told of the war's brutal moments. Edward's brother Frederick, at one point remarked of his brother and sister-in-law's marriage as "invincibly strong and passionate".