The Life of King Edward VII
passing from Buckingham Abbey, there were to be eight carriages
containing the Royal visitors and members of the Royal family, the
Prince and Princess of Wales and then the state coach with the King and
Queen--having the Duke of Connaught riding to its right and a
considerable staff and brilliant escort of Life Guards behind.
The procession of the following day was to be essentially an Imperial
pageant and was to pass over a popular city route. The Colonial portion
came first on the programme, headed by Lieut.-General Sir A. Hunter, and
with detachments of Canadian artillery and cavalry and Australian
cavalry preceding a carriage containing Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier and
Mr. and Mrs. Barton. Then followed carriages with Sir R. Bond and Mr.
and Mrs. Seddon, Sir Gordon and Miss Sprigg, Sir Albert and Miss Hime,
Sir W. Ridgeway and Sir F. Grenfell, Sir W. Sendall, and Sir W.
MacGregor, the Sultan of Perak and King Lewanika--each preceded or
followed by detachments of New Zealand, Cape, Natal, Ceylon, Trinidad,
Cyprus and other Colonial cavalry, in accordance with the country
represented. Then was to come the Indian portion of the procession
including varied detachments of Native cavalry, and with carriages
containing the Maharajahs of Jaipur, Kolapore and Bikanur. Following
these was to be a long line of British artillery and Aids-de-Camp to the
King, representing the Volunteers, Yeomanry, Militia and Regular forces
and the Marines. The Head-Quarters staff came next, then Field Marshals
in the Army, Foreign naval and military attaches, deputations of Foreign
officers, then Indian Aides-de-Camp to the King--the Maharajahs of
Gwalior, Gooch and Idur--and several members of the Royal family on
horseback. Then came thirteen carriages containing Royal visitors,
special Ambassadors and members of the Royal family, followed by special
escorts of Colonial and Indian troops and Royal Horse Guards. The King
and Queen were to come next, in a splendid state coach drawn by eight
horses, with the Duke of Connaught riding on one side of them and the
Prince of Wales on the other.
THE KING'S PRELIMINARY WORK AND ILLNESS
Some of the incidents connected with the Coronation as preliminaries
were carried out by the King with apparent energy and in the midst of
what were known to be very heavy labours. On May 30th His Majesty
presented colours to the Irish Guards, received the Maharajah Sir Pertab
Singh, held an investiture of the Garter in great state, visited
Westminster Abbey to see the Coronation preparations, and gave a large
dinner party. During the next three days he presented medals to the St.
John Ambulance Brigade and held a Levee and investiture of the Bath. On
June 4th he gave audiences to various Ministers, proceeded with the
Queen to the Derby, gave a dinner to the Jockey Club and then joined the
Queen at the Duchess of Devonshire's dance. On June 6th the King
received the Indian Princes at Buckingham Palace and afterwards, with
Queen Alexandra, held a stately Court function. Two days later the King
and Royal family attended a service of thanksgiving for peace at St.
Paul's Cathedral. Other incidents followed and on June 14th His Majesty,
accompanied by Queen Alexandra, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the
Duke and Duchess of Connaught, Princess Victoria and Princess Margaret,
of Connaught, visited Aldershot to inspect the forty thousand troops
which had been slowly gathering there for weeks. A stormy and wet day
changed to brightness as the Royal party arrived and the town was found
to be prettily decorated and filled with enthusiastic people. A great
Tattoo was held in the evening with massed bands and myriad
torch-lights, but with not very pleasant weather.
On the following day it was announced in the _Times_ that the King could
not attend church owing to a slight attack of lumbago caused by a chill
contracted the night before. Queen Alexandra attended the service,
however, and in the afternoon visited several charitable institutions.
Monday the 16th saw His Majesty still too much indisposed to take his
part in reviewing the troops and this function was fulfilled by the
Queen, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. In the afternoon
the King and Queen returned to Windsor and in the evening His Majesty
was able to be present at a dinner party in the Castle. On the following
day the _Times_ expressed editorial pleasure at the King's apparent
recovery but urged caution and suggested that, despite the
disappointment of the people, it might be better if Ascot were not
visited by him on that day and the next but a substantial rest taken
instead. The same idea seemed to occur to the Royal physicians because
not only was the visit to Ascot cancelled but also a long-expected visit
to Eton which had been arranged for June 21st.
Other functions were postponed or cancelled and it was announced that
His Majesty was resting quietly and preparing himself for the essential
and heavy functions of the Coronation week. Such was the apparent
position of affairs in connection with this great event as massed
myriads of people roamed the streets of London and the other and varied
millions of the British Empire threw themselves into the final stages of
preparation. Such was the position on June 21st when the Toronto
_Globe_, in a very fitting editorial, embodied the popular feeling of
Canada. It declared that on the following Thursday the historic Abbey of
Westminster and the streets of London would see "the greatest ceremonial
which our times have known"; that no King "ever ascended a throne with
the more universal consent of the governed than does Edward VII."; and
that the British people had never been fickle in their feelings toward
him who was once Prince of Wales and was now King. "Their affection for
him has never faltered and they will feel gratified on Thursday that the
concluding ceremony of Coronation has fixed him firmly on the most
glorious of earthly thrones".
CHAPTER XXII.
The Illness of the King
If the almost fatal sickness of the Prince of Wales in 1871 was
historic, from the sympathy it evoked and the influence it wielded, that
of the King in June 1902 was infinitely more memorable. At the latter
period the attention of the whole civilized world was focussed upon the
figure of the Sovereign who was about to be crowned amid scenes of
unprecedented splendour; the press of the Empire and the United States
was filled with the record of his movements; the representatives of the
Courts of Europe had arrived or were arriving; the Prime Ministers of a
dozen countries and the Governors of many other countries of his
far-flung realm were in London; dense crowds were swarming through the
streets of the gaily-decorated metropolis; the approaching day was being
looked forward to by many millions of people in many lands as an
evidence, in its successful splendour, of the power and prosperity of
the Empire. Three days before the 26th of June the King and Queen
Alexandra had arrived in London from Windsor and the Coronation
festivities proper had commenced. His Majesty had looked well and had
smiled and bowed freely to the welcoming multitudes along the line of
route. Rumors of his having caught cold had prevailed, it is true, and
in certain sensational quarters there had been statements as to serious
illness and even allegations of paralysis.
But the evidence of that drive through the cheering streets of London
was deemed conclusive and during that afternoon and the next morning
the crowds increased and the excitement grew until sober-minded
observers who had seen the celebrations of the Queen's Jubilee and the
Diamond Jubilee and knew something of the millions then gathered
together were dismayed at the prospect of the massed multitudes of
Coronation day. It was at 12.45 P.M. on June 24th, when the streets were
packed with moving, happy, holiday crowds and the decorations were
nearing completion and their full effect and force becoming apparent to
the on-lookers, that an official bulletin was posted at the Mansion
House which seemed to reach every one in London at the same instant--so
rapidly was the news spread. News that almost on the steps of the
throne, within a day of the mightiest festival ever designed by human
government and helped by a willing people, the King had been stricken
down! It appeared incredible. The people of England and of the Empire
were almost as dumb-founded as the masses on the streets of the
Metropolis. But there was no way of getting beyond the simple words of
the bulletin signed by Lord Lister, Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Francis
Laking, Sir Thomas Barlow and Sir Frederick Treves: "The King is
suffering from perityphlitis. His condition on Saturday was so
satisfactory that it was hoped that with care His Majesty would be able
to go through the ceremony. On Monday evening a recrudescence became
manifest rendering a surgical operation necessary to-day."
The trouble approximated to the disease known in the United States and
Canada as appendicitis and was of a character which made certainty as to
recovery quite impossible and left the widest scope for fears and
discussion and speculation. It was analysed by Dr. Cyrus Edson, a
well-known New York physician, as follows: "Perityphlitis is
inflammation, including the formation of an abscess of the tissues
around the vermiform appendix and hence it is very hard to distinguish
from appendicitis. Usually an operation is necessary to ascertain
whether the appendix or the surrounding tissue is diseased." The King's
physicians gave the public all the information they wisely could. The
operation was performed by Sir Frederick Treves, the most eminent living
surgeon in this connection, shortly after the first bulletin was issued
and at six o'clock it was announced that "His Majesty continues to make
satisfactory progress and has been much relieved by the operation." Five
hours later the physicians stated that the King's condition was "as good
as could be expected after so serious an operation." It would be some
days, however, they added, before it would be possible to say he was out
of danger. The doctors remained at Buckingham Palace all that night and
but little news crept out from the silence surrounding the great pile of
buildings to that stirring outer world which had grown so suddenly and
strangely quiet.
Following the startling announcement of the King's illness came the
necessary statement that the Coronation ceremony was indefinitely
postponed and the further intimation that the King himself had asked
that celebrations in the Provinces outside London might be continued. In
London, he had specified his wish, before the operation took place, that
the dinner which was to be given to half-a-million of poor people should
not be postponed and His Majesty had expressed keen sorrow, not at what
he had already suffered himself or was likely to suffer, but at the
disappointment which his people would everywhere feel. Gradually it came
out that for over a week he had been ill; that the pain had been very
great at times; that the physicians had acceded to his determination to
go on with the ceremonies and the Coronation until longer delay in