King Edward VII . Accession . The new king; . ◼ One of the first things he did was donating his parents' house, Osborne on the Isle of Wight, to the state, he continued to live at Sandringham. . ◼ He could afford to be magnanimous; his private secretary, Sir Francis Knollys, claimed that he was the first heir to succeed to the throne in credit. . ◼ Edward's coronation had originally been scheduled for 26 June. However, two days before on 24 June, he was diagnosed with appendicitis. Appendicitis was generally not treated operatively & carried a high mortality rate, but developments in anaesthesia & antisepsis in the preceding 50 years made life-saving surgery possible. Sir Frederick Treves, with the support of Lord Lister, performed a then-radical operation of draining a pint of pus from the infected abscess through a small incision (through 4½ inch thickness of belly fat and abdomen wall); this outcome showed thankfully that the cause was not cancer. The next day, Edward was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigar. Two weeks later, it was announced that the King was out of danger. . ◼ Treves was honoured with a baronetcy (which Edward had arranged before the operation) & appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream. . ◼ Edward 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. . ◼ Edward refurbished the royal palaces, reintroduced the traditional ceremonies, such as the State Opening of Parliament, that his mother had forgone, & founded new honours, such as the Order of Merit, to recognise contributions to the arts & sciences. . ◼ As king, Edward's main interests lay in the fields of foreign affairs & naval & military matters. Fluent in French and German, he made a number of visits abroad, & took annual holidays in Biarritz & Marienbad . Edward reigned as king from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. . . . #hisMajesty #EdwardVII #KingEdwardVII #HouseofSaxeCoburgandGotha #RoyalFamily #BritishMonarchy #TheBritishMonarchy #GodSaveTheKing #History #queenAlexandra #Thisdayinhistory #Onthisdayinhistory #D22Jan #TheYear1901 (at Osborne House) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs8t2yOFTkT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=15p82cchfkk1j