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 operation would have made the result fatal; that the King's one anxiety had been not to disappoint the millions who would be in London and the millions who would look on from abroad during the long-looked for event.

The story of the illness as it developed was made known by the Lancet on June 27th. It seems that on Friday June 13th His Majesty had gone through a particularly arduous day and next morning was attended by Sir Francis Laking who found him suffering from considerable abdominal discomfort. In the afternoon he felt better and went to Aldershot where the unfortunately wet and cold weather at the Tattoo caused a distinct revival of the trouble in the early morning accompanied by severe pain. Sir F. Laking was sent for and in turn telegraphed Sir Thomas Barlow. On the 15th, the Royal patient had a chilly fit but on Monday returned to Windsor and bore the journey well. Two days later he was seen by Sir Frederick Treves who found symptoms of perityphlitis. These, however, gradually disappeared and on Saturday, the 21st, His Majesty was believed to be on the road to rapid recovery and to be able to go through the Coronation ceremonies.

"Sunday was uneventful. On Monday the King travelled from Windsor to London. Next day the necessity for an operation became clear." The Lancet gave no reason for this sudden change in condition and it may have been the excitement and strain of the drive through cheering masses of the London populace. "At ten o'clock Tuesday morning (24th) the urgency of an operation was explained to His Majesty. Recognizing that his ardent hope that the Coronation arrangements might not be upset must be disappointed he cheerfully resigned himself to the inevitable. Before the actual decision upon an operation was arrived at Sir Frederick Treves took the advice of two other sergeant-surgeons to the King, Lord Lister and Sir Thomas Smith. They, as well as Sir Thomas Barlow and Sir Francis Laking, came to the unanimous conclusion that no course but an operation was possible in all the circumstances. To delay would, in fact, be to allow His Majesty to risk his life." Such appears to have been the plain statement of this serious incident. Following the operation the course of the disease was steadily towards recovery and without serious complications of any kind. Danger at first there was and neither physicians, nor family, nor the public could feel anything like assurance of recovery.

PROGRESS TOWARDS RECOVERY

The London Times went out of its way to warn the people against over-confidence in the result, and the bulletins were cautious in the extreme. On June 25th the King was said to have been very restless and without sleep during the early part of the night. He was, however, free from pain, and his five physicians declared that, under all the circumstances, he might be described as "progressing satisfactorily." On June 26th they reported His Majesty's condition as satisfactory, his strength as having been well maintained, and the wound as doing well. The reports of June 27th showed a normal temperature, no disquieting symptoms and, finally, a substantial improvement. On the next day the five physicians issued the following bulletin: "We are happy to be able to state that we consider His Majesty out of immediate danger. His general condition is satisfactory. The operation wound, however, still needs constant attention and such concern as attaches to His Majesty's case is connected with the wound. Under the most favourable condition His Majesty's recovery must of necessity be protracted." The bulletins thenceforward were regular in their statements of slow and steady improvement. On July 2d it was announced that the wound was beginning to heal; then only daily reports were issued; and finally, on July 13th, the Royal patient was taken by private train from Buckingham Palace to his yacht at Portsmouth and, during the next few weeks, while it was anchored or quietly cruising off Cowes, the King was steadily growing stronger and better.

The bare details of an illness such as this can give no idea of the burden of apprehension which it entailed upon millions of people, the financial losses which it meant to thousands of merchants and others in all parts of the world, the dislocation of a political, social, and general character which it involved in London, the consternation which it naturally caused in every centre in the Empire. The first effect of the King's illness was to create a new tie of sympathy between himself and his subjects. Human suffering borne so patiently during that week of concealed sickness and with such earnest determination to go through what must have come to appear the frightful ordeal of the Coronation appealed strongly to people everywhere in the Empire, while the externally dramatic passage from preparations for the greatest of national festivities down into the valley of the shadow of death came home to the hearts of every one with peculiar force. This was particularly apparent in Westminster Abbey where the last rehearsal of the great Coronation choir, in the presence of the Bishop of London and under the musical direction of Sir Frederick Bridge, was proceeding at noon on June 24th. Suddenly, Lord Esher entered and told the sad news to the Bishop, who, in a few words, turned the service of national rejoicing into one of solemn intercession. Everywhere there were similar services and similar sudden changes. Coronation day, despite the King's kindly wish that demonstrations and functions outside of London should proceed, was turned into a season of special service and prayer in Great Britain and in the many other countries of the Empire.

A pathetic service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on the evening of the announced illness, and the Bishop of Stepney spoke in most impressive terms. "As the days have passed, our thoughts and, I trust, our prayers have been centred in the King as he has moved to his Coronation watched by millions of eyes. Only yesterday we welcomed him to London with heartfelt joy. All around us is the glamour of preparation for a splendid festival. The very air is vivid with the glow of popular enthusiasm. From all parts of the earth our brethren have come to rivet anew the links which bind them to our ancient Monarchy. And now come the tidings that this King is laid low with sickness and that the great day has been postponed. We are bewildered. We cannot realize, except in imagination, the dislocation of the life of a whole Empire." Meanwhile, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York had asked their clergy to hold intercessory services on June 26th, and Cardinal Vaughan, for his Church, had given similar orders. "The finger of God," he wrote to his clergy, "has appeared in the midst of our national rejoicing and on the eve of what promised to be one of the most splendid pageants in English history. This is in order to call the thoughts of all men to Himself. The King's life is in danger. Danger being imminent, let us have immediate recourse to the Divine mercy and by public prayer seek His Majesty's recovery." The Chief Rabbi held special Jewish supplications and the Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales telegraphed to Sir Francis Knollys their hope that it might please God to spare the King's valuable life so "that he may rule for many years over his devoted people."

Telegrams of inquiry and sympathy poured into the Palace, the Departments of the Government, and the Guildhall, for days after the eventful incident of the operation. On the day that should have witnessed the stately splendour of the Coronation, St. Paul's Cathedral was the scene of a solemn service of intercession for the recovery of the King. The Bishops of London and Stepney, the Archdeacon of London and Canons Holland and Newbolt were the officiating clergy and with them were the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and a dozen other Bishops. The Lord Mayor of London was present officially and the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Teck. So were the special missions of France, Spain, Germany, Mexico and other countries, the Hon. Whitelaw Reid and Mr. Choate, the American Ambassador. Lord Selborne, Lord Cadogan and Mr. Ritchie represented the Cabinet while the Premiers of Canada, Australia, Cape Colony, Natal, New Zealand, Western Australia, and South Australia, with the Sultan of Perak, the Rajah of Bobbili, Sir Jamesetjee Jejeebhoy, and others represented the Colonial and Indian Empire. A large number of the leaders in the public, social and general life of the country were also there. At the same time a similarly impressive service was held in Margaret's, Westminster, the official church of the House of Commons, attended by the Lord Chancellor and Speaker, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, Lord and Lady Londonderry, and many members of both Houses of Parliament. A multitude of other churches held intercessory services at home and abroad on this day—notably, perhaps, one arranged by the National Council of Free Churches and held in the City Temple. Orders were given by the heads of all kinds of denominations in all kinds of countries to pray for the King on the succeeding Sunday and, in most of the great Colonies of the Crown, that day was specially set apart for the purpose.

EXPRESSIONS OF SYMPATHY

Meanwhile, the messages continued to pour in from Governments as well as individuals or institutions. General Sir Neville Lyttelton for the Army in South Africa, Lord Hopetoun for the Government and people of Australia, Sir Edmund Barton, the Premier of Australia, the Legislature of New South Wales, the Governors of the other Australian States and New Zealand, the Governors of Fiji, Gambia, Cape Colony, Mauritius, Bermuda, Newfoundland, and Gibraltar, the Administrators of Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Ceylon, Hong-Kong and Wei-hai-Wei, the Governor of the Straits Settlements and the Premier of Natal sent despatches of sympathy and regret. In the United States much kindly feeling was expressed. Papers such as the New York Commercial-Advertizer, Tribune and Post were more than kindly and generous in their regrets; others were merely sensational. The President hastened to cable an expression of the nation's sentiments and, at Harvard University on June 25th, said: "Let me speak for all Americans when I say that we watch with the deepest concern and interest the sick-bed of the English King and that all Americans, in tendering their hearty sympathy to the people of Great Britain will now remember keenly the outburst of genuine grief with which all England last fall greeted the calamity which befell us in the death of President McKinley." Prayers were also offered up for His Majesty in the Senate and House of Representatives. Germany was largely silent in its press but outspoken and warmly sympathetic in the person of its Emperor. Austria was more than friendly and at Rome a Resolution passed unanimously through both Houses expressing earnest wishes for "the prompt recovery of the head of the State which has long been Italy's best friend." The French press was moderately sympathetic and dwelt upon King Edward's love of peace, while the leading Russian newspapers paid tribute to the same elements in his character and laid stress upon his high qualities as a man and a Sovereign.

On the Sunday following the serious stage in the King's illness the metropolis was the scene of many special services. At Marlborough House Chapel, Queen Alexandra, the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal family were present in the morning, together with a crowded gathering of members of the Court and old friends of His Majesty. Bishop Randall Davidson of Winchester preached a sermon of eloquent retrospect—a picture of the events of the past few days and weeks. Almost from his seat on a great throne their Sovereign had passed to a hushed sick-room; during a crowded week the people had passed from bouyant expectancy to crushing disappointment, from loyal admiration of a splendid occasion to personal sympathy with a stricken King. At the Chapel Royal the Bishop of London preached and drew a lesson of humility from the tragic event, while in St. Paul's Cathedral the Bishop of Stepney preached to an audience which included various Indian Chiefs and King Lewanika of Barotze. Mgr. Merry del Val, the Papal Envoy to the Coronation, addressed a gathering at the Brompton Oratory attended by Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier and Mr. Justice Girouard of Canada, Sir Nicholas O'Conor, British Ambassador at Constantinople, Lord Edmund Talbot, Lord Walter Kerr, first Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Howard Glossop and Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. The Reverend Bernard Vaughan, at the Warwick Street Roman Catholic Church, dwelt upon the great loyalty of his people to the Throne and declared that much might and should be done by Roman Catholics "to build up and consolidate an Empire where every man could breathe the air of freedom, claim his share of justice and practice his religion in peace."

Amongst the special incidents of the day were prayers for King Edward in all the principal towns of Greece as well as in the churches of Athens and prayers and sermons upon the subject in many of the churches of New York. On July 3rd Cape Town was brilliantly illuminated as an expression of pleasure at the King's recovery. Four days later the Prince and Princess of Wales visited Grey's Hospital and His Royal Highness in speaking to the institution, for which the King had done so much when Heir Apparent, referred to the occasion as the first on which he had been able to attempt an expression of the unbounded gratitude which they all felt for "the merciful recovery of my dear father, the King." He spoke of the important work undertaken by the Hospital and then proceeded: "I wish to take this first opportunity to say how His Majesty the King, the Queen, and whole of our family have been cheered and supported during a time of severe trial by the deep sympathy which has been displayed towards them from every part of the Empire. And I should like to say that we who have watched at the sick bed of the King fully realize how much, humanly speaking, is due to the eminent surgical and medical skill, as well as to the patient and highly-trained nursing which it has been His Majesty's good-fortune to enjoy".