King Edward VII

Albert Edward was born on 9th November 1841, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coberg and Gotha. His parents were keen to see that Edward had an education that would prepare him to be the very epitomy of a constitutional monarch. However, despite being given a rigorous educational programme, he did not excel in his studies.

Edward was well travelled - he went to Rome in 1859, Canada and America in 1860, Germany in 1861, and after his father’s death in 1861, the Middle East, …, the list goes on and on!

A natural consequence of having the longest reigning monarch as a mother, meant Edward, as heir presumptive, had to wait a long, long time before becoming king.

On the death of Queen Victoria on 22nd January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India, and King of the British Dominions. He chose the regnal name Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward. However, the number VII was often omitted in Scotland, on the grounds that all previous Edwards were English kings who had ‘been excluded from Scotland by battle’. A similar situation exists today regarding Queen Elizabeth II, as Queen Elizabeth I was never Queen of Scotland.

The image chosen to illustrate the King is the ‘Tyrian plum’ of 1910. The stamp printers, De La Rue, had already printed 100,000 sheets (24 million stamps) of this new stamp, but all had to be destroyed due to the death of the King on 6th May 1910. Fortunately a few survived into private hands!