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Grandpapa acceded to the throne of England on 22 January 1901. ‘He desires me to say,’ his Private Secretary wrote that evening to the Duke of Devonshire, ‘that he would propose to call himself Edward 7th.’ One critic said he should propose to call himself Edward the Caresser. Lord Randolph Churchill’s son, Winston, wrote to his mother about the impending coronation:
I am curious to know about the King. Will it entirely revolutionise his way of life? Will he sell his horses and scatter his Jews or will Reuben Sassoon be enshrined among the crown jewels and other regalia? Will he become desperately serious? Will he continue to be friendly to you? Will the Keppel be appointed 1st Lady of the Bedchamber? Write to tell me all about this …
The coronation on 9 August 1902 in Westminster Abbey was six weeks late. Originally planned for 26 June, a rehearsal was held on 27 May. Streets from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey were festooned with flowers and lights. The London Gazette gave details of routes, regulations, names of guests. Bertie prepared for the reception of foreign monarchs and heads of state. But the show was postponed. He developed acute appendicitis. Surgery was hazardous, there were fears for his life. The previous May he had written to Mrs Keppel and, in a circumspect but unequivocal way, declared his commitment to her:
May 1901
Marlborough House
My dear Mrs George
Should I be taken very seriously ill, I hope you will come and cheer me up, but should there be no chance of my recovery you will I hope still come and see me so that I may say farewell & thank you for all your kindness and friendship since it has been my good fortune to know you.
I feel convinced that all those who have any affection for me will carry out the wishes which I have expressed in these lines.
Believe me
Yours most sincerely
Edward R
Public comment on his sexual affairs and scrutiny by the law had made him chary. But the letter gave evidence of Mrs Keppel’s elevated status. It was an implicit instruction. Nine years later when Bertie was dying she sent this letter to Queen Alexandra. It contained too, perhaps, a signal of obligation that his financial adviser, Ernest Cassel, would have understood.
On 23 June 1902 Bertie had his infected appendix removed. As he came round from a chloroform haze his first words were ‘Where’s George?’ His surgeons supposed him to be asking for his son.
On 9 August at eleven in the morning a slimmer Prince of Wales left Buckingham Palace in a gilded coach. The ceremony lasted three hours, the congregation filled Westminster Abbey. There were sacramental vessels of gold and precious stones, magnificent robes, choirs singing hosannas. The Duke of Marlborough carried the crown on a velvet cushion, the Duchess, in velvet, ermine and a tiara, was canopy bearer to the Queen. At the altar Bertie took the Coronation Oath. He promised, with his hand on the Great Bible, to govern the peoples of Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon. He swore to defend the Church of England, to maintain the laws of God and uphold the Gospel. He accepted the Sword of State, the homage of bishops, dukes and peers. He left the Abbey with the crown of supreme office on his head, the orb symbolizing the domination of the world by Christ in his left hand and the sceptre, symbolizing supreme authority in his right.
Mrs Lionel Sackville-West was there with her daughter, Vita. She wore the Knole tiara made from Marie Antoinette’s diamonds. Mrs Keppel, Sarah Bernhardt, and ‘a number of other decorative ladies whose only claim to an invitation was His Majesty’s esteem’ watched the ceremony from a special box in the Abbey. Some wit called it the King’s Loose Box.
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As sole mistress to the crowned King, Alice needed money. She was unofficial Queen but not on a payroll or accorded public acknowledgement of the cost of her responsibilities. The King was a stickler for attention to details of dress, etiquette, ceremony and protocol. His standards, in consumer terms, were high. Wine on the royal yacht was drunk from golden cups. Such rituals required commensurate sartorial style. He was known to chide a man for not wearing a silk top hat at the races or for pinning on his medals upside down. To the Duchess of Marlborough, wearing a diamond crescent in her hair at a dinner in his honour, he said, ‘The Queen has taken the trouble to wear a tiara. Why have you not done so?’
George could not meet Alice’s needs. Once Sonia heard him say he was ‘facing a financial crisis’. With Bertie’s intervention he was found employment that paid a salary, got him out of the house at teatime and took him on business trips overseas. He was to work for Bertie’s yachting friend Sir Thomas Lipton, ‘the grocer millionaire’, who owned vast tea plantations in Ceylon. He was given a job in Lipton’s Buyers’ Association selling groceries, bedding, tobacco, cartridges, coal, motor cars. His office was at 70 Wigmore Street. On 8 April 1901 Lady Curzon wrote to her husband of
the complete supremacy of Mrs George Keppel over ‘Kinje’ [Edward VII] & Sir Thomas Lipton just presented with a high class Victorian Order because he has made George Keppel his American messenger & sent him out to the States.
These were changing times. Trade, regarded as vulgar by aristocrats for whom riches were a birthright, had the virtue of yielding money. George’s eldest brother Arnold, Lord Albemarle, accepted cash in exchange for letting his name appear on the letterhead of a company that promoted tyres, bicycles and cars. For George, serving the king required personal adjustments as a letter from him in 1902 to Bertie’s friend the Marquis de Soveral shows:
Dear Soveral
My wife tells me you contemplate buying a small motor car for use in London. May we offer our services in the matter…?
The offer, a ‘great
