Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, died on Friday 6 May 1910 at the age of 68. His state funeral occurred two weeks later, on 20 May 1910. He was succeeded by his only living son, George V.
The funeral was the largest gathering of European royalty ever to take place, and the last before many royal families were deposed in the First World War and its aftermath.
Death
On 27 April 1910 King Edward VII returned to Buckingham Palace from France, suffering from severe bronchitis. Queen Alexandra returned from visiting her brother, King George I of Greece, in Corfu a week later on 5 May.
On 6 May, Edward suffered several heart attacks, but refused to go to bed, saying, "No, I shall not give in; I shall go on; I shall work to the end."Bentley-Cranch, p. 151 Between moments of faintness, his son the Prince of Wales (shortly to be King George V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won at Kempton Park that afternoon. The King replied, "Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad"; they were his final words.Matthew, H. C. G. (September 2004; online edition May 2006) "Edward VII (1841–1910)" , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, , retrieved 24 June 2009 At 11:30 p.m. he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later.
Alexandra refused to allow Edward's body to be moved for eight days afterwards, though she allowed small groups of visitors to enter his room.Ridley, p. 558
Lying-in-state
On 11 May, the King was dressed in his uniform and placed in a massive oak coffin, which was moved on 14 May to the throne room, where it was sealed and lay in state. Following that private lying in state, on 17 May the coffin was taken in procession to Westminster Hall, where there was a public lying in state. This was the first to be held in the hall for a member of the royal family and was inspired by the lying in state of William Gladstone there in 1898. A short service was held at the arrival of the coffin, with the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal singing the hymn "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" at the request of Queen Mary, although it was noted that their voices were drowned by the accompanying military band.
On the first day, thousands of members of the public queued patiently in the rain to pay their respects; some 25,000 people were turned away when the gates were closed at 10 pm. On 19 May, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, wanted to have the hall closed while he laid a wreath; however, the police advised that there might be disorder if that happened, so the emperor was taken in through another entrance while the public continued to file past. An estimated half a million people visited the hall during the three days that it was open.
It was expected that theatres and the like would close, but King George issued a notice "to the effect that he wished things to go on as usual except on the actual day of the funeral, in view of the loss that would be inflicted on many persons ill able to bear it".
State funeral
The funeral was held two weeks after the King's death on 20 May. Huge crowds, estimated at between three and five million, gathered to watch the procession, the route of which was lined by 35,000 soldiers. It passed from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, where a small ceremony was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, before a small group of official mourners – the late King's widow Queen Alexandra, his son King George V, his daughter Princess Victoria, his brother the Duke of Connaught, and his nephew the German Emperor. The remainder of the funeral party waited outside the Hall, consisting of thousands of people. Big Ben, the bell in the nearby clock tower, was rung 68 times, one for each year of Edward VII's life. This was the first time it was used in this way at a monarch's funeral.
The whole procession then proceeded from Westminster Hall, via Whitehall and the Mall, from Hyde Park Corner up to the Marble Arch, and thence to Paddington Station. Including other participants, 70 states were represented. The funeral procession saw a horseback procession, followed by 11 carriages. Caesar, the late King's dog led the funeral procession with a highlander walking behind the carriage that carried the King's coffin. From Paddington Station, a funeral train conveyed the mourners to Windsor. The mourners used the Royal Train, which together with the funeral car built for Queen Victoria, was hauled by the GWR 4000 Class locomotive King Edward. From the station, the procession then continued on to Windsor Castle, and a full funeral ceremony was held in St George's Chapel.
The funeral service followed the format used for Queen Victoria, except that it included the interment within the chapel, whereas Victoria had been interred at Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore. The liturgy was closely based on the Order for The Burial of the Dead from the Book of Common Prayer. Queen Alexandra had specifically requested an anthem by Sir Arthur Sullivan, Brother, thou art gone before us, however Archbishop Davidson and other senior clerics thought that the piece lacked sufficient gravitas and Alexandra was persuaded to accept instead His Body Is Buried In Peace, the chorus from George Frideric Handel's Funeral Anthem For Queen Caroline. Alexandra also requested two hymns that were sung by the congregation, My God, my Father, while I stray and Now the labourer's task is o'er; this was an innovation at royal state funerals.Range 2016, p. 281
The funeral directors to the Royal Household appointed to assist during this occasion were the family business of William Banting of St James's Street, London. The Banting family also conducted the funerals of King George III in 1820, King George IV in 1830, the Duke of Gloucester in 1834, the Duke of Wellington in 1852, Prince Albert in 1861, Prince Leopold in 1884, and Queen Victoria in 1901. The royal undertaking warrant for the Banting family ended in 1928 with the retirement of William Westport Banting.Todd Van Beck, "The Death and State Funeral of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill", part II, in Canadian Funeral News (October 2012), Vol. 40 Issue 10, p. 10 (online )
Burial
Edward's body was temporarily interred in the Royal Vault at Windsor under the Albert Memorial Chapel. On the instructions of Queen Alexandra in 1919, a monument in the South Aisle was designed and executed by Bertram Mackennal, featuring tomb effigies of the King and Queen in white marble mounted on a black and green marble sarcophagus, where both bodies were interred on 22 April 1927, their caskets having been placed in front of the altar in the Albert Memorial Chapel after Alexandra's death in November 1925. The monument includes a depiction of Edward's favourite dog, Caesar, lying at his feet.
Guests The guest list was reported in The London Gazette.
British royal family Queen Alexandra, the late King's widow The King and Queen, the late King's son and daughter-in-law The Duke of Cornwall, the late King's grandson The Prince Albert, the late King's grandson The Princess Mary, the late King's granddaughter The Prince Henry, the late King's grandson The Princess Royal and the Duke of Fife, the late King's daughter and son-in-law Princess Alexandra, the late King's granddaughter Princess Maud, the late King's granddaughter The Princess Victoria, the late King's daughter The Queen and King of Norway, the late King's daughter and son-in-law (also nephew) Princess and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, the late King's sister and brother-in-law Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, the late King's nephew Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, the late King's niece Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, the late King's niece The Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and the Duke of Argyll, the late King's sister and brother-in-law The Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn, the late King's brother and sister-in-law Prince Arthur of Connaught, the late King's nephew Princess Patricia of Connaught, the late King's niece The Duchess of Albany, the late King's sister-in-law The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Duke and Duchess of Albany), the late King's nephew and niece-in-law (also half-first cousin twice removed) Princess Henry of Battenberg, the late King's sister Prince Alexander of Battenberg, the late King's nephew Prince Maurice of Battenberg, the late King's nephew Princess and Prince Louis of Battenberg, the late King's niece and nephew-in-law Princess Louise of Battenberg, the late King's great-niece Prince George of Battenberg, the late King's great-nephew Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, widow of the late King's half-first cousin Countess Feodora Gleichen, the late King's half-first cousin once removed Count Edward Gleichen, the late King's half-first cousin once removed The Duke and Duchess of Teck, the late King's second cousin and his wife Prince Francis of Teck, the late King's second cousin Prince Alexander of Teck, the late King's second cousin (also nephew-in-law)
Foreign royalty
The German Emperor, the late King's nephew Prince Henry of Prussia, the late King's nephew The Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, the late King's nephew The King of Spain, the late King's nephew-in-law The Crown Prince of Romania, the late King's nephew-in-law (representing the King of the Romanians) The King of Denmark, the late King's brother-in-law The Duke of Västergötland, the late King's nephew-in-law (representing the King of Sweden) The King of the Hellenes, the late King's brother-in-law The Duke of Sparta, the late King's nephew Prince and Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, the late King's nephew and great-niece Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, the late King's nephew Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, the late King's sister-in-law Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, the late King's nephew (representing the Russian Emperor) The Hereditary Prince of Hanover, the late King's nephew Prince Maximilian of Baden, the late King's nephew-in-law (representing the Grand Duke of Baden) The Tsar of the Bulgarians, the late King's second cousin The King of the Belgians, the late King's second cousin The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the late King's second cousin The Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the late King's second cousin once removed The Crown Prince of Montenegro, husband of the late King's second cousin once removed (representing the Prince of Montenegro) Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the late King's second cousin Prince Leopold Clement of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the late King's second cousin once removed The Count of Eu, the late King's second cousin The Prince Imperial of Brazil, the late King's second cousin once removed The Duke of Alençon, the late King's second cousin The Duke of Vendôme, the late King's second cousin once removed The Duke of Penthièvre Prince Johann Georg of Saxony, the late King's second cousin once removed (representing the King of Saxony) Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, the late King's second cousin once removed (representing the King of Württemberg) The King of Portugal, the late King's second cousin twice removed The Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, brother of the late King's sister-in-law Prince Wolrad of Waldeck and Pyrmont, half-brother of the late King's sister-in-law Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (representing the Emperor of Austria) The Crown Prince of the Ottoman Empire (representing the Ottoman Sultan) The Duke of Aosta (representing the King of Italy) Prince Fushimi Sadanaru (representing the Emperor of Japan) Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (representing the Prince Regent of Bavaria) The Crown Prince of Serbia (representing the King of Serbia)