Editing Edward VII (section)

==Heir apparent==
During his mother's widowhood, Edward pioneered the idea of royal public appearances as they are understood today—for example, opening the [[Thames Embankment]] in 1871, the [[Mersey Railway|Mersey Railway Tunnel]] in 1886, and [[Tower Bridge]] in 1894<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 97</ref>—but his mother did not allow him an active role in the running of the country until 1898.<ref name="royal">{{Citation |title=Edward VII |newspaper=The Royal Family |date=11 January 2016 |url=https://www.royal.uk/edward-vii-r1901-1910 |publisher=Official website of the British Monarchy |access-date=18 April 2016 |archive-date=25 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015924/https://www.royal.uk/edward-vii-r1901-1910 |url-status=live |last1=Berry |first1=Ciara}}</ref><ref>[[#Hattersley|Hattersley]], pp. 18–19</ref> He was sent summaries of important government documents, but she refused to give him access to the originals.<ref name="dnb" /> Edward annoyed his mother, who favoured the Germans, by siding with Denmark on the [[Schleswig-Holstein Question]] in 1864 and in the same year annoyed her again by making a special effort to meet [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], the Italian general and revolutionary, who was a leader in the movement for [[Italian unification]].<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], pp. 59–60</ref> [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] Prime Minister [[William Ewart Gladstone]] sent him papers secretly.<ref name="dnb" /> From 1886, [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]] [[Lord Rosebery]] sent him [[Foreign Office]] despatches, and from 1892 some [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] papers were opened to him.<ref name="dnb" />

In 1870 republican sentiment in Britain was given a boost when the French Emperor, [[Napoleon III]], was defeated in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] and the [[French Third Republic]] was declared.<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 66; [[#Ridley|Ridley]], pp. 137, 142</ref> However, in the winter of 1871, a brush with death led to an improvement in both Edward's popularity with the public and his relationship with his mother. While staying at Londesborough Lodge, near [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire]], Edward contracted [[typhoid fever]], the disease that was believed to have killed his father. There was great national concern, and one of his fellow guests ([[George Stanhope, 7th Earl of Chesterfield|Lord Chesterfield]]) died. Edward's recovery was greeted with almost universal relief.<ref name="dnb" /> Public celebrations included the composition of [[Arthur Sullivan]]'s [[Festival Te Deum]]. Edward cultivated politicians from all parties, including republicans, as his friends, and thereby largely dissipated any residual feelings against him.<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 67; [[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], pp. 48–52</ref>

[[File:Edward, Prince of Wales, with elephant, Terai cph.3b08927.jpg|thumb|upright|Edward (front left) in India, 1875–76|alt=Edward beside an elephant]]

On 26 September 1875, Edward set off for India on an extensive eight-month tour; on the way, he visited Malta, [[Brindisi]] and Greece. His advisors remarked on his habit of treating all people the same, regardless of their social station or colour. In letters home, he complained of the treatment of the native Indians by the British officials: "Because a man has a black face and a different religion from our own, there is no reason why he should be treated as a brute."<ref>Edward to [[Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville|Lord Granville]], 30 November 1875, quoted in [[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], pp. 101–102 and [[#Ridley|Ridley]], p. 179</ref> Consequently, [[Lord Salisbury]], the [[Secretary of State for India]], issued new guidance and at least one [[Resident (title)|resident]] was removed from office.<ref name="dnb" /> He returned to England on 11 May 1876, after stopping off at Portugal.<ref>{{Citation |title=Itinerary of the Imperial Tour 1875–1876 |url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/386134.html |work=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=7 April 2018 |archive-date=8 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408073540/http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/386134.html |url-status=live}}</ref> At the end of the tour, Queen Victoria was given the title [[Empress of India]] by Parliament, in part as a result of the tour's success.<ref name="bc104">[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 104</ref>

Edward was regarded worldwide as an arbiter of men's fashions.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bergner Hurlock |first=Elizabeth |title=The psychology of dress: an analysis of fashion and its motive |page=108 |date=1976 |publisher=Ayer Publishing |isbn=978-0-405-08644-1}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Mansel |first=Philip |title=Dressed to Rule |page=138 |date=2005 |place=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-10697-8 |author-link=Philip Mansel}}</ref> He made wearing [[tweed]], [[Homburg hat]]s and [[Norfolk jacket]]s fashionable, and popularised the wearing of black ties with dinner jackets, instead of [[white tie]] and tails.<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 84</ref> He pioneered the pressing of trouser legs from side to side in preference to the now normal front and back creases,<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], p. 201</ref> and was thought to have introduced the stand-up turn-down shirt collar, created for him by [[Charvet Place Vendôme#International recognition|Charvet]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Try our "98' Curzons!" A few fashion hints for men |date=3 November 1898 |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW18981103.2.164 |work=Otago Witness |quote=It was actually the Prince of Wales who introduced this shape. He got them originally about eight years ago from a manufacturer called [[Charvet Place Vendôme|Charvet]], in Paris. |access-date=5 May 2010 |archive-date=15 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120915081331/http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW18981103.2.164 |url-status=live}}</ref> A stickler for proper dress, he is said to have admonished Lord Salisbury for wearing the trousers of an Elder Brother of [[Trinity House]] with a [[privy council]]lor's coat. Deep in an international crisis, Salisbury informed Edward that it had been a dark morning, and that "my mind must have been occupied by some subject of less importance."<ref>{{Citation |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |title=Salisbury: Victorian Titan |date=2006 |place=London |publisher=Sterling Publishing Co. |author-link=Andrew Roberts (historian) |page=35}}</ref> The tradition of men not buttoning the bottom button of waistcoats is said to be linked to Edward, who supposedly left his undone because of his large girth.<ref name="dnb" /><ref>[[#Ridley|Ridley]], p. 91</ref> His waist measured 48&nbsp;inches (122&nbsp;cm) shortly before his coronation.<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], p. 200; [[#Hattersley|Hattersley]], p. 27</ref> He introduced the practice of eating roast beef and potatoes with [[horseradish]] sauce and [[Yorkshire pudding]] on Sundays, a meal that remains a staple British favourite for [[Sunday lunch]].<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 80</ref> He was a lifelong heavy smoker, but not a heavy drinker, though he did drink champagne and, occasionally, port.<ref>[[#Hattersley|Hattersley]], p. 27</ref>

Edward was a patron of the arts and sciences and helped found the [[Royal College of Music]]. He opened the college in 1883 with the words, "Class can no longer stand apart from class&nbsp;... I claim for music that it produces that union of feeling which I much desire to promote."<ref name="bc104" /> At the same time, he enjoyed gambling and country sports, and was an enthusiastic hunter. He ordered all the clocks at Sandringham to run half an hour ahead to provide more daylight time for shooting. This tradition of so-called [[Sandringham time]] continued until 1936, when it was abolished by [[Edward&nbsp;VIII]].<ref name="duke">[[#Windsor|Windsor]], p. 46</ref> He also laid out a golf course at Windsor. By the 1870s Edward had taken a keen interest in horseracing and steeplechasing. In 1896, his horse [[Persimmon (horse)|Persimmon]] won both the [[Derby Stakes]] and the [[St Leger Stakes]]. In 1900, Persimmon's brother, [[Diamond Jubilee (horse)|Diamond Jubilee]], won five races (Derby, St Leger, [[2000 Guineas Stakes]], [[Newmarket Stakes]] and [[Eclipse Stakes]])<ref>[[#Bentley-Cranch|Bentley-Cranch]], p. 110</ref> and another of Edward's horses, Ambush II, won the [[Grand National]].<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], p. 98</ref>

[[File:Royal family group.jpg|thumb|upright|Edward (right) with his mother (centre); his niece [[Empress Alexandra of Russia]] (far left); her husband, [[Tsar Nicholas II]]; and their daughter [[Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia|Olga]], 1896]]

In 1891 Edward was embroiled in the [[royal baccarat scandal]], when it was revealed he had played an illegal card game for money the previous year. He was forced to appear as a witness in court for a second time when one of the participants unsuccessfully sued his fellow players for slander after being accused of cheating.<ref>[[#Hattersley|Hattersley]], pp. 23–25; [[#Ridley|Ridley]], pp. 280–290</ref> In the same year Edward was involved in a personal conflict, when [[Lord Charles Beresford]] threatened to reveal details of Edward's private life to the press, as a protest against Edward interfering with Beresford's affair with [[Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick]]. The friendship between the two men was irreversibly damaged, and their bitterness would last for the remainder of their lives.<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], p. 86; [[#Ridley|Ridley]], pp. 265–268</ref> Usually, Edward's outbursts of temper were short-lived, and "after he had let himself go&nbsp;... [he would] smooth matters by being especially nice".<ref>Sir [[Frederick Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby]], quoted in [[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], p. 188</ref>

In late 1891, Edward's eldest son, [[Albert Victor]], was engaged to Princess Victoria [[Mary of Teck]]. Just a few weeks later, in early 1892, Albert Victor died of pneumonia. Edward was grief-stricken. "To lose our eldest son", he wrote, "is one of those calamities one can never really get over". Edward told the Queen, "[I would] have given my life for him, as I put no value on mine".<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], pp. 95–96</ref> Albert Victor was the second of Edward's children to die. In 1871, his youngest son, Alexander John, had died just 24 hours after being born. Edward had insisted on placing Alexander John in a coffin personally with "the tears rolling down his cheeks".<ref>Letter from Mrs Elise Stonor to Queen Victoria, 11 April 1871, quoted in {{Citation |last=Battiscombe |first=Georgina |title=Queen Alexandra |url=https://archive.org/details/queenalexandra0000batt |date=1969 |place=London |publisher=Constable |isbn=978-0-09-456560-9 |author-link=Georgina Battiscombe |page=112}} and [[#Ridley|Ridley]], p. 140</ref>

On his way to Denmark through Belgium on 4 April 1900, Edward was the victim of an attempted assassination when 15-year-old [[Jean-Baptiste Sipido]] shot at him in protest over the [[Second Boer War]]. The culprit was acquitted by a Belgian court because he was underage.<ref>[[#Ridley|Ridley]], pp. 339–340</ref> The perceived laxity of the Belgian authorities, combined with British disgust at [[Atrocities in the Congo Free State|Belgian atrocities]] in the [[Congo Free State|Congo]], worsened the already poor relations between the United Kingdom and the Continent. However, in the next ten years, Edward's affability and popularity, as well as his use of family connections, assisted Britain in building European alliances.<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], p. 65</ref>