Editing Edward VII (section)

==="Uncle of Europe"===
[[File:EdwardVII at Balmoral.jpg|thumb|Relaxing at [[Balmoral Castle]], photograph by Queen Alexandra]]
As King, Edward's main interests lay in the fields of foreign affairs and naval and military matters. Fluent in French and German, he reinvented royal diplomacy by numerous state visits across Europe.<ref>{{Citation |last=Glencross |first=Matthew |title=The State Visits of Edward VII: Reinventing Royal Diplomacy for the Twentieth Century |date=2015 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-54898-6}}</ref> He took annual holidays in [[Biarritz]] and [[Marienbad]].<ref name="duke" /> One of his most important foreign trips was an official visit to France in May 1903 as the guest of President [[Émile Loubet]]. Following a visit to [[Pope Leo XIII]] in Rome, this trip helped create the atmosphere for the Anglo-French [[Entente Cordiale]], an agreement delineating British and French colonies in North Africa, and ruling out any future war between the two countries. The Entente was negotiated in 1904 between the French foreign minister, [[Théophile Delcassé]], and the British foreign secretary, Lord Lansdowne. It marked the end of centuries of Anglo-French rivalry and Britain's [[splendid isolation]] from Continental affairs, and attempted to counterbalance the growing dominance of the [[German Empire]] and its ally, [[Austria-Hungary]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Nicolson |first=Harold |title=The Origins and Development of the Anglo-French Entente |date=October 1954 |work=International Affairs |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=407–416 |doi=10.2307/2608720 |jstor=2608720 |author-link=Harold Nicolson}}</ref>

Edward was related to nearly every other European monarch, and came to be known as the "uncle of Europe".<ref name="royal" /> German Emperor [[Wilhelm II]] and Emperor [[Nicholas II]] of Russia were his nephews; [[Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain]], [[Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden]], [[Crown Princess Marie of Romania]], [[Crown Princess Sophia of Greece]], and [[Empress Alexandra of Russia]] were his nieces; King [[Haakon VII]] of Norway was both his nephew and his son-in-law; kings [[Frederick VIII of Denmark]] and [[George I of Greece]] were his brothers-in-law; kings [[Albert I of Belgium]], [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]], and [[Carlos I of Portugal|Carlos I]] and [[Manuel II of Portugal]] were his second cousins. Edward doted on his grandchildren, and indulged them, to the consternation of their governesses.<ref>[[#Windsor|Windsor]], p. 15</ref> However, there was one relation whom Edward did not like: Wilhelm II. His difficult relationship with his nephew exacerbated the tensions between Germany and Britain.<ref>[[#Hattersley|Hattersley]], pp. 460–464; [[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], pp. 60–61, 172–175; [[#Ridley|Ridley]], pp. 382–384, 433</ref>

In April 1908, during Edward's annual stay at Biarritz, he accepted the resignation of British Prime Minister Sir [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman]]. In a break with precedent, Edward asked Campbell-Bannerman's successor, [[H. H. Asquith]], to travel to Biarritz to [[kiss hands]]. Asquith complied, but the press criticised the action of the King in appointing a prime minister on foreign soil instead of returning to Britain.<ref>[[#Lee|Lee]], pp. 581–582; [[#Ridley|Ridley]], pp. 417–418</ref> In June 1908, Edward became the first reigning British monarch to visit the [[Russian Empire]], despite refusing to visit in 1906, when Anglo-Russian relations were strained in the aftermath of the [[Russo-Japanese War]], the [[Dogger Bank incident]], and the Tsar's dissolution of the [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|Duma]].<ref>[[#Middlemas|Middlemas]], pp. 167, 169</ref> The previous month, he visited the Scandinavian countries, becoming the first British monarch to visit Sweden.<ref>[[#Lee|Lee]], pp. 583–584</ref>