On This Day In History . 9 August 1902 . King Edward VII & Alexandra of Denmark were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. . . ◼ When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India &, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions. He chose to reign under the name Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward the name his mother had intended for him to use declaring that he did not wish to "undervalue the name of Albert" & diminish the status of his father with whom the "name should stand alone" . ◼ Edward's coronation had originally been scheduled for 26 June, but two days before on 24 June, he was diagnosed with appendicitis. Appendicitis was generally not treated operatively & carried a high mortality rate, but developments in anaesthesia & antisepsis in the preceding 50 years made life-saving surgery possible. Sir Frederick Treves (famous for caring for John Merrick, 'The Elephant man'), with the support of Lord Lister, performed a then-radical operation of draining a pint of pus from the infected abscess through a small incision (through 4½ inch thickness of belly fat & abdomen wall); this outcome showed thankfully that the cause was not cancer. . ◼ The next day, Edward was sitting up in bed, smoking a cigar. Two weeks later, it was announced that the King was out of danger. Treves was honoured with a baronetcy (which Edward had arranged before the operation) & appendix surgery entered the medical mainstream. . ◼ Edward & Alexandra were crowned together at Westminster Abbey on 9 August 1902, Edward by the 80-year-old Archbishop of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, who died only four months later. Alexandra by the Archbishop of York, William Dalrymple Maclagan. . . . #Onthisdayinhistory #thisdayinhistory #Theyear1902 #Coronation #EdwardVII #KingEdwardVII #VintagePhoto #VintagePhotography #Heritage #Britain #UK #WestminsterAbbey #Westminster #Royalhistory #Royalcollection #Historic #onthisday #Kingandqueen #Instahistory #HouseofSaxeCoburgandGotha #AlexandraofDenmark #QueenAlexandra #History #BritishMonarchy #d9aug . Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018 (at Westminster Abbey) https://www.instagram.com/p/B08wSJxgNuW/?igshid=18hn8r2dd26eq
