BFI

Unlike that of his mother, Queen Victoria, the reign of Edward VII was relatively short, only nine years when he died on the 6th May 1910. Nevertheless, his time as monarch had seen a number of significant changes and developments, and he himself had pursued the cause of peace in an increasingly bellicose Europe, with a series of alliances based on personal relationships built up over a long life of relative leisure as the heir apparent under his mother.

Edward was a great favourite among the European set and the vast scale of the state funeral reflected this, as well as marking the passing of the most important head of state in the world at that time - and, in some ways, of the primacy of Britain's monarchy on the world stage.

Bryony Dixon

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