The King’s Health,

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 275, 29 November 1901, Page 1

The King’s Health,

London Oct. 12

Alarming reports respecting King Edward’s physical condition continue to circulate in court circles where there are means of obtaining accurate knowledge. That these reports have some substantial foundation is evidenced by the prohibitive rates now demanded by insurance companies on the King’s life and heavy advance in premiums against loss in connection with outlays for tho coronation. The Norwich Union Insurance Company, of which Lord Rothschild is the chairman, was the first to advance the rates. The other companies quickly followed suit,, for it is known how close the Rothschild family stands to royalty and how exhaustive are its sources of information.

The Press has had inquiries made at Ballater, the nearest village to Balmoral, where the King is staying, and learns that something like a panic prevailed at Balmoral last week because of the King’s condition. Not only was the late Queen’s physician, Sir James Eeid, summoned hurriedly from his holiday to Perthshire, but two local doctors were called to consult with Sir Francis Laking, who was in attendance. The bulletin announcing that he was troubled with lumbago is regarded as a mere blind. That it was absurd was shown three days later, when the King went shooting in the woods, the

very last place a rheumatic patient would be permitted to go. Even the shooting expedition was a feint, as it i simply consisted in his driving to a lodge in the woods, where he lunched and returned early in the afternoon. The King was closely muffled up on j this expedition I He has aged greatly, presenting now an extraordinary contrast to the Queen, whose preservation is so complete that she might pass for his daughter. Sir Felix Sornon, a throat specialist who was summoned to Copenhagen when the King was there has been at Balmoral to consult Profs. B ero-mann and Virchow, who attended Emoeror Frederick, who died of I cancer of the throat.

The surgeons are still doubtful as to whether the King’s throat affection is simply gouty. He is intensely anxious himself, and this worry is ] wearing down his constitution. in reporting the King’s reply to the welcome from his dependents at Balmoral the other day, the court newsman stated (of couro- _ King’s direction' „ H £ Majeat “ apose in a clear voice,” an observation so unusual as to cause much remark.