A man stands in apparent certitude. With one hand on the hips, he exudes and air of pompousness. In his other hand, he holds a scroll. His face looks skyward and his long flowing beard makes a resplendent statement in white marble. The man is late Edward VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland and the Emperor of India from 1901 to 1910.
His statue, which was unveiled by Frederic John Napier Baron Chelmsford, Viceroy and Governor General of India, in Cubbon Park on November 28, 1919, stands less than a kilometre from Queen Victoria’s (his mother) edifice in marble.
Edward VII was born in 1841. He was named after his father and maternal grandfather, Albert Edward. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Edward VII took over the powerful reins as the King of Great Britain and Ireland and the Emperor of India. Interestingly, he chose to reign under the name Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward, his birth name because he didn’t want to undermine the name and status of his father.
He fostered good relations with Britain’s arch rivals, France, and thus earned the popular title, ‘The Peacemaker.’ But four years after his death, humanity was consumed by World War I and this was the end of the road for peace in Britain.