Alex-David Baldi The Death of Queen Victoria
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anuary 22nd 1901, the last day of Queen Victoria’s life, dawned grey and windy on the Isle of Wight. The failing eighty-one year-old Queen, staying at Osborne House, had had another difficult night. Dr James Reid, her personal physician of twenty years, noted in his diary that ‘tracheal rales’ had begun, filling her lungs with fluids and making it difficult for her to breathe, so he started to administer oxygen to make her feel more comfortable. A public bulletin was issued at 8am: “The Queen this morning shows signs of diminishing strength, and Her Majesty’s condition again assumes a more serious aspect.” At 9.30am it looked like the end was near, and the Royal Family rushed to her first-floor bedroom from different parts of the house, congregating around her bed. Family members were surprised to see that the Queen had been moved from her regular large bed to a smaller temporary bed to make it easier to nurse her. As they congregated, Randall Davidson, the Bishop of Winchester and later Archbishop of Canterbury, began to say prayers in a corner of the room, facing the small bed. Princesses Helena, Louise and Beatrice, the Queen’s three youngest daughters, began to tell their mother who was in the room, and people responded in turn by calling out their names to let the Queen know where they were since Victoria’s eyesight had failed like the rest of her body. Not everyone was identified, however. They did not tell her that Kaiser Wilhelm II, her oldest grandson, was there. When Dr Reid asked the Prince of Wales in a whisper if it would not be proper to let the Queen know her grandson was present, he answered “No, it would alex-david baldi
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