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On 6 May 1910 the rather short Edwardian era came to an end because Edward VII came to an end too. He died at Buckingham Palace, aged 68, just before midnight having not been in good health for a few years. At first his wife, Queen Alexandra, would not allow his body to be taken from his room but on May 14 it was moved, in a massive oak coffin, to the throne room in the palace. Three days later it was carried on a gun carriage to Westminster Hall and, after a short service, the hall was opened to the public. Over the next two days over 400,00 people filed past the coffin.
On May 20 a royal train took the coffin to Windsor Castle where, after another service, Edward was buried in St George's Chapel.
Over the years he had spent as Prince of Wales while his mother was Queen, Edward had become quite popular and this continued during his short reign. In London he lived at Buckingham Palace but he gave his mother's favourite home, Osborne House, to the nation. He preferred to live at Sandringham in Norfolk.
He attended the traditional ceremonies that his mother had not and was more visual to his subjects. He had done this before, having been at the opening of the Mersey Tunnel in 1886 and Tower Bridge in 1894.
He had married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863 and they had six children. The oldest and the youngest died before him and so his second son George succeeded him to become George V. Princess Alexandra died at Sandringham in 1925 aged 80.
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