Read "His most Gracious Majesty King Edward VII" by Marie Belloc Lowndes online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
During the winter of 1890 various rumours had been rife as to a _cause célèbre_ in which King Edward was to be called as a witness. These reports proved to have had substantial foundation in the following spring, when Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a cavalry officer of good family, who had distinguished himself in the Egyptian campaign, and was understood to enjoy the personal friendship of the King, brought an action for slander against five defendants -- Mrs. Arthur Wilson, Mrs. A. S. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Lycett Green, and Mr. Berkeley Levett -- who had accused him of cheating at baccarat at Tranby Croft, the Wilsons' place near Hull.
The trial opened early in June before Lord Chief-Justice Coleridge, and the King was accommodated with a seat on the bench. The Court throughout wore the air of a theatre rather than of a Court of Justice, the bench and both the galleries being filled with ladies, who used their opera-glasses with freedom to discover the notable personages in Court, and to watch Sir William Gordon-Cumming under examination. The great counsel of the day were engaged. Sir Edward Clarke (Solicitor-General), with Mr. C. F. Gill as his junior, conducted the case for Sir William Gordon-Cumming; and Sir Charles Russell (afterwards Lord Chief-Justice), with Mr. Asquith, appeared for the defendants, the Attorney-General having withdrawn from the case.