Physician to the King

Last updated January 12, 2025

Physician to the King (or Queen, as appropriate) is a title (as postnominals, KHP, QHP) held by physicians of the Medical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Part of the Royal Household, the Medical Household includes physicians, who treat general conditions, and extra physicians, specialists who are brought in as required.

Postholders

Royal households before 1901

Balthasar Guersye (died 1557), Physician to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon ^[1]
Matthias de Lobel (1538–1616), Physician to James I ^[2]
Martin Schöner (died 1611), Physician to Anne of Denmark.^[3]
Martin Lluelyn (1616–1682), Physician Extraordinary to Charles II 1660.^[4]^[5]
Sir Richard Croft (1762–1818), Physician to George III, George IV and Princess Charlotte Augusta.
Sir Andrew Halliday (1782–1839), Physician to William IV ^[6] and to Queen Victoria ^[7]
Dr Cornwallis Hewett (1787–1841), Physician Extraordinary to William IV^[8]
Sir James Paget, 1st Baronet (1814–1899), Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria (1858)^[9]
Dr John Forrest (1804–1865), Honorary Physician to Queen Victoria (1859)^[10]
Sir William Broadbent, 1st Baronet (1835–1907) Physician Extraordinary to Queen Victoria (1896–1901)^[11]
Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet (1820–1904), Physician to Queen Victoria^[12]
Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart (1837–1900), Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen in Scotland from 1882^[13]
George Steward Beatson 1814–1874), Honorary Physician to the Queen
Sir Alexander Nisbet (1796–1874), Honorary Physician to the Queen^[14]
John Davidson (died 1881), appointed Honorary Physician to the Queen in 1874^[14]

Royal Household of King Edward VII

Physician-in-Ordinary to His Majesty

Sir William Broadbent, 1st Baronet 29 March 1901 – 1907^[15]
Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet 29 March 1901 – 6 May 1910^[15]
Sir Francis Laking, 2nd Baronet 29 March 1901 – 6 May 1910^[15]

Physicians Extraordinary to His Majesty

Sir Joseph Fayrer, 1st Baronet 29 March 1901–?^[15]
Sir Richard Powell, 1st Baronet 29 March 1901–?^[15]
Sir Edward Henry Sieveking 29 March 1901 – 1904^[15]
Sir Felix Semon 29 March 1901–?^[15]
John Lowe 29 March 1901 – 1904^[15]

Honorary Physicians-in-Ordinary to His Majesty in Scotland

Sir William Tennant Gairdner 29 March 1901–?^[15]
George William Balfour 29 March 1901 – 1903^[15]

Honorary Physicians-in-Ordinary to His Majesty in Ireland

Sir John Thomas Banks 29 March 1901–?^[15]
William Moore 29 March 1901–?^[15]

Royal Households 1910–1973

Bertrand Edward Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn (1864–1945), Physician to George V, Edward VIII and George VI.
Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill (1876–1957), Extra Physician to King George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.
Thomas Horder, 1st Baron Horder (1871–1955), Extra Physician to Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.
Sir John Weir (1879–1971), Physician to George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.
Sir Arnold Stott (1885–1958), Extra Physician to George VI and Elizabeth II.
Sir Edward Mellanby (1884–1955), Honorary Physician to George VI ^[16]
Andrew Best Semple (1963–1965), Honorary Physician to Elizabeth II^[17]
Air Marshal Sir Sidney Richard Carlyle Nelson (1961–1967), Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II.^[18]
Air Vice-Marshal Frederick Charles Hurrell Honorary Physician to Elizabeth II.^[19]
Professor Kenneth Gordon Lowe Queen's Physician in Scotland.^[20]

Royal Household post-1973

see Heads of the Medical Household.

Related Research Articles

Marquess of Anglesey is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1815 for Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge, a hero of the Battle of Waterloo, second in command to the Duke of Wellington. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Uxbridge, in the County of Middlesex, in the Peerage of Great Britain (1784), Baron Paget, de Beaudesert, in the Peerage of England (1553). He is also an Irish Baronet, of Plas Newydd in the County of Anglesey and of Mount Bagenall in the County of Louth.

Sir James Paget, 1st Baronet FRS HFRSE was an English surgeon and pathologist who is best remembered for naming Paget's disease and who is considered, together with Rudolf Virchow, as one of the founders of scientific medical pathology. His famous works included Lectures on Tumours (1851) and Lectures on Surgical Pathology (1853). There are several medical conditions which were described by, and later named after, Paget:

The Serjeant Surgeon is the senior surgeon in the Medical Household of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The origin of the post dates back to 1253. Early serjeant surgeons were military surgeons who followed their king into battle.

Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other Ancien Régime royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in England while French was still the language of the court, the title was varlet or valet de chambre. In German, Danish and Russian the term was "Kammerjunker" and in Swedish the similar "Kammarjunkare".

Sir Edward Henry Sieveking was an English physician.

Sir William Henry Broadbent, 1st Baronet was an English neurologist who was a leading British authority in the field of cardiology and neurology. He also performed research involving diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer. In 1881 he was elected President of the London Medical Society and in 1887 President of the Clinical Society of London. Broadbent was a Physician-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria and Physician-in-Ordinary to King Edward VII and the Prince of Wales.

Sir Francis Henry Laking, 1st Baronet, was an English physician who was Surgeon-Apothecary in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, and Physician-in-Ordinary to King Edward VII and King George V.

The office of Groom in Waiting was a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, which in earlier times was usually held by more than one person at a time – in the late Middle Ages there might be dozens of persons with the rank, though the Esquires and Knights of the Body were more an important and select group. Grooms-in-Waiting to other members of the Royal Family and Extra Grooms in Waiting were also sometimes appointed. For the general history of court valets or grooms see Valet de chambre.

Sir Henry Halford, 1st Baronet, GCH, born Henry Vaughan, was president of the Royal College of Physicians for 24 years. As the royal and society physician, he was physician extraordinary to King George III from 1793 to 1820, then as physician in ordinary to his three successors – George IV, William IV and the young Victoria. He also served other members of the royal family until his death.

St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar, and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter. St George's Chapel was founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century. It is located in the Lower Ward of the castle.

In the United Kingdom, state funerals are usually reserved for monarchs. The most recent was the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022.

The Diamond Jubilee Honours for the British Empire were announced on 22 June 1897 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria on 20 June 1897.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet</span> British surgeon and writer (1853–1923)

Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet, was a prominent British surgeon, and an expert in anatomy. Treves was renowned for his surgical treatment of appendicitis, and is credited with saving the life of King Edward VII in 1902. He is also widely known for his friendship with Joseph Merrick, dubbed the "Elephant Man" for his severe deformities.

Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet was a British doctor who served as physician-in-ordinary to three British monarchs: Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V.

The Clinical Society of London was founded in London in 1868 and merged in 1907 with the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London to form the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM).

Sir Richard Douglas Powell, 1st Baronet, was a British physician, Physician Royal to Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V, president of various medical societies, etc.

The 1901 New Year Honours were appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India.

The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list should be published on that day anyway.

The Queen's Birthday Honours 1886 were granted in celebration of the 24 May birthday of Queen Victoria. They were announced in the London Gazette of 28 May 1886.

The 1889 Birthday Honours were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of The Queen, and were published in the London Gazette on 24 May 1889 and in The Times on 25 May 1889.

References

↑ "GUERSIE, Balthasar | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
↑ Schaap, E.B. (1994). Bloemen op tegels in de Gouden Eeuw: van prent tot tegel (in Dutch). Becht. p. 21. ISBN 978-90-230-0858-3 . Retrieved 1 May 2019.
↑ Raymond Lamont Brown, Royal Poxes and Potions: The Lives of Court Physicians, Surgeons and Apothecaries (Sutton, 2001), p. 76.
↑ 'Llewellin, Martin', in J. Foster (ed.), Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (Oxford University Press 1891), pp. 920-21. See in British History Online.
↑ 'Martin Llewellyn, M.D.', in W. Munk, The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Vol. I: 1518-1700 (Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, London 1861), pp. 275-76 (Google).
↑ Cook, GC (August 2004). "Andrew Halliday, Kt FRCPE (1781–1839): service in the Napoleonic Wars and West Indies, and first physician to the Seamen's Hospital Society". Journal of Medical Biography. 12 (3). London: Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd: 125–6. doi: 10.1177/096777200401200302 . ISSN 0967-7720. PMID 15257343. S2CID 29214979.
↑ Kahn, Edgar Myron (June 1940). "Cable Car Inventor – Andrew Hallidie – 1873". San Francisco: California Historical Society Quarterly. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
↑ Rolleston, Humphry, Sir (1932). The Cambridge Medical School: A Biographical History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 205–07. Retrieved 7 August 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Paget, Stephen (1911). "Paget, Sir James" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 20 (11th ed.). pp. 451–342.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
↑ Edinburgh Gazette (6937). Edinburgh: The Stationery Office. p. 1143. OCLC 500343919 Edinburgh Gazette. Retrieved 23 August 2023
↑ "Munks Roll Details for William Henry (Sir) Broadbent". Royal College of Physicians. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
↑ Imber, J.B. (2008). Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine. Princeton University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-691-13574-8 . Retrieved 1 May 2019.
↑ Coyer, M. (2016). Literature and Medicine in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Press: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1817–1869. Edinburgh Critical Studies in Romanticism. Edinburgh University Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-1-4744-0562-1 . Retrieved 1 May 2019.
1 2 "Naval Medical Appointments". British Medical Journal. 25 July 1874. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "No. 27300". The London Gazette . 29 March 1901. p. 2194.
↑ "No. 34463". The London Gazette . 14 December 1937.
↑ "Andrew Semple obituary". The Guardian. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
↑ CB Order of the Bath Retrieved 29 March 2023
↑ Obituary for Air Vice-Marshal Freddie Hurrell – The Telegraph – 15 October 2008
↑ "Obituary: Professor Kenneth Lowe". The Scotsman. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2019.