King Edward VII

The stamps from my album pictured here (catalogue values of $73, $0.35, $6, $5, $12) are part of a series of seven stamps (catalogue numbers 89-95). I am missing the 20 cent stamp that was issued in 1904 and the 50 cent stamp that was issued in 1908. 


Again, you will notice that the first stamp in this series is mounted in a black casing, meaning it is a mint stamp that has never been used. Of course this makes the stamp much more valuable, depending on the condition of the gum on the back. This stamp is MH, which means "mint hinged" since some dingbat put a hinge on the back to mount it in their album like it was a used stamp and wrecked the original gum on the stamp.


King Edward VII was crowned after Queen Victoria died in 1901 and was King until 1910. Queen Victoria has long been called the Emperor of India, but a phrase was added to Edward's official title: he was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India.  


King Edward VII had a largely uneventful reign, other than overseeing the end of the Boer War. He was King just after the time of the more well-known Prime Ministers Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone, and there appears to have been very little political tension during his reign. 


I wonder if he (or others) saw that this would be the height of the British Empire. Between the bad press of the Boer War and the building political tension that would lead to World War I, were there signs that not everything was well?