The King Who Played Poker with the Speaker
King Edward VII’s legendary skill at the card table reveals a surprising side of the British monarch during his 1905 American tour.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
WASHINGTON, May 13.—Respected by Mr. Baker in the New York smoking-room on the recent trip of the liner to Manhattan Island was the famous clerk, who is familiar with Mr. Edward VII's habits.
"Ah," he said, "he has been here almost nightly. He went into a card room where we met ourselves. Dabolk of Wisconsin, J. Joy of Missouri, H. L. Cooper of Illinois, O. S. [illegible] and U. M. Pope of New York, and whiled away a few hours at a game.
The King is a genuine art form around the table at the expense of Mr. Blaine's patience. He comes earnest and intense was he in the play that his associates have chosen him as their leader, while the demon strong, Knoll grew pale, J. L. [illegible] and even La Coupe consequent failed him. Mr. Beech was also so anxious to win that his fellow players do not wonder at it.
Among his friends in Washington one said: "I have to take his ace."
This snippet captures the 1905 royal tour of King Edward VII, a massive media event where the monarch visited Seattle and other US cities. It humanizes the head of state not through diplomacy, but through the universal language of gambling—a stark contrast to the formal, stiff image often projected by royalty today.
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