Physician to the King explained

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.

In 1973, the position of Head of the Medical Household was created. The occupant of that position is also a Physician to the King.

Postholders

Royal households before 1901

• Balthasar Guersye (died 1557), Physician to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon^[1]
• Matthias de Lobel, Physician to King James I^[2]
• Martin Schöner (died 1611), Physician to Anne of Denmark.^[3]
• Sir Richard Croft, Physician to King George III, King George IV and Princess Charlotte Augusta.
• Sir Andrew Halliday, Physician to King William IV^[4] and to Queen Victoria^[5]
• Dr Cornwallis Hewett, Physician Extraordinary to William IV^[6]
• Dr John Forrest (1804-1865), Honorary Physician to Queen Victoria^[7]
• Sir William Henry Broadbent, Bt., KCVO, MD, Physician Extraordinary to Queen Victoria (1896–1901)^[8]
• Sir Henry Thompson, 1st Baronet, FRCS (1820–1904), Physician to Queen Victoria^[9]
• Sir Thomas Grainger Stewart, FRSE, FRCPE (1837–1900), Physician-in-Ordinary to the Queen in Scotland from 1882^[10]
• George Steward Beatson (–1874) Honorary Physician to the Queen
• Sir Alexander Nisbet (d. 1874), Honorary Physician to the Queen
• John Davidson, appointed Honorary Physician to the Queen in 1874^[11]

Royal Household of King Edward VII

Physician-in-Ordinary to His Majesty

• Sir William Henry Broadbent, Bt., KCVO, MD 29 March 1901 – 1907
• Sir James Reid, Bt., GCVO, KCB, MD 29 March 1901 – 6 May 1910
• Sir Francis Laking, Bt., GCVO, KCB, MD 29 March 1901 – 6 May 1910

Physicians Extraordinary to His Majesty

• Surgeon-General Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bt., KCSI, MD 29 March 1901–?
• Sir Richard Douglas Powell, Bt., KCVO, MD 29 March 1901–?
• Sir Edward Henry Sieveking, MD 29 March 1901 – 1904
• Sir Felix Semon, MD 29 March 1901–?
• John Lowe, MD 29 March 1901 – 1904

Honorary Physicians-in-Ordinary to His Majesty in Scotland

• Sir William Tennant Gairdner, KCB, MD 29 March 1901–?
• George William Balfour, MD 29 March 1901 – 1903

Honorary Physicians-in-Ordinary to His Majesty in Ireland

• Sir John Thomas Banks, KCB, MD 29 March 1901–?
• William Moore, MD 29 March 1901–?

Royal Households 1910–1973

• Bertrand Edward Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of Penn, GCVO KCB KCMG PC FRCP (1864–1945), Physician to King George V, King Edward VIII and King George VI.
• Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill, GCVO CMG FRCP (1876–1957), Extra Physician to King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
• Thomas Horder, 1st Baron Horder, GCVO (1871–1955), Extra Physician to King Edward VII, King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
• Sir John Weir GCVO & Chain CMG MD (1879–1971), Physician to King George V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
• Sir Arnold Stott KBE FRCP (1885–1958), Extra Physician to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.
• Sir Edward Mellanby (1884-1955), Honorary Physician to King George VI
• Andrew Best Semple (1963–1965), Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II^[12]
• Air Marshal Sir Sidney Richard Carlyle Nelson (1961-1967), Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II.^[13]
• Air Vice-Marshal Frederick Charles Hurrell CB, OBE, Honorary Physician to Queen Elizabeth II.^[14]
• Professor Kenneth Gordon Lowe CVO FRCP MD, Queen's Physician in Scotland.^[15]

Royal Household post-1973

• see Heads of the Medical Household.

See also

• Physician to the President

Notes and References

1. Web site: GUERSIE, Balthasar British History Online. 2022-02-07. www.british-history.ac.uk.
2. Book: Schaap, E.B. . Bloemen op tegels in de Gouden Eeuw: van prent tot tegel . Becht . 1994 . 978-90-230-0858-3 . nl . 1 May 2019 . 21.
3. Raymond Lamont Brown, Royal Poxes and Potions: The Lives of Court Physicians, Surgeons and Apothecaries (Sutton, 2001), p. 76.
4. Cook . GC . Aug 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 . 125–6 . Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd . London . 0967-7720 . 15257343. 10.1177/096777200401200302 . 29214979 . free .
5. Web site: Cable Car Inventor – Andrew Hallidie – 1873 . Edgar Myron . Kahn . June 1940 . California Historical Society Quarterly . San Francisco . 8 May 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110517175611/http://www.sfmuseum.net/bio/hallidie.html . 17 May 2011 .
6. Book: Rolleston . Humphry, Sir . The Cambridge Medical School: A Biographical History . 1932 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 205–07 . 7 August 2022.
7. Edinburgh Gazette (6937). Edinburgh: The Stationery Office. p. 1143. Edinburgh Gazette. Retrieved 23 August 2023
8. Web site: Munks Roll Details for William Henry (Sir) Broadbent . Royal College of Physicians. 28 September 2016.
9. Book: Imber, J.B. . Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine . Princeton University Press . 2008 . 978-0-691-13574-8 . 1 May 2019 . 172.
10. Book: Coyer, M. . Literature and Medicine in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Press: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1817–1869 . Edinburgh University Press . Edinburgh Critical Studies in Romanticism . 2016 . 978-1-4744-0562-1 . 1 May 2019 . 246.
11. News: Naval Medical Appointments . 17 May 2020 . British Medical Journal . 25 July 1874.
12. News: Andrew Semple obituary. 18 December 2013. The Guardian. 18 December 2013.
13. https://www.blatherwick.net/documents/British%20Orders%20to%20Canadians/03%20-%20CB%20Order%20of%20the%20Bath.pdf CB Order of the Bath
14. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3205032/Air-Vice-Marshal-Freddie-Hurrell.html Obituary for Air Vice-Marshal Freddie Hurrell –
15. News: Obituary: Professor Kenneth Lowe . 22 August 2010 . The Scotsman . 28 October 2019 .