Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet

Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet (23 October 1849 – 28 June 1923) was a British doctor who served as physician-in-ordinary to three British monarchs: Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V.

At the age of 31, Reid was given medical charge of the Royal Household at Balmoral. Queen Victoria became increasingly dependent upon Reid as she grew older, and he accompanied her everywhere. He also attended to members of the royal family, and delivered several of Victoria's grandchildren.

Early life and education James Reid was born in Ellon in the north of Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 23 October 1849, the eldest son of James Reid and his wife Beatrice Peter. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School before gaining admission to the University of Aberdeen, where he was a gold medallist. After two years of practising medicine in London, he travelled to Vienna, then a seat for elite medical training, where for two years he attended various medical courses covering gynaecology, diseases of the ear, nose and throat, skin disease, eye disease and syphilis, in addition to learning German. In 1877, he returned to Scotland and joined his father's practice in Ellon, where he worked for the next three years. In 1894, along with others, he protested against the role of Karim in Queen Victoria's life. On the question of Karim's background, Reid noted in his diary that John W. Tyler, superintendent at the central jail in Agra, had informed him that he "had constantly seen the Munshi's wife and female relations in India, as they were never shut up there from public gaze, belonging as they do to quite a low class; and that the idea of their being in purdah was never dreamt of until they came to England as ladies". In later years, Reid would become the main communicator between the Royal Household and the queen in matters relating to the Munshi.

He attended to the queen at Osborne House, the royal residence on the Isle of Wight, during her final ten days . As the queen's condition deteriorated, her daughters Helena, Louise and Beatrice were in attendance, later joined by their brother Bertie, the Prince of Wales. Reid helped them to accept and come to terms with the impending death of their mother. Reid was given strict instructions as to burying the queen, including grave goods that had belonged to John Brown.

Reid then became physician-in-ordinary to Edward VII throughout the whole of that king's reign, and then finally to George V.

In March 1909 Edward VII fell ill. He suffered from chronic bronchitis, the result of smoking around twenty cigarettes and several cigars each day. Reid recommended a dose of radium and told Kaiser Wilhelm II, the king's nephew, that the king "was rapidly sinking." On 6 March 1910, the king was treated for "acute cardiac distress" (heart disease). Reid diagnosed an acute exacerbation of the chronic bronchitis, but he decided to hide the potential seriousness of this from the royal family and by 25 March, gave him a clean bill of health although the king was permanently wheezing, asthmatic, and could not walk upstairs. The king went on holiday to France but returned on 27 April. By 5 May, the king was turning blue, and Reid issued a bulletin saying that the king's condition was "causing some anxiety", and a few hours later announced that it was causing "grave anxiety." The king died soon afterwards, just before midnight.

Later life

Reid became consulting physician to the King Edward VII Sanatorium at Midhurst.

Personal and family Reid married, in 1899, the Honourable Susan Baring (9 October 1870 – 8 February 1961), daughter of Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke. She had been maid of honour to Queen Victoria in 1898–1899. They had two daughters and two sons: He then became Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1895, a baronet in 1897, and in 1901 was made Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO)

He received the Prussian Order of the Crown (2nd Class), given during the visit of Emperor Wilhelm II to the United Kingdom at the time of the death and funeral of Queen Victoria in January–February 1901.

Among other awards were honorary doctorates MD from the Royal University of Ireland in April 1900, when he was in Dublin during the visit of Queen Victoria to Ireland; and LL.D from the University of Glasgow, awarded to Reid in June 1901 during the university's 450th jubilee celebrations.

Death and legacy

Still in post, Reid died in London on 29 June 1923, five weeks after an acute attack of phlebitis, at the age of 73. Lord Stamfordham wrote in The Times: "Among the remarkable men of the later Victorian group, Sir James Reid stood somehow or other by himself. The niche which he created and filled remains in the truest sense inimitable." Reid was buried at the Cemetery in his hometown, Ellon. In the 2017 film Victoria & Abdul, based on Basu's book, Reid was portrayed by actor Paul Higgins.