London UK: King Edward VII HOSPITAL Sister Agnes.

LONDON, UK: KING EDWARD VII Hospital "Sister" AGNES

Agnes Keyser

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Agnes Keyser Royal Red Cross (1852–11 May 1941) was the wealthy daughter of a Stock Exchange member, a humanitarian, courtesan and longtime mistress to Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Of all of Edward VII's mistresses, with the exception of socialite Jennie Jerome,(mother of Sir Winston Churchill), Keyser was the best accepted within royal circles, to include having the acceptance of Edward VII's wife, Alexandra of Denmark.She remained with Edward VII until his death in 1910.
Keyser, as recorded by author Raymond Lamont-Brown in his book Edward VII's Last Loves: Alice Keppel and Agnes Keyser, held an emotional bond with Edward VII that others did not, due to her being unmarried herself, and preferring a more private affair to that of a public one.
Keyser was born Elizabeth Agnes Keyser in July 1852 at Great Stanmore in Middlesex, the daughter of Charles and Margaret Keyser, her father was a partner in a stock exchange firm Ricardo and Keyser.^[1] She died at Buckland House, Farringdon, Berkshire on 11 May 1941 aged 89.^[1]

King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers

At the suggestion of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) Agnes along with her sister Fanny used their house at 17 Grosvenor Crescent to help sick and wounded British Army officers who had returned from the Boer War.^[2] During the First World War the hospital used 9 Grosvenor Gardens to nurse British officers amongst them the novelist Stuart Cloete.^[3] The hospital became the King Edward VII's Hospital for Officers and later the King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes.<sup>[4]

(Miss Keyser asked the King what to call herself as she was not a nurse.: "SISTER"Agnes.was the reply.</sup>