In fact, behind the scenes, the Palace and the press had entered into a gentlemen’s agreement. Fritz Ponsonby recalled that the editor of the Daily Mail had decided that it would ‘not be right’35 to frighten his readers with the full details of the King’s illness until such a time when suppression became unfeasible. The other papers followed his lead. Ponsonby continued to feed what he believed to be unvarnished updates to the Mail, but when he arrived in Biarritz in early April to relieve Sir Arthur Davidson, he was astonished to discover just how grave the situation on the ground had been.
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