At 6 p.m., the first bulletin was issued. It announced that Edward was suffering from ‘a severe bronchial attack’ and had been confined to his room for the last two days. Around 8 p.m., a second bulletin, signed by Laking and Reid, as well as a third Physician-in-Ordinary, Sir Richard Douglas Powell, concluded with the ominous statement that ‘His Majesty’s condition causes some anxiety.’ The press, which until then had continued to observe its self-imposed moratorium, had no choice but to come clean. Over the next twenty-four hours, the headlines became ever more portentous as a stunned nation
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