 He had for several years been a Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, and from March 1900 was appointed the Serjeant Surgeon to the Queen, thus becoming the senior surgeon in the Medical Household of the Royal Household of the sovereign.After her death the following year, he was re-appointed as such to her successor, King Edward VII.On 24 August 1902, the King came down with appendicitis two days before his scheduled coronation.