John Hubert Ward monarchs. He was appointed Equerry to King Edward VII 28 February 1902, and served until the King′s death in 1910. He was then an Extra Equerry to King George V 1910-1936, to King Edward VIII in 1936, and to King George VI from 1937 until the following year, when he died. Ward's engagement to Jean Templeton Reid (1884–1962) was announced in April 1908. She was the daughter of Whitelaw Reid, American ambassador to the United Kingdom, sister of Ogden Mills Reid, a New York publisher, the granddaughter of Darius Ogden Mills, an American financier, and the niece of Ogden Mills,
George VI to buy from Edward the royal residences of Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, as these were private properties and did not pass to George VI automatically. Three days after his accession, on his 41st birthday, he invested his wife, the new queen consort, with the Order of the Garter. George VI's coronation at Westminster Abbey took place on 12 May 1937, the date previously intended for Edward's coronation. In a break with tradition, Queen Mary attended the ceremony in a show of support for her son. There was no Durbar held in Delhi for George VI, as had occurred for