John of Gaunt III's rule was becoming unpopular due to high taxation and his affair with Alice Perrers, political opinion closely associated the Duke of Lancaster with the failing government of the 1370s. Furthermore, while King Edward and the Prince of Wales were popular heroes due to their successes on the battlefield, John of Gaunt had not won equivalent military renown that could have bolstered his reputation. Although he fought in the Battle of Nájera (1367), for example, his later military projects proved unsuccessful. When Edward III died in 1377 and John's ten-year-old nephew succeeded as Richard II of England, John's influence strengthened.
Alice Ross-King to distinguish her from another AANS nurse called Alice King as well as simplify the spelling of her forename to the more common spelling of Alice. In November 1914 Sister Ross-King was posted overseas to serve with 1st Australian General Hospital (1st AGH) in Egypt. 1st AGH was based at Heliopolis near Cairo and after service there, Ross-King was posted to an outstation at Suez established as a clearing station for casualties from the Gallipoli Campaign. Towards the end of 1915 Ross-King returned to Australia as a nurse to wounded troops returning home. Returning to 1st AGH Sister Ross-King and