Ask Sir James

The physician who was counselor and friend to three monarchs is the subject of this entertaining biography. James Reid, Queen Victoria's personal physician for over 20 years, eventually became one of the most influential men in England and a channel of communication between the Queen and the government. An intimate member of the royal household, he helped extricate Victoria from many muddles and household crises, while he himself enjoyed the friendship of exiled Empress Eugenie, Kaiser Wilhelm and others in the Queen's extended family of European royalty. Drawing on Reid's diaries and other unpublished materials, the wife of his grandson here reconstructs an engaging picture of the relationship of the young Scottish doctor and the aging monarch. As he catered to Victoria's foibles and minor ailments, Reid won her trust and the favor that resulted in knighthood, although, even as a practicing physician, he never saw his royal patient undressed until she was dead. Photographs. BOMC alternate. (Jan.)