Francis Laking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Francis Henry Laking, 1st Baronet, GCVO, KCB, (January 9, 1847 Kensington - May 21, 1914 London) was an English physician who was Surgeon-Apothecary in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, and Physician in Ordinary to King Edward VII and King George V.
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[edit] Life
He was educated at Heidelberg, and afterwards studied medicine at St. George's Hospital, taking his degree of M.D. in 1869. On March 29, 1901, after the accession of King Edward VII, he was appointed one of three Physicians in Ordinary, together with Sir William Henry Broadbent, Bt, and Sir James Reid, Bt (23 October 1849 - 28 June 1923).
[edit] Family
He was the son of Francis William Laking (ca. 1797-1874), of Addison Road, Kensington, Middlesex, and Louisa Jane (née Wilkinson) (ca. 1818-1894). On January 26, 1873, he married Emma Ann Mansell (ca. 1843 - March 1, 1905). Their only son was Sir Guy Francis Laking who succeeded to the baronetcy.
[edit] Honours
He was knighted in 1893, created Baronet Laking of Kensington, Middlesex, on July 28, 1902, a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1903, and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1910.
[edit] Recent Controversy
In 2004, Norwegian biographer Tor Bomann-Larsen put forward the hypothesis that King Olav V of Norway was not the biological son of King Haakon VII, but his mother, Queen Maud, had been, in 1902 in London, artificially inseminated by Sir Francis Laking with his own or his son Guy's semen. This hypothesis, based on shaky evidence and photographic resemblance met with general disbelief and official denial.
