The coronation of Edward VII and his wife Alexandra as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and as emperor and empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on 9 August 1902. Originally scheduled for 26 June of that year, the ceremony had been postponed at very short notice, because the king had been taken ill with an abdominal abscess that required immediate surgery. In contrast to the previous coronation some 64 years previously, Edward's had been carefully planned as a spectacle reflecting the influence and culture of the British Empire, then at the height of its power, but also as a meaningful religious occasion.