Last September, THE GUARDIAN published an article about the HEAD OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL HOUSEHOLD. I did not know much about this position, so I informed myself:
The royal household has its own team of medics, who are on call 24 hours a day. They are led by Prof Sir Huw Thomas (a consultant at King Edward VII’s hospital [the private hospital in Marylebone often used by members of the royal family, including the late Prince Philip] and St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, and professor of gastrointestinal genetics at Imperial College London), head of the medical household and physician to the Queen – a title dating back to 1557. Thomas has been part of the team of royal physicians for 16 years and became the Queen’s personal physician in 2014. The role is not full-time and does not have fixed hours or sessions but Thomas is available whenever he is needed. Thomas received a knighthood in the 2021 new year honours, and was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) – a personal gift of the monarch. At the time of the honour, in an interview with Imperial College London, he said it had been a “busy couple of years in this role,” adding that he felt “very grateful to have been recognised for my service to date”. Thomas added that being the Queen’s personal physician was a “great honour” and “a very enjoyable and rewarding role”. He said: “The nature of the work is interesting because you see how a whole different organisation, the royal household, operates. You very much become part of that organisation and become the personal doctor to the principal people in it, who are patients just like other patients.” …
In previous generations the royal doctor has caused controversy. When the Queen’s grandfather King George V was in his final hours, Lord Dawson, the royal doctor with personal responsibility for the 70-year-old monarch issued a bulletin, declaring: “The King’s life is moving peacefully towards its close.”
In 1986, four decades after Lord Dawson’s death, his diaries were made public – revealing that he had administered a lethal dose of morphine and cocaine to relieve the King’s pain, but also to ensure that the death could be announced in the morning edition of the Times, rather than “less appropriate evening journals”.
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During the last few days, it was difficult to escape all the hoo-hah related to the coronation, and I wondered whether Charles has replaced Prof Thomas in his role as HEAD OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL HOUSEHOLD. It did not take long to find out. There even is a Wiki page on the subject! It provides a list of the recent heads:
List of Heads of the Medical Household
The Head of the Medical Household was first appointed in 1973.
- 1973–1981: Sir Richard Bayliss, KCVO MD FRCP MRCS
- 1981–1989: Sir John Batten, KCVO MD FRCP
- 1989–1993: Sir Anthony Dawson, KCVO MD FRCP[1]
- 1993–2005: Sir Richard Thompson, KCVO DM PRCP
- 2005–2014: Professor Sir John Cunningham, KCVO BM BCh MA DM FRCP
- 2014–2022: Professor Sir Huw Thomas, KCVO MBBS MA PhD
- 2022 – to present: Dr Michael Dixon, LVO, OBE, MA, FRCGP, FRCP
Yes, Michael Dixon! I am sure this will be of interest. Michael Dixon used to be a friend and an occasional collaborator of mine. He has featured prominently in my memoir as well as in my biography of Charles. In addition, he has been the subject of numerous blog posts, e.g.:
- Today, integrative medicine is about to make history, says Dr. Michael Dixon
- My (most forgettable) paper with Dr Michael Dixon
- Boosting immunity against coronavirus? Dr Michael Dixon’s infinite wisdom on the pandemic
- Dr Michael Dixon seems to support homeopathy as a treatment for cancer
- Should homeopathy be blacklisted in general practice? Dr Michael Dixon’s profoundly misleading comments
- Johrei healing and the amazing Dr Dixon (presidential candidate for the RCGP)
- Dr Dixon’s safe herbal medicine
- Remember the ‘Foundation for Integrated Health’? Here is a good summary of its infamous history
- Prince Charles becomes patron of the ‘College of Medicine and Integrated Health’
- Uncharitable charities? The example of ‘YES TO LIFE’
- A treasure trove of fallacies, falsehoods and deceptions
I am sure that many of my readers would like to join me in wishing both Michael and Charles all the best in their new roles.
14 Responses to Guess who is the new ‘HEAD OF THE ROYAL MEDICAL HOUSEHOLD’
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Jesus wept.
Good grief!
(I probably shouldn’t, but can’t resist… did anyone else notice that “Huw Thomas” is an anagram of “mouthwash”?)
Amongst Dr Dixon’s many accomplishments was his nomination and submission to be President of the Royal College of Physicians.
He failed to be elected.
In due time the College of Medicine and Integrated Health will be styled and titled the ‘Royal College’ (RCMIH), and the standards of modern medical practice and its professionals will be further degraded.
As HRH no doubt intends.
A remakable intention for a man who is a fellow of the Royal Society – founded by Charles II to advance the cause of science.
Laurens van der Post has a lot to answer for.
More worrying still is the fact that it seems likely other medical attendants upon his Majesty will be obliged to accept a degree of direction from Dr Dixon (soon to be knighted?).
At any rate, they will be disinclined to remind Charles that integrating cow pie with apple pie does not make apple pie taste better, it makes cow pie worse.
Many medical rofessionals will be disenhartened at these developments.
Sigh squared.
Because of the great commercial success of Brexit, the subjects of the House of Windsor certainly must have more than enough money to spare to keep satisfying every wish that brilliant King Charles will come up with, regarding personal staff and pseudo-medical nonsense treatment.
Here is confirmation that the new Head of the Royal Medical Household doesn’t seem to care about evaluating evidence fairly:
QUOTE:
“Dr Dixon ended his presentation with some reminiscences about his father, who was a Swordfish pilot during World War ll. These pilots set out to bomb the Bismarck. Visibility was very poor and the waves very high. They set off in a machine that looked like something from World War 1, to attack a ship with the most modern technology in history. He likened CAM practitioners to those Swordfish pilots, making their way through the fog. They have ancient skills, but lack the evidence base that orthodox clinicians think appropriate; the doctors, on the other hand, have the modern technology and the NICE appraisals to back their work up. His father was given orders to return to base and not to proceed. He disobeyed and so succeeded in his task. ‘I’m not advocating mass civil disobedience, but if you are going to win the game, you have to not always play be the rules of other people. We are going to have to invent our own set of rules and not accept anything as a given’, he concluded.”
Ref. page 5 of this University of Westminster document: https://tinyurl.com/35hakk52
As has been said previously about Michael Dixon’s Swordfish and Bismark example, it actually demonstrates how CAM relies on lucky hits which it then trumpets forever with ‘we were lucky once, so it must be better’.
(NB. In 1942 the German ships in the Channel Dash shot down all the attacking Swordfish aircraft.)
Rather interestingly, King Charles has a personal physician, respiratory consultant, Commander Dr Robin Clark, RN. He is based at Queen Alexandra hospital here in Portsmouth.
His formal style and title is ‘Surgeon Commander Robin Clark RN’.
I was interested to see that yesterday, Prince George stepped up to ‘help out.’
Wouldn’t it be marvellous if he developed an interest in medicine, and ignored his grandfather’s proclivities?
He could train at University of Wales College of Medicine, based in Cardiff, and so burnish his Welsh credentials as a future Prince of Wales.
He need only qualify and register – after which he could continue with ‘Royal duties’, but with greater credibility when he expresses altruistic or charitable sensibilities.
He could specialise (for a while) – public health or GP would enable him to travel the world and support charities with professional standing.
Though judging by the televised efforts he showed at drilling and screwing a piece of furniture, I’d like to recommend a period as an orthopaedic surgeon.
And he could join the Royal Army Medical Corps, as a medical student (cadet) and as an officer when qualified.
He would then be fully entitled to wear a military uniform on a professional, not just honorary, basis.
Lots of boxes ticked there!
And you first heard this suggestion on this blog!
dream on, Richard
For those of you who want more details of the history of the Royal Family’s connection to homeopathy, here’s my article on this subject:
https://danaullman.substack.com/p/the-kings-homeopath
Clearly, the Royal Family’s deep connection to homeopathy and to homeopaths began in the 1830s and has become as much a part of the Royal tradition as the passing of the Crown.
Oh…and here’s another homeopath who was invited to the Coronation (and is also photographed with Michael Dixon):
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/lifestyle/when-this-ayurvedic-physician-homeopath-attended-king-charles-coronation-and-tea-party-10542501.html
For those of you who want more details of the history of the Royal Family’s connection to homeopathy, here’s my book (in case you are disinclined to read Dana’s article)
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Edzard-Ernst/Homeopathy—The-Undiluted-Facts–Including-a-Comprehensive-A-Z-Lexicon/19719982
Oh … and I wasn’t invited to the coronation – the invite must have gone lost in the post, somehow.
We’ve been hearing the word ‘coronate’ a lot recently. At first I thought there was no such word but then found there was, though it doesn’t mean ‘to crown’. It actually means shaped like a crown.
So presumably the word ‘noble’ means ‘like a …..’
I want to know whether Dr Michael Dixon has ever had any connection to the Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine eg whether he was trained in homoeopathy there or worked there. If so I am sure he is a very good doctor as all the doctors at that hospital are amazing.
no connection, as far as I know.
Wiki states:
In December 2023 it was reported that Dixon had been appointed by Charles III as the Head of the Royal Medical Household a year previously in 2022, a decision which was criticised by campaigners against alternative medicine.[13][14]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dixon_(doctor)]
correctly, it should say that THIS BLOG REPORTED IT IN MAY 2023!