Commentary
Almost all the monarchs who have ruled over Canada since 1867 died while reigning and were succeeded by their heir apparent: “Le roi est mort. Vive le roi.” But it’s unusual for elected office-holders to die in office—only two prime ministers have done so, one very long-serving and one very short: Sir John A. Macdonald died at home in 1891, and Sir John Thompson died at lunch with Queen Victoria in Windsor Castle in 1894. A few PMs almost died in office but managed to resign first, while others had illnesses of various kinds but lived long.
Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, conquered alcoholism around 1875 with his conversion to Anglicanism, limiting himself to a glass of wine with dinner thereafter. He had come a long way since the Charlottetown conference in 1864, when he stood one night, drunk, “in front of a mirror, dressed in his nightshirt, a train rug thrown over his shoulder, practising lines from “Hamlet.” Years later, his last victory in March 1891 wore him out. He suffered a mild stroke on May 12, and was bedridden with a cold when he had “a severe stroke” on May 29. He lived another week, unable to speak, and died on June 6 at age 76….