THE LIFE OF
KING EDWARD VII

WITH A SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF
KING GEORGE V

By J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.S.S.

Author of "Queen Victoria, Her Life and Reign;" "Life and Work of Mr. Gladstone;" "The Story of the Dominion", &c., &c.

Profusely Illustrated

Copyright 1910, by
W. E. Scull.

EDWARD VII, KING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, AND EMPEROR OF INDIA
Born November 9, 1841. Ascended the throne January 22, 1901. Died May 6, 1910

PREFACE

During a number of years' study of British institutions in their modern development and of British public life in its adjustment to new and changing conditions I have felt an ever-growing appreciation of the active influence exercised by the late Sovereign of the British Empire upon the social life and public interests of the United Kingdom and an ever-increasing admiration for his natural abilities and rare tactfulness of character. King Edward the Seventh, in a sixty years' tenure of the difficult position of Heir to the British Throne, built into the history of his country and Empire a record of which he and his people had every reason to be proud. He had for many years the responsibilities of a Royal position without the actual power; the public functions of a great ruler without the resources usually available; the knowledge, experience and statecraft of a wise Sovereign without Regal environment.

The Prince of Wales, however, rose above the apparent difficulties of his position and for more than a quarter of a century emulated the wise example of his princely father—Albert the Good—and profited by the beautiful character and unquestioned statesmanship of his august mother. As with all those upon whose life beats the glare of ever-present publicity and upon whose actions the press of friendly and hostile nations alike have the privilege of ceaseless comment, the Heir to the British Throne had to suffer from atrocious canards as well as from fulsome compliments. Unlike many others, however, he afterwards lived down the falsehoods of an early time; conquered by his clear, open life the occasional hostility of a later day; and at the period of his accession to the Throne was, without and beyond question, the best liked Prince in Europe—the most universally popular man in the United Kingdom and its external Empire. Upon the verge of His Majesty's Coronation there occurred that sudden and dramatic illness which proved so well the bravery and patience of the man, and increased so greatly the popularity and prestige of the Monarch.

Since then the late King has yearly grown in the regard of his people abroad, in the respect of other rulers and nations, in the admiration of all who understood the difficulties of his position, the real force of his personality and influence, the power with which he drew to the Throne—even after the remarkable reign of Victoria the Good—an increased affection and loyalty from Australians and South Africans and Canadians alike, an added confidence and loyal faith in his judgment from all his British peoples whether at home or over seas.

In the United States, which King Edward always regarded with an admiration which the enterprise and energy of its people so well deserved, he in turn received a degree of respect and regard which did not at one time seem probable. To him, ever since the visit to the Republic in 1860, a closer and better relation between the two great countries had been an ideal toward which as statesman and Prince and Sovereign he guided the English-speaking race.

The reader of these pages will, I hope, receive a permanent impression of the career and character of one who has been at once a popular Prince, a great King, a worthy head of the British Empire and of his own family, a statesman who has won and worn the proud title of "The Royal Peacemaker."

J. CASTELL HOPKINS.
Toronto, Canada, 1910.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE PRINCESS ALEXANDRA
At the time of her marriage

KING EDWARD AS PRINCE OF WALES IN 1879

MARRIAGE OF EDWARD AND ALEXANDRA, THEN PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES, 1863
From a painting at Windsor by W. P. Firth R.A.

CHAPTER I.

The Crown and the Empire

The great development of a political nature in the British Empire of the nineteenth century was the complete harmony which gradually evolved between the Monarchy and a world-wide democracy. This process was all-important because it eliminated an element of internal discord which has destroyed more than one nation in the past; because it permitted the peaceful progress of scattered states to continue through the passing years without having questions of allegiance to seriously hamper their growth; because it trained political thought along lines of stability and continuity and made loyalty and liberty consistent and almost synonymous terms; because it made the Crown the central symbol of the Empire's unity, the visible object of a world-wide allegiance, the special token of a common aspiration and a common sentiment amongst many millions of English-speaking people—the subject of untutored reverence and unquestioned respect amongst hundreds of millions of other races.

THE POSITION OF THE CROWN

The chief factor in this development was the late Queen Victoria, and to the inheritance of the fabric thus evolved came a son who was educated amid the constitutional environment in which she lived and was trained in the Imperial ideas which she so strongly held and so wisely impressed upon her statesmen, her family and her people. King Edward came into responsibilities which were greater and more imposing than those ever before inherited by a reigning sovereign. He had not only the great example and life of his predecessor as a model and as a comparison; not only the same vast and ever-changing and expanding Empire to rule over; not only a similar myriad-eyed press and public to watch his every expression and movement; but he entered with his people upon a new century in which one of the first and most prominent features is a decay in popular respect for Parliament and a revival of the old-time love for stately display, for ceremonial and for the appropriate trappings of royalty. With this evident and growing influence of the Crown as a social and popular factor is the knowledge which all statesmen and constitutional students now possess of the personal influence in diplomacy and statecraft which was wielded by the late Queen Victoria and which the experience and tact of the new Monarch enabled him to also test and prove. Side by side with these two elements in the situation was the conviction which has now become fixed throughout the Empire that the Crown is the pivot upon which its unity and future co-operation naturally and properly turns; that the Sovereign is the one possible central figure of allegiance for all its scattered countries and world-wide races; that without the Crown as the symbol of union and the King as the living object of allegiance and personal sentiment the British realms would be a series of separated units.

These facts lend additional importance to the character and history of the Monarchy; to the influences which have controlled the life and labours of King Edward; to the abilities which have marked his career and the elements which have entered into the making of his character. He may not in succeeding years of his reign have declared war like an Edward I., or made secret diplomatic arrangements like a Charles II. He may not have manipulated foreign combinations like a William III., or dismissed his Ministers at pleasure like a George III., or worked one faction in his Kingdom against another like a Charles I. None of these things have been attempted, nor will his successor desire to undertake them. But none the less there lay in his hand a vast and growing power—the personal influence wielded by a popular and experienced Monarch over his Ministry, his Court, his Diplomatic Staff throughout the world, and his high officers in the Army and Navy. The prestige of his personal honours or personal wishes and the known Imperialism of his personal opinions must have had great weight in controlling Colonial policy in London; while his experience of European and Eastern statecraft through many years of close intercourse with foreign and home statesmen undoubtedly had a marvelous effect in the control of British policy abroad.

To the external Empire, as constituted at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Crown is a many-sided factor. The personal and diplomatic influence of the Sovereign is obvious and was illustrated by Queen Victoria in such historic incidents as the personal relations with King Louis Philippe which probably averted a war with France in the early forties; in the later friendship with Louis Napoleon which helped to make the Crimean War alliance possible; in the refusal by the Queen to assent to a certain casus belli despatch during the American War which saved Great Britain from being drawn into the struggle; in her influence upon the Cabinet in connection with the Schleswig-Holstein question, which was exerted to such an extent (according to Lord Malmesbury) as to have averted a possible conflict with Germany.

The political power of the Crown and its wearer is proven to exist in the dismissal of Lord Palmerston for his rash recognition of the French coup d'état; in the occasional exercise of the right of excluding certain individuals from the Government—notably the case of Mr. Labouchere a decade ago; in such direct exercise of influence as the Queen's intervention in the matter of the Irish Church Disestablishment Bill as related by the late Archbishop Tait. The Imperial influence of the Sovereign has been shown in more than merely indirect ways. The Queen's refusal to approve the first draft of the Royal Proclamation for India in 1858 and her changes in the text were declared by Lord Canning to have averted another insurrection. Her personal determination to send the Prince of Wales to Canada in 1860 and her own visit to Ireland in one of the last years of her reign were cases of actual initiative and active policy. South Africa owed to the late Queen the several visits of the Duke of Edinburgh and the exhibition of her well-known sympathy with the views of Sir George Grey—who, had he been allowed a free hand, would have consolidated and united those regions many years ago and averted the recent disastrous struggle.

Australia owed to her the compliment of various visits from members of the Royal family, the kindly personal treatment of its leaders and a frequently expressed desire for its unity in one great and growing nationality—British in allegiance and connection and power; Australian in local authority, patriotism and development. India was indebted to its Queen-Empress for continued sympathy and wise advice to its Governors-General; for the phraseology in the Proclamation after the Mutiny, already referred to, which rendered the new conditions of allegiance comprehensible and satisfactory to the native mind; for the important visit of the Prince of Wales to that country in 1877; and for the support given to Lord Beaconfield's Imperial policy of asserting England's place in the world, of purchasing the Suez Canal shares in order to help in keeping the route to the East and of paving the way for that acquisition of Egypt and the Soudan which has since made Cecil Rhodes' dream of a great British-African empire a realizable probability. The Colonies, as a whole, owed to Queen Victoria a condition of government which made peaceful constitutional development possible; which extinguished discontent and the elements or embers of republicanism; which gradually eliminated the separative tendencies of distance and slowly merged the Manchester school ideas of the past into the Imperialism of the present; which made evolution rather than revolution the guiding principle of British countries in the nineteenth century.

THE MONARCHY IN HISTORY

How has the Crown become such an important factor in the modern development of British peoples? The answer is not found altogether in personal considerations nor even in those of loyalty to somewhat vague and undefined principles of government. These considerations have had great weight but so also has the traditional and actual power of the Monarchy in moulding institutions and ideas during a thousand years of history. To a much greater extent than is generally understood in these democratic days has this latter influence been a factor. Through nearly all British history the Sovereign has either represented the popular instincts of the time or else led in the direction of extended territory and power under the individual influence of royal valour or statecraft. The history of England has not, of course, been confined to the biography of its Kings or Queens, but it would be as absurd to trace those annals without extended study of the rulers and their characters as it would be to write the records without reference to the people and popular progress. And the Monarchy has done much for the British Isles. Its influence has effected their whole national life in war and in peace, in religion and in morals, in literature and in art. The individual achievements and actions of some of these rulers constitute the very foundation stones in the structure of modern British power. Others again have helped to build the walls of the national edifice until the Sovereign at the beginning of the twentieth century has become the pivot upon which turns the constitutional unity of a great Empire and which forms the only possible centre for a common allegiance amongst its varied peoples.

At first this monarchical principle was embodied in the form of military power, was based upon feudal loyalty, and was associated with the noble ideals, but somewhat reckless practices, of mediæval chivalry. The victories of Egbert and Alfred the Great transformed the Heptarchy into a substantial English Kingdom. The military skill of William the Conqueror gave an opportunity to blend the graces of Norman chivalry, and a somewhat higher form of civilization, with the rougher virtues of the Saxon character. Henry II. personally illustrated this combination, with his ruddy English face and strong physical powers, and impressed himself upon British history by the conquest of Ireland. Richard Cœur de Lion gave his country many famous pages of crusading in the East, and embodied in his life and character the adventurous and daring spirit of the age. Edward I. dominated events by his energy and ability, subdued Wales, and for a time conquered the Kingdom of Scotland. Edward III., in his long reign of fifty years, carried the British flag over the fields of France, and won immortality at the battles of Crecy and Poictiers. Henry V. gained the victory of Agincourt, and won and wore the title of King of France. Then came the Wars of the Roses and the turbulent termination to a period of six centuries during which the English Monarchs had represented the military spirit of their times, and had led in the rough process of struggle and conquest out of which was growing the United Kingdom of to-day.

With the reign of Henry VIII. commenced the period of religious change—the struggles for religious liberty against ecclesiastical dominance. Limited as were the achievements of Henry and Elizabeth, in this respect, by prevailing bigotry and narrowness of view as well as by diverse personal characteristics, they none the less did great service to the country and the people. The rule of Cromwell—who, in the exercise of Royal power and the possession of regal personal ability, may properly be included in such a connection—gave that liberty of worship to a portion of the masses with which previous Sovereigns had more especially endowed the classes. During the reign of the Stuarts religious dissensions and ecclesiastical controversies and intermittent persecutions, illustrated the predominant passion of the period; and forced the weak or indifferent monarch of the moment to be an unconscious factor in the progress towards that general toleration which the Revolution of 1688 and the crowning of William and Mary finally accomplished. But, whether it was Henry persecuting the monks, or Elizabeth the Roman Catholics, or Mary the Protestants, or Cromwell the Episcopalians, or Charles II. the Dissenters, each ruler was being led, to a great degree, by the undercurrent of surrounding bigotry and was, in the main, representative of a strong, popular sentiment of the time. Henry voiced the national uprising against Rome, just as the second Charles embodied popular reaction against the Puritans, and as William of Orange was enabled to lead a successful opposition to the gloomy and personal bigotry of the last of the Royal Stuarts.

The third period of British monarchical history in this connection was that marked by the growth toward constitutional government under the sway of the House of Hanover. Coupled with this was the equally important foundation of a great Colonial empire, and the loss of a large portion of it in the reign of George III. But the development of constitutional rule under the Georges should not be confounded with the growth of the popular and Imperial system which exists to-day. The latter is simply a progressive evolution out of the aristocratic and oligarchical government of the Hanoverian period, just as that system had been a step from the kingly power of the Tudors and the Stuarts, which, in turn, had arisen upon the ruins of feudalism and military monarchical power. It is this gradual growth, this "gently broadening down from precedent to precedent," which makes the British constitution of to-day the more or less perfected result of centuries of experience and struggle. But that result has only been made possible by a peculiar series of national adjustments in which the power of the Monarchs has been modified from time to time to suit the will of the people, while the ability of individual Sovereigns has been at the same time given full scope in which to exercise wise kingcraft or pronounced military skill. It has, in fact, been a most elastic system in its application and to that elasticity has been due its prolonged stability of form under a succession of dynastic or personal changes.

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE MONARCHY

It is a common mistake to minimize the importance and value of the aristocratic rule by which the government of England was graded down from the high exercise of royal power under the Tudors and Stuarts to that beneficial exercise of royal influence which marks the opening of the present century period. To the aristocracy of those two centuries is mainly due the fact that the growth from paternal government and personal rule to direct popular administration was a gradual development, through only occasional scenes of storm and stress, instead of involving a succession of revolutions alternating with civil war. Somers and Godolphin, Walpole and Chatham, Pitt and Shelburne, Eldon and Canning, Grey and Liverpool, Wellington and Durham, Melbourne and Palmerston, were all of this aristocratic class, though of varying degrees in rank and title and with varied views of politics. They filled the chief places in the Government of the country during a period when the people were being slowly trained in the perception and practice of constitutional and religious liberty. At the best such processes are difficult and often prove bitter tests of national endurance; and it was well for Great Britain that the two centuries under review produced a class of able and cultured men who—though naturally aristocratic at heart—were upon the whole honestly bent upon furthering the best interests of the masses. And this despite the mistakes of a Danby or a North.

Yet, even towards the close of this period of preparation, popular government, as now practised, was neither understood by the immediate predecessors of Queen Victoria, nor by the nobles who presided over the changing administrations of the day. It was not clearly comprehended by Liberals like Russell and Grey; it was feared by Wellington and the Tories as being republican and revolutionary; it was dreaded by many who could hardly be called Tories and who, in the condition of things then prevalent, could scarcely even be termed Loyalists. Writing in 1812, Charles Knight, the historian, described the fierce national struggle of the previous twenty years with Napoleon and expressed a longing wish for the prop of a sincere and spontaneous loyalty to the throne in the critical times that were to follow. But such a sentiment of loyalty was not then expressed, and could hardly have been publicly evoked by a ruler of the type of George IV., whether governing as Prince-Regent or as King.

There is, however, no doubt of its having existed, and there seems to have been, even through those troubled years, an inborn spirit of loyalty to the Crown as being the symbol of the State and of public order. Its wearer might make mistakes and be personally unpopular, but he represented the nation as a whole and must consequently be respected. This powerful feeling has often in English history made the bravest and strongest submit to slights from their Sovereign, and has won the most disinterested devotion and energetic action from men who have never even seen the Monarch in whose personal character there was sometimes little to evoke or deserve such faith and sacrifice. For ages this loyalty had been the preservative of society in England, and it is still indispensable to the tranquility and permanence of a state, whether given in its full degree to the Sovereign of Great Britain, or in a more divided sense to the elective and partisan head of a modern republic.

In the time of the Georges, as well as in the middle ages and at the present moment, loyalty was and is a sincere and honest patriotism, refining the instincts and elevating the actions of those who were willing to waive self-interest on any given occasion in order to guard what they believed to be the true basis of national stability and order. Certainly, a Monarchy which could survive the wars and European revolutions, the internal discontents and personal deficiencies, of the period which commenced with the reign of George I. and closed with that of William IV., must have possessed some inherent strength greater than may be gathered from many of the superficial works which pass for history. But, whatever that influence was, it does not appear to have been personal. With the close of the reign of Queen Anne the brilliant prestige of personal authority and power wielded by the Sovereign had passed quietly away and, up to the death of William IV. and the accession of Victoria, had not been replaced by the personal influence of a constitutional ruler.

PRESENT POSITION OF THE MONARCHY

Out of all these changing developments has come a military position in which the Sovereign no longer leads his forces in war but in which he commands a sentiment of loyalty as hearty, in the breasts of the Colonial soldiers ten thousand miles away from his home at Windsor, as ever did the personal presence of an Edward I., or a Richard the Lion-Hearted. Out of them has come a religious position in which the Sovereign is head of a particular Church and yet, as such, gives no serious offence to masses of his subjects who belong to other faiths and who receive through his Governments around the world absolute freedom of religious worship—almost as a matter of course. Out of the constitutional evolution has come the adaptation of the Monarchy to not only new conditions but to countries separated by oceans and continents from the mother-state, and the evolution of a system which combines 420,000,000 people under one Crown and one flag. In August, 1884, the Times spoke of a correspondent amongst the Khirgese of Central Asia who stated that the people of that region had not the remotest idea of where or what England was—but they had heard of Queen Victoria; and a few years later Mr. Henry Labouchere, the inconsistent and bitter Radical, told the Forum of New York that "were a Parliamentary candidate to address an electoral meeting on the advantages of a republic he would be deemed a tilter at a windmill."

Such is a summary of the history and position of the British Monarchy. A thousand years ago it combined the seven little Kingdoms of England into one; to-day it combines the Kingdoms and Dominions and Commonwealths and Islands of a quarter of the earth's surface into one. The power of the Crown was once chiefly employed in making war and compelling peace by force of arms and military skill; to-day it is largely utilized in promoting peace and controlling diplomacy. The position of the Monarch was once that of the head of a class, or the leader of some distinct manifestation of public feeling, or the military chief of a great faction; to-day it is that of embodying the power of a united people, giving dignified interpretation to the policy of a nation, and serving as the symbol of unity to the masses of population in an extended empire.

One of the interesting features in the Crown's popularity and influence is the absence of serious criticism or controversy over the expense of its maintenance. Perhaps the only practical expression of disapproval affecting the Monarchy heard during Queen Victoria's long reign was an occasional grumbling as to the paucity of Court functions, the absence of Royal splendour and expenditures from the City of London, the sombreness and quiet which characterized the ordinary, everyday life of the Sovereign. The total financial cost of the Monarchy has been placed at a million pounds sterling per annum, but this total includes various large sums which could just as properly be charged to the ordinary governing requirements of the country without reference to the particular form of its institutions. Against this sum may also be placed the proceeds of the Crown Lands which were surrendered to Parliament upon the accession of William and Mary and which had before that been recognized as a personal estate of the Sovereign over which Parliament had no control. In addition to these Crown Land revenues other sums were voted as required. Upon their surrender to the nation (during the life of each Sovereign) it has become the custom, since 1868, to vote a permanent Civil List for the ensuing reign and out of this sum the ordinary Court and personal expenses are supposed to be met. In the case of Queen Victoria the amount was £385,000 a year, supplemented, however, by other votes and special allowances to herself and the Royal family from time to time.

Upon her accession the Queen retained out of the old Crown Lands, or revenues, those of the Duchy of Lancaster and they have risen in value from £20,000 to £50,000 per annum. The Royal palaces are maintained apart from the Civil List and the building of Royal yachts and other similar expenses are considered as additional items. The revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, which have always pertained to the Prince of Wales, and the incomes or special sums voted to the members of the Royal family, make up an amount nearly as large as the Civil List. But these apparently large sums have not in recent years created any feeling of dissatisfaction; nor has any been expressed save by certain individuals of the Labouchere type, who possess little influence and less sincerity. Upon the whole the situation in this connection possesses considerable interest to the student of history, or of popular sentiment, as showing how a practical, business-loving, money-making people can become devoted to an institution which must in the nature of things be expensive and which, in the ratio of its dignity and effectiveness as an embodiment of growing national power, must be increasingly so as the years roll on.

The reason for this condition of feeling is the combination which the Monarchy has during the past century come to present to the minds of the public. Tradition and history reaching down into the hearts and lives of the people may be considered the basic influence; a general belief in the superiority of British institutions over all others may be stated as a powerful conservative force; while personality and character in the Sovereign may be described as the chief constructive element in this process of increasing loyalty to the Crown. Convenience, custom, love of ceremony, belief in stability and aversion to change, are lesser factors which may be mentioned. The result is that Mr. George W. Smalley, for so many years the American correspondent of the New York Tribune in London, could write recently in the Century the belief of a foreigner and a republican that "England is a very democratic country, but there does not exist in England the vestige of a republican party."

King Edward, therefore, came to the throne of Great Britain and its Empire at a time when the influence of the Sovereign was growing in proportion as the influence and popularity of Parliament appeared to be waning. Fifty years before his accession it was a truism to assert that power in England was being steadily concentrated in the House of Commons; to-day it may be said with equal truth that the position of the Crown is growing steadily in a power which is wielded by personal influence and popularity and which, while it touches no privilege, nor right, nor liberty of Parliament, increases in proportion as the latter body is relegated to the back-ground by public opinion and popular interest. Vast responsibility, therefore, rests to-day in the hands of a British Sovereign and the results for good or ill, depend largely upon his character, his training, his previous career and his present sense of duty. Alarm has even been expressed upon this point by historical theorists such as Professor Beesly and Dr. Goldwin Smith. Certain it is, however, that in the hands of King Edward this growing power was safe. If prolonged experience and acquired statecraft and intimate knowledge of his people can be considered sufficient guarantees for its exercise, it is also safe in the hands of King George.

CHAPTER II.

Early Years and Education of the Prince

The married life of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort was one of the happiest recorded in history or known in the private annals of individual lives. It was a love-match from the first and it lasted to the end as one of those beautiful illustrations of harmony in the home which go far in a materialistic and selfish age to point to higher ideals and to conserve the best principles of a Christian people. His affection was shown in myriad ways of devoted care and help; her feeling was well stated in a letter to Baron Stockmar—"There cannot exist a purer, dearer, nobler being in the world than the Prince." From such a union was born Albert Edward, the future King and Emperor, on November 9th, 1841. The Queen's first child had been the Princess Royal, and there was naturally some hope that the next would be a male heir to the Throne. There was much public rejoicing over the event which was announced from Buckingham Palace at mid-day of the date mentioned; the Privy Council met and ordered a thanksgiving service; the national anthem was sung with enthusiasm in the theatres and public places; telegrams of congratulation poured in from Princes abroad and peers and peasants at home; and Punch perpetrated verses which well illustrated the public feeling:

"Huzza! we've a little Prince at last
A roaring Royal boy;
And all day long the booming bells
Have rung their peels of joy."

On December 8th following, the little Prince was created by letters-patent Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester—the titles of Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Saxony, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince, or Great Steward of Scotland, being his already by virtue of his mother being the reigning Sovereign at the time of his birth. During six hundred years there had been from time to time a Prince of Wales. The first was the son of Edward I., but the title was never made hereditary, and there have been periods, totalling altogether 288 years, in which it lay dormant. The Black Prince was perhaps the best known of the line. The new Prince of Wales—destined to hold the designation for nearly sixty years and to make it one of the best known in the world—was solemnly baptized on January 25th, 1842, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, by the simple names of Albert Edward. The first was after his father, the second in memory of the Queen's father, the Duke of Kent. The scene was one of splendour, and the uniforms and glittering orders and gleaming gems and beautiful dresses harmonized well with the stately setting of the Chapel Royal.

THE GORGEOUS CHRISTENING CEREMONY

Besides the Royal party, which included Frederick William IV., King of Prussia, there were a throng of Ambassadors, Knights of the Garter, Members of the Privy Council, Peers and Peeresses, statesmen and heads of the Church. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, Winchester, Oxford and Norwich were in special attendance, and the sponsors for the young Prince were the King of Prussia, the Duchess of Kent (proxy for the Duchess of Saxe-Cobourg), the Duke of Cambridge (proxy for the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha), Princess Augusta of Cambridge (proxy for Princess Sophia) and Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Cobourg. The cost of this gorgeous christening ceremony and attendant functions was said to have been fully two million dollars. A part of this was, however, due to the entertainments accorded King Frederick William IV., who, as the chief Protestant monarch of the Continent, was given a particularly cordial and elaborate welcome. In connection with the christening of the future King it is interesting to note that an ecclesiastical newspaper, of Toronto, called The Church, referred to the event on March 19th, 1842, and declared that should the Prince live to be King he would be known as Edward VII. On February 3rd Queen Victoria opened Parliament in person with the following as the preliminary words in the Speech from the Throne: "I cannot meet you in Parliament assembled without making a public acknowledgment of my gratitude to Almighty God on account of the birth of the Prince, my son; an event which has completed the measure of my domestic happiness and has been hailed with every manifestation of affectionate attachment to my person and Government by my faithful and loyal people."

CHILDHOOD OF THE PRINCE

The early events of the Prince's life were followed with much interest by the public and with a personal and individual feeling which grew in volume with the ever-increasing popularity of the young Queen. The Court in those years was a gay one and events such as the Queen's famous Plantagenet Ball of 1842; the state visit to King Louis Philippe of France in 1843; the coming of Nicholas I., Czar of all the Russias, to the Court of St. James in 1844, followed a little later by William, Prince of Prussia—afterwards William I. of Germany, and by a return visit of the King and Queen of the French; kept the social demands of the period up to a very high pitch. Yet the quiet, careful surroundings of an almost ideal home were given to the young Prince and to those who afterwards came to the family circle, by a mother who, in the midst of many national cares and private anxieties could write to her much-respected friend and uncle—Leopold of Belgium—that "my happiness at home, the love of my husband, his kindness, his advice, his support and his company make up for all and make me forget all."

The Princess Victoria, afterwards for a brief year Empress of Germany, had been born on November 21, 1840; the Prince of Wales was the next child; the Princess Alice, who afterwards married the Grand Duke of Hesse, was born on April 25, 1843; Prince Alfred—Duke of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in later years—followed on August 6, 1844; the Princess Helena came next on May 25, 1846, and afterwards became the wife of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; the Princess Louise, who married the Marquess of Lorne and future Duke of Argyll, was born on March 18, 1848; Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, followed on May 1, 1850; Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, on April 7, 1853; Princess Beatrice, afterwards wife and widow of Prince Henry of Battenberg, was born on April 14, 1857, and completed the Royal family for the time.

The greatest care and attention was given to the youthful Prince. Writing to King Leopold soon after his birth—on December 7, 1841—the Queen had said: "I wonder very much who my little boy will be like. You will understand how fervent are my prayers, and I am sure every one's must be, to see him resemble his father in every respect, both in body and mind." From the earliest period the child grew into his life of ceremony and state, but it was a process carefully graded to suit the development of natural faculties. Nothing appears to have been allowed to unduly burden his gradual growth in experience and knowledge and certainly a more pleasant domestic environment and life could hardly be imagined. At a later period his studies were so varied in character as to excite some slight apprehension in a part of the public mind.

The first public appearance of the Prince was on February 4, 1842, when the Queen was inspecting some troops near Windsor and the babe was held up by his nurse from a window of the Castle so that the crowd could see him. He has been described in many prints and stories as being a very lively infant and child. Lady Lyttelton[1], a sister to Mrs. Gladstone, was in charge of the Royal nursery as a sort of trusted Governess during the first six years of his life and everything was conducted with regularity and care. The Queen personally supervised the arrangements, whether for instruction, pleasure or exercise, though she often had to express in diary or letter her regret at not being able to be as much with her children as she desired. Simplicity was, perhaps, the guiding principle of this early training, though it was combined with a certain amount of familiarity in matters of ceremony and formality. In September, 1843, when the Queen and Prince Consort were in France the Royal children were at Brighton in charge of Lady Lyttelton and the people used to take great delight in waiting for the daily outing of the little Prince and his sister and the presentation of a loyal salute by the raising of hats and the waving of handkerchiefs. The child had been taught to raise his chubby fist to his forehead in reply and a journalist of the time veraciously declares that he did it with "evident enjoyment and infantile dignity." A little later, on December 20th, a party of nine Ojibbeway Indians were presented to the Queen at Windsor Castle and the Chief gravely referred to the toddling Royal infant in his speech as "the very big little White Father whose eyes are like the sky that sees all things and who is fat with goodness like a winter bear."

Another attractive event in these annals of childhood was a visit of Tom Thumb to Buckingham Palace on March 23, 1844. Not long afterwards, on June 5th, the little Prince saw his first Review, on the occasion of the Emperor of Russia's visit, and clapped his hands and shouted at the splendid spectacle. On March 24, 1846, he was given that first and greatest pleasure of all children, a visit to the circus (Astley's). He applauded liberally and when the clown was brought to the Royal box at his request, the little Prince gravely shook hands with him and thanked him "for making me laugh so much." Similar stories might be multiplied in many pages. Every trifling incident of the Royal childhood seems, indeed, to have been treasured by some one. Late in 1846 a visit was made on the Victoria and Albert yacht to the coast of Cornwall and, after the landing, the Royal party went to Penrhyn where the little Prince, as Duke of Cornwall, was formally welcomed by Mayor and Corporation as their feudal lord. In August of the succeeding year he was taken by the Queen and Prince Consort on a tour around the west coast of Scotland and during a visit to Cluny Macpherson's Scottish home, he received one of the first of a multitude of interesting presents—a ring containing a miniature of Prince Charles Stuart. In August 1844, he accompanied his parents on a visit to Ireland, where he met with splendid acclamation from the people and was created Earl of Dublin by the Queen. It has been said that the reception was so enthusiastic as to have left a profound impression on the child's mind.

On October 30, 1849, when nearly eight years old, the Prince of Wales performed his first public function. Accompanied by the little Princess Royal and his father he proceeded in state from Westminister in a Royal barge rowed by watermen. All London turned out to see the youthful royalties—"Puss and the boy" as the Queen called them in her Diary—and Lady Lyttelton in a letter to Mrs. Gladstone has left a charming picture of the pleasure expressed by the little Prince at his reception and at the various quaint customs revived for the occasion. It was at this time that Miss Louisa Alcott, author of Little Women, wrote home that the Prince was "a yellow-haired laddie, very like his mother. Fanny and I nodded and waived as he passed and he openly winked his boyish eye at us, for Fanny with her yellow curls waving looked rather rowdy and the poor little Prince wanted some fun." Two years later, on May 1st, the youthful Heir to the Throne assisted the Queen at the brilliant ceremonies attending the opening of the first and great Exhibition of that year.

EARLY EDUCATION OF THE PRINCE

Meanwhile, the important matter of education had been occupying the attention of the Queen and her husband. After careful inquiry during nearly a year the Rev. Henry Mildred Birch was selected and on April 10, 1844, the Prince Consort wrote, in a private and family letter, that "Bertie will be given over in a few weeks into the hands of a tutor whom we have found in Mr. Birch, a young, good-looking, amiable man who was a tutor at Eton and who not only himself took the highest honours at Cambridge but whose pupils have also won special distinction. It is an important step and God's blessing be upon it, for upon the good education of princes and especially of those who are destined to govern, the welfare of the world in these days very greatly depends." This gentleman acted until 1852 when, upon the advice of Sir James Stephen, the appointment was given to Mr. Frederick W. Gibbs, who retained it for the succeeding six years. In special lines of study such as Art and Music there were various instructors for the young Prince as well as for the rest of the family—the Rev. Charles Tarver being his classical tutor, Sir Edwin Landseer an instructor in the art of painting and Mr. E. H. Corbould his teacher in water-colours.

The descriptions of the Prince of Wales in these childhood days vary greatly; probably in natural accordance with the variable temperament of his age. Lady Lyttelton who, perhaps, knew him best, described him to Mr. Greville in 1852—though that interesting litterateur is not always reliable—as being "extremely shy and timid, with very good principles and, particularly, an exact observer of truth." The description is, however, so much in harmony with his bringing up that it may well be accepted as accurate. These years, however, passed rapidly away in a commingling of instruction, ceremonial and innocent recreation. The Baroness Bunsen in her Memoirs gives a pleasant picture which illustrates the character of the amusements current in the Royal family at their different homes at Windsor, Osborne, or Balmoral. This particular incident was a Masque devised by the children, when Prince "Bertie" was twelve years old, in honour of the anniversary of their parents' marriage. The Prince who represented Winter and was clad in a coat covered with imitation icicles, recited some verses from Thomson's Seasons. Princess Alice was Spring; the Princess Royal, Summer; Prince Alfred, Autumn; while Princess Helena, representing St. Helena, the traditional mother of Constantine and native of Britain, called down Heaven's benediction upon the Royal couple.

About this time the Prince of Wales made his first appearance in the House of Lords, sitting beside the Queen as she received Addresses from Parliament concerning the impending war with Russia. He seems to have taken a keen interest in that conflict and, in March 1855, went with his parents to visit the wounded at Chatham Military Hospital. In August he accompanied the Queen and Prince Consort upon the first visit paid by an English Sovereign to Paris since the days of Henry II. and shared in the splendid reception given by the Emperor Napoleon and the French people. Even here, however, his tutor was with him and idleness or pleasure was not allowed to occupy the field entirely. With the Princess Royal, he was present at a splendid ball given in Versailles—the first since the days of Louis XVI—and they sat down at supper with the Emperor and Empress. The young Prince enjoyed the visit so much and liked his Imperial hosts so well—a liking which he never forgot in later years of sorrow and suffering—that he begged the Empress to get leave for his sister and himself to stay a little longer. The Queen and his father, he explained, had six more children at home and they could, he thought, do without them for a while.

Of course, this was not possible. The Prince Consort, however, was greatly pleased with the way in which the children had behaved and wrote to Baron Stockmar, shortly after, expressing his belief that the Prince had been a general favourite. To the Duchess of Kent he wrote that "the task was no easy one for them but they discharged it without embarrassment and with natural simplicity." From this it is evident that the shyness spoken of by Lady Lyttelton had largely passed away from the manner of the Prince. During this year the latter—now fourteen years old—took an incognito walking tour through the west of England accompanied by Mr. Gibbs and Colonel Cavendish. The next two or three years were spent in a happy life of mixed pursuits in England and Scotland, or in travel abroad, alternating, according to the place and season, between fishing and shooting, ponies and picnics, deer-stalking and juvenile dances, studies, tours and occasional functions. Many pictures of the Royal family in these days of childhood and youth have been preserved from the brushes of Winterhalter, Richmond, Landseer, Saul and others.

LATER EDUCATION OF THE PRINCE

Not the least important of the educative influences of this period were the tours undertaken by the young Prince. In the autumn of 1856, accompanied by those who could best instruct him in the matters witnessed, he visited the great seats of industry in Provincial England including mills, ironworks, coal mines and engineering centres. In April 1857 he enjoyed a tour through the beautiful Lake region and especially appreciated the hill-climbing in Cumberland. During June he accompanied the Queen on a state visit to Manchester and witnessed the first distribution of the Victoria Cross medals in Hyde Park, London. In July the Prince left England for Konigswinter with a short European tour in view for "purposes of study," as the Prince Consort put it in a private letter. With him were General Grey, Colonel (afterwards Sir Henry) Ponsonby, his tutors and Dr. Armstrong. During the tour several young men joined him as companions—the late Mr. W. H. Gladstone; Mr. Charles Wood, now Lord Halifax; Mr. Frederick Stanley, now Earl of Derby and Governor-General of Canada; and the present Earl Cadogan, Viceroy of Ireland. The Prince on this occasion went up the Rhine and through Germany and Switzerland. Upon his return, in October, he attended lectures on science by Dr. Faraday while continuing his regular studies. Early in the succeeding year he attended the marriage of his sister, the Princess Royal, to the Prussian Prince who afterwards became the Emperor Frederick, and parted from the sister "Vicky," to whom he was much attached, with evident sorrow.

On April 1, 1858, when nearly seventeen years of age, the Prince was confirmed in the Chapel Royal at Windsor. Writing of this ceremony, the Prince Consort observed to Baron Stockmar that Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell were amongst those who were present and that the event "went off with great solemnity and, I hope, with an abiding impression on his mind." At the examination before the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Royal parents the Prince was described as acquitting himself "extremely well." On the succeeding day he took the Sacrament. Shortly afterwards followed a two weeks walking tour in the south of Ireland in which the Prince was accompanied by Mr. Gibbs, Captain de Ros—afterwards Lieutenant-General Lord de Ros—and Dr. Minter. Succeeding this came a short period of steady study and the formal establishment of the young Prince at White Lodge in Richmond Park, under the tuition of Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Tarver and with three companions carefully selected by his father—Lord Valletort, the present (1902) Earl of Mount Edgecumbe, Major Teesdale V.C. and Major Lindsay V.C. Of the first named the Prince Consort wrote privately that he had been much on the Continent and was "a thoroughly good, moral and accomplished man," who had passed his youth in attendance on his invalid father. He also referred to the manner in which Major Teesdale had distinguished himself at Kars and Major Lindsay at Alma and Inkerman and of the latter said: "He is studious in his habits, lives little with the other young officers, is fond of study and familiar with French and Italian."[2] These considerations are interesting as indicating with what care the companions of the young Prince were selected by his wise father from time to time. Here the Prince had, amongst his elements of instruction, lectures on History from the Rev. Charles Kingsley, the well-known author of Westward Ho and, for ten years following, Professor of History at Cambridge. They were given by special desire of the Queen and must have proved deeply interesting. Canon Kingsley was, during the rest of his life, an object of special liking to the Prince and always an honoured guest at Sandringham and Marlborough.

EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, AT THE AGE OF SEVEN
In Sailor's Dress

EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, AGED FIVE
Represents the Prince as feeding a pet rabbit

EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, AGED SIXTEEN
In Highland costume

THE YOUTHFUL EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, 1859

On November 9, 1859, the Prince of Wales completed his eighteenth year and attained his legal majority. The Queen wrote him a letter which Charles Greville, in his Diary, describes as "one of the most admirable ever penned." On the same day he was appointed a Colonel in the Army and given the Order of the Garter—that most distinguished of all orders of knighthood. At the same time Colonel the Hon. Robert Bruce, brother of the Lord Elgin who had proved so successful a Governor-General of Canada and India, was appointed Governor to the Prince and was described by the Prince Consort as possessing amiability with great mildness of expression and as being "full of ability." He had been Military Secretary to Lord Elgin in Canada and was at this time in command of a battalion in the Grenadier Guards.[3] A month later the Prince started on a Continental tour accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Tarver as his chaplain and director of studies. He stayed some time in Rome, where he visited the Pope, on May 7 reached Gibraltar, and from thence visited the south of Spain and Lisbon. He reached home in the middle of June and took up a serious course of study at Edinburgh, with the late Lord Playfair as his instructor in chemistry, and with other equally distinguished teachers in specific lines or subjects. The public was at this time taking much interest in these studies of the Heir Apparent and fear was expressed that he might, perhaps, be over-educated. Punch expressed this feeling in the following lines:

"To the south from the north, from the shores of the Forth,
Where at hands Presbyterian pure science is quaffed,
The Prince, in a trice, is whipped to the Isis,
Where Oxford keeps springs mediæval on draught.

Dipped in grey Oxford mixture (lest that be a fixture),
The poor lad's to be plunged in less orthodox Cam.,
Where dynamics and statics, and pure mathematics,
Will be piled on his brain's awful cargo of cram."

After three months of Edinburgh training the Prince Consort went down and held a sort of conference with the teachers. He wrote as to the result[4] that they all spoke highly of their pupil, who seemed to have shown zeal and goodwill. "Dr. Lyon Playfair is giving him lectures on chemistry in relation to manufactures and, at the close of each special course, he visits the appropriate manufactory with him so as to explain its practical application. Dr. Schmitz gives him lectures on Roman history. Italian, German and French are advanced at the same time; and three times a week the Prince exercises with the 16th Hussars who are stationed in the city." It was of this period that Sir Wemyss Reid, in his biography of Lord Playfair, tells an amusing story. The Prince and Dr. Playfair were standing near a cauldron containing lead which was boiling at white heat. "Has Your Royal Highness any faith in science," said the Professor and the reply was, "Certainly." The latter then carefully washed the Prince's hand with ammonia and said:

"Will you now place your hand in this boiling metal and ladle out a portion of it?"

"Do you tell me to do this?" asked the Prince.

The answer was in the affirmative and the Prince instantly put his hand into the boiling mass and ladled out some of it without sustaining any injury. Following this period of study at Edinburgh University came the celebration of the Prince's nineteenth birthday and a hunting party in the Highlands. Thence the Prince went to Oxford for a time and was admitted a member of Christ Church College where he joined freely in the social life and sports of the institution. On January 16, 1861, after his return from Canada, he became an under-graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, and was allowed, by special favour, to live in a neighbouring village with his Governor—Colonel Bruce. Here lectures were again given to the Prince by Canon Kingsley and the young man was kept pretty close to his studies during the winter of that year. In the summer he went on military duty in Ireland and the Queen thus recorded in her Diary a visit paid to him at Curragh on August 26th: "At a little before three we went to Bertie's hut which is, in fact, Sir George Brown's. It is very comfortable—a nice little bedroom, sitting-room, drawing-room, and a good sized dining-room where we lunched, with our whole party. Col. Percy commands the Guards and Bertie is placed specially under him. I spoke to him and thanked him for treating Bertie as he did, just like any other officer, for I know that he keeps him up to his work in a way, as General Bruce told me, that no one else had done; and yet Bertie likes him very much."

DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT

This was the last birthday of the Prince Consort and it was spent travelling to Killarney with the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the younger members of the Royal family. A few days there and then the young Prince returned to camp. In the autumn he visited the Rhine manœuvres of the German army and met his future bride, the Princess Alexandra. He then returned to Cambridge and from thence journeyed in haste to Windsor on December 13th to be present at his father's death-bed on the following evening. No sadder event has occurred in the history of English royalty than this premature and much-mourned death of the good and really great Prince Consort. To the young Heir Apparent it meant the loss of a loving father, a careful guardian, a watchful and wise adviser. To the wife and widow it meant the ruin of a great happiness and a sorrow which no passing years could ever remove. Sir Theodore Martin's beautiful description of the scene at the death-bed, at which knelt the Queen, the Princess Alice, the Princess Helena and the Prince of Wales, may well be given here: "In the solemn hush of that mournful chamber there was such grief as has rarely hallowed any death-bed. A great light, which had blessed the world, and which the mourners had but yesterday hoped might long bless it, was waning fast away. A husband, a father, a friend, a master, endeared by every quality by which man in such relations can win the love of his fellow-man, was passing into the Silent Land, and his loving glance, his wise counsels, his firm, manly thought should be known among them no more. The Castle clock chimed the third quarter after ten. Calm and peaceful grew the beloved form; the features settled into the beauty of a perfectly serene repose; two or three long, but gentle breaths were drawn; and that great soul had fled to seek a nobler scope for its aspirations in the world within the veil, for which it had often yearned, where there is rest for the weary, and where 'the spirits of the just are made perfect.'"

Not long before his death the Prince Consort had readily agreed to his son's wish for a visit to the Holy Land and had planned the preliminaries of the tour before he was stricken by the disease which carried him off. After that sad event it was felt by the Queen that such a journey would now be doubly wise and proper and she made arrangements for General Bruce to accompany the Prince, together with Major Teesdale, Captain Keppel and a small suite. By special wish of the Prince Consort and at the urgent request of the Queen, the Rev. Dr. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley consented to accompany the Prince. He joined the Royal party at Alexandria on February 28, 1862, and they at once proceeded to Cairo and from thence visited the Pyramids. A little later Palestine was reached and, following in the historic steps of Richard Cœur de Lion and Edward I., another Heir to the British Throne finally reached Jerusalem. The closely-guarded Cave of Macphelah was opened to the Prince of Wales as well as the famous Mosque of Hebron which for nearly seven hundred years had been closed to even Royal visitors. Lake Tiberias, Bethany, Bethlehem, the Groves of Jericho, were visited and some time was spent in tents upon the journey to Damascus. From thence the party traveled to Beyrout, visited Tyre and Sidon, and proceeded to Tripoli. The journey was made by the Prince so as to include Patmos, Ephesus, Smyrna, Constantinople, Athens and Malta. From every place where it was possible the Prince collected flowers which he carefully sent to his sister, the Princess Royal. Of His Royal Highness during this interesting tour Dean Stanley put on record his opinion at the time: "It is impossible not to like him and to be constantly with him brings out his astonishing memory of names and persons.... I am more and more struck by the amiable and endearing qualities of the Prince."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Sarah, Lady Lyttelton, daughter of the second Earl Spencer and wife of the third Lord Lyttelton. Born 1787, Died 1870.

[2] This officer afterwards became Major-General Sir C. C. Teesdale V.C., K.C.M.G., C.B. and was A.D.C. to the Queen in 1877-87. Major Lindsay was better known in later years as Colonel Sir Robert Lloyd-Lindsay K.C.B. In 1885 he was raised to the Peerage as Lord Wantage.

[3] He afterwards became a Major-General in the Army and died in 1862 of fever caught while with the Prince of Wales during his Eastern tour.

[4] Martin's Life of the Prince Consort.

CHAPTER III.

Royal Tour of British America and the United States

The first important public event in the career of the young Prince was one which, during forty years, has held a marked place in Canadian memories and a prominent place in Canadian and American history. In some respects the tour of the Prince of Wales, in 1860, through the scattered and disconnected Provinces of British America has wielded an influence far out of proportion to the contemporary judgment of the event; beyond, perhaps, what the Queen and Prince Consort in their wise and patriotic policy of the time hoped to achieve. It was, in reality, the first break in the hitherto steady progress of the Manchester school theory regarding ultimate Empire disruption; the first check given to the widely accepted doctrine that the Colonies were of no use except for trade and, in any case, were like the fruit which ripens only to fall from the parent stem.

Mr. Bright, Lord John Russell, Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Mr. Cobden, Lord Ashburton, Lord Ellenborough, Lord Derby, and many others, were at this time touched with the blight of these theories and to them there was no sense, and nothing but expense, in trying to cultivate Colonial loyalty or promote Colonial co-operation.

IMPERIAL CONDITIONS IN 1860

To this school—and it was one embracing many able men and thinkers—trade was more important than any other consideration, and the greatest object of external policy was the development of friendly relations with the United States. American extension of territory was not looked upon with alarm even when it took a slice of the Maine boundary and threatened trouble over that of Oregon. The Republic had not yet gone in seriously for high protection and did not, therefore, vitally touch the pockets of patriots who could not foresee, even in their keen regard for commerce and its development, that trade and territory were in the future to be most intimately related.

The Queen and Prince Consort did, however, understand something of the future of the Empire—dimly it might be but still effectively. It had been announced during the progress of the Crimean War that a Royal tour of British America might be arranged within a few years, and the Canadian Legislature, on May 14th, 1859, took advantage of the coming completion of the great Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence, at Montreal, to tender a formal invitation to the Sovereign herself to be present at the opening ceremonies; to receive a personal tribute of the unwavering attachment of her subjects; and to more closely unite the bonds which attached the Province to the Empire. This unanimously-passed address was taken to London by Mr. Speaker Henry Smith, and the response elicited was most favourable to the indirect request of the Assembly and Legislative Council—the initiative in the matter being due to a motion by the Hon. P. M. M. S. Vankoughnet in the latter House. The Governor-General received a reply, dated January 30th, 1860, and signed by the Duke of Newcastle, Colonial Secretary, which stated that Her Majesty greatly regretted that her duties at the Seat of the Empire would prevent so long an absence, but that it might be possible for H. R. H. the Prince of Wales to attend the ceremony at a later date. "The Queen trusts that nothing may interfere with this arrangement for it is Her Majesty's sincere desire that the young Prince, on whom the Crown of this Empire will devolve, may have the opportunity of visiting that portion of her dominions from which this Address has proceeded and may become acquainted with a people in whose progress towards greatness, Her Majesty, in common with her subjects in Great Britain, feels a lively and enduring sympathy."

THE PRINCE COMMENCES HIS TOUR

Preparations were at once commenced in the British Provinces to properly receive the Royal guest. By the 9th of July all arrangements in England had been made, including the acceptance of an invitation to visit the United States—as a private gentleman under the title of Lord Renfrew. On that date the Prince sailed from Plymouth in the ship Hero after replying to a farewell address, when he declared that he was proceeding to "the great possessions of the Queen in North America with a lively anticipation of the pleasure which the sight of a noble land, great works of nature and human skill and a generous and active people must produce." The Royal suite was composed of the Duke of Newcastle—practically guardian to the youthful Prince; the Earl of St. Germans, Lord Chamberlain to the Queen; General, the Hon. Robert Bruce; Dr. Auckland and two Equerries—Major Teesdale, V.C., and Captain Grey.

Newfoundland was first reached on July 23d. An enthusiastic reception was given to the Royal visitor at St. John's by ringing bells, lusty cheers, waving flags and evening illuminations. The Prince was received by the Governor, Sir Alexander Bannerman, and then passed in procession through beautiful arches and decorations to Government House. A levée was held, many addresses received and a collective reply given, in which the Prince made the statement that "I shall carry back a lively recollection of the day's proceedings and your kindness to myself personally; but, above all, of these hearty demonstrations of patriotism which prove your deep-rooted attachment to the great and free country of which we all glory to be called sons." A ride around the town followed, without ceremony, and in the evening a state dinner and ball were given. The attendance at the latter was very large and the Prince delighted everyone, and particularly the ladies, by dancing with evident zest and pleasure until three o'clock in the morning. During the day thus commenced he left the Island amid every evidence of popularity and loyalty—after accepting a handsome Newfoundland dog as a present from the people and presenting Lady Bannerman with a set of jewels in commemoration of his visit.

ARRIVAL AT HALIFAX

The Royal squadron arrived at Halifax on the morning of July 30th and, despite unpleasant weather, the entire city turned out to welcome the Queen's son. The streets were lined by the regular soldiers and volunteers and were beautifully decorated with arches, transparencies and evergreens. The arches numbered seventeen and included one which the Roman Catholic Archbishop Connolly had erected at his own expense. The Prince was received by His Excellency the Earl of Mulgrave—afterwards Marquess of Normanby—and Rear-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, Major-General Trollope and the members of the Provincial Government. Mayor Caldwell read an address expressing "devotion to the British throne and attachment to British institutions" and His Royal Highness in reply referred to the noble Harbour of Halifax in which all the navies of Great Britain could "ride in safety." There was much enthusiasm shown in the streets and at one point 4000 children sang an adaptation of the National Anthem as a sort of welcoming ode. At Government House the Hon. William Young read an address from the Executive Council of the Province in which special reference was made to the Nova Scotians who had won laurels "beneath the Imperial flag" in the recent Crimean campaign. It was signed by the Hon. Joseph Howe, the Hon. A. G. Archibald, the Hon. J. McCully, the Hon. William Annand and others and, in replying, the Prince made a significant allusion to the Confederation policy of several years later when he expressed hopes for their happiness as a loyal and united people.

On the following day a Royal review was held and in the evening a state dinner and ball were attended while illuminations turned the darkness of the outside night into brightness. At the ball the ladies selected as partners, according to a contemporary historian, were "principally the wives and daughters—much oftener the latter—of gentlemen connected with the staff or with the Government of the Province." The same writer[5] states that when the Prince adjourned to supper he begged that the ball might not proceed in his absence "as he would not be long away and his programme was full." The third day in Halifax included a Levée at Government House; the reception of the addresses from the Church of England, King's College, Windsor, the Masons, the Methodist Conference, the Free Church of Scotland, the Kirk of Scotland, the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, and Acadia College. A visit followed to the one-time residence and grounds of H. R. H. the Duke of Kent and a Regatta was witnessed. A state dinner and reception at Government House, a torch-light procession of Firemen and a display of fireworks in the evening closed the events of the visit. Early in the morning of August 2nd, His Royal Highness left for St. John—stopping on the way at Windsor, which was beautifully decorated, to receive an address and partake of a banquet. An address was also accepted at Hautsport.

On the following morning the Prince was welcomed at St. John by Mr. Manners-Sutton, the Lieutenant-Governor, the members of the Government, the Judges, etc. At one point during the procession to his temporary residence 5000 school children sang patriotic airs and threw flowers at their Royal guest. The usual addresses and evening illuminations followed—the latter eclipsing those of Halifax, or St. John's, Newfoundland. August 4th and the Sunday which followed were spent at Fredericton. The Anglican Cathedral was attended there and a sermon from Bishop Medley listened to. On the following day the Executive Council presented an address in which it stated that "if the necessity should ever arise all the available resources of New Brunswick will be freely offered for the defence of Imperial interests and the maintenance of national honour." The address from the City referred to "the universal heart-throb of our Empire of perpetual sunlight" and another address was presented from the Anglican clergy. The Prince replied appropriately to each and afterwards held a Levée at Government House and attended a grand ball held in his honour. On Tuesday, August 7th, he started from Prince Edward Island, being enthusiastically welcomed on the way at Indiantown and Carleton in New Brunswick, and at Truro and Picton in Nova Scotia.

The Prince of Wales arrived at Charlottetown on the morning of August 9th and, despite pouring rain, was received by crowds in a tastefully decorated city. He was formally welcomed by Lieutenant-Governor George Dundas, Chief Justice Hodgson, Premier, the Hon. Charles Palmer, and all the dignitaries and officials of the Island. As the procession passed to Government House 2000 children sang the National Anthem and the crowds cheered enthusiastically. A Levée was held on the following day, a review of the volunteers proceeded with, and addresses received from the Provincial and Civic authorities. A ball at the Provincial Building concluded the festivities and the Prince danced until three in the morning. The Royal visitor then departed for the Upper Provinces and arrived in Gaspé Bay, on August 12th, after seeing much that was beautiful in the way of scenery. Here the Prince was formally welcomed to the Canada of that day by His Excellency Sir Edmund W. Head, Governor-General of all British America, and by the Canadian Ministry, which included the Hon. John A. Macdonald, George E. Cartier, A. T. Galt, John Ross, N. F. Belleau, J. C. Morrison, L. S. Morin and others of historic name. A visit to the gloomy and splendid scenes along the Saguenay followed and on August 17th, after passing further up the St. Lawrence, Quebec was reached by the Royal fleet. The succeeding day was marked by His Royal Highness' first public entry into Canada.

THE ROYAL WELCOME AT QUEBEC

No more splendid natural setting for a national event can be found in the world than that afforded by the crowning heights, the broad sweep of river, the ancient and towering fortress of Quebec. Upon this occasion the old-fashioned French city, nestling upon the sides of the cliff, was vivid with flags and the narrow streets filled with arches, while crowds of interested people thronged every part of the place. The Heir to the Throne was formally received at the wharf by the Governor-General, who was accompanied by the Canadian Ministry in their uniforms of blue and gold; Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington; Lieutenant-General Sir W. Fenwick Williams, Commander of the Forces; Sir A. N. McNab, Sir E. P. Taché, Major H. L. Langevin and others prominent in the public life of the Provinces. In a special Pavilion which had been erected, the Prince was presented by Major Langevin—better known to a subsequent generation as Sir Hector Langevin, M.P.—with an address describing the loyalty of the French population to British institutions and connection. In his reply the Royal guest spoke of the differences of origin, language and religion as being "lost in one universal spirit of patriotism which had knit all classes to the Mother-land in common ties of equal liberty and free institutions." During the procession through the city which followed there was much cheering, and in the evening, despite the rain which had poured all day, the illuminations were exceedingly good.

On the following day the Anglican Cathedral was attended by His Royal Highness with the Governor-General and their suites. The succeeding day was again stormy but a visit was paid to the Chaudière Falls and on Tuesday a Levée was held at the old Parliament Buildings attended by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy of the Province of Quebec in a body, clad in purple robes, and followed in order by the Judges and members of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the United Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada—as Ontario and Quebec were then generally called. An address was presented on behalf of the Council by its Speaker, the Hon. N. F. Belleau and replied to by the Prince, after which he conferred the honour of knighthood upon Mr. Belleau. An address was then presented on behalf of the Assembly by its Speaker, the Hon. Henry Smith, who also received the distinction of being personally knighted by the Royal visitor. Other addresses were presented and later in the day a visit was paid to the beautiful Falls of Montmorenci—the route to which was ornamented with arches, flags and evergreens. In the evening a grand ball was given and the Prince danced through almost the entire programme. On the following day a visit was paid to Laval University and an address received from the Roman Catholic Hierarchy at the hands of Bishop Horan of Kingston, as well as one from the University. The former document stated that the Church was always careful to teach that Kings reign by God's will and that, therefore, "entire submission is due to the authority they have received from on high." They believed "traditional respect for the high moral principle of legitimate authority" to be the real strength of Canadian society. The Prince responded in fitting terms to both addresses. The Ursuline Convent was also visited and an address received. In the evening a display of fireworks was given and on the morning of August 23rd His Royal Highness departed for Three Rivers.

THE PRINCE AT MONTREAL

The trip up the River was a pleasant one and, after a brief stay at Three Rivers where the Mayor—Mr. J. E. Turcotte M.P.P.—presented an address, the journey was resumed to Montreal. Accompanying the steamer Kingston (which had been specially fitted up for this occasion) from Three Rivers was another containing the members of the Legislature. All along the shores of the St. Lawrence were little crowds of habitants striving for a glimpse of the Royal visitor and, when nearing Montreal, he was received by a fleet of vessels crowded with cheering people. The reception in the city commenced on the morning of August 25th and was marked by the gathering of numerous crowds and intense interest. An address was presented by Mr. Charles S. Rodier, the Mayor of Montreal, in a handsome Pavilion specially erected for the purpose, and surrounded by the entire military and volunteer force of the district and city. The Mayor in his scarlet robes, the Ministers in their new Windsor uniforms, the officers in their varied military dress and Bishop Fulford and the Anglican clergy in their gowns, made quite a brilliant spectacle on the dais. After the Prince had replied to the address the Royal procession passed through the city to the Crystal Palace, the streets being gay with flags, banners, evergreens, transparencies and eight, more or less, handsome arches.

At the new building, or Crystal Palace, an Exhibition was duly opened by the Prince, who then proceeded to the Victoria Bridge station where he was met by the Hon. John Ross, President of the Grand Trunk Railway, and other officials. An address was presented descriptive of the great structure across the St. Lawrence and, after his reply, the Prince was taken from the station to the Bridge in a carriage lined with crimson velvet and there proceeded to formally open it for public use. An elaborate luncheon, attended by 600 persons and presided over by Sir Edmund Head, followed. After receiving an address from the workmen employed in the undertaking His Royal Highness returned to the city and in the evening witnessed illuminations which made Montreal a blaze of light. On Sunday, the 26th, the Prince attended Christ Church Cathedral and heard a sermon from Bishop Fulford. During the succeeding day he witnessed a lacrosse game by Indians, watched a procession of Temperance organizations, and held a Levée at the Court House where addresses were presented from the Church of England, McGill College, the inhabitants of Red River Colony—now the City of Winnipeg—and others.

In the evening one of the finest balls ever given on the Continent of America was attended by the Prince. The decorations were gorgeous and yet tasteful and the Royal guest is stated to have danced incessantly until half-past four in the morning. On Tuesday he visited Dickenson's Landing in a special car built by the Grand Trunk Railway and from thence went down the Rapids of the St. Lawrence in the steamer Kingston. The evening saw a Grand Musical Festival in his honour and on the following day a Royal review of 1600 troops took place. A visit followed to Sir George Simpson's residence at Isle Dorval, accompanied by a canoe excursion down the St. Lawrence under the auspices of the Hudson's Bay Company, of which Sir G. Simpson had so long been head. The evening witnessed a torch-light procession of Montreal Firemen. On August 30th the Royal visitor, the Governor-General and their suites, took a special train for St. Hyacinthe where the Prince was enthusiastically received and several addresses presented at the Roman Catholic College. At Sherbrooke, in the afternoon, flags were flying everywhere and arches had been erected on all the principal streets. An address was read by the Mayor, Mr. J. G. Robertson—afterwards for many years Treasurer of the Province. A visit was then paid to the residence of the Hon. A. T. Galt, Minister of Finance, and on the way thither His Royal Highness was almost smothered in bouquets of flowers thrown at him by young women along the route. A Levée was held here and hundreds of people presented. At Montreal in the evening, a great display of fireworks took place and on the following morning the Prince left the city finally.

KING EDWARD AS PRINCE OF WALES
When visiting Canada in 1860

VISIT OF KING EDWARD WHEN PRINCE OF WALES TO TORONTO IN 1860

AT THE CAPITAL OF THE UNITED PROVINCES

At every village and town and tiny settlement on the way to Ottawa crowds turned out to welcome and cheer the passing visitor; while flags and arches and decorations indicated the pleasure of the people in more practical shape. Near the capital of the United Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada—seven years hence to be the capital of the new Dominion—the Prince of Wales was received by a fleet of steamers and 1200 lumbermen and Indians in birch-bark canoes and was escorted into the city in a most picturesque style. Mayor Workman presented an address and a procession through the capital followed. On September 1st the corner stone of the splendid Parliament Buildings, which afterwards graced the hills of the Chaudière, was laid by the Royal visitor amid scenes of considerable dignity and much enthusiasm. Amongst those present were H. E. Sir Edmund Head, Lord Mulgrave, General Sir Fenwick Williams, Hon. John A. Macdonald and the other members of the Ministry. In the afternoon a state luncheon was given by the Government at which the Governor-General presided and the toasts proposed were presented respectively by His Excellency, Sir N. F. Belleau, Sir Henry Smith and the Prince himself. A visit to the Chaudière Falls followed and the usual illuminations were given in the evening. On Sunday Christ Church Cathedral was attended and early in the succeeding day the journey was resumed—Arnprior, Almonte and Brockville being visited and addresses received.

At this point in the tour occurred an unfortunate misunderstanding with the Orangemen of Kingston and Toronto. While in Montreal the Duke of Newcastle—who was practically in charge of the Prince's movements so far as they affected state and public interests—heard that the members of the Loyal Orange Order proposed to erect arches along the route of the Royal procession in Toronto and Kingston and to decorate them with Orange colours and regalia. The Duke at once wrote to Sir Edmund Head that this would not do. "It is obvious that a display of this nature on such an occasion is likely to lead to religious feud and breach of the peace; and it is my duty to prevent, so far as I am able, the exposure of the Prince to supposed participation in a scene so much to be deprecated, and so alien to the spirit in which he visits Canada." He added that if the policy was persisted in he would advise the Prince not to visit the places in question.

Sectarian feeling, it may be added, was very strong at this time in Upper Canada and the Catholics and Orangemen were drawn up in two distinctly hostile camps of religious and political thought. This was especially the case in Toronto and Kingston. The Governor-General at once wrote the Mayors of these two towns under date of August 31st and, in the course of his letter said: "You will bear in mind, Sir, that His Royal Highness visits this Colony on the special invitation of the whole people, as conveyed by both branches of the Legislature, without distinction of creed or party; and it would be inconsistent with the spirit and object of such an invitation, and such a visit, to thrust on him the exhibition of banners or other badges of distinction which are known to be offensive to any of Her Majesty's subjects." Roman Catholics called meetings to protest at the intended action of the Orangemen; the latter met in public and private and convinced themselves that the representatives of the former were being allowed to control the Prince's movements. They pointed to their own well-known loyalty to the Crown and British institutions and to the fact that Roman Catholics had been permitted every privilege in welcoming the Prince in Lower Canada. Eventually, although the Duke of Newcastle made every effort to smooth matters over, the City Council of Kingston and the Orangemen of that place refused to give way and the steamer Kingston, after sixteen hours had been given for consideration, passed in her course to Belleville without the Prince landing in the gaily decorated and historic town.

Writing from the steamer on September 5th, before leaving for the next destination in the Royal tour, the Duke wrote to the Mayor a long letter in which the following sentence occurs: "What is the sacrifice I asked the Orangemen to make? Merely to abstain from displaying in the presence of a young Prince of 19 years of age—the heir to a sceptre which rules over millions of every form of Christianity—symbols of religious and political organization which are notoriously offensive to the members of another creed!" He expressed regret that the City Council had not accepted the suggestion to present their address on board the steamer as had been done by the Church of Scotland Synod. The reply of the Mayor, Mr. O. S. Strange, disclaimed sympathy with the Orangemen while defending a refusal to approve the advice given to the Prince of Wales. It also pointed out that the garbs and flags of the Orange Order were no more compromising to the Royal visitor than were the robes and insignia of the Catholic Hierarchy of Quebec during the reception in that Province.

ROYAL RECEPTION AT TORONTO

Belleville was reached on September 5th, but no landing was effected on account of Orange troubles of the same kind as at Kingston. The disappointment of the people was extreme, as the preparations had been elaborate and the decorations costly. Visits followed to Cobourg, where a ball was given; to Rice Lake, where an address was received from the Mississaga Indians; to Peterborough, Whitby and Port Hope, which were most lavishly decorated. Toronto was reached on September 7th and the greatest reception of the tour given to the Royal visitor. As the centre of Orange sentiment in Upper Canada some difficulty was feared, and as a matter of fact there was a misunderstanding between the Duke of Newcastle and Mayor Wilson—afterwards Sir Adam Wilson, Chief Justice of Ontario—regarding the Orange arch; but this was ultimately smoothed over. The city was gay with flags and decorations; nine arches had been erected in the principal streets; a large amphitheatre was built for the purposes of the formal reception; and the city was crowded with people. At the amphitheatre an address was received from the city and replied to by the Prince in a speech in which he referred to the generous loyalty of his welcome as the Queen's representative—"a loyalty tempered and yet strengthened by the intelligent independence of the Canadian character." A welcome was sung by 5000 school children and a procession through Toronto followed. Brilliant illuminations in the evening made the town bright and in the ensuing morning the Prince held a Levée at which one thousand gentlemen were presented.

Addresses were presented during this function from the Upper Canada Bible Society, the Church of England Synod Trinity University, the Presbyterian Synod, the St. George's Society, the Temperance organizations, the County Council of York, and Knox College, and were duly replied to. In the afternoon His Royal Highness attended a reception given by the Law Society and in the evening a dance under the same auspices at Osgoode Hall. On the next day, Sunday, the Prince attended service at St. James Cathedral and listened to a sermon from Bishop Strachan. On Monday, an excursion was made to Collingwood, on the Georgian Bay, and the Prince was accompanied by the Governor-General, Sir Fenwick Williams and the Hon. Messrs. A. T. Galt, P. M. Vankoughnet, W. B. Robinson, J. Hillyard Cameron and others, as well as by his suite. At Newmarket, Aurora, Bradford and Barrie addresses were received and at every point along the Northern Railway there were decorations and crowds of people.

At Collingwood there was luncheon and an enthusiastic reception and the Prince then returned to Toronto, where he watched the games of the Canadian Highland Society for a time. September 11th was a very wet day, but the Royal visitor attended a Regatta held under the auspices of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club, opened Queen's Park, and laid a pedestal for a statue to the Queen. He also reviewed the Toronto Volunteer Corps, and visited the University of Toronto where he received an address as well as one from Upper Canada College. A visit to the Educational Department of the Province and Knox College followed and a busy day was concluded by a great ball in the evening, at which the Prince danced until four in the morning.

THE PRINCE IN THE WEST

On September 12th His Royal Highness left Toronto for a trip through the western portion of Upper Canada (Ontario) and was welcomed at every station by decorations and cheering crowds. Arches were everywhere and salutes were fired with frequency. A short stop was made at Guelph and Stratford and an address was received at the German settlement of Peterburg, to which the Prince replied in the same language. In the afternoon London was reached and an enthusiastic reception given which included a torchlight procession and evening illuminations. Sarnia was visited on the following day and, besides the usual addresses, one was presented from the Indians of Upper Canada. At London, in the evening, a ball was given and the young Prince danced with the animation which he had displayed at all the entertainments of this character given in his honour. On September 14th he proceeded to visit Niagara Falls in a new and beautiful car specially constructed by the Great Western Railway Company.

Woodstock, Paris, Brantford, Dunnville and Port Colborne were visited en route, and at the Falls in the evening most exquisite illuminations were exhibited for the pleasure of the visitor—lines of fire running along the cliffs while other kinds of light intensified the natural splendour of the scene. During his several days at this point, the Prince saw Blondin cross the chasm on a rope; attended service at the little church in the Canadian village; paid a brief visit to the American fort on the other side of Niagara River; saw the Welland Canal and visited Queenston Heights and the tomb of Sir Isaac Brock. At the latter place he received an address from one hundred and sixty survivors of the War of 1812 at the hands of Chief Justice Sir J. Beverley Robinson and, on September 18th, laid the corner-stone of an obelisk in honour of the chief Canadian hero of that contest. A visit to Port Dalhousie and Hamilton followed, and at the latter place the reception was marked by splendid decorations and much enthusiasm.

In his reply to the address the Royal visitor was more than usually impressive—no doubt realizing that the end of this visit to a great country of the future was close at hand. "I can never forget," he said, "the scenes I have witnessed during the short time in which I have enjoyed the privilege of associating myself with the Canadian people, which must ever be a bright epoch in my life. I shall bear away with me a grateful remembrance of kindness and affection which, as yet, I have been unable to do anything to merit; and it shall be the constant effort of my future years to prove myself not unworthy of the love and confidence of a generous people." Fire-works, a state concert, a visit to the Central School, a luncheon at the Royal Hotel, a visit to the waterworks and a grand ball in the evening were amongst the events of the stay in Hamilton. On September 20th the last address received and answered by His Royal Highness in Canada was presented by the Agricultural Society of Upper Canada. To its loyal phrases the King and Emperor of a distant future made this final response: "My duties as representative of the Queen, deputed by her to visit British North America, cease this day; but in a private capacity I am about to visit, before I return home, that remarkable land which claims with us a common ancestry and in whose extraordinary progress every Englishman feels a common interest. Before I quit British soil let me once more address through you the inhabitants of United Canada and bid them an affectionate farewell. May God pour down his choicest blessings upon this great and loyal people."

THE PRINCE OF WALES IN THE UNITED STATES

Windsor was reached in the evening and after words of loyal greeting had been received from its people, the Prince of Wales left Canadian soil and, accompanied by the Governor of Michigan and the Mayor of Detroit, crossed the river to United States territory and was welcomed there as Lord Renfrew—one of his many minor titles. This part of the Royal tour had been arranged as a result of an invitation received by the Queen from President Buchanan dated June 4th, 1860, and expressing the hope that His Royal Highness' visit would be extended to the Republic. This had been agreed to by the Queen who intimated in reply that, while in the United States, the Prince would drop all Royal state and travel under the name of Lord Renfrew as he was accustomed to do on the Continent of Europe. It may be said, in passing, that this incognito was very slightly observed and that the Royal visitor was welcomed everywhere as the heir to the British throne and the son of a much-respected and friendly Sovereign.

At Detroit the Prince parted from the Governor-General of Canada and the members of the Canadian Government who had hitherto accompanied him and, after a drive around the city and a brilliant illumination in the evening, departed on the morning of September 21st for Chicago. A special car was provided by the Michigan Central Railway. At Chicago there was no formal welcome or function; no particular enthusiasm or crowds. The Prince was driven around the great new city of the West and enjoyed his first experience of the panorama of American development which that centre even then presented. He did not stay long and on the 22nd departed for Dwight, in the same State, where four days were spent in shooting. On September 27th he arrived at St. Louis, then a place of about seventeen thousand people, and here His Royal Highness visited the State Fair. There were estimated to have been twenty-eight thousand persons in the amphitheatre of the Fair and a curious incident of the visit is recorded by a writer, already quoted, who states that a vain search of the city had been made for a Union Jack to place beside the American flag on the central building.

From St. Louis the Prince proceeded to Cincinnati, in Ohio, and on the evening of September 29th attended a ball given by an enterprising citizen who had just erected a handsome new theatre. On Sunday, St. John's Church was visited and a sermon preached by Bishop McIlvaine. Pittsburg was reached on October 1st and an enthusiastic but informal reception accorded. Harrisburg was the next place visited and it was noted that, as the Prince and his suite went further east and south, the curious crowds gave place to increasingly enthusiastic crowds. At Baltimore immense throngs of people had gathered and thence on October 3rd the Royal party proceeded to Washington which they reached in the afternoon. The Prince, who had been accompanied through American territory by Lord Lyons, the British Minister, was welcomed to the capital by General Cass and then driven to the White House where, in the evening, a state reception was given in his honour.

On the following day the President held a Levée, accompanied by "Lord Renfrew," and a great number of people attended. Afterwards a visit was paid to the handsome public buildings of the city. On October 5th, President Buchanan, his niece, Miss Harriet Lane, the Prince of Wales and many members of the American Cabinet and Diplomatic Corps, as well as the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Lyons, visited Mount Vernon. There, for a few moments, the descendant of George III. stood with uncovered head before the tomb of George Washington. In the evening a state dinner was given by Lord Lyons and on the following day the Prince left Washington for Richmond. Here his most enjoyable experience is said to have been, not the historical explanations and hospitable companionship of Governor Letcher, but the first taste of a mint julep mixed by a negro of much local fame in the preparation of this cooling drink. Baltimore was visited on October 8th and Philadelphia on the 10th. At some of these centres of population the Prince was able to spend a part of the day, incognito, amongst the people who, in perfect ignorance of his presence, no doubt taught the future King of Great Britain much that he would never otherwise have known as to public opinion in a country where the courses of freedom were uncontrolled by custom and unshackled by precedent or tradition. A feature of the visit to Philadelphia was a splendid concert given in the Opera House, at which Patti and others sang to a brilliant audience amidst striking decorations. To the verses of "God Save the Queen" were added the following lines:

"Long may the Prince abide,
England's hope, joy and pride,
Long live the Prince;
May England's future King,
Victoria's virtues bring,
To grace his reign.
God save the Prince."

On October 11th the Prince of Wales arrived in New York and was welcomed on his steamer by General Winfield Scott and a reception committee. At the landing place Mayor Fernando Wood received him with the simple words: "As Chief Magistrate of this city, I welcome you here and believe that I represent the entire population without exception." The guest's reply was equally brief and then, clad in a Colonel's uniform, the Prince was driven through crowded streets to the City Hall, where six thousand soldiers were reviewed, and thence to the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The only unpleasant incident of the visit was the refusal of an Irish regiment to turn out upon this occasion with the other troops. During the following day His Royal Highness visited the University of New York, the Astor Library and the Cooper Institute. At the first-named institution he listened to an address on the electric telegraph from Professor Morse. In the evening a splendid ball was given at the Academy of Music where brilliant decorations vied with the beautiful costumes.

On the following day the Prince, with his suite, visited Brady's photograph gallery and Barnum's Museum and, in the evening, witnessed a torch-light procession of five thousand Firemen. At the first-named place he inspected and asked for portraits of the eminent men of the United States and especially inquired for one of Secretary W. L. Marcy. Trinity Church was attended on Sunday and a sermon heard from the Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton—assisted in the service by a number of other clergymen. The church was crowded and ten thousand people waited outside to see the Royal visitor. New York was left on the following morning and West Point and Albany visited. In the afternoon of October 17th the Prince and his suite arrived at Boston and were formally welcomed by the Governor of Massachusetts as representing a country with which the American people were, he declared, united by "many ties of language, law and liberty." At luncheon the Hon. Edward Everett was one of the guests as the Hon. W. H. Seward had been at a dinner in Albany. In the afternoon a children's concert was given at the Music Hall in honour of the Prince and an Ode written by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes was sung with enthusiasm to the air of the British National anthem. It commenced with the following verse:

"God bless our fathers' Land,
Keep her in heart and hand,
One with our own.
From all her foes defend,
Be her brave people's friend,
On all her realms descend
Protect her throne!"

A ball was given in the evening at the Boston Theatre and, on the following morning, a flying visit paid to Cambridge and to Harvard University. Incidentally, it may be added, the Prince met Longfellow, Emerson, Holmes and others during his stay in Boston. On October 20th he reached Portland and, amid roaring cannon, ringing bells and crowds of cheering people passed from the shores of America to his ship in the ranks of a British squadron and thence home to the British Isles. On November 15th, His Royal Highness arrived at Plymouth and shortly afterwards the Duke of Newcastle received the Order of the Garter from the Queen as a token of her appreciation of his conduct during the Royal tour. Under date of December 8th Her Majesty communicated to the American President, through Lord Lyons, her great satisfaction at "the feeling of confidence and affection" which had been shown upon this occasion by the people of the United States towards herself and her country.

Speaking on the same date at Nottingham, England, the Duke of Newcastle stated that during his recent visit to British North America he had "witnessed such devotion to the Sovereign and these realms as no one who had not witnessed it himself would be willing to believe. It was a demonstration of the attachment of the entire people to the throne of England and of their veneration for the lady who at present occupied it. It was a loyalty not of creed, nor of party, nor of race." As to the United States the influence of the Queen's personality had been even more striking. The reception of the Prince there had been an extraordinary one. "With one solitary exception they met with nothing but enthusiasm and, in fact, he did believe that the visit of the Prince of Wales to America had done more to cement the good feeling between the two countries than could possibly have been affected by a quarter of a century of diplomacy."

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Robert Cellem in Visit of the Prince of Wales to Toronto, Canada, 1861.

CHAPTER IV.

The Royal Marriage

Three years after the birth of the Heir to the British Throne, in one of the historic palaces of his family and country, there was born on December 1st, 1844, in a comparatively humble home at Copenhagen, the Princess Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louisa Julia of Denmark. The house was called a palace, her father was Heir to the Throne of Denmark, and became King Christian IX. on November 15th, 1863, but the mansion was, none the less, a quiet and unostentatious place, and the Prince a personage with hardly more resources or a larger revenue than many an English country gentleman.

Simplicity and domesticity were the guiding principles of the Princess Alexandra's education and training. Her mother, the late Queen Louise of Denmark, was beautiful, graceful and clever, and seems to have possessed that love of home which is more rare than even the striking combination of qualities just mentioned. She was passionately fond of music, while Prince Christian was fond of drawing, and these subjects, together with languages and needle-work and all the essentials of the most simple home work and management, were taught to the girls who were respectively to become Empress of Russia, Queen of Great Britain, and Duchess of Cumberland in after years.

As the years passed on the Princess Alexandra became probably the most beautiful girl in the Courts of Europe, and one of the least known outside a limited family circle. When hardly seventeen, and at a period in which the marriage of the young Prince of Wales was being seriously thought of by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he chanced to see a portrait of the Princess. There seems to be no doubt that it was purely by accident—unless the wise and far-seeing Prince Consort indirectly controlled the incident—and that the picture of the lovely young girl, smiling from out of simple surroundings and a simple costume, had an immediate effect. He kept the photograph, and a little later saw a miniature of the Princess at the home of a friend. In a surprisingly short time the Prince had heard that the original of the picture was "the most beautiful girl in Europe," and was on his way to Prussia to attend the military manœuvres of the season. The Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark happened to be travelling in the vicinity at the time.

THE PRINCE MEETS PRINCESS ALEXANDRA

On September 24th, 1861, the Prince of Wales and his party met the Danish Royal party in the Cathedral of Worms, and the former had a first glance at his future wife. Then followed a few days at the Castle of Heidelberg, where they were all guests together, and about which a note in Prince Albert's Diary of September 30th says that "the young people seem to have taken a warm liking for each other." Less than three months after this entry the writer had passed away, but the sad event only made the widowed Queen more anxious for her son's marriage. Further meetings occurred at the Princess Frederick's—the English Crown Princess—and elsewhere, and on September 9th, 1862, the betrothal took place; although it was not publicly announced until November 8th. The Prince was then just twenty-one and the Princess not yet eighteen, and it was understood that some months would elapse before the marriage. Meanwhile, in August, Queen Victoria had first met and been charmed by her future daughter-in-law at the Laacken Palace of the King of the Belgians. The Danish people were naturally delighted at the news, and, poor as they were in a national sense, they at once subscribed a total sum of £8,000 to constitute what was called the People's Dowry. This the Princess accepted with cordial thanks to the nation, but asked that a substantial portion of it be allotted to provide a dowry for six poor girls whose weddings should take place on the same day as her own.

THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS

Meantime the English people were expressing their pleasure at the news in various ways. The House of Commons voted the Prince of Wales a yearly income of £40,000 and his bride-to-be £10,000 for herself. Including the £40,000 from the Duchy of Cornwall this made a reasonable sum, while Sandringham and Marlborough House were allotted as Royal residences—requiring, however, much remodelling and improvement. Preparations of the most elaborate and splendid sort were made to welcome the lovely Danish Princess and into these arrangements the whole people seemed to throw themselves with mingled excitement and pleasure.

In the little Copenhagen palace this turmoil was hardly known; the preparations certainly were not comprehended; and the quiet family were preparing in the most simple way for the great occasion—not the least excitement of the moment being the fact of their all going to England together. The wedding day was fixed for the 10th of March, and a few days before this the Princess left Denmark for her new home; passing over carpets of flowers strewn in her way by pressing and cheering crowds of affectionate people; receiving addresses everywhere, and smiles and tears and good wishes from simple peasants, who had decorated even their hedgerows and who made the departure look like a triumphal procession. Then King Frederick VII., presented her with a necklace of diamonds and a facsimile of the Dagmar Cross—that precious relic of early days and of the first Christian Queen of Denmark.

The Princess arrived in the Thames on board the Victoria and Albert—which had been escorted from Flushing by a squadron of war-ships—on the morning of March 1st, and was welcomed at Gravesend by an outburst of enthusiasm which literally astounded her. A stately and formal reception she had, of course, anticipated but the splendour of what actually appeared, the elaborate character of the preparations, the surprising interest shewn by the people, were indeed revelations of the changed conditions into which the bride of the Heir Apparent had come. At Gravesend the dense crowds which lined the shores, or at least some portion of them, saw a sight which has been well described as pretty—"A timid girlish figure, dressed entirely in white, who appeared on the deck at her mother's side and then retiring to the cabin, was seen first at one window then at another, the bewildering face framed in a little white bonnet; the work of her own hands."

HER RECEPTION IN ENGLAND

When the Prince's yacht approached and he was seen to rush across the gangway, catch his bride in his arms and kiss her, the delight of the onlookers was unconstrained. As the Royal couple landed, girls strewed flowers under their feet. Then followed the glittering procession from Gravesend to London and thence to Windsor through long lines of decorated houses, garlanded and festooned roadways, flashing sabres and gorgeous uniformed soldiers. In London the streets were packed with people; triumphal arches, banners and devices were everywhere. In the poorer streets, in the homes of the artisan and the factory girl, there was the same effort to show pleasure in the happiness of the Princess and appreciation of her grace and beauty as there was in the great residential squares. At Eton there was a triumphal arch and a loyal gathering of enthusiastic boys; at Windsor the Queen received the Princess and conducted her to the suite of rooms which had been lately occupied by the Princess Alice. The first part, the popular reception, was over and it had proved how accurately the Poet Laureate had grasped the situation when he wrote of "the sea-king's daughter from over the sea" and gave that lordly command to the nation:

"Welcome her; thunders of fort and of fleet!
Welcome her; thundering cheer of the street!
Welcome her; all things youthful and sweet!
Scatter the blossoms under her feet."

QUEEN VICTORIA, 1901
The Honored Mother of Edward VII

H. R. H. ALBERT, PRINCE CONSORT, THE FATHER OF EDWARD VII
From a painting by F. Winterhalter

THE CROWN JEWELS OF ENGLAND
These Jewels of untold value are kept to a well protected case in the Tower of London. They include the ancient and modern Crowns

THE CORONATION OF EDWARD VII
King Edward received his crown at the hands of the venerable Archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster Abbey, on August 9, 1902, in the presence of representative peers and commoners of the Empire

CELEBRATION OF THE MARRIAGE

The marriage was celebrated in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on March 10th, the ceremony being performed by Dr. Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishops of London, Winchester and Chester and by Dean Wellesley of Windsor. The Queen, owing to the Prince Consort's recent death, took no part officially but looked on from the Royal closet. The historic Chapel was a blaze of colour and jewels and the wedding guests numbered nine hundred of the highest rank and station and reputation in the land. Mr. Speaker Denison, afterwards Lord Ossington, in his Diary gives a description of the scene. "It was a very magnificent sight—rich, gorgeous and imposing. Beautiful women were arrayed in the richest attire, in bright colours, blue, purple, red, and were covered with diamonds and jewels. Grandmothers looked beautiful: Lady Abercorn, Lady Westminster, Lady Shaftsbury. Among the young, Lady Spencer, Lady Castlereagh, Lady Carmarthen, were bright and brilliant. The Knights of the Garter in their robes looked each of them a fine picture. As each of the Royal persons, with their attendants, walked up the Chapel, at a certain point each stopped and made an obeisance to the Queen—the Princess Mary, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess of Prussia, the Princess Alice of Hesse, the Princess Helena, the Princess Christian, etc., each in turn formed a complete scene. The Princess Alexandra, with her bridesmaids, made the best and most beautiful scene. The Princess looked beautiful and very graceful in her manner and demeanour." The bridesmaids were eight in number—Lady Victoria Scott, Lady Victoria Howard, Lady Agneta Yorke, Lady Feodora Wellesley, Lady Diana Beauclerk, Lady Georgina Hamilton, Lady Alma Bruce, and Lady Helena Hare. They represented many of the noblest houses in England and wore dresses described as being of "white tulle over white glacé silk" and trimmed with roses, shamrocks and white heather. Each of them also wore a locket presented by the Prince of Wales and composed of coral and diamonds so as to represent the red and white national colours of Denmark. It is interesting to note that, in 1898, all these ladies were still living.

During the ceremony, the Prince of Wales was supported by his uncle, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and his brother-in-law, the Crown Prince of Prussia. He wore the uniform of a British General, the Collar of the Garter, the Order of the Star of India and the rich, flowing purple velvet mantle of a Knight of the Garter. Princess Alexandra was given away by her father and wore a white satin skirt trimmed with garlands of orange blossoms and puffings of tulle and Honiton lace, the bodice being draped with the same lace, while the train of silver moire antique was covered with orange blossoms and puffings of tulle. She wore also the diamond and pearl necklace, earings and brooch, given her by the bridegroom and the rivière of diamonds presented by the Corporation of London, as well as three bracelets given, respectively, by the Queen, the ladies of Leeds and the ladies of Manchester. Her beautiful hair was very simply dressed and on it lay a wreath of orange blossoms covered by a veil of Honiton lace. The bridal bouquet was composed of orange blossoms, white rosebuds, orchids and sprigs of myrtle. The actual ceremony was a very short one, the Prince giving his responses clearly, though the Princess was at times almost inaudible. The whole function had been a brilliant one—the first marriage celebrated in this Chapel since that of Henry I. in 1122—and no touch of mourning was allowed to mar the pageantry of the scene and the bright colours of uniforms and dresses.

The wedding breakfast was held in the State dining-room and in St. George's Hall and, while it was proceeding, the King of Denmark was lavishly entertaining both rich and poor in the home country of the Royal bride. Throughout Great Britain that night bon-fires blazed, bells rang, houses were illuminated, balls and festivities were held, school children treated and banquets spread. Edinburgh excelled itself and some one has said that a pen of fire dipped in rainbow hues would have been needed to describe its pyrotechnic display. Meanwhile, the Prince and Princess of Wales had taken their departure for Osborne, which had been lent them by the Queen, and there the brief honeymoon was spent. At Reading, on the way thither, thirty thousand people met the train and presented the Princess with a bouquet. Writing of this most popular of historic weddings Canon Kingsley said in a private letter, dated March 12th, that "one real thing I did see, and felt too, the serious grace and reverent dignity of my dear young Master, whose manner was perfect. And one other real thing—the Queen's sad face. I cannot tell you how auspicious I consider this event or how happy it has made the little knot of us (the Prince's Household in which he had recently become a Chaplain) who love him because we know him. I hear nothing but golden reports of the Princess from those who have known her long." A few days later, on March 25th, Lady Waterford wrote to a friend that she had just seen at a reception "the graceful, charming young Princess of Wales" and that she had been in no way disappointed as to the beauty of which all England was talking. "There was something charming in that very young pair walking up the room together. Her graceful bows and carriage you will delight in and she has—with lovely youth and well-formed features—a look of great intelligence beyond that of a mere girl. She wore the coronet of diamonds and a very long train of cloth of silver trimmed with lace, pearl and diamond necklace, bracelet and a stomacher and two love-locks of rich brown hair floated on her shoulders."

EARLY HOME LIFE OF THE ROYAL COUPLE

The Royal pair did not stay very long on the Isle of Wight and, after a visit to Buckingham Palace and Windsor, entered their new home at Sandringham on March 28th. Here the beautiful personality and character of the Princess soon impressed themselves upon the life of the house and its more public environment. She proved to be a model housewife, later on a model mother, and always and everywhere a model of tactful action and conversation. Pliability and adaptability were useful and important qualities which she found more than serviceable in these early years of her transition from a comparatively humble home to one of continuous splendour and almost constant state. Difficulties there naturally were of many minor sorts and formidable they no doubt were in the sum total. New customs to comprehend and adopt; new intricacies of a not entirely familiar language to become acquainted with; new and varied responsibilities in both domestic and public life to understand and put in practice; qualities of natural diffidence and reserve to overcome. But these and other obstacles were conquered with an apparent ease which concealed any real trouble in the struggle, and the Princess threw herself into the life and work of her husband and the spirit of the English people in a way which has ever since ensured to her the lasting love of those in her immediate circle and the deep-seated affection of the many-sided British public.

During the three or four immediately following years the public appearances of the Prince and Princess of Wales were not numerous. Philanthropic interests were taken up and maintained, but domestic and home interests seemed to hold the first place. In August, 1864, a visit was paid to the Highlands and some weeks spent at Abergeldie. Here, Dr. Norman Macleod was amongst their guests and here they saw much of the Earl and Countess of Fife, parents of their future son-in-law, the present Duke of Fife. An autumn visit to Denmark followed and the Prince for the first time saw his wife's early home. A good deal of shooting was indulged in at and around Bernsdorff and from Elsinore, after a few weeks, the Royal couple went in their yacht to Stockholm on a visit to the King and Queen of Sweden. The infant, Prince Albert Victor, had been with them up to this time but he was now sent home in charge of the Countess de Grey and the Prince and Princess returned by way of Germany and Belgium. A short stay was made with the Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse at Darmstadt and another at Brussels. Sandringham was reached in time to celebrate the twentieth birthday of the Princess.

An incident of this year was the personal subscription of £10,000 by the Prince of Wales toward the erection of the Frogmore Mausoleum in honour of his father and, it may be added, a very marked and significant feature of all his speeches during these years was deep respect and admiration for the Prince Consort's life and memory. In 1865 the Prince made his first State visit to Ireland and on May 9th opened the International Exhibition at Dublin. The weather was beautiful, the loyal demonstrations in the streets were most enthusiastic, the great hall where the ceremony took place was decorated with the flags of the nations and filled with the most distinguished gathering which Ireland could produce. The Duke of Leinster, the Earl of Rosse, and all the leading noblemen of the country were there, as well as the Lord Mayor and Corporation of Dublin in their civic robes, the Mayors of Cork and Waterford and Londonderry, the Lord Mayors of London and York and the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. When His Royal Highness took his place in the Chair of State an orchestra of one thousand voices performed the National Anthem and ten thousand other voices joined in song. After the ceremony, during which the Prince made two brief speeches, he attended in the evening a ball at the Mansion House given by the Lord Mayor. Meanwhile the city was brilliantly illuminated. In the morning he reviewed a number of troops in Phœnix Park and was received with much enthusiasm by the enormous crowds gathered around the scene.

A little later, on May 19th, the Prince attended the opening of an International Reformatory Exhibition at Islington and received and answered an address from its President, Lord Shaftesbury. Three days afterwards he opened the Sailors' Home in the East End of London and was greeted by great crowds of cheering people. On June 5th, he marked his liking for the Drama by inaugurating the Royal Dramatic College at Woking and six days later received a banquet at the hands of the Fishmongers' Company in London. On July 3rd he was distributing prizes at Wellington College attended by the Bishop of Oxford, the Earl of Derby, Earl Stanhope, Lord Eversley and others.

CHAPTER V.

Early Home Life and Varied Duties

During the years immediately succeeding his marriage the career of the Prince of Wales was one of initiation into the responsibilities of home life and the duties of public life. It was a period of moulding influences and a round of functions—some perfunctory, some pleasant. It was a time of trial for a very young man placed in a very high position, and with temptations which might easily have led him into temporary and even permanent forgetfulness of the responsibilities of the future. Several causes, apart from his own natural strength of character, combined to avert such a result. The sympathetic and gracious character of his wife and the perfection of management and detail which she introduced into the home life of Sandringham and the more public and social life of Marlborough House, were factors of importance. The recollection of his father's teachings and high ideals and the knowledge of his Royal mother's character and devotion to principle were important influences. The growth of family ties had its effect, and, finally, the shock of a sickness in 1871, which brought him to the verge of death and showed him the loving affection of the nation, completed the process of education in that difficult and dangerous road which the youthful Heir to a great Throne must always travel.

Of the Princess of Wales in these years it is hard to speak too highly. Fond of domestic life, retiring by disposition and character, caring more for husband and family than for all the glitter and glory of the world's greatest functions or positions, she yet lived in the blaze of a continuous publicity without possible or actual criticism and with a ceaseless and ready charm of manner, a never-failing courtesy to high and low, an ever-increasing popularity. Amid all the innumerable duties and difficulties of her position there has never been a visible mistake committed. The right people have been cultivated and encouraged; the wrong people treated in a way which could not be resented nor misunderstood. The right thing has been said so often that it has come to appear the natural thing. An atmosphere of ideal refinement has always surrounded her, and its subtle influence has pervaded many a brilliant home and circle where other influences might easily have prevailed. In a time when calumny would attack an Archangel, and when its bitter barbs have been known to reach even the humanly perfect life of Queen Victoria, no shadow has ever crossed the curtain of her character. Of her tact—a quality which she possesses in common with the Prince of Wales—stories are innumerable, and of her quiet, unostentatious, continuous charity and natural kindliness of heart there are as many more.

A BUSY MARRIED LIFE

The married life of the Prince and Princess was a busy one. Sandringham had to be remodelled and various public duties attended to by the Heir-Apparent. One of the first visitors at their country home was the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, who had been so intimately associated with the education and early life of the Prince, and who was destined to always possess the privileges of a personal friend. Of this Easter Sunday, following the wedding, Dean Stanley wrote in his Diary that "the Princess came to me in a corner of the drawing-room with Prayer Book in hand and I went through the common service with her, explaining the peculiarities and the likenesses and differences from the Danish service. She was most simple and fascinating. My visit to Sandringham gave me intense pleasure. I was there for three days. I read the whole service, preached, then gave the first English Sacrament to this 'angel in the Palace,' I saw a great deal of her, and can truly say she is as charming and beautiful a creature as ever passed through a fairy tale."

THE PRINCE IN PUBLIC LIFE

One of the first public appearances of the Prince of Wales after his marriage was attendance at the Royal Academy Banquet on May 2nd, 1863. Sir Charles Eastlake, the President, proposed the usual loyal toast, and in responding the young Prince is said to have spoken in a particularly clear and pleasing manner. Of the important personal event to which reference had been made he declared that neither the Princess nor himself could "ever forget the manner in which our union has been celebrated throughout the nation." Amongst the other speakers were Lord Palmerston, Mr. W. M. Thackeray and Sir Roderick Murchison. The first really important public event in the Prince's life at this period was the presentation of the freedom of the City of London on June 8th. Invitations had been issued to a couple of thousand of the most eminent persons in the public, social and diplomatic life of the country and exceedingly costly preparations were made for the reception, and for the ball and banquet which followed. The Prince and Princess of Wales were accompanied by Prince Alfred, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Princess Mary of Cambridge and other Royal personages. The Princess was clad in white, with a coronet and brooch of diamonds and a necklace of brilliants—the one her husband's wedding present and the other that of the City of London. The reply to the address and presentation was very brief but appropriate and the events which followed were remarkable for their splendour and air of general joyousness.

A week later the Royal couple attended the Commemoration at Oxford and the Prince of Wales was presented with the degree of D.C.L. in the presence of a brilliant assemblage of Professors and visitors, and an enthusiastic throng of students. The latter gave the Princess a reception which made her flush with mingled nervousness and pleasure though it could not affect her natural dignity of bearing. She had not yet become accustomed to the overwhelming character which British enthusiasm sometimes assumes and, indeed, is said to have never absolutely overcome a personal shrinking from the publicity which was inseparable from her position and popularity. However that may be, the feeling was never shown to the people and, if a fact, can only be considered as enhancing the graciousness of manner which has been so marked a characteristic of her life in England. During this brief visit to Oxford Their Royal Highnesses distributed prizes to the Rifle Volunteers, opened a bazaar in aid of the Radcliffe Infirmary, inspected the exhibits at the Horticultural Show, and went over the Prince's one-time college residence at Frewen Hall.

A hasty visit to the North of England in August was made to include the opening ceremony for a new Town Hall at Halifax and here the Royal couple received a most hearty welcome. Another function was the opening of the British Orphan Asylum on June 24th by the Prince, who became its Patron and promoted large subscriptions to its work—one of which from Mr. Edward Mackensie totalled $60,000. Though this was a very quiet year in comparison with those of the future, His Royal Highness extended his patronage, usually accompanied by liberal subscriptions, to eight public charities, eight hospitals and asylums, five agricultural societies and eleven learned and scientific societies—including the Society of Arts of which he became President. His first work in this latter connection was to promote and obtain a fund for sending a number of British workmen to the Paris Exhibition with a view to improving their mechanical and technical knowledge. He also associated himself with the Mendicity Society by means of which all the innumerable appeals for aid which came to him from time to time were investigated, sifted, and reported upon before action was taken. On May 18, 1864 the Prince presided for the first time at the Royal Literary Fund banquet and thus commenced a long period of active patronage toward an institution which has served a most useful purpose in England—the quick and secret dispensing of aid to literary men who from some cause or other might be destitute, or in need. Its objects were not local but international and in his speech on this occasion His Royal Highness pointed how well and quietly the work had been done.

THE PRINCESS AND HER FAMILY

Early in the year the first-born child of the Royal couple arrived on the scene. The event had been expected for March 1864 but the infant was born at Frogmore on January 9th and was christened on March 10th as Albert Victor Christian Edward. From infancy the Prince was somewhat delicate and, no doubt for that reason, was always supposed to be his mother's favourite child. The Princess of Wales was, at this time, not yet twenty but was devoted to her domestic duties and especially to the new arrival in their home. She would rather visit the nursery at any time than attend a State function or ball. Other children came in the following years. Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert, afterwards Prince of Wales, was born on June 3, 1865; Princess Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar, afterwards Duchess of Fife, on February 20, 1867; Princess Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary on July 6, 1868; and Princess Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria, sometime to be Princess Charles of Denmark, on November 26, 1869. In 1871 Prince Alexander John Charles Albert was born, but only lived for one brief day.

As these children came one by one they found a most happy home circle and a devoted mother. In all their little amusements and games the Princess took part; in their training and education she took a watchful share; in their lives as a whole simplicity was made the guiding principle, as it had been in the Royal family of the past generation. From all accounts which are open to us she delighted much more in the nursery than in society. Dr. William Jenner saw the Royal children whenever necessary but the "coddling" so often seen in modern homes was unknown at Sandringham. The Prince believed as much in simplicity of bringing up as did his wife and, by special order, the Household and servants never used the prefix of "Royal Highness" to the children but addressed them as Prince Eddy, or Princess Louise, or whatever the name might be. The little girls, as their father always called them, had their tea with the nurses and were given few toys and never allowed to accept presents. No fuss was made over the little accidents inevitable to childhood and in every way life was kept devoid of state formality, or anything that would breed a sense of childish self-importance. When the Prince and Princess were away from home, as they frequently had to be, letters were daily exchanged with the head nurse. The result of this general system and of the later plan of making the young Princesses more and more companions of their mother and the boys, as far as circumstances would permit, of their father, created and maintained at Sandringham one of the most pleasant home circles in all England. An illustration of the spirit in which domestic anniversaries and incidents were approached may be found in lines composed by the Princess, on one occasion, for Prince George when the family were commencing to celebrate the birthday of the husband and father. The thought was admirable even if the poetry was not quite perfect:

"Day of pleasure, brightly dawning,
Take the gift of this sweet morning,
Our best hopes and wishes blending
Must yield joy that's never ending."

During these years the Prince of Wales was gradually assuming many of the duties and public tasks which would have devolved upon the Queen, or in earlier days have been performed with such fidelity and care by the Prince Consort. At this time the Queen was living in strict retirement and for a long period still to follow she maintained the same sorrowing seclusion in a more or less modified form. Toward the close of 1865 the death of Lord Palmerston removed a statesman in whom the Prince had found a personal friend and whom he had consulted and greatly trusted in private matters. In February, 1866, the Queen made one of her rare public appearances and opened Parliament, in person, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. A little later came the cholera epidemic which killed one hundred thousand people in Austria and caused a number of deaths in England. To the Mansion House Relief Fund, which ultimately reached the total of $350,000 and to another Fund, the Prince contributed $17,500. In August the Royal couple visited Studley Royal, the seat of the Earl de Grey and Ripon—better known afterwards as the Marquess of Ripon—and were given a great reception in the City of York. An incident of the latter occasion was a sudden downpour of rain during which the Prince stood up in his carriage, bareheaded, so that the people should not be disappointed.

VARIOUS PUBLIC FUNCTIONS AND EVENTS

A little before this, on May 9th, the President and Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers entertained the Heir Apparent at a banquet in London and amongst the other guests were the veteran Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, the Dukes of Sutherland and Buccleuch, Earl Grey, Lord Salisbury, Sir John Pakington, Sir Edwin Landseer, Sir Richard Owen and many other eminent scientists and leaders of the time. During his speech the Prince paid a tribute to the work of Brunel and Stephenson and, in the latter connection, referred to the great bridge across the St. Lawrence, in Canada, which he had inaugurated in 1860 and to which he gave the credit for an opportunity to visit British America and the United States. On June 11th His Royal Highness had also laid the foundation of the new building of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London. He was received formally by the President, the Earl of Shaftsbury, the Lord Mayor, the Archbishop of York and others and, in the course of his speech, pointed out that the Society had already spent $30,000,000 in the promotion of its objects and in the translation of the Bible into two hundred and eighty different languages and dialects. After referring to the efforts in this cause by his grandfather, the Duke of Kent, the Prince went on to say that "it is my hope and trust that, under Divine guidance, the wider diffusion and deeper study of the Scriptures will, in this as in every age, be at once the surest guarantee of the progress and liberty of the mind and the means of multiplying in the present time the consolations of our holy religion."

The next function shared in was the anniversary gathering of the Clergy Corporation, attended by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Armagh, the Marquess of Salisbury and other dignitaries. In his speech the Prince pointed out that there were ten thousand clergymen in the United Kingdom whose benefices were of less value than $750 a year and urged the usefulness of an institution which distributed $20,000 per annum to orphans and unmarried daughters of clergymen as well as temporary aid to necessitous clergymen themselves. The result of his appeal was a subscription of $6,000 to which he contributed $525 personally. On June 18th he inaugurated a Warehousemen and Clerks' School at Croydon at a gathering presided over by Earl Russell and ten days later visited the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum in the suburbs of London. In August the Prince and Princess of Wales made one of their first public appearances in the County where they had made their country home and where the Prince so well embodied the hearty, healthy life of the English gentleman. During the month, therefore, they paid a visit to Norwich as the principal town of Norfolk and, accompanied by the Queen of Denmark and the Duke of Edinburgh, attended one of Sir Michael Costa's oratorios, opened a Drill-hall, planted memorial trees and in other ways helped to make the occasion memorable to the people of the ancient town.

A visit followed in the autumn to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, at their splendid Castle of Dunrobin, in the north of Scotland. In driving twenty-five miles from the station to the Castle a most enthusiastic welcome was received along the entire route. In reviewing the Sutherland Volunteers during his stay the Prince expressed a wish that the Corps would wear the kilt as their uniform and this was, of course, done with the greatest pleasure. Shortly after the return from Scotland the Queen of Denmark came again to England and stayed for some time at Sandringham with her daughter. Late in the year (November) the Prince of Wales went to St. Petersburg to attend in an official capacity the marriage of the Princess Dagmar of Denmark—sister of his wife—to the Czarewitch who afterwards became Alexander III. The cold was deemed a sufficiently strong reason for the Princess not to accompany him. In his suite were Lord Frederick Paulet, the Marquess of Blandford, Viscount Hamilton, and Major Teesdale. He was welcomed at the station by the Emperor, the Czarewitch and others of the Imperial family and given splendid quarters at the Hermitage Palace. After the marriage he visited Moscow, accompanied by the Crown Prince of Denmark, went over the historic Kremlin and called on the Metropolitan, the highest dignitary in the Russian Church, who received his Royal visitor in a cell and gave him his blessing after a brief conversation.

The year 1867 was marked by a painful illness of the Princess through acute rheumatism and inflammation of a knee-joint. During the serious period of the illness the Prince devoted himself to the invalid, never leaving her side unless compelled to do so and having his desk brought into the sick-room so that he might carry on his correspondence in her presence. It was not until July that the Princess was able to drive out and during the rest of the year the Royal couple lived very quietly and made as few public appearances as possible. It was in the beginning of this year that Princess Louise, afterwards Duchess of Fife, was born. Some functions had to be performed, however, and they included the presiding at a meeting of the National Lifeboat Institution and at the one hundred and fifty-second anniversary festival of the Welsh Society of Ancient Britons, on March 1st; a visit to the International Exhibition at Paris in May; and the presence of the Prince at the laying of the foundation stone of the Albert Hall, in London, later in the same month. On July 10th His Royal Highness inaugurated the London International College, which had been organized by Mr. Cobden and M. Michel Chevalier, as a branch of an international institution. At the luncheon were the Duc d'Aumale, the Prince de Joinville and the Comte de Paris as well as Professor Huxley and Dr. Leonard Schmitz, the head of the institution. In his speech the Prince pointed out the usefulness of a College which would more or less devote itself to the teaching of modern languages at a time when the interests of varied nationalities were becoming so intermingled.

THE CORONATION OF EDWARD'S QUEEN
Queen Alexandra received her crown at the hands of the venerable Archbishop of York at Westminster Abbey, August 9, 1902, immediately after the crowning of the King by the Archbishop of Canterbury

KING EDWARD VII AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA
At the Opening of Parliament

THE ROYAL LINE OF SUCCESSION AT THE TIME OF QUEEN VICTORIA'S DIAMOND JUBILEE
Queen Victoria, Prince of Wales, Duke of York and Prince Edward

THE CORONATION CHAIR
Containing the Stone of Scone on which traditional Irish Kings, Scotch Kings and British Kings have been crowned

An interesting event occurred in July when Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, visited England, as his father had done twenty-one years before. At a banquet in the Mansion Home, on July 11th, a distinguished gathering met to do him honour and amongst them were the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar and many men eminent in politics and diplomacy. In his speech the Prince spoke of his personal indebtedness to the late Khedive for kindness received during his own visit to Egypt in 1862 and, also, of the national importance of the facilities given by that country to England in the transit of troops to India. He then referred to the illness of the Princess and to the words in that connection used by the Lord Mayor. "I know I only express her feelings when I say that she has been deeply touched by that universal good feeling and sympathy which has been shown to her during her long and painful illness. Thank God, she has now nearly recovered and I trust that in a month's time she will be able to leave London and enjoy the benefits of fresh air."

ROYAL VISIT TO IRELAND

The Prince of Wales early in his public life showed his sympathy with the people of Ireland. He had already visited Dublin in 1865 and, on March 17, 1868, while planning a State visit to that country, attended a brilliant celebration of the anniversary of St. Patrick's birth, in Willis's Rooms, London. Amongst those present were the Archbishop of Armagh, the Bishop of Derry, the Earl of Longford, the Earl of Mayo and Lord Kimberley. The Prince, in his speech, expressed the belief that despite disagreeable occurrences of the past few years the people of Ireland generally were "thoroughly true and loyal." On April 15th the Prince and Princess of Wales landed at Kingstown and were received with tremendous acclaim. With his usual tact the Prince asked that no troops should be present in the streets. The Princess, who was dressed in Irish poplin, was presented with a white dove, emblematic of peace, and fairly captured the hearts of the populace. The visit lasted ten days and included amongst its functions a gorgeous installation of the Prince as a Knight of St. Patrick, when he used the sword worn by George IV. on a similar occasion; his presence at the Punchestown races—where the Royal couple appeared in open carriages and received an enthusiastic welcome; attendance at the Royal Hibernian Academy's rooms and at the Royal Dublin Society's Conversazione; a visit to the Catholic University and the receipt of an LL.D.—together with the Duke of Cambridge and Lord Abercorn, the Lord Lieutenant—from Trinity College; a visit to the Cattle Show and a Royal review of troops; attendance at Sunday service in historic Christ Church; personal visits to Lord Powerscourt's beautiful place in Wicklow and to the Duke of Leinster at Carton; a formal visit to Maynooth College and the unveiling in Dublin of a statue of Edmund Burke.

The London Times described the crowded life of those ten days in rather interesting language: "There were presentations and receptions, and receiving and answering addresses, processions, walking, riding and driving, in morning and evening, in military, academic and mediæval attire. The Prince had to breakfast, lunch, dine and sup with more or less publicity every twenty-four hours. He had to go twice to races with fifty or a hundred thousand people about him; to review a small army and make a tour in the Wicklow Mountains, everywhere receiving addresses under canopies and dining in state under galleries full of spectators. He visited and inspected institutions, colleges, universities, academies, libraries and cattle shows. He had to take a very active part in assemblies of from several hundred to several thousand dancers and always to select for his partners the most important personages. He had to listen to many speeches sufficiently to know when and what to answer. He had to examine with respectful interest pictures, books, antiquities, relics, manuscripts, specimens, bones, fossils, prize beasts and works of Irish art. He had never to be unequal to the occasion, however different from the last, or however like the last, and whatever his disadvantage as to the novelty or dullness of the matter and the scene."

On April 25th the Royal visitors returned to Holyhead and on their way home stopped at Carnarvon, the birthplace of the first Prince of Wales, where a banquet was received and a brief speech made by the living successor of a great King's son. Among the incidents connected with this visit was the fact that while the Prince was freely passing through and amongst the people of the Irish capital his brother, the Duke of Edinburgh, was shot at Clontarf, Australia, by an Irishman named O'Farrell, while he was accepting the hospitality of a local Sailors' Home. Another was the tact and judgment displayed by the Heir Apparent in forwarding a cheque to the Dublin Hospital Sunday Fund after his return home. This institution had then and has since exercised a most beneficial effect upon Irish hospital affairs; but the marvel was that the Prince should have found time amid his multifarious duties and functions to look into its management and influence. May the 5th, saw the Prince attending the sixty-second anniversary of the "Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress" and pointing out in a preliminary speech that the Queen had taken deep interest in this charity ever since her accession in 1837. In proposing the health of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Sir Travers Twiss, the Advocate-General, said that though it was not generally known, he would take the liberty of stating that during His Royal Highness' Eastern travels he had passed through no great city without visiting and helping any institutions which might exist in aid of suffering humanity.

Eight days later the Prince presided at the annual banquet of the Governors of St. Bartholomew's Hospital—after visiting and inspecting the wards. During the same day His Royal Highness attended a great state function in the laying of the foundation of St. Thomas' Hospital by the Queen in person. The last important matter in which the Prince took part before leaving for his second Eastern tour was the laying of the foundation stone of new buildings for Glasgow University on October 8th. They cost over two millions of dollars and in the stately proceedings accompanying this event, the Princess of Wales was able to participate. From November 1868 to May 1869 the Royal couple were in the distant East, but, on the Queen's birthday in the latter year, the Prince of Wales was able to be present at the anniversary banquet of the Royal Geographical Society and to receive congratulations on having been instrumental in effecting the appointment of his late travelling companion, Sir Samuel Baker, to the government of the Soudan region in Africa, under the control of the Egyptian Government and with the object of suppressing the slave trade. His Royal Highness warmly eulogized Sir S. Baker—who had also just received the Society's medal for the year—and the events of the evening were considered to have made the occasion memorable. Prince Hassan of Egypt was present and amongst the speakers were Sir Roderick Murchison, Admiral Sir George Back, Professor Owen, the Duke of Sutherland, Dr. W. H. Russell, Sir Francis Grant P.R.A., and Sir Henry Rawlinson.

The next two or three years saw the Prince participating in many public and more or less important events. Accompanied by the Princess of Wales he laid the foundation of new buildings in connection with the Earlswood Asylum, in Surrey, on June 28, 1869. An incident of this event was not only the usual gift of a hundred guineas by the Prince but a procession of ladies who passed up to the dais in single file and deposited upwards of four hundred purses, which they had collected for the Charity, under the influence of Royal patronage and encouragement. On July 7th Their Royal Highnesses visited Lynn, inaugurated the new Alexandra Dock, and took part in several local events. A state visit to Manchester followed, on July 29th, and the Prince opened the annual exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, of which he was President, and was given a warm welcome in and around the city. On the succeeding day he inaugurated a new dock at Hull.

Meanwhile, on July 23rd, the Prince had visited London in order to unveil a statue of George Peabody, the distinguished American philanthropist. At the ceremony Sir Benjamin Phillips, Chairman of the Committee, addressed the Prince formally and thus concluded: "Let us hope that this statue, erected by the sons of free England to the honour of one of Columbia's truest and noblest citizens, may be symbolical of the peace and good will that exist between the two countries." In replying His Royal Highness spoke of Mr Peabody as a great American citizen and of his gift of over a quarter of a million pounds sterling to the charities of a country not his own, as being unexampled, and concluded as follows: "Be assured that the feelings which I personally entertain toward America are the same as they ever were. I can never forget the reception which I had there nine years ago and my earnest wish and hope is that England and America may go hand in hand in peace and prosperity." Following the example of King William IV., when Duke of Clarence, and of the late Dukes of Kent, Sussex and Cambridge, the Prince of Wales presided on November 30th at the anniversary banquet of the Scottish Corporation—or as it was popularly called the Scottish Hospital—in order to mark his approval of an institution which had done much to assist, by means of pensions, poor and aged natives of Scotland living in London; to afford temporary relief to Scotchmen in distress; or to educate poor Scottish children. On this occasion there was a large gathering which included Prince Christian and the Duke of Roxburghe and, after a speech from the Prince describing the objects and work of the institution, it was announced that $12,500 had been specially subscribed to the purposes of the Hospital—including $500 from the Prince of Wales himself.

Exhibitions, in the years between his coming of age and his accession to the Throne, were always favourite objects of attention and support at the hands of Heir Apparent. He had already studied closely his father's conduct of the first great International Exhibition, and had himself opened one of the same kind at Dublin, and been present at an International Reformatory gathering and at the Paris Exhibition. On April 4th, 1870, he presided at a meeting of the Society of Arts called to promote an International Educational Exhibition for the succeeding year. Resolutions were passed to this end, and after an explanatory speech from His Royal Highness and, it may be added here, the Exhibition was duly opened on May 1st, 1871, by the Prince of Wales, with imposing pageantry and with details worked out by his assistant in various future undertakings Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen. On May 16, 1870, the Prince presided at the annual banquet of the Royal General Theatrical Fund, established as far back as 1839, for the relief and assistance of members, and of widows and orphans of members, of the dramatic profession. During the evening, after a speech from the Royal chairman, Mr. Buckstone, the well-known actor, spoke in warm words of the kindness of the Prince in attending their function: "The duties he has to perform are so numerous and fatiguing that we only wonder how he gets through them all. Even within these few days he has held a Levée; on Saturday last he patronized a performance at Drury Lane in aid of the Dramatic College; then had to run away to Freemasons' Hall to be present at the installation of the Grand Master; and now we find him in the chair this evening; so what with conversaziones, laying foundation stones, opening schools, and other calls upon his little leisure, I think he may be looked upon as one of the hardest working men in Her Majesty's dominions." This was a fact or condition not recognized very generally in those days; in after years it became a truism in popular opinion.

St. George's Hospital received the combined patronage of the Prince and Princess on May 26th. The former occupied the chair and made an earnest appeal for aid to this most deserving institution. The Earl of Cadogan, who was one of the Treasurers, announced a little later in the evening that the Prince of Wales had handed him a check for two hundred guineas, the Princess one for fifty guineas, and the Marquess of Westminster—afterwards the first Duke of that name—one for two hundred guineas. Amongst the other speakers on this occasion were Earl Granville, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Carnarvon and Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P. On June 21st, His Royal Highness opened a new building in connection with Dulwich College in Surrey; nine days later he and the Princess opened new schools for the children of seamen near the London Docks; on July 1st they visited in state the ancient town of Reading and laid the foundation stone of a new Grammar School. A week later the Prince had the congenial task of giving the Albert gold medal of the Society of Arts to M. de Lesseps. As President of the Society he addressed the father of the Suez Canal, in French, and congratulated him upon the completion of his great undertaking, not only in a public capacity, but "as a personal friend." In his reply, M. de Lesseps said that he had received much private encouragement from the late Prince Consort in the early stages of his enterprise, and that he could never forget that fact. It may be added here that the presentation of this Medal was always a peculiar pleasure to the Prince of Wales, and that amongst those in after years who received it at his hands were Sir Henry Bessemer, M. Chevalier and Sir Henry Doulton.

On July 13th His Royal Highness, on behalf of the Queen, and accompanied by the Princess Louise and the grand officers of the Household, opened with elaborate ceremony the new Thames Embankment. Three days later he opened the Workmen's International Exhibition at Islington in the name of the Queen. During this year the war between France and Germany caused the Prince and his family keen interest and many natural anxieties. He arranged for a special telegraph service so that news might reach him at once and took an active part in associations and subscription lists for aid to the wounded on both sides. The Royal family had such close relations with that of Prussia through the Princess Royal and with that of France through long personal friendship with the Emperor and Empress that the position of individual members, like the Heir Apparent, and his wife could be easily understood.

The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences was opened with stately and imposing ceremony by the Queen on March 29th, 1871. When Her Majesty, accompanied by the Princess of Wales and other members of the Royal family, had taken her place on the dais of a Hall containing eight thousand people and an orchestra of twelve hundred persons, under Sir Michael Costa, the Prince of Wales advanced and, as President of the Provisional Committee, detailed the origin and history of the project. He then, after receiving a formal reply, declared the Hall open in the name of the Queen. On May 7th, following, the Prince presided at a dinner in aid of the Artists' Orphan Fund and, after explaining its useful objects, expressed the wish that further contributions would be offered for the purpose in view. At the close of the affair the Treasurer announced subscriptions to the amount of $60,000, of which a check for $525 was from the Royal chairman. The Earlswood Asylum for Idiots was again visited by the Prince on May 17th, when he presided at the anniversary dinner of the institution in London and explained its continued progress. Subscriptions of $21,000 were announced, of which $525 were given by the Prince. The same result followed his chairmanship of a dinner in aid of the Farningham Homes for Little Boys on June 2nd. He pointed out that the institution was still in need despite a recent anonymous contribution of $5000. Before the close of the evening some $17,000 had been subscribed, including $750 from His Royal Highness. Such incidents, often repeated, indicate better than many words the value attached to the Prince's presence and support of deserving charities, and they also afford some proof of the generous expenditure of his private means for public benefit. On June 28th, the Prince acted as Chairman of the anniversary festival of the Royal Caledonian Asylum in London. There were three hundred and fifty guests present, mostly in Highland costume, and amongst them were Prince Arthur and the Duke of Cambridge, the Dukes of Buccleuch and Richmond, the Marquess of Lorne and Marquess of Huntly, the Earls of Fife, Mar, and March.

On July 31st His Royal Highness again paid a visit to Dublin. He was accompanied by the Princess Louise, the Marquess of Lorne, and the young Prince Arthur—better known in later years as the Duke of Connaught. An address was presented at Kingstown by the Lord Mayor and Corporation and, on the following day, the Royal visitors witnessed a cricket match, lunched with the officers of the Grenadier Guards and inspected the cattle, horses, and sheep of the Royal Agricultural Society's annual show. In the evening the Prince of Wales presided at a great banquet of four hundred and fifty guests, with galleries thronged with ladies. He made several brief speeches and a particularly happy one in proposing the health of Earl Spencer, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. A series of engagements and entertainments followed, amongst which were a brilliant military review in Phœnix Park and the installation of the Prince as Grand Patron of the Masonic Institution in Ireland. This was the last important event taken part in by His Royal Highness before the serious illness which, a little later, so greatly stirred the nation and affected himself.

CHAPTER VI.

Travels in the East

Before he came to the Throne the Prince of Wales had long been the most travelled man in Europe. He had visited every Court and capital and centre upon that Continent; he had toured the North American Continent from the capital of Canada to the capital of the United States and from the historic heights of Quebec to the great western centre at Chicago; he had visited the most noted lands of the distant East.

FROM EUROPE TO AFRICA

In 1862, his first visit to Egypt and the Holy Land had taken place, and now, six years later, he was to make a more imposing and important tour of those and other countries in the company of his wife. On November 17th, 1868, the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by their three eldest children and by Lady Carmarthen, General Sir W. Knollys, Lieut.-Col. Keppel and Dr. Minter, left for the Continent and reached Compiègne on the morning of the 20th inst., in order to pay a visit to the Emperor and Empress of the French. An incident of the hunt which took place that afternoon was the rush of a stag at the Prince who, with his horse, was completely knocked over. Amongst the shooting party were Marshal Bazaine, the Baron Von Moltke, the Marquess of Lansdowne and other well-known men of the day. After a stay of a few days here and at Paris the Royal party proceeded on their journey and reached Copenhagen on November 29th. The birthday of the Princess was celebrated two days later in her old home.

Stockholm was reached on December 16th, and a visit of some days' duration paid to the King of Sweden. On December 28th the Prince and Princess were back again with the Royal family of Denmark and attended a State Ball at the Christianborg Palace. In the middle of January they embarked in the yacht Freya, and at Hamburg the Royal children were sent home in charge of Lady Carmarthen, Sir William Knollys and Colonel Keppel. At Berlin, on January 17th, they were welcomed by the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia—the Princess Royal of England—and by Lord Augustus Loftus, the British Ambassador. On the following day His Royal Highness was invested with the famous order of the Black Eagle by the King of Prussia. Amongst the limited number of Knights Grand Cross who were present at the Chapter were the Baron Von Moltke, General Von Roon, Count Von Waldersee, and Count Von Wrangel. From Berlin, where the Prince and Princess were joined by those who were to accompany them on their further journey and including Colonel Teesdale, V.C., Captain Ellis, Lord Carington, Mr. Oliver Montague, Dr. Minter and the Hon. Mrs. William Grey, the Royal party went to Vienna which was reached on January 21st. At the station they were received by the Emperor Francis Joseph and various members of the Austrian Royal family together with Prince Von Hohenlohe and Lord Bloomfield, the British Ambassador. State visits, dinners, the theatre, skating and a private visit to the King and Queen of Hanover in their retirement at Hietsing, constituted the programme of the next few days. Vienna was left on January 27th, and from Trieste, on the following day, sail was made on board H.M.S. Ariadne and Alexandria reached on February 3rd.

TRIP UP THE NILE

After their formal reception at Alexandria by Mehemet Tewfik Pasha, Shereef Pasha, Mourad Pasha, Sir Samuel Baker and others, the Prince and Princess proceeded to Cairo where they were warmly welcomed by the Khedive, and met by the Duke of Sutherland and his son, Lord Stafford, Professor Owen, Colonel Marshall and the special correspondent, Dr. W. H. Russell. The latter gentlemen joined the Royal party and were to proceed with them on the journey up the Nile together with Prince Louis of Battenberg and Lord Albert Gower. Before starting on this voyage, however, the Prince and Princess were privileged in witnessing the curious Procession of the Holy Carpet and the departure of a portion of the annual stream of pilgrims for Mecca. The Princess and Mrs. Grey were also invited, on February 5th, to dine at the Harem with the Khedive's mother and the ceremonies, as described by Mrs. Grey in her Diary of the tour, were exceedingly interesting. A multitude of smartly dressed female slaves in coloured satin and gold; services of silver and gold; dishes of the most peculiar and varied composition and taste; music by bands of girls and dances by other bands of women—some of whose motions were described by Mrs. Grey as graceful and others as "simply frightful;" drinks of curious character and pipes and cigarettes with holders ornamented by masses of precious gems; costumes which partook of both the Eastern and Western character; jewels and gold in every direction and upon every possible kind of object—such were some of the things seen during the visit. In the evening of the same day the Royal couple and suite went to the theatre, and afterwards the Prince had supper with the Khedive at the Palace of Gizerek, accompanied with elaborate ceremonies and a succession of dancing spectacles.

Meanwhile, every care had been exercised by the Khedive in preparing comforts for the Royal guests up the Nile. The chief barge was occupied by the Prince and Princess and the Hon. Mrs. Grey, who was in attendance upon the latter; a second was occupied by the Suite; a third by the Duke of Sutherland's party; a fourth was used as a store-boat and contained 3,000 bottles of champagne, 20,000 bottles of soda-water, 4,000 bottles of claret and plenty of ale, liquors and light wines. Sir Samuel Baker, who was at this time Governor of the Soudan region, accompanied the Prince and had with him an abundance of guns and nets for capturing crocodiles, etc. During the slow progress up the river there was plenty of sport, and His Royal Highness won fine specimens of spoonbills, flamingoes, herons, cranes, cormorants, doves, etc.

THEY VISIT SITES OF ANCIENT CITIES

During the early part of the trip there was not much that was interesting; apart from the shooting expeditions which were undertaken from time to time. The sight of frightened children, timid women, labouring slaves, mosques and villages of huts and occasional ruins of more or less interest were all that was visible along the low banks of the river as they passed. The caves, or grottoes, of Beni Hassan were visited on February 10, and the life of ancient peoples seen in a panorama of carved monuments. Then came a more beautiful, cultivated and populous part of the region watered by the Nile. Thebes, Luxor, Karnak, however, were names and places which made up for much. For two days, ending February 19th, the heir to a thousand years of English sovereignty wandered amidst these tombs and monuments of the rulers of an African empire which had wielded vast power and created works of wonderful skill and genius three, and five thousand years before. The great hall and collonades and pillars of Karnac, the obelisk of Luxor, the famous tombs of the Kings, the Temples of Rameses, the colossal statues of Egyptian rulers, were visited by daylight, and, in some cases, the wondrous effect of Oriental moonlight upon these massive shapes and memorials of a mighty past was also witnessed.

Philæ with its interesting ruins, Assouan with its modern history, Korosko, Deré, the early capital of Nubia, the great Temple at Aboo Simbel, were seen, and, finally, after the Prince had killed his first crocodile, on February 28th, and the party had made an uncomfortable trip across a hot waste of desert, Wady Halfah was reached on March 2nd, and the journey back was commenced. On their return a special trip was made by the Prince and Princess to the Pyramids of Ghizeh, accompanied by Mehemet Tewfik, the Khedive's son, with an escort from Cairo. The Prince ascended the biggest of the Pyramids and the party was royally entertained afterwards in a pavilion specially erected for the purpose.

INTERESTING RUINS ARE VISITED

The Prince and Princess also visited the Royal chambers in the great Pyramid. A delightful drive to Cairo followed, and the party soon found themselves comfortably installed in the Esbekiah Palace. On the following day a visit was paid to the great Mosque where lie the revered bones of Mehemet Ali, under an embroidered velvet catafalque. One of the graceful minarets was ascended and a splendid panorama of the city seen. On March 18 the Tombs of the Caliphs, with their picturesque but ruined mosques, were visited, and in the evening the theatre was attended, in company with His Highness, the Khedive. A visit to the Baulak Museum followed and was rendered thoroughly interesting by the presence of the learned Orientalist, Marriette Bey, who showed the Prince and Princess a bust of the Pharaoh "who would not let the children of Israel go," and one of the other Pharaohs, who was a friend of Moses. Sir W. H. Russell is authority for the statement that the slightly incredulous smile of the Princess brought out a most concise, learned and convincing explanation of history and hieroglyphics in this connection.

On the evening of March 19th the Khedive gave a State Dinner in honour of his Royal guests at the Garden Kiosk of the new Palace of Gizeh. The grounds were brilliantly illuminated, those present included all that was eminent in the life of Egypt, the viands were served upon the richest plate, the native fireworks sent up afterwards were most attractive. The Hon. Mrs. Grey, in her Diary, says that "standing in the outer marble court, with its beautiful Moorish arches and its pillars of rich brown colour, their bases and capitals profusely and brilliantly decorated, and looking on every side at the tastefully illuminated gardens, the effect produced was indeed most splendid and carried one at once back in imagination to one of the scenes you read of in the Arabian Nights. It is quite impossible to describe it, but I shall never forget this beautiful sight." The writer then goes on to describe the splendid architecture and tasteful furniture of the building and rooms. Most of the latter were decorated in white and gold, with myriads of mirrors, rich silk curtains and furniture with all the soft and brilliant colourings of the old Arabesque style. There were fountains everywhere, and the floors were inlaid marble, porphery and alabaster.

Following this function came a visit to the British Mission School, where the Princess greatly charmed the children; a state visit to the races in a carriage drawn by six horses, and with coachmen and postilions wearing most gorgeous liveries of scarlet and gold. The Suite were also splendidly equipped in regard to carriages and outriders, and the streets were lined with troops. The races were well conducted and the general ceremonies of the occasion worthy of Ismail, the Khedive. This was to have been the last function prior to departure for the Suez Canal, but it was now decided to accept the pressing invitation of His Highness and stay three days longer. Following upon this decision came a series of visits paid by the Princess of Wales to the wives, or harems, of certain distinguished Egyptian gentlemen, and, finally, to the harem of the Khedive.

Amongst the places visited were the homes of Murad Pasha, Abd-el-Kader Bey and Achmet Bey. On March 23d the Princess, with a couple of attendant ladies, visited the Khedive's mother—the real ruler of his harem. It was a sort of Eastern drawing-room function, with slaves in brightly-coloured dresses everywhere about, and a number of Princesses, or daughters and relations of the Khedive, present, together with many other ladies of Egyptian rank and position. Mrs. Grey described them as mostly pretty—which was not, in her experience, the case as a rule—and as looking cheerful and happy. In the evening the Princess attended a State Dinner given by the four wives of the Khedive at the Palace of Gizerek. The presence of innumerable slaves, coffee and pipes, music and cherry jam served on a large gold tray with a gold service inlaid with diamonds and rubies, were the initial features of the entertainment. At dinner the guests sat on chairs instead of on the floor, as at a previous affair of the kind, but still had to pull the meat from the turkey with their fingers, while the odour of garlic and onions in many of the dishes was very unpleasant. There was some singing during the meal, with music and Oriental dancing after it. Meanwhile the bazars had been visited privately by the Princess; the people having no idea who the inquiring and interested European lady was.

THE PRINCE ATTENDS THE KHEDIVE'S RECEPTION

On the same day the Prince of Wales attended in state at a formal reception held by the Khedive, and thus conferred a somewhat marked compliment upon one who was not actually an independent Sovereign. He was accompanied by the Marquess of Huntly and the Earl of Gosford, who had just arrived from India on their way home, and proceeded through the streets in all the pomp of scarlet and gold outriders, troops in brilliant uniforms and a general environment of state which compelled unusual respect from the impassive Oriental onlookers. Royal honours were given to the Prince on his arrival, and he was met by some 5,000 troops and the strains of the British national anthem, while the Court itself was brilliant in blue and gold uniforms and rich in the luxuriance of gold and gems upon every possible article of service or personal use. In the evening the Prince dined with his Vice-regal host on a yacht in the river, and the Minister of Finance gave a brilliant banquet, at which were present the great officers of state, such as Shereef Pasha, Zulfikar Pasha, Abdallah Pasha and others, together with British visitors or members of the Royal suite, such as Lord Carington, Lord Huntly, Lord Gosford, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Sir Samuel Baker and Colonel Teesdale, V.C.

This event closed the visit to Cairo and, after formal farewells on the following morning, the train was taken for Suez, where the Royal visitors were received by the Governor and M. de Lesseps. In the morning they left for Ismaila amidst all possible honours, and accompanied by the great canal promoter. There a triumphal arch had been erected and a crowd of people and troops were found lining the route through the city. They were driven out to the Khedive's chalet on Lake Timsah, where dinner was served and the night spent, and thence back to Ismaila, and, in a steamer, down the Suez Canal to Port Said. The great enterprise was not then completed, and, in fact, the opening of the canal did not take place for many months, but the Royal tourists were fortunate in seeing the pioneer activities of creation in full operation and of being able to understand something of the immense initial difficulties which had been overcome by the genius and energy of De Lesseps.

Alexandria was reached on March 27th, and visits were paid to Ras-el-Teen, the old palace of Mehemet Ali, to Cleopatra's Needle and Pompey's Pillar. Then the Ariadne was boarded once more and a farewell dinner given to Mourad Pasha, the representative of the Egyptian Government, who had done so much for the comfort of the Royal guests; the health of the Khedive was drunk and the last word said to the ancient land of the Nile and the Pyramids. The impressions left by this visit to Egypt were pleasant to the Prince of Wales and useful to his country. Ismail, the Khedive, was at this time a most enterprising ruler but the predominant influence in the country was French and there can be no doubt that the stately reception given the Heir to the British Crown proved a substantial service to the present and future residents of his nationality in that part of the world. The Prince, himself, must have benefited greatly by the insight into Oriental methods of government which he obtained and by the curious efforts at an adaptation of western ideas which were going on all around him; while the picture left upon his mind of ancient traditions and the history of a mighty past could not but have been impressive and interesting.

On boarding the Ariadne, off Alexandria, and starting for Constantinople the Royal party lost Sir Samuel Baker, Lord Gosford, Sir Henry Pelly and Lord Huntly, who were leaving for other points of destination. During the next few days the vessel passed through the "Isles of Greece" and by various famous or historic spots. Patmos and Chios were seen for a time in the distance and, on March 31st, the Dardanelles were reached and salutes fired from shore to shore—from Europe to Asia—as the Royal yacht steamed between the Turkish forts. Upon anchoring, the British Ambassador, the Hon. Henry Elliot, came on board, together with Raouf Pasha, who attended to offer the earliest compliments of his Imperial master the Sultan. At the next landing, off Chanak, the Prince was formally welcomed by Eyoub Pasha, Military Governor of the Dardanelles, and his staff and guard of honour. Salutes from the Forts followed and the Prince returned to his vessel which steamed up to Gallipoli, where another stop was made and a visit paid to the French and British cemeteries of the Crimean War. Early on the morning of April 1st the towers and minarets of Constantinople were sighted and various tugs and boats containing British residents and others surrounded the Royal vessel and joined in singing "God Save the Queen" as the Prince and Princess appeared on deck. Their stepping into a barge to row ashore was the signal for a general salute from the Turkish iron-clads and, amidst flying colours, fully-manned yards and swarming caiques and steam-boats the journey to the shore was made—with some private speculation as to what would happen to the Life Guardsmen of the Prince's suite if they should be upset in the water with all their cumbrous "toggery" on.

When abreast of the Palace of Saleh Bazar the Royal barge was met by the state caique of the Sultan, followed by other gorgeously decorated and equipped vessels, containing the Grand Vizier, Aali Pasha, and other officials dressed in blue and gold and wearing numerous ribands, stars and crosses of knightly orders. Amidst cheers from crowded tugs and boats and ships the Royal visitors were transferred to the caique and thence to the landing place of the Palace where a guard of honour, a crowd of officers and a gorgeous staff surrounded the Sultan who, like the Prince of Wales, was in full uniform. His Majesty, after various gracious greetings, which were translated by the Grand Vizier, led his guests up the staircase of the Palace and then retired. Shortly afterwards the Prince and his suite were driven to the Dolmabakshi Palace where they were received by the Sultan with much state and, after a brief visit, returned to Saleh Bazar. Luncheon followed and the Prince and Princess called at the British Embassy. On their way back in the Sultan's carriages the streets were lined with impassive people who saluted in silent respect. At the Palace an admirable dinner was served on gold and silver plate. During the entire stay of the Royal visitors here they were supplied with every luxury and requirement—guards of honour, carriages, saddle-horses, caiques, a band of eighty-four splendid musicians and an immense staff always on duty and clad in gorgeous uniforms of green and gold.

Every morning there were presents from the Sultan of most exquisite flowers and the finest fruit. Mr. W. H. Russell thus described the surroundings in one of his letters to the London Times: "The valetaille, in liveries of green and gold, with white cuffs and collars, throng the passages and corridors, and black-coated Chibouquejees are ready at a clap of the hands to bring in pipes with amber mouth-pieces of fabulous value, crested with hundreds of diamonds and rubies, and coffee in tiny cups which fit into stands blazing with similar jewels. The cuisine cannot be surpassed and the wines are of the most celebrated vintage. All the persons attached to the Palace speak French or English. There are Turkish baths inside ready at a moment's notice. Equerries, aides-de-camp, officers of the Body-Guard, radiant in gold lace and scarlet, in blue and in silver lace, flit about the saloons and corridors. Human nature can scarce sustain the load of obligations imposed on it by such attention. If the Prince is seen on the water guards are turned out along all the batteries and the strains of music are borne on every breeze that blows. Yards are manned and crews turned out on the slightest provocation. The least wish is an order."

On April 2nd the Sultan went in state to the Mosque in honour of his Royal guests. The streets were lined with five thousand troops and the Prince and Princess, with their suite, were driven to the Palace of Beshik Jool, from a beautiful room in which they could see the Imperial procession pass by. The sloping ground on the opposite side of the road was filled by groups of women clad in varied colours and looking from a distance like animated flowers. The Sultan came, presently, preceded by brilliantly garbed Circassian troops, announced by the blast of a trumpet and the acclaim of the Turkish populace and riding a magnificent horse, which an English spectator described as a "marvel of beauty." He wore a splendid military uniform and his jewelled orders and sabre-hilt shone brightly in the rays of the sun, while immediately before and behind him were the officers of state. After the pageant had passed, little Prince Izzedin—the eldest son of the Sultan and a delicate, intelligent-looking child—came over to visit the Prince and Princess. The troops then filed past the Palace windows. Later in the day a deputation of British residents was received by the Prince and in the evening a special performance at the Theatre was attended and witnessed from the Sultan's box.

Early in the morning of April 3rd, the various foreign Ambassadors and Ministers called on the Prince of Wales and were presented by Mr. Elliot. Amongst them was General Ignatieff, of Russia. A visit to Seraglio Point followed, and from its heights was seen that most exquisite view which embraces the Sweet Waters, the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmora and its islands, the shores of Scutari, the minarets of the city and a general mingling of sea and shore, of light and shade, of softness and Eastern charm which is hardly equalled in the world. The great mosque of St. Sophia was then visited. In the evening a state dinner was given by the Sultan at Dolmabakshi Palace—the first ever given by His Ottoman Majesty to Christian guests. The Prince and Princess were received in the grand drawing-room by the Sultan and all his Ministers. The Princess was taken in by His Majesty and Madame Ignatieff by the Prince. The dinner-room was already renowned for its exquisite candelabra and lustres in rock-crystal; and its other decorations, combined with plate and flowers of the most beautiful kind, made up a scene well worth remembering. Aside from this, however, it was not very interesting, as none of the Sultan's Ministers—except the Grand Vizier—had ever sat in his presence before and were apparently too much astonished and afraid to speak a word to each other or to any of the twenty-four guests who made up the banquet. After dinner the Princess and Mrs. Grey visited the Harem, or rather the Sultan's wife and mother. Mrs. Grey, in her Diary, declares the dullness and stiffness of the occasion to have been indescribable. There were innumerable slaves, but they were all "hideous," though loaded down with jewels, while other incidents and surroundings were not very unlike a similar reception at a European Court. The whole affair broke up at 10.30.

A VARIETY OF INCIDENTS

On the following day the Royal party attended service in the church of the British Embassy, driving through silent and crowded streets. In the afternoon they inspected the Cemetary at Scutari. On the following day the Prince and Princess, attended by Mrs. Grey, and all garbed in the humblest English clothes they could find, visited the Bazaar. "Mr. and Mrs. Williams" seemed to enjoy themselves greatly, the former smoking a long pipe; the latter buying quantities of curios and, as the merchants soon found out, driving an occasional bargain with earnestness. They took in all the entertainments, sipped sherbets and the various unnamable drinks which are sold in such places, and revelled in a few hours of freedom. Later in the day the Prince paid some formal visits and in the evening they again attended the theatre. Meanwhile Sir Andrew Buchanan, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, had arrived with his wife, on their way home to England, and were welcomed at the Palace. The following day a visit was paid to Belyar Beg, some distance up the Bosphorus, which has been described as "the most beautiful place in the most beautiful situation in the world." Guards of honour were seen in all directions as the Royal party passed in caiques up the river. The luxury and elegance of the furniture at the Palace and the beauty of both buildings and surroundings evoked expressions of admiration from the Prince and Princess and, perhaps, they even regretted their refusal to stay here in preference for the other and more accessible residence. Tchamlidja, not far away, the summer residence of Mustapha Fazil Pasha, brother of the Viceroy of Egypt, was then visited and a "luncheon" served which proved to be almost wanton in its luxury—the choicest fruits that Paris could produce and the finest wines of the east or the west being served in profusion. Afterwards, the Princess and Mrs. Grey visited the Harem, while the men smoked exquisite cigars and drank the finest obtainable coffee.

The following day included a trip across the Bosphorus in the Sultan's yacht and a state ball at the British Embassy in the evening, which was, for a short time, attended by the Padishah himself. The Royal party did not retire from the gathering until daylight. During the next three days one function continued to follow another. A visit to the British Memorial Church; attendance with the Sultan at a great special performance in the Theatre through densely-crowded streets; a visit to a cricket match in the suburbs; attendance at a state banquet given by the British Ambassador; inspection by the Prince of a Turkish ironclad—Hobart Pasha's flagship; a dinner at the country home of the Grand Vizier. The day of departure fixed upon was April 10th, and, after a stately breakfast with the Sultan at Dolmabakshi, and farewells exchanged amidst all possible pomp and Oriental pageantry, the Ariadne was boarded and slowly steamed away from the Moslem capital to the sound of cheers and thundering guns from fleet and fort. They were soon in the gloomy waters of the Black Sea on the way to the Czar's dominions.

Arrangements had been under discussion for some time in connection with this visit to the Crimea and Sir Andrew Buchanan's opportune arrival had, no doubt, a good deal to do with the matter. On April 12th Sebastopol was sighted, crowned with its ruined bastions and replete to the Royal tourists with memories of the Redan, the Malakoff, and the Mamelon. Neither flags nor men were visible, however, upon the ramparts as the yacht came to its moorings although elsewhere Russian soldiers could be occasionally seen. Presently, General de Kotzebue, Governor of New Russia and Bessarabia, came on board with his suite—a decorated and energetic survivor of the great siege at which he had been Chief of Staff to Prince Gortschakoff. After the four days programme for the Crimea had been settled the Prince and Princess landed and went first to inspect the Memorial Chapel and then to visit the great cemetery. A drive to some of the scenes of battle during the Crimean conflict followed, with an escort of Tartars and with carriage horses which at times seemed to fly over the ground. General de Kotzebue knew every foot of the soil and was, of course, a splendid host on such an occasion. On this first day the field of the desperate Alma fight was gone over carefully and on the succeeding morning the ruined ramparts and redoubts of the once great Fortress of Sebastopol—not as yet restored—were visited and studied. The Cemetery of Cathcart's Hill was visited and here there were few in the party who did not find the names of friends or relatives in this city of silent streets while the Princess found very many around which associations of some kind were twined. In a small farmhouse, close to the windmill which was almost a centre of battle on the day of Inkerman, the Royal party took lunch.

Afterwards the Prince and some of the gentlemen rode over the ridge around which the famous fight occurred and General de Kotzebue explained the technical character of the struggle. The Malakoff was next seen as well as the colossal statue of Lazareff—the father of the Black Sea fleet and of that conception of Russian power which was shattered for a time by the success of the Allies. On the 14th the French Cemetery was visited and thence they went across country to the famous British Headquarters—the home for so long of Lord Raglan, General Simpson and Sir W. Codrington. The house was in perfect order and the Prince was shown with care one of the rooms on the wall of which was a tablet with the simple words: "Lord Raglan died." Balaclava was next visited and the scene of the famous charge carefully studied by the Prince. A drive followed through a country of varied and striking beauty to the Imperial Palace of Livadia where the Czar's Master of Ceremonies, Count Jules Stenbock, was waiting to receive the Royal visitors. A ceremonious entertainment was given here in the highest style of refinement and with the somewhat unexpected accompaniments of chamberlains in green and gold and a mass of servants from St. Petersburg, together with every sort of luxury. Here the Czar Nicholas had stayed in 1855 when he went to reconnoitre the position of the Allies. A visit followed to Alupka, the palace of Prince Woronzow and thence, after an exchange of telegrams with the Czar, they went on board the Ariadne once more.

April the 16th saw the Royal party once more in the Bosphorus with blue lights burning along the shores and bands playing a courteous welcome. On the following day the Prince, attended by Colonel Teesdale and Captain Ellis, paid a last formal visit to the Sultan and this was promptly returned by His Majesty amidst much ceremony. Meanwhile, the Princess had taken a last fond "incognito" look at the Bazaars attended by Mrs. Grey and Mr. Moore of the Embassy. The Ambassador came to the yacht to luncheon and soon afterwards Sir Andrew and Lady Buchanan bade farewell. Then, in the evening, came the second departure from Constantinople, the Ariadne passing through the lately increased Turkish fleet, under Hobart Pasha, amidst a brilliant display of rockets, coloured lanterns and blue lights.

A VISIT TO HISTORIC ATHENS

The Port of Athens was reached on April the 20th and here Sir A. Buchanan once more rejoined the party, followed very soon by various Russian, French and Italian officers and diplomatists. Next came the King of Greece—George I., brother of the Princess of Wales—accompanied by a suite and with sounds of distant cheering and the roar of guns echoing around the vessel. After luncheon Athens was visited and found to be gaily decorated and thence the Royal party passed by train to the King's Palace in the country, a beautiful place surrounded by beautiful scenery. In the distance were to be seen the green fields and olive forests of the Attic plain, the Piræus and the Bay of Salamis, the groves of Academus, the ancient Acropolis and Ilissus, and the modern City of Athens. On the following day the Acropolis was visited and the glories of that scene of historic greatness revived in the memories of the Royal travellers. A state banquet followed in the evening and on the next day a number of memorable sights and scenes were visited while the evening was the occasion for a coloured and very striking illumination of the mighty ruins of the Acropolis. Athens was left behind on the 23rd of April and the Royal party, including the King and Queen of Greece, proceeded to Corfu, which was reached on the following day and a more kindly greeting accorded to the visitors. The stay here was a very quiet one enlivened, so far as the Prince of Wales was concerned, by a hunting party on the somewhat wild coast of Albania. May 1st saw a formal leave-taking from the King and Queen of the Hellenes and a departure from this pleasant old-world Island.

On the following day Brindisi was reached, and Turin on the 3rd. Accompanied by Sir Augustus Paget, the Minister at Rome, the Royal party crossed the mountains by the Mont Cenis Railway and reached Paris two days afterwards. Here, until May the 11th, they remained in a succession of visits, dinners, reviews and entertainments provided by the Emperor and Empress, and on the following day arrived at Marlborough House after a six months' absence from England. It had been a round of arduous duty mixed with every form of honour and compliment, and including much of genuine pleasure and useful experience, together with the acquisition of practical and valuable knowledge. To the Heir Apparent it was one more step in the training and education necessary for any Prince who is destined to reign over the destinies of an infinitely varied and scattered people.

CHAPTER VII.

Serious Illness of the Prince

Following his return from foreign travel and the fulfilment of a brief round of public functions and duties came the now historic and really eventful illness of the Prince of Wales. It was a critical period in his career. Boyhood, youth and the first flush of manhood were gone; his marriage had taken place and his family been born into a position of present and future importance; his own training in public duties and experience in foreign travel and observation had been completed up to a very high point of efficiency. The one element which seemed to be a little lacking was that of a full appreciation of his own responsibility to the nation and the Empire. The brilliant light which blazed around the Throne could find no fault in the actual performance of any duty; but the critical eye and caustic pen had been prone for some years to allege an overfondness for pleasure and amusement and the pursuits of social life.

Whether true or false in its not very serious origin this impression had been studiously cultivated in certain quarters at home which had an interest in the theoretical flash-lights of republicanism; and extensively propagated abroad by cabled falsehoods and magnified incidents until actual harm had been done to the reputation and character of the young Prince amongst those who did not know him and could never actually expect to know him except through the journalistic food upon which they were fed.

On the other hand, the English people had hardly learned to appreciate the important place filled by the Prince of Wales in the community, in the daily life of the nation, in the hopes of his future subjects, and deep down in the hearts of the masses. Something was apparently needed to develop those two lines of feeling—one personal and the other national—and this came in the illness which struck down the Prince in the closing months of 1871. During the Autumn he had paid a visit to Lord Londesborough at Scarborough, and, although not feeling well, nothing was supposed to be seriously wrong. From there the Prince had gone to stay with Lord Carington at Gayhurst and thence returned to Sandringham where he became decidedly ill. The Times of November 22nd was compelled to state that His Royal Highness was suffering from "a chill resulting in a febrile attack" which had confined him to his room. On the following day a bulletin signed by Doctors Jenner, Clayton, Gull and Lowe stated that the Prince was suffering from typhoid.

ORIGIN OF THE ILLNESS

Amid the anxiety caused by this announcement every one wondered where the disease had been contracted, and ere long it was known that all the guests of Lord Londesborough at the time of the Royal visit had become more or less indisposed; that the hostess herself was seriously ill; that the Earl of Chesterfield, one of the recent guests, was down with typhoid and, finally that Blegg, the Prince's groom, had caught the same disease. Ultimately both peer and peasant died, and the seriousness of their illness as it developed in the public eye added to the gradually growing excitement over the condition of the Heir-Apparent.

The growth of popular feeling in the matter was evidently deep and serious. Bulletins stating that the symptoms of the fever were severe but regular continued for a time amid ever-increasing manifestations of interest and, as the weeks passed slowly by and the Queen had gone to the bedside of her son and something of the devotion of his wife to the sick Prince became known, this feeling grew in volume. Meanwhile the Princess Alice had also come to lend her brother the sympathetic touch and knowledge of nursing for which she was so well known. For a brief moment on December 1st, the patient roused from his delirium sufficiently to remark that it was the birthday of the Princess, and for a week thereafter the news of improvement in his condition was good. Then came a crisis when the fever had spent itself while the patient had also become worn out. It was impossible to say whether he could live another day. The Royal family were summoned to Sandringham on December 9th, and on the following day (Sunday) prayers were offered up in all the churches of the land and in many other countries, by request of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the morning, the Vicar at Sandringham Church received a note from the Princess of Wales: "My husband being, thank God, somewhat better, I am coming to church, I must leave, I fear, before the service is concluded that I may watch by his bedside. Can you say a few words in prayer in the early part of the service, that I may join with you in prayer for my husband before I return to him?"

THE CRISIS AND THE RECOVERY

On December 11th the Times stated that "the Prince still lives, and we may, therefore, still hope." During the following days crowds in every town surrounded the bulletins and waited in the streets for the latest newspaper reports; and the Government found it necessary to forward medical statements to every telegraph office in the United Kingdom as they were issued. On the 14th of the month a favourable change seemed apparent, and on the 16th the Prince had a quiet and refreshing sleep. On the following day the Royal family went to church, where, by special request, the Royal patient and his dying groom—Blegg—were prayed for together. The latter died within a few hours, but not before the Princess had found time to visit him and comfort his relations. Slowly, but steadily, from that time on the Prince began to make headway towards recovery, though it was not until Christmas Day that the danger was thought to be past and his Royal mother could express her feeling to the nation in a letter which was made public on December 26th: "The Queen is very anxious to express her deep sense of the touching sympathy of the whole nation on the occasion of the alarming illness of her dear son, the Prince of Wales. The universal feeling shown by her people during these painful, terrible days, and the sympathy evinced by them with herself and her beloved daughter, the Princess of Wales, as well as the general joy at the improvement of the Prince of Wales's state, have made a deep and lasting impression on her heart which can never be effaced."

CELEBRATION OF HIS RECOVERY