The Life of King Edward VII Part 4
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 n.o.blemen 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 Phoenix 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 a.s.sociated 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 pa.s.sed 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 d.u.c.h.ess 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 a.s.semblage 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 a.s.sumes 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 a.s.sociated 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 inst.i.tution 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 dest.i.tute, 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 d.u.c.h.ess 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 amus.e.m.e.nts 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 circ.u.mstances would permit, of their father, created and maintained at Sandringham one of the most pleasant home circles in all England. An ill.u.s.tration 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 a.s.suming 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 Inst.i.tution 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 inst.i.tution 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 Warehous.e.m.e.n 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 princ.i.p.al 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 d.u.c.h.ess 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 d.u.c.h.ess of Fife, was born.
Some functions had to be performed, however, and they included the presiding at a meeting of the National Lifeboat Inst.i.tution 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 inst.i.tution. 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 inst.i.tution. 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 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]
[Ill.u.s.tration: KING EDWARD VII AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA At the Opening of Parliament]
[Ill.u.s.tration: 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]
[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 G.o.d, 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 mediaeval 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 inst.i.tutions, colleges, universities, academies, libraries and cattle shows. He had to take a very active part in a.s.semblies 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, ma.n.u.scripts, 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 pa.s.sing 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 inst.i.tution 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 pa.s.sed through no great city without visiting and helping any inst.i.tutions 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 partic.i.p.ate.
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 Ha.s.san 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 partic.i.p.ating 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 pa.s.sed 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.