The Life of King Edward VII
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