The Life of King Edward VII
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
The recovery of the Prince took the usual course of the disease and was
protracted in character; but on January 14th the last bulletin was
issued. The Princess of Wales and the Princess Alice had been his nurses
throughout this trying time, and they had never seemed to weary in their
devoted care. Nine days after the issue of the last bulletin Dr. William
Jenner was gazetted a K.C.B. and Dr. William W. Gull a baronet. There
were rumors at this time that the patient had been at one stage actually
_in extremis_, but had been saved by one of those sudden inspirations
which sometimes constitute so important a part of medical practice, and
which consisted in a vigorous and continuous application of old
champagne brandy over the body until returning animation had rewarded
the doctor's efforts. The 14th of December, the anniversary of the
Prince Consort's death and the day upon which the actual turning point
in the disease took place, was commemorated by a brass lectern in the
Parish Church of Sandringham, which bears the following inscription:
To the Glory of God.
A Thank-Offering for His Mercies.
14th December, 1871.
Alexandra.
"When I was in trouble I called upon the Lord, and He heard me."
The good news from Sandringham was received throughout the country with
expressions of the most unbounded popular satisfaction; and the
announcement that an opportunity would be afforded of returning public
thanks to the Almighty for his mercy was universally approved. The day
for the National Thanksgiving was finally settled for February 27th, and
St. Paul's Cathedral as the place; but before that time came Dr.
Stanley--who had now become Dean of Westminster--suggested a private
visit to the Abbey and a personal expression of his feelings by the
Prince. This was done in absolute privacy, with only the Princess and a
few members of the Royal family present. A sermon was preached by the
Dean in which, as he told an intimate friend, he was able for once to
say what he wished to say.
THE NATION UNITED IN A COMMON SYMPATHY
Many of the papers of the country commented upon the event with much the
same freedom as the Dean was able to use on this occasion, and it seemed
to be felt that the unbounded solicitude and affection so evidently and
profoundly shown for the Prince had given a certain right of counsel to
the nation. It was generally admitted that the illness had disclosed to
the people as a whole something like an adequate knowledge of their own
convictions in connection with the monarchy and concerning its
maintenance as a permanent and powerful institution of the realm.
Whatever might be the abstract ideas held by individuals in times when
Mr. Bradlaugh and Sir Charles Dilke were preaching republicanism and Mr.
Chamberlain was suspected of harbouring the same opinions, it had become
apparent that the subjects of the Queen in Great Britain were
practically a unit in their preference for a constitutional monarchy and
in their personal devotion to the Crown and the Royal family. In
addition to the event having awakened the nation to the strength of its
own sentiment in this regard, it was also believed that an important
influence would be found to have been exerted upon the Prince of
Wales--a steadying sense of responsibility resulting from holding such a
place as he did in the hearts of his countrymen.
THE PUBLIC THANKSGIVING OF THE NATION
The _Illustrated London News_ well embodied this thought in the
following comment: "Doubtless what has occurred during the last few
weeks has also a meaning for the Heir Apparent to the Throne. No man of
the slightest sensibility can witness the emotional effusion of a great
nation towards himself without being deeply impressed with the
responsibilities of his position. The Prince comes back to the British
people from the brink of the tomb, and they who most pathetically
lamented his danger hail his return to health with devout thanksgivings
and acclamations of joy. Can there be a more powerful incentive to that
course of future action which will commend him to their approbation and
their love? That he will recognize and respond to it, we cannot allow
ourselves to doubt." One of the interesting incidents of the illness was
the fact that when the announcement was made that His Royal Highness
might only survive a few hours his obituary was, of course, prepared and
put in type in all the leading newspaper offices in the land to an
extent varying from the pages of a metropolitan daily down to the half
dozen columns of the Provincial press. Proofs of the obituaries were, it
is understood, afterwards collected and sent to the Prince, who had
them pasted into an immense scrap-book at Marlborough House.
The Thanksgiving Day celebration commenced on February 27th at 12
o'clock, when Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by the Prince and
Princess of Wales and the Princess Beatrice and Prince Albert Victor of
Wales, drove through the gates of Buckingham Palace. There were nine
Royal carriages in the procession, containing a number of ladies and
gentlemen of the Court, and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Arthur, Prince
Leopold and Prince George of Wales. With the latter was the Marquess of
Aylesbury, Master of the Horse; Mr. Brand, Speaker of the House of
Commons; Lord Hatherley, the Lord Chancellor. H. R. H. the Duke of
Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief, headed the procession as it passed slowly
through Pall Mall, Charing Cross, the Strand, Fleet Street and Ludgate
Hill to St. Paul's Cathedral. The streets were lined with dense masses
of people, while every shop-window, doorstep, portico and available roof
were black with cheering throngs. Decorations there were of every sort
and range--squalid or simple or splendid--but all representing pleasure
and loyalty. Along Fleet Street and the Strand they took the form of an
actual canopy of banners, standards, streamers and strings of flowers.
Venetian masts, flying pennons, countless trophies and miniature
shields, with varied mottoes and many kinds of loyal wishes, were seen
all along the route. A band of school children numbering 30,000 sang the
National Anthem in Green Park, while soldiers lined the roadway from the
Palace to the Cathedral. Hearty and enthusiastic cheers greeted the
Royal party, and the Queen and Princess were described as looking bright
and happy, and the Prince as being pale, but not thin. The Queen wore a
black velvet dress trimmed with white ermine, the Princess of Wales was
in blue silk covered with black lace, and the Prince was in the uniform
of a British General and wearing the orders of the Garter and the Bath.
At Temple Bar the Queen was formally received by the Lord Mayor and
Sheriffs of London, and the city sword handed to Her Majesty and
returned in the usual way. At one o'clock the Royal party arrived at the
Cathedral and passed up a covered way of crimson cloth to the steps,
where they were received by the Bishop of London, the Dean and Chapter
of St. Paul's and the officers of Her Majesty's Household. The vast
interior of the building had been arranged to accommodate 13,000
persons, and was crowded to the doors. Space under the dome was reserved
for the Queen, the Royal family, the House of Lords, the House of
Commons, the Corps Diplomatique and the distinguished foreigners, the
Judges and the dignitaries of the law, the Lords Lieutenant and Sheriffs
of Counties, the representatives of universities and other learned
bodies. The choir was reserved for the Clergy, and the place assigned to
Her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses was slightly raised, made into a
kind of pew and covered with crimson cloth.
The Royal procession as it moved up the aisle included, besides the
members of the Royal family, such well known officials and members of
the Court as Major-General Lord Alfred Paget, Lieutenant-General Sir
John Cowell, Colonel H. F. Ponsonby, Major-General Sir T. M. Biddulph,
General Sir William Knollys, Rear-Admiral Lord Frederick Kerr, the
(late) Lord Methuen, General Lord Strathnairn, the Marquess of
Aylesbury, the Viscount Sydney, the Countess of Gainsborough, the Lady
Churchill, Lady Caroline Barrington, the Hon. Mrs. Grey, the Countess of
Morton and Lord Harris. Most of the great names and great personages of
England were present at this function. There were 200 Peers and
Peeresses; the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and fourteen Bishops;
nearly every member of the House of Commons. Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone
were there as were Mr. Disraeli and Viscountess Beaconsfield. Lord
Northbrook, Mr. W. E. Forster, Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Chichester Fortescue,
Mr. Goschen, and Lord Granville were visible. Throngs of ladies,
brilliant in blue and mauve and crimson satin and gems were present,
and, as the sun suddenly shone through what had been sullen clouds, the
spectacle within those parts of the Cathedral touched by the stream of
light was beautiful indeed. It shone upon the bright blue of many
dresses--the Royal colour of the day--mixed up in a confusion of
effective shadings with the dark blue and burnished gold of the
uniforms, the scarlet and white plumes of the officers, the gorgeous
robes of the Peers, the white lawn of the Bishops.
After walking up the aisle on the arm of the Prince of Wales, with the
Princess on the other side, Her Majesty took her place in the special
pew with the chief members of the Royal family on either side. After a
brief special service of thanksgiving the Archbishop of Canterbury
preached the sermon for the occasion in words of tact and eloquence from
which one quotation may be made: "Just as in one of our own homes when
death threatens, the whole history of the loved object we fear to lose
comes back in the hours of waiting, so England was stirred by a hundred
touching memories when danger threatened the Royal house. And God
doubtless thus touched our hearts to deepen our loyalty and make us
better prize the thousand good things secured in a well-ordered State by
love to the head of the State." At the conclusion of the sermon a
Thanksgiving Hymn was sung and the benediction given. The following was
the concluding verse:
"Bless, Father, him thou gavest
Back to the loyal land,
O Saviour, him Thou savest,
Still cover with Thine Hand:
O Spirit, the Defender,
Be his to guard and guide,
Now in life's midday splendor
On to the eventide."
The Royal party then proceeded in due state to their carriages and the
procession returned through the streets of the city to Buckingham Palace
over the Holborn Viaduct, along Holborn and Oxford street to the Marble
Arch, _via_ Hyde Park to Piccadilly, and thence down Constitution Hill.
Enthusiastic cheering was heard all along the route and decorations were
seen everywhere in the greatest abundance. In the evening London was
brilliant with light. The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Mansion
House, and the two large triumphal arches were particularly bright and