The Life of King Edward VII
THE PRINCE MAKES A VISIT TO DERBY
The next important English function of His Royal Highness was a state
visit to Derby on December 17th. The announcement that the Prince and
Princess were coming to Chatsworth to stay with the Duke of Devonshire
and would also visit Derby created much interest and on the appointed
day brought great crowds from Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield,
Nottingham and Chesterfield to swell the population of the city. After
driving through the decorated streets and cheering crowds various loyal
addresses were received and prizes presented at the City Grammar School.
On the evening of March 27th, 1873, the Prince presided at the annual
dinner of the Railways' Benevolent Institution. In a somewhat lengthy
little speech he explained its purposes and asked for aid in their
attainment. The result was a subscription of five thousand guineas to
which he himself contributed two hundred guineas.
A duty which was congenial in one sense and sad in another was the
unveiling of a statue of the late Prince Consort at the entrance of the
Holborn Viaduct in London on January 9th, 1874. A luncheon followed in
the Guild Hall attended by some eight hundred guests and at which the
Prince made a short speech. A few weeks later the Prince and Princess of
Wales were at St. Petersburg to attend the marriage of the Duke of
Edinburgh with the Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia on January
23rd. The marriage ceremony was performed in much state with the
successive rites of the Greek and English Churches--Dean Stanley
presiding over the latter. Four future Sovereigns were present on the
occasion, the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Prussia, the
Czarewitch of Russia and the Crown Prince of Denmark. During this visit
the Prince and Princess were treated with great distinction by the Czar
and a grand military review was held in honour of His Royal Highness.
The anniversary festival of the British Orphan Asylum was attended on
March 25th, in London, and a speech was made by His Royal Highness
explanatory of the useful objects of the institution. The subscriptions
announced during the evening amounted to L2400. An important incident of
the year was the visit of the Shah of Persia to England and the splendid
entertainments given in honour of an Oriental Sovereign whose
friendliness was of serious import in the event of trouble between Great
Britain and Russia. The Prince of Wales devoted considerable time to the
task of welcoming and entertaining the Royal visitor and gave one great
banquet, in particular, at Marlborough House which was remarkable for
its effective magnificence.
A dinner was given on March 31st by the Lord Mayor of London to
Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley--afterward Field Marshal, Viscount
Wolseley--on his return from the successful Ashantee expedition and the
Prince of Wales made a tactful speech on the occasion expressive of the
thanks of the nation for the services of officers and men in that
arduous campaign. On April 22nd the Prince presided over a dinner in aid
of the funds of the Royal Medical Benevolent Hospital. The leading men
of the profession were present and, after a speech from the Prince,
donations of L1780 were announced by the Secretary with the usual one
hundred guinea subscription from the Royal chairman. A different kind of
function was His Royal Highness' attendance at a dinner of the Benchers
of the Middle Temple on June 11th. The Master of the Temple, the Rev.
Dr. Vaughan, presided and others present were the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Lord Chief Justice. The Prince, as a Bencher, wore
the silk gown of a Queen's Counsel as well as the riband of the Garter
and made a brief speech in which he expressed the modest opinion that it
was a good thing for the profession at large that he had never been
called to the Bar. On August 13th the new Municipal Buildings and Law
Courts at Plymouth were opened by the Prince after a formal reception at
the hands of the Mayor and a procession through the artistically
decorated and densely packed streets of the city.
FIRST STATE VISIT TO BIRMINGHAM
An interesting event of this year and one which created considerable
discussion and comment was the first state visit of the Prince and
Princess of Wales to Birmingham. For half a century that city had been a
centre of Radicalism, of extreme democratic opinion and, in earlier
days, of Chartist turbulence. The Mayor, in 1874, was Mr. Joseph
Chamberlain who was then noted for democratic views which were supposed
in many quarters to extend to the full measure of republicanism. Doubt
was even expressed as to whether the Royal reception would be as cordial
as might be desired or the Mayor as courteous, in the sense of loyal
phraseology, as was customary. The visit took place on November 3rd and
a most cordial welcome was given by all classes of the people. Mr.
Chamberlain presented an address in the Town Hall and at a subsequent
luncheon spoke of the Queen as "having established claims to the
admiration of her people by the loyal fulfillment of responsible
duties." In reference to this and other speeches which he made as
chairman the London _Times_ of the succeeding day declared that
"whatever Mr. Chamberlain's views may be his speeches of yesterday
appear to us to have been admirably worthy of the occasion and to have
done the highest credit to himself." They were described as being
couched in a line of "courteous homage, manly independence and
gentlemanly feeling."
The annual dinner of the Royal Cambridge Asylum was presided over by His
Royal Highness on March 13th, 1875; the Merchant Taylors' School in the
Charterhouse was visited on April 6th; the German Hospital annual
banquet was presided over ten days later and donations of L5000 to its
funds announced during the evening--including one hundred guineas from
the Prince; the installation of the Heir Apparent as Grand Master of the
English Freemasons took place on April 28th. On June 5th he presided at
the yearly banquet of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution for
providing pensions or annuities for persons ruined by agricultural
depression. The Earl of Hardwicke in proposing the Royal chairman's
health said that "the position of the Prince of Wales is not one of the
easiest. He has no definite duties, but the duty he has laid down for
himself is of a very definite nature. It is to benefit, to the best of
his power, all his fellow-creatures." In the course of his speeches the
Prince made an earnest appeal for aid to the purposes of the institution
with the result that L8000 was announced as the total donation of the
evening--including the usual one hundred guineas from the chairman.
The next important event in his public life was the visit of the Prince
to India in 1875-6. On his return the Royal traveller received many
demonstrations of popular esteem and the City of London entertained him
at a great banquet and ball and an address of welcome, in a golden
casket of Indian design, was presented. During the remainder of the year
the Prince took a much-needed rest and interested himself largely in
matters local to his own county of Norfolk. He took in hand the
necessity existing at Norwich for a new Hospital and a large sum of
money was soon subscribed for this purpose. Later in the year he visited
Glasgow and laid the foundation of a new Post Office in that city. In
the spring of 1877 what may be termed the moral courage of the Prince
was put to a test in his invitation to preside at the annual banquet of
the Licensed Victuallers' Asylum. There were many protests made and at
least two hundred petitions presented urging His Royal Highness not to
patronize or help the liquor interest. He decided, however, that the
charity was a useful one and the widows and orphans of licensed
victuallers as deserving of succour as those of other classes in the
community, and that he could quite well afford to patronize an
institution in succession to his own father, the late Prince Consort.
Earl Granville was present, three Bishops and many members of the Houses
of Lords and Commons and the proceeds of the occasion were over L5000.
In one of his speeches the Royal chairman referred to the petitions
received from Temperance Societies and remarked: "I think this time they
rather overstep the mark because the object of the meeting to-night is
not to encourage the love of drink but to support a good and excellent
charity."
Early in 1878 the Prince unveiled at Cambridge (on January 22nd) a
statue of his late father, who for years had been Chancellor of the
University. On June 28th, together with the Princess of Wales, he
visited the Infant Orphan Asylum at Wanstead and presided at the
luncheon which followed and at which were Her Royal Highness, the Duke
and Duchess of Manchester, the Bishop of St. Albans and Mrs. Claughton,
and a large gathering. In his speech the Royal chairman reviewed the
history of the institution and afterwards gave one hundred guineas to
its funds. As a result of his interest in naval matters the Prince had
already placed his sons on the training ship _Britannia_ and, on July
24th of this year, he and the Princess consented to distribute the
annual prizes and medals. An address was presented from the City of
Dartmouth, on board the Royal yacht _Osborne_, which had been
accompanied into the estuary of the River Dart by a large number of
war-ships, yachts, steam-launches and boats. Flags were flying
everywhere on sea and shore and in the evening the illuminations were
striking. At the _Britannia_ the Royal visitors were received by Mr. W.
H. Smith M.P. First Lord of the Admiralty and a distinguished gathering
amongst whom were Lord and Lady Charles Beresford and Sir Samuel and
Lady Baker. In his speech the Prince referred to the personal expression
of confidence in the institution by the Princess and himself in sending
their two sons to be trained there and expressed the hope that the
latter might do credit to the ship and to their country. A visit to
Dartmouth followed and then Prince Edward and Prince George were taken
home for their holidays.
THE DEATH OF PRINCESS ALICE
During this year the Heir Apparent had the misfortune to lose his
much-loved sister the Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, to whose
careful nursing he had owed so much in his own serious illness and the
sad features of whose death--as a result of nursing her children through
an attack of malignant diphtheria--had proved such a shock to the
British public. The Prince and Princess spent some months in retirement
after this occurrence and had also to mourn the death of the gallant
young Prince Imperial of France, in whose career they had taken a deep
personal interest--not only on account of his loveable qualities, but
because of the long friendship between the Royal house of England and
the widowed Empress Eugenie, to whose lonely hopes and pride the loss
was so terrible. The Prince of Wales helped the stricken lady in the
details of the funeral, acted as the principal pall-bearer and showed
his sympathy in many ways, of which the wreath of violets sent from
Marlborough, with the following inscription, was an incident: "A token
of affection and regard for him who lived the most spotless of lives and
died a soldier's death fighting for our cause in Zululand. From Albert
Edward and Alexandra, July 12, 1879." His Royal Highness strongly
supported the proposal to erect a Memorial in Westminster Abbey, but
even his great influence could not overcome the international prejudices
which the suggestion aroused and he had to wait till January, 1883, when
the "United Service Memorial" was erected at Woolwich, and, accompanied
by his two sons and the Dukes of Edinburgh and Cambridge, he was able to