The Life of King Edward VII
great Englishman who had exerted so vast an influence upon the progress
of branches of natural knowledge." On July 4th the Prince and Princess
attended the opening of the new building of the Birkbeck Institution in
London and the former spoke upon its objects and character. On July 5th
of the previous year he presided at the annual dinner in aid of the
Railway Guards' Friendly Society and referred in his speech to its
nature and valuable work. More than L3300 was subscribed, to which the
Royal chairman gave his usual contribution. The Convalescent Home at
Swanley was opened on July 13th 1885 and the Prince was accompanied by
his wife and daughters. A visit was paid two days later to Leeds and the
Prince and Princess stayed at Studley, the seat of the Marquess of
Ripon. Various addresses were received at the Town Hall and from thence
the Royal visitors went to the Yorkshire College, which the Prince duly
inaugurated amid much state. At the succeeding luncheon he spoke of the
great importance of the industrial educational work which this
institution was carrying on. "I have for a long time been deeply
impressed with the advisability of establishing in our great centres of
population, colleges and schools, not only for promoting the
intellectual advancement of the people, but also for increasing their
prosperity by furthering the application of scientific knowledge to the
industrial arts."
The sad news of the gallant death of General Gordon affected the Prince
of Wales as only the loss of a friend who is greatly and personally
admired can do. He took much interest in the Committee which was formed
to promote a Memorial and finally summoned a special meeting at
Marlborough House, on January 12th, 1886, to promote the collection of a
fund looking to the permanent establishment of a Gordon Boys' Home.
Speeches were made by General Higginson, the Duke of Cambridge and Lord
Napier of Magdala, and ultimately the enterprise was fairly placed upon
its feet. A little later, with Prince Albert Victor and Prince George,
His Royal Highness went to stay with the Duke of Westminster at Eaton
Hall. From thence, on January 20th, they visited Liverpool and the
Mersey Tunnel was formally inaugurated after a drive through the city
and the reception of the usual addresses and popular welcome. A banquet
was also received and several speeches made by the Prince. The
Institution of Civil Engineers entertained the Prince of Wales at dinner
on March 27th and the Royal guest was accompanied by his eldest son and
the Duke of Cambridge. Sir Frederick Bramwell presided. On June 28th,
following, he laid the foundation-stone of the Peoples' Palace amidst
evidences of unbounded personal popularity in the East End of London;
with ten thousand people around him--including one thousand delegates
from the various Trade, Friendly and Temperance Societies in East
London; and with representative persons in attendance such as Dr. Adler,
the Chief Rabbi, Cardinal Manning, Archbishop Benson and Mr. Walter
Besant.
As a result of his deep and practical interest in agricultural matters
the Prince of Wales held a sale of Shorthorn cattle and Southdown sheep
at Norwich on July 15th of this year. The sale was a most interesting
and successful event from a technical as well as general standpoint and
fully proved the right of the Royal owner of Sandringham to be called a
farmer and to act as President of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England. A luncheon given to the agricultural celebrities of England
followed the sale. On March 12th, 1887, the Prince presided at the
Jubilee banquet of the London Orphan Asylum and defined its objects and
work while urging more financial assistance to its projects. Amongst
those present were the Duke of Abercorn, the Earl of Clarendon, General
Sir Donald Stewart and Sir Dighton Probyn. The subscriptions announced
during the evening were L5000, including one hundred guineas from the
Prince.
On March 30th he opened the new College of Preceptors in London,
accompanied by the Princess of Wales and the Princesses Victoria and
Maud. The opening of the Manchester Exhibition followed on May 3rd and
the Prince and Princesses came to the city from Tatton Hall, where they
had been staying with Lord Egerton. The usual hearty welcome was given
along the crowded route. On May 22nd the London Hospital's new buildings
were inaugurated, the Prince being accompanied by his wife and two
daughters and the Crown Prince of Denmark. Six days later Tottenham was
visited and the new portion of the Deaconesses Institution and Hospital
opened. The Shaftesbury House, or home for shelterless boys, was
inaugurated on June 17th and on November 3rd His Royal Highness visited
Truro, accompanied by the Princess and his two sons, attended the
consecration of the new Cathedral by the Primate of England and spoke
afterwards at a luncheon given by the principal residents of the Duchy
of Cornwall. On the following day he presented new colours to the Duke
of Cornwall's Light Infantry at Devonport.
On May the 8th, 1888, the Prince and Princess of Wales opened the
Glasgow Exhibition and the former spoke interestingly of the industrial
development of the time. The statesman whose advice and knowledge had
been so greatly appreciated by the Prince during his Indian tour was
fittingly commemorated by the statue on the Thames Embankment which His
Royal Highness unveiled on June 5th following. Sir Bartle Frere was
described in the speech accompanying the act as "a great and valued
public servant of the Crown and a highly esteemed and dear friend of
myself." On July 6th a new Gymnasium for the Young Men's Christian
Association was opened in London; on May 9th the Prince and Princess
visited Blackburn and were enthusiastically received; on May 14th His
Royal Highness, accompanied by his wife and daughters, Prince Charles of
Denmark and Prince George of Greece, opened the Anglo-Danish Exhibition
at South Kensington; on July 17th he inaugurated the new buildings of
the Great Northern Hospital at Islington and in the autumn of the year
paid a visit to Austria and some of the countries in Southern Europe.
The purely public events of following years may be briefly and partially
summarized. In June, 1889, the Prince and Princess of Wales visited the
Paris Exhibition in a semi-private capacity, and were present at Athens,
on October 27th, at the wedding of the Duke of Sparta and Princess
Sophia of Germany. The great Forth Bridge was opened by the Prince in
March, 1890, and a short time spent with Lord Rosebery at Dalmeny; a
visit was paid to Berlin, accompanied by Prince George, on March 21st; a
statue of the Duke of Albany was unveiled at Cannes on April 6th; a new
nave in the ancient Church of St. Saviour, Southwark, was inaugurated on
July 24th; the new Town Hall at Portsmouth was opened on August 9th; the
City of London Electric Railway was inaugurated on November 4th. On
November 9th, 1891, the theatrical managers of London presented His
Royal Highness with a large gold cigar-box in honour of his fiftieth
birthday. In 1892 the Prince visited the Royal Agricultural Society at
Warwick with the Duke of York, laid the foundation-stone of the
Clarence Memorial addition to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, and
supervised the re-building of Sandringham after the fire which had
consumed a portion of it. One of the events of 1894 was a visit to
Coburg in April and attendance at the marriage of his niece and nephew,
the Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and the Grand Duke of Hesse.
Another was the opening of the Tower Bridge, London, in June, by the
Prince and Princess on behalf of the Queen.
On May 16, 1895, the Prince of Wales reviewed the Warwickshire Yeomanry;
on July 8th he laid the foundation-stone of new buildings at the Epsom
Medical College; in July he reviewed Italian and British fleets off
Portsmouth; on July 22nd he opened the new building of the Royal Free
Hospital, Grey's Inn Road, London; in November he presided at a lecture
in the Imperial Institute. In 1896 he was formally installed as
Chancellor of the University of Wales, and stayed at Balmoral in
September during the visit of the Emperor and Empress of Russia to the
Queen. In January, 1897, the Prince visited the Duke of Sutherland at
Trentham Hall; on May 22nd he opened the Blackwell Tunnel; in June he
participated in all the Jubilee functions, was created Grand Master of
the Order of the Bath and gave a banquet, in honour of the appointment,
to all living Knights Grand Cross of the Order, which was a unique
gathering of men distinguished in diplomacy, statesmanship, in the Army
and Navy, and in Imperial and civil administration. During the following
year he distributed prizes in June at Wellington College and laid the
foundation-stone of new buildings at University College Hospital; on
December 23rd he attended the opening service of a restored church at
Sherbourne. On June 19, 1899, His Royal Highness held a Levee at St.
James's Palace; on July 6th he received the freedom of the City of
Edinburgh; and on September 18th he presented new colours to the Gordon
Highlanders.
Such was the general character and scope of the Prince's public life.
There would have been little object served in elaborating the
description of these ceremonial events. They are of value and necessary
to a clear comprehension of the position and manifold duties of the
Prince of Wales, and quite enough have been given for this purpose.
During all these thirty years the work of the Heir Apparent increased in
its importance and multifarious character until every interest and
element in the population found a place in its performance. It was
arduous and unceasing, but the Prince never showed weariness and always
appeared with the same unaffected _bonhomie_ and natural dignity
whatever the extent of his work or the character of the function. The
end of it all was a popularity as unique as it was thoroughly and well
deserved.
CHAPTER X.
Special Functions and Interests
The Prince of Wales' connection with the Masonic Order was an early one
and had always been a close and sincerely interested one. He was first
initiated in 1868 by the late King of Sweden when staying at Stockholm.
He served several terms as Worshipful Master of the Royal Alpha Lodge,
which consisted of a number of Grand Officers, generally noblemen, and
in this lodge he personally initiated his eldest son, the late Duke of
Clarence and Avondale, in 1885. He was also permanent Master of the
Prince of Wales Lodge, to which he initiated the Duke of Connaught in
1874. When the Marquess of Ripon retired from the Grand Mastership of
English Freemasons in 1875 the Prince of Wales accepted the post and was
installed on April 28th at the Royal Albert Hall. The function was
perhaps the most memorable and imposing in the British history of the
Order. In the vast Hall there were more than ten thousand members of the
craft, of all ranks and degrees, and in costume suited to their Masonic
conditions. Many distinguished visitors and deputations from foreign
lodges were present in the reserved inclosure. The Earl of Carnarvon
performed the initial ceremonies and in the address to His Royal
Highness referred to the gathering around them: "I may truly say that
never in the whole history of Freemasonry has such a Grand Lodge been
convened as that on which my eye rests at this moment and there is,
further, an inner view to be taken, that so far as my eyes can carry me
over these serried ranks of white and blue, and gold and purple, I
recognize in them men who have solemnly taken obligations of worth and
morality--men who have undertaken the duties of citizens and the loyalty
of subjects."
THE PRINCE'S ADDRESS AS MASONIC GRAND MASTER