The Life of King Edward VII
Prince George of Wales was now Heir Presumptive to the Throne and upon
him were devolved the more or less arduous duties of that position.
Following his brother's death he gave up active service in the Navy and
on May 24th, 1892, was created Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron
Killarney. The importance of his marriage was now obvious and a year and
a quarter after the death of the Duke of Clarence the engagement of his
brother to the Princess May of Teck was officially announced. The
wedding took place on July 6th, 1893, and there could be no doubt by
that time of the popularity of the young couple and of the national
pleasure at their union. The decorations in London eclipsed those of the
Queen's ubilee and the crowds were equally great. The ceremony was
performed at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, instead of at St. George's,
Windsor, where the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Princesses Helena and
Louise and the Dukes of Albany and Connaught had been wedded. Amongst
the great gathering present at the ceremony were Her Majesty and the
Royal family as a whole, the Duke and Duchess of Teck, Lord Salisbury,
Lord Rosebery, Mr. Morley, Mr. Bryce, Mr. Chamberlain, Sir W. V.
Harcourt, Lord Ripon, Lord Spencer, Lord Herschell, Mr. Balfour, Mr.
Goschen, the Dukes of Argyll, Norfolk and Devonshire, Mr. Gladstone, the
Hon. T. F. Bayard, American Minister, several Indian Princes and many
others. The _Times_ of July 7th had the following comment upon the
event:
"Few Royal weddings of our time aroused such unusual enthusiasm as
the union of the Duke of York with the bride of his choice--an
English Princess, born and bred in an English home, endeared to all
hearts by the now softened memory of a tragic sorrow and richly
endowed with all the qualities which inspire the brightest hopes
for the future. Fewer still have ever been celebrated with happier
omens, or in more auspicious circumstances than that of yesterday.
The pomp of a brilliant Court, the acclaim, at once tumultuous and
orderly, of the mightiest of cities, spontaneously making holiday
and decking itself in its brightest and bravest, the simultaneous
rejoicing of a whole people, the sympathy, unbought and yet
priceless, of a world-wide Empire, the radiant splendour of an
English summer day--all these combined to make the ceremony of
yesterday an occasion as memorable as that of the Jubilee itself."
The bridesmaids were all relations of the young couple--the Princesses
Victoria and Maud of Wales, Victoria Melita, Alexandra and Beatrice of
Edinburgh; Margaret and Victoria Patricia of Connaught; Victoria of
Schleswig-Holstein; Victoria and Alexandra of Battenberg. The Duke of
York wore a simple Captain's uniform and was supported by his Royal
father and the Duke of Edinburgh. The bride was described in the papers
of the time as wearing silver and white brocade, with clustered
shamrocks, roses and thistles. On July 10th the Queen addressed one of
her usual tactful and gracious letters to the nation expressive of her
personal sympathy with the people and of theirs with her and her family.
The eldest child of this marriage--Prince Edward Albert Christian George
Andrew Patrick David--was direct in succession to the Throne after his
father and was born on June 23, 1894. The second child was Prince Albert
Frederick Arthur George, born on December 14, 1895. Princess Victoria
Alexandra Alice Mary, was born on April 25th, 1897, and Prince Henry
William Frederick Albert on March 31, 1900. The Prince of Wales was
greatly attached to his grandchildren and nothing in these later years
gave him greater pleasure than having around him the youthful scions of
the House of Fife, or that of York, and giving them presents and other
means of enjoyment. On July 22, 1896, his third daughter, the Princess
Maud, was married to Prince Charles, second son of the Crown Prince of
Denmark. The ceremony was performed in the private Chapel of Buckingham
Palace, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the Queen
and most of the members of the Royal family. The Duke and Duchess of
Sparta, the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone
and Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain were amongst the guests. The bridesmaids
were Princesses Ingeborg of Denmark, Victoria of Wales, Victoria of
Schleswig-Holstein, Thyra of Denmark, Victoria Patricia of Connaught,
Margaret of Connaught, Alice of Albany and the Lady Alexandra Duff.
CHAPTER XII.
The Prince as a Social Leader
The influence wielded upon Society by the Prince of Wales, during nearly
forty years of public life, was so marked and important as to merit
extended consideration. Society, of course, in such a connection
includes much more than any particular set of persons however select, or
distinguished, or aristocratic; it means, in fact, all the varied social
circles, high and low, which have recognized principles of etiquette and
intercourse and common customs of amusement and fashion. Taken in this
wide sense of the word, no personage in the history of Europe during the
nineteenth century wielded so great an influence as His Royal Highness.
He helped to make the unbounded after-dinner drinking of a previous
period unpopular and socially un-orthodox; he encouraged in his more
youthful days and always enjoyed the pleasures of dancing; he introduced
very largely the popular fashion of a cigarette after dinner in place of
endless heavy cigars and their accompaniment of liquors; he did much to
encourage and popularize a love for music; he led the fashion in the
matter of men's dress and, upon the whole, society in most civilized
countries has to thank him for simple and dignified customs in this
respect; he supported the race-course with courage and persistence and
not only made racing more popular but helped to establish its code and
operation upon a high plane of honour--by far the highest and cleanest
in the world; he made charity and the support of its varied public
institutions popular and fashionable; he showed the gilded youth of a
great social world that work was a good thing for a Prince and a peer
as well as for a peasant; he, with his beautiful wife, presented for
many years a model home and family life to the nation and they,
together, discouraged many of the petty vices and small faults which
creep into all social systems from time to time.
LIFE AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE
The official and social centre of this leadership in the British world
was at Marlborough House--a large and unpretentious residence in the
heart of London. That the place was exquisitely furnished and equipped
goes without saying; that it was comfortable in the extreme is equally a
matter of course to those acquainted with the taste and house-keeping
capacities of the Princess of Wales. It was filled with fine engravings
and paintings illustrative of the Victorian era; it teemed with
mementoes and memorials of past incidents, travels and friendships in
the lives of the Royal couple; it contained rooms suited for every
purpose required in the exacting life and multifarious public duties of
its occupants. The Prince's study, where only intimates were admitted,
has been described as the room of a hard-working man of business. When
at Marlborough House, His Royal Highness used to mark out his time, each
day, with care and precision and even then it was difficult to fill his
many and varied engagements. There were certain public functions such as
the Horse Show at Islington, or the Royal Military Tournament, to which
the Prince and Princess always went when in London. There were a certain
number of state dinners given in place of those which, under other
circumstances, would have been given by the Sovereign. Diplomatic
dinners were also incidents of the season at Marlborough House as well
as dinners which included the Government and Opposition leaders and
great banquets held from time to time in honour of foreign guests of the
nation or Royal relations visiting the country.
The dining-room at Marlborough was handsome but plain, the arrangements
of the table setting an example of simplicity which society, in this
case, did not always follow. The Prince of Wales never concealed his
dislike for the extremely lengthy banquets which were the custom in his
youth and succeeded, so far as private dinner-parties were concerned, in
revolutionizing the system. To the favoured guest Marlborough House was
a scene of historic as well as personal interest. It had been the home
of the great Duke of that name; the residence of Prince Leopold,
intended husband of the lamented Princess Charlotte, and afterwards King
of the Belgians; the dower-house of Queen Adelaide; the choice of the
Prince Consort for his son's London home. The general contents of the
house were worthy of its history. In one room were splendid panels of
Gobelin tapestry presented by Napoleon; in another were the rare and