The Life of King Edward VII
wonderful treasures of Indian work, in gold, silver, jewelry and
embroidery, brought home from the Royal visit to Hindostan; elsewhere
was a beautiful vase given the Prince by Alexander II. of Russia,
enamelled work from the East, richly ornamented swords, trays of solid
gold, tables full of presentation keys, medals, trowels and memorials of
all kinds.
Socially, the drawing-room was the central feature of interest. Its
general effect has been described[6] as being white and gold and pale
pink, its floor of polished oak with an Axminster carpet in the centre,
and with an appearance of vastness modified by pillars of white and
gold. There were innumerable mirrors and the furniture was upholstered
in deep red, while rare china, flowers, photographs, statuettes, and
small ornaments of gold and silver and enamel were scattered in
profusion upon tables, cabinets and mantels. Here the most eminent men
and beautiful or clever women of Great Britain and the world have been
entertained and here, or in the well-kept grounds, the intimate friends
of the Prince and Princess have gathered from time to time.
The society received at Marlborough was always cosmopolitan in its
variety but it was never of the kind which slander sometimes insinuated.
No man has ever been more democratic, so far as mere class barriers are
concerned, than was the Prince of Wales, but no one knew better than he
where to draw the line in his entertainments. The Princess, for her
part, was at all times a model hostess, and each knew too well what was
due to the other to make the social life of the Palace anything more
than a correct embodiment and representation of the social life of
London. The liberality of the Prince was made evident in later years in
making cultivated and representative Americans or Jews welcome at his
functions. His very proper and openly-avowed liking for beautiful women
encouraged at one time a social class of "professional beauties," but as
soon as this patronage was found to have been misused and vulgarized in
certain quarters, he and the Princess quietly dropped those who were
making a trade of the Royal recognition. A story has been told
illustrating the capacity which the Prince of Wales always showed for
keeping people in their proper places. On one occasion, at a great
charitable bazaar in Albert Hall, which he had honoured with his
presence, he went up to a refreshment stall and asked for a cup of tea.
The fair vendor--there was no doubt of her beauty--before handing the
cup to His Royal Highness took a drink from it, saying, "_now_ the price
will be five guineas!" The Prince gravely paid the money, handed back
the cup of tea and said, "Will you please give me a clean cup?"
The Royal etiquette, as to social entertainments and the acceptance of
invitations to country houses, or city functions, was always very exact
and was carried out along lines fixed by the Prince and Princess in
their early married life. Outside of the aristocracy, or a small list
of personal friends, very few hospitable invitations were ever accepted
and as such acceptance meant certain admission to the higher ranks of
society the pressure upon personal friends or officials can easily be
imagined. The Prince always objected to the lavish and extravagant style
of such entertainments and this was one important reason for limiting
his circle of hosts and hostesses. At the country houses visited from
time to time, or at the private dinners to which he accepted
invitations, the Prince was supposed to usually see a list of the guests
and to always have the right of adding names to it. The delicate and
indirect task of attending to this matter was for many years confided to
Mr. Harry Tyrwhitt Wilson; who also had the arrangement of details in
connection with the visits largely in his hands. One incident of the
visits to country houses was an effort on the part of the Prince in
recent years to discourage and check the wholesale habit of tipping
servants. He took the method of leaving a moderate and suitable sum for
the purpose and this was distributed after he had left the place. It may
be added that whenever the Prince went anywhere he was always
accompanied by an equerry, his own valets, a footman to wait on him at
meals, and certain other servants.
FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS OF THE PRINCE
The Prince and Princess of Wales, separately or together as the case may
be, have visited most of the splendid homes of England. Chief amongst
those whom they delighted to visit were the Duke and Duchess of
Devonshire and Chatsworth; Hardwick Hall and Compton Place have,
therefore, more than once seen most brilliant entertainments in their
honour. Lord and Lady Cadogan were frequent and favourite hosts. Lord
and Lady Londonderry, the Earl and Countess of Warwick, the Duke of
Richmond at Goodwood House, the late Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall,
all entertained the Royal couple upon more than one occasion. Lord
Alington, the late Duke of Beaufort, and Sir Edward Lawson gave the
Prince frequent and enjoyable shooting. The Duchess of Marlborough and
Mrs. Arthur Paget were two American ladies whom His Royal Highness
counted as friends and hostesses. Several members of the Rothschild
family entertained the Heir Apparent at homes which have been described
as models of comfort and museums of art, while Lord Penrhyn was a Welsh
magnate whom he once visited with great pleasure, and the late Baron
Hirsch, in his Hungarian shootings, gave him splendid sport upon more
than one occasion.
No phrase has been more conspicuous in recent years and none have been
more abused in meaning and application than that of "the Prince's set."
Properly used, it meant his personal friends or those who, along
specific and often very diverse lines of sport, society, work, or
travel, were necessarily intimate with His Royal Highness. Improperly
applied, it was supposed to designate a rather fast and very "smart" set
of wealthy social magnates. In this latter guise it had really no
existence. Those who were familiar with the Prince of Wales' career and
character knew that mere wealth was the last thing which ever attracted
him, and the one thing which was a most certainly uncertain basis upon
which to gain his patronage; to say nothing of his friendship. Many
disappointed millionaires can speak with accuracy upon this point--if
they wished to. On the other hand, honest love of racing, or shooting,
or yachting; brilliancy of conversation in man or woman and conspicuous
beauty or charm of manner in the latter; knowledge of the world and
capacity to do the right thing in the right way at the right time were
conspicuous factors in obtaining the friendship of the Prince of Wales.
Achievements in art, or distinction in the Army and Navy, or great
philanthropic interests and undertakings, were always elements of
recognized importance.
Deer-stalking in the Highlands made friends and hosts such as the late
Dukes of Sutherland and Hamilton, Mr. Farquharson of Invercauld and Lord
Glenesk. During his annual visits to Homburg, for many years, and in the
rest and liberty which he allowed himself there, the Prince's favourite
companion, as he was his most devoted friend, was the late Mr.
Christopher Sykes. Lord Brampton--the clever, witty and eccentric Judge
who was better known as Sir Henry Hawkins--the Right Hon. "Jimmy"
Lowther, M.P., Lord Charles and Lord William Beresford, and Sir Allen
Young were also special friends of the holiday season. Admiral Sir Henry
Keppel was a very old friend of the Prince and his family and this
intimacy also included Mr. and Mrs. George Keppel. Lord Rosebery, Lord
Beaconsfield, Lord Randolph Churchill and the late Lord Derby could all
claim the Royal friendship, while Lord and Lady Farquhar were delightful
and favourite hosts of both the Prince and his wife. Colonel Oliver
Montagu was a very old and dear friend, and the Earl of Aylesford, Lord
Cadogan, General Lord Wantage, Colonel Owen Williams, Earl Carrington,
Lord and Lady Dudley and Lord Russell of Killowen ranked in the category
of friendship. Lord and Lady Alington had the rare distinction of giving
dances to which the Princess of Wales used to take her daughters when
they were young girls.
Amongst hostesses other than those already mentioned whose
entertainments the Prince liked to attend were Mrs. Bischoffstein and
Mrs. Arthur Rothschild. Other personal friends were the late Earl of
Lathom, the bright and witty Marchioness of Aylesbury, Lord James of
Hereford and the late Sir Charles Hall. Amongst artists whom the Prince
greatly favoured were Sir Charles and Lady Halle and the late Lord
Leighton. No closer and more devoted friends of the Prince could be
found than the members of his own Household, and the public was long
aware of this in the persons of Lord Suffield, Sir Francis Knollys and
Sir Dighton Probyn, in particular. The Prince delighted in doing honour
to those whom he accepted as friends. He marked his sorrow at the deaths
of Colonel Oliver Montagu and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild by
personally attending their funerals--an exception to the rule which he
had set himself in this connection.
His Royal Highness frequently gave his powerful patronage to the
promotion of Memorials to those who had been honoured by his friendship
and who deserved honour upon national grounds. An early instance of this
was the case of Dean Stanley. A later one, on July 13, 1900, was the
gathering called at Marlborough House and presided over by the Prince
for the purpose of erecting a national memorial in Westminster Abbey to
the Duke of Westminster. In speaking, His Royal Highness said: "To me
personally the death of the Duke meant the loss of a life-long friend. I
had known him from his boyhood and there is no one whose friendship I
appreciated more than his. In my judgment there is no one whose public
services more fully deserve public recognition by his countrymen."
Fidelity to friends and appreciation of manly qualities and special
abilities were always characteristic of the Prince of Wales and,
combined with his tact and the unusual qualifications of the Princess as
a hostess, made Marlborough and Sandringham, in different ways, the most
ideal centres of social entertainment. Taken as a whole, the Prince's
leadership of society was emphatically for good. His approval and
patronage of the opera or the theatre, the race-course or the
shooting-box, may not have been agreeable to some people, but they
represented the popular opinion of the great majority. He took things as
they were, enjoyed them in a full-hearted and honest way, improved the
_morale_ of the social system and the practices in vogue in many
directions and left Society infinitely better and more honest than he
had found it.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] _Private Life of King Edward VII._ By a member of the Royal
Household. D. Appleton & Co. N. Y.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Prince as a Sportsman
In his devotion to the "sport of kings" the Prince of Wales followed the
excellent example of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, Charles I, Charles II,
William of Orange, Queen Anne, the Duke of Cumberland, George IV, and
William IV. He represented in this respect an inherent and seemingly
natural liking of the English people. With them the manly art of war,
the physical excitements of chivalry, and tests of endurance in civil
and foreign struggles, have been replaced by the games and sports of a
quieter and more peaceful period. Riding to hounds, steeple-chasing and
the amateur or professional race-course represent a most popular as well
as aristocratic phase of this development. The Prince of Wales, early in
his life, took a liking to racing in all its forms and encouraged
steeple-chasing at a time when it was neither fashionable nor popular.