The Life of King Edward VII
He became a member of the Jockey Club in 1868. It was not, however,
until 1877 that his afterwards famous colours of purple, gold band,
scarlet sleeves and black velvet cap with gold fringe, were carried at
Newmarket in the presence of the Princess and before a great and
fashionable gathering. Five years later His Royal Highness won the
Household Brigade Cup at Sandown and thenceforward his interest in the
sport was keen, although it was not till some years afterwards that he
established his own racing-stable which, in 1890, was placed under the
efficient management of Lord Marcus Beresford.
During these years the Prince lost a good deal of money, though the
amount was never known or even truthfully guessed at, but in 1889 his
horses began also to win. In that year he won L204, in 1891 L4148, in
1894 L3499, and in the next four years a total of L57,430. In 1892 a
Royal stud was founded at Sandringham and there _Persimmon_ and _Diamond
Jubilee_ were bred. The Derby of 1896 was perhaps, the most historic of
English racing events. Attended by a crowd of three hundred thousand
people, raced in with horses owned by such generous patrons of the turf
as the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Westminister and Mr. Leopold de
Rothschild, watched with unusual interest by the crowd, it resulted in
the most popular victory in the history of English sport. The Prince had
fought hard for this blue ribbon of the turf, he had faced defeat and
discouragement again and again and it was known that he would prize
success more than anything within the limits of his ambition. When,
therefore, _Persimmon_ carried his colours to the first victory won at
Epsom by a Prince of Wales in a hundred years, the delight of the Royal
owner was evident. The great gathering of people cheered as if each
person present had himself won the race and their obvious enthusiasm was
an expression of personal liking as well as loyalty. This was a great
year for the Prince whose horses not only won the Derby, the St. Leger
and the L10,000 Jockey Club Stakes but also the Newmarket Stakes. In
1897 _Persimmon_ won the Ascot Cup and the Eclipse Stakes (worth
together L12,700) and was then retired from the turf. Trained by Richard
Marsh and ridden by John Watts, this horse had given his Royal owner not
only financial success but--what he valued infinitely more--great
victories in a sport which he loved.
From that time on the Prince continued to be lucky with his horses. At
the Derby of 1900 _Diamond Jubilee_ won in exactly the same time as the
Royal horse of 1896 had done. At this race, on May 30th, the Prince was
accompanied by a large number of noblemen and ladies and gentlemen
interested in racing. The Duke of Devonshire, Lord Rothschild, Lord
Cheylesmore, the Marquess of Londonderry, the Duke of Portland, Lord
Farquhar, the Earl of Chesterfield, the Earl and Countess of Crewe, the
Earl and Countess Carrington, and others, came from London in the Royal
special train. In the Royal box at the races were the King of Sweden,
the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, the Princess Victoria, the Duke of
Cambridge and other royalties. The success of the Prince's horse in two
minutes, forty-two seconds, was received with tremendous applause and
with general congratulation in a large section of the press while, in
the same year, the Royal colours were also carried to victory at the
Grand National and the Two Thousand Guineas. The whole record was a
unique one; the time at the Derby was the fastest in the history of the
course; the winner of 1900 was a brother to the winner in 1896; and
those who lost money appeared to be as glad that the popular Prince
should win as if they had themselves backed his horse.
RACING FRIENDS AND YACHTING EXPERIENCES
The part taken by His Royal Highness in sporting matters naturally
resulted in many friendships built around a mutual love of racing, of
riding, and of the horse. Conspicuous amongst the good sportsmen who
were also good friends of the Prince were the names of the Duke of
Portland, Sir George Wombwell, Sir Reuben Sassoon, the Rothschilds, the
late Lord Sefton, Mr. Henry Chaplin, the Earl of Zetland and Sir
Frederick Johnstone. Sir John Astley, Lord and Lady Claude Hamilton, Mr.
and Mrs. Arthur James, Sir Edward Lawson, Sir Edward Hulse, Lord and
Lady Gerard, the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, Sir William Russell and
Lady Dorothy Neville may be mentioned amongst other devotees of the turf
who ranked in later years as friends of the Prince of Wales in this
particular social "set." In this connection the annual Derby Day dinner
must be mentioned. From 1887 to the time of the Prince's accession this
Royal banquet to the members of the Jockey Club was an important
institution and a much looked-for event in racing circles. Latterly it
was the chief regular entertainment of the year at Marlborough House.
The function was elaborate yet not too formal. Evening dress and not
uniform was the custom; the guests included about fifty of the leading
patrons of the turf and there were generally half-a-dozen of the Royal
family present; the great silver dinner service ordered by the Prince at
his marriage was always used; and the dining-room with its side-boards
laden with gold and silver trophies of the race-course and attendants in
scarlet, blue and gold, was a brilliant sight. Dinner did not usually
last more than an hour and then the guests adjourned to the drawing-room
for whist. In 1896 and 1900 the toast of the Derby winner, which had so
often been proposed by the Royal host, had to be given to some one
else--greatly to the enthusiasm of the guests.
The Prince of Wales was always a fearless rider and was fond of it from
childhood. As an undergraduate at Christ-Church he constantly hunted
with Lord Macclesfield's pack and was then considered a hard rider; but
in after years his riding was mainly done in connection with military
and other functions and for exercise, in a milder way than that of
following the hounds. Akin, in some respects to the sport of racing, is
that of yachting and to this the Prince of Wales was almost equally
devoted. Naturally fond of the sea, trained in ocean travel in days when
it was no pleasant drawing-room experience to cross the Atlantic,
familiar with every part of a yacht and detail of its management, it was
only fitting that the Heir to the throne of the seas should be an
accomplished yachtsman. His first racing-yacht was the _Aline_ and his
next one, the _Britannia_, was for a time the most successful of large
racing-yachts. Many splendid cups and pieces of plate graced the buffets
of Sandringham and Marlborough and marked the victories of the Prince;
though any prize moneys won in this way were always handed over to his
Captain and crew as an addition to their already handsome pay.
His Royal Highness was a capital sailor. In returning from his Canadian
and American tour in 1860 his ship was driven out of its course by a
severe storm and so much alarm was caused by the delay that a British
fleet was sent out to search for it; but, different as were the
conditions of travel in those days, the Prince was not found to be any
the worse for his stormy experience. In after years when cruising along
the coasts of Europe, or traversing the Pacific and Indian oceans, he
met with many a storm and severe strain, so far as weather was
concerned, without effect. It is said, however, that he was troubled
somewhat by rough weather in the English Channel. As Commodore of the
Royal Yacht Squadron his patronage did very much in making the sport
popular and fashionable and in creating the Cowes Regatta as a great
yachting function. To this Royal Yacht Club every consideration in the
way of prizes was given and the Queen, the Prince, the Emperor William
of Germany, and Napoleon III. of France, offered prizes or trophies,
from time to time. As Commodore--which office he accepted in 1882--His
Royal Highness had as predecessors the Earl of Yarborough, the Marquess
of Donegal and the Earl of Wilton. The Vice-Commodore for many years was
the Marquess of Ormonde.
THE NAVY AND LOVE OF SHOOTING
On July 18th, 1887, the position of the Heir Apparent was recognized and
the Navy complimented through his appointment by the Queen as Honorary
Admiral of the Fleet. Some criticism was expressed in a portion of the
Radical press mainly, it was stated, through ignorance of the Prince's
real qualifications as both a seaman and yachtsman. Upon his accession
to the Throne no single action was more popular than King Edward's
retention of this latter title and the interest which he continued to
show in the Navy. His Majesty took as great interest in Sir Thomas
Lipton's efforts to win the America Cup as he had in the previous
attempts of Lord Dunraven. Sir Thomas was, apparently, a congenial
spirit in this connection and from both Prince and King he received a
good deal of favour. It was while cruising with him on board _Shamrock
II._, off Southampton, (May 22, 1901) that a heavy wind unexpectedly
strained the spars and gear too much and brought down the top-mast and
mainmast in a sudden wreck which crashed over the side of the frail
yacht. The danger to the King was very great and a difference of ten
seconds in his position would probably have given fatal results. The
visit to the yacht was, of course, a private one, but such an incident
as this made the affair very widely commented upon. The London _Daily
Express_ of the succeeding day embodied a good deal of public opinion in
the following remarks:
"King though he be, he is resolute to live the frank and free life
of an English gentleman, taking the chances of sport by land and
sea as gaily as any undistinguished son of the people, whose life
is of no smallest national import. That is the sort of King we
want, the sort of King we will die for if need be--a King who holds
his own in every manly exercise, loving sport all the more because
it contains the element of danger that possesses such a subtle
attraction for men of Anglo-Saxon blood."
Shooting was probably the favourite all-round sport of the Prince of
Wales and in this he heartily embodied one more characteristic of the
typical English gentleman. It has been described as a positive passion
with him and as being "the love of his life." His father had been a
thorough sportsman, though not a very good shot; the son became not only
a thorough sportsman but perhaps the best shot in the United Kingdom. At
seven years of age he was taught deer-stalking, at Oxford he frequently
did a day's shooting on neighbouring estates, and, in his American and
Canadian tour, a great pleasure to the young man was an occasional day's
sport. At Sandringham he early mapped out his estate into a series of
drives and soon combined with other famous shots to create and make
popular the big _battues_ which were afterwards so well known and which
came to constitute so important an event in the shooting seasons at his
Norfolk home. But His Royal Highness never confined himself to shooting
pheasants, hares, or rabbits. Deer-stalking and shooting grouse were
favourite pursuits, and he knew no greater pleasure than to spend a day,
or days, upon the moors, accompanied by friends and hosts such as the
late Duke of Sutherland, his son-in-law, the Duke of Fife, Mr. Mackenzie
of Kintail and Colonel Farquharson of Invercauld. Going out from
Abergeldie, or Balmoral, or Mar Lodge on a stalking expedition, the
Prince cared neither for exposure to bad weather, nor severe exertion,
so long as he could return with a bag of several head of deer. With the
German Emperor and the late Duke of Coburg he enjoyed splendid sport in
the vast forests of Central Europe from time to time, and with Baron