The Life of King Edward VII
to join the Councils of the Motherland. "If that be their feeling, I
say--and I know I speak the view of the whole of the people of Great
Britain--we shall welcome them. They have enjoyed all the privileges of
the Empire; if they are now willing to take upon themselves their share
of its responsibilities and its burdens we shall be only too glad of
their support." The Canadian Dinner, to celebrate Dominion Day, was held
the same evening; as was Lady Lansdowne's Reception. At the
first-mentioned event, the speakers included Lord Strathcona, Sir
Charles Tupper, the Hon. G. W. Ross, the Earl of Dundonald, Sir F. W.
Borden, the Earl of Minto, the Duke of Argyll, Sir W. Mulock and Mr.
Seddon.
ROYAL AND COLONIAL FUNCTIONS
Lady Lansdowne's function was given in the magnificent drawing-rooms of
Lansdowne House in honour of the special Envoys to the Coronation and
the Colonial and Indian guests of the King. Nearly all the Colonial
Premiers were present at some period during the evening and the Crown
Princes of Roumania, Sweden, Japan and Siam, Mgr. Merry del Val, King
Lewanika, the Duke and Duchess d'Aosta, the Maharajahs of Gwalior,
Jaipur, Kolapore, Bikanur, and Kuch Behar, Sir Pertab Singh, and Mr. and
Mrs. Whitelaw Reid. The Ambassadors of France, Austria, Turkey, Spain,
United States, Germany, Persia, Belgium and half the countries in the
world were also in attendance on what had been originally intended to be
a reception by the Foreign Secretary and his wife in honour of the
Coronation. After the Dominion Day banquet Lord Strathcona also held a
Reception in Piccadilly attended by a great gathering of Canadian and
other Colonial celebrities.
The Review of the Indian Coronation Contingent on July 2nd by the Queen
and the Prince of Wales was a brilliant spectacle, the enthusiasm of the
reception accorded the members of the Royal family as great as on the
preceding day, the massed crowds even larger than on that occasion, the
kaleidoscopic colour and glittering splendour of the scene even more
marked. The ordinary incidents of the parade were much the same as in
that of the day before but British officers from British countries were
superseded by a staff of native Princes blazing with gems, while the
white soldier in ordinary British uniform, with only an occasional
contingent of Houssas, or Fiji troops, or some other dark-coloured
Colonial subjects, were replaced by an Oriental combination of varied
uniform and complex colours. They numbered twelve hundred strong and the
Eastern side of the display was one which the stricken King--deeply
sensitive to the Imperial significance of the Coronation as he
was--would have greatly appreciated and understood. The _Times_
description was an eloquent one: "To those sitting in the stands it
appeared as if a great rich ornamental carpet of kaleidoscopic colour
had been suddenly unrolled across the gravel of the parade-ground; a
line of dazzling tints, before which the impressive grandeur of
Household uniforms with attendant cuirasses, bear-skins, scarlet and
bullion, dwarfed into insignificance. The front of the Asiatic line was
crested with fluttering lance pennons, and beneath these flags were
stalwart frames in vermillion, rich orange, purple-drab, French-grey,
and gold-tipped navy-blue, dressed shoulder to shoulder, making a nether
border of snow-white or orange breeching."
One after another the representatives of famous Indian regiments passed
by and no Roman Emperor, or conqueror of old, ever had such a triumphal
gathering in victorious procession through his ancient capital as this
which passed the windows of the room where the Emperor-King lay slowly
verging toward recovery. Finally, they had all passed--Rajpoot, Sikh,
Pathan, Afridi, Jat, Hazura, Gurkha, Dogra, Multani, Madrassee, Baluchi,
Dekani--and, after a great cheer for the Emperor of India and to the
strains of the National Anthem and personal cheering of another kind,
the Queen and Princess of Wales drove from the grounds followed by the
Prince and the rest of the Royal family.
In the evening a ball was held at the Crystal Palace, the proceeds of
which were to go to King Edward's Hospital Fund, as a sort of Coronation
tribute to His Majesty's well-known interest in this subject. The
function, which had been managed by Mrs. Arthur Paget, Lady Maud
Wilbraham and others was a great success. During the same day Mr. W. H.
Grenfell M.P. entertained the Colonial Premiers and visitors, on behalf
of the British Empire League, at a water-party on the Thames and a
luncheon at Taplow Court. The King's Dinner to the poor people of London
took place on July 5th and constituted probably the most remarkable
event of the kind in all history. A statistician estimated that six
hundred thousand persons sat down at ninety miles of tables served by
eighty thousand voluntary waiters. The cost of the occasion was about
_L_30,000 and how the guests enjoyed their substantial meal of meat,
potatoes, bread, cheese, pudding, beer, lime-juice, chocolate,
cigarettes and tobacco can be better imagined than stated. There were
eight hundred separate feasts and eighteen thousand people entertaining
the guests while thirteen members of the Royal family devoted themselves
to representing the King and giving the pleasure of their presence to
the crowded and happy multitudes.
The day was beautiful, the arrangements, which had been so largely in
the hands of Sir Thomas Lipton, were excellent, and the assistance
abundant. The Coronation mugs gave tremendous pleasure and it would be a
problem in psychology to say why the mere sight of Royalty should give
the intense satisfaction which it unquestionably afforded the
crowds--especially the women. Decorations were everywhere and the Prince
and Princess of Wales drove in semi-state all through East London. The
final climax to the day was the physicians' announcement from the
Palace that the King was out of danger. Princess Christian, the Duke and
Duchess of Connaught, the Duke and Duchess of Fife, the Prince and
Princess Charles of Denmark, the Duchess of Albany, the Duke and Duchess
of Argyll did more than their duty in visiting the various points and
giving the feasters a glimpse of those who represented, even indirectly,
their Royal host. On the following day Lord Knollys wrote the Lord
Mayor, by command of the King, expressing the greatest satisfaction at
the success of the affair and at the energy, foresight and skill
displayed by those who had taken it in hand. "I am further commanded",
he wrote, "to repeat how sincerely His Majesty regretted his inability
to be present at any of his dinners and how deeply also he has been
touched by the loyal and kind feeling so universally displayed when the
bulletin of yesterday morning was read at the various dining-places."
On the following day and at various times and places in the succeeding
weeks the Queen entertained thousands of young servants at tea. Mayors
and other officials or prominent persons presided, and each guest, after
listening to a musical programme, was sent away happy with a box of
chocolate bearing Queen Alexandra's portrait in colours. A function of a
different character was the great state dinner given by the Prince and
Princess of Wales at St. James's Palace on July 8th in honour of the
Colonial guests and visitors. The leading members of the suite during
the late Empire tour were present together with the Countess of
Hopetoun, the Earl and Countess of Onslow, the Earl and Countess of
Minto, the Lord and Lady Lamington, the Lord and Lady Strathcona, Mrs.
Chamberlain, Sir Wilfrid and Lady Laurier, Sir Edmund and Lady Barton,
Mr. Seddon, Sir Gordon and Miss Sprigg, Sir Albert and Miss Hime, Sir R.
Bond, Sir John and Lady Forrest, General Sir Edward Brabant, Sir W.
Mulock, the Hon. Mr. Fielding and Hon. Mr. Paterson. During this week
the Countess of Jersey gave three garden parties at Osterley Park in
honour of the visitors, and Lady Howard de Walden entertained the
Colonial and Indian dignitaries at a reception and concert on July 7th.
Three days later the Queen opened the Imperial Coronation Bazaar which
was held on behalf of the Ormonde St. Hospital for Sick Children. Her
Majesty was accompanied by Princess Victoria, the Duke and Duchess of
Connaught, the Princess Christian and other members of the Royal family,
and the occasion was successful despite a storm of wind and rain. In the
evening the Prince and Princess of Wales held a Reception of some nine
hundred more or less distinguished people at St. James's Palace in
honour of the Colonial visitors. Most of the members of the Royal family
were present as well as Royal representatives of Roumania, Denmark,
Greece and Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the Colonial Premiers and other
officials or visitors from the outside Empire. It was a really brilliant
function, delightful in its surroundings, decorations and illuminations,
and elaborate in its final incident of supper. On the preceding day a
detachment of troops from Australia and New Zealand, under arrangements
made by Lord Carrington and the Duke of Argyll, visited Windsor Castle
and were given luncheon in the town with the former nobleman as host.
About the same time twelve thousand Kensington school-children were
entertained under the auspices of Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll,
and revelled in a pleasure such as had perhaps never come before to the
most of them.
There were various functions and incidents of interest in the second
week following the postponed Coronation. One of the most picturesque
scenes ever witnessed in London occurred on July 3rd, when the Fijian
soldiers, who had come to the Empire capital for the great event, were
being driven around the city. On reaching Buckingham Palace they
expressed a wish to sing an intercessory hymn for the King. With their
bare heads, legs and feet, their long and frizzy hair, their white
cotton skirts and quaint tunics, they made a most unique appearance as
they turned toward the Palace and chanted words of which the following
is a rough translation:
"The King is great, and noble, and good.
May he find favour in the sight of the Ruler of Kings;
May he wax strong and stay the tears of us all, for his people are sad.
Mighty is the King and his people shall be glad."
Other parties of West African and Indian troops were driven up and
cheered the bare walls of the Palace with fervour. The Duke of
Connaught, and afterwards the Duke of Cambridge, visited the Indian
troops at Hampton Court. On July 9th, Colonel Lord Binning and the
officers and men of the Royal Horse Guards provided an entertainment for
the Colonial contingents at the Albany Barracks. Entertainments for the
Colonial Premiers were almost continuous. The Duke and Duchess of
Westminster gave an afternoon party in their honour at Grosvenor House;
Lady Lucy Hicks-Beach gave a garden party at the official residence of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer; parties of the King's Indian guests
were taken at different times by Lord Esher and Lord Churchill to see
Windsor Castle; Sir Gilbert Parker gave a dinner in honour of the
Premiers of Australia and Canada; Lady Wimborne gave a dinner and
reception for the Colonial Premiers; the Constitutional Club on July 7th
entertained the guests from the Colonies at a banquet presided over by
the Duke of Marlborough. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in the course of his
speech, made a notable declaration: "The bond of the British Empire, let
me tell you this my fellow-countrymen, and accept it from a man not of
your own race, the bond of union of the British Empire is allegiance to
the King without distinction of race or colour." The Primrose League in
London entertained the visiting Premiers at a banquet; and the