The young Prince spent a delightful holiday in the Highlands, and made an expedition up Ben Muichdhui, one of the highest mountains in Scotland. Then, on 9th November, his nineteenth birthday was celebrated with the whole of his family, for the Princess Royal had arrived from Berlin in order to spend the day with her brother.

The King was at that time very fond of the writings of Sir Walter Scott. He has always been a reader of fiction, French, English, and German, and as a youth he was studious and eager to learn.

On leaving Scotland he went up to Oxford, being admitted a member of Christ Church. The Prince seems to have thoroughly enjoyed his life as an undergraduate. He joined freely in the social life of the University, and took part in all the sports, frequently hunting with the South Oxfordshire Hounds. Nor did he neglect his books, for we find the Prince Consort writing to Baron Stockmar on 8th December 1859 to say that, “The Prince of Wales is working hard at Oxford.”

It seems more convenient here to abandon the strictly chronological arrangement, and to leave the Prince’s visit to Canada and the United States, which followed immediately, to be described in a separate chapter, passing on at once to his life at Cambridge.

Early in 1861 the King became an undergraduate member of Trinity College, Cambridge. Curiously enough, Dr. Whewell, at that time Master of Trinity, did not think it necessary to make a formal entry of the Royal undergraduate, but in 1883, when visiting Cambridge in order to enter his son, the late Duke of Clarence, as a student of Trinity, the King expressed the opinion that it was a pity that his own entry had not been properly filled up, and he offered to fill in the blank spaces if the book was brought to him. Accordingly the record may now be found at its proper place in the King’s own handwriting. His entry is as follows:—

The entry immediately preceding the King’s name is that of the Hon. J. W. Strutt (now Lord Rayleigh), in connection with which the following amusing story is told. A visitor to the library (where the book is kept) having expressed her doubts as to the King’s intellectual abilities, the librarian showed her the entry, and said: “You may be right in what you say, madam, but allow me to inform you that the Prince comes next to a former Senior Wrangler.” The lady’s astonishment may be imagined, she being of course ignorant that mere coincidence was the cause of the juxtaposition of the two names.

The position of the Prince of Wales in the University was very much that of an ordinary undergraduate, except in one point—that he was, by special favour, allowed to live with his governor, Colonel the Hon. Robert Bruce, about three miles away from Cambridge, in a little village called Madingley.

Charles Kingsley at the Prince Consort’s request gave some private lectures to the Prince of Wales. The class was formed of eleven undergraduates, and after the Prince settled at Madingley, he rode three times a week to Mr. Kingsley’s house, twice attending with the class, and once to go through a résumé of the week’s work alone; and, according to the great writer’s biographer, the tutor much appreciated the attention, courtesy, and intelligence of his Royal pupil, whose kindness to him then and in after-life made him not only the Prince’s loyal but his most attached servant.

The King certainly enjoyed his life at Cambridge. All sorts of stories, perhaps more or less apocryphal, used to be told as to his University career. He was not allowed quite as much freedom as the ordinary undergraduate, and Colonel Bruce had strict orders never to allow him to make any long journeys unaccompanied. On one occasion the King made up his mind that he would like to pay an incognito visit to London, and he succeeded in evading the vigilance of those whose duty it was to attend him. His absence, however, was discovered before he could reach town, and to his surprise and mortification he was met at the terminus by the stationmaster and by two of the royal servants who had been sent from Buckingham Palace for that purpose.

Shortly after his marriage the King took his bride to visit Cambridge, and after the usual reception, the Royal pair drove to Madingley, to view the King’s former residence. On reaching one of the streets on the borders of the town it was found to be barricaded, it being thought that the carriage would proceed by another route. “This is the way I always came,” said the King, “and this is the way I wish to go now.” Forthwith the sightseers were removed and the barricade broken down, but the King signified his intention of returning by the other road so that the spectators might not be disappointed.

The King remained more or less constantly at Cambridge all the winter of 1861, and it was arranged that during the long vacation he was to go on military duty at the Curragh.

While the King was quartered there, Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, and the young Princesses paid a short visit to Ireland in order to see him in his new character of soldier. On 26th August Her Majesty wrote in her diary:—

“At a little before 3 we went to Bertie’s hut, which is in fact Sir George Brown’s. It is very comfortable—a nice little bedroom, sitting-room, drawing-room, and good-sized dining-room, where we lunched with our whole party. Colonel Percy commands the Guards, and Bertie is placed specially under him. I spoke to him, and thanked him for treating Bertie as he did, just like any other officer, for I know that he keeps him up to his work in a way, as General Bruce told me, that no one else has done; and yet Bertie likes him very much.”

On the following day, which was a Sunday, the Prince Consort, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, went with Lord Carlisle to inspect the Dublin prisons.

Prince Albert spent his last birthday, 26th August 1861, with his son in Ireland, and the Prince of Wales accompanied his parents and sisters to Killarney, where they had a very enthusiastic welcome. They travelled on the Prince Consort’s birthday. On the 29th Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, with their younger children, left Ireland, and writing to Baron Stockmar on 6th September the Prince Consort said: “The Prince of Wales has acquitted himself extremely well in the Camp, and looks forward with pleasure to his visit to the manœuvres on the Rhine.”

CHAPTER V
THE KING’S VISIT TO CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES

During the Crimean war, Canada, stirred, as were all the British colonies, by the direful stress of the mother country, levied and equipped a regiment of infantry for service in the field with the regular British troops—an interesting precedent for what was to happen in the Boer war nearly half a century later. In return for their demonstration of loyalty, the Canadians dispatched a cordial invitation to Queen Victoria to visit her American possessions; but it was considered undesirable that Her Majesty should be exposed to the fatigues and the risks of so long a journey.

Queen Victoria was then asked to appoint one of her sons Governor-General of the Dominion, but the extreme youth of all the Princes made that quite out of the question. Her Majesty, nevertheless, formally promised that when the Prince of Wales was old enough he should visit Canada in her stead. When the Prince was well on in his eighteenth year his parents decided that it was time for this promise to be fulfilled, the more so that it would enable the great railway bridge across the St. Lawrence at Montreal to be opened, and the foundation-stone of the Parliament buildings at Ottawa to be laid, by a Prince of the Blood.

The Prince Consort, with the care and forethought which always distinguished him in such matters, made a most careful choice of those who were to accompany his young son. Both Queen Victoria and he felt the greatest confidence in the Duke of Newcastle, the grandfather of the present peer, and with him Prince Albert arranged all the details of the Prince’s Canadian visit. The careful and kindly father forgot nothing that might be needed. Not only did he take special pains to secure that the young Prince should learn something of the history, customs, and prejudices of the Canadian people, but he supplied the Duke with memoranda which might be found useful in drawing up the answers to be made to the addresses which were certain to be presented to the Prince of Wales during his progress through the Dominion. The best proof of the Prince Consort’s wisdom is to be found in the fact that every one of these notes afterwards turned out to be simply invaluable, owing to the peculiar aptness with which they had been framed to suit the circumstances of each locality where an address was likely to be received.

When it became known on the American Continent that the Prince of Wales was really coming to Canada, the President of the United States, Mr. Buchanan, wrote to Queen Victoria explaining how cordial a welcome the Prince of Wales would receive at Washington should he extend his visit to the United States.

Her Majesty returned a cordial answer, informing Mr. Buchanan, and through him the American people, that the Prince would return home through America, and that it would give him great pleasure to have an opportunity of testifying to the President in person the kindly feelings which animated the British nation towards America. At the same time the American people were told that the future British Sovereign would, from the moment of his leaving British soil, drop all Royal state, and that he would simply travel as “Lord Renfrew.” In this again Her Majesty showed her great wisdom, for it would have been extremely awkward for the Prince of Wales, the descendant of King George III., to have visited the American Republic in his quality as Heir-Apparent to the British Throne.

After a pleasant but uneventful voyage on board the frigate Hero, escorted by H.M.S. Ariadne, the Prince of Wales first stepped on Transatlantic soil at St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland, the oldest British colony, on 24th July 1860. The morning was rainy, but the moment His Royal Highness landed the sun shone out, bursting through the clouds, and this was considered by those present to be a very happy omen.

On that day the Prince may be said to have really had his first glimpse of that round of official duties to which he seemed to take naturally, and in which he was destined to become so expert.

After the Governor of Newfoundland had been formally presented to the Prince, the Royal party, which comprised, in addition to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Newcastle, General Bruce, and Major Teesdale, went straight to Government House, where the Prince held a reception, and listened to a considerable number of addresses. The day did not end till the next morning, for in the evening a grand ball was given by Sir Alexander Bannerman, and King Edward won all hearts by mixing freely with the company, and dancing, not only with the ladies belonging to the Government and official circles, but with the wives and daughters of the fishermen. It was noticed that the Prince was quite remarkably like the portraits of his Royal mother on the British coins, and he displayed, not only in Newfoundland but also during the many fatiguing days that followed, the extraordinary tact and admirable breeding which have continually year after year increased the affection with which he is regarded by the British people.

The wife of the then Archdeacon of St. John’s, in an interesting letter home, puts on record the impression produced by the King in Newfoundland:—

“His appearance is very much in his favour, and his youth and royal dignified manners and bearing seem to have touched all hearts, for there is scarcely a man or woman who can speak of him without tears. The rough fishermen and their wives are quite wild about him, and we hear of nothing but their admiration. Their most frequent exclamation is, ‘God bless his pretty face and send him a good wife.’”

At Halifax, the news that his sister, the Princess Frederick of Prussia, had given birth to a little daughter met him, and he hastened to write home his affectionate congratulations on the event.

The Prince’s tour through Canada may be said to have been one long triumphal procession. It was marred by no unpleasant incident, in spite of the fact that at Kingston and Toronto the Orangemen tried to induce the Prince to pass under arches decorated with their party symbols and mottoes. Thanks, however, to the Duke of Newcastle’s tact and firmness, the attempt failed, and the incident merely served to illustrate the young Prince’s freedom from party bias. Everywhere the Royal visitor produced the happiest impressions, and, thanks to his youth, he was able to endure considerable fatigue without apparently being any the worse for it.

In America “Lord Renfrew’s” arrival was awaited with the utmost impatience, and while travelling over the Dominion His Royal Highness was surrounded by American reporters. Indeed, it is said that the Prince of Wales’s visit to Canada formed the first occasion on which press telegrams were used to any lavish extent. One enterprising journalist used to transmit to his paper long chapters from the Gospel according to St. Matthew and from the Book of Revelation in order to monopolise the wires while he was gathering material for his daily report of the Royal journey. At a great ball given in Quebec the Prince tripped and fell with his partner—the article recording this event was headed Honi soit qui mal y pense.

The Royal visit to Montreal is still remembered in Canada. The Prince and his suite arrived there on 25th August, and the Prince, after opening a local exhibition, inaugurating a bridge, holding a review, and attending some native games, danced all night with the greatest spirit, even singing with the band when it struck up his favourite air.

Many little stories were told of the King’s good-nature and affability. Hearing by accident that an old sailor who had served with Nelson on board the Trafalgar had been court-martialled, the Prince begged him off, and asked that he might be restored to his rank in the service.

The Canadian Government provided a number of riding-horses in order that the King might see Niagara Falls from several points of view, and he has since often declared that this was one of the finest sights he ever saw in his life. Next day, in the presence of the Royal party and of thousands of spectators, Canadian and American, the famous rope-walker, Blondin, crossed Niagara river upon a rope, walking upon stilts, and carrying a man on his back. After the ordeal was over, Blondin had the honour of being presented to the Prince. The latter, with much emotion, exclaimed, “Thank God, it is all over!” and begged him earnestly not to attempt the feat again, but the famous rope-walker assured His Royal Highness that there was no danger whatever, and offered to carry him across on his back if he would go, but the Prince briefly declined! The Prince seems to have been quite fascinated by the marvellous Falls. On 17th September he insisted on riding over on American ground for a farewell view of Niagara.

The Prince of Wales formally crossed from Canadian territory to the States on the night of 20th September, making his appearance on Republican soil, as had been arranged, as Lord Renfrew. At Hamilton, the last place in Canada where he halted, the Prince made a speech, in the course of which he observed:

“My duties as Representative of the Queen cease this day, but in a private capacity I am about to visit before I return home that remarkable land which claims with us a common ancestry, and in whose extraordinary progress every Englishman feels a common interest.”

Great as had been the enthusiasm in Canada, it may be said to have been nothing to the furore of excitement produced in America by the Prince of Wales’s visit. At Detroit the crowds were so dense that the Royal party could not get to their hotel through the main streets, and had to be smuggled in at a side entrance. The whole city was illuminated; every craft on the river had hung out lamps; and, as one individual aptly put it, “there could not have been greater curiosity to see him if the distinguished visitor had been George Washington come to life again.”

Over 50,000 people came out to meet His Royal Highness at Chicago, then a village of unfinished streets, but there, for the first time, the Prince broke down from sheer fatigue, and the Duke of Newcastle decided that it would be better to break the trip from Chicago to St. Louis by stopping at a quiet village, famed even then for the good sport to be obtained in its neighbourhood. It was therefore arranged that His Royal Highness should have a day’s shooting at Dwight’s Station, and fourteen brace of quails and four rabbits fell to the Prince’s gun.

A rather absurd incident marred the complete pleasure of the day. As the Royal party approached a farm-house an unmistakably British settler appeared at the door and invited every one excepting the Duke of Newcastle to enter. “Not you, Newcastle,” he shouted; “I have been a tenant of yours, and have sworn that you shall never set a foot on my land.” Accordingly the party passed on, and the farmer, though revenged on his old landlord, had to forego the honour of entertaining Royalty under his roof.

But, notwithstanding this awkward incident, the King seems to have thoroughly enjoyed his little respite from official functions. At one moment, when he was out on the prairie, he and his companions desired to smoke, but nobody had a light. At last a single match was found, but no one volunteered to strike it. Lots were drawn with blades of the prairie grass, and the King drew the shortest blade. The others held their coats and hats round him whilst he lighted the match, and he once said that he never felt so nervous before or since.

On 30th October “Lord Renfrew” reached Washington, and Lord Lyons, the British Minister, introduced him to President James Buchanan, and Miss Harriet Lane, the latter’s niece and housekeeper. The Prince stayed at the White House, and President Buchanan, though he could not spare his Royal guest a certain number of levées and receptions, did his best to make his visit to the official centre of the American Republic pleasant. During these five days there occurred a most interesting event—the visit of His Royal Highness to Mount Vernon and the tomb of Washington. A representative of the Times gave the following eloquent account of the scene:—

“Before this humble tomb the Prince, the President, and all the party stood uncovered. It is easy moralising on this visit, for there is something grandly suggestive of historical retribution in the reverential awe of the Prince of Wales, the great-grandson of George III., standing bareheaded at the foot of the coffin of Washington. For a few moments the party stood mute and motionless, and the Prince then proceeded to plant a chestnut by the side of the tomb. It seemed, when the Royal youth closed in the earth around the little germ, that he was burying the last faint trace of discord between us and our great brethren in the West.”

Doubtless the Prince enjoyed these new experiences a good deal more than did his guides, philosophers, and friends. Political feeling ran high, and the pro-slavery leaders were very anxious to influence public sentiment in Great Britain. They formed the project of taking the Prince of Wales through the South to see slavery under its pleasantest aspect as a paternal institution. After a good deal of discussion between the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Lyons, it was felt better to accept the invitation of some representative Southerners, and accordingly the Prince went a short tour to Richmond; but it may be added that a great slave sale which had been widely advertised was postponed so as not to offend British susceptibilities. The Prince does not seem to have been at all impressed by the slave cities, and he flatly refused to leave his carriage to visit the negro quarters at Haxhall’s plantation, and so he returned to Washington, having shown a good deal more common sense than had those about him.

The day that the Prince left Washington for Richmond, President Buchanan wrote a charming letter to the Queen, in which he said, speaking of his guest: “In our domestic circle he has won all hearts. His free and ingenuous intercourse with myself evinced both a kind heart and a good understanding.”

From Washington the Prince proceeded to Philadelphia, and there, for the first time, His Royal Highness heard Adelina Patti. He was so greatly charmed with her marvellous voice and winning personality, that he begged that she might be presented to him.

The Prince’s feelings must have been strangely mixed when he stood in Independence Hall, but he does not appear to have revealed them by making any remark, and after staying a few days in Philadelphia he started for New York, where he received a splendid welcome from Father Knickerbocker, being met at the station by the Mayor, and driven through Broadway to the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Half a million spectators saw him arrive, and so great was the anxiety to see Queen Victoria’s eldest son at close quarters, that there was no structure in New York large enough to contain those who thought that they had—and who no doubt had—a right to meet the Prince of Wales at a social function.

At last a building was found capable of containing 6000 people; but, looking to the question of “crinolines and comfort,” it was reluctantly decided that not more than 3000 cards of invitation, admitting to the ball and to the supper to follow, should be sent out. Fortunately most of the 3000 guests were important people, and therefore too old to dance. They represented, in both senses of the word, the solid element in New York society, for, as they crowded round the Prince, the floor gave way, and it is a wonder that no serious accident took place. This splendid entertainment, which took place in the old Academy of Music, is still remembered by many elderly Americans. The Prince showed his tact and good taste by frequently changing his partner. For the supper, a special service of china and glass had been manufactured, the Prince’s motto, Ich Dien, being emblazoned on every piece.

During the five days that the Prince remained in New York, he was the guest of the Mayor and of the Corporation. He seems to have most enjoyed a parade of the Volunteer Fire Department in his honour. There were 6000 firemen in uniform, and all, save those in charge of the ropes and tillers, bore torches. It was a magnificent spectacle, and the Prince, as he looked at the brilliant display in Madison Square, cried repeatedly, “This is for me, this is all for me!” with unaffected glee.

From New York the Prince went on to Albany and Boston, and at the latter place Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Emerson, and a number of other notable Americans were presented to him. He visited Harvard College, spent an hour at Mount Auburn, where he planted two trees, and drove out to Bunker’s Hill.

Portland was the last place visited by the Prince in the United States, and on 20th October the Royal party set sail for home on board the Hero, which was escorted by the Ariadne, the Nile, and the Styx. The voyage home was not as uneventful as had been the voyage out. So anxious were they at Court about the fate of the Hero, that two ships of war were sent in search of the frigate and her escort. At last, to every one’s great relief, the Hero was sighted, and it was ascertained that a sudden storm had driven the boat back from the British coast, and the Royal party had been reduced to salt fare, with only a week’s provisions in store.

On 9th November the Prince Consort put in his diary: “Bertie’s birthday. Unfortunately he is still absent, neither do we hear anything from him.” Great, therefore, was the joy of the Queen and Prince Albert when, on 15th November, they received a telegram from Plymouth announcing the safe arrival of their son. That same evening the Prince of Wales arrived at Windsor Castle, being greeted with the warmest affection by his family and friends.

Queen Victoria showed the most vivid interest in all her eldest son’s many and varied adventures. Both Her Majesty and the Prince Consort were very much gratified by the way in which the Duke of Newcastle had performed his arduous and delicate task, and, after some consultation, it was decided that the Queen should publicly mark her satisfaction by conferring upon the Duke the Order of the Garter.

CHAPTER VI
DEATH OF THE PRINCE CONSORT—TOUR IN THE EAST

King Edward’s visit to Germany in the autumn of 1861 is explained by Sir Theodore Martin, in his Life of the Prince Consort, to have been made with another object in view besides that of seeing the military manœuvres in the Rhenish Provinces. It had been arranged that he was to make the acquaintance of the Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who was then on a visit to Germany, with a view to a marriage, should the meeting result in a mutual attachment.

In spite, however, of every precaution to ensure secrecy, until at least the inclinations of the principal parties should have been ascertained, the project leaked out, and even before they met, it was actually canvassed, much to the Prince Consort’s annoyance, in the Continental papers. From these it soon found its way into the English journals, where it met with general approval; but as the meeting, which took place at Speier and Heidelberg on the 24th and 25th of September, ended with the happiest results, no harm was done, though in other circumstances it might have been extremely painful.

“We hear nothing but excellent accounts of the Princess Alexandra,” Prince Albert notes in his diary on the 30th of September, and he adds, with evident satisfaction, that “the young people seem to have taken a warm liking for each other.” On 6th October the Prince Consort, writing to the King of Prussia, says: “Bertie has come back in raptures with his excursion to the manœuvres, and cannot speak sufficiently highly of your kindness to himself, and to all the English officers.” About a week later the Prince Consort was able to write to Baron Stockmar: “The Prince of Wales leaves to-morrow for Cambridge. He came back greatly pleased with his interview with the Princess of Holstein at Speier.… His present wish, after his time at the University is up, which it will be at Christmas, is to travel; and we have gladly assented to his proposal to visit the Holy Land. This, under existing circumstances, is the most useful tour he can make, and will occupy him till early in June.”

The Prince Consort that same autumn went specially to London in order to inspect the alterations that were being made at Marlborough House, which was then being actively prepared as a residence for the Prince of Wales; and on the 9th Queen Victoria wrote in her diary: “This is our dear Bertie’s twentieth birthday. I pray God to assist our efforts to make him turn out well.… All our people in and out of the house came in to dinner. Bertie led me in by Albert’s wish, and I sat between him and Albert.”

Prince Albert paid a hurried visit on 28th November to Cambridge in order to visit the Prince of Wales. The weather was cold and stormy, and he returned to Windsor with a heavy cold.

The next few days were spent by both the Prince Consort and Queen Victoria in considerable anxiety. The seizure of the Trent aroused a great deal of bitter public feeling, and the fact that America was convulsed by civil war did not make the position of Great Britain more easy. The Government adopted a very resolute attitude, and the Prince Consort, instead of allowing himself to be nursed through his feverish attack, spent some hours in composing and writing a draft, on the burning question of the day, to Lord Russell.

The story of those sad days is well known. As time went on, Prince Albert grew slightly worse rather than better, but no real danger was apprehended by those nearest and dearest to him, and Queen Victoria would not hear of having the Prince of Wales summoned, until at last Princess Alice, who behaved with extraordinary fortitude and marvellous self-possession, felt that she must send for her eldest brother on her own responsibility. She accordingly did so, and King Edward was always, up to the day of her death, very grateful to her for her prompt action, because it enabled him to arrive in time to be present at his much-loved father’s death-bed. Although she was herself overwhelmed with bitter grief, it was to the Princess Alice that all turned, for Queen Victoria was so completely overcome that nothing could be referred to her, and it was finally arranged that the Prince of Wales and the Princesses Alice and Helena should accompany their mother to Osborne, where she had consented very reluctantly to go.

The Prince of Wales returned immediately, in order to complete the arrangements for the funeral, and to receive his uncle the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, his brother-in-law the Crown Prince of Prussia (afterwards the Emperor Frederick), and the other foreign mourners who were to take part in the last sad ceremony.

The funeral took place on 23rd December, the service being held in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. The chief mourner was, of course, the Prince of Wales, who was supported, in the absence of Prince Alfred (Duke of Edinburgh), by Prince Arthur. All those present were deeply moved by the grief of the two young princes. They both hid their faces, and after the coffin had been lowered into the vault the Prince of Wales advanced to take a last look and stood for one moment looking down; then, his fortitude deserting him, he burst into a flood of tears, and was led away by the Lord Chamberlain.

Sad indeed were the days that followed. The effect of the Prince Consort’s death on King Edward’s affectionate and sensitive nature was terrible, and those about the Court felt that something must be done to rouse him from his grief.

As we have already seen, the Prince Consort, not long before his death, had assented to his eldest son’s proposal of making a tour in the Holy Land, and it had also been his earnest wish that His Royal Highness should on that occasion be accompanied by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, who had himself already taken a journey to Jerusalem. And so, when the tour was decided upon as a means of rousing the Prince of Wales from his stupor of grief, Queen Victoria made up her mind that she would be guided by her late Consort’s wishes, and General Bruce was commanded to write to Dr. Stanley, but not till he reached Osborne was he actually asked whether he would consent to undertake the responsibility.

Dr. Stanley, though he regarded the proposal with reluctance and misgiving, for he could not bear to leave his aged mother, to whom he was most tenderly devoted, consented to do as Her Majesty wished. It was ultimately arranged that he should meet the Prince at Alexandria, ascend the Nile with him, and accompany him, not only through the Holy Land, but on the Egyptian portion of the expedition.

On 28th February King Edward, accompanied by General Bruce, Major Teesdale, Captain Keppel, and a small suite, was joined by Dr. Stanley, the party at once proceeding to Cairo. “The Prince,” wrote General Bruce to his sister, “takes great delight in the new world on which he has entered, and Dr. Stanley is a great acquisition.” They visited the Pyramids together, and then resumed their voyage, the Prince characteristically persuading Dr. Stanley to read East Lynne, a book which had greatly struck his imagination. When recording the circumstance, Dr. Stanley adds:—

“It is impossible not to like him, and to be constantly with him brings out his astonishing memory of names and persons.… I am more and more struck by the amiable and endearing qualities of the Prince.… His Royal Highness had himself laid down a rule that there was to be no shooting to-day (Sunday), and though he was sorely tempted, as we passed flocks of cranes and geese seated on the bank in the most inviting crowds, he rigidly conformed to it; a crocodile was allowed to be a legitimate exception, but none appeared. He sat alone on the deck with me, talking in the frankest manner, for an hour in the afternoon, and made the most reasonable and proper remarks on the due observance of Sunday in England.”

A sad event which occurred in March was destined to draw closer together the ties which were now binding His Royal Highness and his chaplain, for on 23rd March the news was broken to Dr. Stanley that his mother was dead. The Prince of Wales showed the kindest and most tender consideration for his bereaved travelling companion, and was much gratified that Dr. Stanley very wisely made up his mind to continue the journey instead of hurrying home at once.

A few days later the Royal party reached Palestine, and it is interesting to note that this was the first time that the heir to the English throne, since the days of Edward I. and Eleanor, had visited the Holy City. King Edward landed at Jaffa on 31st March, and both on his entrance into the Holy Land and during his approach to Jerusalem he followed in the footsteps of Richard Cœur de Lion and Edward I. The cavalcade, escorted by a troop of Turkish cavalry, climbed the Pass of Bethhoron, catching their first glimpse of Jerusalem from the spot where Richard is recorded to have hidden his face in his shield, with the words, “Ah, Lord God, if I am not thought worthy to win back the Holy Sepulchre, I am not worthy to see it!”

The King, accompanied by Dr. Stanley, carefully explored Jerusalem and its neighbourhood, riding over the hills of Judæa to Bethlehem, walking through the famous groves of Jericho, and staying some time at Bethany.

“Late in the afternoon,” writes Dr. Stanley, “we reached Bethany. I then took my place close beside the Prince. Every one else fell back by design or accident, and at the head of the cavalcade we moved on towards the famous view. This was the one half-hour which, throughout the journey, I had determined to have alone with the Prince, and I succeeded.”

During Dr. Stanley’s previous journey to the Holy Land he had not been permitted to visit the closely-guarded cave of Machpelah, but on this occasion, thanks to the diplomacy of General Bruce, not only the King, but also his chaplain, were allowed to set foot within the sacred precincts. Even to Royal personages the Mosque of Hebron had remained absolutely barred for nearly seven hundred years, and on the present occasion the Turkish official in charge declared that “for no one but for the eldest son of the Queen of England would he have allowed the gate to be opened; indeed, the Princes of any other nation should have passed over his body before doing so.”

King Edward, with his usual thoughtfulness, had made Dr. Stanley’s entrance with himself a condition of his going in at all, and when the latter went up to the King to thank him and to say that but for him he would never have had this great opportunity, the young man answered with touching and almost reproachful simplicity, “High station, you see, sir, has, after all, some merits, some advantages.” “Yes, sir,” replied Dr. Stanley, “and I hope that you will always make as good a use of it.”

On the party’s return to Jerusalem, they witnessed the Samaritan Passover, and Easter Sunday, 20th April, was spent by the shores of Lake Tiberias.

During the journey from Tiberias to Damascus King Edward and his escort lived in tents, an experience which he seems to have thoroughly enjoyed. From Damascus the party turned westward, reaching Beyrout on 6th May, and after visiting Tyre and Sidon they proceeded to Tripoli. On 13th May the King left the shores of Syria, visiting on his homeward journey Patmos, Ephesus, Smyrna, Constantinople, Athens, and Malta.

It was very characteristic of King Edward’s readiness to take any trouble to please those dear to him that wherever he went he collected a number of flowers or leaves from every famous spot. These, after having been carefully dried by him, were sent to his sister, the Princess Royal, afterwards the Empress Frederick, who had a particular taste for such memorials.

It was very soon after his return from the East that the King played for the first time an important part in a family gathering—the wedding of his favourite sister, Princess Alice, to Prince Louis of Hesse. The bride was given away by her uncle, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but the young Prince of Wales acted as master of the house during the quiet week which preceded the ceremony.

CHAPTER VII
THE WEDDING OF KING EDWARD AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA

As is very generally known, the marriage of King Edward to Princess Alexandra of Denmark was brought about in quite a romantic fashion. It is said that long before His Majesty saw his future wife he was very much attracted by a glimpse of her photograph, shown him by one of his friends.

A more authoritative story of a photograph is told in the memoir of the late Duchess of Teck. The meeting at Heidelberg in September 1861, already referred to, took place when the Danish Princess and her father were on their way to join one of those famous family gatherings at Rumpenheim, and the Duchess of Teck’s biographer writes:—

“As soon as the Princess arrived at the Hessian Palace, her cousins were most anxious to hear all about the meeting, and much excitement followed when Princess Alexandra, producing a photograph from her pocket, laughingly exclaimed, ‘I have got him here!’”

It is certain that though many Princesses had been spoken of in connection with the Prince, and at one time negotiations were actually impending with a view to his engagement to the daughter of a German Royal House, all such schemes were instantly abandoned after he had seen the beautiful Danish Princess.

Another meeting is said to have taken place in the Cathedral of Worms during this eventful tour in 1861. The Prince, accompanied by his tutor and equerry, had gone to examine the frescoes, and when wandering through the beautiful old Cathedral they met Prince Christian of Denmark and his daughter intent on the same object.

Later, after the Prince Consort’s death, during a short visit which he paid to his cousin, the King of the Belgians, the Heir-Apparent again met Princess Alexandra, and it is said that King Leopold had a considerable share in arranging the preliminaries of the marriage, for it was while the Prince and Princess were both staying at Laeken that Queen Victoria’s formal consent to her son’s making a Danish alliance was granted.

The formal betrothal took place on 9th September 1862, but even then what had occurred was only known to a comparatively small circle of friends and relations, for it was not till the eve of His Royal Highness’s coming of age that his engagement was formally announced in the London Gazette, and so made known to the whole British Empire.

The announcement roused the greatest enthusiasm, for deep as had been the public sympathy with Her Majesty, a widowed Court could not but cast a very real gloom, not only over society, but over all those directly and indirectly interested in the sumptuary trades and the wide distribution of wealth. It was universally felt that the marriage of the Heir-Apparent would inaugurate a new era of prosperity, and scarce a dissenting voice was raised to oppose the Grant voted by the House of Commons for the Royal couple.

On the proposal of Lord Palmerston, it was decided that the Prince of Wales should receive from the country an income of £40,000 a year, with an added £10,000 a year to be specially set apart for the Princess. And so it came to pass that the Heir-Apparent and his bride began housekeeping with an income of somewhat over £100,000 a year, for, owing to the Prince Consort’s foresight and good sense, out of the savings made during his son’s long minority, Sandringham, of which the initial cost was £220,000, had been purchased.

Unlike most Royal engagements, that of the Prince and Princess of Wales lasted nearly six months, but active preparations for the wedding did not begin till the official announcement had been made.