After this blow the King and Queen naturally remained for some months in the deepest retirement. A new grief was, however, in store for them—the tragic death in the following June of the young Prince Imperial, in whose career the King had always taken a warm and almost paternal interest. His Majesty was among the very first in this country to be informed of the terrible news, and he was of the greatest assistance to the stricken Empress Eugénie in making the complicated arrangements for the funeral. His active sympathy, and the announcement that the heir to the British Crown intended to be the principal pall-bearer of Napoleon III.’s ill-fated son, aroused much comment on the Continent, and gave great satisfaction to Frenchmen of all shades of political opinion. On a beautiful wreath of violets which was sent from Marlborough House for the funeral at Chislehurst were the words, written in Queen Alexandra’s own hand:—

The King strongly supported the movement for erecting a memorial to the Prince Imperial in Westminster Abbey, and subscribed £130 to the fund which was raised for that object. The opposition to the scheme was, however, so strong that it fell to the ground. That the King’s feelings were not modified in any way is shown by the fact that early in January 1883, His Majesty, accompanied by his two sons, Prince Albert Victor and Prince George, with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Cambridge, unveiled a monument to the Prince Imperial at Woolwich. This “United Service Memorial” was erected by a subscription raised throughout all ranks of the Army, Navy, Royal Marines, Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers, and Count Gleichen was the sculptor. The King, in a speech at the unveiling, commended the virtues, the blameless life, the courage, and obedience to orders manifested by the young Prince, as a bright example to the young men entering the Military Academy, and remarked that it was only a natural impulse which prompted his desire to join his English comrades in the war in South Africa, in which he fell fighting for the Queen of England.

In view of Princess Louise’s subsequent marriage it is interesting to record that in the autumn of 1880 the King, accompanied by Prince Leopold and Prince John of Glucksburg, visited the Earl of Fife at Mar Lodge. On the evening of their arrival Lord Fife gave a grand ball, at which his distinguished visitors were present. The entertainment included a torchlight procession and dance by the Duff Highlanders. The party also enjoyed some deer-stalking in the Forest of Mar.

An incident worth recording occurred in January 1881, during a visit of the King and Queen to Normanton Park. Queen Alexandra drove with Lady Aveland to Oakham, and paid a visit to the ancient castle, on the inner walls of which are nailed numerous horse-shoes, the gift, or rather the toll, of various Royal and noble personages. A large horse-shoe of steel, perfect in shape and of elegant workmanship, had been made for the Queen to offer. Her Majesty examined the other horse-shoes in the Castle hall, and chose the position in which she desired her toll to be affixed, namely, over a large one supposed to have been the gift of Queen Elizabeth. The Queen greatly enjoyed following this ancient custom, a mark of territorial power possessed for many centuries by the Ferrers family, a shoe from the horse of every princely traveller who passed that way being a tax due to the Ferrers or Farriers. Among the horse-shoes specially noticed by Queen Alexandra were one contributed by Queen Victoria before her accession, on 2nd September 1833; another by the Duchess of Kent on the same date; also one offered by the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., on 7th January 1814.

It was in this year that the King had an opportunity of exhibiting in a public manner his strong interest in the British Colonies, the welfare of which was not then so much a matter of concern in the eyes of our statesmen as it is now. The occasion was a dinner given to the members of the Colonial Institute by the then Lord Mayor, Sir George MacArthur, himself an old colonist. An extraordinary number of distinguished men connected in various ways, official and other, with our colonies were present. In his speech the King pointed out that no function of the kind had ever taken place before—a statement which seems hardly credible nowadays, thanks in a great measure to His Majesty’s own unwearied exertions in the interests of our colonial empire. The King also alluded to his Canadian tour, and took the opportunity of paying a graceful compliment to his friend Sir John Macdonald, the Canadian statesman, who was present.

Very shortly after this dinner the King attended as patron the first meeting ever held in this country of the International Medical Congress.

King Edward was deeply grieved at the death of Dean Stanley, with whom, as we have seen, he had been on terms of close intimacy. At a meeting held in the Chapter-House of Westminster Abbey, His Majesty paid a touching and eloquent tribute to his dead friend’s rare qualities, both of heart and intellect.

Generally speaking, this period of the King’s life was not very eventful. His children were still quite young, and his public appearances, though tolerably frequent, did not usually possess more than a local importance. There were, however, some conspicuous exceptions, which broke the even current of his life. For example, it would be difficult to overestimate the value of the work which His Majesty did in promoting the International Fisheries Exhibition in 1883, which was visited by nearly three million people, and may be said to have been the first introduction into London of open-air entertainment on a large scale. Moreover, it resulted in a clear profit of £15,000, of which two-thirds was devoted to the relief of the orphan families of fishermen.

The success of the Fisheries suggested to the King the idea of another exhibition concerned with health and hygiene, which was held in 1884, and was nicknamed the “Healtheries.” Not long before it was opened the King and Queen Alexandra suffered a great bereavement in the death of the Duke of Albany, to whom their Majesties had always been very much attached. He died quite suddenly in the south of France on 28th March, and the King instantly started for the Riviera and brought his brother’s remains back to Windsor. In the following July His Majesty, presiding at the festival of the Railway Guards’ Friendly Society, took the opportunity of his first appearance at a public dinner to express in the name of Queen Victoria and the Royal Family their thanks for the public sympathy shown on the death of the Duke of Albany.

In August of this year was celebrated the jubilee of the abolition of slavery throughout the British dominions. The King attended a meeting at the Mansion-House and delivered a long and elaborate speech, evidently the result of much painstaking study, in which he reviewed the whole history of the anti-slavery movement.

The news of the fall of Khartoum came as a terrible shock to the King, who had long watched with increasing interest the career of General Gordon. Indeed, General Gordon had always been one of His Majesty’s great heroes, and it was chiefly owing to His Majesty’s initiative that a fund was established for providing a national memorial to the hero of Khartoum. At the first meeting of the committee the King made a touching speech, in which he said of Gordon—

“His career as a soldier, as a philanthropist, and as a Christian is a matter of history.… Many would wish for some fine statue, some fine monument, but we who know what Gordon was feel convinced that were he living nothing would be more distasteful personally than that any memorial should be erected in the shape of a statue or of any great monument. His tastes were so simple and we all know he was anxious that his name should not be brought prominently before the public, though in every act of his life that name was brought, I am inclined to think, as prominently before the nation as that of any soldier or any great Englishman whom we know of at the present time.”

It is well known that it was His Majesty’s suggestion that a hospital and sanatorium should be founded in Egypt open to persons of all nationalities. Queen Alexandra was present at the special service held in St. Paul’s on 13th March, the day of public mourning for the loss of General Gordon.

Three days later the King, accompanied by his eldest son, presided at a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, and spoke of the personal as well as of the political interest he took in everything that concerned the colonies. On the next day Prince Albert Victor was initiated as a Freemason in the presence of a large and most distinguished company, his father receiving the Royal apprentice in his quality of Worshipful Master of the Royal Alpha Lodge. On the following day the King, Prince Albert Victor, and the Duke of Edinburgh went to Berlin to congratulate the aged Emperor William on his eighty-eighth birthday.

It had been decided, not without the most anxious consideration, that the King and Queen, accompanied by their elder son, should pay a visit to Ireland. The announcement was received with the greatest excitement both in Ireland and in America.

United Ireland, the chief organ of the Nationalist party, then edited by Mr. William O’Brien, and said to be largely written by Mr. T. M. Healy, brought out a special number devoted entirely to expressions of opinion from eminent Irishmen of all kinds on the Royal visit. Every Nationalist Member of Parliament, every prominent ecclesiastic, in a word, every Irishman of conspicuous Nationalist views, was invited to say what he thought of the forthcoming visit. The answers filled a copious supplement, and their tenour was one of unanimous disapproval, expressed in some cases strongly, and in others in terms of studied moderation. Almost all the letters agreed in counselling an attitude of absolute indifference to the visit, but abstention from any kind of display of hostility to the King himself was insisted on; and it was openly said that the part which he was playing in this pageant was a more or less passive one. This, perhaps, showed more than anything else that has occurred during His Majesty’s life the personal liking and respect in which he is held.

It may be added that when the King and Queen arrived early in April 1885, the Nationalist party made no sign, but, as there was naturally a great display of rejoicing on the part of the Anti-nationalist citizens, the Press, perhaps unfortunately, chose to regard this reception as a proof that the Home Rulers were wholly discredited. The Nationalist leaders therefore made up their minds that it was necessary to make some protest against the Royal progress as an answer to these taunts, and accordingly, from Mallow till the Royal party left Ireland, they were the victims of some very unpleasing demonstrations, and at Cork collisions occurred between the police and the mob, though no serious injuries were reported on either side.

Perhaps the most interesting event of the tour was when, after laying the foundation-stone of the New Science and Art Museum and National Library of Ireland in Dublin on 10th April, their Majesties attended the Royal University of Ireland, and the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on the King, and that of Doctor of Music on Queen Alexandra. Her Majesty has always been passionately fond of music, and the distinction gave her special gratification.

The Colonial and Indian Exhibition, called for short the “Colinderies,” may be said to have been the most successful of all those with which the King was intimately associated. It was opened by Queen Victoria on 4th May 1886, and Her Majesty was received by the King, and Queen Alexandra, His Majesty conducting his mother to the daïs. In the Royal Albert Hall, where the opening ceremony took place, everything was done to make the scene as impressive and interesting as possible; and at the special desire of the King, Lord Tennyson wrote an Ode for the occasion, which was set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan and sung by Madame Albani in the choir. This exhibition resulted in a net surplus of £35,000.

In September some correspondence between King Edward and the Lord Mayor, suggesting the establishment of a Colonial and Indian Institute to commemorate the Queen’s Jubilee, was published, and excited a great deal of interest both at home and in the Colonies. A public subscription was opened at the Mansion-House; and later in the same month His Majesty, having been informed that a movement was on foot to present him with a testimonial in recognition of his services in connection with the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, wrote to request that any fund subscribed might be devoted to the furtherance of the Imperial Institute, and a great deal of his time that autumn was dedicated to this scheme.

The King in 1886 also gave his patronage to two great engineering achievements, by opening the Mersey Tunnel and by laying the first stone of the Tower Bridge. It is interesting to note in this connection that His Majesty has long been an honorary member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and when he attended their annual dinner in the same year, he made an amusing speech, in which he attempted to picture what sort of a world ours would be without engineers.

One of the busiest years ever spent by the King and Queen Alexandra was 1887, when Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee was celebrated. To His Majesty was left the responsibility of a great number of the arrangements, and on him fell almost entirely the reception and entertainment of the foreign Royal personages who attended the splendid ceremony in the Abbey as Queen Victoria’s guests. In many cases the King was obliged to welcome in person the Royal visitor to London, and he was indefatigable in his efforts to make everything go off as smoothly and successfully as possible, while it need hardly be said that he took a very prominent part next to Queen Victoria in all the Jubilee functions.

It was in this year that His Majesty was appointed Honorary Admiral of the Fleet, a distinction which gave him much gratification, for it was his first definite official link with the sea service which he had selected as the profession of his younger son, and in which his elder son had received an early training—a link which was destined to be still further strengthened after His Majesty’s accession, as will be related hereafter.

CHAPTER XIV
SILVER WEDDING OF KING EDWARD AND QUEEN ALEXANDRA—ENGAGEMENT AND MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS LOUISE

Considerable preparations were made early in 1888 for the Silver Wedding of King Edward and Queen Alexandra, but it was well known that the Royal family were expecting daily to hear of the death of the old German Emperor, William I., which actually occurred just before the Silver Wedding Day, and everything in the way of public rejoicing was countermanded. Still, the 10th of March was not allowed to pass entirely unobserved. The whole of the Royal family then in England, preceded by Queen Victoria, called at Marlborough House to offer their congratulations in person, and for that one day the Court mourning was abandoned. The King and Queen Alexandra with their family lunched at Buckingham Palace with Queen Victoria, while in the evening the Sovereign attended a family dinner-party at Marlborough House, this being the first time she had ever been to dinner with her son and daughter-in-law in London. Queen Victoria, after leaving Marlborough House, drove through some of the principal West End streets in order to see the illuminations. Her Majesty also gave a State ball at Buckingham Palace in honour of the event, and the King and Queen of Denmark gave a grand ball at the Amalienborg Palace at Copenhagen.

Archbishop Magee (then Bishop of Peterborough) writes in a letter to his intimate friend and biographer, Canon MacDonnell, the following amusing account of his share in the rejoicings:—

In the unavoidable absence of the Bishop of London, Dean of the Chapels-Royal, the Archbishop of Canterbury was present, His Grace finally receiving the alms and giving the benediction. On the desk in the Royal Closet, in front of Queen Alexandra, was placed a beautiful bouquet of lilies of the valley, the emblem of the See and Province of Canterbury. Her Majesty quitted the chapel carrying the bouquet.

An enormous number of presents testified to the wide affection and respect in which the Royal couple were held. King Edward gave his wife a cross of diamonds and rubies, her favourite jewels; and from St. Petersburg, as a joint gift of the Emperor and Empress of Russia, came a superb necklace of the same gems composed of carefully selected stones. The five children of Queen Alexandra gave her a silver model of “Viva,” her favourite mare. Her Majesty’s eight bridesmaids, who were all alive and all married, gave the Royal bride of 1863 their autographs bound up in a silver book enshrined in a silver casket of Danish work.

The Freemasons of Great Britain presented Queen Alexandra with a very splendid diamond butterfly. The members of the Body-Guard were represented by a silver statue of a member of the corps, arrayed in the uniform originally designed by the Prince Consort. The Comte de Paris sent a large agate punch-bowl, studded with precious stones. Among the public gifts which afforded the King and Queen most pleasure was the Colonial Silver Wedding gift—a silver candelabrum adapted for electric light, and a fine twenty-one day movement clock to match. The Colonies became very enthusiastic over this gift, and more than £2000 was subscribed in small sums.

The King and Queen of Denmark gave a silver-gilt tea and coffee service; the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, a valuable vase of Danish china; the Empress Eugénie, a silver model of a two-masted ship of the time of Henry VIII.; and the King of the Belgians, a large silver tankard and a collection of the choicest exotics from the gardens at Laeken. The Austrian Ambassador presented an autograph letter from the Emperor Francis Joseph announcing that King Edward had been appointed to the Honorary Colonelcy of the 12th Hussar Regiment in the Austro-Hungarian Army. The French Ambassador was also received in audience, and offered an expression of good wishes on the part of the President of the French Republic and the French Government.

The presents received by the King and Queen were arranged in the Indian Room at Marlborough House. A prominent position was accorded to the gift from Queen Victoria—a massive silver flagon of goodly height and proportions, the counterpart of one in the Kremlin. One corner of the Indian Room was filled with floral gifts, bouquets, wreaths, pyramids of lilies of the valley, and rich and rare exotics, sent by all classes of the community from all parts of the country and from the Continent.

In strong contrast to these rejoicings was the deep shadow thrown over King Edward and his family by the serious illness of the Emperor Frederick. All the arrangements of their Majesties were naturally dependent on the news received almost hourly from the sick-chamber at Potsdam, but even in the midst of his terrible anxieties the King did not disappoint the loyal citizens of Glasgow, whose Exhibition he had promised to open, and who gave him a right Royal welcome. At length the long-dreaded blow fell. On 14th June the Emperor Frederick breathed his last after a reign of ninety-nine days.

The following year was notable for the first break in the King’s own family circle caused by marriage. But before the engagement of Princess Louise to the Earl of Fife was publicly announced, Queen Victoria paid one of her necessarily rare visits to Sandringham, spending altogether four days there. While there Her Majesty witnessed a performance of The Bells and of The Merchant of Venice, given by Sir Henry Irving and the members of the Lyceum Company. The King’s tenants presented an address of welcome to his Royal mother, to which Queen Victoria gave the following gracious reply:—

“It has given me great pleasure to receive your loyal address, and I thank you sincerely for the terms in which you welcome me to Sandringham, and for the kind expressions which you have used towards the Prince and Princess of Wales. After the anxious time I spent here seventeen years ago, when, by the blessing of God, my dear son was spared to me and to the nation, it is indeed a pleasure to find myself here again, among cheerful homes and cheerful faces, and to see the kind feeling which exists between a good landlord and a good tenant; and I trust that this mutual attachment and esteem may long continue to make you happy and prosperous, and to strengthen, if possible, the affection of the Prince and Princess of Wales for the tenants of Sandringham.”

Although Great Britain was not officially represented at the Paris Centennial Exhibition of this year, the King once more showed his friendship with France by going over with his Consort in semi-incognito. Their Majesties carefully inspected the whole Exhibition, paying special attention to the British section, and finished by ascending the Eiffel Tower.

Princess Louise’s engagement was made public in the spring, and though it aroused almost as much surprise as satisfaction among the general public, yet those who were really in a position to know regarded it as the most natural thing in the world. Lord Fife had for years been admitted to the close intimacy of the King’s family circle. His was the only bachelor’s house at which Queen Alexandra had ever been entertained, he had long been a frequent and welcome guest at Sandringham, and when he took the oath and his seat in the House of Lords, the King had paid him the rare honour of appearing as one of his introducers. Although rumours of the betrothal of the King’s eldest daughter to various foreign Princes had for some time been rife, His Majesty had made no secret of the special importance which he attached to her marriage, for at that time it appeared by no means impossible that the Princess herself or her children might one day sit on the British throne. In these circumstances a foreign marriage of the particular kind which then seemed intrinsically probable would have been frankly unpopular with the British people, who would have pictured themselves as being perhaps one day reduced to bringing back their Queen, now wholly Germanised, from some obscure Grand Duchy.

King Edward on this occasion showed once more his intuitive sympathy with the feelings of his future subjects, for the news of the Royal engagement was received with an absolutely unforced outburst of popular enthusiasm, the more so when it became known that it was entirely a love match.

The King and Queen Alexandra with their three daughters went to Windsor on 27th June and visited Queen Victoria, who formally gave her consent to the engagement. On the receipt of the news at Marlborough House the fact was at once communicated to the Household, and the Marquis of Salisbury, the Prime Minister, was also officially informed. The Earl of Fife was received by Queen Victoria the same evening at Windsor Castle. In the House of Commons a Message from the Queen formally announced the intended marriage, and the First Lord of the Treasury gave notice of a motion to grant a suitable provision for the Royal bride, though owing to the great wealth of the bridegroom this was perhaps less necessary than it had been on the occasion of other Royal marriages.

The Earl of Fife (Alexander William George Duff), Baron Skene of Skene, Viscount Macduff, and Baron Braco of Kilbryde, County Cavan, was the only son of James, fifth Earl of Fife, and of the Countess of Fife, who was Lady Agnes Georgiana Elizabeth Hay, daughter of the Earl of Erroll. He was born on 10th November 1849, and was educated at Eton. He succeeded his father in the Scotch and Irish honours on 7th August 1879, and was created an Earl of the United Kingdom in 1885. He sat as Viscount Macduff in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1879 as Liberal member for Elgin and Nairn. Lord Fife, who is one of the largest landed proprietors in Scotland, owning extensive estates in Elgin, Banff, and Aberdeen, was created Duke of Fife and Marquis of Macduff in the peerage of the United Kingdom, on his wedding day, 27th July, having declined to take the title of Duke of Inverness.

The wedding was celebrated in the Chapel at Buckingham Palace, in the presence of Queen Victoria, King Edward, and Queen Alexandra, with their sons and two younger daughters, the King of the Hellenes, the Crown Prince of Denmark, and the Grand Duke of Hesse.

The King of the Hellenes has always been one of the favourite brothers-in-law of the King, who, with Queen Alexandra, went to Athens in the autumn to attend the wedding of the Duke of Sparta and Princess Sophie of Germany.

The following year was not very eventful. In March the King performed the ceremonies of finishing and opening the Forth Bridge in the presence of an illustrious assembly, including his son Prince George, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had travelled from Russia on purpose, the Duke of Fife, and the Earl of Rosebery, who entertained the Royal party at Dalmeny. The last rivet, which the King fixed, is on the outside of the railway, and holds together three plates. Around its gilded top there runs a commemorative inscription. At the hour appointed for the formal declaration of the opening of the bridge, the wind was blowing so violently that it was impossible for His Majesty to make a speech. He simply said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I now declare the Forth Bridge open.”

It was in March, also, that the King and Prince George attended a Chapter of the Order of the Black Eagle in Berlin, at which Prince George was invested with the insignia of the Order. Subsequently the Royal visitors took part in the Ordensfest.

CHAPTER XV
THE BACCARAT CASE—BIRTH OF LADY ALEXANDRA DUFF—THE KING’S FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY—ILLNESS OF PRINCE GEORGE

During the winter of 1890 various rumours had been rife as to a cause célèbre in which King Edward was to be called as a witness. These reports proved to have had substantial foundation in the following spring, when Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a cavalry officer of good family, who had distinguished himself in the Egyptian campaign, and was understood to enjoy the personal friendship of the King, brought an action for slander against five defendants—Mrs. Arthur Wilson, Mrs. A. S. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Lycett Green, and Mr. Berkeley Levett—who had accused him of cheating at baccarat at Tranby Croft, the Wilsons’ place near Hull.

The trial opened early in June before Lord Chief-Justice Coleridge, and the King was accommodated with a seat on the bench. The Court throughout wore the air of a theatre rather than of a Court of Justice, the bench and both the galleries being filled with ladies, who used their opera-glasses with freedom to discover the notable personages in Court, and to watch Sir William Gordon-Cumming under examination. The great counsel of the day were engaged. Sir Edward Clarke (Solicitor-General), with Mr. C. F. Gill as his junior, conducted the case for Sir William Gordon-Cumming; and Sir Charles Russell (afterwards Lord Chief-Justice), with Mr. Asquith, appeared for the defendants, the Attorney-General having withdrawn from the case.

The Solicitor-General made a speech of singular power and skill on behalf of his client. The point of the defence was that Sir William Gordon-Cumming—who was accused of the trick known as la poussette, by which a player at baccarat increases his stake after he sees that the cards are in his favour or the coup has been declared—had simply been playing on a system. This theory Sir William supported in the witness-box with great steadiness, and though his cross-examination was most severe, he maintained that on no occasion had he wrongfully increased the stake. When the cross-examiner came to a document which the plaintiff had signed, practically admitting his guilt, and which had been witnessed by the King, Sir William’s explanation was, in effect, that he was hopeless of convincing those round him of his innocence, and that he desired for his own sake and that of others to avoid a scandal.

King Edward entered the witness-box and was sworn in the ordinary way on the second day. Sir Edward Clarke addressed him as “Sir” and “Your Royal Highness,” and Sir Charles Russell did the same. His Majesty gave his evidence with much frankness, but it was largely of a formal character. He did, however, say that at the time when, as banker, he questioned Sir William Gordon-Cumming on the largeness of his winnings, he did not think he had been cheating; but he added, in cross-examination by Sir Charles Russell, that in advising Sir William Gordon-Cumming to sign the document, he considered he had been acting most leniently.

As the King was leaving the witness-box an amusing incident occurred. A juryman rose from the back of the jury-box, and with naïf frankness put two important questions—whether the King had ever seen Sir William Gordon-Cumming cheating, and whether he believed him to be guilty. In reply to the first question the King answered that the banker would not be in a position to see foul play, and that among friends it would not be expected; and to the second he replied that, Sir William’s accusers being so numerous, he could not but believe them. Having elicited these very important facts, the little juryman sat down, and the King left the box with a smile and a bow.

The King’s evidence was followed by that of General Owen Williams, who, with Lord Coventry, drew up the document signed by the plaintiff. General Williams made two important statements—that he believed Sir William guilty, and that the King had objected to his placing his hands on the table in such a way that the counters could not properly be seen. In the course of the evidence it came out that the stakes played for on the two evenings were not large, but that Sir William won in all £225, which was paid him by cheque and which he retained.

The trial lasted seven days, and on 9th June the jury, after ten minutes’ deliberation, returned a verdict for the defendants.

The most extraordinary interest was taken in the case, both in this country and on the Continent and in America, no doubt chiefly owing to the Heir-Apparent’s connection with it. A Prince of Wales has rarely been called as a witness in a case, although, of course, in the theory of English law, all men are equal, and the privileges, if any, which would attach to him would not attach to him in his capacity as Prince of Wales or Heir-Apparent to the Throne, but simply in his capacity as a peer of the United Kingdom.

It was pointed out by many that the conduct attributed to Sir William Gordon-Cumming was obviously not that of an officer and a gentleman, and in the House of Commons a week after the trial the Secretary of State for War expressed the regret of the King that he had not required Sir William to submit his case to the Commander-in-Chief.

The criticism which was directed against the King’s connection with this lamentable business was largely based on ignorance of all the circumstances. His Majesty’s own view is clearly stated in a private letter which he wrote about two months afterwards to his old friend Dr. Benson, who was then Archbishop of Canterbury, and which was first published in that prelate’s life, some years later. King Edward wrote:—

The King became a grandfather for the first time this spring, for on 17th May the Duchess of Fife gave birth to a daughter at East Sheen Lodge. The question was immediately raised whether the infant should take Royal rank as a Princess of the Blood. When Sir William Beechey painted his portrait of Princess Victoria, the distance between the Duke of Kent’s little daughter and the throne was as great as, or even greater than, that of the little daughter of Princess Louise at her birth. It was ultimately settled, in accordance with the wishes, it was understood, of both King Edward and the Duke of Fife, that the infant should simply take the rank and precedence of a Duke’s daughter, and be called Lady Alexandra Duff.

The child was christened on 29th June in the Chapel-Royal, St. James’s. Queen Victoria came to London to act as sponsor to her great-granddaughter, and King Edward and Queen Alexandra were joint sponsors for their grandchild. The Archbishop of Canterbury administered the rite of baptism. Queen Alexandra took the child from the nurse and placed her in the arms of Queen Victoria, who gave the names of Alexandra Victoria Alberta Edwina Louise.

This autumn the King celebrated his fiftieth birthday, and it was computed that in his half-century of existence His Majesty must have been prayed for aloud in Anglican churches alone at least a hundred million times. On this occasion the theatrical managers of London presented a magnificent gold cigar-box, weighing 100 ounces, to His Majesty.

The month of December has been one of peculiar ill-omen to the Royal Family, and it seemed as if December 1891 was to prove no exception. For Queen Alexandra and her daughters, who had been to Livadia on a visit to the Tsar, were recalled by the illness of Prince George, and the King and Queen went through some days of terrible anxiety. As soon as Prince George was declared to be suffering from enteric fever he was removed from Sandringham to London, and it was there that he was nursed. The illness evoked a remarkable degree of public sympathy, though perhaps the serious nature of the Prince’s condition was hardly realised till all danger was practically over.

CHAPTER XVI
THE DUKE OF CLARENCE AND AVONDALE

The year 1892 opened auspiciously both for the Royal family and the nation, inasmuch as, immediately on the convalescence of Prince George, the engagement of his elder brother, the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was announced. The projected alliance was received with every possible expression of popular approval. The public career of the Duke of Clarence, short as it had been, had already confirmed him in the public estimation as a worthy son of his father, who was known to have actively superintended the whole course of his education. A significant proof of the young Prince’s amiability and unpretending modesty was to be found in the large number of personal friends whom he attached to himself, both at Cambridge and among his comrades of the 10th Hussars, by ties of sincere esteem. Moreover, it was generally known that between the Duke of Clarence and his mother there existed the strongest possible link of filial and maternal love, and so the Prince came to share in a measure the high place which Queen Alexandra has always held in the hearts of the British people.

The circumstances of the mournful event which threw a gloom over the whole winter of 1892 are still fresh in the memory of the nation. On 9th January the Duke of Clarence, who was spending the Christmas holidays with his parents at Sandringham, was attacked with influenza, having caught cold at the funeral of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Two days later the late Duchess of Teck wrote to Lady Salisbury a letter which pathetically reflects the anxiety prevailing at Sandringham:—

Notwithstanding the most devoted care and the most skilful nursing, the Prince passed away on the 14th, within a week of the day on which the tidings of his illness had first gone forth. Then, if ever, King Edward and Queen Alexandra must have realised the respect and affection with which they are regarded by the British people. Their Majesties received the most touching letters from all over the world. One of those they most valued was from the Zulu chiefs at St. Helena. This was conveyed to the Prince through Miss Colenso, and ran as follows:—

“We have heard of the death of Prince Edward, the son of the Prince of Wales. We lament sincerely. Pray you present our lamentation to them all—to his grandmother, to his father and his mother, and his brother.”

Their Majesties showed how deeply they appreciated the sympathy so spontaneously offered to them on every side by publishing the following Message:—

The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Benson) was at Biskra when he heard of the lamentable death of the Duke of Clarence. The Archbishop wished to return home at once, and in sending a telegram of condolence to the bereaved father he stated his intention of so doing, but King Edward, with his usual kindly consideration, telegraphed to him that he was on no account to curtail his holiday. The telegram was followed by this letter, which is given in the Archbishop’s Life:—