EDWARD mentor upon this occasion. Upon the completion of his Cambridge course in June 1861 he joined the camp at the Curragh, where he acquainted himself with the details of military duty. While thus engaged he was, in common with the entire nation, overwhelmed by the unexpected death of his father, 13th December 1861, after a very brief illness. For long the prince remained in absolute seclusion, but in 1862 fulfilled a wish of the deceased Prince Consort by undertaking a tour in the Holy Land under the guidance of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, afterwards dean of Westminster, who had already travelled in the East and written Sinai and Palestine. The travellers departed in February and returned in June. Stanley’s Sermons preached in the East was among the fruits of their expedition. Early in 1863 the prince was sworn of the Privy Council, and took his seat in the House of Lords as duke of Cornwall. About the same time the estate of Sandringham, in Norfolk, was purchased for him out of the savings of his minority. His town residence was fixed at Marlborough House. His impending marriage to the Princess Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX., king of Denmark (born 1st December 1844), had already been announced, and took place on 10th March in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. From her first appearance on British soil the princess captivated the heart of the nation, and Tennyson uttered the public sentiment when he sang, in his ode as poet-laureate, “We are all of us Danes in our welcome of thee.” Parliament granted the prince an income of £40,000 a year, exclusive of the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall, and he relinquished his right of succession to the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Prince Albert Victor, afterwards duke of Clarence, was the first offspring of the marriage, being born on 17th January 1864. The births followed of Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert, duke of York, born 3rd June 1865; Princess Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar, by marriage duchess of Fife, born 20th February 1867; Princess Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary, born 6th July 1868; and Princess Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria, born 26th November 1869, married to Prince Charles, second son of the Crown Prince of Denmark. From the time of their marriage the prince and princess were more conspicuously before the country than had ever before been the case with any princely pair of the same position. The deep affliction of the widowed sovereign, and the burden of public care which she was now compelled to undertake, unrelieved by the participation of her mainstay and chief adviser, incapacitated her for the performance of most of the social functions of Royalty. The prince and princess of Wales stepped forward to fill her place, and by their tact and the affability of their bearing, and their diligence and punctuality in satisfying every public claim, frequently at great inconvenience to themselves, contributed not a little to that general popularity of the British monarchy among all classes which has proved so important a factor in national politics. The prince’s readiness to promote every worthy cause was most marked; no one was a more constant attendant at the meetings and gatherings for objects of public utility in which his position as a prince of the blood royal would permit him to take part, and his speeches were always most effective from their excellent sense and clear enunciation. The most important external event of these years was a tour to Egypt, undertaken in 1869 in company with the duke of Sutherland, Sir Samuel Baker, and others, an account of which was published by Mrs William Grey. The prince also visited Ireland more than once, and opened the International Exhibition of 1871. On 23rd November 1871 it was announced that the prince would be prevented from paying a visit which had been arranged to the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh by a feverish
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attack. It soon appeared that the malady was typhoid, contracted, as was supposed, on a visit to Scarborough. The case became so serious that on 29th November the Queen and Princess Alice hurried to Sandringham, where the prince had repaired on feeling the first symptoms of illness. On 1st December there was a slight rally, but on 8th December so serious a relapse occurred that all the royal family came to Sandringham, and for some days the prince’s life was despaired of. Under the skilful treatment of Sir William Jenner, Sir William Gull, and Sir James Paget, however, the crisis was surmounted by 16th December, and by Christmas Day the danger was regarded as virtually over. On 27th February 1872 a public thanksgiving was held at St Paul’s, amid the most imposing and most affecting demonstrations of public joy and gratitude throughout the empire. The importance attaching to the life of the heir to the Throne was emphasized by the consciousness of his danger and his escape. A republican agitation, indeed, which had seemed to be gathering strength throughout the year in connexion with labour disputes, collapsed entirely, and has never been revived. In January 1874 the prince of Wales attended the marriage at St Petersburg of his brother, the duke of Edinburgh, with the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. In the same year he paid a historic visit to Birmingham, where Mr Joseph Chamberlain, not yet a member of Parliament, received him officially as mayor. In March 1875 it was officially announced that he would make a visit to India, carrying out an idea originally conceived by the first Indian viceroy, Earl Canning. He was supposed to travel as heir-apparent, not as representative of the Queen; but the characters could not be kept apart, and in fact the prince’s visit was a political event of great importance. Leaving England on 11th October, he was received at Bombay by the viceroy, Lord Northbrook. Here he met a very large number of Indian feudatory princes, whose acquaintance he subsequently improved by visiting at their courts during the seventeen weeks which he spent in the country. During these four months the prince travelled nearly 8000 miles by land and 2500 miles by sea, became acquainted with more rajahs than had all the viceroys who had reigned over India, and saw more of the country than any living Englishman. The rajahs were enchanted by his tact and urbanity. The visit, moreover, led up, as was probably intended, to the Queen’s assumption of the title of empress of India in the following year. The prince’s life after this date was full of conspicuous public appearances. In 1885 he visited Ireland at a time of much political excitement, and was received enthusiastically in many quarters and without symptoms of ill-will in any. In 1886 he filled the presidency of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, opened the Mersey Tunnel, and laid the first stone of the Tower Bridge. In 1887 a large share of the arrangements for the Queen’s Jubilee devolved upon him. On 27th July 1889 his eldest daughter, Princess Louise, was married to the duke of Fife. In the autumn he paid a semi-incognito visit to Paris, where he has always been highly popular, viewed the Exhibition, and ascended the Eiffel Tower. In 1890 he opened the Forth Bridge. On 14th January 1892, however, a heavy blow fell upon him and his house by the death of his eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, duke of Clarence and Avondale, after only five days’ illness. The young prince, who with his brother had made the tour of the world in H.M.S. Bacchante, and after a short career at Oxford and Cambridge was just settling down to play his part in public life, had recently become engaged to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (born 26th May 1867), and the popularity of the
