1873-1875
The year 1873 was spent on the whole very quietly by the King and
Queen. His Majesty took up once more the thread of his public life
which had been interrupted for a considerable time by his illness and
convalescence.
A pleasant glimpse of the home life at Sandringham about this time is
given in the following letters from the witty and eloquent Archbishop
Magee (then Bishop of Peterborough), written to his wife:--
“SANDRINGHAM, _6th December 1873_.
“… I arrived just as they were all at tea in the entrance hall, and had
to walk in, all seedy and dishevelled from my day’s journey, and sit
down beside the Princess of Wales, with Disraeli on the other side of
me, and sundry lords and ladies round the table. The Prince received me
very kindly, and certainly has most winning and gracious manners. The
Princess seems smaller and thinner than I remember her at Dublin. They
seem to be pleasant and domesticated, with little state and very simple
ways.”
“_7th December 1873._
“Just returned from church, where I preached for twenty-six minutes
(Romans viii. 28). The church is a very small country one close to the
grounds. The house, as I saw it by daylight, is a handsome country
house of red stone with white facings, standing well and looking
quietly comfortable and suitable. I find the company pleasant and
civil, but we are a curious mixture. Two Jews, Sir A. Rothschild
and his daughter; an ex-Jew, Disraeli; a Roman Catholic, Colonel
Higgins; an Italian duchess who is an Englishwoman, and her daughter
brought up as a Roman Catholic and now turning Protestant; a set of
young lords, and a bishop. The Jewess came to church; so did the
half-Protestant young lady. Dizzy did the same, and was profuse in his
praises of my sermon. We are all to lunch together in a few minutes,
the children dining with us. They seem, the two I saw in church, nice,
clever-looking little bodies, and very like their mother.”
[Illustration: QUEEN ALEXANDRA AND HER SISTER THE EMPRESS ALEXANDER OF
RUSSIA, IN 1873
_From a Photograph by Maull and Fox_]
King Edward and Queen Alexandra represented Queen Victoria at the
marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh and the Grand Duchess Marie of
Russia in January 1874. The English marriage service was performed
by Dean Stanley, who wrote to Queen Victoria an interesting letter
describing the Imperial wedding, in which he mentioned how much he
had been struck, both in the chapel and at the subsequent banquet,
by the singular difference in character and expression of the four
future kings, the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Prussia, the
Cesarewitch, and the Crown Prince of Denmark, who were all present.
On the Sunday following the wedding King Edward and Queen Alexandra
attended the service at the English Church in St. Petersburg, and the
Dean preached on the marriage feast at Cana in Galilee, much the same
sermon which he had preached in the Chapel-Royal at Whitehall on the
Sunday following the marriage of their Majesties. All through this
visit to Russia their Majesties were received with unusual distinction,
and a grand parade of troops was held in honour of King Edward.
King Edward dined in the Middle Temple Hall on Grand Night of Trinity
term in 1874. On this occasion His Majesty humorously expressed the
opinion that it was a good thing for the profession at large, and for
the public in general, that he had never practised at the Bar, for he
could never have been an ornament to it. In saying this his modesty
probably led him astray, for he is a thoughtful and lucid speaker, and
his habits of method and order would certainly have stood him in good
stead if he had been compelled to apply his mind to any profession. His
Majesty was elected a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 1861, and served
the office of Treasurer in the Jubilee year of 1887.
[Illustration: QUEEN VICTORIA, WITH THE PRINCES ALBERT VICTOR AND
GEORGE, AND THEIR SISTER, PRINCESS VICTORIA
_From the Painting by James Sant, R.A._]
When King Edward and Queen Alexandra were first married they always
gave two great balls at Marlborough House each year--one on the
anniversary of their wedding day, and one at the close of the London
season. But the most splendid entertainment ever given by their
Majesties was the great fancy dress ball in July 1874. Over fourteen
hundred invitations were sent out, and the Royal host and hostess made
no stipulations as to the choice of costume, leaving it to individual
taste. The Queen wore a Venetian dress, and was attended by her two
young sons as pages. The King appeared as Charles I., wearing a costume
exactly copied from the famous Vandyke picture, that is, a maroon satin
and velvet suit, partly covered with a short black velvet cloak, while
the black hat, trimmed with one long white feather, was looped up with
an aigrette of brilliants. He also wore high buff boots, long spurs and
sword, while round his neck hung the Collar of the Garter.
Many of the costumes worn were very interesting and curious. In the
Fairy Tale Quadrille, the Earl of Rosebery, then quite a youth, was
Blue Beard; Mr. Albert (now Earl) Grey, Puss in Boots; and the Duke of
Connaught, the Beast. Lord Charles and Lord Marcus Beresford were a
couple of Court jesters. The only person present who was not in fancy
dress was Benjamin Disraeli, then Prime Minister. He wore the official
dress of a Privy Councillor.
That same year the King and Queen visited Birmingham for the first
time, being received by the then mayor, Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, who
was at the time credited with being so advanced a Republican that many
fears were expressed that he might behave with scant courtesy to his
Royal guests, and bets were even taken as to whether he would consent
to shake hands with them! However, these prognostications proved
groundless, and it is particularly interesting to recall the comment
which the _Times_ made on the following day:--
“Whatever Mr. Chamberlain’s views may be, his speeches of yesterday
appear to us to have been admirably worthy of the occasion, and to
have done the highest credit to himself. We have heard and chronicled
a great many mayors’ speeches, but we do not know that we ever heard
or chronicled speeches made before Royal personages by mayors, whether
they were Tories or Whigs, or Liberals or Radicals, which were couched
in such a tone at once of courteous homage, manly independence, and
gentlemanly feeling, which were so perfectly becoming and so much the
right thing in every way as those of Mr. Chamberlain.”
On the same day that this appeared in the leading journal, Sir Francis
Knollys wrote to Mr. Chamberlain a most cordial letter, in which he
said:--
“I have received the commands of the Prince and Princess of Wales
to make known through you to the inhabitants of the borough of
Birmingham the satisfaction they derived from their visit to that
town yesterday. They can never forget the reception they met with,
nor the welcome given to them by all classes of the community.… I
may further congratulate you and the other members of the reception
committee on the happy result of their labours. Nothing could have been
more successful, and their Royal Highnesses will ever entertain most
agreeable recollections of their visit to Birmingham.”
In conclusion, Mr. Chamberlain was informed that the King wished to
give £100 to a Birmingham charity, and was asked to state which he
considered to be the most deserving, and at the same time the most in
need of support.
The festivities of the following Christmas were overshadowed by the
death at Sandringham from inflammation of the lungs of Colonel Grey,
who had been for some time a valued member of the Household. It was
with reference to this sad loss that Princess Alice wrote to Queen
Victoria:--“Dear Bertie’s true and constant heart suffers on such
occasions, for he can be constant in friendship, and all who serve him,
serve him with warm attachment.”
In 1875 the death of Canon Kingsley came as a great blow to their
Majesties, who were both fondly attached to the famous writer.