The Prince as a Social Leader
The influence wielded upon Society by the Prince of Wales, during nearly
forty years of public life, was so marked and important as to merit
extended consideration. Society, of course, in such a connection
includes much more than any particular set of persons however select, or
distinguished, or aristocratic; it means, in fact, all the varied social
circles, high and low, which have recognized principles of etiquette and
intercourse and common customs of amusement and fashion. Taken in this
wide sense of the word, no personage in the history of Europe during the
nineteenth century wielded so great an influence as His Royal Highness.
He helped to make the unbounded after-dinner drinking of a previous
period unpopular and socially un-orthodox; he encouraged in his more
youthful days and always enjoyed the pleasures of dancing; he introduced
very largely the popular fashion of a cigarette after dinner in place of
endless heavy cigars and their accompaniment of liquors; he did much to
encourage and popularize a love for music; he led the fashion in the
matter of men's dress and, upon the whole, society in most civilized
countries has to thank him for simple and dignified customs in this
respect; he supported the race-course with courage and persistence and
not only made racing more popular but helped to establish its code and
operation upon a high plane of honour--by far the highest and cleanest
in the world; he made charity and the support of its varied public
institutions popular and fashionable; he showed the gilded youth of a
great social world that work was a good thing for a Prince and a peer
as well as for a peasant; he, with his beautiful wife, presented for
many years a model home and family life to the nation and they,
together, discouraged many of the petty vices and small faults which
creep into all social systems from time to time.
LIFE AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE
The official and social centre of this leadership in the British world
was at Marlborough House--a large and unpretentious residence in the
heart of London. That the place was exquisitely furnished and equipped
goes without saying; that it was comfortable in the extreme is equally a
matter of course to those acquainted with the taste and house-keeping
capacities of the Princess of Wales. It was filled with fine engravings
and paintings illustrative of the Victorian era; it teemed with
mementoes and memorials of past incidents, travels and friendships in
the lives of the Royal couple; it contained rooms suited for every
purpose required in the exacting life and multifarious public duties of
its occupants. The Prince's study, where only intimates were admitted,
has been described as the room of a hard-working man of business. When
at Marlborough House, His Royal Highness used to mark out his time, each
day, with care and precision and even then it was difficult to fill his
many and varied engagements. There were certain public functions such as
the Horse Show at Islington, or the Royal Military Tournament, to which
the Prince and Princess always went when in London. There were a certain
number of state dinners given in place of those which, under other
circumstances, would have been given by the Sovereign. Diplomatic
dinners were also incidents of the season at Marlborough House as well
as dinners which included the Government and Opposition leaders and
great banquets held from time to time in honour of foreign guests of the
nation or Royal relations visiting the country.
The dining-room at Marlborough was handsome but plain, the arrangements
of the table setting an example of simplicity which society, in this
case, did not always follow. The Prince of Wales never concealed his
dislike for the extremely lengthy banquets which were the custom in his
youth and succeeded, so far as private dinner-parties were concerned, in
revolutionizing the system. To the favoured guest Marlborough House was
a scene of historic as well as personal interest. It had been the home
of the great Duke of that name; the residence of Prince Leopold,
intended husband of the lamented Princess Charlotte, and afterwards King
of the Belgians; the dower-house of Queen Adelaide; the choice of the
Prince Consort for his son's London home. The general contents of the
house were worthy of its history. In one room were splendid panels of
Gobelin tapestry presented by Napoleon; in another were the rare and
wonderful treasures of Indian work, in gold, silver, jewelry and
embroidery, brought home from the Royal visit to Hindostan; elsewhere
was a beautiful vase given the Prince by Alexander II. of Russia,
enamelled work from the East, richly ornamented swords, trays of solid
gold, tables full of presentation keys, medals, trowels and memorials of
all kinds.
Socially, the drawing-room was the central feature of interest. Its
general effect has been described[6] as being white and gold and pale
pink, its floor of polished oak with an Axminster carpet in the centre,
and with an appearance of vastness modified by pillars of white and
gold. There were innumerable mirrors and the furniture was upholstered
in deep red, while rare china, flowers, photographs, statuettes, and
small ornaments of gold and silver and enamel were scattered in
profusion upon tables, cabinets and mantels. Here the most eminent men
and beautiful or clever women of Great Britain and the world have been
entertained and here, or in the well-kept grounds, the intimate friends
of the Prince and Princess have gathered from time to time.
The society received at Marlborough was always cosmopolitan in its
variety but it was never of the kind which slander sometimes insinuated.
No man has ever been more democratic, so far as mere class barriers are
concerned, than was the Prince of Wales, but no one knew better than he
where to draw the line in his entertainments. The Princess, for her
part, was at all times a model hostess, and each knew too well what was
due to the other to make the social life of the Palace anything more
than a correct embodiment and representation of the social life of
London. The liberality of the Prince was made evident in later years in
making cultivated and representative Americans or Jews welcome at his
functions. His very proper and openly-avowed liking for beautiful women
encouraged at one time a social class of "professional beauties," but as
soon as this patronage was found to have been misused and vulgarized in
certain quarters, he and the Princess quietly dropped those who were
making a trade of the Royal recognition. A story has been told
illustrating the capacity which the Prince of Wales always showed for
keeping people in their proper places. On one occasion, at a great
charitable bazaar in Albert Hall, which he had honoured with his
presence, he went up to a refreshment stall and asked for a cup of tea.
The fair vendor--there was no doubt of her beauty--before handing the
cup to His Royal Highness took a drink from it, saying, "_now_ the price
will be five guineas!" The Prince gravely paid the money, handed back
the cup of tea and said, "Will you please give me a clean cup?"
The Royal etiquette, as to social entertainments and the acceptance of
invitations to country houses, or city functions, was always very exact
and was carried out along lines fixed by the Prince and Princess in
their early married life. Outside of the aristocracy, or a small list
of personal friends, very few hospitable invitations were ever accepted
and as such acceptance meant certain admission to the higher ranks of
society the pressure upon personal friends or officials can easily be
imagined. The Prince always objected to the lavish and extravagant style
of such entertainments and this was one important reason for limiting
his circle of hosts and hostesses. At the country houses visited from
time to time, or at the private dinners to which he accepted
invitations, the Prince was supposed to usually see a list of the guests
and to always have the right of adding names to it. The delicate and
indirect task of attending to this matter was for many years confided to
Mr. Harry Tyrwhitt Wilson; who also had the arrangement of details in
connection with the visits largely in his hands. One incident of the
visits to country houses was an effort on the part of the Prince in
recent years to discourage and check the wholesale habit of tipping
servants. He took the method of leaving a moderate and suitable sum for
the purpose and this was distributed after he had left the place. It may
be added that whenever the Prince went anywhere he was always
accompanied by an equerry, his own valets, a footman to wait on him at
meals, and certain other servants.
FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS OF THE PRINCE
The Prince and Princess of Wales, separately or together as the case may
be, have visited most of the splendid homes of England. Chief amongst
those whom they delighted to visit were the Duke and Duchess of
Devonshire and Chatsworth; Hardwick Hall and Compton Place have,
therefore, more than once seen most brilliant entertainments in their
honour. Lord and Lady Cadogan were frequent and favourite hosts. Lord
and Lady Londonderry, the Earl and Countess of Warwick, the Duke of
Richmond at Goodwood House, the late Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall,
all entertained the Royal couple upon more than one occasion. Lord
Alington, the late Duke of Beaufort, and Sir Edward Lawson gave the
Prince frequent and enjoyable shooting. The Duchess of Marlborough and
Mrs. Arthur Paget were two American ladies whom His Royal Highness
counted as friends and hostesses. Several members of the Rothschild
family entertained the Heir Apparent at homes which have been described
as models of comfort and museums of art, while Lord Penrhyn was a Welsh
magnate whom he once visited with great pleasure, and the late Baron
Hirsch, in his Hungarian shootings, gave him splendid sport upon more
than one occasion.
No phrase has been more conspicuous in recent years and none have been
more abused in meaning and application than that of "the Prince's set."
Properly used, it meant his personal friends or those who, along
specific and often very diverse lines of sport, society, work, or
travel, were necessarily intimate with His Royal Highness. Improperly
applied, it was supposed to designate a rather fast and very "smart" set
of wealthy social magnates. In this latter guise it had really no
existence. Those who were familiar with the Prince of Wales' career and
character knew that mere wealth was the last thing which ever attracted
him, and the one thing which was a most certainly uncertain basis upon
which to gain his patronage; to say nothing of his friendship. Many
disappointed millionaires can speak with accuracy upon this point--if
they wished to. On the other hand, honest love of racing, or shooting,
or yachting; brilliancy of conversation in man or woman and conspicuous
beauty or charm of manner in the latter; knowledge of the world and
capacity to do the right thing in the right way at the right time were
conspicuous factors in obtaining the friendship of the Prince of Wales.
Achievements in art, or distinction in the Army and Navy, or great
philanthropic interests and undertakings, were always elements of
recognized importance.
Deer-stalking in the Highlands made friends and hosts such as the late
Dukes of Sutherland and Hamilton, Mr. Farquharson of Invercauld and Lord
Glenesk. During his annual visits to Homburg, for many years, and in the
rest and liberty which he allowed himself there, the Prince's favourite
companion, as he was his most devoted friend, was the late Mr.
Christopher Sykes. Lord Brampton--the clever, witty and eccentric Judge
who was better known as Sir Henry Hawkins--the Right Hon. "Jimmy"
Lowther, M.P., Lord Charles and Lord William Beresford, and Sir Allen
Young were also special friends of the holiday season. Admiral Sir Henry
Keppel was a very old friend of the Prince and his family and this
intimacy also included Mr. and Mrs. George Keppel. Lord Rosebery, Lord
Beaconsfield, Lord Randolph Churchill and the late Lord Derby could all
claim the Royal friendship, while Lord and Lady Farquhar were delightful
and favourite hosts of both the Prince and his wife. Colonel Oliver
Montagu was a very old and dear friend, and the Earl of Aylesford, Lord
Cadogan, General Lord Wantage, Colonel Owen Williams, Earl Carrington,
Lord and Lady Dudley and Lord Russell of Killowen ranked in the category
of friendship. Lord and Lady Alington had the rare distinction of giving
dances to which the Princess of Wales used to take her daughters when
they were young girls.
Amongst hostesses other than those already mentioned whose
entertainments the Prince liked to attend were Mrs. Bischoffstein and
Mrs. Arthur Rothschild. Other personal friends were the late Earl of
Lathom, the bright and witty Marchioness of Aylesbury, Lord James of
Hereford and the late Sir Charles Hall. Amongst artists whom the Prince
greatly favoured were Sir Charles and Lady Halle and the late Lord
Leighton. No closer and more devoted friends of the Prince could be
found than the members of his own Household, and the public was long
aware of this in the persons of Lord Suffield, Sir Francis Knollys and
Sir Dighton Probyn, in particular. The Prince delighted in doing honour
to those whom he accepted as friends. He marked his sorrow at the deaths
of Colonel Oliver Montagu and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild by
personally attending their funerals--an exception to the rule which he
had set himself in this connection.
His Royal Highness frequently gave his powerful patronage to the
promotion of Memorials to those who had been honoured by his friendship
and who deserved honour upon national grounds. An early instance of this
was the case of Dean Stanley. A later one, on July 13, 1900, was the
gathering called at Marlborough House and presided over by the Prince
for the purpose of erecting a national memorial in Westminster Abbey to
the Duke of Westminster. In speaking, His Royal Highness said: "To me
personally the death of the Duke meant the loss of a life-long friend. I
had known him from his boyhood and there is no one whose friendship I
appreciated more than his. In my judgment there is no one whose public
services more fully deserve public recognition by his countrymen."
Fidelity to friends and appreciation of manly qualities and special
abilities were always characteristic of the Prince of Wales and,
combined with his tact and the unusual qualifications of the Princess as
a hostess, made Marlborough and Sandringham, in different ways, the most
ideal centres of social entertainment. Taken as a whole, the Prince's
leadership of society was emphatically for good. His approval and
patronage of the opera or the theatre, the race-course or the
shooting-box, may not have been agreeable to some people, but they
represented the popular opinion of the great majority. He took things as
they were, enjoyed them in a full-hearted and honest way, improved the
_morale_ of the social system and the practices in vogue in many
directions and left Society infinitely better and more honest than he
had found it.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] _Private Life of King Edward VII._ By a member of the Royal
Household. D. Appleton & Co. N. Y.