Early Home Life and Varied Duties

During the years immediately succeeding his marriage the career of the Prince of Wales was one of initiation into the responsibilities of home life and the duties of public life. It was a period of moulding influences and a round of functions—some perfunctory, some pleasant. It was a time of trial for a very young man placed in a very high position, and with temptations which might easily have led him into temporary and even permanent forgetfulness of the responsibilities of the future. Several causes, apart from his own natural strength of character, combined to avert such a result. The sympathetic and gracious character of his wife and the perfection of management and detail which she introduced into the home life of Sandringham and the more public and social life of Marlborough House, were factors of importance. The recollection of his father's teachings and high ideals and the knowledge of his Royal mother's character and devotion to principle were important influences. The growth of family ties had its effect, and, finally, the shock of a sickness in 1871, which brought him to the verge of death and showed him the loving affection of the nation, completed the process of education in that difficult and dangerous road which the youthful Heir to a great Throne must always travel.

Of the Princess of Wales in these years it is hard to speak too highly. Fond of domestic life, retiring by disposition and character, caring more for husband and family than for all the glitter and glory of the world's greatest functions or positions, she yet lived in the blaze of a continuous publicity without possible or actual criticism and with a ceaseless and ready charm of manner, a never-failing courtesy to high and low, an ever-increasing popularity. Amid all the innumerable duties and difficulties of her position there has never been a visible mistake committed. The right people have been cultivated and encouraged; the wrong people treated in a way which could not be resented nor misunderstood. The right thing has been said so often that it has come to appear the natural thing. An atmosphere of ideal refinement has always surrounded her, and its subtle influence has pervaded many a brilliant home and circle where other influences might easily have prevailed. In a time when calumny would attack an Archangel, and when its bitter barbs have been known to reach even the humanly perfect life of Queen Victoria, no shadow has ever crossed the curtain of her character. Of her tact—a quality which she possesses in common with the Prince of Wales—stories are innumerable, and of her quiet, unostentatious, continuous charity and natural kindliness of heart there are as many more.

A BUSY MARRIED LIFE

The married life of the Prince and Princess was a busy one. Sandringham had to be remodelled and various public duties attended to by the Heir-Apparent. One of the first visitors at their country home was the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, who had been so intimately associated with the education and early life of the Prince, and who was destined to always possess the privileges of a personal friend. Of this Easter Sunday, following the wedding, Dean Stanley wrote in his Diary that "the Princess came to me in a corner of the drawing-room with Prayer Book in hand and I went through the common service with her, explaining the peculiarities and the likenesses and differences from the Danish service. She was most simple and fascinating. My visit to Sandringham gave me intense pleasure. I was there for three days. I read the whole service, preached, then gave the first English Sacrament to this 'angel in the Palace,' I saw a great deal of her, and can truly say she is as charming and beautiful a creature as ever passed through a fairy tale."

THE PRINCE IN PUBLIC LIFE

One of the first public appearances of the Prince of Wales after his marriage was attendance at the Royal Academy Banquet on May 2nd, 1863. Sir Charles Eastlake, the President, proposed the usual loyal toast, and in responding the young Prince is said to have spoken in a particularly clear and pleasing manner. Of the important personal event to which reference had been made he declared that neither the Princess nor himself could "ever forget the manner in which our union has been celebrated throughout the nation." Amongst the other speakers were Lord Palmerston, Mr. W. M. Thackeray and Sir Roderick Murchison. The first really important public event in the Prince's life at this period was the presentation of the freedom of the City of London on June 8th. Invitations had been issued to a couple of thousand of the most eminent persons in the public, social and diplomatic life of the country and exceedingly costly preparations were made for the reception, and for the ball and banquet which followed. The Prince and Princess of Wales were accompanied by Prince Alfred, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and Princess Mary of Cambridge and other Royal personages. The Princess was clad in white, with a coronet and brooch of diamonds and a necklace of brilliants—the one her husband's wedding present and the other that of the City of London. The reply to the address and presentation was very brief but appropriate and the events which followed were remarkable for their splendour and air of general joyousness.

A week later the Royal couple attended the Commemoration at Oxford and the Prince of Wales was presented with the degree of D.C.L. in the presence of a brilliant assemblage of Professors and visitors, and an enthusiastic throng of students. The latter gave the Princess a reception which made her flush with mingled nervousness and pleasure though it could not affect her natural dignity of bearing. She had not yet become accustomed to the overwhelming character which British enthusiasm sometimes assumes and, indeed, is said to have never absolutely overcome a personal shrinking from the publicity which was inseparable from her position and popularity. However that may be, the feeling was never shown to the people and, if a fact, can only be considered as enhancing the graciousness of manner which has been so marked a characteristic of her life in England. During this brief visit to Oxford Their Royal Highnesses distributed prizes to the Rifle Volunteers, opened a bazaar in aid of the Radcliffe Infirmary, inspected the exhibits at the Horticultural Show, and went over the Prince's one-time college residence at Frewen Hall.

A hasty visit to the North of England in August was made to include the opening ceremony for a new Town Hall at Halifax and here the Royal couple received a most hearty welcome. Another function was the opening of the British Orphan Asylum on June 24th by the Prince, who became its Patron and promoted large subscriptions to its work—one of which from Mr. Edward Mackensie totalled $60,000. Though this was a very quiet year in comparison with those of the future, His Royal Highness extended his patronage, usually accompanied by liberal subscriptions, to eight public charities, eight hospitals and asylums, five agricultural societies and eleven learned and scientific societies—including the Society of Arts of which he became President. His first work in this latter connection was to promote and obtain a fund for sending a number of British workmen to the Paris Exhibition with a view to improving their mechanical and technical knowledge. He also associated himself with the Mendicity Society by means of which all the innumerable appeals for aid which came to him from time to time were investigated, sifted, and reported upon before action was taken. On May 18, 1864 the Prince presided for the first time at the Royal Literary Fund banquet and thus commenced a long period of active patronage toward an institution which has served a most useful purpose in England—the quick and secret dispensing of aid to literary men who from some cause or other might be destitute, or in need. Its objects were not local but international and in his speech on this occasion His Royal Highness pointed how well and quietly the work had been done.

THE PRINCESS AND HER FAMILY

Early in the year the first-born child of the Royal couple arrived on the scene. The event had been expected for March 1864 but the infant was born at Frogmore on January 9th and was christened on March 10th as Albert Victor Christian Edward. From infancy the Prince was somewhat delicate and, no doubt for that reason, was always supposed to be his mother's favourite child. The Princess of Wales was, at this time, not yet twenty but was devoted to her domestic duties and especially to the new arrival in their home. She would rather visit the nursery at any time than attend a State function or ball. Other children came in the following years. Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert, afterwards Prince of Wales, was born on June 3, 1865; Princess Louise Victoria Alexandra Dagmar, afterwards Duchess of Fife, on February 20, 1867; Princess Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary on July 6, 1868; and Princess Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria, sometime to be Princess Charles of Denmark, on November 26, 1869. In 1871 Prince Alexander John Charles Albert was born, but only lived for one brief day.

As these children came one by one they found a most happy home circle and a devoted mother. In all their little amusements and games the Princess took part; in their training and education she took a watchful share; in their lives as a whole simplicity was made the guiding principle, as it had been in the Royal family of the past generation. From all accounts which are open to us she delighted much more in the nursery than in society. Dr. William Jenner saw the Royal children whenever necessary but the "coddling" so often seen in modern homes was unknown at Sandringham. The Prince believed as much in simplicity of bringing up as did his wife and, by special order, the Household and servants never used the prefix of "Royal Highness" to the children but addressed them as Prince Eddy, or Princess Louise, or whatever the name might be. The little girls, as their father always called them, had their tea with the nurses and were given few toys and never allowed to accept presents. No fuss was made over the little accidents inevitable to childhood and in every way life was kept devoid of state formality, or anything that would breed a sense of childish self-importance. When the Prince and Princess were away from home, as they frequently had to be, letters were daily exchanged with the head nurse. The result of this general system and of the later plan of making the young Princesses more and more companions of their mother and the boys, as far as circumstances would permit, of their father, created and maintained at Sandringham one of the most pleasant home circles in all England. An illustration of the spirit in which domestic anniversaries and incidents were approached may be found in lines composed by the Princess, on one occasion, for Prince George when the family were commencing to celebrate the birthday of the husband and father. The thought was admirable even if the poetry was not quite perfect:

During these years the Prince of Wales was gradually assuming many of the duties and public tasks which would have devolved upon the Queen, or in earlier days have been performed with such fidelity and care by the Prince Consort. At this time the Queen was living in strict retirement and for a long period still to follow she maintained the same sorrowing seclusion in a more or less modified form. Toward the close of 1865 the death of Lord Palmerston removed a statesman in whom the Prince had found a personal friend and whom he had consulted and greatly trusted in private matters. In February, 1866, the Queen made one of her rare public appearances and opened Parliament, in person, accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. A little later came the cholera epidemic which killed one hundred thousand people in Austria and caused a number of deaths in England. To the Mansion House Relief Fund, which ultimately reached the total of $350,000 and to another Fund, the Prince contributed $17,500. In August the Royal couple visited Studley Royal, the seat of the Earl de Grey and Ripon—better known afterwards as the Marquess of Ripon—and were given a great reception in the City of York. An incident of the latter occasion was a sudden downpour of rain during which the Prince stood up in his carriage, bareheaded, so that the people should not be disappointed.

VARIOUS PUBLIC FUNCTIONS AND EVENTS

A little before this, on May 9th, the President and Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers entertained the Heir Apparent at a banquet in London and amongst the other guests were the veteran Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, the Dukes of Sutherland and Buccleuch, Earl Grey, Lord Salisbury, Sir John Pakington, Sir Edwin Landseer, Sir Richard Owen and many other eminent scientists and leaders of the time. During his speech the Prince paid a tribute to the work of Brunel and Stephenson and, in the latter connection, referred to the great bridge across the St. Lawrence, in Canada, which he had inaugurated in 1860 and to which he gave the credit for an opportunity to visit British America and the United States. On June 11th His Royal Highness had also laid the foundation of the new building of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London. He was received formally by the President, the Earl of Shaftsbury, the Lord Mayor, the Archbishop of York and others and, in the course of his speech, pointed out that the Society had already spent $30,000,000 in the promotion of its objects and in the translation of the Bible into two hundred and eighty different languages and dialects. After referring to the efforts in this cause by his grandfather, the Duke of Kent, the Prince went on to say that "it is my hope and trust that, under Divine guidance, the wider diffusion and deeper study of the Scriptures will, in this as in every age, be at once the surest guarantee of the progress and liberty of the mind and the means of multiplying in the present time the consolations of our holy religion."

The next function shared in was the anniversary gathering of the Clergy Corporation, attended by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Armagh, the Marquess of Salisbury and other dignitaries. In his speech the Prince pointed out that there were ten thousand clergymen in the United Kingdom whose benefices were of less value than $750 a year and urged the usefulness of an institution which distributed $20,000 per annum to orphans and unmarried daughters of clergymen as well as temporary aid to necessitous clergymen themselves. The result of his appeal was a subscription of $6,000 to which he contributed $525 personally. On June 18th he inaugurated a Warehousemen and Clerks' School at Croydon at a gathering presided over by Earl Russell and ten days later visited the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum in the suburbs of London. In August the Prince and Princess of Wales made one of their first public appearances in the County where they had made their country home and where the Prince so well embodied the hearty, healthy life of the English gentleman. During the month, therefore, they paid a visit to Norwich as the principal town of Norfolk and, accompanied by the Queen of Denmark and the Duke of Edinburgh, attended one of Sir Michael Costa's oratorios, opened a Drill-hall, planted memorial trees and in other ways helped to make the occasion memorable to the people of the ancient town.

A visit followed in the autumn to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, at their splendid Castle of Dunrobin, in the north of Scotland. In driving twenty-five miles from the station to the Castle a most enthusiastic welcome was received along the entire route. In reviewing the Sutherland Volunteers during his stay the Prince expressed a wish that the Corps would wear the kilt as their uniform and this was, of course, done with the greatest pleasure. Shortly after the return from Scotland the Queen of Denmark came again to England and stayed for some time at Sandringham with her daughter. Late in the year (November) the Prince of Wales went to St. Petersburg to attend in an official capacity the marriage of the Princess Dagmar of Denmark—sister of his wife—to the Czarewitch who afterwards became Alexander III. The cold was deemed a sufficiently strong reason for the Princess not to accompany him. In his suite were Lord Frederick Paulet, the Marquess of Blandford, Viscount Hamilton, and Major Teesdale. He was welcomed at the station by the Emperor, the Czarewitch and others of the Imperial family and given splendid quarters at the Hermitage Palace. After the marriage he visited Moscow, accompanied by the Crown Prince of Denmark, went over the historic Kremlin and called on the Metropolitan, the highest dignitary in the Russian Church, who received his Royal visitor in a cell and gave him his blessing after a brief conversation.

The year 1867 was marked by a painful illness of the Princess through acute rheumatism and inflammation of a knee-joint. During the serious period of the illness the Prince devoted himself to the invalid, never leaving her side unless compelled to do so and having his desk brought into the sick-room so that he might carry on his correspondence in her presence. It was not until July that the Princess was able to drive out and during the rest of the year the Royal couple lived very quietly and made as few public appearances as possible. It was in the beginning of this year that Princess Louise, afterwards Duchess of Fife, was born. Some functions had to be performed, however, and they included the presiding at a meeting of the National Lifeboat Institution and at the one hundred and fifty-second anniversary festival of the Welsh Society of Ancient Britons, on March 1st; a visit to the International Exhibition at Paris in May; and the presence of the Prince at the laying of the foundation stone of the Albert Hall, in London, later in the same month. On July 10th His Royal Highness inaugurated the London International College, which had been organized by Mr. Cobden and M. Michel Chevalier, as a branch of an international institution. At the luncheon were the Duc d'Aumale, the Prince de Joinville and the Comte de Paris as well as Professor Huxley and Dr. Leonard Schmitz, the head of the institution. In his speech the Prince pointed out the usefulness of a College which would more or less devote itself to the teaching of modern languages at a time when the interests of varied nationalities were becoming so intermingled.