Queen Victoria (27 page)

I wish from my heart to thank my people for this, as well as for the appreciation manifested of the dear and gallant Prince who laid down his life in the service of his adopted country.

“My beloved child is an example to all in her courage, resignation, and submission to the will of God.

“VICTORIA, R.I.”

The lamented Prince was, by his own wish, laid to rest at Whippingham, in the Isle of Wight, of which he had been Captain and Governor - an office which has since been conferred upon his widow. By her acceptance of this office Princess Henry showed, and it is but one proof among many, her courageous resolve not to allow her private sorrow to interfere with the performance of public duties.

On the 3rd of May, 1893, the official announcement was made of the betrothal of the Duke of York, the only surviving son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, to the Princess Victoria Mary, only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. The marriage took place at St. James’s Palace on the 6th of July, amid universal rejoicing, and never since the marriage of the Prince of Wales or the Queen’s Jubilee procession had London been more thronged with loyal and enthusiastic crowds. The ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the Queen and all the royal family, with whom were the King and Queen of Denmark and the Czarevitch, now Emperor, of Russia. The bridesmaids were grandchildren and one great-grandchild of the Queen. After the rejoicings and congratulations from all parts of the Empire, the Queen addressed another letter to her people, in which she wrote of the universal loyalty shown to her. “It is, indeed, nothing new to the Queen, for in weal or woe she has ever met with the warmest, kindest sympathy, which she feels very deeply. She knows that the people of her vast Empire are aware how truly her heart beats for them in all their joys and sorrows, and that in the existence of this tie between them and herself lies the real strength of the Empire.” The picture of the marriage ceremony, painted by command of the Queen by M. Tuxen, is reproduced overleaf.

The Duke and Duchess of York have now three children; the eldest, - a son - born on the 23rd of June, 1894, has been christened Edward; the second, - also a son - named Albert, was born on December 14th, 1895; the third, - a daughter - named Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, was born on April 25th, 1897. The name “Alice” commemorates the Grand Duchess of Hesse, and “Mary” the Duchess of Gloucester, on whose birthday the infant Princess was born. The descent of the crown in a direct line is thus, it is hoped, happily assured.

During the whole of her long life, in the midst of public business which has daily become more voluminous and exacting, the Queen has never entirely abandoned the pursuits which were the pleasure and relaxation of her earliest years. Mention has been made of her practice of music and of her instructors, and here it may be noted that within the last fifteen years Her Majesty has sung with Signor Tosti, as at an earlier period she sang with Lablache and Mendelssohn. In all the extracts from the Queen’s journals which have from time to time been made public, it will have been noticed how constantly she mentions that she sketched the scenery of the places visited by her. The early instruction, given by Westall and supplemented by the hints occasionally given by Sir E. Landseer, was not in landscape drawing, which was taught by Mr. Lear in 1846 and 1847. Since that time the Queen has taken lessons from Mr. Leitch, and within the last twelve years also from Mr. Green. The Queen has always followed with the closest interest the course of current events, which have necessarily absorbed the greater part of her time and attention. But Her Majesty has also made herself familiar with great imaginative writers, with poets such as Shakespeare, Scott and Tennyson, or with novelists such as Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and, it may be added, Mrs. Oliphant, whose recent illness and death aroused the Queen’s deepest sympathy. The Queen’s acquaintance with German and French literature is considerable, and her intimate knowledge of these languages is very noticeable in the purity with which she speaks them. In the last ten years a signal proof of the warm interest which Her Majesty has always taken in her Indian Empire has been given by the Queen’s study of Hindustani, under the instruction of the Munshi Abdul Karim.

It is impossible to close this brief record of Her Majesty’s life without mention of the memorable event of the 22nd of June, 1897. No such scene has ever been witnessed in any capital of the world as was afforded by London on that day, and throughout the whole Empire the commemoration of our Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland was celebrated with a burst of enthusiasm absolutely without parallel.

The course to be followed by the State procession in going to and returning from St. Paul’s Cathedral had been carefully planned, in order that the largest possible number of Her Majesty’s subjects might be enabled to witness its passage through the streets. Eleven Prime Ministers of Colonial Houses of Representatives, accompanied by detachments of troops, whose presence from distant lands bore living witness to the extent and loyalty of the Empire, preceded the procession through crowds of enthusiastic spectators. The Queen herself, accompanied by children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, escorted by cavalcades of Princes, and preceded by representatives accredited by every Foreign Power, and by troops drawn from all portions of a realm on which the sun never sets, passed slowly through the thronged and gaily-decorated streets to the Cathedral of St. Paul. There “Te Deum Laudamus” was sung with a genuine fervour of national thanksgiving for the prolongation of the life of a Sovereign, whose rule has fostered all that is best in the character of the British people, and throughout the world has ever made for peace. Before leaving Buckingham Palace Her Majesty sent to her subjects the message: “From my heart I thank my beloved people. May God bless them,” which, in its adequacy and appropriateness, shows the perfect simplicity, womanly perception, and delicate tact, which has always enabled the Queen to strike the chord that vibrates through the heart of the nation.

In every town of Great Britain the occasion was celebrated with rejoicing, and the population of each city and village vied with each other in raising memorials of the event. In London and throughout the country the Prince of Wales took the lead in instituting a fund to defray the debts of the existing hospitals and to provide with more certainty for their future maintenance. Towards this object nearly a quarter of a million has been contributed, and this notwithstanding that half a million had been subscribed early in the year for the relief of the famished and plague-stricken natives of the East Indies. The Princess of Wales made the destitute population of London her care, and the letter written by her to the Lord Mayor of London met with such a hearty response that 300,000 of the poor of the metropolis took part in the rejoicings.

The magnificent fleet assembled at Spithead was reviewed, on the 26th of June, by the Prince of Wales on behalf of the Queen, who, to her deep regret, was unable, owing to the fatigue of the journey from Windsor, to be present in person. No finer fleet had ever been assembled in any waters, and the sight was the more impressive when it was known that this tremendous naval power was assembled without drawing upon the fleets, always in commission upon the seas, for one ship or one man. At Aldershot a large force of troops was reviewed by Her Majesty in person; 28,000 men of the British and Colonial troops, under the command of H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, passed before the Queen, conspicuous among them being the Guards, the whole seven battalions forming this historic brigade being assembled together for the first time for forty years. The Queen afterwards held a special review of the Colonial contingent at Windsor. There also she received the 100 Bishops who had come to attend the Pan-Anglican Conference at Lambeth, the sixtieth anniversary of the Queen’s reign being also the 1,300th anniversary of the conversion of Britain to Christianity.

From the Universities, and from all the great corporations and societies, came deputations and addresses, all alike congratulating the Queen, and hoping that her beneficent rule might be still further prolonged. In answer the Queen published the following letter: -

“WINDSOR CASTLE, July 15th, 1897.

“I have frequently expressed my personal feelings to my people, and though on this memorable occasion there have been many official expressions of my deep sense of the unbounded loyalty evinced, I cannot rest satisfied without personally giving utterance to these sentiments.

“It is difficult for me on this occasion to say how truly touched and grateful I am for the spontaneous and universal outburst of loyal attachment and real affection which I have experienced on the completion of the Sixtieth year of my Reign.

“During my progress through London on June 22nd this great enthusiasm was shown in the most striking manner, and can never be effaced from my heart.

“It is indeed deeply gratifying, after so many years of labour and anxiety for the good of my beloved Country, to find that my exertions have been appreciated throughout my vast Empire.

“In well and woe I have ever had the true sympathy of all my people, which has been warmly reciprocated by myself.

“It has given me unbounded pleasure to see so many of my Subjects from all parts of the World assembled here, and to find them joining in the acclamations of loyal devotion to myself, and I would wish to thank them all from the depth of my grateful heart.

“I shall ever pray God to bless them and to enable me still to discharge my duties for their welfare as long as life lasts.

“VICTORIA R.I.”

Limits of space have excluded all but the most incidental allusions to salient events of Her Majesty’s reign. Scarcely any reference has been made to constitutional changes which have peacefully effected a vast transference of political power, and yet, through the wisdom of the Sovereign, have only served to strengthen the British Monarchy. In like manner the enormous growth of the Empire has been barely mentioned, an Empire which, in spite of varieties of race, language and climate, in spite also of differences of constitutions and creeds and customs, has been welded into unexampled unity by the tie of personal loyalty to Queen Victoria. Nothing has been said of the religious forces which have added, at home and abroad, new chapters to the romance of spiritual chivalry, and enriched and purified the springs of national life; of the poets, novelists, historians, and artists who have added the lustre of their genius to the Victorian era; of the achievements of science, which has opened up new worlds of thought, revolutionised the arts alike of peace and war, ameliorated the conditions of existence, and lightened the burden of suffering; of the spread of education, which has given to millions the means of acquiring the knowledge that was once the possession only of the few. Nothing, finally, has been said of the material progress of the nation, of the revolution effected by the application of steam to manufacture and locomotion, or of the social and industrial problems, which rapid changes have set for our solution. Yet we might trust with confidence that such difficulties would be conquered, if, in future generations, all those who direct the counsels of the realm are as just, as prudent, as laborious, as unselfish, as permeated with love of country, as profoundly interested in the true wellbeing of the labouring classes, as Queen Victoria.