PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.
The queen in person prorogued parliament on the 15th of August. The address to her majesty, and the royal speech, were ordinary documents. The houses were prorogued to the 15th of October, but parliament did not meet again for the transaction of business that year.
THE COURT.
Birth of a Prince.—On the 1st of May her majesty was delivered of a son, the third prince that had been born to her. The baptism took place in the chapel of Buckingham Palace, on the 22nd of June. The ceremony was unusually superb.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, his Royal Highness Prince George, her Royal Highness Princess Mary, his Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia, his Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, his Serene Highness the Prince of Leiningen, his Grace the Duke of Wellington; the Belgian, Portuguese, and Prussian ministers; the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Earl of Minto, Lord John Russell, Sir George Grey, Viscount Palmerston, Earl Grey, Sir Charles Wood, Sir Francis Baring, Sir John Hobhouse, the Earl of Carlisle, the Right Hon. Fox Maule, Sir William Somerville, and others invited to the solemnity, assembled in the old dining-room, at the palace, at six o’clock, the royal family being conducted to an adjoining drawing-room, and were conducted to seats in the chapel.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of Chester (clerk of the closet), the Bishop of Oxford (lord high almoner), with the Rev. Henry Howarth (rector of the parish of St. George, Hanover-square), the Hon. and Rev. Gerald Wellesley (resident chaplain to her majesty), the Rev. Lord Worthesley Russell (deputy clerk of the closet), and the Rev. Henry George Liddell (chaplain to his Royal Highness Prince Albert), assembled in the room adjoining the old dining-room, and took their places at the communion-table. The Archbishop of Canterbury commenced the baptismal service, and on arriving at that part for naming the child, the Countess of Gainsborough handed the infant prince to the archbishop, when his royal highness was named Arthur William Patrick Albert.
The queen, the prince, and the royal personages then passed up the grand staircase to the Throne-room, where her majesty was joined shortly before eight o’clock by her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester. The remainder of the company continued in the Green Drawing-room. The queen wore a dress of white, watered, and brocaded silk, with a broad flounce of Honiton lace, trimmed with white satin ribbon. Her majesty also wore a diadem of emeralds and diamonds, and ornaments of emeralds and diamonds to correspond. From the ribbon of the Most Noble Order of the Garter was suspended a most splendid George, set in brilliants; the ribbon itself was confined on the left shoulder by a diamond clasp. The queen also wore the garter as an armlet, the motto being formed of diamonds. The infant prince had a robe and mantle of Honiton lace over white satin, with a cap to correspond. The Princess Royal, the Princess Alice, and the Princess Helena, wore dresses of white watered silk with satin stripe, trimmed with white satin ribbon and silver fringe; the silk woven at Spitalfields. The dress of her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent was of the richest white watered silk, of English manufacture, trimmed with blonde, having diamond ornaments down the front, and the stomacher adorned with brilliants. Her royal highness’s head-dress was formed of feathers, blonde lappets, and pearl and diamond ornaments. The necklace and earrings were diamonds. His Royal Highness Prince Albert wore a field-marshal’s uniform, with the collars of the Orders of the Garter and the Black Eagle (of Prussia), with four stars set in diamonds of the Garter, the Thistle, St. Patrick, and the Bath, and the ensigns of the Golden Fleece.
Her majesty was conducted by the lord steward and the lord chamberlain, at eight o’clock, to a state banquet in the picture-gallery, accompanied by the royal family, the foreign ministers, the cabinet ministers, and the other ladies and gentlemen who attended the ceremonial. “The christening cake” was placed in the middle of the dinner-table on the plateau of the magnificent service of gold plate. The top of the cake represented an octangular fountain, ornamented with a number of small vases, filled with miniature bouquets. The fountain rested on a circular plinth, containing a number of painted vignettes, set in silver frames.
After the toast of “The Queen and the Prince,” her majesty rose from the banquet, and proceeded to the White Drawing-room, accompanied by her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, her Royal Highness Princess Mary of Cambridge, and the other ladies present. Soon after which, his Royal Highness Prince Albert, his Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia, his Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, his Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, his Serene Highness the Prince of Leiningen, and the other guests, proceeded to the Music-room, when the doors of the White Drawing-room were opened, and the queen received an evening party.