Before he came to the Throne the Prince of Wales had long been the most travelled man in Europe. He had visited every Court and capital and centre upon that Continent; he had toured the North American Continent from the capital of Canada to the capital of the United States and from the historic heights of Quebec to the great western centre at Chicago; he had visited the most noted lands of the distant East.
FROM EUROPE TO AFRICA
In 1862, his first visit to Egypt and the Holy Land had taken place, and now, six years later, he was to make a more imposing and important tour of those and other countries in the company of his wife. On November 17th, 1868, the Prince and Princess of Wales, accompanied by their three eldest children and by Lady Carmarthen, General Sir W. Knollys, Lieut.-Col. Keppel and Dr. Minter, left for the Continent and reached Compiègne on the morning of the 20th inst., in order to pay a visit to the Emperor and Empress of the French. An incident of the hunt which took place that afternoon was the rush of a stag at the Prince who, with his horse, was completely knocked over. Amongst the shooting party were Marshal Bazaine, the Baron Von Moltke, the Marquess of Lansdowne and other well-known men of the day. After a stay of a few days here and at Paris the Royal party proceeded on their journey and reached Copenhagen on November 29th. The birthday of the Princess was celebrated two days later in her old home.
Stockholm was reached on December 16th, and a visit of some days' duration paid to the King of Sweden. On December 28th the Prince and Princess were back again with the Royal family of Denmark and attended a State Ball at the Christianborg Palace. In the middle of January they embarked in the yacht Freya, and at Hamburg the Royal children were sent home in charge of Lady Carmarthen, Sir William Knollys and Colonel Keppel. At Berlin, on January 17th, they were welcomed by the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia—the Princess Royal of England—and by Lord Augustus Loftus, the British Ambassador. On the following day His Royal Highness was invested with the famous order of the Black Eagle by the King of Prussia. Amongst the limited number of Knights Grand Cross who were present at the Chapter were the Baron Von Moltke, General Von Roon, Count Von Waldersee, and Count Von Wrangel. From Berlin, where the Prince and Princess were joined by those who were to accompany them on their further journey and including Colonel Teesdale, V.C., Captain Ellis, Lord Carington, Mr. Oliver Montague, Dr. Minter and the Hon. Mrs. William Grey, the Royal party went to Vienna which was reached on January 21st. At the station they were received by the Emperor Francis Joseph and various members of the Austrian Royal family together with Prince Von Hohenlohe and Lord Bloomfield, the British Ambassador. State visits, dinners, the theatre, skating and a private visit to the King and Queen of Hanover in their retirement at Hietsing, constituted the programme of the next few days. Vienna was left on January 27th, and from Trieste, on the following day, sail was made on board H.M.S. Ariadne and Alexandria reached on February 3rd.
TRIP UP THE NILE
After their formal reception at Alexandria by Mehemet Tewfik Pasha, Shereef Pasha, Mourad Pasha, Sir Samuel Baker and others, the Prince and Princess proceeded to Cairo where they were warmly welcomed by the Khedive, and met by the Duke of Sutherland and his son, Lord Stafford, Professor Owen, Colonel Marshall and the special correspondent, Dr. W. H. Russell. The latter gentlemen joined the Royal party and were to proceed with them on the journey up the Nile together with Prince Louis of Battenberg and Lord Albert Gower. Before starting on this voyage, however, the Prince and Princess were privileged in witnessing the curious Procession of the Holy Carpet and the departure of a portion of the annual stream of pilgrims for Mecca. The Princess and Mrs. Grey were also invited, on February 5th, to dine at the Harem with the Khedive's mother and the ceremonies, as described by Mrs. Grey in her Diary of the tour, were exceedingly interesting. A multitude of smartly dressed female slaves in coloured satin and gold; services of silver and gold; dishes of the most peculiar and varied composition and taste; music by bands of girls and dances by other bands of women—some of whose motions were described by Mrs. Grey as graceful and others as "simply frightful;" drinks of curious character and pipes and cigarettes with holders ornamented by masses of precious gems; costumes which partook of both the Eastern and Western character; jewels and gold in every direction and upon every possible kind of object—such were some of the things seen during the visit. In the evening of the same day the Royal couple and suite went to the theatre, and afterwards the Prince had supper with the Khedive at the Palace of Gizerek, accompanied with elaborate ceremonies and a succession of dancing spectacles.
Meanwhile, every care had been exercised by the Khedive in preparing comforts for the Royal guests up the Nile. The chief barge was occupied by the Prince and Princess and the Hon. Mrs. Grey, who was in attendance upon the latter; a second was occupied by the Suite; a third by the Duke of Sutherland's party; a fourth was used as a store-boat and contained 3,000 bottles of champagne, 20,000 bottles of soda-water, 4,000 bottles of claret and plenty of ale, liquors and light wines. Sir Samuel Baker, who was at this time Governor of the Soudan region, accompanied the Prince and had with him an abundance of guns and nets for capturing crocodiles, etc. During the slow progress up the river there was plenty of sport, and His Royal Highness won fine specimens of spoonbills, flamingoes, herons, cranes, cormorants, doves, etc.
THEY VISIT SITES OF ANCIENT CITIES
During the early part of the trip there was not much that was interesting; apart from the shooting expeditions which were undertaken from time to time. The sight of frightened children, timid women, labouring slaves, mosques and villages of huts and occasional ruins of more or less interest were all that was visible along the low banks of the river as they passed. The caves, or grottoes, of Beni Hassan were visited on February 10, and the life of ancient peoples seen in a panorama of carved monuments. Then came a more beautiful, cultivated and populous part of the region watered by the Nile. Thebes, Luxor, Karnak, however, were names and places which made up for much. For two days, ending February 19th, the heir to a thousand years of English sovereignty wandered amidst these tombs and monuments of the rulers of an African empire which had wielded vast power and created works of wonderful skill and genius three, and five thousand years before. The great hall and collonades and pillars of Karnac, the obelisk of Luxor, the famous tombs of the Kings, the Temples of Rameses, the colossal statues of Egyptian rulers, were visited by daylight, and, in some cases, the wondrous effect of Oriental moonlight upon these massive shapes and memorials of a mighty past was also witnessed.