The next important English function of His Royal Highness was a state visit to Derby on December 17th. The announcement that the Prince and Princess were coming to Chatsworth to stay with the Duke of Devonshire and would also visit Derby created much interest and on the appointed day brought great crowds from Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Chesterfield to swell the population of the city. After driving through the decorated streets and cheering crowds various loyal addresses were received and prizes presented at the City Grammar School. On the evening of March 27th, 1873, the Prince presided at the annual dinner of the Railways' Benevolent Institution. In a somewhat lengthy little speech he explained its purposes and asked for aid in their attainment. The result was a subscription of five thousand guineas to which he himself contributed two hundred guineas.
A duty which was congenial in one sense and sad in another was the unveiling of a statue of the late Prince Consort at the entrance of the Holborn Viaduct in London on January 9th, 1874. A luncheon followed in the Guild Hall attended by some eight hundred guests and at which the Prince made a short speech. A few weeks later the Prince and Princess of Wales were at St. Petersburg to attend the marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh with the Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia on January 23rd. The marriage ceremony was performed in much state with the successive rites of the Greek and English Churches—Dean Stanley presiding over the latter. Four future Sovereigns were present on the occasion, the Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Czarewitch of Russia and the Crown Prince of Denmark. During this visit the Prince and Princess were treated with great distinction by the Czar and a grand military review was held in honour of His Royal Highness. The anniversary festival of the British Orphan Asylum was attended on March 25th, in London, and a speech was made by His Royal Highness explanatory of the useful objects of the institution. The subscriptions announced during the evening amounted to £2400. An important incident of the year was the visit of the Shah of Persia to England and the splendid entertainments given in honour of an Oriental Sovereign whose friendliness was of serious import in the event of trouble between Great Britain and Russia. The Prince of Wales devoted considerable time to the task of welcoming and entertaining the Royal visitor and gave one great banquet, in particular, at Marlborough House which was remarkable for its effective magnificence.
A dinner was given on March 31st by the Lord Mayor of London to Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley—afterward Field Marshal, Viscount Wolseley—on his return from the successful Ashantee expedition and the Prince of Wales made a tactful speech on the occasion expressive of the thanks of the nation for the services of officers and men in that arduous campaign. On April 22nd the Prince presided over a dinner in aid of the funds of the Royal Medical Benevolent Hospital. The leading men of the profession were present and, after a speech from the Prince, donations of £1780 were announced by the Secretary with the usual one hundred guinea subscription from the Royal chairman. A different kind of function was His Royal Highness' attendance at a dinner of the Benchers of the Middle Temple on June 11th. The Master of the Temple, the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, presided and others present were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chief Justice. The Prince, as a Bencher, wore the silk gown of a Queen's Counsel as well as the riband of the Garter and made a brief speech in which he expressed the modest opinion that it was a good thing for the profession at large that he had never been called to the Bar. On August 13th the new Municipal Buildings and Law Courts at Plymouth were opened by the Prince after a formal reception at the hands of the Mayor and a procession through the artistically decorated and densely packed streets of the city.
FIRST STATE VISIT TO BIRMINGHAM
An interesting event of this year and one which created considerable discussion and comment was the first state visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Birmingham. For half a century that city had been a centre of Radicalism, of extreme democratic opinion and, in earlier days, of Chartist turbulence. The Mayor, in 1874, was Mr. Joseph Chamberlain who was then noted for democratic views which were supposed in many quarters to extend to the full measure of republicanism. Doubt was even expressed as to whether the Royal reception would be as cordial as might be desired or the Mayor as courteous, in the sense of loyal phraseology, as was customary. The visit took place on November 3rd and a most cordial welcome was given by all classes of the people. Mr. Chamberlain presented an address in the Town Hall and at a subsequent luncheon spoke of the Queen as "having established claims to the admiration of her people by the loyal fulfillment of responsible duties." In reference to this and other speeches which he made as chairman the London Times of the succeeding day declared that "whatever Mr. Chamberlain's views may be his speeches of yesterday appear to us to have been admirably worthy of the occasion and to have done the highest credit to himself." They were described as being couched in a line of "courteous homage, manly independence and gentlemanly feeling."
The annual dinner of the Royal Cambridge Asylum was presided over by His Royal Highness on March 13th, 1875; the Merchant Taylors' School in the Charterhouse was visited on April 6th; the German Hospital annual banquet was presided over ten days later and donations of £5000 to its funds announced during the evening—including one hundred guineas from the Prince; the installation of the Heir Apparent as Grand Master of the English Freemasons took place on April 28th. On June 5th he presided at the yearly banquet of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution for providing pensions or annuities for persons ruined by agricultural depression. The Earl of Hardwicke in proposing the Royal chairman's health said that "the position of the Prince of Wales is not one of the easiest. He has no definite duties, but the duty he has laid down for himself is of a very definite nature. It is to benefit, to the best of his power, all his fellow-creatures." In the course of his speeches the Prince made an earnest appeal for aid to the purposes of the institution with the result that £8000 was announced as the total donation of the evening—including the usual one hundred guineas from the chairman.
The next important event in his public life was the visit of the Prince to India in 1875-6. On his return the Royal traveller received many demonstrations of popular esteem and the City of London entertained him at a great banquet and ball and an address of welcome, in a golden casket of Indian design, was presented. During the remainder of the year the Prince took a much-needed rest and interested himself largely in matters local to his own county of Norfolk. He took in hand the necessity existing at Norwich for a new Hospital and a large sum of money was soon subscribed for this purpose. Later in the year he visited Glasgow and laid the foundation of a new Post Office in that city. In the spring of 1877 what may be termed the moral courage of the Prince was put to a test in his invitation to preside at the annual banquet of the Licensed Victuallers' Asylum. There were many protests made and at least two hundred petitions presented urging His Royal Highness not to patronize or help the liquor interest. He decided, however, that the charity was a useful one and the widows and orphans of licensed victuallers as deserving of succour as those of other classes in the community, and that he could quite well afford to patronize an institution in succession to his own father, the late Prince Consort. Earl Granville was present, three Bishops and many members of the Houses of Lords and Commons and the proceeds of the occasion were over £5000. In one of his speeches the Royal chairman referred to the petitions received from Temperance Societies and remarked: "I think this time they rather overstep the mark because the object of the meeting to-night is not to encourage the love of drink but to support a good and excellent charity."
Early in 1878 the Prince unveiled at Cambridge (on January 22nd) a statue of his late father, who for years had been Chancellor of the University. On June 28th, together with the Princess of Wales, he visited the Infant Orphan Asylum at Wanstead and presided at the luncheon which followed and at which were Her Royal Highness, the Duke and Duchess of Manchester, the Bishop of St. Albans and Mrs. Claughton, and a large gathering. In his speech the Royal chairman reviewed the history of the institution and afterwards gave one hundred guineas to its funds. As a result of his interest in naval matters the Prince had already placed his sons on the training ship Britannia and, on July 24th of this year, he and the Princess consented to distribute the annual prizes and medals. An address was presented from the City of Dartmouth, on board the Royal yacht Osborne, which had been accompanied into the estuary of the River Dart by a large number of war-ships, yachts, steam-launches and boats. Flags were flying everywhere on sea and shore and in the evening the illuminations were striking. At the Britannia the Royal visitors were received by Mr. W. H. Smith M.P. First Lord of the Admiralty and a distinguished gathering amongst whom were Lord and Lady Charles Beresford and Sir Samuel and Lady Baker. In his speech the Prince referred to the personal expression of confidence in the institution by the Princess and himself in sending their two sons to be trained there and expressed the hope that the latter might do credit to the ship and to their country. A visit to Dartmouth followed and then Prince Edward and Prince George were taken home for their holidays.
THE DEATH OF PRINCESS ALICE