KING EDWARD'S MOST INTIMATE FRIENDS.
1. Lord Esher, G.C.V.O., G.C.B., Deputy Governor of Windsor Castle. 2. Lord Marcus Beresford, Extra Equerry and Manager of King Edward's thoroughbreds. 3. Earl Howe, G.C.V.O., Lord-in-Waiting to the late King and Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra. 4. The Rev. Canon Edgar Sheppard, D.D., C.V.O., Domestic Chaplain to the late King. 5. Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, K.C.L.E., K.C.V.O., Extra Groom-in-Waiting to the late King. 6. Lord Ilchester, who has written some delightful books of biography. 7. Mr. William James, J.P., D.D., C.V.O., the well-known traveler and landowner. 8. Sir Thomas Lipton, Bt., K.C.V.O., the well-known sportsman and yacht-owner. 9. Lieutenant-Colonel F. Ponsonby, Equerry to the late King. 10. Captain Sir David N. Welch, R.N., formerly commander of the royal yacht.
The bridesmaids were all relations of the young couple—the Princesses Victoria and Maud of Wales, Victoria Melita, Alexandra and Beatrice of Edinburgh; Margaret and Victoria Patricia of Connaught; Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein; Victoria and Alexandra of Battenberg. The Duke of York wore a simple Captain's uniform and was supported by his Royal father and the Duke of Edinburgh. The bride was described in the papers of the time as wearing silver and white brocade, with clustered shamrocks, roses and thistles. On July 10th the Queen addressed one of her usual tactful and gracious letters to the nation expressive of her personal sympathy with the people and of theirs with her and her family.
The eldest child of this marriage—Prince Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David—was direct in succession to the Throne after his father and was born on June 23, 1894. The second child was Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George, born on December 14, 1895. Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, was born on April 25th, 1897, and Prince Henry William Frederick Albert on March 31, 1900. The Prince of Wales was greatly attached to his grandchildren and nothing in these later years gave him greater pleasure than having around him the youthful scions of the House of Fife, or that of York, and giving them presents and other means of enjoyment. On July 22, 1896, his third daughter, the Princess Maud, was married to Prince Charles, second son of the Crown Prince of Denmark. The ceremony was performed in the private Chapel of Buckingham Palace, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the presence of the Queen and most of the members of the Royal family. The Duke and Duchess of Sparta, the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone and Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain were amongst the guests. The bridesmaids were Princesses Ingeborg of Denmark, Victoria of Wales, Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Thyra of Denmark, Victoria Patricia of Connaught, Margaret of Connaught, Alice of Albany and the Lady Alexandra Duff.
CHAPTER XII.
The Prince as a Social Leader
The influence wielded upon Society by the Prince of Wales, during nearly forty years of public life, was so marked and important as to merit extended consideration. Society, of course, in such a connection includes much more than any particular set of persons however select, or distinguished, or aristocratic; it means, in fact, all the varied social circles, high and low, which have recognized principles of etiquette and intercourse and common customs of amusement and fashion. Taken in this wide sense of the word, no personage in the history of Europe during the nineteenth century wielded so great an influence as His Royal Highness. He helped to make the unbounded after-dinner drinking of a previous period unpopular and socially un-orthodox; he encouraged in his more youthful days and always enjoyed the pleasures of dancing; he introduced very largely the popular fashion of a cigarette after dinner in place of endless heavy cigars and their accompaniment of liquors; he did much to encourage and popularize a love for music; he led the fashion in the matter of men's dress and, upon the whole, society in most civilized countries has to thank him for simple and dignified customs in this respect; he supported the race-course with courage and persistence and not only made racing more popular but helped to establish its code and operation upon a high plane of honour—by far the highest and cleanest in the world; he made charity and the support of its varied public institutions popular and fashionable; he showed the gilded youth of a great social world that work was a good thing for a Prince and a peer as well as for a peasant; he, with his beautiful wife, presented for many years a model home and family life to the nation and they, together, discouraged many of the petty vices and small faults which creep into all social systems from time to time.
LIFE AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE
The official and social centre of this leadership in the British world was at Marlborough House—a large and unpretentious residence in the heart of London. That the place was exquisitely furnished and equipped goes without saying; that it was comfortable in the extreme is equally a matter of course to those acquainted with the taste and house-keeping capacities of the Princess of Wales. It was filled with fine engravings and paintings illustrative of the Victorian era; it teemed with mementoes and memorials of past incidents, travels and friendships in the lives of the Royal couple; it contained rooms suited for every purpose required in the exacting life and multifarious public duties of its occupants. The Prince's study, where only intimates were admitted, has been described as the room of a hard-working man of business. When at Marlborough House, His Royal Highness used to mark out his time, each day, with care and precision and even then it was difficult to fill his many and varied engagements. There were certain public functions such as the Horse Show at Islington, or the Royal Military Tournament, to which the Prince and Princess always went when in London. There were a certain number of state dinners given in place of those which, under other circumstances, would have been given by the Sovereign. Diplomatic dinners were also incidents of the season at Marlborough House as well as dinners which included the Government and Opposition leaders and great banquets held from time to time in honour of foreign guests of the nation or Royal relations visiting the country.