No event in many years has created such keen interest amongst, and been so closely followed by, the Royal family of Great Britain as the war in South Africa. Apart from Queen Victoria's natural and life-long dislike of the horrors of war, there was the earnest sympathy which she felt in the last two years of her reign with thousands of her subjects who had suffered in the loss of husband, or brother, or father, or friend; and the womanly sorrow which she herself felt for the many promising young officers whom she had personally known or liked, or whose relations and friends had been upon terms of intimacy with members of the Royal circle. The matter was still more brought home to her, in a personal sense, by the death of her grandson, Prince Christian Victor, who, after months of hard campaigning and with the reputation of an able, modest and hard-working officer, succumbed in the autumn of 1900 to enteric fever, and was buried, at his own request, upon the South African veldt. But these personal considerations had never been so potent with the Queen as had her broader sympathies for her people, and there can be no doubt the gloomy days of Colenso and Spion Kop told severely upon the sensibilities of a Sovereign who was as proud of the nation's position and as keen to feel national humiliation, or sorrow, as was the humblest and most loyal of her subjects. And the fact that her duty to the people and the Empire lay in supporting her Ministers and pressing, if necessary, for a still more vigorous prosecution of the struggle, could not but have its effect upon the constitution of a Queen who felt her responsibilities very keenly and who was an aged woman as well as a great ruler.
Where she could help in keeping behind her Ministers a united people Queen Victoria did her utmost. Early in March, 1900, the Royal recognition of Irish valour in South Africa, shown in the order to the soldiers of the Empire to wear the Shamrock on St. Patrick's day, was as tactful and wise a step as statesmanship ever initiated. The ensuing postponement of Her Majesty's spring visit to sunny Italy and her prolonged stay in Dublin during the month of April were pronounced appeals to Irish loyalty. Her Christmas present of chocolate to the troops in the field, her ever-thoughtful telegrams, and occasional letters and speeches upon public occasions, were also of great value to the cause of national unity and action in differing degrees. Meantime, the Duke of Connaught had volunteered early in the period of trouble which eventually developed into war, but the Queen did not wish him to go to the front and, though he had offered to waive his rank and seniority in order to do so, his mother's wishes, of course, prevailed.
DUTIES OF THE HEIR APPARENT
The Prince of Wales was exceedingly active during this period in paying every possible compliment to departing troops, in welcoming home the veterans of the war, in conferring medals and in helping the many charities, hospital interests and military organizations which the situation evoked. As soon as the war broke out the Princess of Wales had commenced to organize a hospital ship for the care of the wounded at Cape Town and, on November 22d, 1899, Her Royal Highness visited the vessel prior to its departure. She was accompanied by the Prince with Princess Victoria, the Duchess of York and the Duke and Duchess of Fife. Badges and gifts were presented to the nursing sisters and the men of the Royal Army Medical Corps and St. John Ambulance Brigade and a brief speech delivered by the Prince. To this object, it may be added, the Princess had given £1000, and a Committee formed by her and composed of Lady Lansdowne, Lady Wolseley, Lady Wantage, Sir Donald Currie and others, had raised the large additional sum required. At Windsor, on December 15th, the Prince of Wales, accompanied by his wife, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Christian, presented to the Grenadier Guards the medals they had won in the Soudan. On January 26th, 1900, he reviewed six hundred officers and men of the Imperial Yeomanry under command of Colonel, Lord Chesham. He thanked them for making him their Hon. Colonel, and then added: "You have all, like true men, volunteered for active service to do your duty to your Sovereign and your country. I feel sure that when you leave your homes and country you will feel that a great duty devolves on you—to maintain the honour of the British flag—and that you will ably assist the Regular forces of Her Majesty abroad and do credit to your country and your corps."
A little later, on February 9th, another contingent of Yeomanry, under Colonel Mitford, were inspected by the Prince ere they departed for South Africa. "Most heartily" he said to them, "do I hope that the services you intend to render your Sovereign and your country will bring credit upon yourselves. I feel sure that, under your commanders, you will know that one of the first principles is good discipline. Then, I hope you are good shots and good riders." In the afternoon, at Devonshire House, His Royal Highness received the one hundred and fifty nurses and men connected with the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital. When the Princess of Wales' Hospital Ship returned with its sorrowful burdens of wounded men the Prince and Princess were the first to visit it and do what was possible by kind thought and word and action to soothe the suffering of the soldiers. Netley Hospital they visited again and again, and more than one Canadian or Australian, or other Colonial soldier of the Queen, will always speak of the gracious personal kindness of the Royal couple.
When the Naval Brigade returned in triumph from its achievements at Ladysmith there was added to the seething, cheering, enthusiastic popular welcome the formal reception and inspection by the Heir Apparent, accompanied by the Princess and other members of the Royal family and the Lords of the Admiralty. After brief speeches from Mr. Goschen and His Royal Highness the former, as First Lord of the Admiralty, entertained the officers of the Brigade and the Prince of Wales at luncheon. On November 2nd, following, the Prince presided at a great banquet given in London to the officers and men of the Honourable Artillery Company and the City Imperial Volunteers. Colonel Mackinnon of the latter force sat on the right of the Royal chairman and the Lord Mayor on the left. In his speeches the Prince gave a brief history of the origin and the war achievements of the Artillery and the City Imperial Volunteers, congratulated many of the officers by name, spoke of the opportunity they had been given of taking part in "a great and important war and of maintaining the honour of the British flag," and referred in pathetic terms to the death of Prince Christian Victor—who had been through five campaigns and was under thirty-four years of age.
When the Composite Regiment of the Household Cavalry went to war in November 1899 they had been inspected by the Heir Apparent. Upon their return, December 3rd 1900, he paid them the same compliment, accompanied by various members of the Royal family and leading officers of the Army. He expressed pride at being Colonel-in-Chief of a corps which had so greatly distinguished itself—in the distant past as well as the near present. Following them came the Royal Canadian Regiment, commanded by Colonel W. D. Otter. To them the Prince made a neat and patriotic speech. "I am well aware of what you have gone through and the splendid way in which you have served in South Africa and I deeply regret and mourn with you the loss of so many brave men." Ever anxious, like the Queen and her own husband, to promote the well-being of the soldiers and sailors the Princess of Wales had acted since the beginning of the war as President of the Soldiers and Sailors' Families Association and, on December 31st, 1900, reported through the press that £500,000 had been directly subscribed to their purposes, £190,000 given through the Mansion House subscription, and £50,000 through a special Lord Mayor's Fund. The whole of this sum had now been expended in caring for the wives and families of those at the front and distributed through the voluntary services of eleven hundred ladies and gentlemen throughout the United Kingdom. At least £50,000 was still being expended monthly and Her Royal Highness made and personally signed an earnest appeal for the further funds required.
When Lord Roberts left to take command in South Africa, the Prince of Wales personally saw him off at the station—accompanied by the Duke of Connaught, who had been again praying the Military authorities to allow him to go to the front in the new crisis which had arisen and who had even obtained Lord Roberts' approval to his taking a place upon his Staff. But the War Office would only say that with so many general officers out of the country His Royal Highness could do better service by remaining with the Army at home.
There were many reasons for the Prince of Wales taking a keen interest in the war apart altogether from the natural and patriotic reason. A peculiarly large number of the sons of personal friends were at the front and many of them were fated to fall from time to time. The reputation of the officers engaged in the struggle was necessarily very dear to him. He knew them all and had many associations with their regiments and themselves. A blow to Sir George White, a disaster to Sir Redvers Buller, a danger to Col. Baden Powell, a threatened illness in the case of Lord Roberts, were all matters of personal concern to him as well as of national or patriotic interest. The central figure in the beginning of the war—the great personality of Mr. Cecil Rhodes—had long been a friend and had been received by the Prince upon a kindly social footing. Through the Duke of Fife's connection with the South African Chartered Company, the Prince must have been closely interested in all the earlier developments of the struggle and it could only have been by special permission that his son-in-law held a Director's place up to the actual outbreak of the war. Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Milner were both men who had been closely associated with his own Imperialistic projects and ideals and there can be little doubt—though it was never publicly expressed—that the Prince of Wales sympathised with the policy which has since made South African expansion and empire possible.
The Prince of Wales had seen Lord Roberts off upon his career of successful action; on January 3rd, 1901, accompanied by the Princess, the Duke and Duchess of York and the Duke of Connaught, he welcomed him home and on behalf of the Queen received him as a Royal guest at Buckingham Palace. A magnificent banquet followed, given by the Prince, in honour of the Field Marshal—who had just been created an Earl and a Knight of the Garter—and six months later as King of Great Britain, he was able to send a special message to Parliament recommending a grant to Earl Roberts of £100,000. Shortly after this reception came the much-mourned death of the Queen and the accession of His Royal Highness to the Throne. It was not long before the King was showing his appreciation of South African soldiers by inspecting or addressing them before their departure, or upon their return. On February 15th, accompanied by Queen Alexandra, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, the Duke of Cambridge, Princess Louise, the Duchess of Argyll, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Roberts, Sir Redvers Buller, Lord Strathcona and Mr. Chamberlain, he inspected Lord Strathcona's Regiment of Horse and presented a King's colour to Colonel Steele. His Majesty's speech to the officers and men was tactful and gracious: "I welcome you here on our shores on your return from active service in South Africa. I know it would have been the urgent wish of my beloved mother, our revered Queen, to have welcomed you also. That was not to be; but be assured she deeply appreciated the services you rendered as I do. It has given me great satisfaction to inspect you to-day, to have presented you with your war-medals and also with the King's colour. I feel sure that in entrusting this colour to you, Colonel Steele, and to those under you, you will always defend it and will do your duty as you have done in the past year in South Africa and will do it on all future occasions. I am glad that Lord Strathcona is here to-day, as it is owing to him that this magnificent force has been equipped and sent out." The King then presented Colonel Steele, personally with the M.V.O. decoration.