“The Duke of Wellington, Lord Hill (Commander of the Forces), Lord Combermere, with a host of distinguished officers, received the Special Ambassadors from foreign States, the Duc de Nemours, Marshal Soult (Duc de Dalmatie) and others—whilst the Duke of Cambridge (the Queen’s uncle) arrived with a crowd of Continental Princes. The Queen took up her position on the ground at twenty-five minutes to twelve; and, after the Staff and noble and illustrious foreigners had paid their respects to her, she proceeded in her carriage down the lines, each body of troops presenting arms as she passed, and the bands striking up the National Anthem.
“Then, returning to the flag, the troops marched past in slow time—went through some evolutions, burnt a great quantity of powder; and, finally, both lines advanced in parade order, headed by the Marquis of Anglesey, and saluted her Majesty, who then retired. The Duke of Wellington and Marshal Soult were vociferously cheered, and, as for the latter, many persons not only cheered him as he moved on, but came beside his horse, and grasped the veteran cordially by the hand, a freedom with which he seemed rather pleased. During the review one of his stirrup leathers broke and it was afterwards found that it was one of a pair much used by Napoleon in his campaigns, and which had been furnished to the Marshal by Messrs. Laurie and Marner, the saddlers.”
The next great review held in the Park takes a long stride in point of time, and took place on 23rd June, 1860, when the Queen reviewed some 18,450 Volunteers. These had been called into existence by a circular letter from General Jonathan Peel on 12th May, 1859, and the movement became so popular, that about a year afterwards sufficient were enrolled to enable this review to be held, and the result fully bore out the wisdom of the experiment.
The following account is extracted from The Times of June 25th, 1860:—
“The galloping about of the Staff was equal to a series of races, the object of the running being an utter mystery to the uninitiated. Something dreadful always appears to be happening at the end of the line where the Staff is not, and away the group of uniforms tear to rectify it; it is important perhaps, but to the public inexplicable. Everybody felt grateful for the amusement furnished by a trumpeter of the Life Guards, in the heavily laced coat and jockey cap, which favoured the racing theory. He was attached to the Duke of Cambridge, and occasionally blew a screech on his trumpet—a most wretched and unwarlike sound, though it was, we believe, a signal of some kind; certainly, it was a signal for laughter whenever it was heard. Another source of amusement was the rather Lucretian and selfish enjoyment of the perplexities of the dense crowd of officers and military personages of various grades, in the railed space below the galleries. Ten feet more of ground might have been given, and the want of it caused confusion. The pressure at last was too great, and there was a rush under the rail into the open. The police could then do nothing against the plumes and epaulets. The disorder gave the Staff two or three gallops to the spot. The Commander-in-Chief himself remonstrated, but the disorder, which was not very serious after all, could not be retrieved. The ground gained was kept; but, as a compromise, the front ranks were directed to sit down, which they did, and Policeman 209 was released from his responsibility. There was much speculation as to some of the most gorgeous uniforms in this military miscellany which were quite new to English eyes. Very wild guesses were made, but opinion settled down on East Indian Horse Artillery and Cavalry, regular and irregular. A magnificent Lord Lieutenant, whose place was near the Queen, but who had lost his pass ticket, was sternly refused ingress, and remained in the crowd undistinguished.
“At 4 o’clock, the first gun of the Royal salute apprised all that her Majesty was entering the Park. A succession of cheers from the extreme left announced it also. A detachment of Life Guards headed the procession, which passed from left to right along the front of the galleries. Her Majesty was in an open carriage, with the King of the Belgians, the Princess Alice, and Prince Arthur. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, in uniform, rode by the side of the carriage, near which also were the Prince of Wales, and Prince Jules of Holstein-Glucksburg. Aides de Camp, Equerries, the Adjutant-General, and other high military officials preceded the carriage. It was immediately followed by the venerable Lord Combermere, who was old in service before most of the soldiers on the ground were born, for he counts 70 years, not of age, but of service. His horse was led, and every attention was paid to the veteran warrior. He wore the Order of the Bath, and the uniform of his regiment, the Life Guards. In the two other carriages were the Princess Louise, the Princess Mary of Cambridge and the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz. In the line of procession followed the Lords Lieutenant of the counties to which the several corps of Volunteers belong.
“The cortège passed nearly to the extreme left of the line of Volunteers, then turned and proceeded slowly along the front of the extreme right, and, turning again, drew up on the open ground in front of the Royal Standard. The three bands of the Household Brigade were stationed opposite the Royal carriages; through the intervening space the Volunteer companies marched, those on the right of the line of columns coming up first. It was half-past four when the 1st Huntingdonshire Mounted Rifles passed her Majesty; and, at a few minutes to six o’clock the 25th Cheshire closed the review, which lasted without intermission for quite an hour and a half.
“Her Majesty left the ground at six o’clock, in the same order as she arrived, but some time elapsed before the public could get clear of the enclosures. The difficulty of getting a large body of troops out of the Park has almost become a military axiom, but the difficulty is not insuperable. The Volunteer officers solved the problem without confusion, except a little crushing at the gates; but the crushing was more among the spectators than the troops.”
