The Norwich Gate at Sandringham
Photograph by Ralph, Dersingham
“I am assured that if the many gentlemen and landlords who very often find some difficulty in leaving England, but who have large interests and large estates in this country, could contrive to come over here more frequently, it would do more good than anything else I could imagine. I am certain that they are anxious to come over, and that their relations with their tenantry and those around them should be in every respect good. I may also here refer to the great improvement made in the erection of farm buildings and cottages. Beyond doubt there has been progress in the direction of improvement there; but still I believe much yet remains to be done. Everything depends upon the well-being of the people, and if they are properly lodged it tends to cleanliness, and very possibly to moral advantage.
The East Front, Sandringham
Photograph by Ralph, Dersingham
“Perhaps I may be allowed to speak of a slight personal experience in that matter. I have a small estate in Norfolk, and observed myself the great importance of providing suitable small cottages for those resident there, and, having done so, now reap immense advantage.”
In the following year (19th June 1872) the King and Queen visited King’s Lynn to see the Annual Exhibition of the Norfolk Agricultural Society. At the entrance to the Show His Majesty said, in reply to the usual address presented on these occasions:—
“It has been a source of the greatest gratification to have had it in my power to contribute in any degree to the success of your Association, and to promote the interests of agriculture in Norfolk. It is with these feelings that I have endeavoured to make myself acquainted with some of the operations of farming, and to acquire some knowledge of stock, and if I have not always been successful in the path of competition, I have at least obtained prizes sufficient to encourage me to persevere, and to indulge in the hope that I shall obtain more.”