The Prince wore the scarlet and ermine robes of a Duke over the uniform of a General. He also wore the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the Order of the Star of India. As he entered the House, the Peers rose in a body, the Lord Chancellor alone remaining seated and covered with his official hat. His Royal Highness then advanced to the Woolsack, and placed his patent of peerage and writ of summons in the hands of the Chancellor. The oaths were administered to him at the table by the Clerk of Parliament, the titles under which the Prince was sworn being those of Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, Earl of Carrick, Duke of Rothesay, and Lord of the Isles.
After the roll had been signed the procession moved on, and His Royal Highness, on reaching the right-hand side of the Throne, took his seat upon the Chair of State specially appropriated on State occasions to the Prince of Wales. While thus seated he placed on his head the cocked hat worn by general officers in full dress. The Prince and the other Peers finally left the House, retiring by the entrance at the right of the Throne in the same order as they had entered.
About an hour later His Royal Highness re-entered the House dressed in ordinary afternoon costume, and took his seat on one of the cross-benches, thereby formally dissociating himself from either political party. The Prince remained almost throughout the entire debate. When leaving he shook hands with the Earl of Derby and a number of other Peers whom he recognised.
As is well known, the only votes which King Edward has ever given in the House of Lords have been in favour of the Bill for legalising marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, but he is a constant visitor at the Houses of Parliament when anything of special interest is going on, and there is no doubt that he takes the keenest interest in the political questions of the day.
As regards the Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill, it is well known that the King and the Bench of Bishops hold opposite opinions, and there is a curious allusion to this in the Life of the late Archbishop Benson. The Archbishop went to a great garden party given by Queen Victoria in July 1896, and thus describes it in his diary:—
“The Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace was of 4000 persons.… The Prince, after glancing my way several times, came up, holding out his hand as if diffidently, and saying, ‘Will you shake hands with me?’ I said, ‘Vicisti, sir.’ He said, ‘What?’ But on my saying again, ‘Vicisti,’ he laughed very heartily in his own way.” It should be explained that the Prince and the Duke of York had just voted in the House of Lords in favour of the Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill, the third reading of which was passed.
Queen Alexandra