On the 22nd the Queen started after breakfast for the bazaars, and met the King there and shopped until lunch-time. In the afternoon the Queen and Mrs. Grey visited the wife of Abd El Kader Bey, and then went on to see Achmet Bey, the captain of their dahabeah. His wife received the English visitors with much enthusiasm, kissing both the Queen and Mrs. Grey violently. Mrs. Achmet was a very pretty woman with pleasant manners, but although she could only speak Arabic, which was not understood by her visitors, yet she never stopped talking for a minute.
The following day, the 23rd, was the first day of Bairam, and the Queen again visited la Grande Princesse, the Viceroy’s mother, who held a sort of Drawing-room in the Harem. In the evening the Queen went to the Viceroy’s palace across the river to dine with His Highness’s four wives. The Princesses were much charmed with some photographs which the Queen gave them of herself. Shortly before leaving she expressed a wish to see how the Egyptian ladies’ outdoor veils were fastened on. Some were accordingly sent for, and Queen Alexandra was dressed up in a veil, much to her amusement; her eyebrows, and those of Mrs. Grey, were painted, and the thin veil and the burnous were put over them. These Her Majesty and her lady-in-waiting were entreated to keep as a souvenir of their visit. They were still wearing their Egyptian dresses when they returned to their palace, but to their great disappointment found everybody gone to bed except their courier, whom they succeeded in surprising, though he very frankly said that he thought the ladies were looking far better than usual. That was the last night in Cairo.
On the following day the Royal party had a very hot and dusty journey, and arrived at Suez at seven o’clock in the evening. There they were joined by Dr. Russell and Major Alison, and were met by the great de Lesseps. Dinner was served in the large dining-room of the hotel, and among the waiters the King observed a small black boy about fourteen years old, who seemed intelligent above the average. After dinner His Majesty asked the landlord of the hotel about him, and, finding that he was an Abyssinian boy and had an excellent character, he decided to take him home instead of the little mauvais sujet whom the party had picked up at Wady Haifa.
Then came one of the most interesting episodes of the tour, namely, their visit to the Suez Canal, where their Majesties were received and escorted by M. de Lesseps. The works of the Canal Company were by no means completed, but they were being actively carried forward, a large dock, 450 feet long, having been already finished. At Tussum the King performed the important ceremony of opening the sluices of the dam across the finished portion of the canal, thus letting the waters of the Mediterranean into the empty basin of the Bitter Lakes.
The Royal party then drove about three miles beyond the town through the desert to the Viceroy’s châlet, a pretty little place built on high ground overlooking Lake Timsah. The King and Queen were lodged here, the rest of the party having to rough it in out-houses and tents. Dinner was served in a large tent, and, thanks to the Viceroy’s forethought, it was a most excellent French dinner, for His Highness was determined that his guests should not have to rough it unless it was absolutely necessary.
The next day the Royal party went up the Canal towards the Mediterranean, and after driving through Port Said, they embarked on board the Viceroy’s yacht Mahroussa for passage to Alexandria. M. de Lesseps and his party also came on board the yacht. When the vessel passed outside the breakwater she began to roll so much that dinner became more exciting than comfortable. One swell threw everything off the table, and the Royal party were rolled out of their chairs, and then in an instant, before they had time to pick themselves up, another roll threw the ship over on the other side. Fortunately, however, the rolling did not last very long, and the resources of the yacht were so great that dinner was not long interrupted.
The following morning the yacht arrived at Alexandria, where the Royal party visited the various sights, including Cleopatra’s Needle and Pompey’s Pillar. Then they were rowed off in a barge to the Ariadne, their old home, which looked quite small and poor after the gorgeous Mahroussa, with its silk hangings, Italian marbles, mosaic mother-of-pearl, and so on, though in reality it was much more comfortable in a practical way. Here they said good-bye, much to their regret, to Mourad Pasha, Abd El Kader Bey, and old Captain Achmet, as well as to Colonel Stanton, the British Consul.
The next day, 28th March, the Ariadne left for Constantinople, but nothing much of importance occurred during the voyage, and the vessel anchored on 1st April some three miles from Constantinople. There the Royal party were transferred to the Sultan’s yacht Pertif Piati, in which they went past the entrance to the Golden Horn, as far as the Saleh-Bazar Palace, which had been assigned as a residence by the Sultan to the King and Queen during their visit. The Sultan himself received the Royal party on landing, and took Queen Alexandra up to her rooms, every one following.
Mrs. Grey describes the rooms in the Saleh-Bazar Palace as not quite so gorgeous as those which they had had at Cairo, but, on the other hand, fitted up with the most perfect taste in the French style. Every European luxury had been provided. The lattice work, which is always put up across the windows in Turkish houses in order to screen the fair inmates from the rude gaze of outsiders, had been removed and replaced with magnificent silk hangings. All the servants appointed to wait on the King and Queen were Greek and European, except the coachmen, who were French. The meals at the Palace were all served on gold and silver plate studded with gems; a band of eighty-four musicians played during dinner; every morning arrived gorgeous presents from the Sultan, including exquisite flowers and trays laden with fruits and sweets; while, at a clap of the hand, black-coated chibouquejees brought in pipes with amber mouth-pieces of fabulous value, encrusted in diamonds and rubies. There was a complete Turkish bath establishment in the Palace, and the slightest wish expressed by the Royal guests was considered an order.
Almost immediately after the arrival the labour of official functions began, King Edward going to pay a visit to the Sultan at the Palace of Dolma-Baghtche. The next day the Royal party saw the Sultan going to the Selamlik, the brilliant uniforms and the native ladies in their white yashmaks and brilliantly-coloured dresses producing to Mrs. Grey’s eyes the effect of a bright flower-garden. While the pageant was passing, little Prince Izzedin, the Heir-Apparent, visited their Majesties. Nothing could exceed the anxiety of the Sultan to entertain his distinguished visitors in a splendid manner, and he certainly seems to have succeeded.