“I have a horror of gambling, and should always do my utmost to discourage others who have an inclination for it, as I consider that gambling, like intemperance, is one of the greatest curses which a country could be afflicted with.
“Horse-racing may produce gambling or it may not, but I have always looked upon it as a manly sport which is popular with Englishmen of all classes, and there is no reason why it should be looked upon as a gambling transaction. Alas! those who gamble will gamble at anything. I have written quite openly to you, my dear Archbishop, whom I have had the advantage of knowing for so many years.
“Thanking you again for your kind letter, and trusting that you will benefit by your holiday, believe me, sincerely yours,
“Albert Edward.”
The King became a grandfather for the first time this spring, for on 17th May the Duchess of Fife gave birth to a daughter at East Sheen Lodge. The question was immediately raised whether the infant should take Royal rank as a Princess of the Blood. When Sir William Beechey painted his portrait of Princess Victoria, the distance between the Duke of Kent’s little daughter and the throne was as great as, or even greater than, that of the little daughter of Princess Louise at her birth. It was ultimately settled, in accordance with the wishes, it was understood, of both King Edward and the Duke of Fife, that the infant should simply take the rank and precedence of a Duke’s daughter, and be called Lady Alexandra Duff.
The child was christened on 29th June in the Chapel-Royal, St. James’s. Queen Victoria came to London to act as sponsor to her great-granddaughter, and King Edward and Queen Alexandra were joint sponsors for their grandchild. The Archbishop of Canterbury administered the rite of baptism. Queen Alexandra took the child from the nurse and placed her in the arms of Queen Victoria, who gave the names of Alexandra Victoria Alberta Edwina Louise.
This autumn the King celebrated his fiftieth birthday, and it was computed that in his half-century of existence His Majesty must have been prayed for aloud in Anglican churches alone at least a hundred million times. On this occasion the theatrical managers of London presented a magnificent gold cigar-box, weighing 100 ounces, to His Majesty.
The month of December has been one of peculiar ill-omen to the Royal Family, and it seemed as if December 1891 was to prove no exception. For Queen Alexandra and her daughters, who had been to Livadia on a visit to the Tsar, were recalled by the illness of Prince George, and the King and Queen went through some days of terrible anxiety. As soon as Prince George was declared to be suffering from enteric fever he was removed from Sandringham to London, and it was there that he was nursed. The illness evoked a remarkable degree of public sympathy, though perhaps the serious nature of the Prince’s condition was hardly realised till all danger was practically over.