Among the guests at Windsor Castle for Ascot week, in addition to King
Leopold, who came to look once more on the old scene, were Prince
Louis of Hesse and his younger brother. In a letter of the Prince
Consort's, written soon afterwards, he alludes to an apparent "liking"
between Prince Louis and Princess Alice.
Sir Arthur Helps, whose subsequent literary relations with the Queen were so friendly, was sworn in Clerk of the Council on the 23rd of June.
The first great volunteer review took place in Hyde Park this summer. The Queen was present, driving with Princess Alice, Prince Arthur, and King Leopold, while the Prince Consort rode. The display of the twenty thousand citizen soldiers, at that time reckoned a large volunteer force, was in every respect satisfactory. As a sequel her Majesty was also present during fine weather, in an exceptionally wet summer, at the first meeting of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon, when the first shot was fired by the Queen, the rifle being so arranged that a touch to the trigger caused the bullseye to be hit, when the shooter scored three points.
At the close of the season the Prince of Wales sailed for Canada, after he had accepted the President of the United States' invitation to visit him at Washington. At the same time another distant colony was to be graced by the presence of royalty; it was settled that Prince Alfred was to land at the Cape of Good Hope. The Queen's sons were to serve her by representing her race and rule in her far distant dominions.
In July the Princess Royal became the medium, in a letter home, of the overtures of the Hesse family for a marriage between Prince Louis and Princess Alice—overtures favourably received by the Queen and the Prince, who were much attracted by the young suitor. Immediately afterwards came the intelligence of the birth of the Princess Royal's second child—a daughter.
The eyes of all Europe began to be directed to Garibaldi as the champion of freedom in Naples and Sicily.
In August the Court went North, staying longer than usual in Edinburgh for the purpose of holding a volunteer review in the Queen's Park, which was even a greater success than that in Hyde Park. The summer day was cloudless; the broken nature of the ground heightened the picturesqueness of the spectacle. There was much greater variety in the dress and accoutrements of the Highland and Lowland regiments, numbering rather more than their English neighbours. The martial bearing of many of the men was remarkable, and the spectators crowding Arthur's Seat from the base to the summit were enthusiastic in their loyalty. The Queen rejoiced to have the Duchess of Kent by her side in the open carriage. The old Duchess had not appeared at any public sight for years, and her presence on this occasion recalled former days. She was not venturing so far as Abergeldie, but was staying at Cramond House, near Edinburgh. Soon after the Queen and the Prince's arrival at Balmoral the news reached them of the death of their aunt, the Duchess of Kent's only surviving sister, the widow of the Grand- Duke Constantine of Russia.
This year the Queen and the Prince, with the Princesses Alice and
Helena, made, in fine weather, a second ascent of Ben Macdhui.
The success of such an excursion led to a longer expedition, which meant a night spent on the way at what was little better than a village inn. Such a step was only possible when entire secrecy, and even a certain amount of disguise, were maintained. Indeed, the little innocent mystery, with all the amusement it brought, was part of the pleasure. The company consisted of the Queen and the Prince, Lady Churchill and General Grey, with two keepers for attendants. Their destination, reached by driving, riding, and walking through the shiel of the Geldie, Glen Geldie, Glen Fishie, &c, was Grantown, where the party spent the night, and were waited on, in all unconsciousness, by a woman in ringlets in the evening and in curl-papers in the morning. But before Grantown was left, when the truth was known, the same benighted chambermaid was seen waving a flag from the window of the dining and drawing-room in one, which had been lately so honoured, while the landlady on the threshold made a vigorous use of her pocket- handkerchief, to the edification and delight of an excited crowd in the street.
The Court returned to Osborne, and on the 22nd of September the Queen, the Prince, and Princess Alice, with the suite, sailed from Gravesend for Antwerp en route for Coburg, where the Princess Royal was to meet them with her husband and the child-prince, whom his grandparents had not yet seen.