From a Photograph] [by Argent Archer, Kensington.
THE QUEEN’S VISIT TO HER BIRTHPLACE: THE SCENE OUTSIDE ST. MARY’S CHURCH, KENSINGTON.
In the carriage with Her Majesty are the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Serge of Russia and Princess Henry of Battenberg. On the pavement stands the Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne, with a bouquet in her hands; the Marquis stands on her left. Opposite the carriage door is Miss Beatrice Leete, daughter of the Vestry Clerk, from whom the Queen graciously accepted a magnificent basket of carnations.
[CHAPTER IV.]
The Queen’s Visit to Kensington—Garden Party at Buckingham Palace—Review at Aldershot—Gift of a Battleship—The Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund—The Jubilee Medals—Conclusion.
ON the Monday after the Review the Queen returned from Windsor to the Metropolis. She was received everywhere with enthusiastic greetings of loyalty and affection. It was no mere conventional reception this. The Nation had realised lately, as never before, the part their Queen had played in the building of the Empire, and one and all flocked out to do her honour. Her Majesty had returned to London to attend the garden party which was to be held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace in the afternoon. On her way from Paddington Station she visited Kensington, the place of her birth.
In front of St. Mary Abbott’s Church, Kensington High Street, the Queen stopped and received a splendid bouquet of roses at the hands of the Princess Louise. |The Queen’s Visit to Kensington.| Then the Marquis of Lorne presented the Chairman of the Vestry, who handed Her Majesty a loyal address, in which Kensington recalled with pride its long and many Royal associations. The Queen’s reply was characteristic and particularly interesting in view of recent events:—
“I thank you for your loyal and kind address. It gives me great pleasure to receive the assurance of devotion and goodwill from the inhabitants of Kensington, and I gladly renew my associations with a place which, as the scene of my birth and of my summons to the throne, has ever had, and will ever have, with me solemn and tender recollections.” The Queen then drove on to the Palace, 10,000 school children singing the National Anthem as she passed through Kensington Gardens.