This was the first visit of an English Sovereign to France since Henry VI. was crowned in Paris in 1422. The Royal Visitors were received by the Emperor on the landing stage at Boulogne, and conveyed to the Palace of St. Cloud. During their stay in Paris they paid several visits to the Palais des Beaux Arts, a part of the Exposition Universelle in which they were greatly interested.
G. H. Thomas.] [From the Royal Collection.
REVIEW IN THE CHAMPS DE MARS AT PARIS, August 24, 1855.
During their stay in Paris, Her Majesty the Queen and the Prince Consort were present at a grand review of troops held in the Champs de Mars. Especial interest was attached to the spectacle, as at the moment the armies of France and England were fighting side by side in the final struggle in the Crimea. Canrobert, one of the heroes of the war, was present, and was decorated by the Queen with the Order of the Bath. Her Majesty, with the Empress and Princess Mathilde, are sitting together in the balcony, while the Emperor and the Prince Consort are below watching the movements of the long series of battalions.
After repeated attempts to retake the Malakoff, the Russian commander resolved on evacuating the town. Fortunately the wires connected with the magazine in the Malakoff were discovered in time by the French and cut, for arrangements had been made for blowing up all the forts. |Evacuation of Sebastopol.| One after another they went up with terrific din during the night; early on the morning of the 9th the Russians executed a masterly evacuation across a floating bridge, leaving their town in flames and their fleet at the bottom of the harbour. Sebastopol had fallen, but not into the hands of the Allies; it had been erased from the face of the earth.
E. M. Ward, R.A.] [From the Royal Collection.
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN VISITING THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON I. IN THE INVALIDES, PARIS, August 24, 1855.
