THE ROYAL PROCESSION—THE QUEEN’S RETURN TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE
On Wednesday, 23rd June, Her Majesty, none the worse for the fatigue of that never-to-be-forgotten day, received the Lord Chancellor and the Peers, the Speaker and the Members of the House of Commons, at Buckingham Palace, where they presented loyal and dutiful addresses. Subsequently the Queen journeyed to Windsor, and on her way received 10,000 school children in St. James’s Park. At night the streets and buildings were again illuminated, and by Royal Command a gala performance was given at the Opera House, Covent Garden, attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the foreign Princes and Princesses, and all the special Envoys.
There were yet other interesting events to be crowded into these times of national rejoicing. On the following day, the 24th, 300,000 of the poorest in London were fed; and the Princess of Wales, accompanied by the Prince and two of her daughters, visited many of the dining-halls, drank to the health of the old people, and spoke kindly words.
If the Tuesday of the week of Diamond Jubilee, with its gorgeous pageant through the streets of London, gave proof of military power and Imperial greatness, the Naval Review on the Saturday, when the Prince of Wales, on behalf of the Queen, passed down lines of battleships moored a length of 25 miles, afforded significant evidence of unparalleled naval strength. In the quiet waters of the Solent rode at anchor these maritime leviathans in five columns, each nearly five miles long, every battleship decorated with brilliant bunting and manned by England’s Blue-jackets,—ironclads, torpedo vessels, cruisers, gunboats, and torpedo-boat destroyers, sea-engines of destruction of every kind were there, and yet that immense collection of British war-vessels formed but a portion of the Queen’s Navy scattered over the waters of the globe. Foreign nations sent a brave array of battleships in honour of the occasion, thousands of spectators crowded steamers in the waterway between the southern coast and the Isle of Wight, while the shores were black with sightseers.
THE QUEEN PLANTING A TREE AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE ON THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HER ACCESSION, 29TH JUNE 1897
Copyright by J. Thompson
A LATE PORTRAIT OF HER MAJESTY, 1897
At about two o’clock in the afternoon the Prince of Wales, wearing the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet, accompanied by his brother, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and his son, the Duke of York, passed out of Portsmouth Harbour on the Royal yacht, Victoria and Albert. At the same moment the signal was given to “man ship” and fire a Royal salute. The first to obey the order is the flagship Renown, carrying the pennant of Fleet-Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, in supreme command; then follow in turn all the guns of that mighty fleet, until the booming of ordnance sounds like the roaring of many thunders. Ships bearing foreign Princes, Colonial Premiers, and Ambassadors proceed in the wake of the Royal yacht, which, as it passes each vessel of the Fleet, is cheered by officers and men, hat in hand. When the Prince of Wales had completed his inspection of those unbroken lines, one mighty and overpowering Hurrah! is given by all on a signal from the Renown. Although later in the day a tropical thunderstorm broke over that “Nineteenth-Century Armada,” and the weather continued unpropitious, at night every ship was outlined with incandescent lamps, the shape of each man-o’-war being plainly shown by the electric glow. As the Royal yacht slowly passed to her anchorage, half-way down the line of battleships, the sun blinked with a golden glitter, and the breeze from the west stretched every pennant and flag. The play of colour was like that of an old English garden in the first blush of summer, of the African veldt after rain, or the swaying rainbow sheen of the flower-strewn grasses and uplands of Australia. Then came once more that strangely joyous clapping of hands or the guns from the phanto-ships in unison with hearts beating with gratified loyalty on the long line of vessels on the outer verge. The Prince of Wales held a reception on board the Victoria and Albert of all the flag officers of the fleet and the officers representing the foreign fleets. While this function was going on, the Dunera weighed anchor to make around the fleet. The sun shone with brilliancy, and the dancing pale green waves mocked the happy hearts of a proud people. At no period of the long day did the magnificent lines of the vessels stand out with such vivid and coloured brilliancy. The low mainland, dressed in its nearest front with shapely woods, formed a nice background to the sun-glinted funnels and hulls of the ships.