Chapter XXXVII: The Royal Marriage

Birth of Princess Beatrice--Death of the Duchess of Gloucester--A Royal Romance--Franco-Russian Intrigues--The Art Treasures Exhibition at Manchester--Announcement of the Marriage of the Princess Royal--Prince Albert’s Views on Royal Grants--The Controversy on the Grant to the Princess Royal--Visit of the Grand Duke Constantine--The Christening of Princess Beatrice--Prince Albert’s Title as Prince Consort Legalised--The First Distribution of the Victoria Cross--Opposition to the Order--The Queen’s Visit to Manchester--Departure of the Prince of Wales to Germany--The Queen and the Indian Mutiny--Her Controversy with Lord Palmerston--Sudden Death of the Duchess of Nemours--The Marriage of the Princess Royal--The Scene in the Chapel--On the Balcony of Buckingham Palace--The Illuminations in London--The Bride and Bridegroom at Windsor--The Last Adieus--The Departure of the Bride and Bridegroom to Germany 738

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Prince of Wales (_From a Photograph by Mr. A. Bassano, London_) _Frontispiece_

The Western Suburbs of Victoria, Vancouver Island 385

St. George’s Chapel, Windsor 388

John Bright (1857) 389

Royal Palace, Naples 392

Lady Palmerston 393

Sir Charles Napier 396

The Battle of Gujerat 397

The British Troops Entering Multan 400

Sir Harry Smith 401

Victoria Castle, Killiney--Bray Head in the distance 404

Royal Visit to Ireland: the Queen Leaving Kingstown 405

Visit of the Queen and Prince Albert to the Linen Hall, Belfast 409

Castleton of Braemar 412

At Balmoral: a Morning Call 413

The Royal Barge 416

Opening of the London Coal Exchange--Arrival of the Royal Procession at the Custom-House Quay 417

The Chamber of Representatives, Brussels 420

Louis Kossuth (1850) 421

The White Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 424

The Piræus, Athens 425

Grand Entrance, Westminster Palace 429

Mr. (afterwards Sir Alexander) Cockburn 432

Cape Town 433

Mr. Gladstone (1855) 436

Windsor Castle: View from the Quadrangle 437

View in Phœnix Park, Dublin 440

Mr. Horsman 441

The Funeral of Sir Robert Peel: the Tenantry Assembling at the Lodge, Drayton Manor 444

The Funeral of Sir Robert Peel: the Ceremony in Drayton Bassett Church 445

Meeting of the Ladies’ Committee at Stafford House in Aid of the Great Exhibition 449

Cambridge House, Piccadilly (1854) 452

The Queen and Prince Arthur (_After Winterhalter_, 1850) _To face_ 452

Pate’s Assault on the Queen 453

Lord John Russell (1850) 456

The Royal Apartments, Holyrood Palace 461

St. Stephen’s Crypt, Westminster Palace 464

Mr. Locke King 465

The Green Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 468

Sir George Cornewall Lewis 469

The Caffre War: Natives Attacking a Convoy 472

Group of Dyaks 473

Lord Carlisle 476

The Great Exhibition, Hyde Park 477

Sir Joseph Paxton 481

Opening of the Great Exhibition, Hyde Park (_After the Picture by Eugène Lamé_) _To face_ 482

St. George’s Hall, Liverpool 484

The Royal Visit to Worsley Hall: the State Barge on the Bridgwater Canal 485

The Queen’s Arrival in Peel Park: Children of the Manchester and Salford Schools Singing the National Anthem 489

The Coup d’État: Lancers Charging the Crowd in the Boulevards of Paris 492

Prince Charles Louis Napoleon 493

Diana Fountain, Bushey Park 496

Harnessing the Black Horses at the Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace (_After the Painting by Charles Lutyens. In the Possession of the Earl of Bradford_) 497

Sidney Herbert (_After the Statue by Foley_) 500

St. Albans, from Verulam 501

View near Rangoon 504

Major Fraser’s Storming Party Carrying the Stockade in Front of Rangoon 505

Walmer Castle 508

The Duke of Wellington (_After the Portrait by Count D’Orsay_) 509

The Wellington Monument in St. Paul’s Cathedral, completed in 1878 (_By Alfred Stevens_) 513

North Terrace and Wykeham Tower, Windsor Castle 516

The Duke of Argyle 517

View in Braemar 520

The Queen’s Visit to the Britannia Tubular Bridge 521

Queen Victoria (_After the Equestrian Portrait by Count D’Orsay_) _To face_ 521

Notre Dame, Paris (West Front) 524

Comte de Montalembert 525

Mdlle. Eugenia de Montijo, afterwards Empress of the French 529

Prince Jeróme Bonaparte 532

Sketch in the Outer Cloisters, Windsor Castle 533

The Conveying of Australian Gold from the East India Docks to the Bank of England (_After the Engraving in the “Illustrated London News”_) 537

Study of a Child (_After an Etching by the Queen_) 539

Off the Coast of Asia Minor (Turkey in Asia) 540

Bazaar in Constantinople 541

Convent of the Nativity, Bethlehem 544

Interior of the Chapel of the Nativity, Bethlehem 545

The Nicolai Bridge across the Neva, St. Petersburg 548

Lord Stratford de Redcliffe (_From a Photograph by Messrs. Boning and Small_) 549

Town Hall, Vienna 552

Prince Menschikoff 553

The Mosque of Selim II. at Adrianople 557

The Duke of Newcastle 560

Destruction of the Turkish Fleet at Sinope 561

The Throne Room, Windsor Castle 564

Sebastopol 565

Fire in the Prince of Wales’s Tower, Windsor Castle 568

The Queen at the Camp at Chobham _To face_ 568

Runnymede 569

Spithead 572

Balmoral Castle from the Road 573

The Outer Cloisters and Anne Boleyn’s Window, Windsor Castle 577

Russian Repulse at Silistria 580

Lord Raglan 581

The Queen Waving Farewell to the _Duke of Wellington_ Flag-ship 585

Marshal St. Arnaud 588

Forts Alexander and Peter the Great, Cronstadt 589

Omar Pasha 592

Map of the Crimea 593

The Barracks Hospital, Scutari 596

Odessa 597

Heights of the Alma 600

Sir John Burgoyne 601

Pembroke Lodge, Richmond 604

Codrington’s Brigade (23rd Royal Welsh Fusileers) at the Alma 605

General Canrobert 608

Entrance to Balaclava Harbour 609

Sir Colin Campbell 612

Balaclava--“The Thin Red Line” (_After the Painting by Robert Gibb, R.S.A. In the Possession of Archibald Ramsden, Esq., Leeds_) 613

Valley of Inkermann 616

The Storm off Balaclava 617

Mr. Roebuck (1858) 620

Buckingham Palace, from St. James’s Park 621

Miss Nightingale and the Nurses in the Barracks Hospital at Scutari 625

Henry VIII.’s Gateway, Windsor Castle 628

Refreshment Room, House of Lords 629

Mr. Sidney Herbert (afterwards Lord Herbert of Lea) 632

The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg 633

Grand Reception Room, Windsor Castle 636

The Hundred Steps, Windsor Castle 637

View in the Crimea: The Palace Woronzow, Alupka 641

The Wounded Soldier’s Toast--“The Queen!” 645

The Queen Distributing the Crimean Medal at the Horseguards Parade Ground _To face_ 647

Windsor Castle from the Brocas 648

The Queen Investing the Emperor of the French with the Order of the Garter 649

The Waterloo Room, Windsor Castle 652

The Royal and Imperial Visit to the Crystal Palace: the Procession down the Nave 653

The Queen at the Fête in the Forest of St. Germain 657

Map of Crathie and Braemar 660

The Wooing of the Princess Royal 664

Count Cavour 665

Balaclava: at Peace (_From a Drawing made Twenty-five Years after the Crimean War_) 668

Cathcart’s Hill, Crimea 669

French Attack on the Malakoff 672

General Todleben 673

The Throne Room, St James’s Palace (_From a Photograph by H. N. King_) 677

View in the Crimea: Jalta 680

Miss Nightingale 681

The Emperor of Austria 684

The Conference of Paris, 1856 685

Visit of the Queen and Prince Albert to the _Resolute_ 689

Portsmouth 692

Sir De Lacy Evans 693

View in Berne 697

Old Windsor Lock (_From a Photograph by Taunt and Co., Oxford_) 701

Sir John Bowring 705

Chinese Lorchas in the Canton River 709

The Cascade: Virginia Water 712

Plan of Windsor Castle 713

The Duke of Cambridge (_From a Photograph by Bassano_) 717

The Barracks at Meerut 721

Sir James Outram 725

Cawnpore 729

Lord Lawrence 733

Scene at the First Relief of Lucknow 736

The Hastings Chantry, St George’s Chapel, Windsor 741

The Victoria Cross 744

The Queen Distributing the Victoria Crosses in Hyde Park 745

The Crimson Drawing-Room, Windsor Castle 749

Marriage of the Princess Royal (_After the Picture by John Philip, R.A._) _To face_ 751