The Life of King Edward VII with a sketch of the career of King George V

A little before this, on May 9th, the President and Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers entertained the Heir Apparent at a banquet in London and amongst the other guests were the veteran Field Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, the Dukes of Sutherland and Buccleuch, Earl Grey, Lord Salisbury, Sir John Pakington, Sir Edwin Landseer, Sir Richard Owen and many other eminent scientists and leaders of the time. During his speech the Prince paid a tribute to the work of Brunel and Stephenson and, in the latter connection, referred to the great bridge across the St. Lawrence, in Canada, which he had inaugurated in 1860 and to which he gave the credit for an opportunity to visit British America and the United States. On June 11th His Royal Highness had also laid the foundation of the new building of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London. He was received formally by the President, the Earl of Shaftsbury, the Lord Mayor, the Archbishop of York and others and, in the course of his speech, pointed out that the Society had already spent $30,000,000 in the promotion of its objects and in the translation of the Bible into two hundred and eighty different languages and dialects. After referring to the efforts in this cause by his grandfather, the Duke of Kent, the Prince went on to say that "it is my hope and trust that, under Divine guidance, the wider diffusion and deeper study of the Scriptures will, in this as in every age, be at once the surest guarantee of the progress and liberty of the mind and the means of multiplying in the present time the consolations of our holy religion."

The next function shared in was the anniversary gathering of the Clergy Corporation, attended by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Armagh, the Marquess of Salisbury and other dignitaries. In his speech the Prince pointed out that there were ten thousand clergymen in the United Kingdom whose benefices were of less value than $750 a year and urged the usefulness of an institution which distributed $20,000 per annum to orphans and unmarried daughters of clergymen as well as temporary aid to necessitous clergymen themselves. The result of his appeal was a subscription of $6,000 to which he contributed $525 personally. On June 18th he inaugurated a Warehousemen and Clerks' School at Croydon at a gathering presided over by Earl Russell and ten days later visited the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum in the suburbs of London. In August the Prince and Princess of Wales made one of their first public appearances in the County where they had made their country home and where the Prince so well embodied the hearty, healthy life of the English gentleman. During the month, therefore, they paid a visit to Norwich as the principal town of Norfolk and, accompanied by the Queen of Denmark and the Duke of Edinburgh, attended one of Sir Michael Costa's oratorios, opened a Drill-hall, planted memorial trees and in other ways helped to make the occasion memorable to the people of the ancient town.

A visit followed in the autumn to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland, at their splendid Castle of Dunrobin, in the north of Scotland. In driving twenty-five miles from the station to the Castle a most enthusiastic welcome was received along the entire route. In reviewing the Sutherland Volunteers during his stay the Prince expressed a wish that the Corps would wear the kilt as their uniform and this was, of course, done with the greatest pleasure. Shortly after the return from Scotland the Queen of Denmark came again to England and stayed for some time at Sandringham with her daughter. Late in the year (November) the Prince of Wales went to St. Petersburg to attend in an official capacity the marriage of the Princess Dagmar of Denmark--sister of his wife--to the Czarewitch who afterwards became Alexander III. The cold was deemed a sufficiently strong reason for the Princess not to accompany him. In his suite were Lord Frederick Paulet, the Marquess of Blandford, Viscount Hamilton, and Major Teesdale. He was welcomed at the station by the Emperor, the Czarewitch and others of the Imperial family and given splendid quarters at the Hermitage Palace. After the marriage he visited Moscow, accompanied by the Crown Prince of Denmark, went over the historic Kremlin and called on the Metropolitan, the highest dignitary in the Russian Church, who received his Royal visitor in a cell and gave him his blessing after a brief conversation.

The year 1867 was marked by a painful illness of the Princess through acute rheumatism and inflammation of a knee-joint. During the serious period of the illness the Prince devoted himself to the invalid, never leaving her side unless compelled to do so and having his desk brought into the sick-room so that he might carry on his correspondence in her presence. It was not until July that the Princess was able to drive out and during the rest of the year the Royal couple lived very quietly and made as few public appearances as possible. It was in the beginning of this year that Princess Louise, afterwards Duchess of Fife, was born. Some functions had to be performed, however, and they included the presiding at a meeting of the National Lifeboat Institution and at the one hundred and fifty-second anniversary festival of the Welsh Society of Ancient Britons, on March 1st; a visit to the International Exhibition at Paris in May; and the presence of the Prince at the laying of the foundation stone of the Albert Hall, in London, later in the same month. On July 10th His Royal Highness inaugurated the London International College, which had been organized by Mr. Cobden and M. Michel Chevalier, as a branch of an international institution. At the luncheon were the Duc d'Aumale, the Prince de Joinville and the Comte de Paris as well as Professor Huxley and Dr. Leonard Schmitz, the head of the institution. In his speech the Prince pointed out the usefulness of a College which would more or less devote itself to the teaching of modern languages at a time when the interests of varied nationalities were becoming so intermingled.

An interesting event occurred in July when Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, visited England, as his father had done twenty-one years before. At a banquet in the Mansion Home, on July 11th, a distinguished gathering met to do him honour and amongst them were the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar and many men eminent in politics and diplomacy. In his speech the Prince spoke of his personal indebtedness to the late Khedive for kindness received during his own visit to Egypt in 1862 and, also, of the national importance of the facilities given by that country to England in the transit of troops to India. He then referred to the illness of the Princess and to the words in that connection used by the Lord Mayor. "I know I only express her feelings when I say that she has been deeply touched by that universal good feeling and sympathy which has been shown to her during her long and painful illness. Thank God, she has now nearly recovered and I trust that in a month's time she will be able to leave London and enjoy the benefits of fresh air."