The Life of King Edward VII Part 11

CHAPTER XII.

The Prince as a Social Leader

The influence wielded upon Society by the Prince of Wales, during nearly forty years of public life, was so marked and important as to merit extended consideration. Society, of course, in such a connection includes much more than any particular set of persons however select, or distinguished, or aristocratic; it means, in fact, all the varied social circles, high and low, which have recognized principles of etiquette and intercourse and common customs of amus.e.m.e.nt and fas.h.i.+on. Taken in this wide sense of the word, no personage in the history of Europe during the nineteenth century wielded so great an influence as His Royal Highness.

He helped to make the unbounded after-dinner drinking of a previous period unpopular and socially un-orthodox; he encouraged in his more youthful days and always enjoyed the pleasures of dancing; he introduced very largely the popular fas.h.i.+on of a cigarette after dinner in place of endless heavy cigars and their accompaniment of liquors; he did much to encourage and popularize a love for music; he led the fas.h.i.+on in the matter of men's dress and, upon the whole, society in most civilized countries has to thank him for simple and dignified customs in this respect; he supported the race-course with courage and persistence and not only made racing more popular but helped to establish its code and operation upon a high plane of honour--by far the highest and cleanest in the world; he made charity and the support of its varied public inst.i.tutions popular and fas.h.i.+onable; he showed the gilded youth of a great social world that work was a good thing for a Prince and a peer as well as for a peasant; he, with his beautiful wife, presented for many years a model home and family life to the nation and they, together, discouraged many of the petty vices and small faults which creep into all social systems from time to time.

LIFE AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE

The official and social centre of this leaders.h.i.+p in the British world was at Marlborough House--a large and unpretentious residence in the heart of London. That the place was exquisitely furnished and equipped goes without saying; that it was comfortable in the extreme is equally a matter of course to those acquainted with the taste and house-keeping capacities of the Princess of Wales. It was filled with fine engravings and paintings ill.u.s.trative of the Victorian era; it teemed with mementoes and memorials of past incidents, travels and friends.h.i.+ps in the lives of the Royal couple; it contained rooms suited for every purpose required in the exacting life and multifarious public duties of its occupants. The Prince's study, where only intimates were admitted, has been described as the room of a hard-working man of business. When at Marlborough House, His Royal Highness used to mark out his time, each day, with care and precision and even then it was difficult to fill his many and varied engagements. There were certain public functions such as the Horse Show at Islington, or the Royal Military Tournament, to which the Prince and Princess always went when in London. There were a certain number of state dinners given in place of those which, under other circ.u.mstances, would have been given by the Sovereign. Diplomatic dinners were also incidents of the season at Marlborough House as well as dinners which included the Government and Opposition leaders and great banquets held from time to time in honour of foreign guests of the nation or Royal relations visiting the country.

The dining-room at Marlborough was handsome but plain, the arrangements of the table setting an example of simplicity which society, in this case, did not always follow. The Prince of Wales never concealed his dislike for the extremely lengthy banquets which were the custom in his youth and succeeded, so far as private dinner-parties were concerned, in revolutionizing the system. To the favoured guest Marlborough House was a scene of historic as well as personal interest. It had been the home of the great Duke of that name; the residence of Prince Leopold, intended husband of the lamented Princess Charlotte, and afterwards King of the Belgians; the dower-house of Queen Adelaide; the choice of the Prince Consort for his son's London home. The general contents of the house were worthy of its history. In one room were splendid panels of Gobelin tapestry presented by Napoleon; in another were the rare and wonderful treasures of Indian work, in gold, silver, jewelry and embroidery, brought home from the Royal visit to Hindostan; elsewhere was a beautiful vase given the Prince by Alexander II. of Russia, enamelled work from the East, richly ornamented swords, trays of solid gold, tables full of presentation keys, medals, trowels and memorials of all kinds.

Socially, the drawing-room was the central feature of interest. Its general effect has been described[6] as being white and gold and pale pink, its floor of polished oak with an Axminster carpet in the centre, and with an appearance of vastness modified by pillars of white and gold. There were innumerable mirrors and the furniture was upholstered in deep red, while rare china, flowers, photographs, statuettes, and small ornaments of gold and silver and enamel were scattered in profusion upon tables, cabinets and mantels. Here the most eminent men and beautiful or clever women of Great Britain and the world have been entertained and here, or in the well-kept grounds, the intimate friends of the Prince and Princess have gathered from time to time.

The society received at Marlborough was always cosmopolitan in its variety but it was never of the kind which slander sometimes insinuated.

No man has ever been more democratic, so far as mere cla.s.s barriers are concerned, than was the Prince of Wales, but no one knew better than he where to draw the line in his entertainments. The Princess, for her part, was at all times a model hostess, and each knew too well what was due to the other to make the social life of the Palace anything more than a correct embodiment and representation of the social life of London. The liberality of the Prince was made evident in later years in making cultivated and representative Americans or Jews welcome at his functions. His very proper and openly-avowed liking for beautiful women encouraged at one time a social cla.s.s of "professional beauties," but as soon as this patronage was found to have been misused and vulgarized in certain quarters, he and the Princess quietly dropped those who were making a trade of the Royal recognition. A story has been told ill.u.s.trating the capacity which the Prince of Wales always showed for keeping people in their proper places. On one occasion, at a great charitable bazaar in Albert Hall, which he had honoured with his presence, he went up to a refreshment stall and asked for a cup of tea.

The fair vendor--there was no doubt of her beauty--before handing the cup to His Royal Highness took a drink from it, saying, "_now_ the price will be five guineas!" The Prince gravely paid the money, handed back the cup of tea and said, "Will you please give me a clean cup?"

The Royal etiquette, as to social entertainments and the acceptance of invitations to country houses, or city functions, was always very exact and was carried out along lines fixed by the Prince and Princess in their early married life. Outside of the aristocracy, or a small list of personal friends, very few hospitable invitations were ever accepted and as such acceptance meant certain admission to the higher ranks of society the pressure upon personal friends or officials can easily be imagined. The Prince always objected to the lavish and extravagant style of such entertainments and this was one important reason for limiting his circle of hosts and hostesses. At the country houses visited from time to time, or at the private dinners to which he accepted invitations, the Prince was supposed to usually see a list of the guests and to always have the right of adding names to it. The delicate and indirect task of attending to this matter was for many years confided to Mr. Harry Tyrwhitt Wilson; who also had the arrangement of details in connection with the visits largely in his hands. One incident of the visits to country houses was an effort on the part of the Prince in recent years to discourage and check the wholesale habit of tipping servants. He took the method of leaving a moderate and suitable sum for the purpose and this was distributed after he had left the place. It may be added that whenever the Prince went anywhere he was always accompanied by an equerry, his own valets, a footman to wait on him at meals, and certain other servants.

FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS OF THE PRINCE

The Prince and Princess of Wales, separately or together as the case may be, have visited most of the splendid homes of England. Chief amongst those whom they delighted to visit were the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Devons.h.i.+re and Chatsworth; Hardwick Hall and Compton Place have, therefore, more than once seen most brilliant entertainments in their honour. Lord and Lady Cadogan were frequent and favourite hosts. Lord and Lady Londonderry, the Earl and Countess of Warwick, the Duke of Richmond at Goodwood House, the late Duke of Westminster at Eaton Hall, all entertained the Royal couple upon more than one occasion. Lord Alington, the late Duke of Beaufort, and Sir Edward Lawson gave the Prince frequent and enjoyable shooting. The d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough and Mrs. Arthur Paget were two American ladies whom His Royal Highness counted as friends and hostesses. Several members of the Rothschild family entertained the Heir Apparent at homes which have been described as models of comfort and museums of art, while Lord Penrhyn was a Welsh magnate whom he once visited with great pleasure, and the late Baron Hirsch, in his Hungarian shootings, gave him splendid sport upon more than one occasion.

No phrase has been more conspicuous in recent years and none have been more abused in meaning and application than that of "the Prince's set."

Properly used, it meant his personal friends or those who, along specific and often very diverse lines of sport, society, work, or travel, were necessarily intimate with His Royal Highness. Improperly applied, it was supposed to designate a rather fast and very "smart" set of wealthy social magnates. In this latter guise it had really no existence. Those who were familiar with the Prince of Wales' career and character knew that mere wealth was the last thing which ever attracted him, and the one thing which was a most certainly uncertain basis upon which to gain his patronage; to say nothing of his friends.h.i.+p. Many disappointed millionaires can speak with accuracy upon this point--if they wished to. On the other hand, honest love of racing, or shooting, or yachting; brilliancy of conversation in man or woman and conspicuous beauty or charm of manner in the latter; knowledge of the world and capacity to do the right thing in the right way at the right time were conspicuous factors in obtaining the friends.h.i.+p of the Prince of Wales.

Achievements in art, or distinction in the Army and Navy, or great philanthropic interests and undertakings, were always elements of recognized importance.

Deer-stalking in the Highlands made friends and hosts such as the late Dukes of Sutherland and Hamilton, Mr. Farquharson of Invercauld and Lord Glenesk. During his annual visits to Homburg, for many years, and in the rest and liberty which he allowed himself there, the Prince's favourite companion, as he was his most devoted friend, was the late Mr.

Christopher Sykes. Lord Brampton--the clever, witty and eccentric Judge who was better known as Sir Henry Hawkins--the Right Hon. "Jimmy"

Lowther, M.P., Lord Charles and Lord William Beresford, and Sir Allen Young were also special friends of the holiday season. Admiral Sir Henry Keppel was a very old friend of the Prince and his family and this intimacy also included Mr. and Mrs. George Keppel. Lord Rosebery, Lord Beaconsfield, Lord Randolph Churchill and the late Lord Derby could all claim the Royal friends.h.i.+p, while Lord and Lady Farquhar were delightful and favourite hosts of both the Prince and his wife. Colonel Oliver Montagu was a very old and dear friend, and the Earl of Aylesford, Lord Cadogan, General Lord Wantage, Colonel Owen Williams, Earl Carrington, Lord and Lady Dudley and Lord Russell of Killowen ranked in the category of friends.h.i.+p. Lord and Lady Alington had the rare distinction of giving dances to which the Princess of Wales used to take her daughters when they were young girls.

Amongst hostesses other than those already mentioned whose entertainments the Prince liked to attend were Mrs. Bischoffstein and Mrs. Arthur Rothschild. Other personal friends were the late Earl of Lathom, the bright and witty Marchioness of Aylesbury, Lord James of Hereford and the late Sir Charles Hall. Amongst artists whom the Prince greatly favoured were Sir Charles and Lady Halle and the late Lord Leighton. No closer and more devoted friends of the Prince could be found than the members of his own Household, and the public was long aware of this in the persons of Lord Suffield, Sir Francis Knollys and Sir Dighton Probyn, in particular. The Prince delighted in doing honour to those whom he accepted as friends. He marked his sorrow at the deaths of Colonel Oliver Montagu and Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild by personally attending their funerals--an exception to the rule which he had set himself in this connection.

His Royal Highness frequently gave his powerful patronage to the promotion of Memorials to those who had been honoured by his friends.h.i.+p and who deserved honour upon national grounds. An early instance of this was the case of Dean Stanley. A later one, on July 13, 1900, was the gathering called at Marlborough House and presided over by the Prince for the purpose of erecting a national memorial in Westminster Abbey to the Duke of Westminster. In speaking, His Royal Highness said: "To me personally the death of the Duke meant the loss of a life-long friend. I had known him from his boyhood and there is no one whose friends.h.i.+p I appreciated more than his. In my judgment there is no one whose public services more fully deserve public recognition by his countrymen."

Fidelity to friends and appreciation of manly qualities and special abilities were always characteristic of the Prince of Wales and, combined with his tact and the unusual qualifications of the Princess as a hostess, made Marlborough and Sandringham, in different ways, the most ideal centres of social entertainment. Taken as a whole, the Prince's leaders.h.i.+p of society was emphatically for good. His approval and patronage of the opera or the theatre, the race-course or the shooting-box, may not have been agreeable to some people, but they represented the popular opinion of the great majority. He took things as they were, enjoyed them in a full-hearted and honest way, improved the _morale_ of the social system and the practices in vogue in many directions and left Society infinitely better and more honest than he had found it.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] _Private Life of King Edward VII._ By a member of the Royal Household. D. Appleton & Co. N. Y.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Prince as a Sportsman

In his devotion to the "sport of kings" the Prince of Wales followed the excellent example of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth, Charles I, Charles II, William of Orange, Queen Anne, the Duke of c.u.mberland, George IV, and William IV. He represented in this respect an inherent and seemingly natural liking of the English people. With them the manly art of war, the physical excitements of chivalry, and tests of endurance in civil and foreign struggles, have been replaced by the games and sports of a quieter and more peaceful period. Riding to hounds, steeple-chasing and the amateur or professional race-course represent a most popular as well as aristocratic phase of this development. The Prince of Wales, early in his life, took a liking to racing in all its forms and encouraged steeple-chasing at a time when it was neither fas.h.i.+onable nor popular.

He became a member of the Jockey Club in 1868. It was not, however, until 1877 that his afterwards famous colours of purple, gold band, scarlet sleeves and black velvet cap with gold fringe, were carried at Newmarket in the presence of the Princess and before a great and fas.h.i.+onable gathering. Five years later His Royal Highness won the Household Brigade Cup at Sandown and thenceforward his interest in the sport was keen, although it was not till some years afterwards that he established his own racing-stable which, in 1890, was placed under the efficient management of Lord Marcus Beresford.

During these years the Prince lost a good deal of money, though the amount was never known or even truthfully guessed at, but in 1889 his horses began also to win. In that year he won 204, in 1891 4148, in 1894 3499, and in the next four years a total of 57,430. In 1892 a Royal stud was founded at Sandringham and there _Persimmon_ and _Diamond Jubilee_ were bred. The Derby of 1896 was perhaps, the most historic of English racing events. Attended by a crowd of three hundred thousand people, raced in with horses owned by such generous patrons of the turf as the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Westminister and Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, watched with unusual interest by the crowd, it resulted in the most popular victory in the history of English sport. The Prince had fought hard for this blue ribbon of the turf, he had faced defeat and discouragement again and again and it was known that he would prize success more than anything within the limits of his ambition. When, therefore, _Persimmon_ carried his colours to the first victory won at Epsom by a Prince of Wales in a hundred years, the delight of the Royal owner was evident. The great gathering of people cheered as if each person present had himself won the race and their obvious enthusiasm was an expression of personal liking as well as loyalty. This was a great year for the Prince whose horses not only won the Derby, the St. Leger and the 10,000 Jockey Club Stakes but also the Newmarket Stakes. In 1897 _Persimmon_ won the Ascot Cup and the Eclipse Stakes (worth together 12,700) and was then retired from the turf. Trained by Richard Marsh and ridden by John Watts, this horse had given his Royal owner not only financial success but--what he valued infinitely more--great victories in a sport which he loved.

From that time on the Prince continued to be lucky with his horses. At the Derby of 1900 _Diamond Jubilee_ won in exactly the same time as the Royal horse of 1896 had done. At this race, on May 30th, the Prince was accompanied by a large number of n.o.blemen and ladies and gentlemen interested in racing. The Duke of Devons.h.i.+re, Lord Rothschild, Lord Cheylesmore, the Marquess of Londonderry, the Duke of Portland, Lord Farquhar, the Earl of Chesterfield, the Earl and Countess of Crewe, the Earl and Countess Carrington, and others, came from London in the Royal special train. In the Royal box at the races were the King of Sweden, the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Connaught, the Princess Victoria, the Duke of Cambridge and other royalties. The success of the Prince's horse in two minutes, forty-two seconds, was received with tremendous applause and with general congratulation in a large section of the press while, in the same year, the Royal colours were also carried to victory at the Grand National and the Two Thousand Guineas. The whole record was a unique one; the time at the Derby was the fastest in the history of the course; the winner of 1900 was a brother to the winner in 1896; and those who lost money appeared to be as glad that the popular Prince should win as if they had themselves backed his horse.

RACING FRIENDS AND YACHTING EXPERIENCES

The part taken by His Royal Highness in sporting matters naturally resulted in many friends.h.i.+ps built around a mutual love of racing, of riding, and of the horse. Conspicuous amongst the good sportsmen who were also good friends of the Prince were the names of the Duke of Portland, Sir George Wombwell, Sir Reuben Sa.s.soon, the Rothschilds, the late Lord Sefton, Mr. Henry Chaplin, the Earl of Zetland and Sir Frederick Johnstone. Sir John Astley, Lord and Lady Claude Hamilton, Mr.

and Mrs. Arthur James, Sir Edward Lawson, Sir Edward Hulse, Lord and Lady Gerard, the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, Sir William Russell and Lady Dorothy Neville may be mentioned amongst other devotees of the turf who ranked in later years as friends of the Prince of Wales in this particular social "set." In this connection the annual Derby Day dinner must be mentioned. From 1887 to the time of the Prince's accession this Royal banquet to the members of the Jockey Club was an important inst.i.tution and a much looked-for event in racing circles. Latterly it was the chief regular entertainment of the year at Marlborough House.

The function was elaborate yet not too formal. Evening dress and not uniform was the custom; the guests included about fifty of the leading patrons of the turf and there were generally half-a-dozen of the Royal family present; the great silver dinner service ordered by the Prince at his marriage was always used; and the dining-room with its side-boards laden with gold and silver trophies of the race-course and attendants in scarlet, blue and gold, was a brilliant sight. Dinner did not usually last more than an hour and then the guests adjourned to the drawing-room for whist. In 1896 and 1900 the toast of the Derby winner, which had so often been proposed by the Royal host, had to be given to some one else--greatly to the enthusiasm of the guests.

The Prince of Wales was always a fearless rider and was fond of it from childhood. As an undergraduate at Christ-Church he constantly hunted with Lord Macclesfield's pack and was then considered a hard rider; but in after years his riding was mainly done in connection with military and other functions and for exercise, in a milder way than that of following the hounds. Akin, in some respects to the sport of racing, is that of yachting and to this the Prince of Wales was almost equally devoted. Naturally fond of the sea, trained in ocean travel in days when it was no pleasant drawing-room experience to cross the Atlantic, familiar with every part of a yacht and detail of its management, it was only fitting that the Heir to the throne of the seas should be an accomplished yachtsman. His first racing-yacht was the _Aline_ and his next one, the _Britannia_, was for a time the most successful of large racing-yachts. Many splendid cups and pieces of plate graced the buffets of Sandringham and Marlborough and marked the victories of the Prince; though any prize moneys won in this way were always handed over to his Captain and crew as an addition to their already handsome pay.

His Royal Highness was a capital sailor. In returning from his Canadian and American tour in 1860 his s.h.i.+p was driven out of its course by a severe storm and so much alarm was caused by the delay that a British fleet was sent out to search for it; but, different as were the conditions of travel in those days, the Prince was not found to be any the worse for his stormy experience. In after years when cruising along the coasts of Europe, or traversing the Pacific and Indian oceans, he met with many a storm and severe strain, so far as weather was concerned, without effect. It is said, however, that he was troubled somewhat by rough weather in the English Channel. As Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron his patronage did very much in making the sport popular and fas.h.i.+onable and in creating the Cowes Regatta as a great yachting function. To this Royal Yacht Club every consideration in the way of prizes was given and the Queen, the Prince, the Emperor William of Germany, and Napoleon III. of France, offered prizes or trophies, from time to time. As Commodore--which office he accepted in 1882--His Royal Highness had as predecessors the Earl of Yarborough, the Marquess of Donegal and the Earl of Wilton. The Vice-Commodore for many years was the Marquess of Ormonde.

THE NAVY AND LOVE OF SHOOTING

On July 18th, 1887, the position of the Heir Apparent was recognized and the Navy complimented through his appointment by the Queen as Honorary Admiral of the Fleet. Some criticism was expressed in a portion of the Radical press mainly, it was stated, through ignorance of the Prince's real qualifications as both a seaman and yachtsman. Upon his accession to the Throne no single action was more popular than King Edward's retention of this latter t.i.tle and the interest which he continued to show in the Navy. His Majesty took as great interest in Sir Thomas Lipton's efforts to win the America Cup as he had in the previous attempts of Lord Dunraven. Sir Thomas was, apparently, a congenial spirit in this connection and from both Prince and King he received a good deal of favour. It was while cruising with him on board _Shamrock II._, off Southampton, (May 22, 1901) that a heavy wind unexpectedly strained the spars and gear too much and brought down the top-mast and mainmast in a sudden wreck which crashed over the side of the frail yacht. The danger to the King was very great and a difference of ten seconds in his position would probably have given fatal results. The visit to the yacht was, of course, a private one, but such an incident as this made the affair very widely commented upon. The London _Daily Express_ of the succeeding day embodied a good deal of public opinion in the following remarks:

"King though he be, he is resolute to live the frank and free life of an English gentleman, taking the chances of sport by land and sea as gaily as any undistinguished son of the people, whose life is of no smallest national import. That is the sort of King we want, the sort of King we will die for if need be--a King who holds his own in every manly exercise, loving sport all the more because it contains the element of danger that possesses such a subtle attraction for men of Anglo-Saxon blood."

Shooting was probably the favourite all-round sport of the Prince of Wales and in this he heartily embodied one more characteristic of the typical English gentleman. It has been described as a positive pa.s.sion with him and as being "the love of his life." His father had been a thorough sportsman, though not a very good shot; the son became not only a thorough sportsman but perhaps the best shot in the United Kingdom. At seven years of age he was taught deer-stalking, at Oxford he frequently did a day's shooting on neighbouring estates, and, in his American and Canadian tour, a great pleasure to the young man was an occasional day's sport. At Sandringham he early mapped out his estate into a series of drives and soon combined with other famous shots to create and make popular the big _battues_ which were afterwards so well known and which came to const.i.tute so important an event in the shooting seasons at his Norfolk home. But His Royal Highness never confined himself to shooting pheasants, hares, or rabbits. Deer-stalking and shooting grouse were favourite pursuits, and he knew no greater pleasure than to spend a day, or days, upon the moors, accompanied by friends and hosts such as the late Duke of Sutherland, his son-in-law, the Duke of Fife, Mr. Mackenzie of Kintail and Colonel Farquharson of Invercauld. Going out from Abergeldie, or Balmoral, or Mar Lodge on a stalking expedition, the Prince cared neither for exposure to bad weather, nor severe exertion, so long as he could return with a bag of several head of deer. With the German Emperor and the late Duke of Coburg he enjoyed splendid sport in the vast forests of Central Europe from time to time, and with Baron Hirsch, on his great Hungarian estates, he had hunted deer, chamois, wild boar and roebuck, as he had shot game in America, hunted tigers and elephants in India, shot crocodiles in Egypt and hunted in the forests of Ceylon or Denmark.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER AND HIS UNCLE Photograph by Paul Thompson, New York.

The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd-George (on the right), whose Radical budget made him the storm-centre of England at the time of King Edward's illness and death, is here shown at his new Welsh home with his uncle, Richard Lloyd, who adopted the future statesman after his father's death and educated him.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THREE PROMINENT MEMBERS OF KING EDWARD'S LAST CABINET Photograph by Paul Thompson, New York.

Descending the steps are: at the left, Sir Edward Grey, Bart., Foreign Secretary; in centre, Rt. Hon. Winston Spencer Churchill, President, Board of Trade; at right, the Earl of Crewe, Colonial Secretary and Lord Privy Seal.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Who was designated by President Taft as Special Amba.s.sador to represent the United States at the Funeral of King Edward VII.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: KING EDWARD'S LAST TRIP ABROAD

This photograph was taken at the railway station in Paris when the King was on his way to Biarritz (on the Atlantic border between Spain and France). Only a few days after his return from this journey he was taken fatally ill.]