The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, visited Barnum’s American Museum on October 13, 1860. The Prince was touring the United States, and Barnum felt that it would be a pity if he were to go back home without seeing one of the national institutions, so he sent an invitation. Just an hour before the royal party intended to visit the Museum, the manager was informed that Barnum’s invitation was accepted. Barnum was in Bridgeport, and the Prince of Wales was therefore received by Greenwood, the manager, instead of by the Prince of Humbugs. With great interest Albert Edward examined The Siamese Twins and the “What Is It?” According to the _Herald_, this was a deformed, idiotic negro boy, whom Barnum exhibited as the connecting link between man and the ape. After looking over the curiosities in the cases, the Prince of Wales said that he supposed he had seen all, and almost in the same breath he asked for Mr. Barnum. When told that he was in Bridgeport, the Prince said, “We have missed the most interesting feature of the establishment.” The Prince undoubtedly remembered the jovial gentleman who had brought his General Tom Thumb to Buckingham Palace for the entertainment of the Queen and her children. Barnum felt complimented at the Prince’s visit and the royal statement concerning him, and he was pleased especially because all the newspapers printed accounts of the visit and the Prince’s words. He also made much of the fact that the Museum was the only place of public amusement visited by the Prince in this country. A few days before the Prince’s arrival Barnum had prepared for the possible visit by having removed to the cellar a frightful wax figure of Queen Victoria, which had delighted Museum patrons for nineteen years. It bore the placard, “An exact likeness of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, taken from life,” but Barnum feared the Prince might not recognize his mother in the dirty wax which was supposed to represent her regality. Barnum called upon the Prince of Wales in Boston and was received cordially. He reminded the royal visitor that he knew him when he was a boy in short pants. The streets of Boston were crowded on this occasion, and Barnum would have had great difficulty getting to the Revere House if a policeman had not mistaken his appearance for that of Stephen A. Douglas and shouted with much spectacular respect, “Make way there for Judge Douglas’s carriage.” The crowd opened a passageway, and hurrahs for Douglas were shouted all along the route. Barnum took off his hat, bowed to right and to left, and received the borrowed cheers with gratitude and pleasure. When Douglas was a candidate for President in 1860, several newspapers remarked that he looked the image of P. T. Barnum.