The King strongly supported the movement for erecting a memorial to the Prince Imperial in Westminster Abbey, and subscribed £130 to the fund which was raised for that object. The opposition to the scheme was, however, so strong that it fell to the ground. That the King’s feelings were not modified in any way is shown by the fact that early in January 1883, His Majesty, accompanied by his two sons, Prince Albert Victor and Prince George, with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of Cambridge, unveiled a monument to the Prince Imperial at Woolwich. This “United Service Memorial” was erected by a subscription raised throughout all ranks of the Army, Navy, Royal Marines, Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers, and Count Gleichen was the sculptor. The King, in a speech at the unveiling, commended the virtues, the blameless life, the courage, and obedience to orders manifested by the young Prince, as a bright example to the young men entering the Military Academy, and remarked that it was only a natural impulse which prompted his desire to join his English comrades in the war in South Africa, in which he fell fighting for the Queen of England. In view of Princess Louise’s subsequent marriage it is interesting to record that in the autumn of 1880 the King, accompanied by Prince Leopold and Prince John of Glucksburg, visited the Earl of Fife at Mar Lodge. On the evening of their arrival Lord Fife gave a grand ball, at which his distinguished visitors were present. The entertainment included a torchlight procession and dance by the Duff Highlanders. The party also enjoyed some deer-stalking in the Forest of Mar. An incident worth recording occurred in January 1881, during a visit of the King and Queen to Normanton Park. Queen Alexandra drove with Lady Aveland to Oakham, and paid a visit to the ancient castle, on the inner walls of which are nailed numerous horse-shoes, the gift, or rather the toll, of various Royal and noble personages. A large horse-shoe of steel, perfect in shape and of elegant workmanship, had been made for the Queen to offer. Her Majesty examined the other horse-shoes in the Castle hall, and chose the position in which she desired her toll to be affixed, namely, over a large one supposed to have been the gift of Queen Elizabeth. The Queen greatly enjoyed following this ancient custom, a mark of territorial power possessed for many centuries by the Ferrers family, a shoe from the horse of every princely traveller who passed that way being a tax due to the Ferrers or Farriers. Among the horse-shoes specially noticed by Queen Alexandra were one contributed by Queen Victoria before her accession, on 2nd September 1833; another by the Duchess of Kent on the same date; also one offered by the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., on 7th January 1814.