On 16th October the King returned to London, the only trace of his accident being a very slight limp, which was soon got rid of, and on the 28th His Majesty received Lord Kitchener, who had come home with all the laurels of Omdurman. On 1st November Queen Alexandra and her son returned from Copenhagen, and their Majesties soon afterwards paid a short visit to Sandringham. Before the end of November the _Lancet_ was able to assure the public that the King’s recovery was complete, and His Majesty showed his gratitude to Sir William MacCormac by his presence when, in the following February, the eminent surgeon delivered the Hunterian Oration at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. On 6th February 1899 another sad bereavement befell the King in the death of Prince Alfred, the only son of his brother, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The King soon returned to his active public life. On 2nd March His Majesty presided at a meeting held at Marlborough House to establish the League of Mercy, the purpose of which was to promote more systematic contributions to his Hospital Fund for London. On 8th July the King reviewed some 26,000 Metropolitan Volunteers on the Horse Guards Parade. Queen Alexandra watched the review, and her son and the Duke of Connaught marched past at the head of the corps of which they are honorary colonels. On 20th July the King and Queen opened the new buildings of the Alexandra Hospital for Children with Hip Disease in Bloomsbury, and on the following day their Majesties entertained 1200 hospital nurses at Marlborough House at a garden party in connection with the Royal National Pension Fund for Nurses. On 22nd July the King, who was accompanied by his son and daughter-in-law, was an interested spectator of the International University Sports, when the representatives of Oxford and Cambridge beat the champions of Harvard and Yale by five events to four. In September His Majesty presented new colours to the 1st Gordon Highlanders at Ballater. [Illustration: THE KING WITH THE LADIES DUFF _From a Photograph by Messrs. Downey_]