The Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Mary and a brilliant array of Peeresses and ladies from the various foreign Embassies and Legations were present at the ceremony, which was invested with a great deal of pomp and solemnity. After prayers had been read by the Bishop of Worcester, a procession emerged from the Prince’s Chamber, and advanced slowly up the floor of the House. First came the Usher of the Black Rod, followed immediately by the Garter King of Arms, attired in his robes. Then came the Prince of Wales, preceded by an equerry, bearing his coronet on an embroidered crimson cushion. His Royal Highness was also accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Argyll, the Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain, and Lord Edward Howard, who represented the infant Duke of Norfolk, Hereditary Earl Marshal. [Illustration: QUEEN ALEXANDRA IN 1863 _From the Painting by Madame Jerichau, published by Henry Graves and Co._] The Prince wore the scarlet and ermine robes of a Duke over the uniform of a General. He also wore the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the Order of the Star of India. As he entered the House, the Peers rose in a body, the Lord Chancellor alone remaining seated and covered with his official hat. His Royal Highness then advanced to the Woolsack, and placed his patent of peerage and writ of summons in the hands of the Chancellor. The oaths were administered to him at the table by the Clerk of Parliament, the titles under which the Prince was sworn being those of Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, Earl of Carrick, Duke of Rothesay, and Lord of the Isles. After the roll had been signed the procession moved on, and His Royal Highness, on reaching the right-hand side of the Throne, took his seat upon the Chair of State specially appropriated on State occasions to the Prince of Wales. While thus seated he placed on his head the cocked hat worn by general officers in full dress. The Prince and the other Peers finally left the House, retiring by the entrance at the right of the Throne in the same order as they had entered. About an hour later His Royal Highness re-entered the House dressed in ordinary afternoon costume, and took his seat on one of the cross-benches, thereby formally dissociating himself from either political party. The Prince remained almost throughout the entire debate. When leaving he shook hands with the Earl of Derby and a number of other Peers whom he recognised. As is well known, the only votes which King Edward has ever given in the House of Lords have been in favour of the Bill for legalising marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, but he is a constant visitor at the Houses of Parliament when anything of special interest is going on, and there is no doubt that he takes the keenest interest in the political questions of the day.