Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 04 (of 15), EnglishMorris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 04 (of 15), English
Morris, Charles
Great Britain -- History
Led by Captain Ames, the tallest man in the British army, followed by
four of the tallest troopers of the Life Guards,--a regiment of very
tall men--the soldierly procession, as it wound onward under the
propitious sun, seemed like nothing so much as some bright stream of
burnished gold flowing between dark banks of human beings.
The colonial and military parade having passed, there followed that part
of the display to which all this was preliminary, the royal procession,
in which her Majesty the Queen was once more to show her venerable form
to her assembled people. Preceding the gorgeous chariot of the queen,
with its famous eight cream-colored Hanoverian horses, appeared its
military escort, a glittering cavalcade of splendidly uniformed
officers, its chief figures being Lord Wolseley, Commander-in-chief of
the Army, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of
Connaught, the Duke of Westminster, and the Lord Lieutenant of London.
In the escort were also included foreign military and naval dignitaries,
in alphabetical order, beginning with Austria and ending with the United
States, the latter represented by General Nelson A. Miles, in full
uniform and riding a splendid horse. The whole was bewildering in its
variety. From Germany came a deputation of the First Prussian Dragoon
Guards, splendid looking soldiers, sent as a special compliment from the
Kaiser. But most brilliant of all was a group of officers of the
Imperial Service Troops of India, in the most gorgeous of uniforms.
Behind these came in two-horse landaus the special envoys from the
various American and European nations.
The escort of princes included the Marquis of Lorne, son-in-law of the
queen, the Duke of York, the Duke of Fife, and among notable foreign
princes, the Grand Duke Servius of Russia, the Crown Prince Dando of
Montenegro, and Mohammed Ali Khan, brother of the Khedive of Egypt, who
rode a pure white Arabian charger.
The hour of eleven had passed when Queen Victoria descended the steps of
the palace and entered the awaiting carriage, each of whose horses was
led by a "walking man" in the royal livery and a huntsman's black-velvet
cap, while the postilions were dressed in scarlet and gold coats, white
trousers and riding boots, each livery having cost $600.
Through miles of wildly enthusiastic people the carriage wound, the
chief feature of its progress being the formal crossing of the boundary
of ancient London at Temple Bar, where the old ceremony of the
submission of the city to the sovereign was performed, the Lord Mayor
presenting the hilt of the city sword--"Queen Elizabeth's pearl
sword,"--presented by the queen to the corporation during a ceremony in
1570. The touching of the hilt by the queen, in acceptance of
submission, completed this ceremony, and the carriage rolled on to St.
Paul's Cathedral, where a brief service was performed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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