“At 4 o’clock, the first gun of the Royal salute apprised all that her
Majesty was entering the Park. A succession of cheers from the extreme
left announced it also. A detachment of Life Guards headed the
procession, which passed from left to right along the front of the
galleries. Her Majesty was in an open carriage, with the King of the
Belgians, the Princess Alice, and Prince Arthur. His Royal Highness
Prince Albert, in uniform, rode by the side of the carriage, near which
also were the Prince of Wales, and Prince Jules of Holstein-Glucksburg.
Aides de Camp, Equerries, the Adjutant-General, and other high military
officials preceded the carriage. It was immediately followed by the
venerable Lord Combermere, who was old in service before most of the
soldiers on the ground were born, for he counts 70 years, not of age,
but of service. His horse was led, and every attention was paid to the
veteran warrior. He wore the Order of the Bath, and the uniform of his
regiment, the Life Guards. In the two other carriages were the Princess
Louise, the Princess Mary of Cambridge and the Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg Strelitz. In the line of procession followed the Lords
Lieutenant of the counties to which the several corps of Volunteers
belong.
“The _cortège_ passed nearly to the extreme left of the line of
Volunteers, then turned and proceeded slowly along the front of the
extreme right, and, turning again, drew up on the open ground in front
of the Royal Standard. The three bands of the Household Brigade were
stationed opposite the Royal carriages; through the intervening space
the Volunteer companies marched, those on the right of the line of
columns coming up first. It was half-past four when the 1st
Huntingdonshire Mounted Rifles passed her Majesty; and, at a few minutes
to six o’clock the 25th Cheshire closed the review, which lasted without
intermission for quite an hour and a half.
“Her Majesty left the ground at six o’clock, in the same order as she
arrived, but some time elapsed before the public could get clear of the
enclosures. The difficulty of getting a large body of troops out of the
Park has almost become a military axiom, but the difficulty is not
insuperable. The Volunteer officers solved the problem without
confusion, except a little crushing at the gates; but the crushing was
more among the spectators than the troops.”
[Illustration]
[Illustration: decorative bar]
CHAPTER XV.
Volunteer Reviews, 1864, 1876--Mobs in the Park--Funeral of Queen
Caroline.
The next review in the Park was also of Volunteers, 21,743 in number,
who were inspected by the Prince of Wales on 28th May, 1864. After the
inspection, the Prince, who wore the uniform of the Honourable Artillery
Company, took his place at the head of his corps. The following is from
_The Times_, 30th May, 1864:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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