Clubland was in gala array, and the Princess seemed quite interested when Marlborough House was pointed out to her by the Prince as her future home. On the balcony at Cambridge House in Piccadilly Lord and Lady Palmerston were the most conspicuous figures in a group of aristocratic sightseers, and were honoured with gracious salutes from the Royal party. But of all the houses in Piccadilly that of Lord Willoughby d’Eresby was the most florid in its decoration. It was decked with evergreens, flags of all nations, and numberless banners. The wall space under the drawing-room windows was draped with white and gold, and with blue hangings studded with golden stars. “We went,” writes Lord Malmesbury, in his Diary, “to Lord Willoughby’s house at a quarter before one to see the entry of the Princess. The houses along Piccadilly were decorated, with few exceptions, but I saw nothing really pretty except Lord Willoughby’s and Lord Cadogan’s. There were a good many people in the drawing-room. It was the coldest day we have had for a long time, no sun, with occasional showers, and we were half frozen standing on the balconies. The Duke of Cambridge rode by two or three times with his staff, and was greatly cheered. Lord Ranelagh passed at the head of his brigade of Volunteers. Then appeared the Royal carriages; and I was never more surprised or disappointed. The first five contained the suite and brothers and sisters of the Princess Alexandra; the carriages looked old and shabby, and the horses very poor, with no trappings, not even rosettes, and no outriders. In short, the shabbiness of the whole _cortège_ was beyond anything one could imagine, everybody asking ‘Where is the Master of the Horse?’ The Princess kept bowing right and left very gracefully. The moment the procession had passed the crowds dispersed, but there were universal remarks and compliments on the Princess’s beauty.”[151] Through a double line of seventeen thousand Volunteers the procession drove to Paddington Station, and there the Royal Party took the train for Slough, where they were received by the Princes of Prussia and Hesse, and Princes Arthur and Leopold. Night was now closing in, and rain fell fast. To add to the discomforts of the travellers, the horses of the first carriage became restive. The leaders of the second turned right round on the wheelers, and great confusion prevailed. All the harness became entangled. “Altogether,” writes Lord Malmesbury, “everything done by the Court authorities was bad.” It was past ten o’clock when Eton was reached, the boys of the College cheering the Princess vociferously, after which the _cortège_ was met and welcomed at the triumphal arch at Windsor by the municipal authorities. The shouts of the people and the loyal and royal town rang in the ears of the Princess as she drove into the Castle. Here she was received by the Queen and the Princesses Louise and Beatrice, who had been waiting anxiously for her coming.