On the 9th the Court removed to Osborne--the Queen being desirous of personally supervising the arrangements for the Princess Beatrice’s marriage, which was to take place in Whippingham Parish Church. As there was no precedent for a Royal marriage in a country parish church, Sir Henry Ponsonby and the Court officials had considerable trouble in ordering the ceremony. They were further perplexed by the various instructions which day after day came from the Queen and the Princess. On the 23rd of July the marriage was solemnised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester, the Dean of Windsor, and Canon Prothero, Vicar of Whippingham. The ceremony was one of demi-state only; and, although the wedding procession was very pretty, especially when seen in the golden light of a July day, it was not brilliant. The nieces of the Princess Beatrice were her bridesmaids, and most of her near relations were present. The family of Hesse-Darmstadt was well represented; and, with the exception of Mr. Gladstone, most of the leading personages in English Society were present. Yet somehow the ceremony seemed to lack the courtly importance and dignity of other Royal marriages, and the absence of the German Crown Prince and Princess, who were not even represented by any of their family, was only too noticeable. The German Emperor, who had been deeply incensed by the de Kalomine scandal, had not yet been persuaded to look kindly on the Court of Darmstadt; but the German Empress, on the other hand, testified her interest in the bride by sending Princess Beatrice a Dresden china clock and bracket as a wedding gift. After the marriage the Queen conferred the Order of the Garter on Prince Henry of Battenberg--adding one more to the already crowded companionship of Royal Knights. This distinction had never before been given to a foreign personage not a monarch _de facto_, or born in the Royal caste, and there can be no doubt that the other Royal Knights of the family would have considered the Order of the Bath a more suitable distinction for Prince Henry.[230] It was also intimated in the _Gazette_ (July 24th, 1885) that Prince Henry would forthwith assume the title of Royal Highness--a rank, however, which could not be conceded to him outside of English territory.[231] It is remarkable that no family objections were raised to the recognition of Lady Augusta Lennox, who had long been married to Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, as the Princess Edward. Till 1885 she had only been received in Court as the Countess Dornburg, a title which had been “created” for her on her marriage, in spite of her high social position as daughter of the Duke of Richmond, to satisfy the exigencies of German etiquette.