During the Session of Parliament in 1889, the Prince of Wales was voted £36,000 annually in trust for the use of his children, and at about the same time it was decided to send Prince Albert Victor on a visit to India. On the way thither, at Athens, on October 20th, the latter was present at the wedding of his two cousins, the Duke of Sparta and the Princess Sophia of Prussia, daughter of the Empress Frederick. In the great Eastern Empire he remained until April, 1890; visiting Hyderabad, Mysore, Madras and Calcutta, and meeting with a cordial reception which, however, lacked the great state and ceremony of his Royal father's famous tour. Lord Lansdowne was Viceroy and made a most admirable host and mentor. On May 24th, following, the young Prince was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone, and commenced to take his place in public life as Heir Presumptive to the Throne. In November of the year 1891 Prince George who had, meanwhile, been pursuing his vocation in the Navy, was taken ill at Sandringham. The Princess was away but, pending her return, his father nursed him personally with care and devotion. Typhoid--the disease which had carried off the Prince Consort and so nearly killed the Heir Apparent, developed and the family anxiety was very great. At this point, on December 8th, the engagement of the Duke of Clarence to his cousin, the very popular and beautiful Princess May of Teck, was announced amidst general congratulations. DEATH OF THE DUKE OF CLARENCE Then came one of the saddest events in the history of the British Royal family. The young Duke had only been engaged a few weeks and preparations had been commenced for the stately ceremonial of his marriage, when it was announced that he had caught cold at the funeral of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe and was confined to his room. With but little notice pneumonia developed, the constitutional weakness of his system was unable to throw it off, and within a few days he was dead--January 15th, 1892. Prince George, in the meantime, had recovered, but those who saw the Prince of Wales walking beside his eldest son's body from Sandringham Church to the station, say that his obvious grief was almost pathetic. As to the mother she never really got over the sadness of that death and the removal of her favourite son. If there was, at times, a sad expression in her eyes, years after the event, it was no doubt due to the sudden shock and great loss which then came to her.