The busiest social year of the Dudley regime was that of 1903, when King Edward and Queen Alexandra visited Ireland. It was the first occasion a King of England was seen in Ireland for eighty-two years, and the people marked the honour by a display of enthusiasm unequalled in the history of the country. The king and queen were greatly touched by the loyalty of the Irish, and under the capable direction of Lord and Lady Dudley the series of festivities went with a vim that gratified the distinguished visitors and added fresh laurels to those already earned by the _chatelaine_ of the Viceregal Lodge and Dublin Castle. {322} A royal visit produces more anxiety than pleasure, as a rule, for those whose duty it is to see that the arrangements for entertaining the guests are perfect and carried out to the letter; but a genius for organization displayed itself in the arrangements devised for the filling up of their Majesties' programme, and that was the genius of the Lord-Lieutenant and his wife. The most significant event of the visit was the Levee held at Dublin Castle by the king. All the leading men of Ireland were invited, irrespective of politics and religion. It was a daring thing to do, but Lord Dudley could count upon his own popularity, and he confidently invited Roman Catholic Archbishops, Catholic gentlemen, Nationalists, and many others whose political opinions were against the Government. The occasion was historic--a King of England holding a Levee in 'the worst castle in the worst situation in Christendom,' as a former viceroy described it--and it was almost unprecedented. With characteristic good feeling and understanding all classes and creeds attended to do homage to His Majesty, who had the gratification of receiving many notable Irishmen and seeing them mingling together, their differences forgotten in the presence of their Sovereign. The success of that Levee was a splendid tribute to Lord Dudley's tenure of the post of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Another visit by King Edward and Queen Alexandra the following April was equally successful.