Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/578

 brought up. Difference of view regarding his official privileges became with the prolongation of his mother's reign inevitable. The queen was very ready to delegate to him formal and ceremonial labours which were distasteful to her, but she never ceased to ignore his title to any function of government. His place in the royal succession soon seemed to him inconsistent with that perpetual tutelage, from which Queen Victoria deemed it wrong for him to escape in her lifetime. Open conflict was averted mainly by the prince's placable temper, which made ebullitions of anger of brief duration; but it was a serious disadvantage for him to be denied by the queen any acknowledged responsibility in public affairs for the long period of nearly forty years, which intervened between his father's death and his own accession to the throne.

As soon as the first shock of bereavement passed, Queen Victoria set herself to carry out with scrupulous fidelity two plans which her husband devised for his eldest son's welfare, another foreign tour and his marriage.

The tour to the Holy Land which was to conclude his educational travel had been arranged by Prince Albert in consultation with Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. The suite included Gen. Bruce, Major Teesdale, Col. Keppel, Robert Meade, who had been associated with Lord Dufferin on his mission to Syria in 1860, and Dr. Minter as physician. The queen's confidence in Stanley was a legacy from her husband, and at her persuasion he somewhat reluctantly agreed to join the party. The prince travelled incognito, and owing to the family mourning it was the queen's wish that ceremonial receptions should as far as possible be dispensed with. Leaving Osborne on 6 Feb. 1862, the prince and his companions journeyed through Germany and Austria. At Darmstadt he was welcomed by the Grand Duke, whose son was to marry his second sister, Alice ; thence he passed to Munich, where he inspected the museums and the galleries and saw the king of Bavaria, At Vienna he met for the first time the Emperor Francis Joseph, who formed a favourable impression of him, and thenceforth cherished a genuine affection for him. At Vienna he was introduced to Laurence Oliphant [q. v.], who was well acquainted with the Adriatic coast of the Mediterranean. Oliphant readily agreed to act as guide for that part of the expedition. From Trieste, where In Egypt.

Stanley joined the party, the royal yacht Osborne brought the prince to Venice, to Corfu, and other places of interest on the passage to Egypt. Oliphant, who served as cicerone for ten days, wrote that the prince was not studious nor highly intellectual, but up to the average and beyond it in so far as quickness of observation and general intelligence go.' He recognised the charm of us 'temper and disposition' and deemed travelling the best sort of education for His defects he ascribed to a 'position which never allows him responsibility or forces him into action' ( Life of L. Oliphant, i. 269). The prince was on his side attracted by Oliphant, and many years later not only entertained him at Abergeldie but took him to dine at Balmoral with Queen Victoria, who shared her son's appreciation of his exhilarating talk.

The prince disembarked at Alexandria on 24 Feb. Passing to Cairo, he lodged in the palace of Kasr-en-nil, and every attention was paid turn by the viceroy Said. A three weeks' tour was made through upper Egypt. He climbed the summit of the Great Pyramid without assistance and with exceptional alacrity ; he voyaged up the Nile to Assouan (12 March), and explored the temple of Carnac at Luxor. At length on 31 March he arrived in the Holy Land, where no English prince had set foot since Edward I, more than six hundred years before.

Jerusalem was thoroughly explored, and the diplomacy of General Bruce gained admission to the mosque of em 'Hebron, into which no European was known to have penetrated since 1187. 'High station,' remarked the prince, 'has after all some merits, some advantages.' Easter Sunday (20 April 1862) was spent on the shores of Lake Tiberias and at Galilee. Through Damascus the party reached Beyrout and thence went by sea to Tyre, Sidon, and Tripoli (in Syria). During the tour Stanley succeeded in interesting the prince in the historic traditions of Palestine. While he was easily amused, he was amenable to good advice, and readily agreed that sporting should be suspended on Sundays. 'It is impossible not to like him,' Stanley wrote. 'His astonishing memory of names and persona a and his 'amiable and endearing qualities' impressed all the party.

On 15 May the Osborne anchored at the isle of Rhodes. Thence the prince passed to Constantinople, where he stayed at the embassy with Sir Henry Bulwer, ambassa-