Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/586

 Botallack tin mine near St. Just. For the greater part of 1867, after the birth of Princess Louise, the Princess of Wales was disabled by severe rheumatism, and in the autumn her husband accompanied her to Wiesbaden for a six weeks' cure.

A year later a foreign trip of the comprehensive type, to which the prince was well accustomed, was accomplished for the first time with his wife. In November 1868 they left England for seven months' travel. At Paris they stayed at the Hotel Bristol, which was the prince's favourite stopping place in Paris through life. They visited the emperor at Compiègne, and the prince took part in a stag hunt in the park. Thence they passed to Copenhagen. The prince paid another visit to the king of Sweden at Stockholm, and there his host initiated him into the Masonic order, in which he subsequently found a new interest. Christ- mas was celebrated at the Danish court. Another sojourn at Berlin with the crown prince and princess (15-20 Jan. 1869) was attended by elaborate festivities. The king of Prussia formally invested the prince with the collar and mantle of the order of the Black Eagle. He had been knight of the order since his birth, but the full investiture could be performed only in the Prussian capital. The collar was the one which the prince consort had worn. In the evening there was a state banquet in the prince's honour, and then he had his first opportunity of conversing with Prince Bismarck, who with rare amiability wore, by command of his master, the Danish order of the Dannebrog in compliment to the guests. From Berlin the prince and princess passed to the Hofburg palace at Vienna, where the Emperor Francis Joseph was their host, and renewed an earlier acquaintance with the prince. They offered their consolation to the exiled king and queen of Hanover before leaving for Trieste.

There they embarked on H.M.S. Ariadne, which was fitted up as a yacht, and travel began in earnest. The duke of Sutherland was chief organiser of the expedition, and he enlisted in the company Sir Samuel Baker the African explorer, Richard Owen the naturalist, (Sir) William Howard Russell the war correspondent, and (Sir) John Fowler the engineer, who were all capable of instructive guidance. The ultimate aim was to inspect the great enterprise of the Suez Canal, which was nearing completion, but by way of prelude a voyage was made up the Nile. The itinerary followed the same route as the prince had taken eight years before. At Cairo the party saw much of the viceroy Ismail Pasha. On the Nile, Baker arranged for the prince's sport, Owen gave lectures on geology, and Fowler described the wonders of the Suez venture. The prince was in the gayest spirits, playing on his guests harmless practical jokes, and putting all at their ease.

On 25 March the prince and his party reached Ismailia to visit the Suez Canal works. The Khedive was awaiting them, but a more interesting figure, M. de Lesseps, conducted them over the newly excavated waterway. The prince opened the sluice of a completed dam, allowing the Mediterranean to flow into an empty basin connecting with the Bitter Lakes. Before the Khedive parted with his English friends at Ismailia he invited Baker to take command of an expedition against the slavers on the White Nile. The prince took an active part in the negotiation and suggested the terms of service, which Baker finally accepted with good result ( Diary). The prince was deeply impressed by the proofs he witnessed of M. de Lesseps' engineering skill. The Suez Canal was opened on 16 Nov. following, and next summer Lesseps paid a visit to London. On 4 July 1870 the prince, as president of the Society of Arts, formally presented to him the Albert gold medal founded in his father's memory for conspicuous service. In an admirable French speech he greeted Lesseps as his personal friend, whose attendance on him at Suez he reckoned an inestimable advantage.

On the return journey from Alexandria on 1 April 1869, the royal party paused at Constantinople, where the Sultan Abdul Aziz was their host. But the Prince interrupted his stay there to make a tour of the Crimean battle-fields and cemeteries. Subsequently they went to Athens, to stay with the Princess of Wales's brother, King George of Greece, and to visit the country's historic monuments. Paris was reached by way of Corfu, Brindisi, and Turin. For a week Napoleon III offered them splendid entertainment at the Tuileries. Not until 12 May 1869 were they home again at Marlborough House.

A year later France was exposed to external and internal perils, and the prince's generous host fell from his high estate. The whole tragedy moved the prince; it