Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/587

 stimulated his political interests and thirst for political news. It was at a dinner-party at Marlborough House that Delane, the editor of 'The Times,' who was one of the guests, received the first intelligence in England of the outbreak of the Franco-German war, on 15 July 1870 (, Memoirs). Throughout the conflict the prince's sympathies inclined to France. His mother's hopes lay with the other side. But the queen was no less anxious than her son to alleviate the sufferings of the emperor and empress of the French, when they sought an asylum in England from their own country. The empress arrived at Chislehurst in September 1870, and the emperor on release from his German prison in March 1871. The prince and princess were assiduous in their attention to the exiles. To the young Prince Imperial especially he extended a fatherly kindness, and when in 1879 the French youth met his death in the Zulu war in South Africa, the prince personally made arrangements for the funeral at Chislehurst, and was himself a pall-bearer. He was a moving spirit of the committee which was formed for erecting a monument to the French prince's memory in Westminster Abbey in 1880, and when the House of Commons refused to sanction that project, he urged the transfer of the memorial to St. George's Chapel, Windsor. He was present, too, when a statue of the French prince was unveiled at Woolwich (13 Jan. 1883). But the downfall of the French empire and the misfortunes of the French imperial family in no wise diminished the cordiality of the prince's relations with France under her new rulers. No sooner was the republican form of government recognised than he sought the acquaintance of the republican leaders, and he left no stone unturned to maintain friendly relations with them as well as with his older friends in the French capital. The perfect quality of his social charm enabled him to keep on good terms with all political parties in France without forfeiting the esteem of any. The prince showed his lively curiosity about the incidents of the Franco-German war by exploring in August 1871 the battle-fields round Sedan and Metz in the company of Prince de Ligne and of his equerry, Major Teesdale. He travelled incognito as Baron of Renfrew. From Alsace he passed on to join the princess once again at Kissingen. His strong French leanings were kept well under control in German company. A certain coolness towards the Prussian royal family was popularly imputed to him during the course of the recent war. But when the crown prince of Prussia visited London in Sept. 1871 the prince greeted him with a geniality which caused surprise in Germany. His courtesies led Bismarck's circle to imagine some diminution of his affection for France. But his conduct merely testified to his natural complacency of manner in social life.

While performing with admirable grace the ceremonial and social functions attaching to his station, and while keenly studying current political events from a detached and irresponsible point of view, the prince somewhat suffered in moral robustness through the denial to him of genuine political responsibility, and his exclusion from settled and solid occupation. The love of pleasure in his nature which had been carefully repressed in boyhood sought in adult life free scope amid the ambiguities of his public position. The gloom of his mother's court helped to provoke reaction against conventional strictness. From the early years of his married life reports spread abroad that he was a centre of fashionable frivolity, favouring company of low rank, and involving himself in heavy debt. There was gross exaggeration in the rumours. But they seemed in many eyes to receive unwelcome confirmation, when a member of fashionable London society, Sir Charles Mordaunt, brought an action for divorce against his wife, and made in his petition, solely on his wife's confession, a serious allegation against the Prince of Wales. The prince was not made a party to the suit, but the co-respondents, Viscount Cole, afterwards earl of Enniskillen, and Sir Frederick Johnstone, were among his social allies. The case opened before Lord Penzance on 16 Feb. 1870, and the prince volunteered evidence. Amid great public excitement he denied the charge in the witness-box (23 Feb.), and the court held him guiltless. Apart from the prince's intervention, the case presented legal difficulties which riveted on it public attention. Lady Mordaunt was proved to have become hopelessly insane before the hearing, and on that ground the court in the first instance refused the petitioner relief, but after five years' litigation the divorce was granted (11 March 1875).

Public feeling was roused by the proceedings, and the prince's popularity was