Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/591

 of her official representative. That position was already held by the viceroy, and his temporary suspension was deemed impolitic. Consequently the prince went nominally as the guest of the viceroy. The distinction was a fine one, and made little practical difference to the character of his reception. But the precedence of the viceroy was left in form unquestioned, and the queen's exclusive title to supremacy was freed of any apparent risk of qualification for the time being. The prince's suite was large. It included the chief officers of his household, Lord Suffield, Colonel (Sir) Arthur Ellis, and Mr. Francis (now Lord) Knollys, who had become private secretary on Herbert Fisher's retirement in 1870, and held that office till his master's death. Other members of the company were Sir Bartle Frere and General (Sir) Dighton Probyn, both of whom had seen much service in India; Frere took with him Albert Grey (now Earl Grey) as his private secretary. Colonel (later General) Owen Williams and Lieutenant (now Admiral) Lord Charles Beresford acted as aides-de-camp; Canon Duckworth went as chaplain; (Sir) Joseph Fayrer as physician; (Sir) W. H. Russell as honorary private secretary (to write an account of the tour), and Sydney P. Hall as artist to sketch the chief incidents. Lord Alfred Paget, clerk marshal to Queen Victoria, was commissioned to go as her representative. Private friends invited by the Prince of Wales to be his guests were the duke of Sutherland, the earl of Aylesford, and Lord Carrington. The tour was so planned as to combine a political demonstration of amity on the part of the English crown with opportunity of sport and recreation for the prince. In both regards the result was thoroughly successful. The prince showed keenness and courage as a big game sportsman, bearing easily and cheerfully the fatigue, while he performed all the ceremonial functions with unvarying bonhomie.

The prince started from London on 11 Oct. 1875, and embarked at Brindisi on H.M.S. Serapis, an Indian troop-ship, which had been converted into a royal convoy. He stayed at Athens with King George of Greece, visited the khedive and Cairo, and after passing through the Suez Canal landed for a few hours at Aden. He arrived off Bombay on 8 Nov., was received by the viceroy, Lord Northbrook, and was welcomed by the reigning princes. At Bombay he stayed with the governor, Sir Philip Wodehouse, at Government House, where his birthday was celebrated next day. Having laid the foundation stone of the Elphinstone dock on 11 Nov. he picnicked at the caves of Elephanta (12 Nov.), and left on the 18th on a visit to the Gaekwar of Baroda. The Gaekwar provided him with his first opportunity of big game hunting. By his own special wish he came back to Bombay before the end of the month in order to proceed to Ceylon, where he engaged in some venturesome elephant shooting. Returning to the mainland, he reached Madras on 13 Dec., laid the first stone of a new harbour, and attended many festivities. Sailing for Calcutta on 18 Dec., he arrived on the 23rd. There the viceroy became his host, and he spent Christmas at the viceroy's suburban residence at Barakpore. On New Year's Day 1876 he held a chapter of the order of the Star of India, and unveiled a statue of Lord Mayo, the viceroy who had been assassinated in 1872. After receiving the honorary degree of D.C.L. from Calcutta University, he proceeded to North India, where he inspected scenes of the mutiny, and laid at Lucknow the first stone of a memorial to Sir Henry Lawrence and to those who fell in the defence of the city. On 11 Jan. he entered Delhi in formal procession. Passing thence to Lahore, he later in the month went into camp in Cashmere as the guest of the Maharajah of the state. At Agra on 25 Jan. he visited the Taj Mahal. February was mainly devoted to big game shooting, chiefly tigers, at Moradabad and in Nepal. A visit to Allahabad early in March and to Jabalpur as a guest of the Maharajah preceded his embarkation at Bombay on the Serapis (13 March). Smallpox was raging in the town and his departure was hurried. In a farewell letter to the viceroy he bore testimony to the satisfaction with which he had realised a long cherished hope of seeing India and its historic monuments, and of becoming more intimately acquainted with the queen's Indian subjects.

On the return journey he showed many tactful attentions. At Suez he received Lord Lytton, who was on his way out to succeed Lord Northbrook as viceroy. At Cairo he was again the guest of the khedive at the Ghezireh Palace. After leaving Alexandria he paused at two English possessions— Malta, where he met his brother, the duke of Connaught, and at Gibraltar. Subsequently he landed at Cadiz for the