The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-30 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 30, 1858.

THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS

ROYAL.
THE marriage of the Princess Royal of England to
Prince Frederick William of Piussia was celebrated
on Monday last in the Chapel of St. James's Palace,
with all the splendour of modern state ceremonial.
The day was generally observed as a holiday in
London, and crowds of people of all classes in the
metropolis swarmed into the Mall from an early
hour in the morning. By noon the ground between
Buckingham Palace and the Duke of York's Column
was covered by a dense mass of people, of whom only
a few hundred in the immediate neighbourhood of
the two palaces could see anything but the crests of
the Life Guards' helmets or an occasional cocked•hat
of a coachman.

The route to be followed by the Royal party was
kept by a detachment of Life Guards, aided by a
numerous body of police, and although their temper
was occasionally sorely tried they contrived to main-
tain effective order.

At St. James's Palace it was arranged the doors
should be opened at ten a.m. for the admission of
the fortunate few. A crowd, chiefly of ladies, had
gathered round the doors some time before the hour.
At ten o'clock precisely the corridor ticket•holders
were admitted, and though there was something of a
rush, yet, as access to the top tier of seats that ruse
from the pillar side of the colonnade upwards was
given by three separate stairways, there was no con
fusion. In half an hour the whole space was filled.
There were few gentlemen present ; consequently
the scene was all colour, tier on tier, like a brilliant
slope of flowers. The spaces between the pillars of
the colonnade were hung with wreaths of ivy, holly,
and other evergreens, fastened with rosettes and

streamers of white satin; the opposite wall was
similarly decorated, with the addition of bouquets of
palm leaves and flowers. Those who possessed
tickets for the Chapel Royal arrived but slowly.
Among the first corners were Lord Campbell
and Lady Stratheden. The Chief Justice first en-
tered the aisle, evidently in expectation that there a
front seat had been allotted to him. The Master of
the Ceremonies, however, speedily undeceived his
lordship, and the distinguished couple were soon
afterwards seen taking their places in the gallery.
Shortly afterwards the Marchioness of Clanricarcle, as
wife of a Cabinet Minister, took her place in one of
the reserved seats near the: altar, and was imme-
diately followed by Lady Combermere, for whom also
a distinguished place had been reserved. Her lady-
ship wore a costly robe of Honiton lace over a slip of
white satin, a shawl of rare Indian fabric sprigged
with ornaments in Prussian blue, and a magnificent
headdress of pearls and feathers. Lady Ernest
Bruce, wife of the Vice Chamberlain, came next,
dressed in white moire antive, with trimmings and
scarf of cherry colour, and took her seat next
to Lady Combermere. Lady E. Mulgrave fol-
lowed, and so on until this favoured bench was
completely filled with the fair and titled of the land.
About this time Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley,
the Duchess of Inverness, Lord Ebury and Lady
Lyndhurst, Lord de Ros, Lady Torrington, Duke of
Rutland, Viscount Monck, Lady Bessborougb, Mr.
and Mrs. Talbot Baines, and Lord Panmure entered.
Shortly after eleven o'clock the interior of the chapel
began to wear a highly animated appearance. The
galleries, the fronts of which were reserved exclu-
sively for ladies, were now thickly studded with
beauty and fashion, but at the upp-r end a long row
of military officers in brilliant uniform made a strong
background for the various gay colours of the ladies'
toilettes. A few moments later a general buzz an-
nounced the arrival of a novelty in the way of cos-
tume. It was his Grace of Atholl, in the full costume
of his clan, tartan and philabeg, claymore and
heron's plume. It is almost needless to say that his
grace attracted considerable notice, especially among
the foreign visitors, to whom the sight of the High-
land costume is always an event. A conspicuous
figure in the same gallery was her Graze the
Duchess of Buccleuch, wearing a magnificent robe of
mauve, the new Court colour. Lord Derby, looking
remarkably well, now appeared in the vestibule in a
brilliant uniform. Sir George Grey and Mr. Labou-
chere took their seats on Lady Combermere's bench,
the former in Cabinet uniform, and the latter in the
homely garb of an elder brother of the Trinity-
house. We regret to be obliged to add that the
Secretary for the Colonies had forgotten his bridal
favours, as had Mr. Vernon Smith. The Cabinet
Ministers now rapidly collected. At twenty minutes
to twelve Lady Palmerston entered, and took her
seat under the right-hand gallery, next to the Mar
chioness of Clanricarde. Her ladyship wore the
prevalent blue and white, and looked remarkably
well. The Marquis of Lansdowne arrived at half-
past eleven, just as the booming of the guns an-
nounced the departure of the first royal carriage
from Buckingham Palace, and at this moment the
clergy advanced to the altar,

At this period every preparation was complete
within the Palace for th 3 advance of the Royal pse.,
cession, but her Majesty desiring a full-length pho-
tographic portrait of the Princess Royal in her
bridal dress before she started for the chapel, Mr.
Williams, the photographer, at once proceeded to
execute the Queen's command. The portrait, though
taken under circumstances of peculiar difficulty, was
perfectly successful, and her Majesty expressed her-
self so pleased that, at her request, Mr. Williams
took in one group the likenesses of her Majesty, the
Prince Consort, and the bride on a large.sized plate,
and then again an exquisite stereoscopic likeness of
the young bride. All these processes were not com-
pleted until after the time fixed for the departure of
her Majesty from Buckingham Palace, and this
occasioned the royal procession being a few minutes
behind time at the chapel, a rare event in any cere-
monial in which her Majesty is concerned.

The first carriages of the bridal procession Caine
through the Palace gates at about 11.40 a.m. The
procession consisted of twenty royal carriages.
First came the Princess of Prussia, the Duke of
Saxe Coburg, the Princes Frederick Charles,
Frederick Albert, and Adalbert of Prussia, the Prince
of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, the Duke of Brabant,
the Count of Flanders, and their respective suites in
coaches drawn each by two horses. After a short
interval followed the bridegroom in a state carriage
drawn by black horses. His Royal Highness was
escorted by a detachment of Life Guards, and at-
tended by the gentlemen of his suite. His recep-
tion by the multitude was most enthusiastic. The
remaining coaches were occupied by her Majesty,
the Prince Consort, the Bride, the Prince of Wales,
and the other members of the Royal Family. Her
Majesty and the Princess Royal rode together in a
carriage drawn by cream coloured horses, and the
cheers which greeted their appearance ware vehe-
ment and prolonged. A strong detachment of the
Life Guards closed the procession.
Upon arriving at St. dames's the Royal party
alighted under a covered way erected at the private
entrance from the garden. Here the floral and other
decorations were marked by exquisite taste. Her
Majesty was received by the great officers of State
and conducted to the Royal Closet. The bannister
of the narrow staircase by which the Queen ascended
was tastefully decorated with creeping pltnts, inter-
woven with roses and carnelian and much had been
done by varnishing and gilding to deprive this most
inconvenient flight of stairs of its ordinary mean
appearance. A change, almost magical iu iris effect,
had been made in the Royal Closet. The walls were
covered with rich embossments in white and gold,
the ceiling was chastely painted and gilded in the
same colours, while nothing could exceed the rich-
ness and elegance of the furniture. From the Royal
Closet the Princess Royal, accompanied by Prince
Albert and the King of the Belgians, was conducted
to the Retiring Room, a remarkably handsome
apartment, exquisitely decorated for the occasion.
Her Majesty, however, passed at once into the
Robing Room, one of the noblest saloons in the
Palace, fitted with the rich and quaint but somewhat
sombre furniture of the time of Queen Anne.
Within the corridor and chapel there was now a
hushed interval of expectation, followed, after a few
moments, by a gentle prelude of a few notes upon
the organ, during which, and without the expected
formality of the heralding of trumpets, the Princess
of Prussia entered the Chapel :

Her Royal Highness's arrival was not at the moment an-
ticipated, and therefore had partially the effect of a surprise.
Her Royal Highness entered with a noble presence, forming
the centre of an artistic group, which—from her height and
the magnillcenceof her costume, and the brilliant and dis-
tinguished suite of princes and their followers who formed
the cortege—constituted a coup-dceil rarely met w ith even
on royal occasions. The Princess wore a splen ilia dress
of white moire antique, with a train of blue velv et, borne
by two ladies of high rank—one of wLom, the Ccuntess
Oriolla, was conspicuous for her own magnificent et stume
of orange colour. The Countess Bernstorff, w ife of the
Prussian Minister, attended upon the Princess, costumed
in white and gold, with a cerise train, and wearin a the blue
ribbon of the Order of Theresa. The Princess t' ok her
place upon the right, looking towards the altar, and beyond
her, in a glittering line of military uniforms, appeared the
Royal sons of Prussia and Belgium, and the Grand Duke
of Saxe Coburg Gotha. There were two young ladies
among this group to whom general attention was drawn,
when it became known that they stood in the interesting
relation to the Princess Royal of being the first ladies ap-
pointed by the Prussian Court to be in waiting on the
future Princess of Prussia—in fact, the first Prussian
countrywomen of our English Princess Royal. These
were the Countess Hohenthal and the Countess Lynar,
each of them young ladies of exceedingly interesting
appearance, and about equal in years to the Princess her-
self. Both these were uniformly costumed in pink
dresses of elegance and simplicity.
The whole brilliant audience of the chapel rises
en mane and bows as the Princess Royal's mother-
in-law elect passes on to the altar. Hardly are they
seated there, on the left-hand side, when faintly in
the distance the long.blown, clear, defiant notes of
the trumpeters are heard. They come nearer and
nearer, and the last arrivals among the visitors hasten