The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-06 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6, 1864.

or Modena, as the place of the Chambers meeting,
and now they affirm it will be Parma. Neither
statement is correct ; and I have been assured by
one of the ministers that this supposed. change
has not even been mentioned at the council of
ministers. Deputies and senators will, therefore,
meet at Palazzo Csrignano, and at Palazzo Madame,
as they did in former times.

THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OP WALES
IN SWEDEN.

(ram' ova 13PICILL

STOCKHOLM, Ssrr. 30.

The trip to Gripsholm, to which I briefly alluded
at the close of my letter yesterday, has been
considered the best fete of the Prince's visit.
The old red bricks of Gripaholm Castle are sacred
to the memory of numberless strange deeds, done
by Swedish kings and nobles in grim mediieval
times. The place is not a ruin, but, on the con-
trary, a palace kept in constant repair and annually
inhabited for some weeks or months by the royal
family, but it is, above all things, a show place, •
bourne for excursion parties, from which such
travellers as they may return, although its
hospitalities were not less final than those
of the grave to some of the visitors taken to
see it in the middle ages. The castle is about thirty
or forty miles from Stockholm, on an island in the
Mater lake, and you reach it by threading your way
amongst other islands, countless in their numbers,
and dark, pine-clad, shelving to the water's edge, in
their appearance. The royal party left Stockholm
yesterday morning about one o'clock, in a screw
steamer called the Arboga, after the name of •
place near here, situated, as a matter of course, on
an island in the Midas lake. The Arboga is an or-
dinary lake boat, but on this occasion she had been
fitted up for the day with an awning over the deck
from stem to stern, and with chairs and couches on
the poop-deck. At the bow was a flag-staff, to
which two flip, the Dannebrog and the English
ensign, were hung in loving union, while from
an inclined staff in the stern waved the
Swedish flag. There was a considerable crowd on
the landing place to see the royal party sta't, and
as the various personages who composed it came
down one by one, the populace obtained a good
look at each. The Queen was amongst the earliest
of the arrivals, and Priuce Augustus was in good
time. Prince Oscar had been visiting some ships
in the harbour during the morning, and came down
about half-past twelve at a rattling pace, evidently
fearing he would be bite. Ten miuutes after-
wards a chariot and four brought down the Prince
and Princess of Wales, and then came a phaeton,
not a regular mail phaeton, but one in which the
driving seat was higher and smaller than the other.
It was a very simple and unpretending equipage,
and for the moment I thought it was some private
carriage which Sad followed the other by chance.
To my surprise, however, I recognised Prince John
of Glucksburg on the driving seat. "Look," I
said to my companion, "at Prince John
perched up beside the driver." I thought
that the royal coach-houses might have
provided another carriage for the Danish
guest, if there bad not beau room for him inside ;
but the arrangement became intelligible when I
looked at the face of the driver and saw that it was
his Majesty King Charles XV. of Sweden and
Norway. He was not the man to spoil his day's.
pleasure with bothersome ceremonials, and had
come out in a tweed shooting coat and light-
coloured wide-awake. The Prince of Wales.,
carriage stopped the way, so the King pulled up
his horses and jumped down amongst the crowd,
which was not kept back by a single policeman,
though it voluntarily kept clear an avenue just
wide enough for the carriages to pass. All hats
came off, and everybody bowed to the King, who
pulled off his wide-awake for a moment, and gave
a friendly cheerful nod to his people as he slipped
through the crowd to the gangway of the steamer,
and went on board to see after the comfort of his
guests. In a very few momenta he and the Prince of
Wales were seen standing together on the poop
close by the taffrail. The Prince had emancipated
himself for the day from the tyranny of fashion,
and wore a wide-awake as well as the King.
The other gentlemen of the party wore hats,
though of course they were in ordinary
morning costume. As the boat got under weigh
the baud began to play, and the crowd con-
verted itself into a sea of waving hats and hand-
kerchiefs from which some cheering proceeded, but
it was too early in the morning for a noisy demon-
stration, and the Swedes are evidently accustomed
to show their respect by their gestures rather than
by means of their lungs.
The day was splendid, sunny, and during the
morning and afternoon positively warm, although
we are beginning to feel now that this climate is
more northerly than that of London. The voyage
to Gripaholm took about three hours, for it was
necessary to go round by Drottniugholm to pick
up the Queen Dowager. I hear that there
was nothing remarkable in oonnexion with
her arrival on board, and that Gripsholm was
reached about four. The castle is just on the
water, so that the landing took place under the
shadow of its old red walls, and the royal party
spread itself at once about the various rooms and
towers., and time-worn halls. Everybody wandered
about as he pleased, and no sort of ceremony was
observed. In one of the largest and handsomest of
the rooms dinner was served at about 7 o'clock, and
at 9 the steamer was announced. On coming outside,
on to the place of embarkation, the royal party en-
joyed a pretty sight, for the old towers had been
illuminated with red lights. The voyage back must
have been a little chilly, to put the fact mild:y,
for I know that in Stockholm during the even-
ing it was abominably cold ; but the residents
here do not mind • little freshness in the air. The
Arboga got back to town about eleven. And now I
have to tell you of the must remarkable event
which has yet distinguished the Prince of Wales's
tour. What do you suppose the King, and Prince,
and the gentlemen of the party did after returning
to the palace 1 You will of course avoid guessing
that they went to bed, because that would be the
natural and obvious thing to do, and would not be
in any way • remarkable proceeding. Did they
" make a night of it r That would be an odd
thing to do after so fatiguing • day ; but the thing
they did was incalculably more extraordinary.
After stopping at the palace about an hour they all
drove down to the railway station, and got into
a train bound for a forest in the interior of the
country six hours' travelling from here. I
said beforehand that the Prince of Wales
would show himself able to keep up with
the King in any amusements that might

be proposed, and the event has justified
my prediction ; but I certainly did not suppose
that his majesty would start any scheme of plea-
sure which involved quite so reckless a disregard
of fatigue as this hunting party. For of course
the object of the journey was to have a good day's
sport. The forest to which they have gone con-
tains elk, and it is hoped that the royal party will
have found one, though it is not certain that they
will have been successful, as the forest is twelve
leagues in extent, and will naturally require a great
deal of searching. They were to hunt all day, and
return to-night, being back in Stockholm early to-
morrow morning. You will see from this speci-
men of his habits that I have not been wrong in
describing the King of Sweden as a man of iron
constitution and extraordinary muscular activity.
To-day the Queen and the Princess of Wales have
been driving atout a little, but nothing remarkable
has taken place in town. The Aurora and Osborne
have left here, as the Prince, according to present
arrangements, intends to go by rail to Gottenburg
on Monday, and embark there for Copenhagen.