The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-12 00:00:00

'lie Prince and Princess of Wales in
Denmark,

COPENHAGEN, Tuesday Evening.
After a passage, rough in some parts, but on the
whole favourable, the yacht conveying their Royal
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, with
the members of their suite, from Scotland to the
coast of Denmark, came in sight of Elsinore about
10 o'clock this morning. At that time there was
only just sufficient motion of the waves to render
sailing agreeable, and those on board as they swept
along the Kattegat, enjoyed an admirable .view
both of the Danish and Swedish coasts, which here
present—the Danish more especially—a strong re-
semblance to the picturesque outlines of Hamp-
shire. The Sound was, as usual, crowded with the
shipping of all nations—many being of large ton-
nage, ',constructed on the model which has been
favoured in these narrow seas for nearly four cen-
turies. The motions and courses of all these diffe-
rent craft imparted to the scene that element of life
and variety without which the finest marine land-
+nape is apt to grow monotonous. Before the yacht
and at the entrance to the harbour lay the castle of
Xronborg, the stronghold for centuries of Scandi-
navian kings and superstitions, rearing its white
Gothic towers from the water's edge to a height
and form recalling those of Heidelburg. Like the
gallant people to whom it belongs the voices of the
fort were soon raised in honour of the fair Princess
arriving to revisit her early home, and the nine
Danish frigates moored in a circle off the town lost
no time in repeating the welcomes of the cannon of
Kronborg. The celebrated Rolf Drake was not in-
cluded in this flotilla, but another ironclad, the
Dannebrog, was among their number. Carrying
ber guns, however, broadside fashion, she was leas
readily to be distinguished from her companions in
the first instance—the Rolf Krake's armament
being upon the plan suggested by the gallant
officer familiarly known as Captain " Cupola"
Coles. The yards of the Danish vessels were
manned, but for whatever reason—possibly it may
not form part of Danish naval etiquette—the full
dress of flags was not resorted to. The duty of ac-
knowledging the Danish salutes devolved upon the
only British ship of war present—the Aurora, come
mended by Captain Leopold M•Clintock, of Arctic
celebrity. She first answered the salute of the fort,
then that of the fleet, and subsequently fired a salute
of 21 guns, when the Danish flag was run up to the
masthead of the ltcyal yacht. Some misconception
appears to have existed with regard to the strength
of the squadron that was to escort the Prince and
Princess of Wales, an idea having got abroad that
a considerable portion of the Channel fleet had been
told off for the purpose. Such a display of naval
strength was plainly unnecessary in the case of a
purely private family visit; and just at this moment,
when the tendency of men's mind in Copenhagen is
to grasp at anything affording material for com-
ment, the demonstration might have been under-
stood. The Aurora, in fact, had been cruising off
Heligoland some time previously and was lying at
Elsinore for a couple of days before the arrival of
the Royal yacht. As soon as the latter came in
sight she steamed out to meet her, and returned in
company with her and with the Salamis, the Admi-
ralty despatch boat, which throughout the passage
from Scotland acted in the capacity of tender. At
12 o'clock the Royal yacht came alongside the
pier, when the King and Queen of Denmark, the
Crown Prince, and the Princess Dagmar, who had
been waiting its arrival, went on board, under a
salute from the Aurora, and most affectionate
greetings ensued between the different members of
-the family. Under what may be called the public
eye these were necessarily short in their duration,
but there was a sympathy tco powerful even for the
rules of palaces which drew together the Queen of
Denmark and the Princess of Wales. Sir Augustus
and Lady Paget, with the staff attached to the
embassy at Copenhagen, having paid their respects,
the Royal party and suite prepared to leave the
vessel and to take their seats in the carriages which
were to convey them to Fredensborg. On land there
was little of what could be called ceremony con-
nected with their reception, but such demonstrations
as took pl ice were most gratifying. The Mayor or
Burgomaster of Elsinore, an offieial whose functions
are not confined, as his name might imply, to purely
civic duties, but who acts as an officer of the State
and head of the Administration ia the district,
made a short speech in Danish and preeeated a
congratulatory address. To this his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales returned a brief reply, and the
cortege proceeded on its way through the io eTn.
the streets were all lined with soldiers, the house
fronts were gaily festooned and ornamented with
fl)wers, a triumphal arch spanned the principal
avenue, society arrayed itself in its very best clothes,
and at one point something very like a piece of
theatrical effect lead been organised. Owing to a
sudden dip in the ground a terrace runs for a short
distence parallel to but considerably above the level
of the roadway. This terrace was filled with mem
bers of the various musical societies, and the space
intervening between the carriage drive and the po-
sition they occupied was draped so as to suggest the
impression that a gallery had been specially erected.
From this commanding position the orchestra sang
to a national air Danish verses composed in honour
of the visit of their Royal Highnesses, and the tem-
porary halt thus occasioned, while giving evident
pleasure to those who eonstituted the Royal cortege,
afforded the spectators an admirable opportunity of
Seeing those whom they had come to welcome. As
the carriages moved on again the acclamations re-
doubled, and were prolonged by groups assembled
along the road at intervals.
In these days of tercentenary festivals, and
above alt in the town of Elsinore, it is a greet
shock to one's Shaksperianisw to be told that
Hamlet, properly " Alnlet," was not the son
of the King of DH,mark, but of a pirate chief ;
that, as a pagan, living centuries before the
Christian era, he did no more than his duty in re-
venging his father's death ; that he by no means
fell in single combat with Laertes, but lived
to become Governor of Jutland, and to marry two
wives, one of whom was daughter of an English
king. The culminating point of this antiquarian
heresy is that there was no Ophelia. To have one's
faith destroyed in one of the sweetest characters that
Shakspere ever drew is a trial; bat there is this
consolation. If the daughter of Polonious did in-
deed exist and perish in the manner that generations
of Englishmen have joyed and grieved to think, this
much must be conceded to the inhabitants of Mei.
nore, after their tasteful decorations of this morning,
that her obsequies were doubtless conducted with as
much solemnity and effect as the ardent soul of M.
Fechter could desire. Leaving behind the picturesque
town of Elsinore with its 8,000 inhabitants, nothing
remarkable is passed on the road to Fredensborg
with the exception of the ruined castle of Gurro, to
which a tradition clings remarkable for its likeness
in a double aspect to those connected with English
history. In the 14th century Veldemar.lV., like our
Henry IL, concealed in this sequestered nook from
the jealousy of his Queen a Danish Fair Risamond,
known as Tovelil, or " Little Love." But• whereas
English history has been content to infer that Queen
Eleanor, atter the discovery, proved to her liege lord
a sufficiently retributive thorn in the flesh, Danish
story goes much further, and dooms Valdemar to
the fate of Herne the Hunter, for having blasphee
mously declared that he should not desire Heaven
if Gurre were left to him.
Fredensborg Castle, the destination to which the
cortege rapidly made its way, and reached about an
hour after leaving Elsinore, takes its name—the
CAstle of Peace —froru the settlement t
P utt• g u
that
end to the war with S wedeu, which
Was concluded
in 1720. In the edifice dating from about
period and erected in the reign of Frederick IV. there
is little externally to strike the Eye. The gates and
soppro aches are not unlike rind inilp,A b no me Ins
-creel many
[hose giving Pecvs-s-to they crannies
seals of our untitl, nobility. The grand court.-
and is c!cf,ed within semicircular ranges of
building, forming wings to the body of the palace
d many of these apartments are said to be astigned, ac marks of steyal favour either to persons who
have merited well of the State, or to families belong-
ing to the higher classes of society whose pecuniary
circumstances render a dwelling free of expense a
welcome boon. The central portion of the palace
rises two stories above a lofry terrace overlooking