The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-03 00:00:00

The Marriage of the Prince of Wales.

The marriage of a Prince of Wales is an event of perfee
novelty to the present generation. It is in fact an event o
rarer occurrence in the annals of English history than mos
people are aware of or would readily believe. Of all the 14
Princes who have borne this title, only five married when
they were in possession of it, and out of this small number
one was married abroad. These Princes were, first, the
renowned knight who won the triple plume and motto,
Edward the Black Prince, who married Joan of Kent;
second, Edward, the son of Henry VI., who at Amboise
married Lady Anne Neville, the daughter of the King-
maker; third, Prince Arthur, the son of Henry VII., who
at 15 years of age pledged his boyish vows to,the unhappy
Catherine of Arragon, afterwards the first of the many
wives of his next brother Henry ; fourth, Frederick, eldest
son of George 11., who at the age of 29 married the Princess
Augusta of Saxe Gotha in the Chapel Royal, St. James's ;
and fifth and last, the Prince Regent, afterwards George
IV., to the ill-fated Caroline of Brunswick. Nearly 70
years have passed away since that last scandal was enacted,
when the Prince Regent put the corner stone to the cruel
theory that Princes must marry without affection by taking
his wife literally according to Act of Parliament, and in re-
turn for the payment of his debts. In the long interval that
has elapsed since that masquerade of matrimony was gone
through, the Chapel Royal has been hallowed by two mar-
riages based on the purest affection—those of her Majesty
and the Princess Royal. We wish, indeed, we could add
that the approaching ceremony, equally founded on sincere
affection, and promising to be equally auspicious, was to be
solemnised in the same building of happ) augury. But this
is not to be, and it would be idle to conceal the fact that the
decision that the marriage should take plaee at Windsor has
caused a deep and general disapp intment in London.
At Windsor, then, the ceremonial is to be, and already
arrangements are being made that the occasion may be
celebrated with all the festive pageantry and state that
become a day so eventful in our history. Our readers will
readily understand that at present none of the minor de-
tails of the ceremony, or even the date for its celebration,
are positively fixed. It has been announced by many of
our contemporaries that the 12th of March has b, en de-
cided on, but the statement is certainly premature, and
almost as certainly incorrect, inasmuch as it remains with
the Danish Court to fix the day, and we believe that no in-
timation on this point has yet reached this country. Ac-
cording to present anticipations it is expected that the mar-
riage will take place either on Thursday, the sth, or Tues-
day' the 10th of March, but, as we have said, this matter is
still unsettled. At the end of this month, or very early in
March, the Princess Alexandra will arrive in this country,
and disembark in state at Gravesend, where it is be hoped
the Corporation will welcome her with as good time as they
displayed at the embarkation of the Princess Royal. On
landing the Princess will be received by his Royal High.
ness the Prince of Wales, who will accompany her to town
by rail. From the railway station to Buckingham Palace
their Royal Highnesses, with their attendant suit, will be
conveyed in state carriages—there will, in fact, be a public
procession to the Palace—aud after this, it is scarcely ne-
cessary to say a word about the way in whits London will
welcome the bride of the Prince and its future Queen.
The few days that elapsed after the arrival of the Prince of
Prussia in this country and before the day of marriage
were spent in reviews, or visits and ceremonials
more or less public, It is not likely, for many reasons—the
strongest being that, the illustrious visitor on tb:s occasion
is a young princess of 18—that much of the time which in-
tervenes will be passed in public, but as to this we believe
nothing whatever is known at present.
Arrangements in the interior of the Chapel Royal at
Windsor are to be made forthwith to give sitting accom-
modation for 769 distinguished visitors to be invited at the
marriage ceremony. About 50 more will stand in proces-

sioa during the marriage, and these with 10( choris-
ters, 60 musical performers, and 50 officials and atten-
dants-1,000 in all—are the very most who can stand in
the chapel, for there is literally, even with the crowding
resorted to on the last occasion in the little Chapel Royal
at St. James's, no room for any more. Along the nave
from its west door, between the tall slender columns rising
"high overarched, with echoing walls between," blocks of
seats nine deep are to be erected for those who will be pri-
vileged to witness the bridal procession into the chapel, but
who cannot be accommodated within the smaller space be-
yond the screen where the ceremony itself is to take place.
There will be 608 visitors seated here, the majority, as is
usual on these occasions, being ladies. On the right of the
organ loft the band of choristers will be placed. In the
little chapel of Sir Reginald Bray, the builder, if not indeed
the designer of the whole structure, and whose quaint arms,
a flax-scutching machine of 500 years ago, cover even the
lintel and panels of the doors, the musical performers will
be stationed. With the chapel of the Knights of the
Garter there can be very little tampering in the way of
temporary Frecti, ns. With the square squat outlines of
the old hospital which Henry VIII. altered into a banquet
ing-room and the House of Hanover into a Lhapel Royal
at St. James's, anything might be attempted. Architects
could not improve it nor carpenters make it worse. But
the case is very different with the grand old interior of St.
George's Chapel, with its deep traceried windows and ex-
quisite oaken canopies of the knights' stalls. Each of these,
with its quaint blazonments of knights who were Governor,.
of Calais or Paris, down to the Peers and statesmen of the
present day, is a niche in history. Curiously enough, it
few of our Princes of Wales have been married, still fewer,
apparently, have been installed as Knights of the Garter.
In the old oak pew allotted to the Heirs Apparent who are
members of this order the are only three escoeheons
—those of the present Prince, the Prince Regent, azid