Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-06-12
rHE pRrNcEss or WALES.


-HdrpeS Young People
THE PRINCESS OF WALES.
When it was considered proper to marry
off the Prince of Wales, a rapid resume of
the possible Protestant Princesses whom
he could marry narrowed the chance
down to three, of whom Alexandra of Den
mark pleased him best. On March l.
| 1868, the Princess landed at Gravesend
| with her parents, then Prince and Princess
Christian of Denmark flor the King was
still alive, and paid for the trousseau of the
youthful Alexandra, her father being too
poor. She was met there by the Prince
of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge \
magnificent pageant preceded and accom-
panied her through the city of London, by
the Mansion House, Cheapside, st. Pauls,
Ludgate Hill, Fleet street and the Strand.
In Hyde Park seventeen thousand London
volunteers stood under arms to guard her
progress. She was received at Windsor
Castle by the recently-widowed Queen, and
on the subsequent Tuesday, March 10th,
she was married to her illustrious bride
groom in ST. Georges Chapel, Windsor.
She was surrounded by her family; her
father and mother, her sister Thyra, and
her little brother Waldemar. Her eight
bridesmaids were chosen from the noblest
maidens of Great Britain. The religious
service was performed by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Bishop of London. and
the Dean of Windsor. The Crown Prince
Of Prussia, the Duke of SaXe-Coburg and
Gotha, and other royalties assisted at the
ceremonial. The scene at st. George
Chapel was noble and grand, especially as
the Knights of the Garter in their splendid
robes were there i'll full force. The royal
girl from Denmark was " then ana there
enthroned as Queen of Hearts. Tennyson
greeted her as The sea kings daughter,
from over the sea- Her ancestors were
called vikings and all the northern mythol
ogy was invoked to find parallels for her
blushing charm, for her grace and dig
nifty, and for an attraction which she has
never lost-tborough Inconsistencies OF
self. The house of Oldenburg became
central pivot of European politics, and
Christian of Denmark was universally
sought for as father-in-law.'
An English paper says of this queenly-
reared royal girl of Denmark The Eng
fish people know little more of her than
the unconscious goodness and sweetness of
her disposition, her unostentatiouS virtues
as WIFE daughter, sister, mother
and the womanly charm of her presence
felt as a blessing wherever she goes, wor-
SHIPPED as true wumanhood should be
with the silent homage of the heart OF
her personal sentiments, OF any special ac-
complishments of learning or taste. no
public testimony has been given or re-
ouired. The Princess of Wales is true
lady. and we all believe her to be good
that is enough for us all. The royal family
of Denmark is German the English hail
the Danes as their national kindred. The
Scandinavian race is worthy of the highest
esteem. She came to England in good
time to disperse the cloud OF sorrow that
had hung over the Court and Kingdom
during the sad retirement of the widowed
Queen into private life since the death of
the Prince Consort."
From that time to this she has indeed
been one of the most universally beloved
and admired Princesses in the world, and
has by her admirable prudence insured for
the Prince of Wales place in the estima-
ton of all England. which with different
wife he might have lost. After twenty-five
wears of married life she is still the toast of
London society. She has preserved a re-
markably youthful appearance, is in the
highest degree lady-like and gracious. No
one ever speaks i'll of her In manner she
is still as sweet and as simple as she was
when she arrived in England, although she
holds perhaps the most enviaole place III
all the world, as the powerful and gracious
wife of the future sovereign, as q beautiful
woman, as the person to whom all hats are
taken off, as the most admired courted
and noble lady in the land For she is,
after the Queen, the most potent person III
England.
She and her sister, the Empress of Rus
STA, often meet at Copenhagen, and both
shake hands with the old coachman who
4 IL
This always excites enthusiasm in Copen-
hagen. In their benefactions they do not
forget the plain private school in which
thev first learned their A, B, abs, and the
MULTIPLICATION table They are very dear
and kind sisters to each other, and truly
benevolent. The Empress of Russia used
to be spoken of as the most generous, until
il was ascertained that the Princess of
Wales had not so profuse private purse
as her imperial sister. The Empress is of
course the possessor of the purse OF Fortu-
natus. She has but to dip her hand in and
the gold comes. When she heard that this
criticism was being made, she delcately
said that hereafter the Princess of Wales
would decide on all questions OF beneyo-
lence. and that she (the Empress) would
give only what her sister thought best"
1t is said that Queen Victoria found
her roval girl of Denmark at first wanting
in those hereditary ideas of grandeur which
should mark royal blood" re re-
minded her more than once that she must
not help herself; must not put an apron on
80 save her gown that she thought
albert Edward would be able to buy her
a new one when that one was worn out.
So the Queen told her to read Andersen
fairy story of the real princess who felt the
pea through seven feather BEDS" Victoria,
born and bred naughty Queen, was conf
dent that she should have detected the pea.
She told her the story of the Empress Euge-
ME. who, not having been born queen, ei-
fused and froze at the wrong moments-too
djgnilied one minute, too free another. She
thought her daughter confessed to
plebeian education when she essayed to
omen the piano for herself, as she was
about to play at private drawing-room at
Buckingham Palace. No princess since the
days OF Berengaria had ever opened her
own piano, and evidently she had no piano
to open.
The Princess is said to have on this ooca-
sion vindicated her title to being the
daughter of Viking; and, sitting down
to the instrument, she played SO brilliantly
that the Queen herself applauded
ASK mamma if play too well sor
Princess she whispered to the Prince.
But the Queen could not but see that this
daughter-in-law, so plainly and so unpre-
tendingly brought up, was real Queen at
heart.
For ten years she went on, gaining every
day in public favor, the best wife TO very
gay young Prince, the happy mother of
many children-and then the fabric of her
| love and greatness seemed to totter to its
base. The Prince. her husband-loyer. as
dear to her as at first, fell i'll of fever at
Sandringham, and lay trembling between
life and death for weeks. There was
sympathy for the Queen, sympathy
for the Princess, sympathy for England,
expressed all over The world. There was
such danger for England he die
in a long regency; both England aud
France had felt that before. The hideous
specter of Communism rose ON the hori
ION. There had been angry meetings at
Hyde Park. The recent explosions IN Pans
If the mobocracy frightened withdrawing
&c wolf nc il1hehaying Epglishmen.