Part 15 (1/2)
Sir William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot co very desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot ent from Devonport, where land had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was given the treet the horrors the nation went through in those days because the late War has h the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible catastrophe at the ti for the Cape, had said to ift of iift to a cos--our terrible losses, and the teloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)--were the answer to the repeated assertion ht to have known, that ”the Boers won't fight” How this used to enrage ination” er ahead Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of injustice lives!
[Illustration: A DESPATCH-BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE-GUNNERS]
Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South Africa I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor Lady Audrey's, who had been in a state ofher dear Redvers' absence As the train stea Hero coe were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a tearoup of school children sang ”Ho and Buller's was run up, and so that episode closed
We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishi+ng to disturb the anxious watcher at Government House, and very oftenthe Empress, just as in the old days She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than the world was allowed to know My husband had always said the ould kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it happened on January 22nd, 1901 The resumed Devonport Diary says:
”A day ever to beOur Queen is dead At dinner S brought us the news that she passed away at 630 this afternoon We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream
To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone
”_January 23rd, 1901_--A dull gloo at noon All the royal standards and flags hanging half-, on land and afloat
”_January 24th_--At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the uns proclaimed the accession of Edward VII At the end the band on board the guardshi+p _Nile_ struck up 'God Save the King' The flags will all be lowered again until the day after Queen Victoria is laid to rest Edward VII! How strange it sounds, and how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now Albert Edill be a greater man as Edward VII
”_February 5th_--The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at Frog to think of theain Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the last!
”_February 16th_--There is great indignation a been called upon to take the oath at the opening of Parliament which savours so otry I think it ht have been modified by this time, and the lies about 'idolatry' and the 'worshi+p' of the Virgin Mary elih to refuse to insult his Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce those words
”_August 6th_--Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the royal standard, and this ti!
The Empress Frederick died yesterday” I never shot, ere first at Aldershot, a touching incident concerning her Sir William sat next to her at dinner, and, _a propos_ of a really fine still-life picture painted by her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her whether she still kept up her painting ”No,” she said, ”I have cried h her heart would break in speaking to hi him she had cried herself blind----! The illness and death of the Kaiser Frederickthis sual Lancers at Tent Pegging,” a subject requiring much sunshi+ne study, which I have already mentioned
In September, Lord Roberts--”the miniature Field Marshal,” as I call hireat were the doings in his honour ”Hoill this little figure stand in history? Will's well-planned defence against a night attack froh the navy were nearly an hour late
There was too , but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader's flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold 'Bobs' ht's display, which he reviewed from Stonehouse
”Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only wouard of honour was at the front door, and presented ar
He certainly is diminutive A nice face, soldierlike, and a natural manner With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others 'Bobs,' of course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took in C Will took in Lady Charles The others--Lord Mount Edgcu (in command of the _Implacable_), Admiral Jackson, and so forth--subsided into their places according to seniority Everydinner and two bars of the National Anthe, God bless him!' at dessert Will still feels a little--I don't kno to express it--of the'the Queen' which he felt so strongly at first He was very truly attached to her I was back in the drawing-rooood time to receive the croho came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant sot anybody's name (coached by the ADC) in all those introductions, but that ite I dread I never saw people in such good humour at any social function before We certainly _do_ love to honour our soldiers
But, all the ti too ith us in the war!
”_Septes half-mast! Now it is the 'Stars and Stripes' Poor President McKinley succueons wouldn't let hih he asked them to They did their best
”_March 7th, 1902_--And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion for which is the launching of the great battleshi+p the _Queen_, by Queen Alexandra Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral was for those afloat Lady Charles and I had to be on the platform at North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other wohter, bearing a bouquet for presentation The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its funnel with an enorlided into the station, to see that it is possible even in railway prose to have a little dash of poetry The band struck up, the guard of honour presented ars and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles And then, leisurely, the ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, wearing, over his full-dress admiral's uniform, a caped overcoat
Salutes, bows, curtseys, sreat silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II had ainst the refractory people Edward VII touches it and the General Coe of it
We all kiss the King's hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to since his accession The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any officer can salute it in like racious
Whilst the General and Ad, the Queen has a little chat withand so forth She is very fond of that water colour I did for her albuing Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through the Three Towns to the dockyard, but hastened ho we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht over part of which floating palace C and I had been conducted in thevalue may be she certainly cuts out the Kaiser's _Hohenzollern_ in her internal splendour When it comes to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathos in bedroo,' as the milliners say, with each particular set of furniture; and theand war electrically, and so on, and so on--one rather wonders why so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I araceful as those of the old _Victoria and Albert_, and it is said she 'rolls awful'!
”Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is ht opposite the Port Ad and Queen during their sojourn here,her outlined against the pitch black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty Equerries, secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chauests, awaited Their Majesties Full uniform was ordered for the h, thin dresses,' as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts There were the Adh, Lord and Lady St Gercumbe ('the Hearl,' as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in nu, still dressed as an ad black and white semi-transparent frock, withover, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly lighted and splendid The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria
Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on How unlike the painfully solemn, whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet We shouted of necessity, as the band played all the ti and Queen seenity since they have come to the Throne Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it was Friday, but that didn't matter After the sweets the head servant (what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a _snuff box_! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were riveted on hi to revive the past in i,' but then I am _not_ a cat (at least I hope not) I only trust His Majesty didn't mind, but he certainly saw me!
”After dinner oyptian-looking servant wearing a _tarboosh_ handed us coffee of surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little japanese dog and sos about the room She then asked us to see her bedroo's basket where he sleeps near her bed She is still extreure is youthful and shapely, and all hertalk with Will about this dreadful Boer War which is causing us all so ain He then came over to me, and after a few coan about Will I think he is fond of him What he said was kind, and I kneanted me to repeat his sympathetic words to my husband afterwards He spoke of him as a 'splendid soldier' I know he had in his h It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night
”_March 8th_--The great day of the launch of HMS _Queen_ I wonder if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, s could nowhere be seen in the world But, first of all, there was theat the RN Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, Mrs Jackson andand Queen by the side of our respective husbands on a raised das in the centre of the huge parade ground It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied mea pendant to Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and le file At the launching place we all assereat platfore hull of the battleshi+p, the ra over the little table on which the Queen was to cut the ropes That red-painted raarland, co of roses It contained red Australian wine, a very sensible change frone of former times Down below an iht under the shi+p, and all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people We were soon joined by three Gerrandees and two japanese _leprechauns_, one an ad creature in a uniform entirely copied from ours Our new allies are not handsome Then came the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living Holbein in the dress of Cranure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel What does she do but whisk off straight to hiroup kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and sht in, and everything was toMonarchy callsmay it endure!