I
am inclined to think that there are distinct advantages in being a
confirmed, unrepentant Victorian.
During the stay of the Prince and Princess there was one unending
round of festivities. The Princess was then at the height of her
great beauty, and seeing H. R. H. every day, my youthful adoration
of her increased tenfold. The culminating incident of the visit
was to be the installation of the Prince of Wales as a Knight of
St. Patrick in St. Patrick's Cathedral, with immense pomp and
ceremonial. The Cathedral had undergone a complete transformation
for the ceremony, and all its ordinary fittings had disappeared.
The number of pages had now increased to five, and we were
constantly being drilled in the Cathedral. We had all five of us
to walk backwards down some steps, keeping in line and keeping
step. For five small boys to do this neatly, without awkwardness,
requires a great deal of practice. The procession to the Cathedral
was made in full state, the streets being lined with troops, and
the carriages, with their escorts of cavalry, going at a foot's
pace through the principal thoroughfares of Dublin.
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