Victoria - 1880 - Court and Country
The relations between the court and the country formed a matter in 1880 for a somewhat sharp discussion in parliament and in the press. A royal message was brought by Mr W. H. Smith on 02 July, expressing, on the one hand, the local's desire to provide for Prince Albert Victor of Wales, and, on the other, informing the house of the intended marriage of the prince of Wales's daughter, the Princess Louise, to the earl (afterwards duke) of Fife. On the proposal of Mr Smith, seconded by Gladstone, a select committee was appointed to consider these messages and report to the house as to the existing practice and as to the principles to be adopted for the future. The evidence laid before the committee explained to the country for the first time the actual state of the royal income, and on the proposal of Gladstone, amending the proposal of the government, it was proposed to grant a fixed addition of £36.000 per annum to the prince of Wales, out of which he should be expected to provide for his children without further application to the country. Effect was given to this proposal in a bill called "The Prince of Wales's Children's Bill," which was carried in spite of the persistent opposition of a small group of Radicals.
In the spring of 1890 the queen visited Aix-les-Bains in the hope that the waters of that health resort might alleviate the rheumatism from which she was now frequently suffering. She returned as usual by way of Darmstadt, and shortly after her arrival at Windsor paid a visit to Baron Ferdinand Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor. In February she launched the battleship "Royal Sovereign" at Portsmouth; a week later she visited the Horse Show at Islington. Her annual spring visit to the South was this year paid to the little town of Grasse.
At the beginning of 1892 a heavy blow fell upon the queen in the death of the prince of Wales's eldest son Albert Victor, duke of Clarence and Avondale. He had never been of a robust constitution, and after a little more than a week's illness from pneumonia following influenza, he died at Sandringham. The pathos of his death was increased by the fact that only a short time before it had been announced that the prince was about to marry his second cousin, Princess Mary, daughter of the duke and duchess of Teck.
The death of the young prince threw a gloom over the country, and caused the royal family to spend the year in such retirement as was possible. The queen this year paid a visit to Costebello and stayed there for some quiet weeks. In 1893 the country, on the expiration of the royal mourning, began to take a more than usual interest in the affairs of the royal family. On 10 February the queen left home for a visit to Florence, and spent it in the Villa Palmieri. She was able to display remarkable energy in visiting the sights of the city, and even went as far afield as San Gimignano; and her visit had a notable effect in strengthening the bonds of friendship between the United Kingdom and the Italian people. On 28 April she arrived home, and a few days later the prince of Wales's second son, George, duke of York (later George V ), who by his brother's death had been left in the direct line of succession to the throne, was betrothed to the Princess Mary, the marriage being celebrated on 06 July in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace.
In 1894 the queen stayed for some weeks at Florence, and on her return she stopped at Coburg to witness the marriage between two of her grandchildren, the grand duke of Hesse and the Princess Victoria Melita of Coburg. On the next day the emperor William officially announced the betrothal of the Csarovitch (afterwards the tsar Nicholas II) to the princess Alix of Hesse, a granddaughter whom the queen had always regarded with special affection. After a few weeks in London the queen went northwards and stopped at Manchester, where she opened the Ship Canal. Two days afterwards she celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday in quiet at Balmoral. A month later (June 23) took place the birth of a son to the duke and duchess of York, the child receiving the thoroughly English name of Edward.
In 1895 the queen lost her faithful and most efficient private secretary, General Sir Henry Ponsonby, who for many yean had helped her in the management of her most private affairs and had acted as an intermediary between her and her ministers. His successor was Sir Arthur Bigge. The following year, 1896, was marked by a loss which touched the queen even more nearly and more personally. At his own urgent request, Prince Henry of Battenberg, the queen's son-in-law, was permitted to join the Ashanti expedition, and early in January the prince was struck down with fever. He was brought to the coast and put on board her majesty's ship "Blonde," where, on the 2Olh, he died.
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