London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
MR. PUNCH ON ROYAL MARRIAGES.
To turn to a pleasanter subject. Those who are old enough to remember the marriage of the Prince of Wales, and walked like Dr. (but rather more expeditiously than he did) down , will recollect that was filled with a company of fair ladies and clever men surrounding a quaint statuette of Those who can boast with the enthusiasm and happiness of youth that it was will find a sketch of the group in the volume of the of the period. If my memory does not play me false the drawing was from the pencil of the late George Du Maurier, then the society sketcher of . As the Jester of is a great protector of tradition the same statuette (once again wearing a wedding favour) put in an appearance at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York, once again to be surrounded by some of the same familiar faces. One of those faces was that of the great artist in black and white who, a few years ago, received well-deserved honour at the hands of his sovereign. As Sir John Tenniel has been the cartoonist of since , it has been his duty to celebrate in the | |
70 | pages of the world-famed journal with which his name is inseparably connected the various marriages of the members of the Royal Family. The earliest of them all was the union of the Princess Royal with Prince William of Prussia-a union that has given to United Germany her present Emperor. Mr. was drinking the health of the happy pair, and ready to throw after them the satin slipper of good luck. Then came the glorious cartoon of the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales, when the sponsors of the Royal couple were Britannia and the Sea King of Denmark, and the surrounding throng for the first time suggested the peoples of the Empire-Australians, Indians, Canadians, and the conquerors of Southern Africa. These two drawings were followed by others showing sweet Princess Alice marrying the man of her choice, the Sailor Prince gathering to himself the Rose of the North, and the Soldier Duke bringing home his bride. And not the least popular amongst them was that design which told the world how the Highland laddie had assisted the Stuart lassie to the intense disgust of a not too well favoured German band. But, whatever the subject, the motive was the same-the picture showed the genuine joy that the nation felt in the promise of domestic happiness that each new union shadowed forth. It was the delight of the nation more than a century ago that the |
71 | King was a born Englishman. It is pleasing to think that at the latest Royal wedding it could be said that a born English Prince has married a born English Princess. The Duke and the Duchess can stay in Britain until the end of the chapter and never find themselves away from home. Such a reflection is not without its value at the end of the century, when the nation regards not entirely with approbation the continual encroachment of foreign competition. |