Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

The marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales was the great event of 10th March 1863, and my part in the celebration of it is recorded in the Diary, 10th March: “This morning we went to Brafferton, Mrs Gray riding the donkey at first, but we were met by the carriage, and so I rode the donkey, which kept up with the carriage. In the afternoon we had a procession round the town, me among the number. In the evening we had a magic lantern and fireworks. We all sang God Save the Queen. There were flags out of all the windows.” Some few weeks later, during the holidays, I was taken to Ripon to see the Prince and Princess drive through the town, and that was my first sight of them. Of course people were enthusiastic – how could they be otherwise over such a charming young princess? – but loyalty to the crown was not then nearly so deeply rooted and sincere as it is now. It was reserved for Disraeli, a good many years later, to bring home both to Queen Victoria and her people the true strength of their respective positions, which act and react for mutual dignity and cooperative power.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations:

• ER: East Riding
• GM: Greater Manchester
• NR: North Riding
• NY: North Yorkshire
• SY: South Yorkshire
• WR: West Riding
• WY: West Yorkshire

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Original

The marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales was the great event of 10th March 1863, and my part in the celebration of it is recorded in the Diary, 10th March:

This morning we went to Brafferton, Mrs Gray riding the donkey at first, but we were met by the carriage, and so I rode the donkey, which kept up with the carriage. In the afternoon we had a procession round the town, me among the number. In the evening we had a magic lantern and fireworks. We all sang God Save the Queen. There were flags out of all the windows.

Some few weeks later, during the holidays, I was taken to Ripon to see the Prince and Princess drive through the town, and that was my first sight of them. Of course people were enthusiastic. How could they be otherwise over such a charming young Princess? but loyalty to the Crown was not then nearly so deeply rooted and sincere as it is now. It was reserved for Disraeli, a good many years later, to bring home both to Queen Victoria and her people the true strength of their respective positions, which act and react for mutual dignity and co-operative power.

211 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Alexandra of Denmark (1) ·
• Brafferton, North Yorkshire (1) ·
• Cundall, North Yorkshire (4) ·
• Donkey (5) ·
• Edward VII (1) ·
• Fireworks (4) ·
• Magic lantern (1) ·
• Marriage (13) ·
• Monarchism (1) ·
• Queen Victoria (9) ·
• 📌Ripon (16) ·
• Wedding of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1) ·
• Wedding (5) ·

All tags.

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