PRINCE OF WALES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10232, 15 August 1911, Page 2

PRINCE OF WALES.

THE INVESTITURE AT CARNARVON. STIRRING DRAMATIC PAGEANT. A vivitl description of the investiture of the- Fritico of Wales at Carnarvon on July 13 is given by the '"Daily News."

Mr Lloyd George, Constable of the Castle, has gone to the gate beneath the Eagle tower, and is waiting to receive tlie young Prince (runs the account). A tense pause follows, and then a crash of music, as the in the Inner flaiiey begins to play " God Save the King," telling 11s that the Princio has entered the precincts, and is passing on foot to the Chamberlain's Tower, there to await the summons of his father. In the foremost of the procession. as it enters the arena surrounding tho Royal pavilion, are the ArchDruid and officers of Gorsedd those strangely symbolic person® who recall older Wales. The Arch-Druid is wearing a chaplet of oak leaves. About his usck is a broad chain of gold and a gold-fringed stole; and his robe is of some white satin-like material, reaching to the ground. He walked beside an officer of the Eistedfodd, robed in olive-green, and behind hi in mysterious hooded figures, some in white, some in blue—Cadfan and Pedrog and Elphiri—with many more. Their fine simplicity contrasts forcibly with the lavishlyeiiiuruiuerid tabards of the heralds, who marched next; the pursuivants extraordinary of Carnarvon and Fitzalan coming first, and thd rouge dragon and portcullis following. Then there are the Mayors oi : the boroughs of Wales, the Lord Mayor of Cardiff and a little Oof Welsh members of Parliament, y the Chester Herald ushered in tho Prince of Wales. Among all these brilliantly-vested officials the Prince walked in the plain uniform of a midshipman. He must robe before entering the King's presence, so as tlie music changes to " God BleSvS the Prince of Wales" he turns to the right and passes beneath his own standard, through the door of the gloomy Chamberlain's Tower, guarded fittingly by bearers of the standards of the Welsh Dragon and the White Wolfhound.

THE KING ARRIVES

After the arrival of the Prince there followed a wait of twenty minutes in the broiling sunshine, which struck down into the amphitheatre as into a cup. The ambulance nurses were busy flitting hither iind thither with water and restoratives. At half-past two the guns were booming again; the trumpets sounded from the battlements. The Prinoo of Wales's standard was hauled down, and the Royal Standard run up in its place, and we knew that the King was coming, Mr Lloyd George was waiting ab the Eagle Tower once more, and this time it was his duty to oresent the key of the castle to the King. A DRAMATIC SETTING. Picture a rugged amphitheatre, whose walks are stained with all the marks of time, marked here and there with grasses and hardy shrubs, and hung 'about with the legendary symbols of the ancient race, where archers guarded tJiem in the wild days of old. J.he walls were alit by narrow perpendicular windows. In the well of the great pear-shaped space, tiers of seats, strangely out of tune with all these reminders of the storied past, have been built. They run in almost a sweep from the Eagle Tower, where the King and Prince will make their way to the Ji.ieanor Tower, where the Prince will be presented to the people. They fill gradually with the Principality's most noted sons and daughters till the whole arena is gay with uniforms and academic robes, parasols and hats, and lovely frocks. The heat was terrific. High on the battlements the cool breeze came blowing from the sea, and in the heart of the wails where winding staircases led to curious perches for the few favoured visitors, there was a gravelike cold that no sun can touch. But at noon the arena was hardly bearable. Snowdonia lay wrapped in a steanilike cloud with the peak of Snowclon itself utterly blotted out. You looked from the battlements towards that wild region where Owen Glendower and many before him defied the power of the English Throne, and saw only the ghosts of the mountains, the blue ol the Menai Straits. The torpedo boats looked no longer menacing; they became merely friendly messengers from the outside world. Down below the Welsh people gathered from the hills a mighty besieging army of peace around this fortress; where for centuries bitt-oi and tenacious foes had waged bloody wars, to-day an English King was coming to present his son to the Welsh people to be their prince, with the old message of " good-will among men," In the truest sense it was not only a national but an international day. I have said that the gathering was Welsh in its atmosphere. It was not till nearly twelve o'clock, however, that anything distinctively Welsh was to be seen. The of the investiture choir supplied the missing element. The band, from its station in the lower courtyard, struck up ' Tlie Men of Harlech/' and from the King's Gateway, where the statue of Edward 11. looks out iUK>n Carnarvon, issued a troop of g'rls in scarlet cloaks and steeple-crowned hats hound with green ribbons tlie traditional of the women of Wales. In two red lines they moved across the greencarpeted arena to their hanked seats Wore the Eleanor Gntpv/ny, to stand there and sing true Welsh choruses. THE PRINCE SUMMONED.

Through the gateway of Queen Eleanor, a mere arcued loopnoio ill the massive wall, camo the murmuring sound of a mighty throng, 'trumpets sound from tho walls, bautloiiiont answers battlement, the thunder of guns comes sweeping from Coed Jiedienhill. The standard blows lazily out from the summit of the iiiugle Tower. It is the standard of the Prince of W ales. Having taken his seat on tlie central throne, the King called for each Marshal, whom ho commanded to*oirectthe Garter King of Arms to summon the Prince of Wales to his presence. Oi tho many processions during the day, that of the Prince's brief passage from tho Chamberlain's Tower to the dais was, perhaps, tho most effective. The Prince was bare-headed, and wore a short sureoat of purple velvet, with white knee-breeches and silk stockings, tho garter jeing about his knee. He bore himself with a blend of bash fulness and courage that was very pleasing to watch. Three times making obeisance, lie knelt upon the cushion before _ his father, not without a glance, T noticed, at the Queen, who gave him the slightest possible Hinito of reassurance. Stopping forward at this point, with a sealed document in his hand, the Homo Secretary read the Letters Patent, in so ringing a voice, and with such perfect articulation, that every word could be heard by the enormous (fathering. As ho spoke the words, "Do make and create." the King placed upon his kneeling son's shoulders the mantle of purple velvet, fastened with a Oe'tic brooch of Welsh gold while the people applauded. There was more applause as Mr Churchill, with powerful" emphasis, enumerated among the titles those of the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester; but tho heartiest burst came when the Kino: placed the chfMil"t (which is pierced with sprays of the Rose of England and the Dafforlil of Wales) upon the Prince's head. Tin* King also presented his son with a sword by li an firing it about, his neck : placed a ring upon the third fin</er of hi" left a"d delivered to him a o'ohl ""d that he may preside there, i.e.. Wa'es— To hold to him and his heirs. Kings r>F the TT'-'ited Kingdom of Hrent Pniain ar.d Ireland, and of the British dominions beyond the sons for ever. H the end of the reading the Prince did homeee for the Principality, and for the Earldom of Chester, in these words:— I, Edward, Prince of Wales, do bocome your liege man of life and limb, and of earthly worship and faith, •and

trust T will bear nnto yon to live and die ' THE CLIMAX.

Nothing in this historic day stirred the hearts of the Welsh people more than the tirst sight of their boy 1 mice, wearing his golden coronet. It was the climax of the whole investiture ceremonial, and to those wno stood outside the Castle and watched how, with parental pride, the King and Qno;;n presented, their son to the people it will be an ineffaceable memory. The heralds on the embattled towers blew _ a fanfare on silver trumpets. For the moment it silenced the people. _AI urmuritig whispers of "He's coming,' passed" many lips, and then beneath the crumbling archway, where legend says Queen Eleanor made her first entry into the Castle six centuries ago, over the raised drawbridge, there stepped into the picture the young Edward, a chivalrous figure in a sure-oat that blew open in the wind, and showed the splendour of his investiture. Timidly the young Prince came forward between his father and mother, who took him by the hand, the King on his left and the Queen on his right. As he laid his bejowelled hand on the balustrade and looked down over the precipice edga urion his people, h-e started visibly ao the cheers hailing him as their Prince. Then he became absorbed in the panorama that lay spread at his feet. Tlie King and Queen and young Edwara, witii clasped hands, came right through to the edge of the balustrade, and then their Majesties, retiring a few steps-, loft their son in the forefront of the platform.. Looking down through his blue eyes upon a scene that would have unnerved a weaker boy, he seemed glac* to meet them, and cortainly there was no halting strain in their exuberance. The people shouted their homage to the noble, chivalrous figure who was girded with a sword that Sashed in the sun. Behind the three central figures in the picture there appeared, as a sort of bodyguard, the Earl Marshal, the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Lord Steward and the Gentlemen-at-Arms in their scarlet- coats and white-plumed helmets, marching stolidly, like puppets, out of the great well of light where, a few minutes previously, the ceremony had taken place. Behind them, again, wecaught a glimpse of the hereditary nobles of Wales in clustering masses of colour. The most impressive moment of all was yet to come. Lord Carringtnn, carrying the Gold Stick, hurried down the steps to the spot where the King and Queen stood, bowing and smiling, just behind their soil. There was a pause in the ceremonial, while they had a whispered conversation, and then a new figure—that of Mr John Williams, conductor of the Investiture Choir — who mounted the Granary lower, and, cleaving the air wildly with his baton, and raising his voice so that all in the castle square and on the quayside could hoar it, led the people with the chorus of the Welsh anthem, "Land of My Fathers." The Prince stood quite motionless as the people sang th-e anthem. Tha Queen stood with her hands clasped, as if in prayer, the King with his band on hits sword-hilt. Encircling the embattled walls in a sun that made the grey stones unbearable to touch, was a great human belt that drew clceer round the Castle. Splitting the belt in twain was a small body of troops, illchiding the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, with their white Angora goat, Alongside the quay and lying in midstream were moored the old trading schooners, flying the Red Dragon of Wales. Private steam yachts and other river craft were bright "with the national colours. All the decks had been denned, and every skipper bad done his best to make a show. Thrice the young Edward was presented to the people. He was led by tho hand by his father and mother to the King's Gateway, and there presented to another multitude, who had stood half-suffocated in the_ narrow street behind the lines of soldiers. As he was led back to the platform facing the Lower Bailey of the Castle for the third presentation he lifted his head and saw, probably for the first time, the mutilated statue which is said to be that of the first Edward, who was born within the Castle. The figure has its hand upon a half-drawn sword, as if sheathing it to signify tho end of war.