WOOINGS AND WEDDINGS OF PRINCES OF WALES.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1883, 18 June 1863, Page 3

WOOINGS AND WEDDINGS OF PRINCES OF WALES.

We extract the following from an article which appears in the latest number of Once A. Week, At tbe present time it cannot fail to be interesting:—

A Former PRIN9E 01? Wales and his Courtship— One of the most remarkable courting expeditions in which a Prince of the blood ever engaged was probably tbat which took Charles the First (When Prince of Wales) to Spain in 1623. Negotiations for a match between him and the Infanta had been going on for six years before but, discontented with the delays of diplomacy, the ardent young Prince resolved to try the effect of a personal application. So Charles and Buckingham, under the names of John aud Thomas Smith (not the last, if it was the first time that royalty assumed that illustrious norn de voyage), accompanied by a few gentlemen of the Court and Archie Armstrong, the King's fool, but as has been justly said, 'not the least sagacious member of the party, set off for Madrid.' The Prince was well received at the Spanish Court, splendidly lodged, and superbly feted ; but little encouragement was given to, his suit for the Infanta. At first he was allowed to see her at a distance, " she wearing a blue riband about her arm, tbat the Prince might distinguish her, and as soon as she saw him her colour rose very high." Afterwards he was permitted to speak to her, but only in the presence of others. He would watch for hours in the street to meet her. Once he leaped over the wall of a gardes where she was walking, and would have addressed her, had not the old marquis who was in waiting thrown himself on his knee 3 and solemnly protested that his head would be in danger if the Prince spoke a single word to bis fair charge. In order to gain favour in the eyes of bis mistress, Charles rode at the ring and distinguished himself in the tilting ground " to the glory of his fortune and the great con tentment both of himself and the lookers on." He also lavished presents on the Princess and the chief personages at the court. Jewels, over half a million in value, were consigned to Spain for this purpose. But,, notwithstanding all the exertions of " Babie Charles" and " Steenie/' tbe love mission did not prosper. The Spanish King was insincere, and the people both of Spain and of England were against it on religious grounds. After six months' philandering,. the Prince bet the Eng lish ambassador at Madrid £1,000 against a " fair diamond" that in three weeks be would be out of the country, and won the wager. Prince Charles did not marry till alter he was crowned.

The fourth Prince of Wales who, in that degree, entered the married state was Frederick, the eldest son of George 11, His bride was Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, a pleasant, goodnatured gin, if not very brilliant or beautifnl. Lord Delaware brought her. to Greenwich on the 25th April (St. George's Day), 1736. It was a Sunday when she arrived there, and only a few ladies and gentlemen of the court were in waiting to give her welcome. The citizens, however, turned out in large numbers, and greeted her with enthusiastic cheering. The Princess was lodged in the Queen's house in the Park, where Prince Frederick came to pay his respects to her. The young couple dined and supped in public — that, is, with the windows of the apartment open, so as to " oblige the curiosity of the people." They also made an excursion up the river in a gaily decorated barge, amid salvos of artillery and musketry and the blowing of many. horns.' On the Monday, she proceeded to St. James's, being carried in a coach to Lambeth, in a boat across the river to Whitehall, and thence in a sedan chair to St., James's, where she was introduced to the Eirfg and Queen. Nfexrday. the" marriage took place, after a state dinner, in the chapei of St James's. The bride was "in her hair," and wore a crown with one bar as Princess of Wales, Her robe was a " virgin habit of silver," over which was thrown a mantle of crimson velvet, bordered with row upon row of ermine, and with a train attached. The bridemaids, four in number, were also attired in dresses of silver' tisbue, and, like the Princess, were covered with a profusion of jewels. The booming of cannon announced to the world the completion of the ceremony; Immediately afterwards, a drawing-room was held, at which the King and Queen gave the young couple ibeir blessing, and at half past ten there was a very jolly supper party. Nextfollowed the state reception in the bedroom. The bride and bridegroom, splendidly arrayed, the former one in superb lace, and the other in " silver stuff," sat bolt upright in bed, while the King and Qneen and lords and ladies in waiting filed past before them, offering their congratulations. His Majesty, we are told, wore a dress of gold brocade, turned up with silk, and embroidered with large flowers in silver and colours, with a waistcoat of the same, and buttons and stars blazing with diamonds. Most of the peers were similarly dressed, it being worthy of note, that nearly all the stuffs " were of the manufactures of England, and in honor of our own artists." Queen Caroline had on a plain yel low silk robe, with abundance of pearls and diamonds. This must have been among the last occasions when a bed-room reception was giren. It soon after became a fashion of the past.

One of the Princes of Wales who married was Edward of Westminster, son of Henry VI There are some romantic, but rather apocryphal, passages in the story of his courtship. « It is said, that when a fugitive with his mother in Paris, he met the Lady Ann Neville, daughter of Warwick the King- maker, ibeu a little girl of about his own years; that the two playmates couceived a deep affection for each other which did not pass away with childhood; and that Edward, after his return t<> England, escaped from home, and crossed to Calais to have another interview with his sweetheart, much to the alarm of his mother, who thought he had been spirited away or murdered by some of the opposite faction. The young couple seem to have been very well content with each other; but there is no doubt that the match was made purely for political leaso'ns, and to cement the alliance between ihe powerful earl and the house of Lancaster. The wedding took place at Amboise.

Of the last marriage of a Prince of Wales, when George IV. espoused Caroline of Brunswick, there is little to be said. The cold winter journey of the Princess to England, under the charge of Lord Malmesbury, who was always ! lecturing her on the untidiness of her dress and the freedom of her manners, her reception at Greenwich by hey sneering jival, Lady Jersey ; the silent ride to London, without a cheer from any one on the road ; the mutual disappointment of the affianced pair at tbeir first interview ; the Prince's demand for " A | glass of brandy, Harris," and his precipitate retreat ; the Princess's exclamation, " Man Dieu, quit est grosl" and the ill-omened nuptiuls, at which the bride was sulky and for. which the bridegroom had fortified himself by somewhat too libeial libations — all these incidents combined to form a tit prelude to the unhappy drama which ensued. It is pleasant to turn from this sad story' to the marriage on which the hopes of the nation are just now fixed, which combines all the elements of hap* piness and all the omens of good, and which is, no doubt, destined to form one of the brightest episodes in the story of the wooiogs and weddings of th^ Princes of Wales.