Queen Victoria in Grasse: Notes from an American politician
In its January 1894 issue, the editor of Godey's Magazine published a travelogue written by Charles H. Adams, who visited the Riviera some time in 1891. Among others, he recounted his visit to Cannes and his thwarted attempt to be presented to Queen Victoria. The American politician eventually settled in chronicling his "meeting" with The Queen from a short distance.
We reached Cannes at a quarter past one, where we exchanged the train du luxe for one on a local railroad to Grasse, as we desired to see this little town, which had sprung into distant notoriety on account of the presence of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Grasse has been noted for many years as being the locality where vast quantities of roses are grown to be manufactured into various kinds of perfumery. The plantations which we passed made the air redolent with the delightful odor of their products. The perfumery factories exist at Grasse almost to the exclusion of any other business.
We walked up the hill and beyond the village, and just ahead of us saw the British flag floating from the large hotel overlooking the valley, where Her Majesty had been spending several weeks; and the hotel was exclusively occupied by the Queen and her suite . We observed a crowd lining the road way, and upon inquiry found that she was about to drive to the station to take the royal train to Cannes for the after noon outing.
Having letters of introduction from influential sources to her Majesty, and knowing that when she returned to England she would probably hasten to Balmoral, where I could not follow her for lack of time, I decided to present my credentials to her here, and so walked boldly into the hall of the hotel and gave them to a lackey in waiting. He told me the Queen was going in half an hour to Cannes, and he did not believe it would be possible for me to see her.
I told him I had come four thousand miles to see her, and I promised not to detain her more than a few minutes. He carried my letters in , and while waiting for his return I looked about me and saw that the hall was filled with choice tropical plants, which , by the way, grow luxuriantly here in the open air ; members of her suite were standing about, evidently awaiting her approach .
Her Scotch servant, who succeeded the late lamented John Brown, came out, and I instantly recognized him , having seen him in Scotland a few years ago , when he was with the royal party at the dedication of the municipal buildings in Glasgow. Just then a fussy-looking individual entered the front door, and in a tone of surprise, partly looking at me and those gathered about me, said: "What is it? What is it?" I stated my business to him, and that I wished to particularly get some information from her Majesty. He said the Queen was so old he did not believe she would remember much about it, which I though was not much of a compliment to her Majesty; and he added that if I would go to the British Museum in London I could obtain the desired information. He further said he thought it would be better to refer my application to Sir Henry Ponsonby, the private secretary to the Queen. I felt once that I would not be permitted to have a private audience with her. Presently my papers were returned, with the message from Sir Henry that it would be impossible for me to see her Majesty, as she was going out to rise, and that I must come to London and be presented in the regular way, through the American minister, Mr. Lincoln. Nothing remained, therefore, but to bow to the inevitable, and I stepped outside to await the Queen's coming. In a few minutes the royal carriage, to which was attached a single pair of horses, preceded by her single English postilion mounted on a beautiful bay horse, drove to the front door.
The Queen then came out with Princess Beatrice and entered the carriage. At once two little girls appeared at the side of the carriage and presented her with the customary little bouquet, which was their custom every time she went to drive. The Queen took the flowers, and kindly addressed a few words to the children, and the carriage started down the hill, the crowd being kept at a respectful distance by the French gens d'armes; all of which looked like mockery to me - to see the royal head of the English government, the ancient enemy of the French, guarded on her way by French policemen.
On my way back to Cannes we again met her Majesty in the royal train, and were much amused at the deference paid the royal party by the English tourists, who had been flocking to Grasse in great numbers to pay their respects to their honored liege lady; even Prince Henry of Battenberg and the Grand Duke of Hesse came in for a share of the obeisance paid to their Queen.
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