VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO THE PREMIER.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2823, 2 March 1878, Page 3

VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO THE PREMIER.

Forty-five years ago, in the old posting days, a quiet travelling carriage, occupied by a widowed lady and a girl of 13, stopped on its way to Stowe at the old Spd Lion in the main street of the ancient Borough of High Wycombe. The few loiterers round the doors of the busy inn gazed curiously at the daughter of the Duchess of SLent, for - already it was known that the child might one day occupy the English throne. Last Saturday some of those same loiterers might have gazed on the face of a 40 years' Queen, for on that day Her Majesty, for the third time only during her reign, paid a visit to her Premier. .It was only last Tuesday that Her Majesty's intention to visit Hughenden became known, and then it was said that the Eoyal progress would bo strictly private. Bat the hearty loyalty of the burghers was not to be gainsaid, and preparations were forthwith made to give Her Majesty fitting welcome. By Saturday at mid-day all'was ready. The little station had been decorated and carpeted, the waitingroom had been transformed from a comfortless antechamber into a very bower of flowers and evergreens. About a quarter to 1 it was stated that the Queen had left Windsor, and almost at the same time Lord Iseaconsfield, accompanied by Mr Montagu Corry, arrived. His lordship, who seemed in admirable health, sat for a few moments in the waiting room, and then, .as the train was signalled, came on the platform, and after exchanging a few words with the mayor, stood with bared head waiting the coming of the Queen. A few seconds of expectation, and the magnificent Royal train of the Great Western Railway arrived. A few seconds more, and bowing pleasantly right and left, and smilingly acknowledging the cheers that bnrst out on all hands, Her

Mnicsty stepped out, and gave her hand to the Prime Minister, who bowing low acknowledged in a few words the honour of which he was the recipient. Then the mayor was presented, iiiul he in his turn presented an nddress. Lord Beaconsfield bonded the address (w)iich was taken as read) t> the Queen, and said, in reply :—" I am instructed by Her Majesty to thank you for your address, and Her Majesty desires me to express to you her satisfaction at finding herself, after a long interval of years, once again in her ancienl borough of Wycombe." Miss Emily Phillips, the daughter of the Mayor, then advanced, and presented Her Majesty and the Princess Beatrice with mngnifieent bouquets. An open carriage with foyr horses was in waiting, and Her Majesty's appearance outside was the signal for a fresh bnrst of cheering, accompanied by the voices of the school children singing the National Anthem.

At the gate of the station was a handsome arch of evergreens, bearing the appropriate motto of " Welcome," and from this point till the confines of the borough were reached thero was nothing to be seen but waving flags, expressive mottoes, handsome arches, and crowds of cheering people. The narrow steep thoroughfare of-Credon - street scarcely lent itself to extensive decoration, but this only increased the striking effect on turning sharply into the wide handsome main thoroughfare. Here there had been no general agreement as tc« style, the inhabitants wisely preferring to trust each to their own ideas," and though the result was a marvellous monotony of mottoes, the effect was on the whole good. The perspective of this fine street was appropriately closed by the ancient Town - hall, opposite which was erected the chief pride of the place—an arch decorated with all sorts of chairs, which are the chief-manufacture of the town. At the bottom were common Windsor and cane-seated chairs, rising with the ascent of the arch through draw-ing-room, lounge, library, reading, rocking, and other seats, to two magnificent carved beech antiques, covered with red velvet, and bearing on the back the gilded crest of the borough, a swan with collar. This arch attracted great admiration, and Her Majesty, as she returned from Hughen« den, had the carriage stopped to enable her carefully to examine the incongruous elements of which it was composed. Beyond this, at the other entrance of the town, just above the junction oi the Hughenden and Oxford roads was another handsome arch inscribed " Hail, Empress of India," and on the reverse "Welcome, Victoria." Frogmore garden, with its fine fountain, reached, the decorations fitfully came to an end, and the Queen's carriage, preceded by that of Lord Beaconsfield, rolled swiftly towards Hughenden Manor. There Her Majesty remained about two hours, visiting toe principal roems, and planting a tree on the lawn, the proceedings being of course strictly private. Two hours soon passed away, and all was ready for departure. A diminished crowd gathered at the station, the carriages drove quickly up, there was a fresh burst of cheers as the train moved off, and no in the fading light of a December afternoon the Queen's first visit to the loyal and ancient borough of Chipping Wycombe came to an end.