Durban - The first member of the royal family to visit South Africa was Prince Alfred in 1860.
The concept of the royal tour was a new one which had arisen when the people of Canada had requested a visit from their monarch Queen Victoria. She decided to send her 18-year-old heir Prince Edward - later Edward VII - to Canada and her second son, Prince Alfred, to South Africa, thus inaugurating the first royal tours. Before 1860, royals had visited the colonies but only with a military contingent.
Behind this decision was the guiding hand of Victoria’s husband, the serious-minded Prince Albert. He believed the royal children should lead useful lives, be well-informed and hard-working. In a constitutional monarchy, the Crown must become a symbol of service.
When Prince Albert set sail on
May 5, 1860, on HMS Euryalus, he was a 15-year old midshipman in the Royal Navy. Watching the Euryalus docking at Simon’s Town on July 24, the harbour-master was astonished to see Alfred on duty at the gangway.
The sea voyage had been long, but the royal duties which lay ahead were even more arduous. Visiting Cape Town, the Constantia vineyards and the Eastern Cape, he then had a memorable visit to the Orange Free State, whose president Pretorius was charmed by the unaffected boy. Just outside Bloemfontein, he shot his first wildebeest in a carefully-organised hunt during which more than 600 head of game were slaughtered.
Prince Alfred, 15, in his midshipman’s uniform, days before he sailed for South Africa.
The next stage on the prince’s itinerary was Britain’s newest colony, Natal. Accompanied by the governor of the Cape, Sir George Grey, the prince entered the colony on August 31 by way of Van Reenen’s Pass - “through the back door”, grumbled the residents of Durban. During the descent, a group of about 400 Zulu warriors rose and shouted “Bayede” as a sign of respect. At the foot of the pass, the prince’s party pitched tents and lit fires to prepare the evening meal - today we would call it a braai. As with much of his progress through South Africa, Alfred slept in a hammock slung in a tented wagon. Over the next two days, the party passed through Colenso, Weenen, Mooi River and the Umgeni Falls before reaching Pietermaritzburg.
A never-ending round of official duties awaited the “berry-brown” suntanned prince - and numerous welcoming arches.
He presented a new colour to the 85th Regiment of Infantry, held a levee at Government House and laid the foundation stone for the capital’s new Town Hall. Present was bishop Colenso, who said a prayer which was followed by a mayoral address.
The prince, dressed in his simple midshipman’s uniform, placed a bottle containing the address and some coins from his mother’s reign into a niche and then laid the foundation stone. On cue, the crowd “burst forth into hearty, loud and long-continued cheers” reported the Natal Courier.
The event which was to leave a lasting impression on him was the Zulu war dance. The whole of Pietermaritzburg appeared to have turned out to watch between 3000 and 4000 warriors in full war-costume perform what the Natal Courier described as the sight of the day.
“They advance, they retreat, they leap aloft into the air, brandishing their spears and kicking with knee and foot against their shields. They see the enemy and yell at him. How they would tear and rend him if they could but get at him.”
Nineteen years later, in 1879, the Zulu nation would do just that at Isandwana. But in 1860 Alfred rewarded the warriors for their entertainment with bullocks for feasting.
That evening there was a reception at Fort Napier. The next morning the guns at the fort were fired and the royal party began their journey to Durban on horseback. Passing through the spectacular Valley of a Thousand Hills, the prince stopped at Pinetown (where he received an official address) and admired the view from Cowie’s Hill before galloping on to Westville.
The inauguration of the Pietermaritzburg Town Hall. Prince Alfred laid the foundation stone.
The mainly German residents had loyally erected a triumphal arch “profusely decorated with flags, sugar cane, bananas, pineapples and flowers”.
This ungainly structure came tumbling down just before the prince jogged by, but in need of refreshment, he stopped at Westville’s German House on the old main road. This popular hostelry had burnt down only weeks before, but the Lange family put on a good enough reception to impress the prince, who remarked that he was most pleased to see his father’s countrymen living so peacefully in an English colony.
Then on to Durban, where he entered the town under the obligatory arch. He was welcomed by the mayor and local citizens who all joined him as he proceeded down Berea Road to Field Street where yet another arch awaited the royal arrival, and then to the Masonic Hotel where yet another arch awaited the prince.
If he thought he would have a chance to rest at the hotel after his long, tiring journey, Alfred was much mistaken. The dignitaries desired to unburden themselves of their addresses, so they crowded into the little Drawing Room where “the infliction was conferred”.
That evening, a ball was held. Mrs McArthur, the mayoress, was honoured with the hand of the prince in the first quadrille. As George Russell drily noted, her name for years to come was seldom mentioned without linking it to this event.
Alfred spent just one night in Durban, at the Masonic Hotel, whose owner wasted no time in renaming it the Royal Hotel (by Special Appointment) and displaying the royal coat of arms. It still trades under this name today.
The climax of his visit to Natal was significant. He boarded Durban’s recently-inaugurated train to be transported to the Point. It was South Africa’s only train, and the short journey took a record time of two minutes, 40 seconds. As one citizen boasted: his railway trip was a strictly Natalian feature. That evening, his ship the Euryalus sailed for the Cape where Alfred inaugurated the new breakwater in Table Bay, an occasion painted by both Thomas Bowler and Thomas Baines.
After other official events, Alfred could finally sail home. He had been away for six months, a period which changed the teenager and lingered long after in South Africa. His name features in town names (Port Alfred and Prince Alfred), street names, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and a military regiment (Prince Alfred’s Guard). For years, his birthday was a public holiday.
He visited the Cape twice more, in 1867 and 1870. Created the Duke of Edinburgh, he married the only daughter of Russia’s Tsar Alexander II. One of their daughters, Marie, became Queen of Romania.
He died in 1900, aged only 55, a few months before his mother, Queen Victoria.
His tour of South Africa was a personal triumph, which set in motion the concept of the modern royal tour, still defined by gushing officials giving addresses unintentionally crafted to torture the royal guest.