1-150-642 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Suspense', 1871. Britannia waits anxiously outside the door of the Prince of Wales's sick chamber. Since Prince Albert's death some ten years earlier, Queen Victoria's continued withdrawal from public life had attracted increasing criticism, especially as demands on the public purse to support her large family had continued to grow. The Republican movement was growing vociferous until, late in 1871, the Prince of Wales was stricken with typhoid fever, the illness that had ended his father's life. For some days, the Prince of Wales was in great danger and his recovery sparked a outburst of public support for the monarchy and a thanksgiving service was held at St Paul's at the end of February 1872. From Punch, or the London Charivari, December 23, 1871.