3-011-395 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales to Sweden: the landing at Stockholm, from a sketch by our special artist, 1864. The future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in Scandinavia. 'The crowd of spectators on the quay presently saw the Royal visitors approach...The quay reached and foot set on terra firma, it was but a step to the carriages; and, as the members successively of the Royal family took their places in them, running footmen, with flambeaux, dashed to the front, the quaintly-costumed horsemen galloped at their side, the coaches themselves tore off at speed, and an exciting spectacle was presented...The torchlight procession, for such it was, from the quay to the palace, was indeed a curious sight. The "Charles the Twelfth" guards are the most antiquated in appearance of any troops in Europe, since they wear the same broad-skirted blue coats, looped up in the same fashion, faced with the same yellow facings, and accompanied by the same three-cornered hats, as the ambitious conqueror saw on parade-grounds and battle-fields out of number. These mounted warriors were followed by officials, also on horseback, and also strangely apparelled, carrying flambeaux'. Illustration from "Illustrated London News", [1864].