3-017-018 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Royal Visit to Cambridge - college boat clubs marching past the Prince and Princess of Wales, 1864. 'In the grounds of St. John's College...was one of the most brilliant scenes...namely, the marshalling of the University boats in honour of the Royal visitors. This spectacle was much more gay and splendid than the ordinary annual procession of the boats which took place about three weeks before...The Prince and Princess of Wales [future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra], who were in King's grounds, where a marquee had been erected, watched this animated pageant from the banks, and when the boats returned and formed a sort of bridge across the river, the men tossing their oars and cheering lustily, their Royal Highnesses bowed repeatedly, evidently delighted with what they saw. The Prince and the distinguished Doctors of Law who accompanied him wore their scarlet robes. Three cheers for the Queen, and three more for the Prince and Princess of Wales, followed, and then the boats all paddled away in the order in which they had advanced'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.