highly esteemed and dear friend of
myself." On July 6th a new Gymnasium for the Young Men's Christian
Association was opened in London; on May 9th the Prince and Princess
visited Blackburn and were enthusiastically received; on May 14th His
Royal Highness, accompanied by his wife and daughters, Prince Charles of
Denmark and Prince George of Greece, opened the Anglo-Danish Exhibition
at South Kensington; on July 17th he inaugurated the new buildings of
the Great Northern Hospital at Islington and in the autumn of the year
paid a visit to Austria and some of the countries in Southern Europe.

The purely public events of following years may be briefly and partially
summarized. In June, 1889, the Prince and Princess of Wales visited the
Paris Exhibition in a semi-private capacity, and were present at Athens,
on October 27th, at the wedding of the Duke of Sparta and Princess
Sophia of Germany. The great Forth Bridge was opened by the Prince in
March, 1890, and a short time spent with Lord Rosebery at Dalmeny; a
visit was paid to Berlin, accompanied by Prince George, on March 21st; a
statue of the Duke of Albany was unveiled at Cannes on April 6th; a new
nave in the ancient Church of St. Saviour, Southwark, was inaugurated on
July 24th; the new Town Hall at Portsmouth was opened on August 9th; the
City of London Electric Railway was inaugurated on November 4th. On
November 9th, 1891, the theatrical managers of London presented His
Royal Highness with a large gold cigar-box in honour of his fiftieth
birthday. In 1892 the Prince visited the Royal Agricultural Society at
Warwick with the Duke of York, laid the foundation-stone of the
Clarence Memorial addition to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, and
supervised the re-building of Sandringham after the fire which had
consumed a portion of it. One of the events of 1894 was a visit to
Coburg in April and attendance at the marriage of his niece and nephew,
the Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and the Grand Duke of Hesse.
Another was the opening of the Tower Bridge, London, in June, by the
Prince and Princess on behalf of the Queen.

On May 16, 1895, the Prince of Wales reviewed the Warwickshire Yeomanry;
on July 8th he laid the foundation-stone of new buildings at the Epsom
Medical College; in July he reviewed Italian and British fleets off
Portsmouth; on July 22nd he opened the new building of the Royal Free
Hospital, Grey's Inn Road, London; in November he presided at a lecture
in