Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, became the first member of British royalty to visit the United States in 1860.
The invitation for the 18-year-old prince, who was touring Canada at the time, came from the top — President James Buchanan.
“I need not say how happy I should be to give him a cordial welcome to Washington,” the 15th president of the United States wrote in a June 4, 1860 letter to the prince’s mother, Queen Victoria. (Eleven years later, the queen sent a biography of her late husband, Prince Albert, for inclusion in Chicago’s first free library.)
The queen, in her June 22, 1860 response, called Buchanan “My Good Friend” before accepting his invitation.
As a sign of respect and in deference to the president, Queen Victoria said her son would drop all of his titles but his lowliest one — Baron Renfrew — and would be known by it while traveling through the country.
Headaches were what brought the prince to Illinois.
A stopover here was not assured until Chicago mayor John Wentworth traveled to Montreal to speak with the future Edward VII, who would later rule as King of England for nine years before his death in 1910. According to a letter Wentworth distributed to local newspapers, the prince was looking forward to visiting the city for some rest and relaxation — not to partake in pomp and circumstance.
“It has been very plainly intimated that the length of his stay in the West depends upon whether he shall be permitted to pass through the country quietly and without annoying demonstration,” said a Tribune editorial on Aug. 31, 1860. “We sincerely trust that our plain Republican people will not be betrayed by idle curiosity, or by any other feeling or motive, into an exhibition of conduct that will in any way interfere with the objects of the young gentleman’s visit to the States.”
The Tribune cautioned that locals should be on their best behavior when the prince arrived on Sept. 21, 1860.
“We are all sovereigns in this country — all the equals of Baron Renfrew. Let the remembrance of this fact save us from any exhibition of flunkeyism while he is among us.”
Yet Wentworth himself may have made the biggest faux pas when he introduced the prince to a crowd from the balcony of the Richmond Hotel, which was formerly located at Michigan Avenue and South Water Street and later destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire, where the royal party was staying.
“Boys,” Wentworth said, “this is the Prince of Wales. He’s come to see the city, and I’m going to show him around.” Wentworth then turned to his guest and said, “Prince, these are the boys.”
The prince and his entourage went on a tour of the city by carriage with Wentworth — and tens of thousands of others trailed them. He stopped at the Chicago Historical Society and the city’s Court House to check out the view from its cupola.
Rest would be found by the prince in downstate Dwight where a hunting excursion was organized on his behalf. Tribune archives say he “killed 325 head of game,” but neglect to say what the game was.
“Old timers in Chicago say that the game was quail and prairie chicken and that the baron was arrested for killing these birds on the Lord’s day,” the Tribune wrote in the Sept. 6, 1924 edition of the newspaper. “The arrest was not binding, however, and was considered a joke by (his royal highness).”
The prince also visited Washington, D.C., Detroit and St. Louis before returning for England in late October 1860.
Have an idea for Vintage baiduhai? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at [email protected] and [email protected].