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Lives of the queens of England, from the Norman conquest (1882)
Lives of the queens of England from the Norman conquest - 1882 Author:Agnes Strickland Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: remark that the queen's coach was black, drawn by black horses, with black harness and housings. Such dismal trap- pings, which were likewise seen on the twelve ... more »carriages that made up the royal procession, were in consequence of the deep mourning which still prevailed for king William. The Bristol annals likewise mention that the mourning worn by the royal persons was purple. The queen and prince Georgt went through all the usual routine of a grand civic reception, from which the ancient customs of pageantry and presents were entirely excluded; and then partook of a magnificent dinner, at the great house of sir Thomas Day, Bridge-end.1 Here queen Anne gave receptions to mistress mayoress and other Bristol ladies, who kissed her majesty's hand, and went through the regular court presentations. When the fatiguing day came to a close, the queen, with her invalid consort, entered their black vehicle, and, followed by their long funeral- looking procession of mourning coaches, arrived safely at the neighbouring city of Bath that night. In the course of the first four months of her accession, the queen seems to have taken considerable pleasure in rewarding any instances of disinterested attention, which either she or her consort had experienced during their previous long eclipse of court favour. The kindness of Mrs. Davies, of Twickenham, was rewarded by a renewal of her expiring lease of the house she had lent for the reception of the duke of Gloucester, for which purpose queen Anne wrote an especial request to Catharine of Braganza, of whose dower the old manor-house and its demesne made part. The royal visit to Bristol evidently brought John Duddlestone to the memory of prince George, and caused that worthy citizen's connexion with royalty to conclude in a very satisfactory manner...« less