Excerpt from Narrative of the Visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to the Colony of Victoria, Australia Throughout his stay, the Duke of Edinburgh underwent the penalties of Royalty with the utmost readiness, courtesy, and grace; all the official ceremonials were duly and willingly performed, and those who were brought most closely in contact with his Royal Highness can testify that no one could be more anxious to oblige everybody, and more ready to sacrifice his own personal comfort and convenience to that end, than he himself. It is, of course, a matter of conjecture when next the Australian colonies are to be honoured by a visit from a member of the Royal Family, but it may be respectfully suggested that whenever it occurs no Royal guest shall be compelled to devote more than sixteen out of every twenty-four hours to the discharge of official duties, the balance being left for his own enjoyment and rest. With regard to the beneficial effects which are likely to accrue to the several colonies in consequence of the Royal visit, it is but reasonable that we should look to such a happy event as one of a series of means to render the Australian provinces better known and appreciated in England than they are at present. That the Prince and members of the Royal party have been astonished at the advanced progress of the colonies, is no more than we might have expected to hear; but his Royal Highness has gone much beyond this, and has expressed himself as very gravely impressed with the evidences of general prosperity and of the greatness of Australia. Such assurances as these are highly gratifying, and there can be little doubt that when the Prince returns to England, public attention will be much more directed towards colonial affairs, and it is to be hoped that a more generous tone will be adopted towards these southern portions of the British Empire, after his Royal Highness has enlightened the authorities with regard to their condition and importance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.