Royal Weddings

[daggers]

The archived Liverpool Mercury shows that it gave immense coverage to a Royal Wedding in 1863 - the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Here is a brief taste of a small part of the third page of coverage of events, to which I have added a note based on Gore's Annals of Liverpool, and my comment:

From the Liverpool Mercury, 11 March 1863,.

AIGBURTH AND GARSTON
In honour of the marriage of the Prince of Wales the men and women of the district over 50 years of age were entertained to a dinner of good old English fare at the Garston Hotel, provided by subscription…
All the widows were presented with a shilling and at the invitation of Miss L- the children partook of tea at the capacious schoolroom. Those of St Anne’s school, Aigburth, were presented with a medal by the Rev. Mr Hecker*, and about 200 of them partook of dinner and the remainder of tea. Mr E. Z- presented each child with 6 pence, the sum of 2 shillings each to 20 old people and 1 shilling each to 40 old people in the district of Aigburth.
In the course of the day the 15th Artillery Volunteers fired a royal salute from the battery**.

• vicar
• ** forerunners of the Territorials, based at Garston and Speke.

Aigburth and Garston were then separate from Liverpool, which celebrated in grand style – 60,000 children entertained at a cost of £1500, processions, boat races, bands, free music at St George’s Hall, illuminations and fireworks, a Town Hall banquet given by the mayor for the elite and a grand ball.
All this when Lancashire was impoverished by the great cotton famine.

[MaryA]

Imagine what it would cost to do that this time.

Thanks for that post Daggers, it gives a taste of how things were celebrated all that long ago.