COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 69 



the hill above Kingston, which gave our horses a 

 moment to get their wind. The Royal carriage goes 

 about ten miles an hour. We then went on to Clare- 

 mont and marched back quietly to Kingston, where 

 we were billeted for the night. 



I went back to Claremont in a cab, where there 

 was dinner in the ante-room for the officers of the 

 guard of honour and escort. I forget who they were, 

 but the Hon. Charles Murray, who was comptroller 

 of the household, came and talked to us. We went 

 back to London on Sunday evening after dinner, and 

 it was quite dark when we got back. I reported to 

 Lord Rosslyn that it was too long a job for troop 

 horses, and he arranged that they should be relieved 

 every six miles. 



Relieving escort was a very pretty sight. The 

 new escort was formed on each side of the road facing 

 inwards. The two leading men of the old escort 

 formed up on the new escort, and the two leading 

 men of the new escort broke away, and so on in 

 succession without any check in the pace of the 

 carriage. 



A lunatic named Oxford fired a pistol at the 

 Queen's carriage one day while driving in the park. 

 Soon after this I had the escort for six miles out of 

 London. The park was lined with carriages and 

 crowds of people cheering, and the school children 

 threw flowers on the road in front of the carriage, and 

 the Queen wept and sobbed the whole way. After 

 this we were ordered to ride close to the Queen to 

 protect her person. 



