King  Edward  VII. 
5 
the  Prince  in  the  sad  affliction  of  the  death  of  his  eldest  son, 
the  Duke  of  Clarence.  The  motion  of  sympathy,  proposed 
in  a feeling  speech  by  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  was  carried 
in  silence,  all  the  members  standing.  It  was  afterwards 
graciously  acknowledged. 
Passing  now  to  1893,  we  find  His  Royal  Highness  again 
showing  himself  an  active  member  of  the  Society.  On 
February  1,  at  the  Council  Meeting,  he  moved  a vote  of  thanks 
to  the  Duke  of  Westminster  and  Sir  Walter  Gilbey,  who  had, 
in  the  most  public-spirited  manner,  secured  Harewood  House 
for  the  Society  to  occupy  as  its  headquarters.  On  March  1 
he  attended  a meeting  convened  by  the  Duke  of  Westminster 
to  consider  the  best  means  of  commemorating  the  completion 
of  the  half-century  of  agricultural  experiments  carried  out 
by  Sir  John  Lawes  at  Rothamsted  continuously  since  1843. 
On  this  occasion  he  spoke  at  length.  This  same  year  (1893), 
we  find  him  attending  the  Show  at  Chester,  and  proposing 
a vote  of  thanks  to  the  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  the  City 
for  their  reception  of  the  Society. 
In  1894,  he  attended  the  annual  country  meeting  at 
Cambridge,  and  was  present  at  the  General  Meeting  in  the 
Showyard  at  that  place.  On  this  occasion,  when  moving 
a vote  of  thanks  to  the  Mayor  and  Corporation,  he  mentioned 
that  the  last  show  held  there  had  taken  place  fifty-four  years 
previously,  and  that  the  prizes  had  then  amounted  to  £900, 
whereas,  at  the  meeting  at  which  he  was  speaking,  no  less 
a sum  than  £5,433  was  being  offered.  He  concluded  by 
saying  that  he  was  glad  to  re-visit  a place  where  he  had  once 
spent  a year. 
During  the  next  three  or  four  years,  the  Prince  only 
occasionally  attended  Council  Meetings.  He,  however, 
visited  the  Show  at  Four  Oaks  in  1898,  and  in 
March,  1899,  it  was  announced  that  His  Royal  Highness 
would  accept  the  Presidency  of  the  Society  for  the  year  1900, 
“ in  order  to  show  the  great  interest  which  he  takes  in  every- 
thing relating  to  Agriculture.”  This  same  year  he  attended 
the  anniversary  General  Meeting  at  the  Society’s  headquarters, 
at  which  he  was  proposed  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  Walter  Long,  M.P., 
Minister  for  Agriculture,  as  President  for  the  next  year,  and 
on  the  motion  being  seconded  by  Mr.  Clare  Sewell  Read,  was 
elected  by  acclamation.  In  accepting  the  election,  the  Prince 
said  that  he  considered  it  a very  high  honour,  and  referred 
to  his  long  connection  with  the  “ Royal.”  A month  later, 
on  being  voted  to  the  chair  after  the  Maidstone  meeting  which 
he  attended,  he  spoke  of  his  “ deep  personal  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  the  Society,”  and  in  the  course  of  his  speech, 
thanked  the  meeting  for  the  hearty  way  in  which  they  had 
