This is not the 1954 Queen. Edward, Prince of Wales — the one who later became Edward VIII and then didn’t stay king — came out on HMS Renown in 1920 to thank Australia for the war. The tour ran from late May to mid-August, something like 110 towns, the “Digger Prince” working the returned men. Sydney’s piece was June: bunting, night illuminations, a Town Hall levee where tens of thousands filed past the steps. Arthur Streeton later painted the Renown in the harbour — that’s the mood, even if this post only has two snaps.
He left Sydney in August 1920 with a facsimile letter for schoolchildren. Keep this page distinct from the 1954 royal-visit galleries. Two photographs is not a tour diary. Say who he was, why he came, and that the crowds were the point.
SOUVENIR
. . of . .
H.R.H. The Prince of Wales' Visit to Australia 1920
THE NEW SOUTH WALES BOOKSTALL CO., LTD.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
1920
The Prince of Wales.
Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Great Steward of Scotland, High Steward of Windsor, K.G., G.M.M.G., G.M.B.E., M.C., K.C.V.O., Personal A.D.C. to H.M. the King, Colonel of the Welsh Guards, Col.-in-Chief D.C.L.I., Col.-in-Chief Royal Wilts Yeomanry, Col.-in-Chief Cadet Corps of the U.K., Captain R.N. and Col. Grenadier Guards.
THE above are the full name and titles of the Heir-Apparent of the Throne of the United Kingdom and British Empire, who visits Australia and New Zealand as his father's unofficial ambassador. No visitor could be more welcome in these Dominions beyond the Seas than the Prince, who has already proved himself a soldier and a man.
The Prince of Wales was born on the 23rd June, 1894, at White Lodge, Richmond, being the first child of their Majesties King George the Fifth and Queen Mary.
He entered the Royal Naval College at Osborne before attaining his thirteenth birthday, and two years later went through the naval course at Dartmouth. Then he entered as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, and went for a three months' cruise on the battleship "Hindustan."
In 1910 he was enrolled as an undergraduate at Magdalen College, Oxford. On the 11th June, 1911, he was installed as a Knight of the Garter, and on the 13th July he was invested as Prince of Wales at Carnarvon Castle.
At Oxford the Prince followed a special course of study in history and modern languages, drilling with the Officers Training Corps and taking a creditable part in games. The general opinion of all who knew him in boyhood was that he was gentle and sincere in manner, hard-working and earnest in his endeavours to fit himself for the responsibilities of his high position.
One of the first public tasks assigned to him by his father was the reception of President Poincare when he visited England in 1913. The Prince met the President of France at Portsmouth, and the latter complimented the youth of nineteen on his command of conversational French. The Prince had spent some time in France in 1912, and in 1913 paid a short visit to Germany.
When the war broke out in August, 1914, the Prince of Wales opened a fund for the relief of any distress which might be caused by the war. This [page ends]
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