3-053-661 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Shah's last look at England, 1873. The Shah of Persia leaves for France. 'The Shah's departure, on Saturday, by the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, to Portsmouth, and his embarkation for Cherbourg on board the French Government yacht Rapide, was the last act of these remarkable proceedings...The two English Princes having taken leave of his Persian Majesty, and all being ready for departure, the French yachts started at two o'clock. They were joined at Spithead by four of the great ironclads of our Channel Squadron, which formed a powerful escort, the Northumberland and Agincourt on the port side, the Sultan and Hercules on the starboard. As the shores of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight receded from view in the distance, the Shah was observed standing alone upon the afterdeck, and looking back with an air of fixed meditation. The sea was calm and the air was clear; the yachts, with their guard of mighty British war-ships, went on towards France'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.