3-065-746 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Queen meeting the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh at Windsor Railway Station, 1874. Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with his new bride, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. 'The station...had been carpeted and decorated...Her Majesty wore a white miniver jacket with black spots, a black bonnet in the trimming of which was some sprinkling of white, and carried a grey parasol, which was not out of season that day, so bright was the sunshine. The Princess of Wales wore a Russian sable over a green dress, with a green feather in her bonnet...The train came into the station amid the cheers of the company, and her Majesty stepped from the waiting-room to the platform. Close behind her stood the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince and Princess Christian, Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, Prince Leopold, the Duke of Cambridge, and the two eldest boys of the Prince of Wales...No sooner had the Grand Duchess set foot on the platform than a glad smile lighted up the features of the Queen, who advanced to meet her, took her in both arms before she could make any courtesy or formal greeting, and kissed her repeatedly on both cheeks with the warmest affection. This embrace was returned with equal warmth of feeling'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.