Description
Book SynopsisIn 1860, Queen Victoria sent her eighteen-year-old son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, on a goodwill mission to Canada and the United States. The young heir-apparent (later King Edward VII) had not yet gained his reputation as a fashion setter and rake, but he nevertheless attracted enormous crowds both in Canada, where it was the first royal visit, and in the United States. Civic leaders hosted the visitor in princely style, decorating their towns with triumphal arches and organizing royal entries, public processions, openings, and grand balls.
In Royal Spectacle, Ian Radforth recreates these displays of civic pride by making use of the many public and private accounts of them, and he analyses the heated controversies the visit provoked. When communities rushed to honour the prince and put themselves on display, social divisions inadvertently became part of the spectacle seen by the prince and described by visiting journalists. Street theatre reached a climax in Kings
Trade Review
"'Well written and scrupulously researched, Royal Spectacle provides an elegant example of the ways in which a micro study of an event can provide a rich field for a cultural historian. Ian Radforth is consistently attentive to questions of difference in Canadian society - particularly the differences of gender, race, ethnicity and religion, and region. This book makes a significant contribution to cultural, social, and gender history. I very much enjoyed reading it.' Catherine Hall, Department of History, University College London; "His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales passing the residence of the mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick." (Illustrated London News, 8 September 1860)."
