The royal tour, 1901 : or, The cruise of H.M.S. Ophir, beng a lower deck account of their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Yorks voyage around the British Empire

by Harry Price

The Royal Tour is a facsimile of Petty Officer Harry Price’s handwritten and illustrated account of the cruise of HMS Ophir in 1901, when the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) toured almost the whole of the British Empire with the exception of India. They travelled via Gibraltar and Malta down the Red Sea to Colombo and Singapore, going on to Australia and New Zealand, across the Indian Ocean to South Africa via Mauritius and finally to Canada via St Vincent before returning to England. The whole trip took nearly nine months and was enormously popular with the countries visited. It was a time when the British Empire was immensely strong, and the reception of the royal party at each port of call highlighted the success of the tour as a diplomatic exercise.

Harry Price Wrote and illustrated his journal during the voyage itself, and produced a picture of the tour which has an immediate and spontaneous impact, far removed from the turgid official reports of the time.

Apart from the journal itself the book includes a biographical note by Harry Price’s son Jack, his naval papers and a portrait of himself in the tropical kit of the period.”

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Harry Price was a British psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and his exposing fraudulent spiritualist mediums. He is best known for his well-publicized investigation of the purportedly haunted Borley Rectory in Essex, England.

Reviews

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the drawings/paintings. It was not easy to read the details from the "hand written" words. The drawings and paintings were wonderful. Still, I learned more about all the countries England owned. I saw some of the beauty of each.

[Margaret Virany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I have too many books and am getting on, I thought it was a good idea to buy a Kindle reader. Moving into a smaller apartment or a retirement home would be easy if I could carry up to 1400 books with me in my purse or one hand.
Shortly after my purchase, our church’s January Spaghetti Dinner & Used Book Sale came up, an event not to be missed, with the best sauce in the world cooked by two scoutmasters. I wolfed down the pasta, Caesar salad and cake, then approached the book tables full of sales resistance. I was here just to browse.
Moments later I fell for a fantastic six-pound tome, still in its original dust jacket.
Harry Price’s The Royal Tour 1901 is an account of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall’s nine-month world tour from the perspective of a crew member. The book is handscripted on heavy parchment paper with 170 exquisite, delicate, colorful drawings of ships, people, animals, birds, landscapes, seascapes, ceremonial arches erected specially for the royal couple, charts, logs and imaginative title pages.
Small wonder I was ensnared, its contents were so relevant to me. The author is shown wearing a tropical ordinary seaman’s dress uniform, as my father wore in World War I. The HMS Ophir sailed from Portsmouth, UK, where my mother was born. Price’s Wikipedia biography says he was born in a caul, which is fabled to make a person drowning-proof, and so was my sister. (A Book of Kells).
But more than that, I’m planning to publish an ebook on my husband’s and my road trip all around America in a Prius and I need to look at other travel books to see how they’re done.
Price must have known his book risked being a boring, repetitive, ultra-patriotic paean to the British regime. He saved it by including his own illustrated story of going off ship and climbing up and back down Tasmania's 4170-ft Mount Wellington in one day. It was an impossible feat but he had made a bet with his buddies.
When he reached the summit, he hoisted the flag he had bought before he set out. To plant it, he used a stick he had found along the way and carried with great difficulty. He needed to produce proof of his exploit for the other members of the crew to see. Unfortunately, it was a French flag because all the stores were out of Union Jacks, due to the Royal Tour.
Now that’s a story worth buying, even if you are already loaded with books and have no guarantee of always owning a coffee table.A Book of KellsThe Royal Tour, 1901, Or, The Cruise Of H. M. S. Ophir: Being A Lower Deck Account Of Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke And Duchess Of Cornwall And York's Voyage Around The British EmpireKathleen's Cariole Ride

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well illustrated personal diary of the Royal Tour.
Fantastic illustrations (paintings) by a very talented artist.
Cracking Book - Not just a "Goodread" - a "Great Read!" :-)

A fantastic glimpse into the past and a different way of life!