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Lot Essay
Although inscribed and dated 1910, this work actually depicts the spring cruise undertaken by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra the previous year. Whilst the Queen and her sister, the Dowager Empress of Russia, continued on to Athens to visit their brother (King George I of the Hellenes) after King Edward returned home overland, the major part of the 1909 cruise consisted of calls at first Malta and then various Italian ports, notably Naples, where the royal ladies went up Vesuvius on donkey-back much to the annoyance of the King who declined to attempt the donkey-ride and waited impatiently below for them to return.
H.M.S. Cochrane, the escort vessel on this occasion, was a powerful new armoured cruiser built by Fairfield's at Govan and completed in 1907. Mounting 6 - 9.2in. guns as her main armament, she enjoyed a distinguished wartime career only to be wrecked in the Mersey estuary on 14th November 1918, a mere three days after the Armistice was signed.
H.M.S. Cochrane, the escort vessel on this occasion, was a powerful new armoured cruiser built by Fairfield's at Govan and completed in 1907. Mounting 6 - 9.2in. guns as her main armament, she enjoyed a distinguished wartime career only to be wrecked in the Mersey estuary on 14th November 1918, a mere three days after the Armistice was signed.
