In 1870, at the zenith of the British Empire, Queen Victoria was revered by subjugated peoples worldwide, including the Ceylonese. This was a time when loyalty to the throne and subservience to British rule was considered advantageous – most notably by the servile bourgeoisie who benefited both economically and socially from imperialism. So when it was announced that Queen Victoria's second son, Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh, was to be the first British royal to visit Ceylon, the mood was one of glorious expectation. One of the most important aspects of royal visits was the official record, used to communicate to Britain's population the loyal sentiments of the far-flung peoples of the colonies. In an age before electronic media, and when photography was still in its infancy, the reliance was instead on written accounts, supported by sketches and paintings, which were published in newspapers and periodicals.
For Prince Alfred's visit, an illustrated book was commissioned to document the five-week stay. The individual chosen to write it was an Englishman resident in Ceylon, John Capper, the respected editor of the Times of Ceylon and a published author in his own right. Capper's documentation of the trip, entitled The Duke of Edinburgh in Ceylon: A book of elephant and elk sport, was published in London in 1871, containing 39 brief chapters and eight lithographic illustrations (see images). The volume begins by describing the local population's enthusiastic reaction to the impending visit. "That the children of the soil, the half-clad cultivators, the small traders, the untutored villagers, should have formed a willing army of workers was indeed something of which none had dreamed," Capper wrote. The reference here is to the labour force needed to construct the massive kraals (enclosures for captured elephants), fell large tracts of jungle, build roads and generally to erect a complete town for the prince, his entourage and other assorted visitors. It had taken thousands of workers three months to complete these monumental tasks.
Towards the end of March 1870, in anticipation of the royal arrival, there was a general migration towards Colombo – "the provinces may be said to have come to town," as Capper described it. According to Capper, toll-keepers were not prepared for such an influx of village headmen, travelling in pony-carriages and hackeries. "There is a limit to what Oriental human nature can endure," he asserted. "Some toll-keepers' assistants on the Moratuwa road were carried home on shutters, long before sundown; whilst one principal toll-renter was removed from the scene of his trials wrapped in a double cumbli."
Of levées and kraaling
The much-awaited arrival occurred on 30 March with the prince's vessel, the Galatea, giving an 11-gun salute. "Just at this juncture," Capper wrote, "a fleet of fishing-canoes, 300 in number, scudded up to the approaching vessel. They knew no other way of testifying their attachment to the throne, their fidelity to the Sovereign, than by this simple act." At four o'clock, the Royal Standard was hoisted by the Galatea as a sign of impending royal activity. "A fleet of boats of every description put out from shore, and stationed themselves along the waterway between the Galatea and the landing-place," Capper wrote.