O'Connorite Bedlam: Feargus and his grand-nephew, Arthur.

It was a fine morning, Queen Victoria observed. After breakfast, she became aware of the crowds congregating outside Buckingham Palace. For this day of thanksgiving, 27 February 1872, the Queen's habitual widow's weeds were trimmed with miniver and her bonnet adorned with white flowers and a white feather. At 12.05 p.m., she took her place, together with the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children, in an open state landau, drawn by six horses and ridden by three postilions. As on all state occasions, the Queen was given a sovereign's escort. The procession was led by the carriages of the Speaker, the Lord Chancellor, and the Commander-in-Chief. Their destination was St Paul's Cathedral, where a thanksgiving service was to be celebrated for the recovery of the Prince of Wales from a near-fatal bout of typhoid fever. His recuperation, however, was far from complete. "Bertie", his mother noted, "was very lame and did not look at all well".2 Nonetheless, the nation's mood was festive and for millions of Londoners it was a day of carnival. In contrast to the all-pervading loyalty without, the Queen found the interior of St Paul's "dull, cold, dreary and dingy", the service "cold and too long". It was with some relief that the royal party embarked on the homeward journey. Once ensconced within the palace precincts, the Queen reflected on the day's events and concluded that it was an occasion to be treasured.3 Nor would it be forgotten by the armed youth who lurked outside. His plan of confronting the monarch in the aisle of St Paul's and demanding the release of the imprisoned Fenians in return for her safety was foiled on the eve of the ceremony, when he was discovered by the verger and escorted from the cathedral. His quarry eluded him on the following morning also, but on the afternoon of 29 February, fortune beckoned. As the Queen's open landau approached the garden entrance to Buckingham Palace on her return from her daily airing in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, and with