(Victorian Gardening.) Illuminated Vellum Proclamation for Princess Beatrice

Book. To Her Royal Highness Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore Princess of Battenberg. May it please Your Highness. We the Aldermen and Burgesses of the ancient and loyal Borough of Southampton in Council assembled beg leave to most repectfully tender to your Royal Highness our sincere and hearty thanks for your kindness in consenting to open for the present year the Show of the Royal Horticultural Society of Southampton and the exhibition of the Hants Beekeepers Association in Westwood Park... etc., 31st Day of July in the Year 1886. Document on vellum, illuminated in gold, silver and colors, signed W. C. Clarke. 22 x 15 1/2 inches, framed under glass. Large, elaborate example of Victorian illumination, the ornamented calligraphic text within a border of roses and thistles, with the Royal Arms at top and the Southampton Arms at bottom, a wax seal attached, and signed by Henry Coles, Mayor of Southampton. Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) was the youngest of Victoria's nine children. The text expresses "the profound respect we entertain for your personal character and our admiration of the affectionate manner in which you have comforted and assisted your widowed mother our Gracious Sovereign the Queen"..