Premier Richard John Seddon was a favourite target for the pen and wit of caricaturists with his larger-than-life personality through which he projected a sense of friendliness, expansiveness and geniality. Being extroverted, Seddon delighted in pageantry, especially imperial pomp and show, and was very conscious of his public image, taking great pains over his attire, always wearing the customary frockcoat with accompanying boutonniere.
As Aotearoa’s representative, the Premier of New Zealand was cordially invited by “His Majesty’s Government” to attend King Edward VII’s coronation, on June 26, 1902. Accordingly, two months before the event, Seddon, his wife Louisa and two daughters along with his private secretary Frank Thompson, left Aotearoa’s shores onboard the Drayton Grange bound “for the Mother-Country”.
On several occasions before the trip, Lord Kitchener had written to the New Zealand Government inviting Seddon to visit South Africa, particularly in “view of the prominent part New Zealand had taken in connection with the Boer War”. On May 17, the Drayton Grange moored at Durban where local dignitaries including General Lyttelton and General Robert Baden Powell ceremoniously welcomed Seddon. Throughout the nine-day tour of South Africa, accolades for “our brave New Zealand sons who went to the front” were voiced.
On May 28, Seddon and his family left Cape Town onboard the Saxon, along with members of the New Zealand Army Contingent who were to be active participants in the forthcoming celebrations.
Finally arriving in London on June 14, the Premier was met by the Agent-General for New Zealand, William Pember Reeves, and a large group of New Zealand “Colonists”.
As invited guests of King Edward, Seddon and his family had certain privileges, one of which was the right to be conveyed by royal carriage and it was in this that the group arrived at their lodgings – the very grand and newly-built Hotel Cecil “with its paraphernalia of pretentious knowledge and gilded inefficiency” situated on the Thames Embankment.
Two days before the coronation, King Edward developed acute peritonitis and the ceremony, scheduled for June 26, had to be postponed until August 9, 1902. Doctors, fearing for the King’s life, operated on him immediately, performing Edward’s surgery on a table in the music room at Buckingham Palace.
As it was the first time Commonwealth countries were to be represented at a coronation, the British Government was fearful that, due to the postponement, “Colonial Prime Ministers” would depart post haste. On King Edward’s behest, each country’s representative was invited to extend their visit “to enable them to stay for the Coronation function”. The invitation included the New Zealand Contingent, who throughout their long stay reportedly carried themselves proudly with dignity, honour and distinction.
Worryingly for New Zealanders back home, on July 18 they were notified that Louisa Seddon had become very ill with influenza “which left her considerably weakened”. Her illness combined with the “excitement and exertion which necessary followed her arrival in England”, exacerbated her condition causing “nervous prostration to set in”. However, she steadily recovered, and she was able to attend the coronation with her husband.
On June 10, the day after the coronation, Seddon (on behalf of the New Zealand people) presented the King with various gifts including a pounamu and gold casket from his constituents in Westland, an illuminated manuscript, a pātaka (storehouse) and “addresses in Maori from Mahuta” (Mahuta Tāwhiao Pōtatau te Wherowhere) the third Māori King. King Edward “admired the gifts and expressed pleasure at receiving acceptable reminders from New Zealand”.
After visiting Scotland and Ireland, the Premier and family left England onboard the Tongariro, landing in Auckland on October 25. On arrival, Seddon was quickly whisked off to Albert Park to unveil a memorial commemorating soldiers who had fallen in South Africa.
His trip which had begun in South Africa had gone full circle, and all that remained was the satirical depiction of events in King Dick Abroad. The Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust has a copy in the collection - the contents having obviously been thoroughly enjoyed, as the booklet is well-thumbed and shows the ravages of time.
