The background to this happy event was the Zulu
War. The latter half of the 19th century saw European powers
eager to grab African territory to further their trading areas (the so-called
Scramble for
Africa). The British and the Dutch fought over the south and, in so
doing, the British confronted the Zulu people of the Bantu
tribes. Headline news of the day records the British defeat at Isandhlwana
and the heroic defence at Rorke’s
Drift. However, the one event which so caught the public imagination
that the ILN brought out a special number, was the death during the war
of Napoleon Eugene Louis, Prince
Imperial of France and only son of the late Napoleon
III. His death occurred on June 1st during an insignificant engagement
at Italezi, to the east of the Blood
River on the frontier of the Transvaal
territory bordering Zululand.
He was only 23 years of age. The magazine with the title
‘The Late Prince Imperial’
(Appendix List No. 10) covers his life, death and funeral at Chiselhurst and is dated July 16th, 1879. The blue cover shows a sailor standing vigil over the royal coffin on the deck of HMS Orontes as the body was brought from South Africa to England. The issue contains 32 pages, measures 42 x 30 and cost one shilling. next page >>