IT WAS only in the late 19th century that members of the Royal Family began to embark on government-sanctioned and funded tours of the British Empire. Undoubtedly the most famous was undertaken by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, to India in 1875-76. But probably one of the first and one most often forgotten was that embarked upon by Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1867, followed by another in 1869-70. In the
