Hector Chiding Paris. John Leech. Wood engraving from Punch 27 (1854): 175 [Click on image to enlarge it.]
His Royal Highness, the young Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), was not serving his country well in the capacity of Field Marshall, so that Punch decided to make him the butt of the joke as Mr. Punch, spokesperson for the British public, dressed as the Trojan hero Hector in Homer's Iliad, a classical work studied in the Greek original in the British public schools and universities, upbraids Paris for moral laxity when Troy is beset by her foes. H. R. H., George, second Duke of Cambridge, spent his boyhood in Hanover, and took up residence in England only at the age of eleven. Having served in several cavalry units as well as the Corfu garrison, he was promoted as commander of the Crimean expeditionary force in early 1854. Despite commanding formations at three significant battles in the autumn of 1854 — Alma (20 September), Balaclava (25 October), and Inkerman (5 November) — his performance was at best lacklustre, and he shortly withdrew to England, pleading illness and thereby avoiding the harsh winter
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Last modified 13 May 2014