BRITISH CONSERVATISM AND THE PRIMROSE LEAGUE ... - ideals

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II
The "invention of tradition" found a receptive audience in the
political arena, most particularly in the organization of the Primrose
League which exceeded all rivals in the scope and breadth of its
innovations.
Foremost among its achievements was its role in elevating
the founder of the modern Conservative party, Benjamin Disraeli, to the
virtual status of a state icon.
The funeral of Lord Beaconsfield was a modest, deliberately low
key affair.
It was held at Hughenden and attended by a number of the
most prominent political
exception of Gladstone.6
figures of the day with the most notable
Prohibited by custom from attending the
service, the Queen, nevertheless, sent two wreaths of primroses with
the inscription "his favorite flowers from Osborne, a tribute of
affection from Queen Victoria."
While considerable controversy arose
subsequently concerning whether the pronoun "his" referred to Prince
Albert or Disraeli, it seems likely to have been the latter. 7
In the week following the funeral, the Queen and Princess
Beatrice visited the grave site.
The monarch and her daughter traveled
in an open carriage drawn by four greys.
The coachman retraced the
path last taken by Disraeli the previous December in returning from
Windsor to Hughenden.
In an effort to minimize a public following, the
6
The Times 27 April 1881, p. 12.
7
Robert Blake, Disraeli (London: Methuen and Comp., 1978), p.
752; reprint, published originally in 1966 by Eyre and Spottiswoode.