IT WAS the historic royal wedding on the Isle of Wight and opportunistic entrepreneurs sought to cash in on the fairy tale as Princess Beatrice, the youngest of Queen Victoria’s and Prince Albert’s children, became the unlikely bride of the dashing Prince Henry of Battenburg.

Charles Phippard, a director of the Isle of Wight Steam Packet Company, was convinced hundreds, if not thousands, would flock from the mainland to gain a memorable glimpse of the occasion.

So he approached shareholder William Dredge who leased Kingston Farm from the Queen about putting up stands on one of his fields for the public to see the unique procession as it neared St Mildred’s Church, Wippingham, where the marriage was to be solemnised.

Permission having been granted, the two men were joined by Alfred Pegler and John Burnett, the boat company’s chairman and secretary respectively, in the consortium.

On the firm’s annual cruise, the four men agreed that as joint speculator Pegler – who was also a Southampton magistrate – would erect the stands, do the advertising and provide the tickets.

They were so confident of success that the first £250 from the profits would go to Dredge, the next £200 would be given to Pegler, and Phippard and Burnet would share the remainder.

How wrong they were – it was a dismal flop and lost money.

“Large expense was incurred, a very crowded attendance being anticipated, but whether from lack of loyalty, lack of curiosity, the weather or what-not, I cannot say,” Sir Walter Phillimore QC commented.

“The people on the mainland did not respond as was expected and instead of there being a large profit, there was a large loss.”

The celebrated barrister was representing Dredge in the High Court where in February, 1886 – seven months after the wedding – he sued Phippard and Burnett for the money for the use and occupation of his farming land.

Unlike today, the hearing was conducted on a Saturday which entitled jurors to be paid special fees.

Phippard and Burnett put in a joint defence, first denying they had used or occupied the land but if they did, it was under such circumstances that would not render them liable to pay Dredge anything.

Phillimore however ridiculed their claim.

“The plaintiff’s land was used for some time, some of the hedges were levelled and he suffered damage and loss from not being paid.”

When Dredge wrote to the two men for his money, he learnt for the first time it was a joint speculation. “How could that be?” Phillimore argued. “He had brought something substantial into the bargain in the shape of the land whereas the defendants brought in nothing.”

The judge, Mr Justice Grove, then heard lengthy correspondence between the parties in which Phippard and Burnett repudiated his assertions, insisting the arrangements were based on Pegler’s assumption that it would not be a loss-making venture.

In his summing up, the judge shrewdly observed the consortium had been blind to potential failure.

“A difficulty has arisen from the fact that all the parties were so overwhelmed with the prospects of this magnificent royal pageant, the question of loss never entered the mind of any one of them or else it was probable they would have put their views into an agreement.”

He directed the jury that Dredge was right, he was entitled to the £250, but if the defendants were right, he should not receive anything. However, there was a third theory that neither was right but if his land was used, he was entitled to something.

For once, the jury requested permission to leave court and decide the matter in private. The judge consented and they were absent for about half an hour before returning in Dredge’s favour in the sum of £75.

They also agreed to forfeit their Saturday fees and the money was directed to the local infirmary.

Ironically the Queen had been opposed to the less than charismatic Beatrice getting married after all her elder brothers and sisters had left home and relied upon her as her secretary.

But then Prince Henry came on the scene and Beatrice was smitten.

Victoria eventually relented on the condition the wedding took place at the IOW church and the couple made their home with her.

At the service, Beatrice wore her mother’s veil of Honiton lace and those who were determined enough to witness the royal procession, saw her escorted to the church by Victoria, her eldest son, the Princess of Wales, and attended by 10 bridesmaids.

The couple had four children but tragically 10 years into their marriage Henry fatally succumbed to typhoid while fighting in the Anglo-Asante conflict.

Beatrice remained at her mother’s side until she died in 1901 and spent much of her later years editing her journals.

She passed away, aged 87, and is buried alongside her husband at St Mildred’s Church.