East Africa, 1907-1908

The Hon. Miss Hicks-Beach and the Duchess of Aosta (Princess Hélène of France) left Naples on 30th November and visited Egypt, Sudan, the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, German East Africa, Zanzibar, Djibouti and Eritrea before returning to Naples in June 1908. The trip was occasioned by the fact that the Duchess was diagnosed as suffering from chest trouble and ordered abroad. The Hon. Susan Hicks-Beach was the second daughter of Viscount St. Aldwyn and went as H.R.H.’s companion. She is described as "lady-in-waiting" on the verso of one of the loose photographs, taken by a fellow traveler whose signature is illegible.

The ladies were also accompanied by Capt. Maurizio Piscicelli, an Italian military officer, who appears in pictures from Sudan to Eritrea. The tourists were quite evidently accorded royal treatment wherever they went. The two ladies are photographed with the King of Bunjoro; Miss Hicks-Beach clearly made an impression on the King, who wrote several letters to her which, with translations, were loosely inserted in the album. (He signs himself Andereya B.F. Omukama wa Bunjoro). As well as sightseeing, they also hunted in Sudan, Congo and in Uganda, where the Government was reluctant to grant the party permission to hunt for elephants in case they were charged. (Note that, although the reason given at the time was the fear of charging elephants, the memoirs of the Ugandan governor at the time, Sir Hesketh Bell, indicate that his concern was with the "dispute with the Belgians concerning the questions of boundary" and he sent Assistant Secretary Arthur C. Knollys, who appears in several of the photographs, to look after the duchess and her group. See Bell, Hesketh, Sir, 1864-1952Glimpses of a governor's life : from diaries, letters, and memoranda. London : S. Low Marston, [1946].)