The cutting from the weekly illustrated newspaper The Graphic, published on 6th March 1886, records an event on the afternoon of Thursday, 25th February 1886 when Charles Hengler's circus appeared by royal command in the riding school of Windsor Castle for the third birthday of Princess Alice. A report in The Times, 26 February 1886, noted that this was the first performance 'of any kind' that the Queen had attended since the death of Prince Albert, and that the stud, band and circus equipment had travelled to Windsor by railway.

The Queen, accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Connnaught, Prince and Princess Henry of Battenberg, left the palace soon after 3.00pm to walk to the riding school, where they were joined by Prince and Princess Christian, and Prince and Princesses Victoria and Louise of Schleswig-Holstein. The audience of about three hundred consisted of members of the royal household, palace servants and their friends. The performance lasted about an hour and a half, after which the Queen inspected the stud. In her private journal the Queen wrote: 'After luncheon we all, including Lenchen and Christian and their girls, went to the Riding School and sat in the room above, which looks straight into it. There was a band etc., and the whole performance was excellent.'

Following his father as a circus performer and equestrian, Frederick Charles Hengler, always known as Charles Hengler (1820-1887), operated tenting circus from 1846 until 1857 when he opened his first permanent circus building in Liverpool in 1857, followed by others in Glasgow and Dublin in 1863; Hull, 1864; Birmingham and Bristol, 1886, and London in 1871.