and July 1880 Wood and his wife were obliged by the Queen to escort the former Empress Eugenie to see the spot where her son, the Prince Imperial, had been killed whilst fighting with the British Army in the Zulu War, calling at St Helena (where Napoleon I had died) on the way back. To his annoyance he received no pay whatsoever for this mission, despite it being official business at the Queen's request. In October 1880 Wolseley complained of the noise, poor food and filth of Wood's home. With the First Boer War reaching a crescendo, he was once again sent back to South Africa in January 1881, initially as a "staff colonel" to Sir George Colley, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in Natal, who was his junior on the Army list. He was then, again with the local rank of brigadier-general, appointed second-in-command, pushing reinforcements up to Colley. He succeeded Colley after his defeat and death at Majuba Hill (27 February 1881), earning promotion to the local rank of major-general. In mid-March Wood reopened the offensive. He intended to relieve the towns under siege, but was ordered by William Gladstone's Cabinet to make peace. Wood wrote to his wife that the treaty would make him "the best abused man in England for a time" but thought it his duty to obey the government's orders. Wolseley (who thought the treaty "infamous" and "ignominious") and other officers thought he should have resigned his commission rather than sign it. Wolseley never forgave him for not avenging Colley, and he was criticised by Colley's biographer William Butler. He had to travel to Pretoria, and was injured on the way when the horses of his carriage bolted. He negotiated peace on 21 March 1881. He was offered but declined, the Governorship of Natal. In April 1881 he was appointed to a commission of inquiry into all matters relating to the future settlement of the Transvaal Territory, and put in a dissenting opinion about the boundaries. Although the peace negotiations were an embarrassing reverse for Britain, they brought Wood further political and royal favour. The Queen thought highly of him (and Buller). Wood's third daughter, born in 1881, was named "Victoria Eugenie" at the Queen's wish. Wood had already impressed Lord Beaconsfield (Prime Minister at the time), who had met him at the Queen's suggestion after the Zulu War, and now impressed Gladstone, the current Prime