DEATH OF THE DUTCHESS D'ORLEANS--THE PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO
GERMANY--THE QUEEN AND PRINCE CONSORT'S VISIT TO PRINCE AND PRINCESS
FREDERICK WILLIAM AT BABELSBERG.
In February, Lord Palmerston's ministry resigned after a defeat on the
Conspiracy Bill, and Lord Derby, at the Queen's request, formed a
short-lived Cabinet. The Prince of Wales was confirmed on Maundy
Thursday in the chapel at Windsor.
In April, the young Queen of Portugal, Princess Stéphanie of
Hohenzollern, visited England with her father on her way to her
husband--to whom she had been married by proxy--and her future home.
Her charm and sweetness greatly attracted the Queen and the Prince. In
May, only seven months after the death of Victoire, Duchesse de
Nemours, the sympathies of her Majesty and the Prince Consort were
awakened afresh for the Orleans family. Helene, Duchesse d'Orleans,
died suddenly from the effects of influenza at Cranbourne House,
Richmond. How many of the large family party with which the Queen had
been so delighted when she visited Chateau d'Eu had already passed
away--the old King, Queen Louise, the Duchesse de Nemours, and now the
Duchesse d'Orleans! Her two young sons--the elder the Comte de Paris,
not yet twenty--were specially adopted by Queen Amélie.
In the end of May the Prince started for a short visit to Germany,
with the double intention of getting a glimpse of his daughter, and
revisiting his country for the first time after thirteen years
absence. He accomplished both purposes, and heard "the watchman's
horn" once more before he retired to rest in the old home. He sent
many a loving letter, and tender remembrance to England in
anticipation of his speedy return. On his arrival in London he was met
by the Queen at the Bricklayers' Arms station.
In the course of a very hot June, the Queen and the Prince went to
Warwickshire, which she had known as a young girl, in order to pay a
special visit to Birmingham. They were the guests for two nights of
Lord and Lady Leigh, at Stoneleigh. Her Majesty had the privilege of
seeing Birmingham without a particle of smoke, while a mighty
multitude of orderly craftsmen, with their wives and children, stood
many hours patiently under the blazing sun, admiring their banners and
flags, and cheering lustily for their Queen. One of the objects of the
visit was that her Majesty might open a people's museum and park at
Aston for the dwellers in the Black country. The royal party drove
next day to one of the finest old feudal castles in England--Warwick
Castle, with its noble screen of woods, mirroring itself in the Avon--
and were entertained at luncheon by Lord and Lady Warwick. In the
evening, in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, the Queen and the
Prince returned to Buckingham Palace.
This season as usual, there was a visit from the King of the Belgians
and several of his family.
The first Atlantic cable was laid, and lasted just long enough for the
exchange of messages of proud congratulation on the wonderful
annihilation of distance between Europe and America, so far as the
thoughts of men were concerned.
After a month's stay at Osborne, during one of the warmest Julys ever
known in this country, when the condition of the river Thames
threatened to drive the Parliament from Westminster, the Queen and the
Prince Consort, with the Prince of Wales and their suites, paid a
state visit to Cherbourg. The great fort was nearly completed, and the
harbour was full of French war-vessels as her Majesty steamed in, on
the evening of the 4th of August, receiving such a salute from the
ships and the fortress itself as seemed to shake earth and sky. The
Emperor and Empress, who arrived the same day, came on board at eight
o'clock, and were cordially received by the Queen and the Prince,
though the relations between France and England were not quite so
assured as when their soldiers were brothers-in-arms in the Crimea.
After the visitors left, the Queen's journal records that she went
below and read, and nearly finished "that most interesting book 'Jane
Eyre.'"
When the Queen and the Prince landed next day, which was fine, they
were received by the Emperor and Empress, entered with them one of the
imperial carriages, and drove through the town to the Prefecture,
where the party breakfasted or rather lunched. In the afternoon the
fort with its gigantic ramparts and magnificent views was visited.
There was a State dinner in the evening, in the French ship
_Bretagne_. The Emperor received the Queen at the foot of the
ladder. The dinner was under canvas on deck amidst decorations of
flowers and flags. The Queen sat between the Emperor and the Duke of
Cambridge; the Empress sat between the Prince Consort and the Prince
of Wales. The speechmaking, to which one may say all Europe was
listening, was a trying experience. The Emperor, though he changed
colour, spoke well "in a powerful voice," proposing the health of the
Queen, the Prince, and the royal family, and declaring his adherence
to the French alliance with England. The Prince replied. "He did it
very well, though he hesitated once," the Queen reported. "I sat
shaking, with my eyes riveted to the table." The duty done, a great
relief was felt, as the speechmakers, with the Queen and the Empress,
retired to the privacy of the cabin, shook hands, and compared notes
on their nervousness.
A splendid display of fireworks was witnessed from the deck of the
_Bretagne_. In the middle of it the Queen and the Prince returned
to the yacht, escorted by the Emperor and Empress, when they took
their departure in turn. They were followed by showers of English
rockets and rounds of English cheers.
The next morning the Emperor and Empress paid a farewell visit on
board the yacht, which sailed at last under "heavy salutes." At five
o'clock in the afternoon the beach at Osborne was reached. The sailor
Prince, whose fourteenth birthday it was, stood on the pier. All the
children, including the baby, were at the door. The dogs added their
welcome. The young Prince's birthday-table was inspected. There was
still time to visit the Swiss Cottage, to which Princess Alice and the
Queen drove the other members of the family. The children's castle,
where they had lunched in honour of the day, was gay with flags.
Prince Alfred with Princess Alice was promoted to join the royal
dinner party. The little princes, Arthur and Leopold, appeared at
dessert. "A band played," writes the Queen, "and after dinner we
danced, with the three boys and the three girls and the company, a
merry country-dance on the terrace--a delightful finale to the
expedition! It seemed a dream that this morning at twelve we should
have been still at Cherbourg, with the Emperor and Empress on board
our yacht."
On the 11th of August, the Queen and the Prince arrived in the yacht
at Antwerp, on their way to Germany, to pay their first eagerly
anticipated visit to the Princess Royal--then a wife of six months
standing--in her Prussian home.
The travellers proceeded by railway to Malines, where they were met by
King Leopold with his second son, and escorted to Verviers in a
progress which was to be as far as possible without soldiers, salutes,
addresses; and at Aix-la-Chapelle the Prince of Prussia joined the
party. The halt for the night was at Dusseldorf, where the Prince and
Princess of Hohenzollern were waiting. The Queen and the Prince
Consort quitted their hotel to dine with the Hohenzollern family, in
whose members they were much interested. The Queen made the
acquaintance of a young son who is now Prince of Roumania, and a
handsome girl-princess who has become the wife of the Comte de
Flanders, King Leopold's younger son.
The next day, long looked forward to as that which was to bring about
a reunion with the Princess Royal, was suddenly overclouded by the
news of the sad, unexpected death of the Prince's worthy valet,
"Cart," who had come with him to England, and been in his service
twenty-nine years--since his master was a child of eight The Prince
entered the room as the Queen was dressing, carrying a telegram, and
saying "My poor Cart is dead." Both felt the loss of the old friend
acutely. "All day long," wrote the Queen, "the tears would rush into
my eyes." She added, "He was the only link my loved one had about him
which connected him with his childhood, the only one with whom he
could talk over old times. I cannot think of my dear husband without
Cart." It was no day for sorrow, yet the noble, gentle hearts bled
through all their joys.
Before seven the royal party, including the Prince of Prussia, were on
their way through Rhenish Prussia. As the train rushed by the railway
platform at Buckeburg there stood the aged Baroness Lehzen, the
Queen's good old governess, waving her handkerchief. In the station at
Hanover were the King and Queen of Hanover, Princess Frederick Charles
of Prussia, and her Majesty's niece, the Princess Feodore of
Hohenlohe, a charming girl of nineteen, with her betrothed husband,
the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, a widower of thirty-two.
The Queen then made the acquaintance of one of the cradles of her
race, driving out to the country palace of Herrenhausen, which had
been the home of the Electress Sophia, and where George I. was
residing when he was summoned to be king of England. At five o'clock,
in the heat and the dust, her Majesty resumed her journey, "with a
racking headache." At Magdeburg Prince Frederick William appeared,
"radiant," with the welcome intelligence that his Princess was at the
Wildpark station. "There on the platform stood our darling child, with
a nosegay in her hand." The Queen described the scene. "She stepped
in, and long and warm was the embrace, as she clasped me in her arms;
so much to say, and to tell, and to ask, yet so unaltered; looking
well, quite the old Vicky still! It was a happy moment, for which I
thank God!" It was eleven o'clock at night before the party reached
Babelsberg--a pleasant German country house, with which her Majesty
was much pleased. It became her headquarters for the fortnight during
which her visit lasted. In addition to enjoying the society of her
daughter, the Queen became familiar with the Princess's surroundings.
Daily excursions were made to a succession of palaces connected with
the past and present Prussian royal family. In this manner her Majesty
learnt to know the King's palace in Berlin, while the poor King, a
wreck in health, was absent; Frederick the Great's Schloss at Potsdam;
his whimsical Sans Souci with its orange-trees, the New Palais, and
Charlottenburg with its mausoleum. The Queen also attended two great
reviews, gave a day to the Berlin Museum, and met old Humboldt more
than once. Among the other guests at Babelsberg were the Duke of Saxe-
Coburg and Baron Stockmar. The Prince Consort's thirty-ninth birthday
was celebrated in his daughter's house. At last with struggling tears
and a bravely said "_Auf baldiges wiedersehn_" (to a speedy
meeting again), the strongly attached family party separated. The
peculiar pang of separation to the Queen, she expressed in words which
every mother will understand. "All would be comparatively easy were it
not for the one thought, that I cannot be with her (the Princess
Royal), at that very critical moment when every other mother goes to
her child."
The royal travellers stayed over the Sunday at Deutz, and again saw
Cologne illuminated, the cathedral like "a mass of glowing red fire."
On reaching Osborne on the 31st of August, the Queen and the Prince
were met by Prince Alfred--who had just passed his examination and
been appointed to a ship--"in his middy's jacket, cap, and dirk."
On their way to Scotland the Queen and the Prince Consort, accompanied
by the Princesses Alice and Helena, visited Leeds, for the purpose of
opening the Leeds Town Hall. The party stayed at Woodley House, the
residence of the mayor, who is described in her Majesty's journal as a
"perfect picture of a fine old man." In his crimson velvet robes and
chain of office he looked "the personification of a Venetian doge."
The Queen as usual made "the tour of the town amidst a great concourse
of spectators." She remarked on the occasion, "Nowhere have I seen the
children's names so often inscribed. On one large arch were even
'Beatrice and Leopold,' which gave me much pleasure...." a result
which, had they known it, would have highly gratified the loyal
clothworkers. After receiving the usual addresses, the Queen knighted
the mayor, and by her command Lord Derby declared the hall open.
While her Majesty was at Balmoral, the marriages of a niece and nephew
of hers took place in Germany--Princess Feodore, the youngest daughter
of the Princess of Hehenlohe, married the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; and
Ernest, Prince of Leiningen, the eldest son of the late Prince of
Leiningen, who was in the English navy, married Princess Marie Amélie
of Baden.
More of the English royal children were taking flight from the parent
nest. Mr. Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, was appointed Governor to the
Prince of Wales, and was about to set out with him on a tour in Italy.
Prince Alfred was with his ship at Malta.