BIRTH OF PRINCE WILLIAM OF PRUSSIA--DEATH OF PRINCE HOHENLOHE--
VOLUNTEER REVIEWS--SECOND VISIT TO COBURG--BETROTHAL OF PRINCESS
ALICE.
One of the beauties of the Queen's early Court, Lady Clementina
Villiers, daughter of the Earl of Jersey, died unmarried at her
father's seat of Middleton Park in 1858. She was as good and clever as
she was beautiful. Like her lovely sister, Princess Nicholas
Esterhazy, Lady Clementina died in the prime of life, being only
thirty-four years of age.
On the 27th of January, 1859, the Queen and the Prince received the
good news of the birth of their first grandchild, a fine boy, after
great suffering on the part of the young mother. He had forty-two
godfathers and godmothers.
In April Princess Alice was confirmed. Her Majesty's estimate of her
daughter's character was amply borne out in the years to come. "She is
very good, gentle, sensible, and amiable, and a real comfort to me."
Without her sister, the Princess Royal's, remarkable intellectual
power, Princess Alice had fine intelligence. She was also fair to see
in her royal maidenhood. The two elder sons were away. The Prince of
Wales was in Italy, Prince Alfred with his ship in the Levant. At home
the volunteer movement, which has since acquired such large
proportions, was being actively inaugurated. The war between Austria
and France, and a dissolution of Parliament, made this spring a busy
and an anxious time. The first happy visit from the Princess Royal,
who came to join in celebrating her Majesty's birthday at Osborne,
would have made the season altogether joyous, had it not been for a
sudden and dangerous attack of erysipelas from which the Duchess of
Kent suffered. The alarm was brief, but it was sharp while it lasted.
In June her Majesty opened the new Parliament, an event which was
followed in a fortnight by the resignation of Lord Derby's Ministry,
and Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister with a strong Cabinet.
At the close of the season the sad news arrived of the sudden death
from diphtheria of the year-old wife, the young Queen of Portugal.
In August the Queen and the Prince made one of their yachting
excursions to the Channel Islands. The Duchess of Kent's seventy-third
birthday was kept at Osborne. During the autumn stay of the Court at
Balmoral, the Prince presided over the British Association for the
Promotion of Science, which met that year at Aberdeen. He afterwards
entertained two hundred members of the association, filling four
omnibuses, in addition to carriages, at a Highland gathering at
Balmoral. The day was cold and showery, but with gleams of sunshine.
It is unnecessary to say that the attendance was large, and the games
and dancing were conducted with much spirit. In honour of the country,
the Prince and his sons appeared in kilts, the Queen and the
Princesses in royal Stewart tartan skirts and shawls over black velvet
bodices.
In 1859 the Queen made no less than three successful ascents of
Highland mountains, Morvem, Lochnagar, and at last Ben Macdhui, the
highest mountain in Scotland, upwards of four thousand feet. On the
return of the royal party they went from Edinburgh to Loch Katrine, in
order to open the Glasgow Waterworks, the conclusion of a great
undertaking which was marred not inappropriately by a very wet day.
The Queen and the Prince made a detour on their homeward route, as
they had occasionally done before, visiting Wales and Lord Penryn at
Penryn Castle.
This year saw the publication of a memorable book, "Adam Bede," for
which even its precursor, "Scenes from Clerical Life," had not
prepared the world of letters. The novel was much admired in the royal
circle. In one of the rooms at Osborne, as a pendant to a picture from
the "Faery Queen," there hangs a representation from a very different
masterpiece in English literature, of the young Squire watching Hetty
in the dairy.
In the beginning of winter the Prince suffered from an unusually
severe fit of illness. In November the Princess Royal again visited
England, accompanied by her husband.
There were cheery winter doings at Osborne, when the great household,
like one large family, rejoiced in the seasonable snow, in a slide
"used by young and old," and in a "splendid snow man." The new year
was joyously danced in, though the children who were wont to assemble
at the Queen's dressing-room door to call in chorus "_Prosit Neu
Jahr_," were beginning to be scattered far and wide.
In January, 1860, the Queen opened Parliament in person, when for the
first time the Princesses Alice and Helena were present.
On the twentieth anniversary of the Queen's wedding-day she wrote to
Baron Stockmar, "I wish I could think I had made one as happy as he
has made me."
In April the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenberg, the Queen's brother-in-
law, who was now an old man, died at Baden, after a long illness. He
had been an upright, unlucky German prince, trusted by his
contemporaries, a good husband and father--whose loss was severely
felt by the widowed Princess. Her sorrow was reflected in the Queen's
sympathy for her sister.
This year's Academy Exhibition contained Millais's "Black
Brunswicker," Landseer's "Flood in the Highlands," and Phillips's
"Marriage of the Princess Royal," now in the great corridor at Windsor
Castle. "The Idyls of the King," much admired by the Prince, were the
poems of the year.
Among the guests at Windsor Castle for Ascot week, in addition to King
Leopold, who came to look once more on the old scene, were Prince
Louis of Hesse and his younger brother. In a letter of the Prince
Consort's, written soon afterwards, he alludes to an apparent "liking"
between Prince Louis and Princess Alice.
Sir Arthur Helps, whose subsequent literary relations with the Queen
were so friendly, was sworn in Clerk of the Council on the 23rd of
June.
The first great volunteer review took place in Hyde Park this summer.
The Queen was present, driving with Princess Alice, Prince Arthur, and
King Leopold, while the Prince Consort rode. The display of the twenty
thousand citizen soldiers, at that time reckoned a large volunteer
force, was in every respect satisfactory. As a sequel her Majesty was
also present during fine weather, in an exceptionally wet summer, at
the first meeting of the National Rifle Association at Wimbledon, when
the first shot was fired by the Queen, the rifle being so arranged
that a touch to the trigger caused the bullseye to be hit, when the
shooter scored three points.
At the close of the season the Prince of Wales sailed for Canada,
after he had accepted the President of the United States' invitation
to visit him at Washington. At the same time another distant colony
was to be graced by the presence of royalty; it was settled that
Prince Alfred was to land at the Cape of Good Hope. The Queen's sons
were to serve her by representing her race and rule in her far distant
dominions.
In July the Princess Royal became the medium, in a letter home, of the
overtures of the Hesse family for a marriage between Prince Louis and
Princess Alice--overtures favourably received by the Queen and the
Prince, who were much attracted by the young suitor. Immediately
afterwards came the intelligence of the birth of the Princess Royal's
second child--a daughter.
The eyes of all Europe began to be directed to Garibaldi as the
champion of freedom in Naples and Sicily.
In August the Court went North, staying longer than usual in Edinburgh
for the purpose of holding a volunteer review in the Queen's Park,
which was even a greater success than that in Hyde Park. The summer
day was cloudless; the broken nature of the ground heightened the
picturesqueness of the spectacle. There was much greater variety in
the dress and accoutrements of the Highland and Lowland regiments,
numbering rather more than their English neighbours. The martial
bearing of many of the men was remarkable, and the spectators crowding
Arthur's Seat from the base to the summit were enthusiastic in their
loyalty. The Queen rejoiced to have the Duchess of Kent by her side in
the open carriage. The old Duchess had not appeared at any public
sight for years, and her presence on this occasion recalled former
days. She was not venturing so far as Abergeldie, but was staying at
Cramond House, near Edinburgh. Soon after the Queen and the Prince's
arrival at Balmoral the news reached them of the death of their aunt,
the Duchess of Kent's only surviving sister, the widow of the Grand-
Duke Constantine of Russia.
This year the Queen and the Prince, with the Princesses Alice and
Helena, made, in fine weather, a second ascent of Ben Macdhui.
The success of such an excursion led to a longer expedition, which
meant a night spent on the way at what was little better than a
village inn. Such a step was only possible when entire secrecy, and
even a certain amount of disguise, were maintained. Indeed, the little
innocent mystery, with all the amusement it brought, was part of the
pleasure. The company consisted of the Queen and the Prince, Lady
Churchill and General Grey, with two keepers for attendants. Their
destination, reached by driving, riding, and walking through the shiel
of the Geldie, Glen Geldie, Glen Fishie, &c, was Grantown, where the
party spent the night, and were waited on, in all unconsciousness, by
a woman in ringlets in the evening and in curl-papers in the morning.
But before Grantown was left, when the truth was known, the same
benighted chambermaid was seen waving a flag from the window of the
dining and drawing-room in one, which had been lately so honoured,
while the landlady on the threshold made a vigorous use of her pocket-
handkerchief, to the edification and delight of an excited crowd in
the street.
The Court returned to Osborne, and on the 22nd of September the Queen,
the Prince, and Princess Alice, with the suite, sailed from Gravesend
for Antwerp _en route_ for Coburg, where the Princess Royal was
to meet them with her husband and the child-prince, whom his
grandparents had not yet seen.
The King of the Belgians, his sons and daughter-in-law met the
travellers with the melancholy intelligence that the Prince's
stepmother, the Duchess-Dowager of Coburg, who had been ill for some
time, but was looking forward to this visit, lay in extremity. At
Verviers a telegram announced that she had died at five o'clock that
morning--a great shock to those who were hastening to see her and
receive her welcome once more. Royal kindred met and greeted the party
at each halting-place, as by Aix-la-Chapelle, Frankfort, where they
slept, the valley of the Maine and the Thuringen railway, the
travellers approached Coburg. Naturally the Queen grew agitated at the
thought of the arrival, so different from what she had expected and
experienced on her last visit, fifteen years before. At the station
were the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Prince Frederick William of Prussia,
in deep mourning. Everything was quiet and private. At the door of the
palace, in painful contrast to the gala faces and dresses of her
earlier reception, stood the Grand Duchess and the Princess Royal in
the deepest German mourning, with long black veils, the point hanging
over the forehead. Around were the ladies and gentlemen of the suites.
"A tender embrace, and then we walked up the staircase," wrote the
Queen; "I could hardly speak, I felt so moved, and quite trembled."
Her room was that which had formerly belonged to the Duchess of Kent
when she was a young Coburg princess. One of its windows looked up a
picturesque narrow street with red roofs and high gables, leading to
the market-place. His English nurse led in the Queen's first
grandchild, aged two years, "in a little white dress with black bows."
He was charming to his royal grandmother. She particularised his
youthful attractions--"A beautiful white soft skin, very fine
shoulders and limbs, and a very dear face, ... very fair curly hair."
The funeral of the Dowager-Duchess took place at seven o'clock on the
morning of the 27th September, at Gotha, and was attended by the
gentlemen of the party, while the ladies in deep mourning, wearing the
pointed veils, were present at a commemorative service in the Schloss
Kirche at Coburg.
Then followed a quiet happy time, among the pleasures of which were
the daily visits from the little grandchild, the renewal of
intercourse with Baron Stockmar, whom Germans called the familiar
spirit of the house of Coburg; the acquaintance of the great novelist,
Auerbach; a visit to Florrschutz, the Prince's old tutor, in the
pretty house which his two pupils had built for him.
The holiday was alarmingly interrupted by what might have been a grave
accident to the Prince Consort. He was driving alone in an open
carriage with four horses, which took fright and dashed along at full
gallop in the direction of the railway line, where a waggon stood in
front of a bar, put up to guard a level crossing. Seeing that a crash
was inevitable, the Prince leapt out, escaping with several bruises
and cuts, while the driver, who had remained with the carriage, was
thrown out when it came in contact with the railway-bar, and seriously
hurt. One of the horses was killed, the others rushed along the road
to Coburg. They were met by the Prince's equerry, Colonel Ponsonby,
who in great anxiety procured a carriage and drove with two doctors to
the spot, where he found the Prince lending aid to the injured man.
Colonel Ponsonby was sent to intercept the Queen as she was walking
and sketching with her daughter and sister-in-law, to tell her of the
accident and of the Prince's escape, before she could hear a garbled
version of the affair from other quarters.
In deep gratitude for the Prince's preservation, her Majesty
afterwards set aside the sum deemed necessary--rather more than a
thousand pounds--to found a charity called the "Victoria Stift," which
helps a certain number of young men and women of good character in
their apprenticeship, in setting them up in trade, and marriage.
The royal party returned at the end of a fortnight by Frankfort and
Mayence. At Coblentz, where they spent the night, her Majesty was
attacked by cold and sore throat, though she walked and drove out next
day, inspecting every object she was asked to see in suffering and
discomfort. It was her last day with the Princess Royal and "the
darling little boy," whom his grandmother was so pleased to have with
her, running about and playing in her room. The following day was cold
and wet, and the Queen felt still worse, continuing her journey so
worn out and unwell that she could only rouse herself before reaching
Brussels, where King Leopold was at the station awaiting her. By the
order of her doctor, who found her labouring under a feverish cold
with severe sore throat, she was confined to her room, where she had
to lie down and keep quiet. Never in the whole course of her Majesty's
healthful life, save in one girlish illness at Ramsgate, of which the
world knew nothing, had she felt so ailing. Happily a night's rest
restored her to a great extent; but while a State dinner which had
been invited in her honour was going on, she had still to stay in her
room, with Lady Churchill reading to her "The Mill on the Floss," and
the door open that the Queen might hear the band of the Guides.
On the 17th of October the travellers left Brussels, and on the 17th
arrived at Windsor, where they were met by the younger members of the
family.
On the 30th of October the great sea captain, Lord Dundonald, closed
his chequered life in his eighty-fifth year.
In December two gallant wooers were at the English Court, as a few
years before King Pedro, the Arch-Duke Maximilian, and Prince
Frederick William were all young bridegrooms in company. On this
occasion Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt came to win Princess Alice,
and the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern Seigmaringen was on his way
to ask the hand of Donna Antoine, sister of King Pedro. Lord Campbell
paid a visit to Windsor at this time, and made his comment on the
royal lovers. "My stay at Windsor was rather dull, but was a little
enhanced by the loves of Prince Louis of Hesse and the Princess Alice.
He had arrived the night before, almost a stranger to her" (a
mistake), "but as her suitor. At first they were very shy, but they
soon reminded me of Ferdinand and Miranda in the _Tempest_, and I
looked on like old Prospero."
The betrothal of Princess Alice occurred within the week. Her Majesty
has given an account in the pages of her journal, transferred to the
"Life of the Prince Consort," how simply and naturally it happened.
"After dinner, whilst talking to the gentlemen, I perceived Alice and
Louis talking before the fireplace more earnestly than usual, and when
I passed to go to the other room both came up to me, and Alice in much
agitation said he had proposed to her, and he begged for my blessing.
I could only squeeze his hand and say 'Certainly,' and that we would
see him in our room, later. Got through the evening work as well as we
could. Alice came to our room ... agitated but quiet.... Albert sent
for Louis to his room, went first to him, and then called Alice and me
in...." The bride was only seventeen, the bridegroom twenty-three
years of age--but nearly two years were to elapse, with, alas! sad
changes in their course, before the marriage thus happily settled was
celebrated.
This winter her Majesty's old servant and friend, Lord Aberdeen, died.
In December the Empress of the French, who had recently lost her
sister, the Duchess of Alba, in order to recover health and
cheerfulness, paid a flying visit in private to England and Scotland.
From Claridge's Hotel she went for a day to Windsor to see the Queen
and the Prince. Towards the close of the year the Prince had a brief
but painful attack of one of the gastric affections becoming so common
with him.
In January, 1861, the Queen received the news of the death of the
invalid King of Prussia at Sans Souci. His brother, the Crown Prince,
who had been regent for years, succeeded to the throne, of which the
husband of the Princess Royal was now the next heir.
In the beginning of the year the Prince of Wales matriculated at
Cambridge.
In February the Queen opened Parliament. The twenty-first anniversary
of the royal wedding-day falling on a Sunday, it was celebrated
quietly but with much happiness. The Queen wrote to her uncle, King
Leopold, "Very few can say with me that their husband, at the end of
twenty-one years, is not only full of the friendship, kindness, and
affection which a truly happy marriage brings with it, but of the same
tender love as in the very first days of our marriage."