Every attempt has been made to replicate the original, printed. Some
typographical errors have been corrected; a list follows the text. Some
illustrations have been moved from mid-paragraph for ease of reading.
(etext transcriber's note)
THE EMPRESS FREDERICK
[Illustration]
The
Empress Frederick
A MEMOIR
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
Dodd, Mead and Company
1914
COPYRIGHT, 1913,
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
PREFACE
Memoirs of Royal personages form not the least interesting part of the
whole vast field of biography, in spite of the fact that such memoirs
differ from the lives of most persons in a private station because of
the reticence and discretion which are necessary, especially in regard
to affairs of State and political characters. It is often not until a
whole generation has passed that it is possible to publish a full
biography of a member of a Royal House, and in the meantime the exalted
rank of the subject operates both to enhance and to diminish the
interest of the memoir.
This is also true in a modified degree of statesmen, of whom full and
frank biographies are seldom possible until their political associates
and rivals have alike disappeared from the scene. This necessary delay
is a test of the subject's greatness, for it has sometimes happened that
by the time a full memoir can be published the public interest in the
individual has waned.
By heredity, by training, by all the circumstances of their lives, Royal
personages form a caste apart; and though their lot may seem to some
persons enviable, it is often not realised how great are the sacrifices
of happiness and contentment which they are called upon to make as the
inevitable consequence of their exalted position.
The Empress Frederick presents an extraordinary example of what this
exalted position may bring in the way of both happiness and suffering.
Her life has the added interest that, quite apart from her rank, she
possessed an intensely vivid and human personality. History furnishes
examples of many Royal personages who have been, so to speak, crushed
and stunted in their intellectual and spiritual growth by the restraints
of their position.
Not so the subject of this memoir. The Empress was a woman of remarkable
moral and intellectual qualities--indeed, it is not difficult to see
that, had she been born in a private station, she would have attained
certainly distinction, and very possibly eminence, in some branch of
art, letters, or science. Her rank, far from crushing and stunting her
powers, had the effect of diffusing her intellectual interests over many
fields, and perhaps laid her open to the charge of dilettanteism. But
such a charge cannot really be maintained in view of the solid
constructive work which she achieved, both in the field of philanthropy
and in that of the application of art to industry. The exacting mental
discipline which she underwent at the hands of her father, though it was
in some respects ill-advised as her life turned out, at any rate
supplied her with the habit of mental concentration which enabled her to
carry out those practical and lasting enterprises with which her name
in Germany should ever be associated. Her early training disciplined her
eager, natural enthusiasm for all that was good and serviceable to
humanity, and directed it especially to the welfare of soldiers and of
women and children. She was "a doer of the Word and not a hearer only."
All through her life one is perhaps most profoundly impressed by her
inexhaustible energy; her sense of the tremendous importance and
interest of life, of the wonders of knowledge, of the delights of art
and literature, and of all that there is to do and to feel and to think
in the short years that are given us on earth.
One of the greatest dangers to which Royal personages are exposed by the
circumstances of their position is that of falling into an attitude of
gentle cynicism. Naturally they are often brought into contact with the
seamy side of human nature, while at the same time they are not perhaps
so well acquainted with its better side, as are persons of less exalted
rank. That the cleverer among them should take up an attitude of
humorous toleration of the whole human comedy is consequently very
natural.
It is no small testimony to the Empress Frederick's moral greatness
that, though she had experiences in plenty of the bad side of human
nature, she was never tempted to relapse into such an attitude. No one
was ever less of a cynic. She was full of intense passionate
enthusiasms and of a profound sympathy for the unfortunate, and the
disinherited of the earth. In her warm heart there was no room for
hatred or for contempt of others, and she was equally incapable of
shrugging her shoulders at the foibles and follies of poor humanity.
This eagerness to be up and doing was, however, combined, as has been
often seen in the history of mankind, with a touching faith in the power
of logic and reason. It was not exactly that the Empress held too high
an opinion of human nature, but she undoubtedly showed too little
appreciation of human stupidity and, we must add, of human malice. She
had been brought up with kindly, honourable, well-bred, and, on the
whole, very intelligent people, and when she came into rough collision
with less agreeable qualities of human nature, she suffered intensely.
But she was not soured as a less noble nature might have been; on the
contrary, she continued to the end of her life always to believe the
best of people, always to assume that they are actuated by good motives,
as well as by reason and common-sense. She seems to have missed the key
to the oddities and the vagaries, as well as to the baser qualities of
human nature, and therein lies, perhaps, the secret of the tragedy of
her life.
That tragedy, as we know, was greatly enhanced by the singular blows of
fate. Her rank had, strangely enough, given her a marriage of love and
affection more real and more lasting than often falls to the lot of
private persons. But the husband whom she adored, as well as two
idolized children, were taken from her.
It was her fate also to be constantly misunderstood; to see the purity
of her motives doubted and her most innocent actions misconstrued. Owing
partly to the circumstances of her time, partly to her own generous and
warm-hearted but imprudent impulsiveness, she failed to win the
affection of her adopted country as a whole, though she certainly earned
its respect and esteem. This was not the least bitter trial of her life,
for she was one of those natures who have a craving for affection and
understanding sympathy; and the criticism and even the hostility with
which she was regarded in Germany were all the more painful to her in
that she could not in the least understand on what they were based.
Perhaps she was too deeply convinced of the superiority of England and
of English institutions, and made too little allowance for the
sensitiveness of a people who were then slowly emerging into a national
in place of a particularist consciousness. At the same time it is
certain that, however she had comported herself, she could not have
escaped criticism of which she was no more than the ostensible object,
and the real purpose of which is to be found in the political
cross-currents of the period.
In this memoir the attempt is made to draw a true picture of this
singularly engaging and generous personality, who played her part in
great affairs, and who suffered all reversals of fortune, the anguish of
bereavement, and the pain of cruel disease, alike with unflinching
courage and dignity.
The materials have been found, not only in many works of history,
biography, memoir and reminiscence, both German and English, some of
which are little known, especially to English readers, but also in the
recollection of persons who were honoured with the Empress's friendship.
The aim of the writer has been, while avoiding such indiscriminate
laudation as really degrades the subject of it, to draw a full-length
portrait of one of the noblest and most attractive characters in the
long history of the Royal Houses of Europe.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PEDIGREE SHOWING THE FAMILY CONNECTIONS OF THE
EMPEROR AND EMPRESS FREDERICK xv
CHAP.
I CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD 1
II BETROTHAL 23
III OPINION IN BOTH COUNTRIES 36
IV MARRIAGE 58
V EARLY MARRIED LIFE 71
VI BIRTH OF PRINCE WILLIAM 100
VII ADVICE FROM ENGLAND 115
VIII DEATH OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA 133
IX FIRST RELATIONS WITH BISMARCK 162
X THE WAR OF THE DUCHIES 177
XI HOME LIFE AND RELIGION 198
XII THE AUSTRIAN WAR: WORK IN THE HOSPITALS 210
XIII THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR 227
XIV PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ACTIVITIES 245
XV THE CROWN PRINCE'S REGENCY 263
XVI SILVER WEDDING: THE CROWN PRINCE'S ILLNESS 279
XVII THE HUNDRED DAYS' REIGN 299
XVIII EARLY WIDOWHOOD: FALL OF BISMARCK 315
XIX THE PLANNING OF FRIEDRICHSHOF: VISIT TO PARIS 329
XX LIFE AT FRIEDRICHSHOF 340
XXI LAST YEARS 354
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Empress Frederick (Photogravure) _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
The Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal 18
The Princess Royal, Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa 54
Her Royal Highness Victoria, Princess Royal 98
His Royal Highness, Prince Frederick William of Prussia 138
Her Royal Highness, Princess Frederick William of
Prussia 180
Her Royal Highness, Princess Frederick William of
Prussia and Infant Prince Frederick William Victor
Albert 218
Frederick William, Crown Prince of Prussia, after the
Franco-Prussian War 258
The Late Empress Frederick 302
The Late Empress Frederick 342
PEDIGREE SHOWING THE FAMILY CONNECTIONS OF THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS
FREDERICK, AND THEIR DESCENT FROM KING JAMES I OF ENGLAND
ERNEST AUGUSTUS, = SOPHIA (grand-dau. of James I),
Elector of Hanover, | 1630-1714.
1629-1698. |
|
+------------------------+--------------+
| |
SOPHIA CHARLOTTE, = FREDERICK I, GEORGE I,
1668-1705. | King of Prussia, 1660-1727.
| 1657-1713. |
| |
+--------+ +-----------------+----+
| | |
FREDERICK WILLIAM I, = SOPHIA DOROTHEA, GEORGE II,
King of Prussia, | 1687-1757. 1683-1760.
1688-1740. | |
| |
+--------------+------+ |
| | |
FREDERICK THE GREAT, PRINCE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK,
1712-1786. WILLIAM, PRINCE OF WALES,
1722-1758. 1707-1757.
| |
FREDERICK WILLIAM II, GEORGE III,
1744-1797. 1738-1820.
| |
| +------+--------+
FREDERICK WILLIAM III, | | |
1770-1840. GEORGE IV, | EDWARD,
| 1762-1830. | DUKE OF KENT,
+---------------+------+ | 1767-1820.
| | | |
FREDERICK WILLIAM IV, WILLIAM I, WILLIAM IV |
1795-1861. German Emperor, 1765-1837. |
1797-1888. |
| QUEEN VICTORIA,
| 1819-1901.
| |
+-----------+ +-----------------+
| | |
EMPEROR FREDERICK, = VICTORIA, PRINCESS KING EDWARD VII,
1831-1888. | ROYAL, 1841-1910.
| 1840-1901. |
| KING GEORGE V.
|
+--------+--------+----------+-+----+------+------+---------+
| | | | | | | |
EMPEROR | HENRY, | VICTORIA, | SOPHIA, |
WILLIAM II, | _b._ 1862. | _b._ 1866;. | _b._ 1870;. |
_b._ 1859. | _m._ Princess | _m._ Prince | Queen of the |
| | Irene of Hesse, | Adolphus of | Hellenes. |
Six sons and | his first cousin. | Schaumburg | | |
| | | -Lippe. | | |
one daughter. | | | | Three sons and |
| Three sons. | | two daughters. |
| | | |
CHARLOTTE, SIGISMUND, WALDEMAR, MARGARET,
_b._ 1860;. 1864-1866. 1868-1879 _b._ 1872;.
_m._ Prince _m._ Prince
Bernhard of Frederick Charles
Saxe-Meiningen. of Hesse-Cassel.
| |
One daughter. Six sons.
THE EMPRESS FREDERICK
CHAPTER I
CHILDHOOD AND GIRLHOOD
Before the birth of the Princess Royal in November 1840, no direct heir
had been born to a reigning British Sovereign for nearly eighty years.
The Prince Regent, afterwards George IV, was born in 1762, two years
after his father's accession, and the death in childbirth of the Prince
Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte, when she was only twenty, was
still vividly remembered.
Queen Victoria was now but little older than Princess Charlotte, and the
birth of her first child was regarded with a certain anxiety by the
nation. It might prove to be the only child, and in that event much
would hang on the preservation of its life. Those members of the "Old
Royal Family" who were next in succession were not popular, and the
little Princess Royal may truly be described as having been the child of
many prayers.
It was natural that Queen Victoria should have recourse to Prince
Albert's confidential adviser, Baron Stockmar, the more so that he was a
skilled physician. Stockmar therefore came to London early in November.
Those were not the days of trained nurses, but rather of the types
immortalised by Dickens, and it is interesting to find the shrewd old
German, characteristically in advance of his time, urging the Prince to
be most careful in the choice of a nurse, "for a man's education begins
the first day of his life, and a lucky choice I regard as the greatest
and finest gift we can bestow on the expected stranger."
On November 13 the Court arrived at Buckingham Palace, where on the 21st
the Princess was born. "For a moment only," the Queen says, "was the
Prince disappointed at its being a daughter and not a son."
The character of the monarchy in England has changed so much, both
absolutely and also relatively to the people, that it is difficult for
us to realise the measure of prejudice and even contempt which still
subsisted before Queen Victoria had had time to win the full confidence
of her subjects. It is not therefore really surprising that the little
Princess Royal should have been greeted on her first appearance with a
shower of caricatures, some of them not remarkable for their refinement.
Still, a good deal of the rough humour lavished on the Princess was
kindly in its intention, though sometimes there was a sting in the tail.
For instance, Melbourne, the Prime Minister, was shown as nurse, proudly
presenting the Princess Royal to John Bull: "I hope the caudle is to
your liking, Mr. Bull. It must be quite a treat, for you have not had
any for a long time." John Bull replies: "Well, to tell you the truth,
Mother Melbourne, I think the caudle the best of it, for I had hoped
for a boy."
Melbourne's fatherly devotion to the Queen was indeed a piece of luck
for the caricaturists of the day. A cartoon entitled "Old Servants in
New Characters" shows him dressed as a nurse with the infant Princess in
his care; she is sitting in a tiny carriage, with Lord John Russell as
outrider.
It was arranged that the christening should take place in London on
February 10, the anniversary of the Queen's marriage, the infant
receiving the names of Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise. Even the
christening of the Princess Royal inspired a long satirical poem. One
verse ran:
"This is the Bishop, so bold and intrepid,
A-making the water so nice and so tepid,
To christen the Baby, who's stated, no doubt,
Her objection to taking it 'cold without.'"
The sponsors were Prince Albert's brother, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha (represented in his absence by the Duke of Wellington), the King
of the Belgians, the Queen Dowager (Adelaide), the Duchess of
Gloucester, the Duchess of Kent, and the Duke of Sussex. Lord Melbourne
remarked of the Princess to the Queen next day: "How she looked about
her, quite conscious that the stir was all about herself! This is the
time the character is formed!" The Prime Minister would have agreed with
Stockmar's view that a man's education (and presumably also a woman's)
begins with the first day of life.
Prince Albert sent a vivid account of the ceremony to the venerable
Dowager Duchess of Gotha:
"The christening went off very well. Your little great-grandchild
behaved with great propriety, and like a Christian. She was awake, but
did not cry at all, and seemed to crow with immense satisfaction at the
lights and brilliant uniforms, for she is very intelligent and
observing. The ceremony took place at half-past six P. M., and after it
there was a dinner, and then we had some instrumental music. The health
of the little one was drunk with great enthusiasm. The little girl bears
the Saxon Arms in the middle of the English, which looks very pretty."
The Princess Royal, like her brothers and sisters, led an ideal
childhood. All through her later life she often referred to the
unclouded happiness of these early years, and it comes out equally
clearly in the published correspondence of her sister, Princess Alice.
In this matter both Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were in advance of
their time, and the Prince, especially, perceived, what was not then at
all generally believed, that children could be made happy without being
spoiled.
Perhaps the most sensible decision of the parents was that the Royal
children should come in contact as little as possible with the actual
life of the Court. Not that the tone of the Court was bad; on the
contrary, it was singularly high, but the Queen and Prince Albert knew
the subtle danger of even innocent petting and flattery on young and
impressionable minds.
So it was that the Royal children had very little to do with the Queen's
ladies-in-waiting--indeed they were only seen by them for a few moments
after dinner at dessert, or when driving out with their parents. The
Queen and the Prince entrusted the care of their sons and daughters
exclusively to persons who possessed their whole confidence, and with
whom they could be in constant direct communication. Both were kept
regularly informed of the minutest details of what was being done for
their children, and as the princesses grew older they had an English, a
French, and a German governess, who were, in their turn, responsible to
a lady superintendent.
It has been the custom of late to speak as if the children of Queen
Victoria had been over-educated and over-stimulated. This was at least
partly true of their infancy, but if they had been really over-educated,
they would not have turned out as well as they did later, nor would they
have all delighted in looking back with fond reminiscence to their
earliest years.
The Princess Royal was soon recognised by all those about her as
intellectually the flower of the happy little flock. She was clever,
self-willed, and high-spirited; learning everything that was put before
her with marvellous intelligence and rapidity. Her dearest friend and
companion was her sister, the sweet-natured, pensive Princess Alice, who
was next in age, after the Prince of Wales, to herself. The two lived
for some years a life which was exactly alike. They shared the same
lessons, the same amusements, the same interests; both had a strong love
of art and of drawing; both were, if anything, over-sensitively alive to
the claims of duty and of patriotism.
Naturally the most detailed and accurate impression of the Princess
Royal's childhood is to be derived from the correspondence of Sarah Lady
Lyttelton, who was appointed Governess to the Royal children in April
1842.
This lady, who was then approaching her fifty-fifth birthday, was the
daughter of the second Earl Spencer, and sister of that Lord Althorp who
was a member of Lord Grey's Reform Ministry, and who played a notable
part in politics rather by his strength of character than by any
commanding ability. Lady Sarah married the third Lord Lyttelton in 1813.
It is interesting to recall that her son, afterwards the fourth Lord
Lyttelton, married Mrs. Gladstone's sister, Miss Glynne. Sarah Lady
Lyttelton was widowed in 1837 after a singularly happy married life, and
soon afterwards Queen Victoria appointed her a lady-in-waiting.
When, some four years later, she was given the responsible post of
Governess to the Royal children, she was already very well known to the
Queen and the Prince Consort, as well as to their closest adviser. Lord
Melbourne, for instance, heartily approved the appointment, declaring
that no other person so well qualified could have been selected.
The picture of the Princess Royal which her guardian draws in these
letters is one of an extraordinarily winning though precocious child,
and if it seems to modern judgment that the precocity was rather too
much stimulated, it must be remembered that we are back in the 'forties,
when a scientific study of the psychology of infants was not dreamed of.
Moreover, it is abundantly evident that the little Princess had such a
way with her, "so innocent arch, so cunning simple," that it must have
required no ordinary resolution to avoid spoiling her, while even the
most scientific modern expert would probably have found it very hard to
draw the line between over-stimulation and proper encouragement of her
remarkable intelligence.
Lady Lyttelton had her first glimpse of the Princess Royal in July 1841.
She describes her as a fine, fat, firm, fair, Royal-looking baby, "too
absurdly like the Queen." Her look was grave, calm, and penetrating, and
she surveyed the whole company most composedly. She was shown at her
carriage window to the populace; and Lady Lyttelton, noting the
universal grin in all faces, declares that the baby will soon have seen
every set of teeth in the kingdom!
Some months later she records that "the dear Babekin is really going to
be quite beautiful. Such large smiling soft blue eyes, and quite a
handsome nose, and the prettiest mouth." The child early acquired the
appropriate pet name of "Pussy," while she herself, finding Lady
Lyttelton's name too large a mouthful, simplified it to "Laddle."
It may be here recorded that an absurd rumour had been circulated that
the Princess Royal had been born blind, and it was this and other
foolish gossip which first induced the Queen, at the suggestion of
Prince Albert, to issue an official Court Circular, which has been
continued ever since.
The Queen had the baby constantly with her, and thought incessantly
about her, with the result that the child was perhaps rather
over-watched and over-doctored. She was fed on asses' milk, arrow-root,
and chicken broth, which were measured out so carefully that Lady
Lyttelton fancied she left off hungry. Lady Lyttelton, indeed, had some
experience of this dieting craze, for her brother, Lord Althorp, at one
time, when he had a terror of getting fat, used to weigh out his own
breakfast every morning, and when he had consumed the tiny allowance
used to hasten out of the room lest he should be led into temptation!
The little Princess was over-sensitive and affectionate, and rather
irritable in temper, and with a prophetic eye Lady Lyttelton says that
"it looks like a pretty mind, only very unfit for roughing it through a
hard life, which hers may be."
After the birth of the Prince of Wales, Lady Lyttelton gives us a
passing, but sufficiently terrible glimpse of the anxieties which Royal
parents must all suffer, more or less. She mentions that threatening
letters aimed directly at the children were received, and though they
were probably written by mad people, nevertheless no protection in the
way of locks, guard-rooms, and intricate passages was omitted for the
defence of the Royal nurseries; while the master key was never out of
Prince Albert's own keeping.
The Princess Royal spent her second birthday at Walmar Castle, and she
is described as being "most funny all day," joining in the cheers and
asking to be lifted up to look at "the people," to whom she bowed very
actively whether they could see her or not.
Perhaps one reason why she became, and remained, so fond of France was
that from infancy she was placed in the charge of a French lady, Madame
Charlier. She was very advanced through all her childhood, especially in
music and painting, yet she remained quite natural and simple in all her
ways.
She was only three years old when Prince Albert wrote to Stockmar: "The
children in whose welfare you take so kindly an interest are making most
favourable progress. The eldest, 'Pussy,' is now quite a little
personage. She speaks English and French with great fluency and choice
of phrase." But to her parents she generally talked German.
"Our _Pussette_," the Queen writes a few weeks afterwards, "learns a
verse of Lamartine by heart, which ends with 'Le tableau se déroule à
mes pieds.' To show how well she understood this difficult line, I must
tell you the following _bon-mot_. When she was riding on her pony, and
looking at the cows and sheep, she turned to Madame Charlier, and said:
'Voilà le tableau qui se déroule à mes pieds!' Is not this extraordinary
for a child of three years?"
It is evident that the oral teaching of languages had very sensibly
preceded that of books, for when the Princess is four years and three
months old we hear that she is getting on very well with her lessons,
"but much is still to be done before she can read."
In spite of her accomplishments, she was a very natural human child, and
could be naughty on occasion. Lady Lyttelton records about this time
that the Princess, after an hour's naughtiness, said she wished to speak
to her; but instead of the expected penitence, she delivered herself as
follows: "I am very sorry, Laddle, but I mean to be just as naughty next
time"--a threat which was followed by a long imprisonment.
Perhaps the Princess Royal's happiest days were spent at Osborne, where
she began going at the age of five. There the Royal children had a
cottage, built on the Swiss model, to themselves. It comprised a
dining-room, a kitchen, a store-room, and a museum; and in it the
Princesses were encouraged to learn how to do household work, and to
direct the management of a small establishment. When in their Swiss
cottage, each princess was allowed to choose her own occupation and to
enjoy a certain liberty; their parents used to be invited there as
guests at meals which the Princess Royal and Princess Alice had
themselves prepared.
Years later, when they had both married to Germany, there were certain
tunes which neither the Princess Royal nor Princess Alice could hear
without tears rising to their eyes, so powerfully did the recollection
of the happy birthdays and holidays they spent at Osborne remain with
them. Not long before her death Princess Alice wrote to her mother:
"What a joyous childhood we had, and how greatly it was enhanced by dear
sweet Papa, and by all your kindness to us!"
Many happy days were also spent by the Princesses at Balmoral. In the
Highlands the restraints of Court life were entirely thrown off, and the
Queen encouraged her daughters to come into close contact with the
poorer classes of their neighbours, indeed everything in reason was done
to arouse their sympathies for the needy and the suffering.
The Princess Royal showed even in her early childhood an astonishing
power of vivid expression. For example, when she was about five and a
half, she found mentioned in a history book the name of an ancient poet
called Wace. Lady Lyttelton thereupon observed that she had never heard
of that poet till then, but the Princess insisted: "Oh, yes, I daresay
you did, only you have forgotten it. Réfléchissez! Go back to your
_youngness_ and you will soon remember."
That the child had a natural and instinctive religious feeling is shown
by another incident. She had narrowly escaped serious injury from
treading on a large nail, and Lady Lyttelton explained to her that it
had pleased God to save her from great pain. Instantly the child said:
"Shall we kneel down?"
In October 1847 the Princess Royal had an accident which might have been
very serious.
The children were riding with their ponies when the Princess was quietly
thrown after a few yards of cantering. She was not hurt, but the Prince
of Wales's pony ran away with him. Fortunately he was strapped into the
saddle, and, after one loud cry for help, he showed no signs of fear,
but cleverly kept as tight hold of the reins as he could pull. The
Princess Royal was not at all frightened herself until she saw her
brother's danger, and then she screamed out: "Oh, can't they stop him?
Dear Bertie!" and burst into tears. Fortunately all ended well, and the
children went on riding as fearlessly as ever.
In October 1848 the Royal children, crossing in the yacht _Fairy_ from
Osborne on their way to Windsor, witnessed a terrible accident--the
sinking of a boatload of people in a sudden squall. It made a deep
impression on all the children, and the Princess Royal kept thinking of
it all that night.
It is about this time that Lady Lyttelton observes: "The Princess Royal
might pass, if not seen but only overheard, for a young lady of
seventeen in whichever of her three languages she chose to entertain the
company."
Nearly a year afterwards, Lady Lyttelton notes that "dear Princessey"
had been now perfectly good ever since they came to Osborne, and she
says that she continues to reflect and observe and reason like a very
superior person, and is as affectionate as ever.
Again, in April 1849, she notes every moment more and more "the blessed
improvement of the Princess Royal." "She is becoming capable of
self-control and principle and patience, and her wonderful powers of
head and heart continue. She may turn out a most distinguished
character." And a few months later she notes that "the Princess Royal is
so enormously improved in manner, in temper, and conduct--altogether as
really to give a bright promise of all good. Her talent and brilliancy
have naturally lost no ground: she may turn out something remarkable."
All the children showed real kindness to the poor, visiting them and
beginning to understand what poverty is.
The Princess accompanied her parents and the Prince of Wales on a visit
to Ireland in August 1849, and afterwards went to Cherbourg, that being
her first visit to France. It was during that stay at Cherbourg that the
curé of a neighbouring village gave the young English Princess a
charming sketch done by one of his parishioners, a then unknown artist
named Jean François Millet.
The Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales made their first official
appearance in London on October 30, 1849, when they represented their
mother, who was suffering from chicken-pox, at the opening of the new
Coal Exchange. The scene has been often described, notably by Miss
Alcott, the author of _Little Women_, who was however, naturally more
interested in the Prince than in his sister.
Much to their delight, the children went from Westminster to the City in
the State barge rowed by twenty-six watermen, and all London turned out
to greet them. They were very wisely not allowed to attend the big
public luncheon, but were given their lunch in a private room. Lady
Lyttelton mentions that the gentleman who made the arrangements was so
overcome by his loyal feelings at the sight of the children that he
melted into tears and had to retire!
In the summer before the Princess's tenth birthday, Lady Lyttelton
records: "Princess Royal standing by me to-day, as I was trying a few
chords on the pianoforte, was pleased and pensive like her old self. 'I
like chords, one can _read_ them. They make one sometimes gay, sometimes
sad. It used to be too much for me to like formerly.'"
The year 1851 was memorable in the Princess Royal's life, for it was
then that she first met her future husband.
It has been said that Prince Frederick William of Prussia, who was
twenty at the time, became attracted to his future wife during this
first visit of his to the English Court, when he accompanied his parents
and his only sister to see the Great Exhibition. But that is surely
absurd, for the Princess, charming and clever as she was, was then only
a child.
Still the English Court was probably never seen to greater advantage
than during that year of miracles, and it is clear that the young
Prussian Prince saw for the first time a Royal family leading a happy,
natural life, full of affection and kindness. Queen Victoria's children
were healthy, well-mannered, and devoted to their parents, and the
leader and head of the little band was the Princess Royal, full of eager
interest in everything she was allowed to see and know, blessed with
high spirits and a keen sense of humour even then already well
developed. She was adored by her father, and encouraged in every way to
"produce herself," to use an expressive French phrase.
Prince Frederick William could not but note the contrast between the
young people whose friendship he was making at Windsor, and the shy,
etiquette-ridden Royal children of the minor German courts. Nor could he
help contrasting this delightful domestic scene with what he knew at
home. At Berlin he was in constant contact with a Royal family
profoundly disunited and unhappy. Only three years before his first
visit to England he had stood at the palace window and seen the first
shot fired in the Revolution of 1848.
Although the Prince had a tenderly-loved sister, he had spent a lonely,
austere youth, for his parents, though outwardly on good terms, were in
no sense united as Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were united--indeed,
it was an open secret that the Prince of Prussia had only one love in
his life, Elise Radziwill.
Prince Frederick William's sister was only a very little older than the
Princess Royal. The two princesses formed on this visit a friendship
destined never to be broken, and henceforth the Royal children called
the Prince and Princess of Prussia "Uncle Prussia" and "Aunt Prussia."
The Great Exhibition itself undoubtedly helped to strengthen Prince
Frederick William's attraction to England. The palace of glass in Hyde
Park absorbed the minds and thoughts of the whole Royal family, if only
because all those who were old enough to understand anything of public
affairs were aware that the success or failure of the enterprise would
seriously affect the position of Prince Albert in England.
The feeling among the Royal family is shown by a passage in a letter of
Queen Victoria to Lady Lyttelton. Writing on May 1, the opening day of
the Exhibition, Her Majesty said:
"The proudest and happiest day of--as you truly call it--my happy life.
To see this great conception of my beloved husband's mind--to see this
great thought and work, crowned with triumphant success in spite of
difficulties and opposition of every imaginable kind, and of every
effort to which jealousy and calumny could resort to cause its failure,
has been an immense happiness to us both."
Prince Frederick William, thoughtful beyond his years, and already under
the spell of Prince Albert's kindly and affectionate interest, began to
regard England as the model State, and took most significant pains to
make himself better acquainted with her national life and polity. Even
on this comparatively short visit he found time to make an excursion to
the industrial North.
On his return to Bonn University his admiration for England by no means
waned, and his English tutor, Mr. Perry, gives us an interesting glimpse
of the thoroughness with which he set to work to increase his knowledge:
"At the request of the Prince, I visited him three times a week, and had
the honour of superintending his studies in English history and
literature, in both of which he took special interest. His love for
England and his great veneration of the Queen were most remarkable, and
our intercourse became very agreeable and confidential. He manifested
the keenest interest for all that I was able to tell him of England's
political and social life, and when our more serious studies were over,
we amused ourselves by writing imaginary letters to Ministers and
leading members of English society."
It was in truth with England that Prince Frederick William fell in love
on this memorable visit, not with the little Princess Royal, though he
was undoubtedly attracted, as all the people round her were, by her
winning charm and quick intelligence.
The idea of a marriage between the two had, however, occurred to other
people, as is shown by the fact that in the following year the Princess
of Prussia desired to visit England with a view to suggesting it. But
the Prince's uncle, King Frederick William IV, influenced by his
pro-Russian consort, did not look on the proposal with favour, and it
remained in abeyance, partly on account of the Princess Royal's
youth, partly owing to the outbreak of the Crimean War.
[Illustration: THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE PRINCESS ROYAL
PAINTED BY COMMAND OF THE QUEEN]
The Crimean War made an immense impression on the Princess Royal. For
months the Queen, the Prince, and the elder Royal children thought and
talked of nothing else. The children contributed drawings to be sold for
the benefit of the war funds, and we know that the Princess's emotions
were deeply stirred by the thought of the sufferings of the wounded and
by the work of Florence Nightingale, which was followed with intense
interest in the Royal circle. The Princess in fact was able at a most
impressionable age to realise something of the horrors of war, and this
was destined, as we shall see, to bear rich fruit.
The war also led directly to the Princess's first real sight of France.
In August, 1855, the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales accompanied
their parents on a State visit to the Emperor Napoleon III and the
Empress Eugénie.
Of this visit a story was told at the time which greatly delighted all
the Royal families of the Continent. Much as Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert were respected for their solid virtues, their artistic taste in
matters of dress was considered to be not always infallible. It was
feared at the French Court that the Princess Royal would be dressed, not
exactly unbecomingly, but in a style which would by no means harmonise
with Parisian taste and Parisian surroundings. The question was how to
beguile her parents into dressing the child in a suitable manner.
In this difficulty someone suggested a really brilliant stratagem. The
height and other measurements of the Princess Royal were obtained, and a
doll of exactly corresponding size was procured, provided with a large
and exquisitely finished wardrobe, and despatched to Buckingham Palace
as an Imperial gift to the Princess. The expected then happened. Queen
Victoria transferred most of the doll's wardrobe to her daughter, with
the result that the Princess appeared at her best and everyone was
pleased.
The children stayed at the delightful country palace of Saint Cloud,
whence they drove in every day to see the sights of Paris. They were
not, of course, present at evening entertainments, but an exception was
made on the occasion of the great ball held in the Galeries des Glaces
at Versailles, when they supped with the Emperor and Empress. They both
became sincerely attached to the Emperor, who was himself very fond of
children. Indeed, his young guests enjoyed themselves so much that,
according to an oft-quoted story, the Prince of Wales asked that his
sister and himself might stay on after their parents had gone home, "for
there are six more of us at home and they don't want _us_!"
As to their conduct, Prince Albert wrote to the Duchess of Kent: "I am
bound to praise the children greatly. They behaved extremely well, and
pleased everybody. The task was no easy one for them, but they
discharged it without embarrassment and with natural simplicity."
This visit laid the foundation of that strong affection and admiration
for France and the French which thenceforth characterised the Princess
Royal. It was on this visit, too, that she conceived her enthusiastic
adoration of the Empress Eugénie. Her character was now beginning to be
formed, and it is the key to the tragedy of her life, for a cruel fate
so ordered her future that, while she was made to pay the full penalty
for her failings, her many lovable and generous qualities seemed often
to find none but the most grudging recognition.
During the whole of her life, the Princess Royal had a peculiarity which
only belongs to the generous-hearted and impulsive. She was apt to be
violently attracted, sometimes for very little reason, to those she met,
and then she would be proportionately cast down if these new friends and
acquaintances did not turn out on fuller knowledge all that she had
expected them to be. Those who knew her well are agreed in saying that
she was not a good judge of character. She was apt to see in human
beings what she expected to see, not what was there. She not only liked
some people at first sight, but she had an equally instinctive dislike
of others, and this was an even greater misfortune, for sometimes the
prejudices she thus formed were hard to eradicate. In this she was quite
unlike Queen Victoria, who, having once formed a wrong impression, was
capable of altering it entirely if she was given good reason to change
her mind.
As she grew up to womanhood, the Princess Royal was very wisely allowed
to make the acquaintance of some of the brilliant men and women of the
day who were admitted to her parents' friendship. One of these was the
second Lord Granville, the "Pussy" Granville who was afterwards Foreign
Minister in Mr. Gladstone's Cabinets, and we may conclude this chapter
with a quotation which shows how he could count on the young Princess's
appreciation of a funny story.
Lord Granville, who went to St. Petersburg as the head of the special
British Mission at the coronation of the Tsar Alexander, wrote a long
letter to Queen Victoria, in which he requested the Queen to convey his
respectful remembrances to the Princess Royal; and he went on to advise
the Princess, when residing abroad, not to engage a Russian maid: 'Lady
Wodehouse found hers eating the contents of a pot on her dressing-table,
which happened to be castor-oil pomatum for the hair!'