EARLY DAYS OF PRINCE ALBERT.
Birth--Melancholy Story of his Mother--Brought up under the Care of
his two Excellent Grandmothers--His Winning Ways as a Child--His
Tutor, Florschuetz--The Brothers, Ernest and Albert--Visit to Brussels,
and its Beneficial Effects--Hard Study--Tour through Germany,
&c.--First Visit to England, and Meeting with Victoria--Studies at
Brussels--Enters the University of Bonn--Tour to Switzerland and
Italy--Public Announcement of Betrothal--Leaves Coburg and Gotha for
his Marriage.
[Sidenote: THE INFANT COUSINS VICTORIA AND ALBERT.]
Albert, the second son of Duke Ernest I. of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his
wife, the Princess Louise, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg,
was born at the Rosenau, a charming summer residence belonging to the
Duke, about four miles from Coburg, on the 26th of August, 1819. His
mother is described as handsome, though of very diminutive proportions,
fair, with blue eyes; and her son Albert, whom she idolised, closely
resembled her. She was clever and entertaining; yet her marriage was an
unhappy one, and a separation took place by mutual consent in 1824, after
which date the Duchess never saw her children. Two years later the
separation was turned into a divorce. The Prince never forgot her, but
spoke of her to his dying day with much tenderness, and the very first
gift which he ever made to the Princess Victoria was a little pin which
his mother had given him. Not until the Prince was almost a young man did
his mother die. When she died her race became extinct, save in the
persons of her two sons. Many years later, her remains were brought to
Coburg, and laid in the family mausoleum beside the Duke and his second
wife. This mausoleum was not completed until 1860, in which year Queen
Victoria deposited a votive wreath on the tomb of the mother of her
husband. Prince Albert's paternal grandmother, the Duchess Dowager of
Coburg, in writing to her daughter, the Duchess of Kent, announcing
Albert's birth, lauded his beauty, and--little thinking how the fortunes
of the two infant cousins were to be intertwined hereafter--thus concluded
her communication:--"How pretty the _May Flower_ (the Princess Victoria,
born the preceding May) will be when I see it in a year's time. Siebold
cannot sufficiently describe what a dear little love it is. Une bonne
fois, adieu! Kiss your husband and children." Siebold was an accoucheuse
who had attended at the births of both the children. On the 19th of
September the Prince was christened, and thus named:--Francis Charles
Augustus Albert Emmanuel.
The young Prince seems to have been adored as a child by all, whether
relatives or others, who came in contact with him. "He leads captive,"
said his fond mother, when he was two years old, "all hearts by his beauty
and gentle grace." After the sad separation of his father from his mother,
the Prince was brought up largely under the care of his father's mother,
whom the Queen describes, from personal recollection, as "a most
remarkable woman, with a most powerful, energetic, almost masculine mind,
accompanied with great tenderness of heart, and extreme love for nature."
Of an evening she used to tell to her two grandchildren, Ernest and
Albert, the stories of Sir Walter Scott's novels, and, when they were old
enough, employed them in writing letters to her dictation. She fondly
described Albert, when he was not yet two years old, by the pet,
diminutive name, "Alberinchen." And she says--"With his large blue eyes
and dimpled cheeks, he is bewitching, forward, and quick as a weasel. He
can already say everything." The step-maternal grandmother of the Prince
too, second wife of his maternal grandfather, was sensible, kindly, and
good, and took an interest in the children by no means inferior to that
displayed by their own grandmother. With the former lady they spent very
much of their time in their early years, at Gotha, and at her mansion in
the vicinity of that town.
When Albert was not yet four years old he, with his brother, was removed
to the care of a tutor, Herr Florschuetz, who most admirably discharged his
duties, which he continued to fulfil until his pupils had become young
men. With the assistance of masters for special subjects, he conducted the
whole of their early educational training, and continued to control their
studies until they left the University of Bonn. The two brothers, spite of
the difference of about a twelvemonth in their ages, pursued all studies
in common, and the closest brotherly love and amity united them from first
to last.
[Sidenote: BOYHOOD OF PRINCE ALBERT]
The younger Prince was not nearly so robust as his brother, but his
intellect was more vigorous, and his force of will decidedly greater; "he
always held," said his uncle Leopold, "accordingly, a certain sway over
his elder brother, who rather kindly submitted to it." The Princes were
not much, in their early years, with their father, who was much from home,
especially when settling the junction of the duchy of Gotha with his own
of Coburg. The former he succeeded to partly in right of his wife, and
partly by a mutual compact of exchange of territory, entered into with
other reigning princes of the old Saxon stock. This period was passed by
the Princes at Rosenau, with their tutor, varied by visits to the mansions
of the two grandmothers.
In a memorandum drawn up by Count Arthur Mensdorff, cousin of the Prince,
he describes the young Albert when about ten years of age, at which period
the cousins contracted a friendship which lasted unimpaired until the
Prince's death. His disposition was mild and benevolent; nothing could
make him angry, except anything unjust or dishonest. He was never wild or
noisy, and his favourite study was natural history. He was a good mimic,
and had a keen sense of the ludicrous; but he never pushed a joke to the
extent of hurting one's feelings. His moral purity was as conspicuous as
the meekness of his disposition.
In November of 1831, the Princes suffered a great bereavement in the death
of their admirable grandmother, the Duchess Dowager of Coburg; she died in
the arms of her two eldest sons. She had, from an early period, formed the
wish that a marriage should be contracted between her two grandchildren,
Albert and Victoria.
In 1832, the young Princes, in their turn, accompanied their father in a
journey to visit their uncle, King Leopold. This was a most important
event in the Prince's life; for, though the visit was of but short
duration, the spectacle which he then saw, of a nation which had freed
itself, and worked out its own destiny, had the strongest effect upon his
mind and conscience, which thence grew in attachment to liberal
principles. His deeply-rooted love of art, too, received a strong stimulus
from the splendid architectural and artistic treasures of the old Belgian
city. On his return from Brussels, being now about thirteen years old, he
became remarkably studious, and vigorously set himself to the pursuit of
an unusually comprehensive circle of subjects.
The only recreation which he pursued with vigour was deer-stalking, and
this most beneficially promoted the robustness of a frame as yet
distinguished by delicacy. On Palm Sunday, 1835, he was confirmed, and his
heart seems, at and from this period, to have come under the influence of
religious convictions of peculiar depth and sincerity, though of singular
freedom from all traces of bigotry.
The confirmation of the Princes was immediately followed by a series of
visits to various of their imperial, regal, princely, and noble relatives
and friends throughout Germany and the provinces on the Danube. They
visited in succession Mecklenburg, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Pesth,
and Ofen. In May, 1836, the Princes came to England, on a visit to their
aunt Kent. It was on this occasion that Albert and Victoria first met.
On his return to the Continent from this his first and most gratifying
visit to England, the Duke of Coburg placed Albert and his elder brother
for a time under the care of their uncle at Brussels. A private house was
taken for them, in which they pursued their studies under Dr. Drury, an
English clergyman, who had been appointed their tutor. This gentleman
recorded this testimony of his pupil, when, shortly afterwards, he was
removed from his tutelage, and before any idea was entertained about his
distinguished future position:--"His attainments are various, and solid
too; his abilities are superior; his disposition amiable; his conduct
unexceptionable; and, above all, his belief in, and his attachment to, the
Protestant religion is sincere."
[Sidenote: PRINCE ALBERT AT COLLEGE.]
In the summer following (1837) the two brothers were entered as students
of law, or, more correctly, of jurisprudence (_juris studiosi_), at the
University of Bonn, the Oxford of Germany in respect to the high rank of
some of its students, and standing in the very first place in point of
intrinsic efficiency. The tutor Florschuetz still accompanied the young
men; and they benefited by the prelections of such men as Fichte, Perthes,
and Augustus Schlegel. Prince Albert studied classics, mathematics, mental
philosophy, political economy, history, and statistical science. In the
last subject he had been well grounded at Brussels by the distinguished M.
Quetelet, who formed the highest opinion of his pupil's powers and
assiduity. He had, besides, private tutors for music and drawing, in both
of which arts he was already well advanced. In the second stage of his
curriculum his studies were specially devoted to jurisprudence and civil
history. While at Bonn he displayed at once a talent for poetry and a
benevolent heart, by the publication for the benefit of the poor of a
collection of songs, which his brother set to meritorious musical
accompaniments. He visited only among his princely fellow-students, and at
the houses of the professors. His brother and he, though they occasionally
gave courtly entertainments to their friends, lived in private a
temperate and frugal life. He assiduously sought out the society of
_savans_ and men of letters, especially loving to associate with
Professors Welcker and Schlegel. The latter, though he detested the
ordinary run of "princelings," was quite charmed by Albert, of whom he
thought and spoke most highly. The Prince kept only three academical
terms, and finally left the University, in September, 1838, leaving golden
opinions everywhere behind him. Not the least hearty of his eulogists in
after years was Peter Stamm, an hotel-keeper, who acted as gamekeeper to
him on his shooting excursions, and who for years after pointed to English
visitors the portrait of Prince Albert in his sitting-room, his eyes the
while brimming over with glad tears. The University, after his marriage,
conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, and in the
diploma pointed reference was made to his "summae fortunae magnitudinem ac
gravitatem, summa comitate, amabilique morum suavitate et humanitate."
The winter of 1838-9 was passed by the Prince in a tour through
Switzerland and Italy. After pursuing his journey as far as Naples, and
omitting no locality of interest on the way, he came home by way of
Vienna, and returned to the Castle of Ehrenberg in the summer of 1839. It
has been stated that he found, on the wall of his room, a miniature of
Queen Victoria, by Chalon, which she had sent to him as a gift in his
absence; but we have not discovered any very reliable authority for the
anecdote. In August, having completed his twentieth year, he was formally
declared of age. He inherited from his mother landed estates amounting to
L2,400 yearly value. These lands, we have reason to believe, he
transferred to his brother upon the formal announcement of his engagement
to Queen Victoria, subject only to pensions and allowances to certain
persons who had belonged to his modest household.
[Sidenote: PRINCE ALBERT'S BETROTHAL.]
On the 8th of December, 1839, his betrothal was formally and publicly
announced at Coburg. In the morning the Ducal family, with the Court
officials, attended Divine service in the chapel of the Castle; in the
afternoon, in the presence of the same dignitaries, with the deputies of
the Duchies of Coburg and Gotha, the Chief Minister formally read the
announcement of the betrothal; the while the booming of cannon from the
fortress announced the tidings to the people of the town and the
neighbouring country. About three hundred persons in all were present at
the ceremony within the Castle, including bearers of congratulatory
addresses, not only from the two duchies, but from Austria, Prussia,
Hesse, Saxony, and other German states. From the report of an English
gentleman of high social position, who was present on this important
occasion, we extract, in conclusion, these fuller details:--
When the Minister (Baron de Carlowitz) had read the proclamation, the
Duke embraced his son, and the Duchess next imprinted a kiss upon his
forehead, while in every eye might be read the heartfelt wish that all
the parents' fondest, proudest hopes might be fully realised. More
than one hundred and sixty persons partook of the hospitalities of the
Duke's table, in the "Riesen Saal," or "Giant's Hall," and a more
sumptuous or splendid entertainment could not be imagined. The loud
and cordial cheers which the health of England's Queen called forth,
and which burst out with an enthusiasm which all the forms of
etiquette and courtly ceremony could not restrain, were almost too
affecting; and when the band struck up "God save the Queen," the tears
of joy flowed freely. I must not omit to mention a circumstance
characteristic of the Prince. By his order, the people were admitted
into the "Riesen Saal," to see the assembled company. Peasants from
the hills, old and young, walked about without the smallest restraint,
to their evident enjoyment; and their hearty exclamations--the
blessings they invoked on their beloved Prince and his august
parents--were a more eloquent and stirring panegyric than volumes
could express. To describe the universal attachment of all classes to
the Prince were impossible. I have never heard other than the most
enthusiastic praise--not one dissenting voice from one end of
Thuringia to the other. If I have remarked the personal beauty of the
Prince, the general reply has been, "Ah! yes, he is certainly
handsome, but so good; he is truly a most amiable prince, as good as
he is handsome." Persons attached to his suite, and the older members
of the Court, cannot speak of him without tears, and are quite
distressed at the thought of his leaving his native land.... On the
28th of December the Prince, accompanied by his father, quitted his
paternal residence for a short sojourn at Gotha; and as he bade a last
adieu to the stately castle of Ehrenberg, the abode of his fathers,
and the happy scene of his infancy, the tenderest emotions of his
nature for a moment almost overwhelmed him. A few days prior to his
departure, a ball was given him by the nobles, at which he was
received by twelve young ladies, attired in white, and wearing
fresh-gathered roses; the Philosophic Society gave him a serenade, and
all classes joined in affectionate expression of sympathy in their
young Prince's feelings on this momentous occasion.
Lord Viscount Torrington and Colonel the Honourable Charles Grey, who were
charged with the two-fold mission of investing the Prince with the
insignia of the Order of the Garter, and escorting him and his suite to
England, arrived at Gotha early in January, 1840, and the investiture took
place on the 24th, with imposing ceremony. The jewels, which were of
diamonds and of rare workmanship, were a present from the Queen. After a
series of hospitable festivities in honour of the English envoys, Prince
Albert set out for England on the 28th of the month.