The Princess left Italy on the 28th April, reaching Darmstadt on the 2d of May.
Her journey had been one of thorough enjoyment, and she felt deeply grateful that she had at last been able to see with her own eyes those glorious works of art, which from her childhood she had only been able to picture dimly to herself.
The joy of her reunion with her family was, alas! not to be of long duration. Prince Louis had been obliged to leave Darmstadt early on the morning of the 29th of May to inspect the troops in Upper Hesse, leaving the Princess still in bed, exhausted from the great fatigue of her Italian journey. The two little Princes came to wish her “good-morning,” and by her wish were left in her room by the nurse. The children soon began to play, as was their wont, running in and out of the room into the adjacent one, and looking from one window and then from another. Prince Ernest having run into the next room, the Princess followed him, leaving Prince Fritz in her bedroom. During her almost momentary absence he fell out of the window on to the stone terrace below. Whether he had leaned too far out of it and overbalanced himself, or whether in running fast through the room to the window to look for his brother he could not stop himself and fell from it, no one actually knows. He was picked up insensible, and died a few hours afterward in the arms of his distracted mother. Effusion of blood on the brain caused by the fall ended that young and bright little life. The loss of this unusually-gifted and beloved child was a blow to the mother from which she never recovered. Her married life had till then been such a happy one, that this first sorrow came on her with redoubled force.
On the evening of Whitsunday, June 1st, the beloved little Prince was taken to his last resting-place, at the Rosenhöhe (the Grand Ducal Mausoleum), his parents and sisters and brother being present. It was very long before the Princess at all recovered from the terrible shock of the death of her child, though the sympathy shown to her by her family and friends—indeed, by all—greatly comforted and helped her.
In the autumn the Prince and Princess went to Heiden in Appenzell for a little change. From there they paid a visit to the Prince of Hohenzollern at his castle of the Weinburg. At the end of November they went to England with their three youngest children, and remained there till the 23d of December, when they returned to Darmstadt.
Darmstadt, January 12th.
* * * We were both much shocked to hear of the death of the Emperor Napoleon, and I must say grieved; personally he was so amiable, and she is much to be pitied. That he should die an exile in England and, as Louis Phillipe did, is most striking. In England the sympathy shown must touch the poor Empress, and, as I telegraphed, we should be so grateful to you, if you would kindly be the medium through which both of us would like to express to her how much we feel for her. How proud you must ever be, in feeling that your country is the one always able to offer a home and hospitality for those driven away from their own countries! England is before all others in that; and its warm sympathy for those who are in misfortune is such a generous feeling.
Fannie Baillie’s Victoria is such a nice girl. She comes to our children every Saturday, and is not above playing at dolls with them, though she is so much older. There are two rather nice little English girls, daughters of the chaplin here, who come to them.
February 1st.
If any one will feel with us, I know you will do so most. Since three days, with an interruption of one day, poor Frittie has been bleeding incessantly from a slight cut on his ear, which was nearly healed. Since yesterday evening we cannot stop it. All the usual remedies were used, but as yet unavailing. Just now the place has been touched again with caustic and tightly bound, after we had with great trouble got rid of the quantity of dried blood from his hair, ear, neck, etc. He is horrified at the sight of so much blood, but shows great strength as yet in spite of so great a loss. He is of course very irritable, and, as he must not scream, one has to do whatever he wishes, which will spoil him dreadfully. I own I was much upset when I saw that he had this tendency to bleed, and the anxiety for the future, even if he gets well over this, will remain for years to come. All have their trials, one or another, and, please God, we shall bear whatever is sent without complaining. To see one’s own child suffer is for a mother a great trial. With what pleasure one would change places with the little one, and bear its pain!