The visits of the grandchildren to their beloved grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, old in years but young in spirit, at her residences at Frogmore (near Windsor), and Abergeldie (near Balmoral), had a peculiar charm for them.
The first excursion the Princess made out of her native land was to Cherbourg,[5] when, with her brothers and sisters, she accompanied her parents. The lovely scenery about Cherbourg has become familiar to us through the descriptions given by the Queen.
A great change in the life of the Princess took place through the engagement of the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. Hitherto the Princess had in a great measure shared her sister’s studies and artistic occupations, and had had the same companions, taking quietly and naturally the second place. Now her sister’s departure for a new home wrought an entire change in her life, throwing upon her, as it did, new responsibilities as now the eldest daughter at home, and placing her in a new position in relation to her parents, and particularly to her father, whose constant care it was to imbue her with that sincerity and earnestness of purpose without which, to use his friend Baron Stockmar’s words, “it was impossible to fill one’s position in life happily, worthily, and with dignity.”
The closer intercourse with her father laid the foundation of that deep and intelligent love of plastic art and of music, for which she had already as a child shown a decided talent. Her appreciation of all that was best in the arts was fostered by the many treasures by which she was surrounded at Windsor Castle, and also by prosecuting her studies and practice in music along with the Prince Consort.
The many great and stirring events of those years, the disturbance of Europe through the Revolutions of 1848 and 1849, and the Crimean war, took place when the Princess was already old enough to feel their gravity; and served to awaken and foster the keen interest which she took in later years in all political occurrences.
Another great European conflict was approaching, just about the time of her Confirmation, which took place on the 21st of April, 1869. Besides having been prepared for it by the Dean of Windsor (the Hon. and Very Rev. G. Wellesley), the Prince Consort himself had given the Princess instructions, as he had previously done to the Princess Royal, from “A manual of Religion and of the History of the Christian Church,” by Carl Gottlieb Bretschneider (formerly, “General Superintendent” in Gotha). The Prince’s object in this was to encourage her in serious thought, and in independent reflections on religious questions.
The ceremony of the Confirmation, which was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, had barely been concluded, when the news arrived of the threatened invasion of Sardinia by Austria, which finally ended in the Austro-Italian war, so disastrous to Austria, of 1859.
The Queen makes the following remarks on this event, in a letter to her uncle, the King of the Belgians:
“* * * But this did not in the least disturb our dear child’s equanimity. She was in a most devotional state of mind—quiet, gentle, self-possessed, and deeply impressed by the importance and solemnity of the event. She answered admirably at her examination, and went through the ceremony in a very perfect manner.”[6]
Not long before this the Queen had given her own opinion of her daughter in the following words: