Madame de Bunsen, the English wife of the Prussian ambassador, thus described Queen Victoria:—
“She is the only piece of female royalty I ever saw who was also a creature such as God Almighty has created. Her smile is a real smile, her grace is natural; although it has received a high polish from cultivation, there is nothing artificial about her.”
Her present appearance is thus given: “Queen Victoria possesses a short, stout figure; a face with the long upper lip, and cold, blue eyes of the Georges; straight bandeaus of gray hair; a rather flushed complexion; a most graceful walk; and a sort of sweet, venerable, natural dignity and power about her.”
On the first of January, 1876, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.
The first wedding among her children was the marriage of her eldest daughter, the Princess Victoria, to Frederick William, now the Crown Prince of Germany. The queen herself thus writes in her diary: “Went to look at the rooms prepared for Vicky’s honeymoon. Very pretty! It quite agitated me to look at them.” And again, regarding the ceremony, she writes: “My last fear of being overcome vanished on seeing Vicky’s quiet, calm, and composed manner. It was beautiful to see her kneeling with Fritz, their hands joined, and the train borne by the eight young ladies, who looked like a cloud of maidens hovering round her.”
So royal mothers are akin to other mothers when they witness the wedding ceremonies of their children. The Princess Alice was the next to marry; but as her marriage occurred soon after her father’s death, the wedding was very quiet. This lovely princess was the favorite of the family. She seemed to inherit a large portion of her lamented father’s tastes and traits; and as the wife of Prince Louis of Hesse, won all hearts. Her sad death, from malignant diphtheria, which dread disease had just snatched away a darling little daughter, is remembered by all. Since her death, the queen has lost another child, her youngest son, Leopold, Duke of Albany.
The heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales, married the beautiful and charming Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Many have seen her fascinating face, and English people love to greet her and receive her gracious smiles. Of the sweet Princess of Wales, all speak in lavish terms of praise. The other children of Queen Victoria are: the Princess Helena, married to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein; Princess Louise, now Marquise of Lorne; Princess Beatrice, lately married to Prince Henry of Battenberg; Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, married to the daughter of the Czar Alexander II. of Russia, she being sister to the present czar; and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, who married the Princess Marguerite of Prussia, daughter of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, called the Red Prince.
ALEXANDRA, QUEEN OF ENGLAND.
The 21st of June, 1887, was the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne of England. The occasion was celebrated by an imposing Jubilee. But this gorgeous celebration was surpassed ten years later by her Diamond Jubilee, when the whole nation seemed given up to rejoicing and pageantry.