Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
DEATH OF LADY JOHN RUSSELL
Windsor Castle, 6th November 1838.
My dear Uncle,—.... We have all been much distressed by the melancholy and untimely death of poor Lady John Russell,29 which took place on the 1st. She was safely confined on the 20th of October with a little girl, who bears my name, and seemed to be going on very well; but on Wednesday she began to sink from weakness, not disease, and died at three o'clock on Thursday. It is a dreadful blow to him, for he was so attached to her, and I don't believe two people ever were happier together. I send you his pretty letter to me, which I think you may be interested to see; he is dreadfully beat down by it, but struggles manfully against his grief, which makes one pity him more. She has left four children by her first husband, now orphans, the eldest a sweet girl twelve years old, and two little girls by Lord John; the eldest of these two is two and a half, and the youngest a fortnight. I had known her very well and liked her, and I assure you I was dreadfully shocked at it. You may also imagine what a loss she is to poor Miss Lister, who has no mother, and whose only sister she was. I fear, dear Uncle, I have made a sad and melancholy letter of this, but I have been so much engrossed by all this misery, and knowing you take an interest in poor Lord John, that I let my pen run on almost involuntarily.
We have very good accounts of the Queen-Dowager from Gibraltar.
Please return me Lord John's letter when you have done with it.
Lord and Lady Howard30 have been here, and I urged him to bear Dietz as an inevitable evil, and I think he seems very anxious to do what is right. I have likewise written to Ferdinand, urging him and Dietz to be reasonable.
Will you tell Aunt Louise that she will receive a box containing the Limerick lace dress (just like mine), which I lay at her feet. I fear, dear Uncle, you will think I'm making you my commissioner de toilette, as in these two letters I have plagued you with commissions on that subject....
Footnote 29: Daughter of Mr Thomas Lister. She had been widow of the second Lord Ribblesdale, and married Lord John Russell in April 1835.
Footnote 30: Charles Augustus, sixth Lord Howard de Walden, was the British Minister at Lisbon, and afterwards (1846-1868) at Brussels.