Laeken, 30th June 1837.
My dearest Child,—... I am glad to see that you are so much pleased with Lord Melbourne. I believe him to be as you think him. His character is a guarantee which is valuable, and remember that cleverness and talent, without an honest heart and character, will never do for your Minister. I shall name nobody, but what I said just now applies to some people you have recently seen.
I am so happy that you enter into the important affairs which Providence has entrusted to you with so much interest and spirit; if you continue you will be sure of success, and your own conscience will give you the most delightful and satisfactory feelings. To be National is the great thing, and I was sure you would agree with what I said repeatedly to you on this vital subject, and you will be certain in this way of the love of the nation you govern.
I recommend to your kind attention what Stockmar will think it his duty to tell you; he will never press anything, never plague you with anything, without the thorough conviction that it is indispensable for your welfare. I can guarantee his independence of mind and disinterestedness; nothing makes an impression upon him but what his experience makes him feel to be of importance for you. I am delighted with your plan. You will recollect that I pressed upon you repeatedly how necessary it was for you to continue your studies on a more extended scale, more appropriate to the station you were destined once to fill. No one is better qualified to direct those studies for the next few years than Stockmar, few people possess more general information, and very, very few have been like him educated, as it were, by fate itself since 1816. There is no branch of information in which he may not prove useful—
SUBJECTS FOR STUDY
(1) History, considered in a practical and philosophical way; (2) International Law and everything connected with it; (3) Political Economy, an important branch nowadays; (4) Classic studies; (5) belles lettres in general; (6) Physical Science in all its branches, etc., etc.—the list would be very long if I were to enumerate it all. The sooner you do this the better; in all countries and at all times men like Stockmar have filled similar situations, even in the most bigoted and jealous countries, such as Spain, Austria, etc. You will have him in this case constantly near you without anybody having the right of finding fault with it, and to be useful to you he should be near you. Stockmar would have the immense advantage, for so young a Queen, to be a living dictionary of all matters scientific and politic that happened these thirty years, which to you is of the greatest importance, because you must study the political history of at least the last thirty-seven years more particularly. I had begun something of the sort with you, even so far back as George II.; you will do well to go through the reign of George III., and to follow the various circumstances which brought on finally the present state of affairs....
My letter grows too long, and you will not have time to read it; I will therefore come to an end, remaining ever, my beloved Victoria, your faithfully attached Uncle and Friend,
Leopold R.