Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
CLOSE OF THE SESSION
Buckingham Palace, 25th December 1837.
My dearest Uncle,—... You will, I am sure, be happy to hear that this Session is happily closed, and that the whole has gone off very satisfactorily, much more so even than any of us could hope. I went on Saturday to the House of Lords to give my Assent to the Civil List Bill. I shall return to town on the 16th of January, when Parliament meets again; it meets sooner than it was at first intended it should, on account of the affairs of Canada.
The King of the Belgians to Queen Victoria.78
Laeken, 26th December 1837.
My dearest Child,—You were somewhat irritable when you wrote to me!... Affairs stand now as follows: the studies at Bonn take the whole of April, and may be concluded at the beginning of May. From May till the end of August, if you approved of the visit, the time should be utilisé. A séjour at Coburg would not be of much use; here we are generally absent in the summer. To confide therefore the young gentleman to his Uncle Mensdorff79 for three months, would give him so much time for some manly accomplishments, which do no harm to a young man. To make him enter the Service would not do at all. What you say about his imbibing principles of a political nature, there is no great fear of that. First of all, Prague is not a town where politics are at all agitated; these topics are very rarely touched upon; besides, Albert is clever, and it is not at the eleventh hour that anybody in three months will make him imbibe political principles. Perhaps you will turn in your mind what you think on the subject, and communicate me the result of it....
Footnote 78: This letter refers to the course of study which Prince Albert was about to pursue.
Footnote 79: Count Emmanuel de Mensdorff-Pouilly, who married, in 1804, Sophia, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.