FROGMORE HOUSE.
(From a Photograph by J. Valentine and Sons, Dundee.)
Early in May the Royal Family were visited by Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt, between whom and the Princess Alice “a natural liking” had grown up, which was destined to ripen into a warmer feeling. “The Queen and myself,” observes the Prince Consort in a letter to Baron Stockmar, “look on as passive spectators, which is undoubtedly our best course as matters at present stand.” It was, however, an open secret that they favoured the alliance. In the following November, Prince Louis came to Windsor as a formal suitor for the hand of the Princess. In her “Leaves from a Journal” the Queen herself tells the story of the wooing on the 30th of November. “After dinner,” she says, “while talking to the gentlemen, I perceived Alice and Louis talking before the fireplace more earnestly than usual, and when I passed to go to the other room, both came up to me, and Alice in much agitation said he had proposed to her, and he begged for my blessing. I could only squeeze his hand and say ‘Certainly,’ and that we would see him in our room later.... Alice came to our room—agitated but quiet.... Albert sent for Louis to his room—went first to him, and then called Alice and me in.... Louis has a warm, noble heart. After talking a little we parted, a most touching, and, to me, sacred moment.”
The autumnal sojourn at Balmoral was shortened by the Queen’s decision to visit Germany, where she had now a little grand-daughter added to the Royal circle. On the 22nd of September the Queen, Prince Consort, and Princess Alice left Buckingham Palace for Gravesend, Lord John Russell being Minister in attendance. The flat scenery of the Scheldt, which was speedily reached, struck her Majesty as being in ugly contrast to the romantic grandeur of the Aberdeenshire mountains. At Verviers the tour was saddened by the news of the death of the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, the Prince Consort’s stepmother. At Aix-la-Chapelle the Prince’s valued friend, the Prince Regent of Prussia, and his brother, Prince Frederick Charles, met them; and at Frankfort they were joined by the Princess of Prussia and Prince Frederick William. As they neared Coburg the Queen says she felt quite agitated when her husband began to identify each scene and spot with his life in his old home, now darkly shadowed by mourning. The Princess Frederick William was here, however, and brought “the darling little grandchild” for the Queen’s inspection—“such a darling little love,” writes her Majesty—“a fine, fat child, with a beautiful white, soft skin, very fine shoulders and limbs, and a very dear face, like Vicky and Fritz, and also Louise of Baden. He has Fritz’s eyes and Vicky’s mouth, and very fair, curly hair.” A meeting with Stockmar, then old and feeble, but fresh in heart and spirits, also enhanced the enjoyment of the visit. After a fortnight’s residence, the Queen writes, “Our English people are enchanted with everything, with the beauty of the country, and of the palaces, the quiet simplicity of the people, &c.” On the 1st of October the Prince Consort narrowly escaped being killed. The horses of his carriage ran away with him, and to save his life he had to jump out when he saw that a collision with a barrier across the road was inevitable. He was bruised badly, though not seriously injured. The Queen however, was much alarmed. “Oh! God,” she writes, “what did I not feel! I could only, and do only, allow the feelings of gratitude, not those of horror, at what might have happened, to fill my mind;” and in testimony of her
THE QUEEN AND HER LITTLE GRANDSON, PRINCE WILHELM OF PRUSSIA.
gratitude she established a foundation, called the “Victoria-Stift,” in Coburg. The “Victoria-Stift” consisted of the investment of 12,000 florins (£1,000) in the names of the Burgomaster and chief clergyman of Coburg. Every year, on the 1st of October—the anniversary of the Prince’s escape—the interest from this sum is divided among certain young men and women to help them in their occupations and assist them to earn a livelihood. Old family friends and all picturesque places in the neighbourhood were visited; and the Queen’s grandchild, the little Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, seems to have been a source of never-failing delight to her Majesty. But on the 9th of October the enjoyment of these quiet days came to an end, and the Queen and her husband left a spot endeared to them by many sweet remembrances. This fortnight, writes the Queen, “with its joys and sorrows, and the fearful episode of my dearest Albert’s accident, will be for ever deeply engraven on my heart.” On the return journey they were joined by the Prince Regent of Prussia, who travelled with them to Mayence. Rain spoiled the beauties of the Rhine; but when Coblentz was reached the Princess of Prussia was waiting to solace the Royal Party, who arrived, wet, chilled, and uncomfortable. The Queen, in fact, had caught a cold, and illness and depression of spirits due to the parting from her daughter and her beloved grandchild, Prince Wilhelm, robbed the rest of her holiday of all enjoyment. When she reached Brussels she could hardly walk, and had to keep to her room and comfort herself with the “Mill on the Floss” for a day, whilst Dr. Bayly was treating her for a feverish sore throat. After a dismally rainy voyage the Royal travellers reached Windsor on the 17th of October. “Already a week since we left Coburg,” writes the Queen, “and the dear happy days there belong to the treasured recollections of the past!”[86]