[Pageheading: THE PRINCES ERNEST AND ALBERT]
_The Princess Hohenlohe to the Princess Victoria._
STUTTGART, _16th April 1836._
... You will like our two Coburg cousins also, I think; they are more manly than I think the two others are, after the description. I am very fond of them both. Ernest is my favourite, although Albert is much handsomer, and cleverer too, but Ernest is so honest and good-natured. I shall be very curious to hear your opinion upon them....
_The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
KENSINGTON PALACE, _26th April 1836._
MY DEAREST, BEST UNCLE,-- ... You will, I am sure, have been delighted with M. de Neumann"s[3] account of the complete success of our dear Ferdinand. All has gone off better than even our most sanguine hopes could have desired. He is much pleased with the good Queen, and she is delighted with him, and M. de Neumann says that they are already quite happy together. This is really a great blessing, but I fear that all the _exterior_ affairs are not in quite _so_ good a state. I hope, however, that the good people will not make any more difficulties about Fernando"s being Commander-in-Chief, as I hear from all accounts it is necessary he should be so....
Uncle Ernest and my cousins will probably come here in the beginning of next month, I hear, and will visit you on their return.
You ask me about Sully"s Memoirs, and if I have finished them. I have not finished them, but am reading them with great interest, and find there is a great deal in them which applies to the present times, and a great deal of good advice and reasoning in them. As you say, very truly, it is extremely necessary for me to follow the "events of the day," and to do so impartially. I am always both grateful and happy when you give me any advice, and hope you will continue to do so as long as I live.
I am glad to hear you approve my singing, and I cannot tell you how delightful it would be for me, if you could join with us. _a propos_, dear Uncle, you did not answer what I said to you in a former letter about your visiting us again. You know, dear Uncle, that this is a subject upon which I am very _earnest_ and _very_ eager, and as the summer approaches I grow more and more anxious about it. You know, also, that _pleasure_ does more good than a hundred walks and rides.
Believe me always, my dearest Uncle, your truly devoted and attached Niece,
VICTORIA.
[Footnote 3: Baron Neumann, who acted as Minister Plenipotentiary during the absences of Prince Esterhazy, succeeded him as Austrian Minister in 1842. He married Lady Augusta Somerset in 1844.]
[Pageheading: THE PRINCE OF ORANGE]
_The King of the Belgians to the Princess Victoria._
_13th May 1836._
MY DEAREST CHILD,--I got this time a very small letter from your good little Ladyship, and I shall repay it probably in larger coin, as my letter going through a messenger of my own will become longer, as it will be more confidential than through the usual mode of conveyance.
I am really _astonished_ at the conduct of your old Uncle the King; this invitation of the Prince of Orange and his sons, this forcing him upon others, is very extraordinary.[4] It is so, because persons in political stations and champions of great political pa.s.sions cannot put aside their known character as you would lay your hat upon a table.
Not later than yesterday I got a half official communication from England, insinuating that it would be _highly_ desirable that the visit of _your_ relatives _should not take place, this year--qu"en dites-vous_? The relations of the Queen and the King, therefore, to the G.o.d-knows-what degree, are to come in shoals and rule the land, when _your relations_ are to be _forbidden_ the country, and that when, as you know, the whole of your relations have ever been very dutiful and kind to the King. Really and truly I never heard or saw anything like it, and I hope it will a _little rouse your spirit_; now that slavery is even abolished in the British Colonies, I do not comprehend _why your lot alone should be to be kept, a white little slavey in England_, for the pleasure of the Court, who never bought you, as I am not aware of their having gone to any expense on that head, or the King"s even having _spent a sixpence for your existence_.
I expect that my visits in England will also be prohibited by an Order in Council. Oh consistency and political or _other honesty_, where must one look for you!
I have not the least doubt that the King, in his pa.s.sion for the Oranges, will be _excessively rude to your relations_; this, however, will not signify much; they are _your guests_ and not _his_, and will therefore _not_ mind it....
[Footnote 4: King Leopold had for some time cherished a hope of uniting the Princess Victoria in marriage with her cousin, Prince Albert of Coburg. He therefore arranged that the Prince, with his elder brother, Prince Ernest, should pay a visit to the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent at Kensington Palace. King William naturally opposed a scheme which he knew met with the approval of his sister-in-law. He accordingly invited the Prince of Orange and his two sons at the same time, and favoured the candidature of the younger son, Prince Alexander.
The King (it is believed) went so far as to say that no other marriage should ever take place, and that the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and his son should never put foot in the country; they should not be allowed to land, and must go back whence they came.
The Prince of Orange had himself been a candidate for the hand of Princess Charlotte, and had no reason to be friendly to King Leopold, of whom it is recorded that he said, "Voila un homme qui a pris ma femme et mon royaume."]
[Pageheading: ARRIVAL OF PRINCE ALBERT]
_The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
_23rd May 1836._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,-- ... Uncle Ernest and my cousins arrived here on Wednesday, _sains et saufs_. Uncle is looking remarkably well, and my cousins are most delightful young people. I will give you no detailed description of them, as you will so soon see them yourself. But I must say, that they are both very amiable, very kind and good, and extremely merry, just as young people should be; with all that, they are extremely sensible, and very fond of occupation. Albert is extremely handsome, which Ernest certainly is not, but he has a most good-natured, honest, and intelligent countenance. We took them to the Opera on Friday, to see the _Puritani_, and as they are excessively fond of music, like me, they were in perfect ecstasies, having never heard any of the singers before....
[Pageheading: PRINCE ALBERT]
_The Princess Victoria to the King of the Belgians._
_7th June 1836._
MY DEAREST UNCLE,--These few lines will be given to you by my dear Uncle Ernest when he sees you.
I must thank you, my beloved Uncle, for the prospect of _great_ happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert. Allow me, then, my dearest Uncle, to tell you how delighted I am with him, and how much I like him in every way. He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy. He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has, besides, the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see.
I have only now to beg you, my dearest Uncle, to take care of the health of one, now _so dear_ to me, and to take him under _your special_ protection. I hope and trust that all will go on prosperously and well on this subject of so much importance to me.
Believe me always, my dearest Uncle, your most affectionate, devoted, and grateful Niece,
VICTORIA.
[Pageheading: CONVERSATION]
_The King of the Belgians to the Princess Victoria._
_17th June 1836._
MY DEAREST AND MOST BELOVED CHILD,--I begged your Mother, in the meantime, to offer you my best thanks for your very pretty drawing representing the Provost of Bruges and his daughter[5]; I admired also that for your Aunt. They do your spirit of invention honour, and it is a very good plan to draw subjects from books or plays which interest you. You will feel the loss of a pleasant society in the old Palace, the more so as your relations are good unsophisticated people, a thing which one does not so often meet with. I suppose that part of your London amus.e.m.e.nts will soon be over. You were going to Windsor, which you will probably have left by this time. I hope you were very prudent; I cannot disguise from you, that though the inhabitants are good-natured people, still that I think you want all your natural caution with them. Never permit yourself to be induced to tell them any opinion or sentiment of yours which is _beyond the sphere of common conversation_ and its ordinary topics. Bad use would be made of it against yourself, and you cannot in that subject be too much guarded. I know well the people we have to deal with. I am extremely impartial, but I shall also always be equally watchful.... G.o.d bless you! Ever, my dear child, your very devoted Uncle and Friend,
LEOPOLD R.