The Life and Times of Queen Victoria (Vol. 1-4). Robert Thomas Wilson

Чтение книги онлайн.

      WINDSOR CASTLE.

      Queen herself said, in one of her letters, it was “a relief to be away from all the bitterness which people create for themselves in London.” Here her Majesty and her family led a simple, happy, peaceful life, enjoying to the fullest extent all the innocent delight of planning and laying out the grounds round their new home. But in March they had to return to town, and again plunge into the excitement and agitation of political strife. This period was peculiarly trying for the Queen, because on the 25th of May she gave birth to a daughter—the Princess Helena—whose advent into a troubled world was heralded by salvoes of cannon from the Tower. The event rendered her Majesty unable to receive personally his Highness Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, who was one of the “lions” of the London season in 1846, and who had been entertained with sumptuous hospitality at the Court of France. Prince Albert, however, did what lay in his power to make his Highness’s visit pleasant, and on the 11th of June her Majesty was able to meet him. He dined with the Queen on the evening of that day, and left our shores expressing the utmost satisfaction with the welcome he had received from the Sovereign and the country whose diplomacy had checked his conquering march in Syria.

      When the elections, which Lord John Russell’s assumption of office rendered necessary, had been held, her Majesty and the Court again left town, and migrated to their seaside retreat in the Isle of Wight. The balmy air and the peaceful life revived the Queen, who had been greatly depressed in spirits at parting with her Ministers, and she was further cheered by the promise of her uncle, King Leopold of Belgium, to pay her a visit in time for the christening of the baby Princess. His Majesty and Queen Louise were unable to arrive, however, till a few days after the ceremony, which took place at Buckingham Palace on the 25th of July. The little lady received the names of Helena Augusta Victoria, her godmother being Hélène, Duchess of Orleans, who, as sponsor, was represented by the Duchess of Kent. The other sponsors—the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and H.R.H. the Duchess of Cambridge—were happily able to attend in person. At the end of the month the Queen again found her cherished home circle broken, for Prince Albert was summoned away to Liverpool to open the magnificent Albert Dock in that city, on the 30th of July. The reports of his speeches, and the enthusiastic reception with which he was met, brought brightness to the life of the Queen; but in spite of all that, she evidently could not conceal her sadness of heart when the head of her family was absent. “As I write,” said the Prince, with a touch of playful but affectionate sarcasm, in a letter to the Queen, dated Liverpool, the 30th of July, “you will be making your evening toilette, and not be in time for dinner.” Her Majesty, however, had apparently very little thought of the ceremonial part of her life in her mind at the time, for she was writing to their old friend, Baron Stockmar, a pretty touching letter, saying, “I feel very lonely without my dear Master; and though I know other people are often separated for a few days, I feel habit could not get me accustomed to it. This, I am sure, you cannot blame. Without him everything loses its interest.... It will always be a terrible pang to separate from him, even for two days; and I pray God never to let me survive him.” In the last words there is indeed a note of pathos which, in view of the long and lonely widowhood of the Queen, cannot fail to touch the hearts of her home-loving people.

      At the beginning of August the Court circle was again happily reunited at Osborne, the King and Queen of the Belgians being of the company. The Queen then decided to proceed on a quiet yachting cruise along the south coast of England, and accordingly the Royal yacht, with the Royal Family, and accompanied by the Fairy and the Eagle, on the 18th of August left the island and steamed westward. The weather, however, was far from propitious, for it blew more than half a gale when, on the 19th, the little pleasure squadron rode out the storm in Portland Roads. Prince Albert cannot have enjoyed this part of the trip, for the “lop” in the Channel was not at all to his liking. In a letter, replying evidently to some allusions to the disagreeableness of the voyage, Lord Aberdeen, writing from Haddo House, says to the Prince, though content with life in that far-off northern solitude, “I confess that in reading of her Majesty’s progress, I have sometimes wished to find myself on the Royal yacht, even off the Race of Portland.”60 When the Royal party arrived at Portland Roads the sea was so rough, and the wind was blowing so hard, that at first it was feared they could not land. Ultimately, they did get ashore, and a salute from the Nothe battery warned the town of their arrival. There was great excitement among the people, who gave their visitors a warm welcome. Her Majesty is reported to have looked fresh and well, but the poor Prince, her consort, bore traces in his pale face of having suffered a good deal. On the 19th, however, the party, including Lord Spencer, Lord Alfred Paget, Baron Stockmar, the Hon. Ann Napier, and Lady Jocelyn, sailed away in fair weather to Devonport. They drove to Astonbury, the seat of the Earl of Ilchester—then absent in the south of France—to see his lovely grounds and curious swannery, and subsequently went on to Weymouth, the Queen again giving orders that she desired as little fuss as possible to be made about her visit. She landed at the steps which had always been used for that purpose by George III. The country folk, through whose villages they passed, despite Lord Alfred Paget’s assurances, refused to believe that such a quiet and unassuming party of tourists included the Queen and her Court. A pleasant time was passed as they skimmed over the sunlit waters of the Tamar, and examined the ancient and picturesque mansion of the Mount-Edgecumbe family. They next sailed up the Plym to Lord Morley’s seat at Saltram. Then, when Sunday came round, they stood out to sea and steered for the Channel Islands.

      This was an exceptionally interesting incident in the tour, for, since the days of King John, no English sovereign had till then set foot in the old Norman fief of the Crown. Little wonder that Guernsey was all excitement when they landed. Loyal cheers and addresses greeted the Queen and her family wherever they went; and the young Prince of Wales, by reason of his dress, which was that of a miniature seaman, attracted universal attention. Bands played and guns fired salutes, and pretty girls in white strewed the path of their young Queen with flowers. A brief visit to Jersey threw St. Helier into a frenzy of loyalty; after which the Royal yacht steamed for Falmouth, carrying the little Prince of Wales to see his Duchy of Cornwall for the first time. “A beautiful day again,” writes the Queen in her Diary, on the 4th of September—a Diary which is full of charming descriptions, in her own vivid but artless style, of this excursion—“a beautiful day again, with the same brilliantly blue sea. At a quarter to eight o’clock we got under weigh. There was a great deal of motion at first, and for the greater part of the day the ship pitched, but getting up the sails steadied her. From