B 0 0 K-S.

'1'HE QUEEN'S BOOK.*

WHOEVER advised the Queen to publish this book understood the English people. It will, we believe, tend greatly to reinvi- gorate Her Majesty's popularity, diminished by a long seclusion, by an obvious distaste for life in the capital, and by a somewhat too evident preference for the people, the habits, and the scenery of Scotland. The book is admirably done, and in the single point on which a question might be raised Her Majesty has been wisely counselled by her literary advisers. It was quite useless to prepare such a book, unless it were intended to exhibit a Royal interior precisely as it was, to invite the public within precincts most jealously guarded, and it was impossible to do this effectively without a frankness unusual while the actors in the scene are living, but not on that account to be condemned. The result is a work invaluable as a contribution to history and full of human interest, a work which every Englishman will read with a feeling that he understands his Queen and her husband better than he has ever yet done, and therefore likes them better. The strict etiquette which guards a constitutional throne is usually a wall of defence, but there are occasions on which it is well that the gates should be thrown open and the public invited in. This has been done, as it should when done always be done, frankly and freely, and the result will, we imagine, amply content the most jealous friends alike of the Monarchy and of the reigning House. It might be different with another race, but the English, who, as King Leopold writes, "like Queens," like also The Early Years of Ins Royal Highness the Prince Consort. Compiled under the 'direction of Her Majesty the Queen, by Lieutenant-General the lion. C. Grey. London : Smith, Elder, and Co. 1867. everything which proves to them that their rulers are as other men and women,—that a Queen can love and a Prince Consort insist on ruling his own house ; that family affection fills as great a part in the lives of the highest class as in their own ; that it is possible for the very great to be also very good in the decent, self-restrained, English middle-class way. It is quite possible that the majority of readers may fail in entirely understanding the Prince Consort, who appears less English in this book than he has ever appeared before ; but they will clearly perceive that the Queen did, and will appreciate more cordially even than at first the honour Her Majesty has paid to his memory, the inex- tinguishable regret with which she regards his loss. It is clear from every page of this book that the Queen found in the consort of her choice, besides an adviser wise, calm, and farsighted as his uncle Leopold, a husband as lovingly affectionate as ever fell to the lot of any girl in that middle station which is supposed, for some unknown reason, to enjoy a monopoly of domestic bliss. People guessed that before, but to know it on incontrovertible testimony, know it in detail, will bring the Royal House nearer at once to their imaginations and their sympathies, and bring it in a way which will help to elicit the best support of a con- stitutional throne, the warm personal regard of the popular heart. Englishmen are realists by instinct. They cannot love an abstraction, and the Queen in her deep retirement was becoming one,was changing from a Sovereign into a " Court,"—a word which Englishmen, unlike Germans, always employ in a depreciatory sense, a " courtier " being a term of contempt, "Court influence" something to be resisted. This book brings Her Majesty once more among her people, and much more effectively and visibly among them than any State pageant could do, and the result will, we believe, be unmixedly beneficial. The Queen herself will be more popular, the people will be less exigeant, and those faithful few who are still arguing that the virtues are not vulgar will have a telling illustration.

The main object of this work is to explain, as fully as it is pos- sible to explain in this generation, the character and position of the Prince Consort, and this object is, so far as the circumstances made it possible, fully attained. The Prince comes out in his letters, in his actions, in all stories about him, in the Queen's fre- queii.t and frank memoranda, in his uncle Leopold's praises, always the same, not an ideal Englishman, but approaching very nearly the ideal German type. Anything less like the best outcome of Eton it would be difficult to conceive, but the Eton ideal is only one among many, and Prince Albert appears in this book to reach a standard which to most men in Europe will seem a nobler one. He was as good and as great RS a man can be who is conscious that his role in life is to be good and great. From his earliest childhood he seems to have been warned that his destiny was to rule England, and from a very early period he trained himself to be worthy of his future position, kept a journal in which he records his daily errors with extraordinary naiveté, set to himself as an object to make his tutor teach him, drew up schemes of education himself, for himself, and lived his whole life straight up not to the Burschen reality, but the Burschen ideal. At eighteen, when travelling, he writes to his father objecting to a holiday of six weeks suggested by the Duke, who wanted to see him, because "our course of study would be quite disturbed by such an interruption." By the testimony of all around him he was a reflective and self-willed child, given to coercing his brother Ernest — the present Duke of Coburg- " merry," fond of practical jokes, and addicted, his tutor says, to mild quizzing. Fond of country life and natural history, simple in tastes and pure in life, he disliked cities, parade, and in a less but still evident degree society. He could not appreciate Rome, whither he travelled as a very young man, and seems to have cared heartily only about Rosenau, his father's country seat, and in after life escaped eagerly from London to Balmoral or Osborne. His letters to his father and others—his mother was divorced, apparently from "incompatibility "only—are given with a charm- ing frankness, but we shall commence our extracts with the time when the Prince became of interest to Englishmen.

The marriage of Prince Albert with the Princess Victoria had been almost from his birth an object of interest with the family of Coburg. He says himself that his first idea of marriage was with the Queen, his grandmother made it an object from his childhood, so much so that the Prince was aware of it at three years old, and his uncle Leopold of Belgium evidently regarded it as the one arrangement which would compensate for his own lost position as virtual Sovereign of the British Empire. The alliance was opposed by King William W., who anxiously promoted the cause of Prince Alexander of Orange, a brother of the reigning Sovereign,

a selection mainly resisted by the Duchess of Kent; but immediately on King William's death the Prince was sent to travel in Switzer- land and North Italy, to draw attention away from his pretensions, which were even then freely discussed. In 1838, however, when the Prince was only nineteen, the arrangement was fully matured, the Queen apparently had given her consent, and the marriage was only postponed because the Queen deemed herself and the Prince alike too young :—

Having paid the visit to Brussels, which had been prevented by the accident to his knee, he writes to his father, on his return to Bonn, dated March 6, to say he had returned quite satisfied with the result of his visit, and that the King had spoken fully to him respecting his figure prospects. "The Queen," he continues, "had in no way altered her mind, but did not wish to marry for some time yet." "She thought herself," the Queen says in a memorandum on this subject written in '64, "till too young, and also wished the Prince to be older when he made his first appearance in England. In after years she often regretted this decision on her part, and constantly deplored the consequent delay of her marriage. Had she been engaged to the Prince a year sooner than she was, and had she married him at least six months earlier, she would have escaped many trials and troubles of different kinds."

The actual proposition came first from the King of the Belgians. It "must have been" favourably received, for the project was immediately unfolded to the Prince ; — "I have had a long conversation with Albert," the King writes to Baron Stookmar in March, 1838, "and have put the whole case honestly and kindly before him. He looks at the question from its most elevated and honourable point of view. He considers that troubles are insepar- able from all human positions, and that therefore, if one must be subject to plagues and annoyances, it is better to be so for some great or worthy object than for trifles and miseries. I have told him that his great youth would make it necessary to postpone the marriage for a few years I found him very sensible on all these points. But one thing he observed with truth. "I am ready," he said, to submit to this delay, if I have only some certain assurance to go upon. But if, after waiting, perhaps, for three years, I should find that the Queen no longer desired the marriage, it would place me in a very ridiculous position, and would, to a certain extent, ruin all the prospects of my future life."

The King was strongly prepossessed against a delay—which most Englishmen would think wise—and the Queen herself makes these most noteworthy reflections on the subject :—

"Nor can the Queen now," she adds, "think without indignation against herself, of her wish to keep the Prince waiting for probably three or four years, at the risk of ruining all his prospects for life, until she might feel inclined to marry ! And the Prince has since told her that be came over in 1839 with the intention of telling her that if she could not then make up her mind, she must understand that he could not now wait for a decision, as he had done at a former period when this marriage was first talked about. The only excuse the Queen can make for herself is in the fact, that the sadden change from the secluded life at Kensington to the independence of her position as Queen Regnant, at the age of eighteen, put all ideas of marriage out of her mind, which she now most bitterly repents. A worse school for a young girl, or one more detrimental to all natural feelings and affections, cannot well be imagined, than the position of a Queen at eighteen, without experience and without a husband to guide and support her. This the Queen cm state from painful experience, and she thanks God that none of her dear daughters are exposed to such danger."

The delay, however, only lasted a year, for the Prince came over to England in 1839, determined, it would seem, as he writes to Prince Lowenstein, to require a final decision. It came speedily. The Prince and his brother arrived at Windsor Castle on the 10th of October, 1838, and on the 15th the Queen writes thus to her uncle, the King of the Belgians :--

Windsor Castle, October 15, 1839.

MY DEAREST Unom,—This letter will, I am sure, give you pleasure, for you have always shown and taken so warm an interest in all that concerns me. My mind is quite made up, and I told Albert this morn- ing of it. The warm affection he showed me on learning this gave me great pleasure. He seems perfection, and I think that I have the pro- spect of very great happiness before me. I love him more than I can say, and shall do everything in my power to render this sacrifice (for such in my opinion it is) as small as I can. He seems to have great tact, a very necessary thing in his position. These last few days have passed like a dream to me, and I am so much bewildered by it all that I know hardly how to write ; but I do feel very happy. It is absolutely necessary that this determination of mine should be known to no one but yourself and to Uncle Ernest until after the meeting of Parliament, as it would be considered, otherwise, neglectful on my part not to have assembled Parliament at once to inform them of it. I wish to keep the dear young gentleman here till the end of next month. Ernest's sincere pleasure gives me great delight. He does so adore dearest Albert.

Ever, dearest Uncle, your devoted Niece, V. R.

And on the 11th November the Prince "nerved himself to write the following touching letter" to his grandmother, the Dowager- Ductless of Coburg :—

Windsor, November 11, 1839.

DEAR GRANDBLAMA,-I tremble as I take up my pen, for I cannot but fear that what I am about to tell you will at the same time raise a thought which cannot be otherwise than painful to you, and oh ! which is very much so to me also, namely, that of parting. The subject which has occupied us so much of late is at last settled. The Queen sent for me alone to her room a few days ago, and declared to me in a genuine outburst of love and affection (Ergusse von Herzlichkeit mid Liebe), that rhad gained her whole heart, and would make her intensely happy (fiberghicklich) if I would make her the sacrifice of sharing her life with her, for she said she looked on it as a sacrifice; the only thing which troubled her was that she did not think she was worthy of me. The joyous openness of manner in which she told me this quite enchanted -me, and I was quite carried away by it. She is really most good and alma' ble„and I am quite sure Heaven has not given me into evil hands, and that we shall be happy together. Since that moment Victoria does whatever she fancies I should wish or like, and we talk together a great deal about our future life, which she promises me to make as happy as possible. Oh, the future ! does it not bring with it the moment when I shall have to take leave of my dear, dear home, and of you ? I cannot think of that without deep melancholy taking possession of me. It was on the 15th October that Victoria made me this declaration, and I have hitherto shrunk from telling you ; but how does delay make it better ? The period of our marriage is already close at hand. The Queen and the Ministers wish exceedingly that it should take place in the first days of February, in which I acquiesced after hearing their reasons for it. We have therefore fixed our departure for the 14th inst., so as to have still as much time as possible at home. We shall therefore follow close upon this letter. My position here will be very pleasant, inasmuch as I have refused all the offered titles. I keep my own name, and re- main what I was. This will make sue very independent, and makes it easy for me to run over occasionally (einen Sprung nach der Heimath zu mac/ha) to see all my dear relations. But it is very painful to know that there will be the sea between us. I now take leave of you again. Victoria is writing to you herself to tell you all she wishes. I ask you to give me your grandmotherly blessing in this important and decisive step in my life ; it will be a talisman to me against all the storms the future may have in store for me. Good-by, dear Grandmama, and do not take your love from me. Heaven will make all things right. Always and ever your devoted Grandson, ALBERT.

The Prince, though entirely satisfied with his promised bride, seems not to have been free from qualms as to his future position, both in England and his' own household, for on 6th December he writes to his most intimate friend, Prince Lowenstein :—

Yes—I am now actually a bridegroom ! and about the 4th of Febru- ary hope to see myself united to her I love I You know how matters stood when I last saw you here. After that the sky was darkened more and more. The Queen declared to my uncle of Belgium that she wished the affair to be considered as broken off, and that for four years she could think of no marriage. I went therefore with the quiet but firm resolution to declare on my part, that I also, tired of the delay, withdrew entirely from the affair. It was not, however, thus ordained by Providence ; for on the second day after our arrival, the most friendly demonstrations were directed towards me, and two days later I was secretly called to a private audience, in which the Queen offered me her hand- and heart. The strictest secrecy was required. Ernest alone knew of it, and it was only at our departure that I could communicate my engagement to my mother. I think I shall be very happy, for Victoria possesses all the qualities which make a home happy, and seems to be attached to me with her whole heart. My future lot is high and brilliant, but also plentifully strewed with thorns. Struggles will not be wanting (an Kiimpfen wird as nicht fell/en), and the month of March already appears to have storms in store.

Some of these storms actually visited him. The marriage was popular in the country, but it had been arranged by Whigs—the Queen herself, as is regretfully acknowledged in these pages, was a partizan--the Tories opposed the proposal for an annuity of 50,000/., and reduced it to 30,0001., and actually threw out clauses of a Bill giving the Prince rank next after Her Majesty,--a display of caste feeling which was repeated afterwards, and which, oddly enough, benefited and could benefit nobody except a man scarcely thought of, the King of Hanover. The ground of this opposition was no doubt party feeling, but the precedents, as the Queen her- self explains, were against her wishes :—

After the Prince returned to Germany, the Queen corresponded constantly with him, and says, in the memorandum already so largely quoted, "that the letters she then received from the Prince are the greateit treasures now in her possession. During this time," she adds, "precedents were searched for to see what the Prince's household should consist of ; and, unfortunately, the one commonly referred to was that of Prince George of Denmark, the very stupid and insignificant husband of Queen Anne. He was a Peer, and also for some time Lord High Admiral of England, but seems never to have played anything but a very subordinate part."

There was no other precedent possible, Queen Anne having been the only English Queen Regnant not married toa reigning Sov- ereign. The precedent of William III. could not have been applied

at that time, indeed, we question if it could have been at any time. The people, as this book admits,; never thoroughly understood Prince Albert—he was too little parochial for them—and the idea of making him King Consort, his just and natural position, was at last reluctantly abandoned. So bitter was the opposition, which on the part of the King of Hanover, at all events, seems never to have ceased, that objections were at first raised to the Prince riding.in the State carriage with the Queen ! The Ministry did not, however, share these feelings. Sir Robert Peel subsequently stated that he expected every despatch to be shown to Prince Albert, and had advised that he should be consulted on every occasion and the resistance in the Household was at length over- come, it is e,atry to guess how. The position was, however, difficult for the first two years: In May, 1840, the Prince writes to Prince Lowenstein :-

"I am very happy and contented ; but the difficulty in filling my place with the proper dignity is, that I am only the husband, not the master in the house." Fortunately, however, for the country, and still more fortunately for the happiness of the Royal couple themselves, things did not long remain in this condition. Thanks to the firmness, but at the same time gentleness with which the Prince insisted on filling his proper position as head of the family—thanks also to the clear judgment and right feeling of the Queen, as well as to her singularly honest and straight- forward nature—but thanks, more than all, to the mutual love and per- fect confidence which bound the Queen and Prince to each other, it was impossible to keep up any separation or difference of interests or duties. between them. To those who would urge upon the Queen that, as Sove- reign, she must be the head of the house and the family, as well as of the State, and that her husband was, after all, but one of her subjects, Her Majesty would reply, that she had solemnly engaged at the altar to " obey " as well as to "love and honour ;" and this sacred obligation she could consent neither to limit nor refine away.

The Prince never became a partisan; indeed, to his intellect—the grand quality of which was serenity—partizanship must have been impossible, and his calm, cold judgment rapidly impressed .the

statesmen brought in contact with him, till he grew into what any able King in England would become,—the greatest individual power in the land. It was said at one time, and said truly, that

three men governed England, the Prince Consort, Lord Palmerston, and the Editor of the Times. He steadily, however, "sank his

individual existence in that of the Queen," and his real power, though constantly suspected, sometimes with a suspicion which had in it a trace of annoyance, was never openly acknowledged till his death. In life he was respected or admired rather than liked in England, and it was not till his death that Englishmen expressed the full measure of the confidence he had slowly accreted to himself, the highest official testimony to which, perhaps, was the unopposed passing of the Bill vesting the Regency in himself alone. Colonel C. Grey touches but does not quite explain this double feeling :—

There were some, undoubtedly, who would gladly have seen his con- duct the reverse of all this, with whom he would have been more popu- lar had he shared habitually and indiscriminately in the gaieties of the fashionable world,—had he been a regular attendant at the racecourse: —had he, in short, imitated the free lives and even, it must be said, the vices of former generations of the Royal Family. But the country gene- rally knew how to estimate and admire the beauty of domestic life, beyond reproach, or the possibility of reproach, of which the Queen and he set so noble an example. It is this which has been the glory and the strength of the Throne in our day, and which has won for the English Court the love and veneration of the British people, and the respect of the world. Above all, he has set an example for his children, from which they may be sure they can never deviate without falling in public- estimation, and running the risk of undoing the work which he has been so instrumental in accomplishing.

It was the cosmopolitan character of the Prince which half annoyed a people who, for more than a hundred years loyally obeying foreigners and deprecating English alliances, still in their incon- sistency want every one whom they adopt to become in opinions.

as well as interests entirely insular.

We have given, we fear, but a faint idea of the value of a book crammed with memoranda and anecdotes by the Queen herself, rich with personal details, full of the very best and most interest- ing materials of history, but we may just add here, so carefully has the work been edited, there is but one statement in it of the slightest imprudence. That is the account of Baron efittockmar, which, from the moment it was resolved to send the book abroad, ought to have been excised. Years hence, the Queen's testimony to his virtues and his influence will be quoted to prove that a foreigner, utterly unknown to the people, may exercise in England the- highest form of power, may not only influence the Government,. but "win over the Opposition." The English people are not cosmopolitan, and will remember for years that a foreigner, unconnected with England, carried at least one domestic Act of Parliament.

The book ends with a very interesting monograph by King Leopold on the recent fortunes of the House of Coburg, including an account of his own marriage and position in England, in which

George IV. comes off, as usual, very badly. He seems to have neglected the Duchess of Kent and her daughter on the Duke's. death till, writes King Leopold, "It was fortunate that Prince

Leopold had not been out of the country, as the poor Duke had left his family deprived of all means of existence." The King writes strongly of the loss he suffered in the death of the Princess- Charlotte, a loss none the less bitter, perhaps, for the fact that it cut him off from the very position which his nephew afterwards filled so well, that of virtual King of Great Britain, a position,

which it is the clear intent of this book to assert and to justify,. and which is, in our judgment, both justified and explained. Inthe melancholy words of the Queen used shortly after her

husband's decease, that event "was the beginning of a new reign," as illustrious and as successful, it may be, but certainly not as bright.