The Letters of Queen Victoria
Chapter 89 : [Pageheading: THE HEIR APPARENT]_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._ BUCKINGHA

[Pageheading: THE HEIR APPARENT]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _29th November 1841._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--I have to thank you for four most kind letters, of the 4th, 6th, 19th and 26th; the last I received yesterday. I would have written sooner, had I not been a little bilious, which made me very low, and not in spirits to write. The weather has been so exceedingly relaxing, that it made me at the end of the fortnight quite bilious, and this, you know, affects the spirits. I am much better, but they think that I shall not get my appet.i.te and spirits back till I can get out of town; we are therefore going in a week at latest. I am going for a drive this morning, and am certain it will do me good. In all _essentials_, I am better, if possible, than last year. Our little boy[158] is a wonderfully strong and large child, with very large dark blue eyes, a finely formed but somewhat large nose, and a pretty little mouth; I _hope_ and _pray_ he may be like his dearest Papa. He is to be called _Albert_, and Edward is to be his second name. p.u.s.s.y, dear child, is still _the_ great pet amongst us all, and is getting so fat and strong again.

I beg my most affectionate love to dearest Louise and the dear children. The Queen-Dowager is recovering wonderfully.

I beg you to forgive this letter being so badly written, but my feet are being rubbed, and as I have got the box on which I am writing on my knee, it is not easy to write quite straight--but you must _not_ think my hand trembles. Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

p.u.s.s.y is _not_ at all pleased with her brother.

[Footnote 158: His Majesty King Edward VII., born 9th November.]

[Pageheading: THE INFANT PRINCE]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

TRENTHAM, _1st December 1841._

Lord Melbourne presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has had the honour of receiving here your Majesty's letters of yesterday, by which he learns with sincere pleasure and satisfaction that your Majesty is so much recovered as to go to Windsor on so early a day as your Majesty names. Lord Melbourne hears with great concern that your Majesty has been suffering under depression and lowness of spirits....

Lord Melbourne well knows how to feel for those who suffer under it, especially as he has lately had much of it himself.

Lord Melbourne is much rejoiced to hear so good an account of the Heir Apparent and of the Princess Royal, and feels himself greatly obliged by the information respecting the intended names and the sponsors.

Lord Melbourne supposes that your Majesty has determined yourself upon the relative position of the two names, but _Edward_ is a good English appellation, and has a certain degree of popularity attached to it from ancient recollections. Albert is also an old Anglo-Saxon name--the same, Lord Melbourne believes, as Ethelred--but it has not been so common nor so much in use since the Conquest. However, your Majesty's feelings, which Lord Melbourne perfectly understands, must determine this point. The notion of the King of Prussia[159] gives great satisfaction here, and will do so with all but Puseyites and Newmanites and those who lean to the Roman Catholic faith. His strong Protestant feelings, and his acting with us in the matter of the Syrian Bishop, have made the King of Prussia highly popular in this country, and particularly with the more religious part of the community.

Your Majesty cannot offer up for the young Prince a more safe and judicious prayer than that he may resemble his father. The character, in Lord Melbourne's opinion, depends much upon the race, and on both sides he has a good chance. Be not over solicitous about education. It may be able to do much, but it does not do so much as is expected from it. It may mould and direct the character, but it rarely alters it.

George IV. and the Duke of York were educated quite like English boys, by English schoolmasters, and in the manner and upon the system of English schools. The consequence was that, whatever were their faults, they were quite Englishmen. The others, who were sent earlier abroad, and more to foreign universities, were not quite so much so. The late king was educated as a sailor, and was a complete sailor....

Lord Melbourne will tell your Majesty exactly what he thinks of John Russell's reply to the Plymouth address. It is very angry and very bitter, and anger and bitterness are never very dignified. Lord Melbourne certainly would not have put in those sarcasms upon the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, for their change of opinion and conduct upon the Roman Catholic question. But the tone of the rest of the answer is, in Lord Melbourne's opinion, just and right. We certainly delivered the affairs of the country into their hands in a good state, both at home and abroad, and we should be acting unfairly by ourselves if we did not maintain and a.s.sert this upon every occasion. Lord Melbourne's notion of the conduct which he has to pursue is, that it should not be aggressive, but that it must be defensive. He would oppose no right measures, but he cannot suffer the course of policy which has been condemned in him to be adopted by others without observation upon the inconsistency and injustice....

Lord Melbourne concludes with again wis.h.i.+ng your Majesty health and happiness, and much enjoyment of the country.

[Footnote 159: King Frederick William IV., who was to be a sponsor.]

[Pageheading: PRINCE OF WALES]

_Sir James Graham to Queen Victoria._

WHITEHALL, _6th December 1841._

Sir James Graham, with humble duty, begs to enclose for the Signature of your Majesty the Letters Patent creating His Royal Highness, the Prince of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.[160]

Understanding that it is your Majesty's pleasure to have this Creation inserted in the _Gazette_ of to-morrow night, Sir James Graham has given directions, which will ensure the publication, though the Letters Patent themselves may not be completed. The Warrant already signed by your Majesty is a sufficient authority.

The above is humbly submitted by your Majesty's dutiful Subject and Servant,

J. R. G. GRAHAM.

[Footnote 160: His present Majesty had been referred to in letters of the previous month as the Duke of Cornwall. "Know ye," ran the present Letters Patent, "that we have made ...

our most dear son, the Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (Duke of Saxony, Duke of Cornwall ...) Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester ... and him our said most dear son, ... as has been accustomed, we do enn.o.ble and invest with the said Princ.i.p.ality and Earldom, by girding him with a sword, by putting a coronet on his head, and a gold ring on his finger, and also by delivering a gold rod into his hand, that he may preside there, and may direct and defend those parts...."]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE, _7th December 1841._

MY DEAREST UNCLE,--We arrived here _sains et saufs_ with our awfully large Nursery Establishment yesterday morning. It was a nasty warm and very rainy day, but to-day is very bright, clear and dry, and we walked out early and felt like prisoners freed from some dungeon. Many thanks for your kind letter of the 2nd, by which I grieve to see that you are not quite well. But let me repeat again, you _must_ not despond so; you must not be so out of spirits. I have likewise been suffering so from _lowness_ that it made me quite miserable, and I know how difficult it is to fight against it. I am delighted to hear that all the children are so well. I wonder very much who our little boy will be like. You will understand _how_ fervent my prayers and I am [sure] _everybody's_ must be, to see him resemble his angelic dearest Father in _every, every_ respect, both in body and mind. Oh!

my dearest Uncle, I am sure if you knew _how_ happy, how blessed I feel, and how _proud_ I feel in possessing _such_ a perfect being as my husband, as he is, and if you think that you have been instrumental in bringing about this union, it must gladden your heart! How happy should I be to see our child grow up _just_ like him! Dear p.u.s.s.y travelled with us and behaved like a grown-up person, so quiet and looking about and coquetting with the Hussars on either side of the carriage. Now adieu! Ever your devoted Niece,

VICTORIA R.

[Pageheading: THE APPROACHING CHRISTENING]

_Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria._

CASTLE HOWARD, _22nd December 1841._

... Lord Melbourne will consider himself most highly honoured by being invited to the christening, and will hold himself in readiness to attend, whenever it may take place. He has written to Mr Anson in answer to the letter which he received from him this morning. Lord Melbourne has been obliged to consent to receive an address from Derby, and has fixed Monday the 27th inst. for that purpose. He could have wished to have avoided this, but it was impossible, and he must make the best of it that he can, which he conceives will be effected by conceiving his reply in very guarded terms, and in a tone defensive of his own administration, but not offensive to those who have succeeded him....

Lord Melbourne is very glad to hear of the feelings of the King of Prussia. For religious matters he is at present very popular with many in this country, and popularity, though transient and uncertain, is a good thing while it lasts. The King of the Belgians should not be surprised or mortified at the conduct of the King of Holland. We must expect that people will act according to their nature and feelings.

The Union of Belgium and Holland has been for a long time the first wish and the daily dream of the House of Orange. It has been the great object of their lives, and by the separation, which took place in 1830, they saw their fondest hopes disappointed and destroyed at once.

It must be expected that under such a state of things, they will be unquiet, and will try to obtain what they so eagerly desire and have once possessed.

Lord Melbourne is much rejoiced to hear that your Majesty is in the enjoyment of such good health. Your Majesty's observations upon your own situation are in the highest degree just and prudent, and it is a sign of a right mind and of good feelings to prize the blessings we enjoy, and not to suffer them to be too much altered by circ.u.mstances, which may not turn out exactly according to our wishes.