Queen Victoria (26 page)

“My dear daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Albany, who bears her terrible misfortune with the most admirable, touching, and unmurmuring resignation to the will of God, is also deeply gratified by the universal sympathy and kind feeling evinced towards her.

“I would wish, in conclusion, to express my gratitude to all other countries for their sympathy - above all, to the neighbouring one where my beloved son breathed his last, and for the great respect and kindness shown on that mournful occasion.

“VICTORIA R. AND I

A recumbent effigy by Sir Edgar Boehm, R.A., of the lamented Prince, in his uniform as Colonel of the Seaforth Highlanders, has been placed on his tomb.

It has been one consequence of the early age at which the Queen came to the throne that the friends and associates of her youth have passed away, and latterly in greater numbers. The catalogue of these is long and recalls many sad memories. Among the ladies of the Court who have been closely connected with Her Majesty, may be mentioned the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Jocelyn, Lady Caroline Barrington, Lady Augusta Stanley, Lady Gainsborough, Lady Ely, the Duchess of Roxburghe, and the Duchess of Athole; among other members of the Royal household who have served their Royal Mistress with single-minded devotion, the names of General the Hon. Charles Grey, the Hon. Sir Charles Phipps, Sir Thomas Biddulph, Sir John Cowell, and Sir Henry Ponsonby rise to the memory immediately.

The thoughtful kindness which the Queen has always shown to her servants, and the implicit confidence which she has reposed in their loyalty, have won from those in her employment that devoted personal service which has so long distinguished her domestic establishment. Among those who, by their tried fidelity, have thus earned and enjoyed her trust, Mrs. Macdonald and John Brown may be taken as types, both of whom passed upwards of thirty years in close and daily attendance upon Her Majesty.

The 20th of June, 1887, was the fiftieth anniversary of the Queen’s accession. Three times only in the history of the country had the reign of an English Sovereign attained this number of years, and Her Majesty’s Jubilee was celebrated throughout the Empire with universal rejoicing. No preceding half-century had ever witnessed such striking progress in the prosperity and power of a nation, and it was deemed fitting that this anniversary should be celebrated with all the loyalty and enthusiasm which a united people could evince towards a Sovereign who, through weal and woe, had presided with such wisdom and prudence over the councils of the State, had set so beneficent an example of domestic virtue, and had so closely identified herself with the joys and sorrows of all her subjects.

On the 21st of June the Queen, accompanied by her children and grandchildren, and attended by a number of foreign Sovereigns or their representatives, went in State from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, where a special service was held. Her Majesty’s carriage, escorted by a brilliant body of officers of Indian Cavalry, was preceded by a
cortege
of Princes all nearly related to the Queen, conspicuous among whom towered the Crown Prince of Germany in the white uniform of the Prussian Gardes du Corps. A picture of this cavalcade, as it passed to Westminster through Trafalgar Square, has been painted for the Queen by Mr. Charlton, and is here reproduced.

Since the Coronation the Abbey had never seen so impressive a spectacle. The Queen sate in the chair of Edward the Confessor, in which, fifty years before, she had been crowned; the Abbey was filled with a brilliant throng, and the service of thanksgiving was striking and magnificent.

The “Te Deum” was sung by three hundred voices to the music of the Prince Consort, and a special Jubilee anthem, composed by Dr. (now Sir John Frederick) Bridge, was also performed. At the conclusion of the service, which had been conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Benson, the Queen kissed each of her children and retired, passing to Buckingham Palace amid the renewed greetings of her subjects.

To the Home Secretary after this event the Queen addressed the following letter: -

“WINDSOR CASTLE,
June
24.

“I am anxious to express to my people my warm thanks for the kind, and more than kind, reception I met with on going to, and returning from, Westminster Abbey, with all my children and grandchildren.

“The enthusiastic reception I met with then, as well as on these eventful days, in London as well as in Windsor, on the occasion of my Jubilee, has touched me most deeply. It has shown that the labours and anxiety of fifty long years, twenty-two of which I spent in unclouded happiness shared and cheered by my beloved husband, while an equal number were full of sorrows and trials, borne without his sheltering arm and wise help, have been appreciated by my people.

“This feeling, and the sense of duty towards my dear country and subjects, who are so inseparably bound up with my life, will encourage me in my task, often a very difficult and arduous one, during the remainder of my life.

“The wonderful order preserved on this occasion, and the good behaviour of the enormous multitudes assembled, merits my highest admiration.

“That God may protect and abundantly bless my country is my fervent prayer.

“VICTORIA, R. AND I”

On the 2nd of July, 1887, the Queen, at Buckingham Palace, saw a march-past of over 23,000 Volunteers, and two days later Her Majesty laid the foundation stone of the Imperial Institute. In her reply to the address from the organizing committee, read by the Prince of Wales, the Queen said: “I concur with you in thinking that the counsel and exertions of my beloved husband initiated a movement which gave increased vigour to commercial activity, and produced marked and lasting improvements in industrial efforts. One indirect result of that movement has been to bring more before the minds of men the vast and varied resources of the Empire over which Providence has willed that I should reign during fifty prosperous years. I believe and hope that the Imperial Institute will play a useful part in combining those resources for the common advantage of all my subjects, and conducing towards the welding of the Colonies, India, and the Mother Country into one harmonious and united community.”

On the 9th of July the Queen reviewed her troops, 58,000 men with 102 guns, at Aldershot. Before the march-past the Queen received from the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief, the congratulations of the army on her Jubilee, to which Her Majesty returned a gracious reply.

On the 23rd of the same month, a great naval review at Spithead concluded the Jubilee celebrations. The fleet consisted of one hundred and thirty-five vessels, mounting about five hundred guns, with a complement of officers and men of twenty thousand. After passing through the line Her Majesty summoned the commanders of the ships on board the Royal yacht, and expressed to each the satisfaction the display had given her, and her appreciation of the hearty reception accorded to her by the crews.

On the 15th of the same month, the Queen, before leaving Windsor, laid at Smith’s Lawn, in the Great Park, the foundation stone of the equestrian statue of the Prince Consort presented by the women and girls of the United Kingdom; the surplus of this Jubilee offering was, by Her Majesty’s decision, devoted to the benefit of nurses and nursing establishments -a much-needed movement of practical utility, which had for some time engaged Her Majesty’s serious attention, and had been fostered by her daughter Princess Christian, who has spared neither time nor trouble in promoting its success.

Among those nearest and dearest to the Queen, who took part in the Jubilee of 1887, four have since passed away - the Emperor Frederic, the Grand Duke of Hesse, the Duke of Clarence, and Prince Henry of Battenberg.

The Crown Prince of Germany, who had for some time suffered from an affection of the larynx, passed the winter of 1887-88 at San Remo, and only left for Berlin on the 10th of March, 1888, when he received the news of his accession to the throne of Prussia and of the German Empire, by the death of his father the day before. The malady from which he suffered, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of his medical attendants, continued to increase in an alarming manner, though his own vitality and courage at times gave hope of amendment. He battled bravely against fate, but on the 15th of June the end came, and after a short reign of ninety-nine days, the Emperor Frederic, whose noble character was fitly shrined in a commanding figure and a stately presence, was lost to his sorrowing family and to his country, and the Queen’s eldest daughter was left a widow. The Queen had paid a visit to her son-in-law at Charlottenburg on the 24th of April, where she had had the melancholy satisfaction of seeing him during one of the temporary rallies.

Another Prince, who had taken part in the procession of 1887, was the Grand Duke of Hesse. Though less known in England than the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Grand Duke had been closely associated with the Queen in many happy hours of her life, and his death, which severed another link with the golden past, was deeply felt by Her Majesty, who was warmly attached to the husband of Princess Alice.

A loss which appealed more directly to the British people was that of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and ultimate heir to the throne. Attacked by the prevailing epidemic of influenza in January, 1892, he was unable to struggle against the complication of pneumonia, which set in at an early stage of his illness. On January 14th he died - a few days after his birthday and within a few weeks of his marriage. Youth, brilliant position, and his approaching marriage, lent peculiar pathos to the death of the Duke, whose loss was deeply felt by his parents and his grandmother. He was buried in the Albert Chapel at

Windsor on January 20th, 1892. On the same day the Queen wrote from Osborne to the Home Secretary as follows: -

“I must once again give expression to my deep sense of the loyalty and affectionate sympathy evinced by my subjects in every part of my Empire on an occasion more sad and tragical than any but one which has befallen me and mine, as well as the nation. The overwhelming misfortune of my dearly-loved grandson having thus been suddenly cut off in the flower of his age, full of promise for the future, amiable and gentle, and endearing himself to all, renders it hard for his sorely stricken parents, his dear young bride, and his fond grandmother to bow in submission to the inscrutable decrees of Providence.

“The sympathy of millions, which has been so touchingly and vividly expressed, is deeply gratifying at such a time, and I wish, both in my own name and that of my children, to express from my heart my warm gratitude to
all
.

“These testimonies of sympathy with us, and appreciation of my dear grandson, whom I loved as a son, and whose devotion to me was as great as that of a son, will be a help and consolation to me and mine in our affliction.

“My bereavements during the last thirty years of my reign have indeed been heavy. Though the labours, anxieties, and responsibilities inseparable from my position have been great, yet it is my earnest prayer that God may give me health and strength to work for the good and happiness of my dear country and Empire while life lasts.

“VICTORIA R.I.”

Another deep shadow was thrown over the Queen and her family by the removal of one more of the company of Princes in the procession of 1887. Since his marriage in 1885, Prince Henry of Battenberg, the husband of Princess Beatrice, had been seldom away from the Court, whether at Windsor, Balmoral, or Osborne, and had accompanied Her Majesty on her annual visits to the Continent in the spring. Adapting himself thoroughly to English life, ardently attached to the institutions and sports of the country, he had by his genial, courteous manner and unobtrusive tact won the affection of all with whom he was associated, and his bright presence is now sorely missed. Sprung from a family of soldiers, and brother of Prince Alexander, the hero of Slivnitza, it is not to be wondered at that, when a chance occurred of distinguishing himself in the field, he accepted it with eagerness, and volunteered for the expedition to Ashantee, which had just been organised. Throughout the march from the coast, Prince Henry proved his willingness to share the fatigue and labours of his comrades, and his presence was most useful in negotiations with native chiefs. The expedition had reached Kwisa, between Prahsu and Kumassi, the capital of King Prempeh, when the Prince was struck down by fever. He was promptly conveyed to the coast, and rallied after the journey. He embarked on board H.M.S.
Blonde
on the 17th of January in a weak state, and at one time seemed to regain strength. On the 19th, however, a change for the worse set in, and he passed peacefully away on the evening of January 20th, off the coast of Sierra Leone.

The sudden and tragic close of a life so bright and promising shocked the whole nation, and stirred to the depths their sympathies for the widow, for the fatherless children, and for the Queen. To Her Majesty, apart from its wholly unexpected character, the blow was the more severe, because, as her other children had been parted from her by the exigencies of their positions, she had learned to rely on her daughter’s husband for that sympathy, support, and assistance which, as years passed on, became more valuable. In response to the universal expression of national feeling, Her Majesty wrote from Osborne on the 14th of February, 1896: -

“I have, alas! once more to thank my loyal subjects for their warm sympathy in a fresh grievous affliction which has befallen me and my beloved daughter, Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg.

“This new sorrow is overwhelming, and to me is a double one, for I lose a dearly-beloved and helpful son, whose presence was like a bright sunbeam in my home, and my dear daughter loses a noble, devoted husband, to whom she was united by the closest affection.

“To witness the blighted happiness of the daughter who has never left me, and has comforted and helped me, is hard to bear. But the feeling of universal sympathy so touchingly shown by all classes of my subjects has deeply moved my child and myself, and has helped and soothed us greatly.