1842

CONTINUES TO RISE IN PUBLIC ESTIMATION.

131

he been other than he was. Of this the Prince himself appears to have been fully conscious. In a memorandum of a conversation with him on the 25th of November of this year, Mr. Anson records:

"The Prince, reading in Hallam's History the other day, encountered the following passage, which he copied out and sent me. Speaking of William III., Hallam says: "The demeanour of William, always cold, and sometimes harsh, his foreign origin (a sort of crime in English eyes), &c., conspired to keep alive this disaffection." In talking this over with the Prince, I admitted it was quite true that a very laudable and natural jealousy and dislike prevailed in the minds of Englishmen against foreigners, though perhaps they would not be willing to allow it; but with regard to him personally I did not think this feeling was at all prevalent. The Prince replied that he did not think Englishmen in general would pretend to any concealment of this national prejudice; but he must say with regard to himself, that he did not feel he was regarded in this spirit. On the contrary, every effort had been used to show him the kindest feeling, and to prove to him that, as the Queen's husband, he was looked upon as a thoroughbred Englishman.'

6

The conduct of the Prince since his arrival in England had been subject to the severest scrutiny. But he had borne his faculties so meekly,' he had been so clear in his great office,' that neither malice nor idle gossip had been able to detract from the favourable impression which all his public appearances had created. 'It was remarked to me to-day,' says Mr. Anson in another memorandum of this period, 'as is frequently done, by a keen observer of character, and by no means a good-natured one, that it was most remarkable the Prince should have been now nearly two years in his most difficult position, and had never given cause for one word to be said against him in any respect.' This result was not to be gained without an amount of circumspection that demanded the sacrifice of much of that freedom of action and intercourse in which a man of his wide range of sympathies would naturally have delighted. At the same time it reacted upon himself in producing a certain reserve of manner, which was apt to be mistaken for coldness and hauteur by those who had not more intimate opportunities of judging of his genuine modesty and kindliness of nature.

'From the moment of his establishment in the English palace as the husband of the Queen,' General Grey has well said (Early Years, p. 353), 'his first object was to maintain, and, if possible, even raise the character of the Court. With this view he knew that it was not enough that his own conduct should be in truth free from reproach; no shadow of a shade of suspicion should, by possibility, attach to it. He knew that, in his position, every action would be scanned-not always possibly in a friendly spirit;

132

PRINCE'S RULES OF CONDUCT.

1842

that his goings out and his comings in would be watched, and that in every society, however little disposed to be censorious, there would always be found some, prone, were an opening afforded, to exaggerate, and even to invent stories against him, and to put an uncharitable construction on the most innocent acts.

'He, therefore, from the first, laid down strict, not to say severe rules, for his own guidance. He imposed a degree of restraint and self-denial upon his own movements, which could not but have been irksome, had he not been sustained by a sense of the advantage which the Throne would derive from it. He denied himself the pleasure-which, to one so fond as he was of personally watching and inspecting every improvement that was in progress, would have been very great-of walking at will about the town. went, whether in a carriage or on horseback, he was accompanied by his Wherever he equerry. He paid no visits in general society. His visits were to the studio of the artist, to museums of art or science, to institutions for good and benevolent purposes. Wherever a visit from him, or his presence, could tend to advance the real good of the people, there his horses might be seen waiting; never at the door of mere fashion. Scandal itself could take no liberty with his name. He loved to ride through all the districts of London where building and improvements were in progress, more especially when they were such as would conduce to the health or recreation of the working classes; and few, if any, knew so well, or took such interest as he did, in all that was being done, at any distance east, west, north, or south of the great city-from Victoria Park to Battersea-from the Regent's Park to the Crystal Palace, and far beyond. "He would frequently return," the Queen says, eon at a great pace, and would always come through the Queen's dressing66 to lunchroom, where she generally was at that time, with that bright loving smile with which he ever greeted her; telling where he had been-what new buildings he had seen-what studios, &c. he had visited. Riding for mere riding's sake he disliked, and said: Es ennuyirt mich so.' (It bores me so.)"

Already the claims upon the Prince's attention were so numerous and varied, that his strength was taxed to the uttermost. It was even difficult for him to obtain those hasty rides to which the Queen alludes, and in one of her letters to Baron Stockmar in December of this year, Her Majesty expresses much anxiety, that measures should be taken to prevent his being besieged when in London by so many unnecessary people. His health is so invaluable, not only to me (to whom he is more than all in all), but to this whole country, that we must do our duty, and manage that he is not so overwhelmed with people.' His fatigues had recently been greatly augmented, by having to undertake the superintendence of the Royal Establishment and of many details connected with the office of Privy Purse, which up to September of this year had been in the hands of Baroness Lehzen. The organization of the Household was thoroughly defective, and the consequent confusion, discomfort, and extravagance were a source

1842 PROPOSED REORGANIZATION OF ROYAL HOUSEHOLD. 133

of incessant annoyance and distraction. The demands thus imposed upon the Prince's time and energies were the more intolerable, coming as they did at a period when he felt called upon to give redoubled attention to public affairs. This was his first and most pressing duty, but its discharge was manifestly impossible, without such a thorough reform as would establish order and regularity in the conduct of the complicated arrangements of the Royal Household, and thereby set free his mind for 'nobler thoughts and nobler cares.'

In this dilemma his thoughts naturally turned to Baron Stockmar, who had a year before gone with him fully into the question, and with his wonted thoroughness and foresight had drawn up a Memorandum or scheme of reform 'to unite the greater security and comfort of the Sovereign, with greater regularity and better discipline of the Royal Establishment.'" Already the Queen and the Prince had found the immense advantage of his practical skill and tact in placing upon a thoroughly sound footing that part of their establishment which had to deal with the care and training of the Royal children. Now that a wider, if not more delicate problem had to be solved, they felt that no one was more qualified to grapple with its difficulties, or more likely to work out judiciously the necessary reforms. To him, therefore, the Prince wrote as follows:

'My dear Stockmar,- I cannot let the close year without praising the foresight which during its course has arranged so much for my advantage, and without again seeing in the results a sacred duty, zealously to use the position I have been placed in for the good of all around me, and to lay out like a treasure at interest the experience I have gained. Let me once more thank you for much loyal concern for the welfare of us all, for much trouble and fatherly counsel in many moments of difficulty. When I look back I see nothing which I could wish otherwise; but when I look forward, I feel that much remains to be done to bring matters to a satisfactory point. . . .

'We have reached a critical transition-period, in which every day the germs of a noble bias may be planted. Still I feel the necessity for the wise counsel and support of a man

7 Passages from this document have been quoted in Baron Stockmar's Memoirs, where its date is incorrectly assigned to the end of 1844. Its actual date is 9th January, 1841.

134

PROPOSED REORGANIZATION, ETC.

1842

of experience. When you left us, you said to me, "When you really want me, write, and I will come." I am well aware of what you are to your family, and your own concerns, and I have therefore been unwilling till now to importune you to return so soon. But now the moment is come, when I think I may venture to remind you of your promise; therefore do not delay. My attention hitherto has been directed to a host of trifles. It always seems to me as if an infinitude of small trivialities hung about me like an ever present weight; I mean by these the domestic and Court arrangements, and to these I have chiefly applied myself, feeling that we never shall be in a position to occupy ourselves with higher and graver things, so long as we have to do with these mere nothings....

'Windsor Castle, December 27, 1842.'

'ALBERT.'

CHAPTER IX.

Reorganization of Royal Household undertaken by Prince--Opening of Parliament--Assassination of Mr. Drummond--Sir Robert Peel-Development of Prince's CharacterBirth of Princess Alice-Exhibition of Cartoons for Frescoes in Westminster HallQueen and Prince encourage Fresco Painting by Commissions for Decoration of Pavilion at Buckingham Palace--Efforts by Prince to suppress Duelling.

To one who only knows the Royal Household of a more recent day, so complete in its details, so smooth in its working, so thoroughly under control,-a vast machine moving with an almost ideal precision and regularity, it is not easy to picture the state of things to which the Prince refers in the letter just quoted, and with which the Queen and himself had to contend for many years. It is indeed surprising, that it could have gone on at all, without the whole internal economy of the Palace falling into intolerable confusion, for the arrangements there were absolutely without control and subject to no definite system. This was due to the circumstance that ostensibly they were under the control of too many masters, each acting independently, and without concert. The three great officers of State, the Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, and the Master of the Horse, all of them officials who varied with every change of the Ministry, and were appointed without regard to any special qualifications for their office, had each a governing voice in the regulation of the Household. Their rules of administration were as various as their individual capacity. No uniformity of system prevailed; there was no general understanding to secure the harmonious working of their various departments, no responsible resident officer to represent them and to see that discipline was maintained, and the comfort of the Sovereign secured.

While things continued in this state, order, comfort, and economy were manifestly impossible. Thus, one section of the Palace was supposed to be under the Lord Chamberlain's charge, another under that of the Lord Steward, while, as to a third, it was uncertain whose business it was to look after it. These officials were responsible for all that concerned the