CHAPTER XIII.

1840.

DEPARTURE FROM GOTHA AND ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.

ON the 14th January 1840, Lord Torrington and Colonel (now General) Grey, left Buckingham Palace with three of the Queen's carriages for Gotha, whence they were to escort Prince Albert to England for his marriage. It had been now settled that this should be celebrated on the 10th February. They were also bearers of the Garter with which the Prince was to be invested before he left Gotha.

Arriving on the afternoon of the 20th, they were presented the same evening to the Duke, by whom and the young Princes they were most kindly received. Later in the evening they were presented to the Dowager Duchess, from whom so many letters have been quoted, at an evening-party at her own house. The next

morning, after breakfast in their own rooms, the English gentlemen were visited by the two young Princes, who remained with them about an hour, impressing them most favourably by the unaffected kindness and cordiality of their Prince Albert was naturally very

manner.

anxious to hear how the marriage was liked in England-looking forward as it seemed, with much pleasure, but, at the same time, not without some degree of nervousness, to the change which was about to take place in his position, and expressing a very natural sorrow at the impending separation from all his old associations. At four o'clock there was a great dinner, and in the evening a masked ball at the theatre, to which the Duke and Duchess, and all the Court, went a little after eight.

It had been arranged that the ceremony of investing Prince Albert with the Garter should take place on the 23rd. Accordingly at half-past three on that day the whole Court assembled, in full uniform in the Throne-room; the Duke on the throne, with Prince Albert on his right, supported by his brother, the Prince of Leiningen, &c. The Duchess, the Princess of Leiningen, the Princess of Reuss, &c. were in a box on one side of the room; the ladies of the Court in a similar

one opposite; while the back of the apartment was filled with as many people from the town as it would hold. The fine corridor leading to the Throne-room was lined with soldiers; and when every one had taken his place, Lord Torrington was ushered in by the Chamberlain and other officers of the Court, supported on one side by Colonel Grey, and on the other by Colonel Bentinck, of the Coldstream Guards (a chance visitor at Gotha at the time), bearing on white satin cushions the insignia of the Garter, with which the Duke, himself a Knight of the Order, was, by Letters Patent, authorized to invest his Lord Torrington having delivered and read the letters of which he was the bearer, they were again read in German-the Patent of Election was presented-and Prince Albert was then duly invested with the various insignia ; Prince Leiningen, who was also a Knight of the Order, attaching the Garter.

son.

The ceremony of investiture being concluded, the whole Court passed in procession before the Duke and Duchess, Prince Albert, &c.; after which there was a general adjournment to the Duchess's apartments. A grand dinner followed, to which 180 persons sat down, shortly before which Count Mensdorff, brother

room.

in-law to the Duke, arrived with his two sons. The principal table, at which were all the Royal personages, and as many of the more distinguished guests as it would accommodate, ran across the top of the room; and at right angles to it, three other tables ran down the room, which were filled to crowding with the more general guests; the doorways, &c. being filled with as many spectators as could find standing Towards the end of the first course the Duke proposed the Queen's health, which was drunk by all the company standing, accompanied by several distinct flourishes of trumpets; the band playing "God Save the Queen," and the artillery outside firing a Royal salute. Shortly afterwards Lord Torrington, who, with the other English gentlemen, occupied seats at the principal table immediately opposite the Duke and Duchess, proposed the health of the Duke, of Prince Albert, the new-made Knight of the Garter, and the rest of the Ducal family, which was received in a similar manner. third and last toast followed, given by the Duke-the rest of the Knights of the Garterwhich was similarly received. similarly received. This last toast might have been attended with serious consequences. In opening the window to give the

A

signal for the salute to the Artillery outside, the wind blew the thin muslin curtains into the flame of the candles, and in one instant they blazed up to the top of the room. Great alarm and confusion ensued for a few moments, caused by people rising from their seats and crowding towards the window. But fortunately the curtains were so light and thin, that they burnt out almost instantaneously, without igniting the wood-work; and the ladies' dresses being, as became the season of the year, mostly of silk and velvet, no mischief followed and the alarm soon subsided. The dinner being ended, coffee followed in the Duchess's apartments, when the company separated for half an hour, again to assemble in order to go in state to the Opera. The theatre is extremely pretty, and being densely crowded and the audience all in full dress, the effect was very fine when the Royal party entered-every one standing up, and receiving Prince Albert with loud and long-continued applause. The performance was the Freyschütz and very good, excepting a little imperfection in the scenery; the acting and singing really excellent. With the opera ended a most exciting and interesting, if a somewhat fatiguing day; but the hours kept are so much