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"For a moment only," the Queen says, "was he disappointed at its being a daughter "and not a son." His first care was for the safety of the Queen, and "we cannot be "thankful enough to God," he writes to the Duchess of Gotha on the 24th," that every'thing has passed so very prosperously.”

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"During the time the Queen was laid up "his care and devotion," the Queen records, "were quite beyond expression."

He refused to go to the play or anywhere else, generally dining alone with the Duchess of Kent, till the Queen was able to join them, and was always at hand to do any thing in his power for her comfort. He was content to sit by her in a darkened room, to read to her, or write for her. "No one but "himself ever lifted her from her bed to her

sofa, and he always helped to wheel her on her "bed or sofa into the next room. For this pur

pose he would come instantly when sent for "from any part of the house. As years went

64 Memorandum by the Queen.

"on and he became overwhelmed with work" (for his attentions were the same in all the Queen's subsequent confinements), "this was "often done at much inconvenience to himself; "but he ever came with a sweet smile on his "face. In short," the Queen adds, "his care of "her was like that of a mother, nor could there "be a kinder, wiser, or more judicious nurse."

"165

During the Queen's illness the Prince also saw the Ministers, and transacted all necessary business for her.

When the Queen was well enough to move, the Court returned to Windsor, where Christmas was passed in the manner ever afterwards observed. It was the favourite festival of the Prince-a day, he thought, for the interchange of presents, as marks of mutual affection and good-will. Christmas-trees were set up in the Queen and Prince's rooms, a custom which was continued in future years, when they were also set up in another room for the young Princes and Princesses, and in the oak-room for the household. The ladies and gentlemen in waiting were summoned to the corridor on Christmaseve. The Queen and Prince, accompanied by

65 Memorandum by the Queen.

the Royal Family, pointed out the presents intended for each, inviting them afterwards to go through the different rooms to see what they themselves had mutually given and received.

The Princess Royal's christening took place on the 10th Feb. 1841, the first anniversary of the Queen's happy marriage; but the account of this, as well as the other events of that year, must be reserved for another volume.

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX A.

REMINISCENCES OF THE KING OF THE BELGIANS.

IN the preceding chapters little has been said of the Prince's family. The wish has been to confine this memoir to what more immediately concerned the Prince himself; and therefore, beyond the slight allusion to them in the opening chapter, no mention has been made of any members of the family except those-his father, grandmothers, and brother-with whom his own early life was naturally identified.

Yet his immediate ancestors for two, if not three generations, had been so mixed up with the stirring events which marked the close of the last and the opening of the present century, that some notice of them from one who has himself borne a prominent part in the European history of these latter times will not be out of place here. The Prince's great-grand-uncle, the Field-Marshal Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg, had commanded with distinction and success in the Netherlands at the commencement of the French Revolutionary War; his father commanded a corps towards its close; while his uncle Leopold, after greatly distinguishing himself in the latter campaigns against Napoleon,

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