CHAPTER V.

1832-1833.

VISIT OF THE PRINCES TO BRUSSELS-REMARRIAGE OF THE DUKE-MR. FLORSCHÜTZ' RECOLLECTIONS OF MODE OF LIFE, SYSTEM OF STUDY, ETC.

In the summer of 1832 the young Princes accompanied their father to Brussels on a visit to their uncle Leopold, who, in the course of the preceding year, had been chosen to be the Sovereign of the newly created kingdom of Belgium.

The King of the Belgians, speaking in 1862, in a letter to the Queen, of this visit, says that it was then that she and Prince Albert met for the first time. This, however, is a mistake. The Queen saw the Prince for the first time at Kensington Palace, during a visit paid by the brothers to England in 1836, and which will be noticed in its place.

The stay of the Princes at Brussels at this time was short. But short though it was, their tutor ascribes to the effect produced by what they saw there-by the spectacle which the Belgian capital then afforded, of liberty and independence bravely acquired, and used with good sense and moderation-that appreciation of the blessings of liberty, that attachment to liberal principles which ever afterwards distinguished both the Princes. In Prince Albert these liberal principles were tempered by a moderation and love of order, and by a detestation of everything approaching to licence, which were very remarkable at his early age; and this without weakening the devotion to the purest and best principles of constitutional freedom, of which his whole after life in England gave such repeated proof.

The love of Art, too, which was natural to the Prince, received, his tutor adds, a great stimulus from the beauty of Brussels, and the study of the Art treasures which that city contains.

On their way home the Princes passed a few weeks with their aunt and cousins at Mayence, and during that time attended the swimming-school which forms part of the mili

tary establishment there. They made so much progress, that before they left, they swam down the stream from the bridge of Mayence to Biberich, a distance of three miles. Soon after their return, Prince Albert writes as follows to his father :

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Rosenau, 21st September 1832. "DEAR PAPA,-Let me assure you that we "are perfectly well. I am sorry that since the

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day of your departure till yesterday, the "weather has not always been fine. It must "have spoiled some of your nice shooting"parties.

"We have also had very bad weather here, "rain and cold winds; but this has disturbed us

very little, for we were all the better able to "devote our time to our studies.

We are

working with the greatest diligence, in order "to make up for what we may have lost on our "journey. The weather, however, has not pre"vented us from amusing ourselves out of

doors; we are working very industriously at "our fortification, and have already made great progress, so that I am sure you will give us "full credit for our industry in this respect "when you return.

"Yesterday we had a windy but at the same "time a warm bright day.

"Besides what I have told you, nothing has taken place worthy of notice. Pray give my respectful love to dear Grandmama, and "hoping soon to see you again, I recommend myself to your loving remembrance. "Your dutiful son,

"ALBERT."

In the autumn of this year the Duke remarried. The new Duchess was his own niece -being the daughter of his sister Princess Antoinette, married to Duke Alexander of Würtemberg.1 In November the brothers accompanied their father to the Castle of Thalwitz, in Saxony, there to await the arrival of the Princess from Petersburg. Thence they escorted her to her new home.

The Prince was now in his fourteenth year, and was fast developing that power of thinking and judging for himself which distinguished him so greatly in after life.

The ardent desire for the acquisition of

1 NOTE BY THE QUEEN.-Princess Mary of Würtemberg, born September 17th, 1799. She was consequently one year older than the Duke's first wife, mother of the Princes.

knowledge, always so characteristic of the Prince, as well as his love of order and method, show themselves, even at this early age, very remarkably, in a programme drawn up by himself at this time for his guidance in the prosecution of his studies. We here see in the boy the same feeling which led him to rebel later against the interruption of his work at the Rosenau, and to complain of the want of method which marked, he thought, the course laid down for him in the study of English law.3

This programme is given, as written out in the Prince's own handwriting, at the end of an interesting Memorandum by his old tutor, Councillor Florschütz, in which he (the Councillor) records his recollections of the Prince as a boy, and gives an account of the nature of his studies and the manner in which they were regulated. It will be seen that, though not neglected, classics and mathematics did not hold the prominent, not to say the exclusive place in their system of education which these branches of study occupy in England. The study of modern languages, of history, of the natural sciences, of music, and generally of those

See pp. 209 & 211.

3 See p. 362.