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ROYAL DEATHS.

THE PRINCESS AND THE PRINCE. 1817-1861.

BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON.

THE first lesson we try to teach our little ones in the nursery is, that there is no royal road to learning; the lesson we preach to children of a larger growth is, that there is no royal road to happiness. In vain! Still do the busy childish brains weave for themselves pictures of princes and princesses in golden crowns and glittering raiment; still does the maturer mind dream with a half-repining sigh of those lilies in the garden of Life, who "neither toil nor spin; " whose days are days of pleasantness, and their paths paths of peace; who reap where they have not sowed; and to whom the delights of existence offer themselves without struggle or sacrifice.

Seldom does the converse of this proposition force itself on our notice; seldom does the often-preached equality of human trial become so apparent that those who run may read the lesson. But when it does come, it comes with the storm of sorrow: in the cloud and the lightning.

Death is the same in itself to all mankind, and the spectacle is always solemn and admonishing; but Divine Providence, sometimes in the course of ages, sets it forth in such strong contrast to all that is held great and good to the human being in possession and expectation, that the most careless heart is shocked into contemplation."

Such a lesson has lately been read to us. The grief, the unutterable grief, of the highest lady of our land has passed with an electric thrill to the meanest of

her subjects. Hearts ache and eyes fill with tears at the bare image of her sorrow; and to the younger of the generation, now in its noon, the blow that has smitten the royal wife and mother seems without example!

It has nevertheless its parallel-a pa

rallel so close in all its details of suffering, that the wonder rather is, how such events, happening within the memory of living men, and having filled so many with wonder and anguish, should fade like a dream, and vanish like a sound.

The death of the Princess Charlotte is vaguely accepted by the rising generation as a national loss that was greatly lamented; but it is to be doubted if the record of her brief life has obtained a visible standing place amongst us, even since the revival of its main incidents by the publication of gossiping memoirs of the period. They, however, who recollect these incidents, know how close is the resemblance between the blow which shattered the happy home of Claremont in November, 1817, and that calamity which has lately made desolate the royal halls of Windsor and cast a gloom over the English Christmas of 1861. It is because this parallel lies on the dim border land which divides our own times from the region of written history, that we would briefly recapitulate a story which, if invented, would have seemed a most touching romance, and, being suffered, was a miserable reality.

The Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., was born on the 7th of January, 1796; an English princess, but with much German blood in her veins; of that House of Brunswick which claims descent from Albert Azo, Marquess of Tuscany, who, in 1040, married the heiress of the first Welphs or Guelphs, Earls of Altorf in Swabia. The offspring of alienated parents, Princess Charlotte's childhood was disturbed by domestic feuds and anxieties, of which she could have no comprehension; and her youth was made at once restless and dull by the consequences of these

quarrels, and the jealousy which her father early conceived of the political importance of his heiress. Her candid, impulsive nature was manifested even as a child, and won the love of those around her. Bishop Porteus records with delight how the little princess, then but five years of age, on being told that, when she went to bathe at Southend in Essex, she would be in his diocese, dropped on her knees before him and begged his blessing; "which," says the good prelate, "I gave with all my heart, and many secret prayers." The reverential child grew into a pious woman, impulsive to the last, but gifted with a keen intelligence and a noble cordial nature, which combined to steer her past many a shoal, and which gave her, in spite of occasional rashness, power to choose wisely and well who should be intimate among her few companions, her scanty stock of friends; among the most distinguished of whom was Miss Mercer Elphinstone, Baroness Keith and Nairne, wife of our present French Ambassador, Count de Flahaut.

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She was but eleven, when an inquiry, miscalled the "Delicate Investigation,' was made as to the conduct of her mother, the Princess of Wales; and though that inquiry ended temporarily in favour of the party accused, though hard swearing failed to satisfy Ministers that the false profligate husband had a wife as profligate as other ladies who were his habitual associates, though she was reinstated and received by good old George the Third, still the event disturbed all the relations subsisting between mother and child, and was the first assault in that "war to the knife" which could have but one termination between a man without honour and a woman without dignity, even had she been a better woman than she was.

Perhaps no part of Princess Charlotte's character is more touching than the efforts she made to offer a divided duty to both her parents-the pity and the love with which she yearned to her mother, and the submission she trained her naturally impatient spirit to show to her father.

Her personal appearance and attractions are thus described by a contemporary writer:- -"In person she was neither "too tall nor short, about the middle "size, rather inclining to enbonpoint; "but not so much as to impair the sym66 metry of her form. Her complexion was beautifully fair, her arms deli"cately rounded, and her head finely placed. There was a mingled sweet

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ness and dignity in her look. She "had a full intelligent eye; and when "she was engaged in conversation, much "liveliness appeared in the expression "of her countenance. She had very "little of the vanity which is said to be

peculiar to her sex-that of exterior "ornament and dress; she never in"dulged in it either before or after her "marriage. She aimed at little beyond"neatness; there was no incumbering "superfluity of jewels to be seen upon "her person in short, nothing that distinguished her from one of the fe"male nobility in splendour of apparel." "Always elegant, modest, and refined, "she had nothing of fashionable life "about her; but a lofty and generous

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sense of the duties imposed upon "her by her elevated rank. She was "an excellent musician; she performed "on the harp, the piano, and the guitar, "with uncommon skill. Her voice was not powerful, but sweet, and "scientifically modulated: she had a "most accurate ear, and a brilliant exe"cution. She spoke French, German," "Italian, and Spanish, with considerable "fluency; and her accomplishments

comprehended not only the poetry and "classical writers of her own country, "but a considerable acquaintance with "ancient literature. Warmth of feeling,

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England, then the apparent heiress of the throne of these realms; and perhaps the description of the husband she selected cannot be better placed than immediately under her own picture. Few will read it and not also think of the Prince Consort, his nephew, so lately taken from us!

"In his early youth, this prince manifested an excellent understanding, and a tender and benevolent heart. As he advanced in years he displayed a strong attachment to literary and scientific pursuits, and even at that time all his actions were marked with dignified gravity and unusual moderation. His propensity to study was seconded by the efforts of an excellent instructor; and, as he remained a stranger to all those dissipations with which persons of his age and rank are commonly indulged, his attainments, so early as his fifteenth year, were very extensive. His extraordinary capacity particularly unfolded itself in the study of the languages, history, mathematics, botany, drawing, and music; he sang beautifully, and had one of the finest tenor voices in the world."

The convulsion which, in 1806, shook the north of Germany had been attended with consequences peculiarly calamitous to the House of Coburg. In the autumn of that year, when the French approached the Saxon frontiers, Duke Francis, who was in very ill health, retired with his consort from Coburg to Saalfeld; and Prince Leopold, then but fifteen years old, was the companion and support of his infirm father. The French appeared before Saalfeld; the castle was stormed; and the ducal family exposed to all the dangers and horrors of that disastrous battle, which cost Prince Lewis-Ferdinand of Prussia his life. This was more than the constitution of Duke Francis, already so much impaired by disease, was capable of supporting; he sank under the accumulation of misfortunes, and died in the beginning of December. Bonaparte then seized the Coburg possessions, which were not restored till the peace of Tilsit. The vicissitudes to which Leopold's

house was exposed from French hostility seem only to have contributed to preserve the purity of his morals; and they certainly had a most powerful influence in the development of that rare moderation, that ardent love of justice, and that manly firmness, which were the predominant traits in his character.

In his campaigns, and in the field of battle, where all false greatness disappears, Leopold gave the most undeniable proofs of courage, and of that clear intelligence and unshaken fortitude which are essential in a warrior and a prince. If we add that this young warrior was of most admirable personal beauty, though of a somewhat dark and melancholy countenance, Princess Charlotte's choice will not appear extraordinary.

The

When the princess, in 1814, attained the age of eighteen, the Prince Regent, anxious to obtain for her a suitable. alliance, fixed upon the Prince of Orange. After some serious negotiations, however, the match was broken off. reason assigned in Parliament was the objection entertained by the princess to a residence in Holland; the reasons assigned by her friends were Russian intrigues, and her own distaste for her young suitor. That he did not regard her with similar indifference, is proved by the fact that, when he was obliged to return her miniature with other presents, he secretly caused a copy to be taken, which is still preserved in the Palace in the Wood, at the Hague.

She had already at this time made acquaintance with the Prince Leopold; but, the Regent disapproving of the degree of welcome she seemed willing to accord him, the prince returned to the Continent. Displeased with the failure of the Orange match, and suspicious of the influence of those around his daughter, the Regent planned and executed a kind of domestic coup d'état, changing at once all the ladies of her household. The Princess Charlotte, startled and irritated by this exercise of power, which she conceived to be the forerunner of yet greater severity, hastily fled her home at Warwick House,

and went, in a hackney-coach, to the residence of her mother, at Connaught Place; whence she was reconducted, in the dawn of a summer's morning, by the Duke of York and other great personages. The measures of the Prince Regent towards his daughter caused an unfavourable impression; and in the House of Lords the Duke of Sussex demanded of Lord Liverpool explanations as to the position of the princess and the degree of freedom which she enjoyed. The minister somewhat haughtily replied, that the Regent was the father of her royal highness, and that, as such, he had a right to adopt what measures he pleased with respect to her. Two months after these disputed arrangements the Princess of Wales left England, taking a tender and, as it proved, a final farewell of her daughter. During the summer the health of the Princess Charlotte visibly failed, nor can it be doubted that, like many a humbler heroine, she was secretly pining for the object of her own preference. Her love for young Leopold of Saxe-Coburg had been love at first sight, but it was one of those cases in which a sudden choice has been amply justified by subsequent happiness. The physicians prescribed sea-bathing and change of air, and the patient went to Weymouth; whence she returned in improved health, and appeared in May, 1815, at the Queen's drawing-room.

The Regent, in the course of this year, became convinced that his daughter was not to be weaned from her choice, and at length, in February, 1816, despatched a messenger to Berlin to invite Prince Leopold's return to England. On the 21st of that month he landed at Dover, amidst the acclamations of the people, who were already aware of the feelings of their beloved princess. On his arrival at the Clarendon Hotel

he was waited upon by Lord Castlereagh, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and the next day, by special invitation, he joined the Regent at Brighton. On the 10th of March the consent of H. R. H. was announced to the Privy Council convened there;

on the 14th, to both Houses of Parlia ment; and on the 15th the House of Commons voted the royal pair 60,0007. a year and a splendid outfit. They were married on the evening of the 2d of May, at Buckingham House, the prince wearing the uniform of an English general, and his beautiful bride a dress of silver lama, with a wreath of rosebuds and leaves, in brilliants, round her head; and a little before midnight the newly-wedded pair arrived at Oatlands Park, lent them by the Duke of York; now a popular hotel. Camelford House had been allotted to them in London; a confined and inconvenient residence, which in the autumn of that year they gladly left for Claremont, a home of their own selection, purchased for them by Parliament. Here they lived a retired life, congenial to their tastes and mutual love-a life in all respects the exact parallel of the pure domestic existence of our Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They were never separated, except when the Prince went out to take the exercise of shooting in the morning; and during his absence it was the constant custom of the Princess Charlotte, with her own hands to take the prince's linen out of the drawer, to air it, to fold his cravat, and see that hot water was ready for his use; and even to prepare some little refreshment, such as she judged he would like, against his return. their social walks, whether in the village or the garden, they generally walked arm in arm; and if they stopped to rest, whether in the arbour or the alcovein the words of Watts

"There they would sit, and pass the hour,

In

And pity kingdoms and their kings,
And smile at all their shining things,
Their toys of state, and images of power."

When the weather or other circumstances kept them within doors, their employment was chiefly reading. Both took delight in studying the history and constitution of the country of which she might naturally expect to be one day the sovereign. In this study she is understood strongly to have imbibed those liberal principles which

raised her family to the throne, and on which alone it can be properly supported. History was varied with poetry or miscellaneous subjects; and the princess appears to have taken peculiar pleasure in perfecting the prince in a complete and critical knowledge of the English language, which he spoke accurately, with more distinctness and deliberation than is usual with us.

The Royal couple left Brighton and the brilliant festivities of the Regent's Pa vilion in order to keep Prince Leopold's birthday in their tranquil home. On the birthday of the princess herself (the last that she was permitted to see), the humble inhabitants of Esher illuminated their village abodes in her honour. She kept that day by distributing a hundred pounds in charity, and passed most days in familiar intercourse with her poorer neighbours, while her wayward mother wandered to and fro on the Continent, seeking to fill the void of her wasted life with vulgar pleasures, and the profligacy of her father's tawdry court roused a just indignation among all the better thinking of his people. In illustration of the perfect matrimonial happiness of the young couple is recorded the gentle clerical jest of their chaplain, Dr. Short, who sent them a flitch of bacon on their marriage anniversary, suggestive of Dunmow and its time-hallowed custom. Little they thought that no other anniversary would find them together to share earthly joy or earthly sorrow. That pleasant May went by, and pleasant June, and the autumn found them still living the same life of serene contentment: doing good; striving by employment to lessen the depression of trade, and by charity to counteract the effect of "famine-prices" consequent on the failure of the harvest. Tranquil, happy, hopeful, loving-a model home! The year before, they had been in London; at the famous "Nuptial Drawing-room," held in their honour, attended by nearly three thousand persons, many of whom, despairing of getting early to their carriages, walked on the grass-plot in the palace yard, "such splendid dresses parading in the open

air as probably never had been beheld there before." They had attended theatres and operas in state, and heard the exulting cheers of a welcoming people. They had been called upon to receive and answer loyal addresses, amongst which was the memorable address of congratulation from the county of Kent, "signed by five thousand persons and measuring twenty yards." But this year all was different. The princess "was taking care of herself:" waiting for another precious life; waiting for the seal and fruition of love; waiting for her baby: all England waiting and hoping with her the busy nurse gossiping and wondering at the love and simple habits of the royal pair: and the pair themselves taking their quiet walks and drives together; visiting the farm and overlooking improvements; till the last Sabbath the princess was permitted to see rose in brightness over Claremont, and late on Monday messengers were despatched in various directions to summon the proper officers of state to be present at the birth of a royal infant.

That infant was born DEAD! Every effort was made to restore it to life, but in vain. The young wife and new-made mother humbly said, "It is God's will" when the news was broken to her; and the young husband ejaculated with a sigh, "Thank heaven, the princess is safe!" But soon a dreadful change became apparent: the nurse who had left the room in obedience to her kindly order, "Pray go and get your supper, you must be quite exhausted; Leopold will take care of me meanwhile," was recalled by Prince Leopold, saying he did not think the princess quite so well; and in another hour the blue eyes, so full of vivacity and tenderness, fixed a dying gaze on her husband's face, and the hand pledged to him at the altar lay cold and stiff within his own.

The impression made on a people prepared only for exultation may be gathered from the accounts of the time.

"We were in the most awful suspense about the dreadful news," says writing from Bristol, "till the arrival

one,

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