It would be said that he was not a very suitable match for a daughter of the Queen of England, for he was without hope of inheritance, being the younger brother of Duke Frederick, who had been one of the contestants in the struggle for Schleswig-Holstein; and his family had lost their estates when the Prussians were victorious.
However, they were touchingly in love and when Albert had married me he had very little. The Press had stressed that, Heaven knew, causing such anguish to my dear one. I should not stand in the way of love. If Lenchen and Christian could be happy together, then together they should be.
Nothing could be done about it immediately, of course; but when we left Germany, Lenchen was betrothed.
I could not leave the Continent without seeing Uncle Leopold. Poor Uncle Leopold! What a travesty of that handsome man I had known when a child. It was many years now since he had seemed to me the most wonderful being in the world; but I should never forget that he had been as a father to me. I had listened to him intently; I had believed that every word he uttered was divine wisdom. I should always love him. He was old and bent now. Worn out with physical pain and mental anguish, he said. He had lost so many loved ones. Charlotte, Louise, and now Albert. We were able to talk of our grief and mingle our tears when we recalled Albert.
Uncle Leopold reminded me that when he had lost Charlotte he had devoted all his care and attention to me. He had planned for us, schemed for us, dreamed for us; and it was the greatest joy of his life when we were married.
He told me of his ailments in detail. He had always loved to talk of them and I did wonder how one who had suffered from so many could have lived for so long. Sometimes the thought came to me that he had enjoyed his ill health—as Stockmar had done. I believed that their ailments had, at the beginning, been the bond between them.
But he could not even now prevent himself from meddling. He talked a great deal about Bertie. I think he would have liked to advise Bertie, but Bertie was not the sort to listen to advice.
“I hear that he is very popular,” said Uncle Leopold. “The people like Alexandra, too.”
“Oh yes, she is good-looking and they like that… and there was all that hysteria about little Denmark.”
“It was unfortunate for Christian that as soon as he came to the throne it should have happened. We shall have the Prussians sweeping across Europe. All the little kingdoms will go. That is what Bismarck is after.”
“He is an odious man. Vicky abhors him. I am afraid her lot is not an easy one. It should have been so different. Albert always wanted her to be Queen of Prussia. He would have been able to advise her and Fritz how to deal with that upstart Bismarck.”
“He certainly is making his mark on Europe,” said Uncle Leopold. “Each day I wonder what he will do next.”
“He has accused Vicky of being pro-English,” I said indignantly. “Did you ever hear such impertinence! Of course she remembers the country of her birth.”
“Men like that are a menace to the world. I wanted to talk to you about matters nearer at home for you. The English are a very personal people. To continue to love people, they must see them.”
I sighed. It was the old complaint.
“Dear Uncle, I believe you do not understand my feelings.”
“I do. I do. I loved him myself. I have felt the deepest grief.”
“It is not the same,” I said sharply. “He was my husband. We were hardly separated for twenty years… day and night…”
“I know, I know. But you are the Queen. Unless you want to hand over the crown to Bertie, you must show that you have some regard for your position.”
“Regard for my position! Do you think I ever forget?”
“I don't think so. But the people might. Bertie and Alexandra are constantly before the public in every imaginable way. The people must not forget that the Queen wears the crown.”
“I rode through the streets in my open carriage. You should have seen the people. I was greeted with far more enthusiasm than Bertie ever had.”
“I know it, and it bears out what I have said. You must try to emerge… gradually if you wish. But it is never wise to go against the wishes of the people.”
I looked at him fondly. Dear interfering Uncle Leopold; he was so pathetic with his built-up shoes to give him height, the color in his cheeks, faintly but appreciably artificial, and that wig of luxuriant curls, which was too young for his wrinkled face.
I kissed him tenderly.
I did not know then that would be the last time I was to see him.
THAT OCTOBER I suffered a shock. Lord Palmerston died. I had never liked him and I had always had the impression that he was laughing at me. Lord Melbourne had been a little like that, but he had smiled tenderly, whereas Lord Palmerston had been amused in a ridiculing sort of way.
By a strange coincidence Lord Palmerston died at Brocket Hall, the same house in which Lord Melbourne had died. Of course Palmerston had married Lord Melbourne's sister and the house became hers, so that was understandable—but I still thought it odd.
When people die one remembers the good things about them. There could not have been two men less alike than Albert and Lord Palmerston; and that speaks for itself. Palmerston had few of Albert's good qualities. He had been a rake and a dandy; but he had also been a good politician. Someone said of him that he had the great gift of judging the mood of the House and adjusting his utterances to it, which was one of the reasons why he had almost invariably carried opinion with him; he had been honest in politics and would not diverge from what he believed to be good for the country; he had the two most important assets for a politician: Courage and Confidence.
He was, therefore, a loss to the nation. I hated death; I hated a change of scene. Little things could change here and there almost unnoticed— and then suddenly the entire picture was different.
I thought of all the tussles we had had and I smiled at them now. He had been so outspoken and he had shown clearly that while he respected the crown, he saw those who wore it as frail human beings—which common sense told me was true. So when I heard of his death I was sad and I remembered not the irritation he had given me but his masterly conduct of the country in times of crisis.
We should miss Lord Palmerston.
It was only two months later when I was shattered by news of another death. This touched me more closely. It was hard to imagine a world that did not contain Uncle Leopold.
I had to shut myself away. I had to be alone to think back on all those happy times of my childhood. The visits to Claremont; the joy of seeing him. I remembered sitting on his knee and looking up into his beautiful face, for when he was young he was extremely handsome. I remembered how he had taught me to be good and prepare myself for a great destiny. It was he who had found Albert for me and brought us together.
He had been part of my life and now he was gone.
There had been little differences. After all I had my storms even with Albert. But how much he had meant to me when I was a child…and after.
He had expressed a wish to be buried at Windsor. I knew how close he felt to this country and that it had been his great ambition to rule it… with Charlotte; and although that had been denied him, his love for England had not changed.
I set about planning the ceremonial funeral that we would give him at Windsor; but when I was in the midst of my plans, I heard that the Belgian government refused to send his body to England. He was the King of the Belgians, they said; and therefore he must be buried in Belgium.