INTRODUCTORY NOTE
TO CHAPTER IV
Queen Victoria, from the very first, took great pleasure in filing the correspondence addressed to her. There are many volumes of letters received from her various relations. We have thought it best to give some of Queen Adelaide’s early letters; they indicate in a remarkable manner the growing estrangement between King William IV. and the Duchess of Kent. In the earlier letters the King enquires very affectionately after the Duchess, and constant mention is made of presents sent to her; but the references made to her become less frequent and colder, till at last the King contents himself with sending messages only to the Princess. But the letters of Queen Adelaide are always written in a strain of touching devotion and affection, and reveal her as a woman of large heart and great simplicity of character.
But the most interesting series of letters are the Queen’s own correspondence with King Leopold, of which several hundred are preserved. The letters, too, received by her from the King of the Belgians are preserved in their entirety.
The letters which the Queen wrote to King Leopold are of extraordinary interest ; she kept up an unbroken correspondence with him, and spoke freely of all that was in her mind. Two points are worthy of special mention: though she was early convinced of the necessity of holding an independent constitutional position in politics she mentions the Tory party with undisguised mistrust; and further, the name of King William hardly ever occurs until his last illness.
King Leopold’s early letters reveal his character in the most amiable light. He familiarised the Queen with all the complicated details of foreign politics ; he gave her the most sensible and wise advice; he warned and encouraged her ; he answered her enquiries with the minutest care: and the warm affection to which he gave frequent expression is a very sacred and beautiful thing to contemplate.
We have selected several of the Princess Victoria’s letters to the King of the Belgians before her accession, because they throw a remarkable light upon her temperament. In the first place, they reveal the deep affectionateness of her character, and, what is still more remarkable at her age, her frankness and outspokenness in expressing her feelings.
In the second place, they show with what interest and eagerness the Princess was following the course of foreign politics. Her view was naturally a personal one, but it may be said that there can have been very few, if any, girls in England, of the Princess’s age, who
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