Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/573

 in her mother she had a firm sympathiser. The queen contemplated active intervention at Berlin on her daughter's behalf, and was only dissuaded by (Sir) Robert Morier [q. v.]. From September to December following the crown prince and his wife made a prolonged visit to the English court, and on their return to Berlin held aloof for a season from political discussion (, Neue Tischgespräche und Interviews, ii. 33).

The reopening of the Schleswig-Holstein question by the death of King Frederick VIII of Denmark (15 Nov. 1863) widened the breach with Bismarck. The crown princess and her husband warmly espoused the claims to the duchies of Duke Frederick of Augustenburg. The controversy divided the English royal family. The rival claim of Denmark had strong adherents there. While staying at Osborne the princess engaged in warm discussion with her sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, the king of Denmark's daughter (, Aus meinem Leben, v. 282). Bismarck's cynical resolve to annex the duchies to Germany thoroughly roused the anger of the crown princess. Bismarck complained that she was involving herself, with her husband, her uncle (the duke of Coburg), and her mother, in a conspiracy against Prussian interests. When she and the minister met, bitter words passed, and she ironically asked Bismarck whether his ambition was to become king or president of a republic (, Bismarck : Anhang, i. 150).

The Austro-Prussian conflict of 1866 was abhorrent to the princess, and it accentuated the strife between her and the minister. On the outbreak of war (18 June) the crown prince took command of the second division of the Silesian army operating in Bohemia. Dislike of the conflict and its causes did not affect the princess's anxiety to relieve its suffering, and she now showed conspicuously for the first time that philanthropic energy and organising capacity which chiefly rendered her career memorable. She organised hospitals and raised money for the care of the wounded. It was mainly due to her efforts that the national fund for disabled soldiers (Nationalinvalidenstiftung) was inaugurated at the close of the war. The Prussian victory involved, to the princess's sorrow, the deposition of Austria's allies among the princely famllies of Germany. With George V, the dispossessed king of Hanover, the princess avowed very lively sympathy.

The crown prince's exclusion from business of state continued, to his wife's unconcealed irritation. Bismarck declared that her devotion to English as opposed to Prussian interests rendered the situation inevitable. On occasion, however, the crown prince was suffered to represent his father on visits to foreign sovereigns. Delicate health and the cares of a growing family did not always allow the crown princess to accompany him. But in May 1867 she went with him to Paris for the opening of the International Exhibition, and there she made the acquaintance of Renan. Subsequently in April 1873 she was the guest of the Emperor Francis Joseph at Schonbrunn on the occasion of the International Exhibition at Vienna. In Jan. 1874 she attended at St. Petersburg the wedding of her brother Alfred, duke of Edinburgh, with the grand duchess Maria Alexandrovna. But foreign travel in less formal conditions was more congenial to her, and she lost no opportunity of journeying incognito through the chief coimtries of Europe.

The Franco-German war of 1870-1 plunged the crown princess in fresh controversy. The impression generally prevailed in Germany that England was on the side of France. She sought to convince Bismarck of the genuineness of England's professions of neutrality, but only provoked an incredulous smile. 'The English,' she wrote to Queen Victoria on 9 Aug. 1870, 'are more hated at this moment than the French. Of course cela a rejailli on my poor innocent head. I have fought many a battle about Lord Granville, indignant at hearing my old friend so attacked, but all parties make him out French' (, Life of Lord Granville, ii. 38). At the same time the crown princess bestirred herself in the interest of the German armies in the field. She appealed for funds on behalf of the soldiers' families (19 July 1870). In September she joined her sister. Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, at Homburg, and was indefatigable in organising hospitals for the wounded, in recruiting volunteer corps of lady nurses, and in distributing comforts to the troops on the way to the front. Yet compassionate kindness to French prisoners exposed her to suspicion. The threatened bombardment of Paris after the investment horrified her, and she appealed to her father-in-law to forbid it. The step was ineffectual, and excited the bitter sarcasm of Bismarck. Undeterred by failure, she started a scheme to collect supplies in