Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/466

 The queen regarded the proposal with unconcealed favour, but her ministers declared its acceptance to be impracticable and to be contrary to the country's treaty obligations with the powers. Unhappily for the queen's peace of mind, the ministers' rejection of the invitation to her second son, in which she soon acquiesced, did not relieve her of further debate on the subject. A substitute for Alfred as a candidate for the Greek throne was suggested in the person of her brother-in-law, Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg. He at at once came to England to take the queen's advice, and his conduct greatly harassed her. His attitude to the question threatened a breach between them. The duke had no children, and his throne of Saxe-Coburg would naturally devolve, should he die childless, on his only brother's eldest son, the prince of Wales ; but it had already been agreed that, in view of the prince of Wales s heirship to the English throne, he should transfer to his next brother Alfred his claim to the German duchy. Duke Ernest was quite willing to ascend the Greek throne, but made it a condition that he should not immediately on his accession sever his connection with Coburg. This condition was treated as impossible of acceptance, alike by English ministers and by Greek leaders. For the duke to abandon Coburg meant its immediate assignment to Prince Alfred. Of this result the queen, who was deeply attached to the principality and was always solicitous of the future fortunes of her younger children, by no means disapproved. But it was congenial neither to Duke Ernest nor to their uncle Leopold, and the duke thought his sister-in-law's action ambiguous and insufficiently considerate towards his own interests. She endeavoured to soothe him, while resenting his pertinacious criticism, and on 29 Jan. 1863 she wrote to him : 'What I can do to remove difficulties, without prejudicing the rights of our children and the welfare of the beloved little country, you may rely upon. You are sure of my sisterly love, as well as my immense love for Coburg and the whole country. ... I am not at all well, and this whole Greek matter has affected me fearfully. Much too much rests upon me, poor woman, standing alone as I do with so many children, and every day, every hour, I feel more and more the horrible void that is ever growing greater and more fearful' (, iv. 99-100). Finally the duke's candidature for the Greek throne was withdrawn, and the crown was placed by England, in concert with the powers, on the head of George, brother of the Princess Alexandra, who was the affianced bride of the prince of Wales. The settlement freed the queen from the worry of family bickerings.

Through all the ranks of the nation the marriage of the queen's eldest son, the heir to the throne, evoked abundant enthusiasm. There was an anticipation that the queen would make it the occasion of ending the period of gloomy seclusion in which she had chosen to encircle the court. At her request parliament readily granted an annuity of 40,000 l. for the prince, which, added to the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall, brought his income to over 100,000l. a year, while his bride was awarded an immediate annuity of 10,000l. and a prospective one of 30,000l. in case of widowhood. In accordance with the marriage treaty, which was signed at Copenhagen on lo Jan. 1863, the marriage took place on 5 March 1863 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The queen played no part in the ceremony, but witnessed it from a gallery overlooking the chancel. The sadness of her situation impressed so unsentimental a spectator as Lord Palmerston, who shed tears as he gazed on her. After the prince's marriage the court resumed some of its old routine ; state balls and concerts were revived to a small extent, but the queen disappointed expectation by refusing to attend court entertainments herself. She entrusted her place in them to her eldest son and his bride, and to others of her children.

But while ignoring the pleasures of the court, she did not relax her devotion to the business of state. Her main energy was applied to foreign politics. While anxious that the prestige of England should be maintained abroad, she was desirous to keep the peace, and to impress other sovereigns with her pacific example. Her dislike of war in Europe now mainly sprang from family considerations from her concern for the interests of her married daughters at Berlin and Darmstadt, and in a smaller degree for those of her brother-in-law at Coburg. The fortunes of all, and especially those of the crown princess of Prussia, seemed to her to be involved in every menace of the tranquillity of Europe. Into the precise merits of the difficulties which arose among the nations she did not enter with quite the same fulness as her husband. But the safety of existing dynasties was a principle that had appealed to him, and by that she stood firm. Consequently the points of view from which she and her ministers, Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, approached the foreign questions that en-