Page:King Edward VII, his life & reign; the record of a noble career.djvu/20

4 the Prince Consort records in his diary their apparent attachment. After the Prince Consort's death, the British and Danish young royal personages met again at Laeken, the country residence of the King of the Belgians, during the visit mentioned above in the autumn of 1862. It was then that the Queen's formal consent was given, the betrothal taking place on September 9. Just before the Prince's twenty-first birthday, the event was announced in the London Gazette, and it was received with the greatest enthusiasm by the British nation, as a coming relief to the gloom cast over society by the death of the Prince Consort. We note here the very beautiful and appropriate design of the "engagement ring" presented by the Prince, who spent much time in arranging with the jewellers the details of the gifts which he showered on all his own relations, and most intimate friends, and on the near relatives of the bride. The ring ever since worn as a "keeper' for the wedding ring was set with six gems—beryl, emerald, ruby, turquoise, jacinth, and a second emerald, spelling in their initial letters, the Prince's family name, "Bertie". His gifts to the bride, in addition to those mentioned as worn at the wedding, comprised a diamond and pearl diadem, stomacher, and bracelet, and a charming waist-clasp, formed of two large turquoises mounted in gold and inlaid with Arabic characters. The prospective bride, in November 1862, was brought over to England by her father, and she stayed for some time with the Queen at Osborne and at Windsor. The charming Princess Mary of Cambridge, afterwards Duchess of Teck, records in her diary the delight she felt in "darling Alix ", the young lady who was so soon, and permanently, to take by storm all hearts in her adopted country. We come now to the second point, the lineage and family connections of the bride, after remarking that in the early days of 1863 the bridegroom was much occupied in receiving addresses of congratulation, supervising extensive alterations at Marlborough House, and arranging details of the various functions attending his marriage. A few days before that event he held, on the Queen's behalf, at St. James's Palace, his first Levee, at which over a thousand gentlemen were presented.