Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/108

 loyally supported him in the face of his growing unpopularity with his own party, but showered every honor upon him that a Sovereign could bestow upon a Minister. She and the Prince visited him at his house in Drayton. She became godmother to his grandchild, and would have given him the Order of the Garter, but that Peel, with the characteristic pride of humility, intimated his desire that it should not be offered him. He said that if his acceptance of the honor would increase his power of serving the Queen he would not hesitate to accept it; but he could not believe this was the case. Personally, he would prefer not to accept it; he was a man of the people, and the decoration in his case would be misapplied. "His heart was not set upon titles of honor or social distinctions. His reward lay in Her Majesty's confidence, of which by many indications she had given him the fullest assurance; and when he left her service the only distinction he coveted was that she should say to him, 'You have been a faithful servant, and have done your duty to your country and to me.'"

When Peel's Ministry came to an end in 1846, both the Queen and the Prince expressed the hope that his leaving office would not interrupt the cordial relations that had been established between them. His tragic death, from a fall from his horse, in 1850, was bitterly mourned in the Palace. The Queen wrote at the time: "Peel is to be buried to-day. The sorrow and grief at his death are most touching. Every one seems to have lost a personal friend." The Prince on the same day wrote to the same correspondent: "Sir Robert Peel is to be buried to-day. The feeling in the country is absolutely not to be described. We have lost our truest friend and trustiest counsellor, the throne its most valiant defender, the country its