Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/132

 the usual formalities were not observed upon this occasion. "From some crotchet of Prince Albert's," he writes, "they put off sending intelligence … till so late that several of the dignitaries whose duty it was to assist at the birth, arrived after the event had occurred, particularly the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord President of the Council." The Queen probably thought that this was one of the customs more honored in the breach than in the observance, and in this the majority of her subjects would agree with her. The Queen's Diary records that on November 21, 1841, the Princess Royal's first birthday, "Albert brought in dearest little Pussy (the Princess Royal) … and placed her on my bed, seating himself next her, and she was very dear and good. And as my precious invaluable Albert sat there, and our little love between us, I felt quite moved with happiness and gratitude to God." At Christmas time in this year the Queen's entry is: "To think that we have two children now, and one who enjoys the sight" (of the Christmas-trees) "already, is like a dream." And the Prince, writing to his father on the same occasion, says: "To-day I have two children of my own to give presents to, who, they know not why, are full of happy wonder at the German Christmas-tree and its radiant candles."

It has been already noted how and why Stockmar urged the selection of the King of Prussia as one of the godfathers of the Prince of Wales, and that the King of Hanover was furious at being passed over. He did not easily forget it when he considered himself slighted, and when the Queen, very magnanimously, invited him to be godfather to Princess Alice in 1843, he vindicated his dignity by arriving too late for the christening. He further endeavored to balance the account between his niece and himself by being rude