Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/227

 directions, to support and console the Queen, and also as the medium of communication for a time with the Ministers, to understand and follow the political movements and events of the times, wonderfully developed the character of the young girl. To the end of her life she combined these two characteristics in a pre-eminent degree. She was one of those women who are born to seek that which was lost, to bind up that which was broken, and strengthen that which was sick; and she also took the keenest and most intelligent interest in politics, following the movements for the unity of Germany, the development of constitutional liberty in various countries, and the education and employment of women, not only with sympathy, but with practical knowledge and a constant wish to forward all these movements by personal exertions and sacrifices. She was very soon to leave her mother's home for her husband's. Her marriage with Prince Louis of Hesse took place on July 1st, 1862; but though her home was henceforth in Germany, the country of her birth remained the country of her heart: she loved England as the home of liberty and as the country which was leading the way of advancement both for men and women. It is a touching incident that, dying as she did at Darmstadt in 1878, her last request to her husband was that the Union Jack might be laid on her coffin.

Her devotion to the Queen in the hour of her desolation greatly endeared her to the English people; the memory of that sacred time of common sorrow made a special bond between the mother and daughter. It will not be forgotten that when, in 1871, the Prince of Wales had a desperate attack of the same illness (typhoid fever) that had been fatal to his father ten years earlier, the Princess Alice helped the Princess of Wales to nurse him safely through it; the anniver-