Part 1

ALICE

GRAND DUCHESS OF HESSE

PRINCESS

OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH AND LETTERS

_WITH PORTRAIT_

NEW YORK & LONDON

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

The Knickerbocker Press

1885

_Press of G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York_

Dedicated

TO

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

THE HEREDITARY GRAND DUKE

AND TO

THEIR GRAND DUCAL HIGHNESSES

THE PRINCESSES

VICTORIA, ELIZABETH, IRÈNE, ALIX

OF HESSE AND BY RHINE

Though twenty-two years only have passed since the wholly unexpected death of Prince Albert deprived the Queen of her devoted husband, the Royal children of a most loving and beloved father, and the whole nation of one of its wisest counsellors, his life, in the admirable biographical memorial by Sir Theodore Martin, forms already part of history, and by it we are enabled to form a just estimate of the perfect character and great intellectual abilities of the Prince, whom his daughter, Princess Alice, revered through life as her highest ideal.

Prince Albert, the second son of the then reigning Duke of Coburg, was the very picture of manly chivalrous beauty. He was very young, not yet twenty-one years old, when he became the Consort of the Queen of England, who was only three months older. But by his strength of character and rare energy of intellect, combined with a thorough self-control and an unswerving devotion to the duties of his position, he succeeded in gaining the love and esteem of a nation which, though it keeps watch over its rights and privileges with peculiar jealousy, knows also how to show great generosity, when once it has learnt to trust and to love.

With his wonderful power of mastering new and difficult subjects he made himself familiar with the history and policy, the social and agricultural conditions, the industries and commercial relations of his adopted country. In his position of intimate confidential adviser to the Sovereign he showed the greatest tact, and gained the affection and respect of the Ministers who succeeded one another at the head of affairs; whilst the more he became known the more his genuine worth was appreciated by the nation at large.

Chief of all, two nations have acknowledged with grateful admiration, that under his influence there grew up in the midst of the most brilliant Court in Europe a domestic family life, so perfect in its purity and charm that it might well serve for a bright example to every home in the land. Whilst sharing with the Sovereign all the labors and cares of state, the Prince made suitable changes and practical arrangements in the Royal Household, and, by steadily adhering to principles which he had at once recognized as the best, he succeeded in making life happy and peaceful to all around him. Thus it was that the Royal Family of England, whether residing in the splendid palaces at Windsor, in London, or at Osborne, the lovely country seat in the Isle of Wight, or at Balmoral, surrounded by the sterner scenery of the Scotch Highlands, was enabled to enjoy a life of perfect tranquillity amidst the political tempests of the most turbulent decade of our times.

The childhood of the Princess Alice was a very happy one, and much favored by circumstances. When she was a year old, her father mentioned her as “the beauty of the family,” and as an extremely good and merry child. Her mother adds, “she was a very vain little person.”

She developed naturally. At first she was not thought to be so highly gifted as later years proved her to be. Her father often used to speak of her as “poor dear little Alice,” as if he had to take her part. She soon became a great favorite with all around her. Lady Lyttleton, who up to 1851 was entrusted with the supervision of the Royal children, and to whose pen we owe so many accounts of that happy family life, writes as follows on the little Princess’ fourth birthday:

“Dear Princess Alice is too pretty, in her low frock and pearl necklace, tripping about and blushing and smiling at her honors. The whole family, indeed, appear to advantage on birthdays; no tradesman or country squire can keep one with such hearty simple affection and enjoyment. _One_ present I think we shall all wish to live farther off: a live lamb, all over pink ribbons and bells. He is already the greatest pet, as one may suppose.

“Princess Alice’s pet lamb is the cause of many tears. He will not take to his mistress, but runs away lustily, and will soon butt at her, though she is most coaxy, and said to him in her sweetest tones, after kissing his nose often, ‘Milly, _dear_ Milly! _do_ you like me?’”

One of the main principles observed in the education of the Royal children was this--that though they received the best training, of body and mind, to fit them for the high position they would eventually have to fill, they should in nowise come in contact with the actual Court life. The children were scarcely known to the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, as they only now and then made their appearance for a moment after dinner at dessert, or accompanied their parents out driving. The care of them was exclusively entrusted to persons who possessed the Queen and Prince Consort’s entire confidence, and with whom they could at all times communicate direct. The Royal parents kept themselves thoroughly informed of the minutest detail of what was being done for their children in the way of training and instruction.

After the first years of childhood were past, the Royal children were placed under the care of English, French, and German governesses, who, again, were under a Lady Superintendent, and accompanied the children in their walks and watched over them during their games.

To the lessons in foreign languages, music and drawing were soon added, for which the young Princess showed a decided talent.[2] “Her copybooks were always neatness itself, and she wrote a very pretty hand.” “Fresh, blooming, and healthy, escaping most of the illnesses of childhood, cheerful, merry, full of fun and mischief,” she delighted in all bodily exercises, such as gymnastics, skating, etc. Above all, she was passionately fond of riding and of horses. She preferred playing with her brothers, and was bold and fearless as a boy. With all this, however, she soon showed proofs of real kindness of heart and of tender consideration for others. “I remember well,” a former dresser of the Queen’s relates, “meeting the Royal children playing in the corridor, and, as I passed on, the Prince of Wales making a joke about my great height, the Princess said to her brothers, but so that I should hear it: ‘It is very nice to be tall; Papa would like us all to be tall.’” “Her kindness of heart showed itself in all her actions when a child. Whenever she in the least suspected that anybody’s feelings had been hurt, she always tried to make things smooth again.” “At Christmastime she was most anxious to give pleasure to everybody, and bought presents for each with her own pocket-money. She once gave me a little pincushion, and on another occasion a basket, and wrote on a little card with a colored border (always in German for me) ‘For dear Frida [now Madame Müller], from Alice’ and brought it to me herself on Christmas Eve. I felt that she had thought how much I must have missed my home that day.”

The, first journeys on which she, with her elder sister and brother, was allowed to accompany her parents are vividly described in the Queen’s Journal. They were those to Ireland, in 1849, and, in 1850, to the Highlands; and to the beauty and grandeur of Highland scenery she remained through life an enthusiastic devotee.

Her intellectual faculties and the deeper qualities of her character did not, in her case, as, indeed, generally happens with high-spirited, healthy children, develop very early; but almost from the first she showed those qualities of disposition which win all hearts and lend a charm to daily life.

Little theatrical pieces performed by the Royal children on festive anniversaries in the family--partly, too, with a view of gaining facility in foreign languages--were the field in which the young Princess decidedly distinguished herself. No child ever performed the part of the High Priest Joad in Racine’s “Athalie,” with more dignity, and with a more pleasing intonation; and a more delightful German Red Ridinghood[3] than the Princess never appeared upon the stage.

Of one of these performances, given in honor of the Queen and Prince’s wedding-day in 1864, Baroness Bunsen gives the following description in her biography of Baron Bunsen. A tableau representing the Four Seasons had been studied and contrived by the Royal children. “First appeared Princess Alice as the Spring, scattering flowers, and reciting verses, which were taken from Thomson’s ‘Seasons’; she moved gracefully, and spoke in a distinct and pleasing manner with excellent modulation, and a tone of voice sweet and penetrating like that of the Queen.”[4]

It was during these years that Princess Alice formed her warm friendship for the Princess Louise of Prussia, now Grand Duchess of Baden, who records her first impressions of the young Princess in the following words:

“She was at that time most graceful in appearance--charming, merry, and amiable; and though always occupying a subordinate place to her very gifted and distinguished sister, there never was the least semblance of a disagreement. Alice’s cheerful disposition and her great power of observation showed themselves very early in the pleasantest manner, and she had a remarkable gift of making herself attractive to others. Her individuality was less decided and prominent than that of her sister, and she had a special charm of childhood grace. Our walks and drives together, the life in the schoolroom, the games in the corridors, or in dear old Baron Stockmar’s room--these and all the pleasure and enjoyment of being together with the two sisters will ever remain amongst the happiest and most lasting of my recollections.”

The opening of the First Great Exhibition in 1851--Prince Albert’s own creation--was the occasion of a visit of the Prince of Prussia (the present Emperor of Germany) and his family to the English Court. This visit was repeated in 1853. Meanwhile an active correspondence had sprung up between the young friends, in which Princess Alice took a most active part.

“Alice was now drawn more into the circle of the grown-up members of the family; but, in spite of this, she retained all the fascination of her charming graceful ways. A great vein of humor showed itself in her, as well as a certain sharpness in criticising people who were not congenial to her. Many a little conflict took place in the schoolroom; but while the individualities of the sisters became more and more distinct, their happy relations to one another remained unchanged. She was a great favorite with her brothers and sisters, though they knew she was fond of mischief.

“To a naturally engaging manner quite exceptional joyousness and power of showing affectionate emotion imparted an especial charm, which revealed itself in the fine lines of her face, in her graceful movements, and a certain inborn nobleness and dignity. Her attachment to my parents, ‘Uncle Prussia’ and ‘Aunt Prussia,’ was truly touching.”

In 1855 Princess Alice had her first serious illness--scarlet fever--caught from her younger sister, Princess Louise. She recovered easily, but for some time afterward a certain delicacy was observable. The accounts at that time are unanimous in describing the peculiarly sweet development of her disposition, and the manifestation of a true womanly interest in the works of charity and mercy. The feeling of acting independently for the good of others had been aroused in many ways in the Royal children. The Swiss Cottage at Osborne, in like manner, with its museum, kitchen, store-room, and little gardens, was made the means of learning how to do household work, and to direct the management of a small establishment.

The parents were invited there as guests, to partake of the dishes which the Princesses themselves prepared; and there, too, each child was allowed to choose its own occupation, and to enjoy perfect liberty.

The life in the Highlands, free from the restraint of Court life, brought the Royal children into closer contact with the humbler classes, and called into play their sympathies for the poor.

They were permitted to visit the humblest cottages--nay, even encouraged to do so. There it was, no doubt, that a feeling of pity for and an ardent desire to help the poor, the sick, and the needy, were first aroused in the Princess. We know how these early impressions led in later life to her founding some of the noblest and most beneficent institutions.

The blessings of a happy family life,--which generally those only are allowed to enjoy who live in happy obscurity from the great world,--were fully appreciated by the Princess, as we may see from her later letters, abounding in gratitude to her parents and brothers and sisters, and from the frequent references which she makes to this period of her life.

The visits of the grandchildren to their beloved grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, old in years but young in spirit, at her residences at Frogmore (near Windsor), and Abergeldie (near Balmoral), had a peculiar charm for them.

The first excursion the Princess made out of her native land was to Cherbourg,[5] when, with her brothers and sisters, she accompanied her parents. The lovely scenery about Cherbourg has become familiar to us through the descriptions given by the Queen.

A great change in the life of the Princess took place through the engagement of the Princess Royal to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. Hitherto the Princess had in a great measure shared her sister’s studies and artistic occupations, and had had the same companions, taking quietly and naturally the second place. Now her sister’s departure for a new home wrought an entire change in her life, throwing upon her, as it did, new responsibilities as now the eldest daughter at home, and placing her in a new position in relation to her parents, and particularly to her father, whose constant care it was to imbue her with that sincerity and earnestness of purpose without which, to use his friend Baron Stockmar’s words, “it was impossible to fill one’s position in life happily, worthily, and with dignity.”

The closer intercourse with her father laid the foundation of that deep and intelligent love of plastic art and of music, for which she had already as a child shown a decided talent. Her appreciation of all that was best in the arts was fostered by the many treasures by which she was surrounded at Windsor Castle, and also by prosecuting her studies and practice in music along with the Prince Consort.

The many great and stirring events of those years, the disturbance of Europe through the Revolutions of 1848 and 1849, and the Crimean war, took place when the Princess was already old enough to feel their gravity; and served to awaken and foster the keen interest which she took in later years in all political occurrences.

Another great European conflict was approaching, just about the time of her Confirmation, which took place on the 21st of April, 1869. Besides having been prepared for it by the Dean of Windsor (the Hon. and Very Rev. G. Wellesley), the Prince Consort himself had given the Princess instructions, as he had previously done to the Princess Royal, from “A manual of Religion and of the History of the Christian Church,” by Carl Gottlieb Bretschneider (formerly, “General Superintendent” in Gotha). The Prince’s object in this was to encourage her in serious thought, and in independent reflections on religious questions.

The ceremony of the Confirmation, which was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, had barely been concluded, when the news arrived of the threatened invasion of Sardinia by Austria, which finally ended in the Austro-Italian war, so disastrous to Austria, of 1859.

The Queen makes the following remarks on this event, in a letter to her uncle, the King of the Belgians: