CHAPTER I.

ANCESTRY.

Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, the Protector of Luther--Staunch Protestantism of the Queen's Saxon Forefathers--House of Saxe-Coburg--A Saxon Desperado of the Middle Ages--A Fighting Hero of the Eighteenth Century--The Queen's Grandmother a Woman of Extraordinary Excellence-- Great Alliances in the Marriages of her Uncles and Aunts 1