" He
quotes Peel as saying he was "amazed at her manner and behavior; at her
apparent deep sense of her situation, her modesty, and at the same time
her firmness. She appeared to be awed, but not daunted."
The Duke of Wellington paid a similar tribute to her courage.
Now, if these great men did not greatly idealize her, under the double
glamour of gallantry and loyalty, Victoria was a most extraordinary young
woman. A few days before the death of the King, Greville wrote: "What
renders speculation so easy and events so uncertain is the absolute
ignorance of everybody of the character, disposition, and capacity of the
Princess. She has been kept in such jealous seclusion by her mother
(never having slept out of her bedroom, nor been alone with anybody but
herself and, the Baroness Lehzen), that not one of her acquaintance, none
of the attendants at Kensington, not even the Duchess of Northumberland,
her governess, can have any idea what she is, or what she promises to
be." The first day of Victoria's accession he writes: "She appears to act
with every sort of good taste and good feeling, as well as good sense,
and nothing can be more favorable than the impression she has made, and
nothing can promise better than her manner and conduct do.
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