"One cannot think of this country,
without 'the Duke,' our immortal hero"--she said.
There was a glorious state and popular funeral for the grand old man, who
was laid away with many honors and many tears in the crypt of St. Paul's
Cathedral, where his brother hero, Nelson, was waiting to receive him.
When early in 1853, the news came to Windsor Castle that the French
Emperor had selected a bride, not for her wealth, or high birth, or royal
connections, but for her beauty, and grace, and because he loved her,
Victoria and Albert, as truly lovers as when they entered the old castle
gates, as bride and bridegroom, felt more than ever friendly to him, and
desirous that he should have a fair field, if no favor, to show what he
could do for France. I am afraid they half forgot the _coup d'etat_,
and the widows, orphans and exiles it had made.
In April, the Queen's fourth son, who was destined to "carry weight" in
the shape of names,--Leopold George Duncan Albert--now Duke of Albany,
was born in Buckingham Palace.
During this year "the red planet Mars" was in the ascendant. The ugly
Eastern Trouble, which finally culminated in the Crimean War, began to
loom in the horizon, and England to stir herself ominously with military
preparations.
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