" The Queen was right, as she generally
was in her estimate of character. This son-in-law, of whom she has always
been especially fond, is a Prince of amiable and noble disposition, good
ability and remarkable cultivation; not exactly a second Prince Albert--
_he_ was a century plant.
At this Christmas time the Queen's two eldest sons were at home and full
of strange stories of strange lands. Soon after, the Prince of Wales went
to Cambridge and Prince Alfred joined his ship. Before that cruise was
over a deeper, darker sea rolled between the sailor lad and his father.
On February 9, 1861, Prince Albert wrote Baron Stockmar: "To-morrow our
marriage will be twenty-one years old. How many storms have swept over
it, and still it continues green and fresh." The anniversary occurring on
Sunday was very quietly observed, chiefly by the performance in the
evening of some fine sacred music, the appropriateness of which was
scarcely realized at the time. In a very sweet letter to the Duchess of
Kent, such a letter as few married men write to their mothers-in-law, the
Prince says: ... "To-day our marriage comes of age, according to law. We
have faithfully kept our pledge for better and for worse,' and have only
to thank God that He has vouchsafed so much happiness to us.
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