ested {425}were very much pleased, and Prince Albert wrote to Baron Stockmar: "The young man laid his proposal before us this morning, with the permission of his parents and of the king; we accepted it for ourselves, but requested him to hold it in suspense as regards the other party until after her confirmation. In the spring the young man wishes to make his offer to herself, and possibly to come to us along with his parents and his engaged sister. The seventeenth birthday is to have elapsed before the actual marriage is thought of, and this will, therefore, not come off till the following spring.... The young man is to leave us again in a fortnight.... I have been much pleased with him. His chiefly prominent qualities are great straightforwardness, frankness, and honesty.... He speaks of himself as personally greatly attracted to Vicky. That she will have no objection to make, I regard as probable." The next day the queen wrote in her diary: "Our dear Victoria was this day engaged to Prince Frederick William of Prussia. He had already spoken to us of his wishes; but we were uncertain, on account of her extreme youth, whether he should speak to her himself or wait till he came back again. However, we felt it was better he should do so, and during our ride this afternoon up Craig-na-Ban, he picked a piece of white heather (the emblem of "good luck"), which he gave to her; and this enabled him to make an allusion to his hopes and wishes as they rode down Glen Girnoch, which led to this happy conclusion." The confirmation of the princess royal took place the following March in the private chapel of Windsor Castle. The princess was led in by her father, and followed by the queen, with the King of the Belgians. All the royal children, the various members of the family, the ministers, the great officers of state, the members of the household, and {426}many of the nobility were present. The Bishop of Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury performed the ceremony, and everything went off extremely well. The next domestic matter that occupied the attention of the royal parents was a plan for the education of Prince Alfred, who had selected the navy for his profession. In order that he might pursue his studies without interruption, it was decided that he should have an establishment of his own. The Royal Lodge at Windsor Park was therefore fitted up for him, and Lieutenant John Cowell, a young officer of Engineers, who had received a fine scientific education, was selected as tutor.