This year of 1878, so brilliant in Paris, brought to the British Royal family a bereavement which can only be compared for its suddenness and bitterness with the death of the Prince Consort. The Grand Duchess of Hesse (Princess Alice), after nursing her children through a malignant diphtheria, herself fell a victim to the same dread disease on the very anniversary of her father’s death. The blow fell with peculiar severity on the King and Queen Alexandra, with whom Princess Alice had been united in the bonds of the closest affection, especially since the King’s illness, in which she had proved herself so devoted a nurse. The link between the Royal brother and sister is significantly shown by the fact that Princess Alice never visited England without paying long visits at Sandringham or at Marlborough House. The King was one of the chief mourners at the funeral in Darmstadt. [Illustration: THE KING IN 1879 _From a Portrait by Angeli, published by Henry Graves and Co._] After this blow the King and Queen naturally remained for some months in the deepest retirement. A new grief was, however, in store for them--the tragic death in the following June of the young Prince Imperial, in whose career the King had always taken a warm and almost paternal interest. His Majesty was among the very first in this country to be informed of the terrible news, and he was of the greatest assistance to the stricken Empress Eugénie in making the complicated arrangements for the funeral. His active sympathy, and the announcement that the heir to the British Crown intended to be the principal pall-bearer of Napoleon III.’s ill-fated son, aroused much comment on the Continent, and gave great satisfaction to Frenchmen of all shades of political opinion. On a beautiful wreath of violets which was sent from Marlborough House for the funeral at Chislehurst were the words, written in Queen Alexandra’s own hand:-- “A token of affection and regard for him who lived the most spotless of lives and died a soldier’s death fighting for our cause in Zululand. “From ALBERT EDWARD and ALEXANDRA, July 12, 1879.”