Sipido did appeal against the sentence of the Assize Court, but the Brussels Court of Cassation rejected the appeal towards the end of September. The Belgian Government ultimately obtained the extradition of the youth from the French Government, and he arrived in Brussels in charge of the police on 27th October. The death of his brother, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Duke of Edinburgh), in the summer of 1900, was a bitter grief to the King, who was present with the German Emperor at the funeral. The succession to the principality had been the subject of a family arrangement on the death of the heir, Prince Alfred, in 1899. The King himself had of course long ago renounced his rights, and the next heir, the Duke of Connaught, on behalf of himself and his son, Prince Arthur, did the same, with certain reservations. The duchy therefore passed to the young Duke of Albany, only son of the late Prince Leopold, who was then a boy in Mr. Benson’s house at Eton. On New Year’s Day 1901 the King was much gratified by the promotion of his son and heir to be Rear-Admiral, the more so as the Duke had fairly earned this advancement as judged by the ordinary standards of promotion in the Navy. The position to which His Royal Highness was raised by the death of his elder brother of course rendered it impossible for him thenceforward to be so closely associated with the sea service as, for example, his uncle, the Duke of Edinburgh, had been, and the step in rank was no doubt conferred in anticipation of the Duke’s approaching visit to Australia to inaugurate the Federal Parliament. The promotion was followed, a day or two afterwards, by the appointment of the Duke to be Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Marine Forces. Dr. Creighton, Bishop of London, died on 14th January, and the King, who was so soon to need the deepest sympathy himself, wrote a long and touching letter of sympathy to the bereaved widow. [Illustration: SANDRINGHAM FROM THE GROUNDS _Photograph by Ralph, Dersingham_] CHAPTER XIX THE KING AS A COUNTRY SQUIRE Sandringham is so closely associated in the public mind with King Edward and Queen Alexandra, whose country home it was for so many years, and is still to be from time to time, that no apology is needed for devoting to it a special chapter. When King Edward was about to set up a separate establishment, Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort instructed some of their most trusted friends to look out for a suitable country estate for the Heir-Apparent. At one moment it was proposed to buy Newstead Abbey, but its Byronic associations caused it to be purchased as soon as it came into the market. Eynsham, in Oxfordshire, an estate belonging to Lord Macclesfield, also came under consideration, as well as Elveden, in Suffolk, and Hatherop, in Gloucestershire. Lord Palmerston seems to have suggested Sandringham, which at that time belonged to his stepson, Mr. Spencer Cowper, and accordingly the Norfolk estate was bought for £220,000.