Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901 -- Fiction
As the many grandchildren began to circle around Queen Victoria, she
had a warm corner in her heart for everyone. She always wore a bracelet
with a place for a miniature, and here the picture of the "new baby"
was put, to remain until there was a newer baby whose little portrait
should take its place. The numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren
were taught to greet her with the utmost respect, and little boys who
could hardly walk would make a bow to her or kiss her hand as gravely
as any grown-up courtiers. There the ceremony ended, and the good times
began.
Of all the groups of children there were some to whom she was
especially devoted. The daughters of the Princess Alice, as she was
always called in England, she cared for almost as if they were her own.
They made her long and frequent visits, and, little as the Queen cared
for handsome clothes, she saw to it that when these orphan
granddaughters were to be married, they should have all sorts of fine
apparel and many beautiful jewels.
The children of whom she saw most during the last years of her life
were those of Princess Beatrice. Two of them were born at Balmoral,
first, a little Victoria Eugenie, the first child of the royal family
born in Scotland for three hundred years. The tenants felt that this
child was really their own, and they put their shillings together and
bought her a very handsome cradle. They were all invited to come to the
castle and see the baby, and a carriage was sent for any who were too
feeble to walk. When the second child, a boy, was born, Craig Gowan
again blazed with a bonfire. The pipers played, and all the people on
the estate lighted their torches and marched up to the top of the hill
for a dance.
It is to be hoped that the Princess Beatrice did not have as much
difficulty in managing her own children as she did when she was six
years old in commanding the obedience of Prince Frederick William of
Germany and his sister. She is said to have gone to Dr. McLeod,
declaring indignantly, "Just think, my nephew William and my niece
Elizabeth will not do as I bid them and shut the door, and I am their
aunt! Aren't they naughty?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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