When the blow of her husband’s death fell upon her, the effect on the Queen was overwhelming. She was stunned by it. In after years she could hardly remember those dreadful days of the first realization of her loss; the effect of her anguish was like that of a physical blow, producing insensibility, or at least the inability to record in the tables of the memory the sharp pangs she then endured. Her principal comforter and supporter was her daughter, Princess Alice. In a few days the young girl of 18 developed into a thoughtful, helpful woman. She was for a time the medium of communication between the Queen and her Ministers. Fears were entertained, especially by Leopold, King of the Belgians, that residence at Windsor would involve risk to the Queen’s health and even to her life, and he induced her Ministers to bring great pressure to bear on her to leave the castle and go to Osborne even before the funeral of the Prince Consort. At first, very naturally, the Queen entirely declined to entertain the idea; but King Leopold insisted, and it was finally through the persuasion of the Princess Alice that the Queen was induced to yield. Broken-hearted as she was, she did not forget the duty she owed to her country and family. In after years Princess Alice wrote that it was cruel and wrong to force her mother to leave Windsor at such a moment; but the motive, whether misplaced or not, was anxiety for the Queen’s health, and this was paramount over other considerations. The responsibility thrown on Princess Alice in two directions, to support and console the Queen, and also as the medium of communication for a time with the Ministers, to understand and follow the political movements and events of the times, wonderfully developed the character of the young girl. To the end of her life she combined these two characteristics in a pre-eminent degree. She was one of those women who are born to seek that which was lost, to bind up that which was broken, and strengthen that which was sick; and she also took the keenest and most intelligent interest in politics, following the movements for the unity of Germany, the development of constitutional liberty in various countries, and the education and employment of women, not only with sympathy, but with practical knowledge and a constant wish to forward all these movements by personal exertions and sacrifices. She was very soon to leave her mother’s home for her husband’s. Her marriage with Prince Louis of Hesse took place on July 1st, 1862; but though her home was henceforth in Germany, the country of her birth remained the country of her heart: she loved England as the home of liberty and as the country which was leading the way of advancement both for men and women. It is a touching incident that, dying as she did at Darmstadt in 1878, her last request to her husband was that the Union Jack might be laid on her coffin.