Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1Tytler, Sarah
History
Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1
Tytler, Sarah
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
The Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Wellington, and other officers of State
were in attendance on the occasion, though the probability of her
succession to the throne was then very doubtful. The Prince Regent had
already made overtures towards procuring a divorce from the Princess of
Wales. If he were to revive them, and prove successful, he might marry
again and have heirs. The Duchess of Clarence, who had just given birth to
an infant that had only survived a few hours, might yet be the joyful
mother of living children. The little Princess herself might be the
predecessor of a troop of princes of the Kent branch. Still, both at
Kensington and in the depths of rural Coburg, there was a little flutter,
not only of gladness, but of subdued expectation. The Duke of Kent, on
showing his baby to his friends, was wont to say, "Look at her well, for
she will be Queen of England." Her christening was therefore an event of
more than ordinary importance in the household. The ceremony took place a
month afterwards, on the 24th of June, and doubtless the good German
nurse, Madame Siebold, who was about to return to the Duchess of Kent's
old home to officiate on an equally interesting occasion in the family of
the Duchess's brother, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, carried
with her flaming accounts of the splendour of the ceremonial, as well as
pretty tales of the "dear little love" destined to mate with the coming
baby, whose big blue eyes were soon looking about in the lovely little
hunting-seat of Rosenau. The gold font was brought down from the Tower,
where for some time it had been out of request. The Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Bishop of London officiated, as they had done the year
before at the re-marriage of the Duke and Duchess. The godfathers were the
Prince Regent, present in person, and Alexander, Emperor of Russia, then
at the height of his popularity in England, represented by the Duke of
York. The godmothers were the Queen-dowager of Wurtemberg (the Princess
Royal), represented by Princess Augusta, and the Duchess-dowager of Coburg
(mother of the Duchess of Kent, and grandmother of both the Queen and the
Prince Consort), represented by the Duchess of Gloucester (Princess Mary).
It is said there had been a proposal to name the little princess Georgiana
also, after her grandfather and uncle, George III. and George, Prince
Regent; but the idea was dropped because the latter would not permit his
name to stand second on the list.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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