Sometimes the delightful routine of domestic existence had to be interrupted. It was necessary to {126} exchange Windsor for Buckingham Palace, to open Parliament, or to interview official personages, or, occasionally, to entertain foreign visitors at the Castle. Then the quiet Court put on a sudden magnificence, and sovereigns from over the seas--Louis Philippe, or the King of Prussia, or the King of Saxony--found at Windsor an entertainment that was indeed a royal one. Few spectacles in Europe, it was agreed, produced an effect so imposing as the great Waterloo banqueting hall, crowded with guests in sparkling diamonds and blazing uniforms, the long walls hung with the stately portraits of heroes, and the tables loaded with the gorgeous gold plate of the Kings of England.[50] But, in that wealth of splendour, the most imposing spectacle of all was the Queen. The little _Hausfrau_, who had spent the day before walking out with her children, inspecting her livestock, practising shakes at the piano, and filling up her journal with adoring descriptions of her husband, suddenly shone forth, without art, without effort, by a spontaneous and natural transition, the very culmination of Majesty. The Tsar of Russia himself was deeply impressed. Victoria on her side viewed with secret awe the tremendous Nicholas. 'A great event and a great compliment _his_ visit certainly is,' she told her uncle, 'and the people _here_ are extremely flattered at it. He is certainly a _very striking_ man; still very handsome. His profile is _beautiful_, and his manners _most_ dignified and graceful; extremely civil--quite alarmingly so, as he is so full of attentions and _politeness_. But the expression of the _eyes_ is _formidable_, and unlike anything I ever saw before.'[51] She and Albert and 'the good King of Saxony,' who happened {127} to be there at the same time, and whom, she said, 'we like much--he is _so_ unassuming'--drew together like tame villatic fowl in the presence of that awful eagle. When he was gone, they compared notes about his face, his unhappiness, and his despotic power over millions. Well! She for her part could not help pitying him, and she thanked God she was Queen of England.[52]