Fortunately for the Prince, the wish to obtain the services of Colonel Bruce was successful. On the 9th of November, 1858, writing from Windsor Castle to the King of Prussia on political affairs, which in Prussia were then in troubled condition, the Prince adds: "I ought not to tease you just now with family trifles, still I will let you know that Bertie, who to-day solemnizes his eighteenth birthday, proposes to pay a fortnight's visit to his sister, and asks leave to present himself to you. It will not be a State, but purely a family visit; and we, therefore, beg you only to show him such slender courtesies as are suitable to a member, and a very young one, of the family. To-day he becomes a Colonel in the Army, unattached, and will receive the Garter. Colonel Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, has become his Governor." The Prince speaks of family events as trifles, compared with great political affairs, but he felt deeply every change in the home life. A few weeks earlier, he had taken his son, Alfred, to his ship at Spithead, from which he went to sea at once. On the day before, the father wrote, "His departure will be another great trial to us: the second child lost to our family circle in one year." On the 10th of January, 1859, the Prince of Wales started on his Italian tour. He had previously been hard at study. He had opportunities of seeing much that was interesting in his continental journey, but the stay at Rome, which was greatly enjoyed, had to be abruptly ended. The restless ambition of the Emperor of the French had brought about war with Austria, and a French descent on Sardinia. Orders were sent to the Prince of Wales to leave Rome and repair to Gibraltar, which he reached on the 7th of May. The plan now arranged was that he was to visit the south of Spain and Lisbon, to return to England in the middle of June, and in July and August to take up his head-quarters in Edinburgh for study.