It was fitting that she should die in a place so intimately connected with her domestic life, and where she had been more free from ceremonial than elsewhere. She died at Osborne on January 22, 1901, at half-past six in the evening. For some little time previously it had been noticed that she showed a tendency to sleepiness in the daytime, that she suffered from aphasia, and that her faculties were not as they had been; but, by the etiquette that hedges royalty, these things were kept as far as possible secret, and her death came as a shock to her people; so long had she reigned it seemed impossible to think of England without Victoria. The dining-room was made into a chapel by the removal of the furniture and draping of the walls with crimson. The coffin was set on a dais surrounded by tall silver candlesticks. Upon it was a pall of white satin and lace, and upon the pall a small crown and one of the Queen's robes of crimson velvet and ermine. Indian and Scottish attendants watched at first, and were afterwards replaced by the 1st Grenadier Guards. Victoria herself had chosen the manner of her funeral; she was to be buried with military honours as a soldier's daughter. On February 1 the coffin was borne forth to Cowes, there to be placed on the Royal yacht _Alberta_. Thus was her body borne to the mainland along an avenue miles in length composed of warships, British on the one side and on the other those of Germany, France, Portugal, and Japan. The minute-guns boomed and bells tolled, and the scene was one of the grandest and most impressive ever enacted on English shores. Whippingham Church, built by the Queen not far from Osborne, is more like the model for a child's brick palace than anything else. Here is buried Prince Henry of Battenberg, once Governor of the island. The church is enriched inside with many memorial gifts from the Royal Family. At Queen Victoria's death Osborne Cottage was left to Princess Henry of Battenberg, who succeeded her husband in his office. But Osborne House itself was turned into a home for invalids and convalescent officers, of which there were a great number just after the South African War. Part of the house is still kept as a show place, and many of the pictures, though more interesting than beautiful, are worth seeing, while the collection of Indian and other objects makes a veritable museum of many of the rooms. In the grounds, in queer conjunction, is the famous Royal Naval College, which is for first joined cadets, the younger boys, who pass on afterwards to Dartmouth. It is said that Osborne gives the finest education in the world, and no doubt the two eldest sons of King George, who have been educated there, will have a special love for the island for the rest of their lives, on account of their early association with it. [Illustration: BONCHURCH OLD CHURCH, NEAR VENTNOR. _Page 57._ This is one of the smallest churches in England and belongs to Norman times.] CHAPTER IV