The Duke died less than a year after his daughter's birth, so there were no small brothers or sisters to share the Princess's childhood; but her stepsister, Princess Feodore, her mother's child, was much attached to her, and might often be seen walking or driving with her in the Gardens. The Nursery has a secondary association, for the Duke and Duchess of Teck lived for some time at Kensington Palace, and it was in this room that their daughter, the present Princess of Wales, was born. The chief objects in the room are the dolls' house and other toys, all of the plainest description, with which Princess Victoria played as a child. There was no extravagance in her bringing up. Her mother was the wisest of women, and made no attempt to force the young intellect to tasks beyond its powers, nor did she spoil the child by undue indulgence. Early rising, morning walks, simple dinner, and games, constituted the days that passed rapidly in the seclusion of Kensington. When the young Princess had turned the age of five, her lessons began under the superintendence of Fraeulein Lehzen, the governess of Princess Feodore, who was afterwards raised to the peerage as Baroness Lehzen. Though the second of the children of the Duke of Clarence had died before Victoria was three years old, and thus her chance of the throne was greatly increased, she was not made aware of her prospects until much later. The Princess Sophia, daughter of George III., lived in Church Street close by, at York House, and the Duke of Sussex, a younger son of George III., lived with his morganatic wife, called the Duchess of Inverness, in a set of apartments in the Palace. The rooms they occupied are those now tenanted by the Duke and Duchess of Argyll; thus aunts and an uncle were constantly sharing the simple pleasures of the little family circle. The singularly plain little bedroom near to the Nursery in the Palace is that which Princess Victoria occupied during all her happy childhood, and it was here that she was awakened to meet the Archbishop and Minister who brought her the news that her great inheritance had come upon her. The death of the Duke of York had already cleared the way to the throne, and as the years went by and the Duke of Clarence had no more children, it was seen that the little girl who played at Kensington must, if she lived, be Queen of England. When George IV. died, when she was eleven years old, her prospects were assured, and since that time she had been prepared for her future position. William IV.'s short reign of only seven years seated her on the throne when she had just passed her eighteenth year. The account of her being awakened in the early morning by messengers bearing a message of such tremendous import, her hasty rising, and stepping through into the Long Gallery with her hair falling over her shoulders, and only a shawl thrown around her, is well known to everyone.