Difficulties of the Early Married Life of Prince Albert--His Unpopularity in Certain Quarters--Attempt to Suppress Duelling in the Army--Position of the Prince in the Royal Household--Want of Supervision in the Management of the Palace--Introduction of Reforms, on the Initiative of Prince Albert--Duties Assumed by the Prince--Domestic Life--Post Office Reform--Defective State of the Service Previous to 1840--Rowland Hill and the Penny Post--Opposition to the New Scheme--Introduction of the Lower Rate of Postage--General Features and Effects of the Change--Measure for the Protection of Children Employed in Chimney-sweeping--Attempt of Edward Oxford to Shoot the Queen--Appointment of Prince Albert as Regent under certain Eventualities--Life and Studies at Windsor--Birth of the Princess Royal--Devotion of the Prince to her Majesty--Christmas at Windsor (1840)--Christening of the Princess--Accident to Prince Albert--The Eastern Question: Turkey and Egypt--Removal of the Body of Napoleon I. from St. Helena to Paris--Rise and Development of the Agitation for Free Trade. Having stayed three days at Windsor Castle, her Majesty and the Prince returned to Buckingham Palace. On the 28th of February the Duke of Coburg left for Germany, and his son had now to enter on the ordinary routine of life, such as life is in that exalted station. The position of the Prince was no doubt extremely difficult, and at first it appeared almost unbearably irksome. Nothing could surpass the mutual love and confidence of the newly-wedded pair, and, as regarded the great mass of the English people, the bridegroom was popular. But he was scanned with jealous dislike by a large section of the aristocracy; he had not the particular kind of disposition best fitted for overcoming that dislike; and some of the incidents which preceded his arrival in England were certainly of a nature to vex and discourage. On the whole, he bore his probation well; yet we now know that, in private, he used expressions of annoyance which showed how deeply he had been wounded. His letter to the Queen, complaining of the appointment of Mr. Anson as his Private Secretary, was rather querulous in tone, however just in argument. In another letter to her Majesty, written from Brussels on the 1st of February, 1840, he spoke of the vote on Colonel Sibthorp’s amendment with respect to the annuity as “most unseemly”--which it clearly was not; and in May of the same year he wrote to his friend Prince Löwenstein that he was “only the husband, and not the master in the house.” All these opposing facts and feelings boded evil for the future.