of the Prince being carried immediately before the coffin, which was preceded by Lord Sydney, her Majesty’s Lord Chamberlain. The pall-bearers were Sir Charles Phipps, General Grey, General Wylde, Colonel Francis Seymour, Lord Waterpark, Colonel Hood, Lieut.-Colonel Dudley de Ros, and Major du Plat, who were respectively Treasurer, Private Secretary, Groom of the Bedchamber, Lord of the Bedchamber, Clerk Marshal, and equerries to his Royal Highness. Immediately after the coffin came Garter King-at-Arms, followed by the Prince of Wales as chief mourner, who was supported by Prince Arthur, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-and-Gotha, and attended by General Bruce, the Crown Prince of Prussia, the Duke of Brabant, the Count de Flandres, the Duke de Nemours, Prince Louis of Hesse, Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, the Count Gleichen, and the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh. They were followed by their suites. On arriving within the choir, the Prince’s crown, _bâton_, sword, and hat were reverently laid on the coffin, at the head of which stood the Prince of Wales, with Prince Arthur and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-and-Gotha on either side of him. The other illustrious mourners formed a group behind them. At the foot of the coffin the Lord Chamberlain stood, and the pall-bearers stood on each side of it. When the first part of the [Illustration: FUNERAL OF THE PRINCE CONSORT: PROCESSION IN THE NAVE OF ST. GEORGE’S CHAPEL.] service was over, the coffin was lowered into the vault. The Dean of Windsor having concluded the ritual, Garter-King-at-Arms proclaimed the style and titles of the Prince, and then the mourners left the chapel, while the “Dead March” in _Saul_ was played on the organ. Lord Palmerston’s absence was accounted for by an attack of gout, which had been aggravated by his grief for the Prince’s death. Severe illness confined the Duke of Cambridge to his room. The absence of Dr. Jenner, which was remarked, was due to a melancholy cause. He was detained at Osborne in constant attendance on the grief-stricken Queen. For during the first agony of grief that followed the death of the Prince Consort serious fears were entertained lest the Queen should herself fall ill and die. “How you suffered,” wrote the Princess Alice to her mother many long years afterwards, “was dreadful to witness. Never shall I forget what I went through for you then; it tore my heart in pieces.”[121] Although the Princess took on herself the management of the household, and both verbally and by writing strove to transact her mother’s business, it was obvious that something must be done to rouse her Majesty from the lethargy of sorrow. King Leopold accordingly insisted on an immediate change of surroundings, and decided that she must be taken to Osborne. For a time the Queen resisted this decision. Even the Princess Alice remonstrated with Sir Charles Phipps against a step which seemed to her to be cruel. But she yielded at last to King Leopold’s