Writing in his Diary on the 1st of September, Count Vitzthum says, “The Queen, who returned two days ago to Windsor, held a Privy Council there, in order to make the necessary arrangements for the period of her absence. Lord Palmerston did not attend this sitting, but has come down to town to receive her Majesty’s last commands. The Queen embarks to-day at Woolwich, and goes first to Brussels to meet for the first time the Princess Alexandra, and her parents. A few days later the Prince of Wales will also come to Brussels, when the betrothal will be officially declared. The indiscretion of the newspapers, which speak of the betrothal as a settled affair before it has actually been announced, has given great annoyance at Windsor Castle.”[145] The impression which the youth and beauty of the Danish Princess made on the Queen was most favourable, and the preliminaries of the marriage were soon arranged. Her Majesty then proceeded to Germany, where she retired to the little shooting-box of Reinhardsbrunn, a residence so small that even Lord Russell had to stay at Gotha for lack of accommodation. In a letter to Count Vitzthum, he gives us a casual glimpse of the Queen’s retreat. “I went to Reinhardsbrunn yesterday (17th September),” says Lord Russell, “and took an opportunity of speaking to the Queen about the proposed visit of Prince George of Saxony. Her Majesty appreciated the kindness of the King of Saxony, whom she regarded, she said, in the light of a relation. The Queen has no room in the house she inhabits to lodge any one, but if the Prince George could come any day after to-morrow (Friday), about three o’clock to pay her a visit, she would be happy to see him. The Prince of Wales is in high spirits, and willingly accepts congratulations on his marriage.”[146] In the middle of October the Princess Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt and her husband came to England, awaiting at Windsor the arrival of the Queen, who was then at Osborne. The thoughtful affection of the Princess herself prompted this visit. It was feared that the anniversary of the Prince Consort’s death might bring on one of those attacks of nervous prostration from which the Queen suffered, during the first year of her bereavement, and at such a moment the presence of the Princess Alice afforded comfort, consolation, and confidence to the Royal family.