Five days afterwards, the following telegram to Sir Francis Knollys was made public: "The Prince and Princess of Wales are anxious to express to Her Majesty's subjects in the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and in India, the sense of their deep gratitude for the universal feeling of sympathy manifested toward them at a time when they are overpowered by the terrible calamity which they have sustained in the loss of their beloved eldest son. If sympathy at such a moment is of any avail, the remembrance that their grief has been shared by all classes will be a lasting consolation to their sorrowing hearts, and, if possible, will make them more than ever attached to their dear country." The affection of Queen Victoria for this grandson, whom the _Times_ of January 19th described as possessing "modesty, affectionateness, kindness, love of order, the desire to render every man his due, and reverence for age and greatness," is well-known to have been intense, and from Osborne, on January 26th, Her Majesty issued the following letter: "I must once again give expression to my deep sense of the loyalty and affectionate sympathy evinced by my subjects in every part of my Empire on an occasion more sad and tragical than any but one which has befallen me and mine, as well as the Nation. The overwhelming misfortune of my dearly-loved grandson having been thus suddenly cut off in the flower of his age, full of promise for the future, amiable and gentle, and endearing himself to all, renders it hard for his sorely-stricken parents, his dear young bride and his fond Grandmother to bow in submission to the inscrutable decrees of Providence."