Of the Queen's aunts, one, after declining many eligible offers in her own princely rank, married Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, a French emigrant of the Revolution, who entered the Austrian service, and became the father of the well-known Austrian statesman, Count Arthur Mensdorff, who was the bosom friend of Prince Albert from his earliest infancy until his untimely death. A second married the reigning Duke of Wurtemburg, and occupied for many years a very influential position in Russia, her husband being brother of the Empress Catherine (the second of that name), and maternal uncle of the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas. The third daughter of the house herself became a Russian Grand Duchess; she was wedded at the age of fifteen to the Grand Duke Constantine. The marriage was an inharmonious one, and in 1802 the young pair agreed to separate. Both husband and wife were acquitted of all blame; Leopold, the brother of the latter, attributes the sad event to "the shocking hypocrisy of the Empress-mother," in the absence of which "things might have gone on." The Queen's mother, who was christened Victoire (or Victoria) Marie Louise, was the youngest of the four sisters. Besides Duke Ernest, the father of Prince Albert, the Queen had two other maternal uncles. One was Frederick George, who married a great heiress, the Hungarian Princess of Kohary. His son became the consort of Donna Maria II. of Portugal; his grandson, the present King of Portugal, is the Queen's first cousin once removed, and the second cousin of her children. Her other uncle was the late King of the Belgians, whose career is a portion of the history of our grandfathers', our fathers', and our own times, and is so intimately associated with the life and fortunes of Her Majesty as to merit separate treatment in a succeeding chapter, and elsewhere incidentally in the course of our narrative. CHAPTER II. THE GREATEST OF THE MODERN COBURGS. Romantic Career of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the Queen's Uncle--his Continuous, Kind, and Fatherly Care of his Orphaned Niece--The Duchy of Coburg held by Napoleon--Sufferings of the Ducal Family--A Temptation resisted--The Tide turned--Leopold's Popularity in England--Betrothal and Marriage to the Princess Charlotte of Wales. [Sidenote: PRINCE LEOPOLD OF SAXE-COBURG.]