it would not be expedient to give to the King of Hanover a power which the Queen herself does not possess, viz. that of granting orders as favours, or for personal services; as the number of the different classes of the Guelphic Order bestowed on Englishmen is innumerable, it would actually invest the King with such a power, which, considering how much such things are sought after, might be extremely inconvenient.
The Queen will not give a final decision upon this case until she returns to Windsor, where she has papers explanatory of the reasons which caused her to decline the King of Hanover's application in 1838.
Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians.
Claremont, 16th January 1844.
My dearest Uncle,—Many thanks for your kind letter of the 11th. Louise can give you the details of the little upset I and Lady Douro had, and which I did not think worth while to mention.[1] It was the strangest thing possible to happen, and the most unlikely, for we were going quite quietly, not at all in a narrow lane, with very quiet ponies and my usual postillion; the fact was that the boy looked the wrong way, and therefore did not perceive the ditch which he so cleverly got us into.
We leave dear Claremont, as usual, with the greatest regret; we are so peaceable here; Windsor is beautiful and comfortable, but it is a palace, and God knows how willingly I would always live with my beloved Albert and our children in the quiet and retirement of private life, and not be the constant object of observation, and of newspaper articles. The children (Pussette and Bertie) have been most remarkably well, and so have we, in spite of the very bad weather we had most days. I am truly and really grieved that good excellent Nemours is again not to get his dotation.[2] Really we constitutional countries are too shabby.
Now, dearest Uncle, I must bid you adieu, begging you to believe me, ever your devoted Niece, Victoria R.
- ↑ On the 5th of January the Queen's phaeton was overturned at Horton, near Datchet, while driving to the meet of Prince Albert's Harriers.
- ↑ On the occasion of the marriage of the Duc and Duchesse de Nemours (1840), the proposal made by the Soult Government for a Parliamentary grant of 500,000 francs had been rejected.
