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educated with much care, and watched so closely that no busy maid has a moment to whisper, ‘You are heir of England.’ I suspect, if we could dissect the little heart, we should find some pigeon or other bird of the air had carried the matter.” Sir Walter’s surmise, as will be seen later, was not altogether without foundation.
    On the 28th of May, 1829, when the Princess was just ten years old, she made her first acquaintance with the ceremony of a court. This was at a juvenile ball, given by the King to Donna Maria La Gloria, Queen of Portugal (a sovereign only a month older than herself). The same year the Princess saw, for the last time, her uncle, George IV. Her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, mentions this visit to Windsor in a letter to the Duchess of Kent. “I see by the English papers that ‘Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent went on Virginia Water with His Majesty.’ The little monkey must have pleased and amused him, she is such a pretty, clever child.”
    This year the summer was spent at Broadstairs, and, in returning to Kensington, a visit of two days was paid to the Earl of Winchilsea, at his seat, Eastwell Park, near Ashford.
    The year 1830 was a momentous one in the life of the Princess. Her uncle George IV died in June, and was succeeded by his brother William IV, this one life only now standing between her and the throne. The Princess, according to one account, already knew something of the position in which she was placed before the death of George IV. It is, however, certain that in the latter part of the year the Princess was formally acquainted with her position. The Baroness Lehzen, writing to Her Majesty on the 16th of December, 1867, thus describes the manner in which the communication was made: “I ask your Majesty’s leave to cite some remarkable words of your Majesty’s when only twelve years old, while the Regency Bill was in progress. I then said to the Duchess of Kent, that now, for the first time, your Majesty ought to know your place in the succession. Her Royal Highness agreed with me, and I put the genealogical table into the historical book. When Mr. Davys was gone, the Princess Victoria opened, as usual, the book again, and seeing the additional paper, said, ‘I never saw that before.’
    ‘It was not thought necessary you should, Princess,’ I answered. ‘I see, I am nearer the throne than I thought.’ ‘So it is, madam,’ I said. After some moments the Princess resumed, ‘Now, many a child would boast, but they don’t know the difficulty. There is much splendour but there is more responsibility.’ The Princess having lifted up the forefinger of her right hand while she spoke, gave me that little hand, saying, ‘I will be good. I understand now, why you urged me so much to learn, even Latin. My aunts Augusta and Mary never did; but you told me Latin is the foundation of English grammar, and of all the elegant expressions, and I learnt it as you wished it, but I understand all better now,’ and the Princess gave me her hand, repeating, ‘I will be good.’ I then said,
    ‘But your aunt Adelaide is still young, and may have children, and of course they would ascend the throne after their father, William IV, and not you, Princess.’ The Princess answered, ‘And if it was so, I should be very glad, for I know by the love Aunt Adelaide bears me, how fond she is of children.’”
    This letter, written more than five-and-thirty years after the event, can hardly be considered as strictly accurate. The Princess was only eleven when the Regency Bill was discussed. It was passed in December, 1830. The Queen says, moreover, that the knowledge of her probable succession came to her gradually and made her very unhappy; nor does she feel sure that she made use of the expression, “I will be good.”
    Ampler provision had by this time been made for the maintenance of a household more in keeping with the recognised position of the Princess. It was consequently