ageheading: THE PRINCE OF PRUSSIA]

_The Prince of Prussia to Queen Victoria._

[_Translation._]

BRUSSELS _30th May 1848._

MOST GRACIOUS COUSIN,--I obey the impulse of my heart in seizing my
pen, without any delay, in order to express to you my warmest and most
heartfelt thanks for the infinitely gracious and affectionate way with
which you and the Prince have treated me during my stay in London.[25]
It was a melancholy time, that of my arrival. By the sympathetic view
which you took of my situation, most gracious Cousin, it became
not only bearable, but even transformed into one that became
proportionately honourable and dignified. This graciousness of yours
has undoubtedly contributed towards the change of opinion which has
resulted in my favour, and so I owe to you, to the Prince, and to your
Government, a fortunate issue out of my calamities. So it is with a
heavy heart that I have now left England, not knowing what future
lies before me to meet--and only knowing that I shall need the
strengthening rest and tranquillity which my stay in England and an
insight into her institutions have afforded me in full measure.

Offering my most cordial remembrances to the Prince, to whom I shall
write as soon as possible, I remain, most gracious Cousin, your
faithful and most gratefully devoted Cousin,

PRINCE OF PRUSSIA.

[Footnote 25: The Prince of Prussia, afterwards the Emperor
William I., having become intensely unpopular at Berlin, had
been obliged in March to fly for his life, in disguise, _via_
Hamburg, to England.]

[Pageheading: THE ROYAL EXILES]

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _1st June 1848._

The Queen had not time the other day to talk to Lord John Russell on
the subject of the French Royal Family, and therefore writes to him
now. As it seems now most probable that they, or at least some of
them, will take up their residence for a lengthened period in this
country, and as their position is now a defined one, viz. that of
_exiles_, their treatment should be defined and established.

At first everything seemed temporary, and the public were much
occupied with them, inclined to criticise all that was done or was
omitted by the Court; all their movements were recorded in the papers,
etc. The lapse of three months has a good deal altered this. They have
lived in complete retirement, and are comparatively forgotten; and
their poverty and their resign