more than ordinary
personal attractions; her features were regular, and her complexion
fair, with the rich bloom of youthful beauty; her eyes were blue and
very expressive, and her hair was abundant, and of that peculiar light
brown which merges into the golden: in fact, such hair as the
Middle-Age Italian painters associate with their conceptions of the
Madonna. In figure her Royal Highness was somewhat over the ordinary
height of women, but finely proportioned and well developed. Her
manners were remarkable for a simplicity and good-nature which would
have won admiration and invited affection in the most humble walks of
life. She created universal admiration, and I may say a feeling of
national pride, amongst all who attended the ball. The Prince Regent
entered the gardens giving his arm to the Queen, the rest of the royal
family following. Tents had been erected in various parts of the
grounds, where the bands of the Guards were stationed. The weather was
magnificent, a circumstance which contributed to show off the admirable
arrangements of Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, to whom had been deputed the
organization of the fete, which commenced by dancing on the lawn.

The Princess Charlotte honoured with her presence two dances. In the
first she accepted the hand of the late Duke of Devonshire, and in the
second that of the Earl of Aboyne, who had danced with Marie
Antoinette, and who, as Lord Huntley, lived long enough to dance with
Queen Victoria. The Princess entered so much into the spirit of the
fete as to ask for the then fashionable Scotch dances. The Prince was
dressed in the Windsor uniform, and wore the garter and star. He made
himself very amiable, and conversed much with the Ladies Hertford,
Cholmondeley, and Montford. Altogether, the fete was a memorable event.

A year afterwards, the Duke of York said to his royal niece, "Tell me,
my dear, have you seen anyone among the foreign princes whom you would
like to have for a husband?" The Princess naively replied, "No one so
much prepossesses me as Prince Leopold of Coburg. I have heard much of
his bravery in the field, and I must say he is personally agreeable to
me. I have particularly heard of his famous cavalry charge at the
battle of Leipsic, where he took several thousand prisoners, for which
he was rewarded with the Order of Maria Therese." In a few months
afterwards she became the wife of the man whom she so much admired, and
from whom she was t