_4th February 1842._

MY DEAR VICTORIA,--Thousand thanks for your kind letter of the 1st,
which I received yesterday.

The King of Prussia is a very delightful person;[13] he is so
clever and amiable, and, owing to his good-nature, not by any means
fatiguing. I fear you had cold weather yesterday for the opening of
Parliament. To-day we have here a tremendous fog; Heaven grant that
it may not be so heavy on the Thames! else the King's journey will be
rendered difficult.

We expect him to-morrow about eleven o'clock; he wishes to be at
Antwerp at five, which would indicate his departure from hence at
three o'clock. There can be no doubt that nothing could be better
than to link this country as much as possible to Germany. The public
feeling was and is still favourable to this, but in Germany some years
ago they were childishly ultra, and kicked us off most unnecessarily,
which renders everything of the sort now much less easy. In a
political point of view the King's journey will prove useful, as it
takes him still more out of the clutches of Russia and gives him more
_correct_ views of what is going on in the West of Europe.

I wish the King may also talk to his helter-skelter cousin in Holland;
if the man goes on in his wild intrigues, though he will get most
probably nothing by it _himself_, he may do a great deal of harm,
and may force us to incline more towards France for fear of _his_
intrigues with France.

I was extremely sorry to hear the accident which befell dear Eos, a
great friend of mine. I do not understand how your uncle managed it;
he ought rather to have shot somebody else of the family. Ernest
has then been going on fast enough; all I hear of the lady is very
satisfactory.[14] I don't yet know when he means to come here.

Now I must conclude. In haste, ever, my dear Victoria, your
affectionate Uncle,

LEOPOLD R.

[Footnote 13: Lord Aberdeen wrote to Madame de Lieven: "I
passed a great deal of time with the King of Prussia when he
was in this country, and perfectly subscribe to the truth
of the description you gave me of him before his
arrival--intelligent, high-minded, and sincere. Like all
Germans, he is sometimes a little in the clouds, but his
projects are generous, and he wishes to do what is right."]

[Footnote 14: He married the Princess Alexandrina of Baden on
3rd May 1842.]

_Queen Victoria to the King of the Belgians._

WINDSOR CASTLE,