y of the British Royal
family. The young Duke had only been engaged a few weeks and
preparations had been commenced for the stately ceremonial of his
marriage, when it was announced that he had caught cold at the funeral
of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe and was confined to his room. With but
little notice pneumonia developed, the constitutional weakness of his
system was unable to throw it off, and within a few days he was
dead--January 15th, 1892. Prince George, in the meantime, had recovered,
but those who saw the Prince of Wales walking beside his eldest son's
body from Sandringham Church to the station, say that his obvious grief
was almost pathetic. As to the mother she never really got over the
sadness of that death and the removal of her favourite son. If there
was, at times, a sad expression in her eyes, years after the event, it
was no doubt due to the sudden shock and great loss which then came to
her.

Five days afterwards, the following telegram to Sir Francis Knollys was
made public: "The Prince and Princess of Wales are anxious to express to
Her Majesty's subjects in the United Kingdom, the Colonies, and in
India, the sense of their deep gratitude for the universal feeling of
sympathy manifested toward them at a time when they are overpowered by
the terrible calamity which they have sustained in the loss of their
beloved eldest son. If sympathy at such a moment is of any avail, the
remembrance that their grief has been shared by all classes will be a
lasting consolation to their sorrowing hearts, and, if possible, will
make them more than ever attached to their dear country." The affection
of Queen Victoria for this grandson, whom the _Times_ of January 19th
described as possessing "modesty, affectionateness, kindness, love of
order, the desire to render every man his due, and reverence for age and
greatness," is well-known to have been intense, and from Osborne, on
January 26th, Her Majesty issued the following letter:

"I must once again give expression to my deep sense of the loyalty
and affectionate sympathy evinced by my subjects in every part of
my Empire on an occasion more sad and tragical than any but one
which has befallen me and mine, as well as the Nation. The
overwhelming misfortune of my dearly-loved grandson having been
thus suddenly cut off in the flower of his age, full of promise for
the future, amiable and gentle, and endearing himself to all,
rende