The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-05-25 00:00:00

Court Nrbus.

Her Majesty the Queen and his Royal Highness the
Prince Consort received early Tuesday morning the
melancholy intelligence of the sudden death of her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Orleans at Richtnond, after an
attack of influenza, which has lasted a few dayt without
giving any (mum of alarm. Soon after ten o clock his
Royal Highness the Prince Consort left Buckingham
Palacio, attended by Lieutenant-Colonel Ponsonby, to pay
a visit of condolence to their Royal Highness the Count
of Paris and the Duke of Chartres at Richmond.
Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the
Prince Consort, accompanied by the Princess Alice, and
attended by the Duchess of Atholl, Major-General the
Hon. Charles Grey, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ponsonhy,
went on Wednesday afternoon to Twickenham, and
paid a visit of condolence to the Duke and Duchess
d'Autnale, the Count de Paris, and the Duke de
Chartres.
Her Majesty and the Primes Consort inspected, on
Friday week, the equestrian statue of the late Viscount
Harding., which is temporarily planed in the court-yard
of Burlington House It is to be erected at Calcutta.
The friends of Cardinal Wiseman have for the last
few weeks entertained serious apprehensions as to the
condition of his health. Such is his state at present
that on Wednesday last it was deemed advisable by his
medical advisers that he should retire from London, in
order to avoid the anxiety and worry of business. On
Thursday the Cardinal left his residence in York-place,
Baker-street, for his country at at Leyton, Essex. He
Is said for some time to have suffered from diabetes—a
form of disease looked on as incurable.
At 6 o'clock Thursday evening a special Royal train,
in charge of Mr. Scott, trod& manager; Mr. Beattie,
superintendent of locomotion; Mr. Godson, chief super•
intendent; and Mx. Stropp, engineer of the South-
Western Railway Company, arrived in the Royal
Clarence-yard, Gosport, with her Majesty and the
Court from London en route to Osborne. The Queen
was received on alighting from the train by his Royal
Highness Prince Alfred, Admirsl Sir George Seymour,
Major-General Sir J. Yorke floarlett, Rear-Admiral the
Hon. G. Grey, Colonel Forster, RE., A.D.C. ; Colonel
I Hurdle, KM., Aide-de-Camp • Lieutenant-Colonel
Wright, Assistant-Quartermaster:Genera; Lieutenant-
Colonel Connolly, Brigade Major; Captain Breton,
I Commander Bickford, R.N., !se., and a guard of honour
1 of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, imininanded by
Colonel Hunt. The usual salutes were fired by the
ships, and the Royal yacht Fairy, Captain the Hon. J.
Denman, steamed out of harbour at about quarter past
5 for Cowes, where the Royal party disembarked and
found carriages in waiting, which conveyed them to
Osborne about half-past 6.
DEATH OF THE DUCHESS Or ORLEANB.—Even amid
the heat of our own political disputes the announcement
of the sudden death of Helene Louise, Duchess of
Orleans, which took place on Tuesday at Twickenham,
will command the attention and insure the sympathies
of the English people. The misfortune appears to have
fallen very suddenly on the exiled Royal Family of
France—almost as suddenly, indeed, as that former cala-
mity which 18 years ago betel the Duke of Orleans, and
in the full pride and strength of manhood removed him
from the scene on which, according to all anticipation,
he would have played so distinguished a part. Accor-
ding to the report it does not appear that until the very
last there was any idea that the Duchess was in any
serious danger. She had but attained the mid term of
life; there was about her every appearance of a sound
and vigorous constitution. The Duchess of Orleans is
not the first instance of the miserable instability of for-
tune which scorns to be the lot of those Princesses who
have allied themselves with the French Crown. Trans-
ported at an early age from the dull but peaceful mono-
tony of a petty German Court to the splendid palaces
of France, united in marriage with the heir of the
French inonarchy, happy in her children, in the affec-
tion of her husband, and in her own character, one
would have said that hers indeed was an enviable lot.
Five years elapsed, and she was a widow. Her husband
perished by a dreadful death upon the very anniversary
of their wedding-day. Another period of five years or
thereabouts passed by, and the young widow was a fugi-
tive and an outcast from French soil, bearing with her
the boy who, as she had every right to suppose, would
one day have occupied the throne of France. To the
credit of the poor lady it must be said, that of all the
members of the Orleans faniuy she was the one who die-
a.,
She endeavoured most strenuously to preserve the inhe-
ritance of her child when the courage of men gave way.
Her Royal Highness expired Tuesday morning, shortly
after 5 o'clock, at her residence at Richmond, to the in-
expressible grief of her sons, the Count de Paris
and the Duke de Chartres, and the other members of
the exiled Royal Family of France. The lamentable
event was quite unexpected. The Duchess only a fort-
night since dined at the Marquis of Lansdowne's, and
was apparently in excellent health and spirits. Her
Royal Highness was born on the 24th of January, 1814,
and consequently was 44 years of age.