Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-07-09
NCTORIA'S IL LIFE.
The ChildhOOdD Days Which Were
the Happiest of her Life.

The following extract is from an ar
ticle by Mrs. 0liphant in the current
number Of Harper's Magazine:
The Princess Victoria was born
within the homely brick walls of Ken
sington palace, on the Oath of May,
1919. When she was only q few
months old, her father died, closely
followed by his father, poor old King
George. Before this, it is recorded
that the regent was not kind to his
brother" and when the Duke Of
Kent died, the poor duke had left
his family deprived of all means of ex-
istencc.'' Thus the position of the
mother of the future sovereign, a
young German princess, so soon left
alone in this strange and not always
very genial country, was far from con-
soling. Her brother, Prince Leopold,
FASTENED to her In distress, and stood
by her in all her future difficulties.
Few women have had a severe piece OF
work to undertake. But for that wise
and kind brother, the Duchess otKent,
though mother of the future queen,
was all but unfriended in a home with
which she had as yet but little time
to get acquainted. She was a tor
eigner, accustomed to different way o.
living, and had not even the easy
elasticity of youth which accustoms
itself to anything, for she was already
over thirty when she married the
duke; and while occupying SO great
a position, she was comparatively
poor. Had she withdrawn with her
child TO her own country, to bring the
little princess up among her own peo-
pie, cheaply and kindly, far away from
the criticisms and extravagances, the
the late hours and hustle Of English
life, who could have wondered ? But
the duchess had the temperate Coburg
blood in her veins, and sharedthe
sound sense and judgment Of her race.
She never forgot that her eight months
old baby was the first princess of the
blood, English above all things, and
imperatively requiring an English
education. And she began her long
career Of ofself-denial By steadily re-
naming in England, though far from
her friends and everything that was
most dear to her. The little
family bereaved, returned to the
old palace of Kensington, where
The child was born, and there
the early days of the princess
were chiefly spent. More happy than
most children in herposition, the little
heiress of England had the society Of
an elder sister, whose superior age
must, in those innocent days, have
neutralized the immense difference o.
position, and given something of The
sweet natural humility of a younger
child in a well regulated household L
this most important member Of The
family, all unconscious of her OWL
greatness. This sister, Princess Foo.
dora, afterwards Princess HOhcnlohe
was the tenderest OF friends and com.
p]aniOns 10 the queen during her Who'll,
lifetime. They were brought up To.
gether in quiet old KensiDgton, in the
sweet solitude Of Claremont, tho hous,
where Prince Leopold had spent his
short married life, which belonged 10
him, aud in which he often received
his widowed sister and her little girl
They were there in the summer Of
1924 aud 80 bright must that sum
mer have been that lis brightness sill
lasts In recollection. Those days Of
Olarem0nt," the queen herself tell
us. ',gcre tho happiest days Of her
childhood"