She then by their Serene Highnesses the Duchess | mained on a visit to the Queen-dowager Ida, Prince Edward, and the Princess till the twentieth of September, and on of Saxe-Weimar, she, in October, 1847, the twenty-ninth of the same month, embarked on board the Howe war ship, the Duchess Ida of Saxe-Weimar, and of one hundred and twenty guns, at the Princesses Anne and Amelia, arrived, Portsmouth, for Madeira, and on the and by their presence afforded great way thither put in at the Tagus, and consolation to the royal sufferer, who, paid a complimentary visit to the Queen notwithstanding her increasing weakand Prince-consort of Portugal. In ness, was enabled to take frequent carMarch, 1848, Adelaide embarked for riage airings up to the sixth of October, England. After a prosperous voyage, which was the last day she was enabled she reached Spithead, on the second of to enjoy out-door exercise. April; the same day visited the Queen | took to her chamber, and from that peand Prince Albert at Osborne, slept that riod her health rapidly declined. On night on board the Howe, and the next the twelfth of October, the Queen and day proceeded to London. Prince Albert, on their return from Osborne, visited their illustrious relative, who, in the same week, received visits from the Duchess of Kent, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Gloucester, and the hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. On the eigh attended at the Priory, and by Adelaide's own express desire, administered the Holy Sacrament to her. In the autumn of 1848, the Queendowager took Bentley Priory, the seat of the Marquis of Abercorn, near Stanmore; and there passed the following winter, but without adding vigour to her weakly constitution. As the spring of 1849 approached, her health became alarmingly delicate, and incipient symp-teenth of October, the Bishop of London toms of dropsy presented themselves. Her physicians exercised all conceivable care and discretion, with the view of combating the disease and fortifying the The Queen and Prince Albert paid failing strength of the royal patient their last visit to their illustrious relaagainst any crisis that might occur. A tive on the twenty-second of October, bechange to the sea-air being deemed fore leaving for Osborne; and shortly advisable, the Queen-dowager, on the afterwards the Duchess of Kent twice twenty-eighth of May, proceeded to visited the dying Queen. On Friday, Worthing; but as her health continued the thirty-first of October, the condition to decline, after a fortnight's residence of the royal sufferer excited the greatest there she removed to Tunbridge Wells, alarm. On the afternoon of that day a where the Queen and Prince Albert paid distressing change took place, and her her a visit. Towards the close of June, immediate relatives were hastily sumthe Queen-dowager returned to her re- moned to her chamber. She, however, sidence in Bushy Park, in a very unsa-rallied, and the next morning was aptisfactory condition. Her constitution was evidently breaking; and now change of air no longer proved, as it always had done previously, in the slightest degree beneficial. Her Majesty and her household removed from Bushy to Bentley Priory, on the first of September; and meantime, her relatives in Germany, having been apprized of her declining condition, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, and the Princess Mary, arrived from the Continent on the fourth of September, and were followed by the Prince-hereditary. Their serene highnesses re parently more cheerful; but the same day, at seven in the evening, another serious change took place, which denoted, beyond doubt, the approach of death. From this time her Majesty never rallied, but passed from life in a calm slumber, after a feeble cough, which occasioned the bursting of one of the vessels of the lungs. Their Serene Highnesses the Duchess Ida of Saxe Weimar, the Princes Edward and Gustave, and the Princesses Anne and Amelia, were present at the dissolution of their illustrious relative. The Earl and Countess Howe, Sir David Davis, the Rev. Canon Wood, the Rev. G. P. Hudson, Sir Andrew Barnard, Colonel and Mrs. Cornwall, and Miss Hudson, were also in attendance. On the demise of her Majesty, the subjoined bulletin was issued by her physicians: "The Priory, Dec. 2nd, 1849. "DAVID DAVIS, M.D. At a later hour, a London Gazette extraordinary was published, containing the melancholy announcement in the following words: "Whitehall, Dec. 2nd, 1849. liberal charities to the poor of the district, as well as her naturally unostentatious deportment, had rendered her deeply beloved by all classes of the inhabitants. 66 The funeral of Queen-dowager Ade. laide was, in compliance with her own expressed desire, conducted with but little "pomp of the dead," or "pageantry of state." The ceremony of lying in state" was altogether dispensed with, as also was the process of embalming the royal remains; and, contrary to the usual custom, the obsequies were performed at mid-day instead of after sunset by torch-light. The funeral took place on Thursday, the thirteenth of December. At eight in the morning the royal remains were removed from Bentley Priory for interment in the royal mausoleum in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The procession was unostentatious; and, with the exception of a "This morning, at seven minutes be- strong detachment of Life Guards, there fore two o'clock, her Majesty the Queen- was nothing beyond the ordinary disdowager departed this life, at Stanmore play observable at the funeral of a priPriory, to the great grief of her Majesty the outer coffin-for there were three of vate individual. The coffin, or rather and of all the royal family, after a pain-them in all-was of Spanish mahogany, ful and protracted illness, which she covered with rich crimson silk velvet; a bore with exemplary patience. The loss double row of gold nails formed the outline, and the compartments were shaped The sides were relieved by massive gold by a triple row of smaller gold nails. handles, and the corners were of the same, ornamented by an engraved crown. The lid, in its upper compartments, had a large raised regal crown, and in its lower division a reversed torch and an extinct serpent. The plate bore the inscription of this most excellent Princess will be deeply mourned by all classes of her Majesty's subjects, to whom her many eminent virtues rendered her the object of universal esteem and affection." Captain Bedford, gentleman usher to the departed Queen-dowager Adelaide, conveyed the mournful_intelligence of her Majesty's demise to London with all possible speed. Expresses were hastily forwarded to the Queen and Prince Albert, to the Duchess of Kent, and to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with intelligence of the mournful event; tidings of which were also communicated on Sunday forenoon to Sir George Grey, her Majesty's principal secretary of state for the home department, and to the lord mayor. The great bell of St. Paul's cathedral, as is customary on the demise of a member of the royal family, tolled, soon after the news was received in the city of London. A deep gloom was cast over the village of Stanmore from the mournful death of Queen Adelaide, whose Depositum ADELAIDE Etatis Suæ LVIII. The procession proceeded with befitting solemnity through Ruisslip, Uxbridge, and Slough; and upon arriving at the south porch of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, the royal body was received at the door by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the canons of Windsor, and placed upon the platform. The crown of the departed Queen, with its the procession then moved into the choir cushion, was deposited on the coffin, and in the following order : The chief mourner the Duchess of Norfolk, veiled, attended by Lady Cowper. His Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar. Gentlemen Ushers to her late Majesty. On entering the choir, the chief mourner took her seat at the head of the coffin, the lord chamberlain of the departed Queen took his place at the feet, the vice-chamberlain standing near his lordship, and the other persons composing the procession arranged themselves behind the chief mourner, and on either side of the chapel. The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the service; and after he had read the lesson, the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, from the twentieth verse to the end, the pall was withdrawn; and whilst the anthem, "When the ear heard her, then it blessed her," was being sung, the coffin was gradually lowered into the vault. When the archbishop had read the last collect and pronounced the benediction, garter king of arms, standing near the grave, pronounced the style of the departed Queen as follows: "Thus it hath pleased Al Five Sailors. mighty God to take out of this transitory life into His divine mercy, the late most high, most mighty, and mos excellent Princess Adelaide, the Queendowager, relict of his Majesty King William IV., uncle to her most excellent Majesty Victoria, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Queen Defender of the Faith, whom God bless and preserve with long life, health, honour, and all worldly happipiness." The lord chamberlain and vice-chamberlain of the departed Queendowager Adelaide then stepped to the mouth of the tomb, and amidst profound silence broke their staves of office, and kneeling, deposited them on the coffin in the royal vault. Thus ended the obsequies of the last Queen-dowager of England. There were present at the solemn ceremony Prince Albert, the Duke and Duchess of Cam bridge, the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, the Princesses Anne and Amelia of Saxe-Weimar, the Dukes of Wellington and of Norfolk, the Marquises of Lansdowne and of Abercorn, Lord John Russell, and other noble and illustrious personages. tion, the Ragged Schools, the Christian Knowledge Society, the Metropolis Church Fund, the Church Building Society, and to numerous other societies, institutions, and funds established for the religious, moral, and social advancement The character of Queen Adelaide was of mankind. According to the "Times," pre-eminently distinguished by piety, it was also the practice of Queen Adeliberality, unbounded charity, and bene- laide "to subscribe largely to all the volent sympathy. By her munificence charities in every place where she hapthe previously-mentioned church at Malta pened, even for a time, to reside, espewas built and endowed, as also was the cially to those of the parish of St. MarNaval Asylum at Penge, for the widows tin, in which her London residence was of commanders, lieutenants, masters, and situated." Her efforts in the furtherance pursers in the Royal Navy. She like- of art, science, and literature were considerwise was a liberal contributor to the So-able; and in her choice of artists, sculptors, ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel and architects, and in the commissions in Foreign Parts, the Colonial Bishopric which she so liberally gave to painters, Fund, the Church Missionary Society, the sculptors, and others, she exercised reSons of the Clergy, the Emigrants' Epis-markable taste and discrimination. copal Fund, the fund for the erection of Such was Adelaide of Saxe-Meininchurches in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, gen, a queen of inestimable piety, gentleCape Town, the Australian, and other ness, and beneficence, and whose loss was British Colonies; the National Society, felt and deeply lamented by all classes the London Diocesan Board of Educa- throughout the kingdom. TAB |