{"product_id":"2940013342750","title":"QUEEN VICTORIA","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e     I.    ANTECEDENTS\u003cbr\u003e     II.   CHILDHOOD\u003cbr\u003e     III.  LORD MELBOURNE\u003cbr\u003e     IV.   MARRIAGE\u003cbr\u003e     V.    LORD PALMERSTON\u003cbr\u003e     VI.   LAST YEARS OF THE PRINCE CONSORT\u003cbr\u003e     VII.  WIDOWHOOD\u003cbr\u003e     VIII. MR. GLADSTONE AND LORD BEACONSFIELD\u003cbr\u003e     IX.   OLD AGE\u003cbr\u003e     X.    THE END\u003cbr\u003e     BIBLIOGRAPHY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eQUEEN VICTORIA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I. ANTECEDENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn November 6, 1817, died the Princess Charlotte, only child of the\u003cbr\u003ePrince Regent, and heir to the crown of England. Her short life had\u003cbr\u003ehardly been a happy one. By nature impulsive, capricious, and vehement,\u003cbr\u003eshe had always longed for liberty; and she had never possessed it.\u003cbr\u003eShe had been brought up among violent family quarrels, had been early\u003cbr\u003eseparated from her disreputable and eccentric mother, and handed over to\u003cbr\u003ethe care of her disreputable and selfish father. When she was seventeen,\u003cbr\u003ehe decided to marry her off to the Prince of Orange; she, at first,\u003cbr\u003eacquiesced; but, suddenly falling in love with Prince Augustus of\u003cbr\u003ePrussia, she determined to break off the engagement. This was not her\u003cbr\u003efirst love affair, for she had previously carried on a clandestine\u003cbr\u003ecorrespondence with a Captain Hess. Prince Augustus was already married,\u003cbr\u003emorganatically, but she did not know it, and he did not tell her. While\u003cbr\u003eshe was spinning out the negotiations with the Prince of Orange, the\u003cbr\u003eallied sovereign--it was June, 1814--arrived in London to celebrate\u003cbr\u003etheir victory. Among them, in the suite of the Emperor of Russia, was\u003cbr\u003ethe young and handsome Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. He made several\u003cbr\u003eattempts to attract the notice of the Princess, but she, with her heart\u003cbr\u003eelsewhere, paid very little attention. Next month the Prince Regent,\u003cbr\u003ediscovering that his daughter was having secret meetings with Prince\u003cbr\u003eAugustus, suddenly appeared upon the scene and, after dismissing her\u003cbr\u003ehousehold, sentenced her to a strict seclusion in Windsor Park. \"God\u003cbr\u003eAlmighty grant me patience!\" she exclaimed, falling on her knees in an\u003cbr\u003eagony of agitation: then she jumped up, ran down the backstairs and out\u003cbr\u003einto the street, hailed a passing cab, and drove to her mother's house\u003cbr\u003ein Bayswater. She was discovered, pursued, and at length, yielding\u003cbr\u003eto the persuasions of her uncles, the Dukes of York and Sussex, of\u003cbr\u003eBrougham, and of the Bishop of Salisbury, she returned to Carlton House\u003cbr\u003eat two o'clock in the morning. She was immured at Windsor, but no more\u003cbr\u003ewas heard of the Prince of Orange. Prince Augustus, too, disappeared.\u003cbr\u003eThe way was at last open to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis Prince was clever enough to get round the Regent, to impress the\u003cbr\u003eMinisters, and to make friends with another of the Princess's uncles,\u003cbr\u003ethe Duke of Kent. Through the Duke he was able to communicate privately\u003cbr\u003ewith the Princess, who now declared that he was necessary to\u003cbr\u003eher happiness. When, after Waterloo, he was in Paris, the Duke's\u003cbr\u003eaide-de-camp carried letters backwards and forwards across the Channel.\u003cbr\u003eIn January 1816 he was invited to England, and in May the marriage took\u003cbr\u003eplace.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47181021642992,"sku":"2940013342750","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013342750_p0.jpg?v=1763579964","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013342750","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}