Windsor Castle
Sunday Septr 18th 1842
My dear Henry
We arrived in perfect safety at the Station on Friday at seven, & drove straight to Lady Pembroke’s, <1> who of course was dressing for dinner – She was very glad to see me however, & have it all cleared up; & I saw Lord Clanwilliam <2> too, who seemed very well, & not ailing as Mr Attwood <3> thought. –
We had enough to do the whole evening & next morning in unpacking & dividing Valletort’s <4> things from ours, in the boxes just arrived from Hamburgh We got to the Station just in time for the 2 o’clock train, & reached Windsor by 3 – The Royal Standard was already flying on the Round Tower, H.M. having arrived at ½ past 12 – Everything was ready for me in case of my arrival – but the letter you returned fm Baroness Lehzen <5> was to say that I cd stay a few days longer with you, as the Dss of Norfolk <6> had been asked to continue in waiting till next Tuesday – How very unlucky I did not get it in time! I was longing so to stay at dear Laycock Abbey another day or two! & that wd have just sufficed – At present therefore I am company; & accordingly last night, instead of waiting as usual to accompany the Qn <7> I went into the Drawingroom to await her arrival – We were a very small party; the only other person present being Captn Meynell, one of the Grooms in waiting, but not de service <8> just now – He is just returned fm the Reviews at Cologne, so we had luckily something to talk about, tho’ I had never seen him before – The Qn retired very early, being dreadfully sleepy, as well as Pe Albert, <9> who cd not keep his eyes open. – They returned in the Company Steamer Trident – & their suite divided among 5 or 6 others, arrived later at different hours. I believe poor Ld Liverpool <10> is not arrived yet – Please to send me by the Railroad, properly booked, all my forgots – one appears to be the little blue portfolio, wh I do not see with me –besides I don’t know what other drawings you can mean. I believe all I possess are in that same blue Portfolio; so I shd be very sorry if anything was to happen to it – It ought to be covered with a bit oil skin to keep out any accidental wet, & booked – Please see that this is done properly – I cannot think what else there <illegible deletion> can be – but shd wish to have sent whatever may be left – Love to Constance & the Chicks <11> –
Yrs affly
Caroline
Palmer <12> thinks she saw the blue portfolio in the Hall as we were going away –Please write to me again – I like getting letters from you –
Notes:
1. Catherine Simonovna Herbert, née Woronzow, Lady Pembroke (1783–1856).
2. Richard Charles Francis Christian Meade, 3rd Earl of Clanwilliam (1795–1879), diplomat.
3. Possibly Thomas Attwood (1783–1856), radical MP, banker & manufacturer.
4. William Henry Edgcumbe, ‘Val’, 4th Earl Mt Edgcumbe (1832–1917), JP & Ld Steward of the Royal Household; WHFT’s nephew ‘Bimbo’.
5. Baroness Louise Lehzen (1784–1870), governess of Queen Victoria from 1824 until her dismissal in 1842.
6. The wife of Bernard Edward Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk (1765–1842)
7. Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).
8. Serving.
9. Prince Albert of Saxe–Coburg–Gotha (1819–1861).
10. Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (1784–1851).
11. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife, Ela Theresa Talbot (1835–1893), WHFT’s 1st daughter, Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter, and Matilda Caroline Gilchrist-Clark, ‘Tilly’, née Talbot (1839–1927), WHFT’s 3rd daughter.
12. Servant.