Friday Feby 20th 1863
My dear Henry
I dare say you will be surprized to see that I am already installée – I should not have come so soon into Waiting naturally – only Lady Jocelyn’s son <1> was ill, & I am taking one week for her at present.
I have been going backwards & forwards from Mt Edgcumbe to Cotehele <2> – & have been otherwise extremely busy; else I should have written long ago – first of all to thank you for your letter congratulating me on my appointment – & secondly to wish you & Constance <3> joy of Charles’s <4> coming of age – as well as many happy returns of the day to him. Please transmit all my good wishes to him. Has he settled yet about finding an Architect? I hear that Gilbert Scott <5> (I believe that is the name.) is going to do up & restore & ornament Wolsey’s chapel here. It is a chapel I have never been into – close to the higher end of St George’s Chapel, but not connected with it. The Queen <6> intends it to be a memorial chapel to the Prince. <7>
I came on Wednesday, when there happened to be 3 or 4 guests at Dinner, (the 2nd time only that anyone has been invited) with the Princesses – but not the Queen, who never dines in public – & she very kindly excused my going down – But in the evening she sent for me into the Prince’s little Sittingroom, where she sits a great deal now – I sat a long time with H.M. alone – & you cannot think how good & kind & dear she was! & so sympathetic!
She is not very well, & feels much fatigued always – having so much more to do than she had; & says her nerves are quite shattered. I felt so very sorry for her. I left Ernestine <8> at Mount Edgcumbe – but they are all coming up to London tomorrow I believe – Where I shall join them on Tuesday, when my Waiting ends. I believe Katie <9> will be presented at the next Drawingroom, on the 28th & perhaps Ernestine too – but the Queen told me I need not attend it.
I was so much obliged to Constance for sending me the Wiltshire paper containing the account of the Laycock festivities. But it was a very sad moment unfortunately – just after poor Lord Lansdowne’s <10> death. Were you surprized? I was not, after the great change I observed in him the last two or three times I saw him – I liked what the Times <11> said – & there was a good article in the Western morning news too – mentioning the connection of our families & my marriage at Bowood <12> – I hope you are all well at Edinburgh – Ernestine had a letter not long ago from Rosamond, <13> in wch she mentioned Mr Clark’s <14> enforced absence from home. I hope he has been allowed to get away at last. Great preparations are making in St George’s Chapel for the Pe of Wales’s <15> marriage I saw him yesterday, & Pss Alice <16> grown so handsome – Love to all
Yr affte Sister
Caroline
Notes:
1. Lady Frances Jocelyn, wife of the Earl of Roden, and her son Robert Jocelyn (b. 1846).
2. Mt Edgecumbe, near Plymouth: seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, Cotehele, Cornwall: ancient house, seat of the Earl of Mt Edgcumbe, now a National Trust Property.
3. Constance Talbot, née Mundy (1811–1880), WHFT’s wife.
4. Charles Henry Talbot (1842–1916), antiquary & WHFT’s only son.
5. Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878), gothic revival architect.
6. Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom (1837–1901), Empress of India (1876–1901).
7. Albert Saxe-Coburg (1819–1861), consort to Queen Victoria.
8. Ernestine Emma Horatia Edgcumbe (1843-1925), WHFT’s niece.
9. Lady Katherine Elizabeth Edgcumbe, née Hamilton (1840–1874), wife of William Henry Edgcumbe.
10. Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863), MP, WHFT’s uncle.
11. The Times (London).
12. Bowood House, nr Calne, Wiltshire, 5 mi NE of Lacock: seat of the Marquess of Lansdowne.
13. Rosamond Constance ‘Monie’ Talbot (1837–1906), artist & WHFT’s 2nd daughter.
14. John Gilchrist-Clark (1830–1881), Scottish JP; WHFT’s son-in-law.
15. Albert Edward (1841–1910), acceeded as King Edward VII, 1901; married Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925) on the 10 March 1863.
16. Alice Maud Mary (1843–1878), Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, duchess of Saxony, Grand Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt; 3rd son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.