On 27th March 1879, Prince Waldemar, son of Princess Victoria and grandson of Queen Victoria, died aged 11, at New Palace, Potsdam, Prussia.
The Queen's journal entry:
"Got up, feeling rested. - Received a telegram, which on opening, I found to my unbounded grief & horror, to contain the terrible words: "Have just taken a last look at the beloved child. He expired at ½ p. 3 this morning, from paralysis of the heart. Your broken hearted daughter Victoria." How heart rending. My poor darling Vicky! Only a week today since she returned home & 12 days, since I took leave of her! Our poor family seems persecuted by this awful disease, the worst I know. Wrote at once to Arthur, who was expected early today. - I sent & received many telegrams. - Went for a little walk with Jane Churchill in the Garden. when I came in, Arthur & Louischen had arrived, having been delayed 3 hours by the fog, outside Calais.
They were terribly upset, not having even heard of the illness. - After luncheon, received the President, Mr Grévy, in the big drawing room. He was presented by Ld Lyons & I asked him to sit down. He expressed great satisfaction at my receiving him under the present painful circumstances & his regret, at my not remaining longer, & his not being able to show the friendship & respect entertained for England & me, by France, which he called "la sour de l'Angleterre," that France wished & required peace, & that chauvinisme was at an end. He praised Bertie very much, whom they considered "un Parisien." I shook hands with Mr Grévy, when he left. Id Lyons introduced Mr Waddington, Prime & Foreign Min, half an Englishman, who has been at Harrow, & at Oxford with Ld Derby. He was at the Berlin Conference last year, speaks English, like an Englishman & was most civil, expressing much regret for the sad loss of poor dear little Waldie. [...]
[...] - Took rather a hurried luncheon, with Arthur & Louischen & the moment it was over, received Nemours (who has shaved off his beard & is grown quite white,) Marguerite, (looking ill,) her husband Prince Czartoriski, (very gentlemanlike & good looking, only very thin, grey, & old looking) & Blanche. They stayed about ¼ of an hour, & then I had to take leave, to my great regret, of dear Arthur & Louischen. They are going Bordeaux, where they will embark on board the "Osborne," for Lisbon, Cadiz, &c. - Wrote to my poor dear unhappy Vicky, who is constantly in my thoughts. - It rained. - Left the Embassy at 4, with Beatrice, Jane Churchill & Ld Lyons, the others following in another carriage. We went a long way, to the Gare de Lyon, past the poor Gardens of the Tuileries, & the Palace itself, seeing its ruins!, past the Louvre, saw the Débris of the Hôtel de Ville, the Conciergerie, part of the Boulevard Mazas, passing, opposite to the station, the celebrated Prison of Mazas, a huge iron barred, high walled building. Paris was brilliant, noisy, & full of life & activity. At the station, took leave of Ld Lyons. Splendid flowers were placed in my railway carriage. Passed Montereau, & later Sens, a fine town with a large & celebrated Cathedral. All these Towns, are celebrated in French History, & full of recollections. We reached La Roche at 7, & Tonnerre at 7.50, where we dined. - I was thinking constantly of my darling Vicky, & her terrible despair. She loved this child so devotedly, & he was so attached to her. - At Dijon received a telegram from Mile de Perpignan, saying, dear Vicky was not ill, but in terrible grief.
© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2012
© Bodleian Libraries © ProQuest