Letter from Queen Victoria to Leopold I, King of Belgium:
“My beloved Uncle,—I am thankful to report decidedly better if my beloved Albert. He has had much more sleep, and has taken much more nourishment since yesterday evening. Altogether, this nasty, feverish sort of influenza and deranged stomach is on the mend, but it will be slow and tedious, and though there has not been run one alarming symptom, there has been such restlessness, such sleeplessness, and such (till to-day) total refusal of all food, that it made one very, very anxious, and I can’t describe the anxiety I have gone through! I feel to-day a good deal shaken, for for four nights I got only two or three hours’ sleep. We have, however, every reason to hope the recovery, though it may be somewhat tedious, will not be very slow. You shall hear again to-morrow.
Ever your devoted Niece, Victoria R”