t there was a separation, followed by a divorce.
The Duchess retired to Paris, and died unhappily in 1831. Her memory was
always very dear to Albert.

He grew up a pretty, clever, and high-spirited boy. Usually
well-behaved, he was, however, sometimes violent. He had a will of
his own, and asserted it; his elder brother was less passionate, less
purposeful, and, in their wrangles, it was Albert who came out top. The
two boys, living for the most part in one or other of the Duke's country
houses, among pretty hills and woods and streams, had been at a very
early age--Albert was less than four--separated from their nurses and
put under a tutor, in whose charge they remained until they went to the
University. They were brought up in a simple and unostentatious manner,
for the Duke was poor and the duchy very small and very insignificant.
Before long it became evident that Albert was a model lad. Intelligent
and painstaking, he had been touched by the moral earnestness of his
generation; at the age of eleven he surprised his father by telling him
that he hoped to make himself "a good and useful man." And yet he was
not over-serious; though, perhaps, he had little humour, he was full
of fun--of practical jokes and mimicry. He was no milksop; he rode, and
shot, and fenced; above all did he delight in being out of doors, and
never was he happier than in his long rambles with his brother through
the wild country round his beloved Rosenau--stalking the deer, admiring
the scenery, and returning laden with specimens for his natural
history collection. He was, besides, passionately fond of music. In one
particular it was observed that he did not take after his father: owing
either to his peculiar upbringing or to a more fundamental idiosyncrasy
he had a marked distaste for the opposite sex. At the age of five, at a
children's dance, he screamed with disgust and anger when a little girl
was led up to him for a partner; and though, later on, he grew more
successful in disguising such feelings, the feelings remained.

The brothers were very popular in Coburg, and, when the time came for
them to be confirmed, the preliminary examination which, according to
ancient custom, was held in public in the "Giants' Hall" of the
Castle, was attended by an enthusiastic crowd of functionaries, clergy,
delegates from the villages of the duchy, and miscellaneous onlookers.
There were also present, besides the Duke and the Dowager Duchess, their
Ser