tidings of it had not yet reached the western world, the Archduke
Maximilian, whom the English royal family had never met, arrived
at Windsor, and was hailed there as one who was soon to become
a relative, for he was engaged to King Leopold's only daughter,
the Princess Charlotte of Belgium.

The queen and her husband were charmed with Maximilian. "He is
a young prince," writes Prince Albert, "of whom we hear nothing
but good, and Charlotte's alliance with him will be one of the
heart. May Heaven's blessing," he adds, "be upon a connection so
happily begun, and in it may they both find their life's truest
happiness!"

The queen also wrote to her uncle Leopold,--

"The archduke is charming,--so clever, natural, kind, and amiable;
so English in his feelings and likings. With the exception of the
mouth and chin, he is good looking, but I think one does not the
least care for that, he is so very kind, clever, and pleasant. I
wish you really joy, dearest uncle, at having got such a husband
for dear Charlotte. I am sure he will make her happy, and do a
great deal for Italy."

Prince Albert crossed over to Belgium for the wedding, and wrote
to his wife: "Charlotte's whole being seems to have been warmed
and unfolded by the love that is kindled in her heart. I have never
seen so rapid a development in the space of one year. She appears
to be happy and devoted to her husband with her whole soul, and
eager to make herself worthy of her present position."

At the time of her marriage the princess had just entered her
seventeenth year. The wedding-day was made a little family fete at
Windsor, in spite of Prince Albert's absence. "The younger children,"
the queen writes to her husband, "are to have a half-holiday. Alice
is to dine with us for the first time, in the evening. We shall
drink the archduke's and the archduchess's healths, and I have
ordered wine for our servants, and grog for our sailors, to do the
same."

Maximilian had been round the world in his frigate, the "Novara;"
he had travelled into Greece and Asia Minor, he had visited Spain,
Portugal, and Sicily; he had been to Egypt and the Holy Land. He
loved the ocean like a true sailor, and in 1856 he had taken up his
residence at Trieste, to be near its shores. He would frequently
go out alone in a light boat, even in rough weather, a dash of
danger lending excitement to a struggle with the wind and waves.

One day in a storm his light craft had been borne like