Then came a discussion over a clause in the Bill for the Naturalization
of the Prince, empowering the husband of the Queen to take precedence
over even the Royal Princes, and to be ever at her side, where he
belonged, which, though finally assented to by these most interested in
England--the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge--was stoutly opposed by their
elder brother, the Duke of Cumberland, for Heaven and Hanover had not
relieved the English Government of "the bogie." In support of his rights,
Wellington and Brougham stood out, and the clause was dropped. But the
Queen, by the exercise of her prerogative, gave the Prince the title of
Royal Highness, and made him a Field Marshal in the British army; and
about a month later, she settled the precedence question, as far as
concerned England, by proclaiming that by her royal will and pleasure her
husband should "enjoy place, pre-eminence and precedence, next to Her
Majesty."

The amiable Prince is said never to have cherished resentment towards Sir
Robert Peel and others who had voted to cut down his allowance, or the
Duke of Wellington, and Lord Brougham, who had argued that those tiresome
old gentlemen, the Royal Dukes, should have the right to walk and sit
next to _his_ wife on State occasions; but Victoria confesses that
she long felt "most indignant." She was hurt not only in her wifely love,
but in her queenly pride.

Greville says of Kings: "The contrast between their apparent authority
and the contradictions which they practically meet with, must be
peculiarly galling--more especially to men whose minds are seldom
regulated by the beneficial discipline of education, and early collision
with their equals." It must be yet more "galling" for Queens, because
they always have been more flattered, and are imaginative enough to fancy
that in grasping the symbols they hold the power.