liege Lady Victoria, to whom he acknowledged all faith and rightful
obedience, with all hearty and humble affection. It may be, the fact that
he had succeeded to the throne of Hanover rendered the step less difficult.
His name was also the first in the signatures of princes, Privy
Councillors, peers, and gentlemen affixed in the next room to the
proclamation. His brother, the Duke of Sussex, followed. They were both
elderly men, with the younger older in infirmities than in years. The King
of Hanover was sixty-six, the Duke of Sussex sixty-four years of age.

"And as these two old men, her uncles, knelt before her, swearing
allegiance and kissing her hand," Greville went on, with a sense of pathos,
curious for him, in the scene, "I saw her blush up to the eyes, as if she
felt the contrast between their civil and their natural relations, and this
was the only sign of emotion which she evinced. Her manner to them was very
graceful and engaging; she kissed them both, and rose from her chair and
moved towards the Duke of Sussex, who was farthest from her, and too infirm
to reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the multitude of men who were
sworn, and who came one after another to kiss her hand, but she did not
speak to anybody, nor did she make the slightest difference in her manner,
or show any in her countenance, to any individual of any rank, station, or
party. I particularly watched her when Melbourne and the Ministers, and the
Duke of Wellington and Peel approached her. She went through the whole
ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when she had
any doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, and with perfect coolness
and self-possession, but at the same time with a graceful modesty and
propriety particularly interesting and ingratiating. When the business was
done she retired as she had entered, and I could see that nobody was in the
adjoining room."

Mr. Greville's comment on the scene was singularly enthusiastic from such a