health of one now so dear to me, and to take him under your special
protection. I hope and trust that all will go on prosperously and well on
this subject, now of so much importance to me.' Although in her heart
preferring Albert, she had been equally kind to both, and her preference
was as yet unknown. And as a mere preference it had for a while to remain,
as the princess was only seventeen, and the education of the prince was
yet incomplete. He was still on his student travels, collecting flowers
and views and autographs for the sweet maiden in England, when in 1837,
news reached him that by the death of William IV. she had attained her
great dignity, and was proclaimed queen.

[Illustration: The Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham
announcing to the Queen the Death of William IV.]

The death of William IV. took place at 2.30 A.M. on June 20, 1837.
According to a contemporary account, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord
Conyngham reached Kensington Palace about five as bearers of the news.
They desired to see _the Queen_. They were ushered into an apartment, and
in a few minutes the door opened, and she came in, wrapped in a
dressing-gown, with slippers on her naked feet, and with tearful eyes and
trembling lips. Conyngham told his errand in few words, and as soon as he
uttered the words 'Your Majesty,' she put out her hand to him to be
kissed. He dropped on one knee, and kissed her hand. The archbishop
likewise kissed her hand, and when he had spoken of the king's death, she
asked him for his prayers on her behalf.

The first result of the accession of Victoria was the separation of
Hanover from the British crown. By the Salic law of that realm, a woman
was not permitted to reign; and thus the German principality, which had
come to us with the first George, and which had led us into so many wars