serene repose; two or three long but gentle breaths were drawn; and that
great soul had fled to seek a nobler scope for its aspirations in the
world within the veil, for which it had often yearned, where there is rest
for the weary, and where the "spirits of the just are made perfect."'

The funeral took place on the 23d December, at Frogmore, and the Prince of
Wales was the chief mourner. The words on the coffin were as follow: 'Here
lies the most illustrious and exalted Albert, Prince-Consort, Duke of
Saxony, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Knight of the most noble Order of
the Garter, the most beloved husband of the most august and potent Queen
Victoria. He died on the 14th day of December 1861, in the forty-third
year of his age.'

A Prince indeed,
Beyond all titles, and a household name,
Hereafter, through all time, Albert the Good.

On that sad Christmas which followed the prince's death the usual
festivities were omitted in the royal household, and the nation mourned in
unison with the Queen for the great and good departed.

It has been well said by a distinguished writer that it was only 'since
his death, and chiefly since the Queen's own generous and tender impulse
prompted her to make the nation the confidant of her own great love and
happiness, that the Prince-Consort has had full justice.... Perhaps, if
truth were told, he was too uniformly noble, too high above all soil and
fault, to win the fickle popular admiration, which is more caught by
picturesque irregularity than by the higher perfections of a wholly worthy
life.'