The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume 1: 1837-1843 | Page 6

important privileges, which were guaranteed at the Congress of
Vienna. First, and most important, they were reckoned as "ebenburtig,"
which means that they could contract equal marriages with the Royal
Houses, and these marriages were recognised as valid for the
transmission of rights of inheritance. Many of them had vast private
estates, and though they were subjected to the sovereignty of the
princes in whose dominions these lay, they enjoyed very important
privileges, such as exemption from military service, and from many
forms of taxation; they also could exercise minor forms of jurisdiction.
They formed, therefore, an intermediate class. Since Germany, as a
whole, afforded them no proper sphere of political activity, the more
ambitious did not disdain to take service with Austria or Prussia, and,
to a less extent, even with the smaller States. It was possible, therefore,

for the Queen's mother, a Princess of Saxe-Coburg, to marry the Prince
of Leiningen without losing caste. Her daughter, the Princess Feodore,
the Queen's half-sister, married Ernest, Prince of
Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and thus established an interesting connection
with perhaps the most widely-spread and most distinguished of all
these families. The House of Hohenlohe would probably still have been
a reigning family, had not the Prince of Hohenlohe preferred to fight in
the Prussian army against Napoleon, rather than receive gifts from him.
His lands were consequently confiscated and passed to other princes
who were less scrupulous. The family has given two Ministers
President to Prussia, a General in chief command of the Prussian army,
a Chancellor to the German Empire, and one of the most distinguished
of modern military writers. They held, besides their extensive
possessions in Würtemberg and Bavaria, the County of Gleichen in
Saxe-Coburg.
[Pageheading: FAMILY CONNECTIONS]
It will be seen therefore that the Queen was intimately connected with
all classes that are to be found among the ruling families of Germany,
though naturally with the Catholic families, which looked to Austria
and Bavaria for guidance, she had no close ties. But it must be borne in
mind that her connection with Germany always remained a personal
and family matter, and not a political one; this was the fortunate result
of the predominance of the Coburg influence. Had that of the House of
Hanover been supreme, it could hardly have been possible for the
Queen not to have been drawn into the opposition to the unification of
Germany by Prussia, in which the House of Hanover was bound to take
a leading part, in virtue of its position, wealth, and dignity.
It will be as well here to mention the principal reigning families of
Europe to which Queen Victoria was closely allied through her mother.
The Duchess of Kent's eldest brother, Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg,
was the father of Albert, Prince Consort. Her sister was the wife of
Alexander, Duke of Würtemberg. The Duchess of Kent's nephew,
Ferdinand (son of Ferdinand, the Duchess's brother), married Maria da
Gloria, Queen of Portugal, and was father of Pedro V. and Luis, both

subsequently Kings of Portugal.
The Duchess's third brother, Leopold (afterwards King of the Belgians),
married first the Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV., and
afterwards the Princess Louise Marie, eldest daughter of King Louis
Philippe. Prince Augustus (son of Ferdinand, the Duchess of Kent's
brother) married another daughter of Louis Philippe, the Princess
Clémentine, while Prince Augustus's sister, Victoria, married the Duc
de Nemours, a son of Louis Philippe. Another nephew, Duke Friedrich
Wilhelm Alexander, son of the Duchess of Würtemberg, married the
Princess Marie, another daughter of Louis Philippe.
Thus Queen Victoria was closely allied with the royal families of
France, Portugal, Belgium, Saxe-Coburg, and Würtemberg.
On turning to the immediate Royal Family of England, it will be seen
that the male line at the time of the Queen's accession was limited to
the sons, both named George, of two of the younger brothers of George
IV., the Dukes of Cumberland and Cambridge. The sons of George III.
played their part in the national life, shared the strong interest in
military matters, and showed the great personal courage which was a
tradition of the family.
[Pageheading: THE ENGLISH ROYAL FAMILY]
It must be borne in mind that abstention from active political life had
been in no sense required, or even thought desirable, in members of the
Royal House. George III. himself had waged a life-long struggle with
the Whig party, that powerful oligarchy that since the accession of the
House of Hanover had virtually ruled the country; but he did not carry
on the conflict so much by encouraging the opponents of the Whigs, as
by placing himself at the head of a monarchical faction. He was in fact
the leader of a third party in the State. George IV. was at first a strong
Whig, and lived on terms of