In an interesting letter of 1843 to the Queen, recalling the days of their childhood, Princess Feodore, the Queen's half-sister, wrote-- "Many, many thanks, dearest Victoria, for your kind letter of the 7th from dear Claremont.

Oh I understand how you like being there.
Claremont is a dear quiet place; to me also the recollection of the few pleasant days I spent during my youth.

I always left Claremont with tears for Kensington Palace.

When I look back upon those years, which ought to have been the happiest in my life, from fourteen to twenty, I cannot help pitying myself.

Not to have enjoyed the pleasures of youth is nothing, but to have been deprived of all intercourse, and not one cheerful thought in that dismal existence of ours, was very hard.