QUEEN VICTORIA'S RELATIONS AND FRIENDS It may be held to have been one of the chief blessings of Queen Victoria's girlhood that she was brought closely under the influence of an enlightened and large-minded Prince, Leopold, her maternal uncle, afterwards King of the Belgians.

He was born in 1790, being the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his youth was spent in the Russian military service.

He had shown talent and courage in the field, and had commanded a battalion at Luetzen and Leipsic.

He had married, in 1816, the Princess Charlotte, only child of George IV.

For many years his home was at Claremont, where the Princess Charlotte had died; there the Princess Victoria spent many happy holidays, and grew to regard her uncle with the most devoted affection, almost, indeed, in the light of a father.