CHRISTMAS IN WINDSOR CASTLE.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2870, 27 April 1878, Page 4

CHRISTMAS IN WINDSOR CASTLE.

The humorous writer of the New York Times has found in the recently published Life of the Prince Consort the following interesting particulars of a particular Christmas spent by the Royal family at ■Windsor Castle, although we fear that it would be useless for our readers to seek them there :-— Tho particular Christmas referred to was that of the year 1847. Especial efforts were made to render that occasion one of unusual domestic felicity. The Prince Consort had said " Mother, we must have a first-class shindy for the children this time," and the amiable Queen had answered, " Albert, we will just make things whoop." Accordingly, an immense amount of presents was provided, and the Royal parents determined to personally superintend the filling of Iho stockings—a duly which ordinarily ' devolved upon Lord John ttussell. •" On Christmas ore " —so we are-told— "the Queen remarked, 'Albert, I believe I will hang up my own stocking, and you shall fill it.' The Prince, with that excellent good sense which, never failed him, replied : 'My dear, it will not do. There anusl be a limit to the size of stockings. Hang up a pillow-case, if you want to, or even a bolster, but remember that I can't afford to sit up all night filling unlimited £pace with expensive presents.'" Her Majesty thereupon changed her mind, and, full of anxiety to make her husband happy, volunteered to fill the stockings herself, so that the Prince could go to bed early. During the ovening the children were, of course, unusually wide awake. Half a dozen times was the Queen compelled to go to the foot of the front stairs, and order them to go instantly to sleep. Threats were even necessary before they could be quieted, and the Prince Concert was finally obliged to remark,/'lfyou children let mo hear one more word out of you this night, I shall come upstains with a club." Whereupon the children ceased their uproar, and by 10 o'clock were soundly asleep. " It was the wish of the Prince," continues the narrative, "to sleep in the nursery with the children, so that he could see them open their stockings in* the morning." As the Queen desired to hang a portrait of herself over the Prince's bed, as a pleasant surprise for him, she was compelled to wait until he was sound asleep. At 1 o'clock a.m. her Majesty stealthily entered the nursery, with some well-filled stockings hanging on her arm. Just as she crossed the threshold two of the stockings slipped from her grasp, and fell with considerable noise, but without awakening the children or interrupting Prince Albert's gentle enore. It so happened that the Duke of Wellington had, when filling the stove for the night, inadvertenly left a coal-scuttle in the middle of the floor, and the Queen, not dreaming of such an obstacle, fell over it with a loud crash. The Prince r<r of Wales moved uneasily in his bed, but continued to sleep soundly, as did all the ■ other children and their gracious father, fortunately, the Queen fell on the stock- . ings, which were largely stuffed with molasses candy of a yielding nature, and so sustained no injury. Finally the stockings were hung in their proper place, and the Queen .proceeded to place her portrait on the wall over the Prince Consort's head.. To do this it was necessary for her to stand on the bed. Now to walk over a well-filled bed in a dimly-lighted room is a . difficult operation, and it thus happened that the Queen stepped somewhat heavily upon the Prince. It was the last straw that broke his princely slumbers, and also flattened his ribs. In those circumstances, instead of betraying impatience, he merely groaned heavily, and exclaimed, "Go on ; smash in the rent of them!' Get the Princess of Cambridge to help yon Let joy be unconfined!" and further language to that effect. So moved was her Majesty by his suffering and fortitude that she burst into tears and nearly fell upon him, thereby eliciting a yell of terror. This woke up the children, who fancying that morning had arrived, clutched their stockings, and 1 began the joyful uproar which-in every ; happy home ushers in the blessed Christmas morn. "There waa not a ciosed eye in the castle from that moment until breakfast time "—continues the writer or the narrative. When the Soyal pair met at the breakfast table they were _as tired as if they had attended a ball." The Prince withdrew to his own apartment as soon as the meal was ended, and played on the flute for several hours—an exercise which always calmed his mind, and fitted other persons to bear the prospect of early death; while the Queen signed "three death-warrants with a firmness which she had never before displayed.. Before j night every one of the children were writhing in the agonies of colic, and the court physician had expressed an opinion that the Prince Consort's ribs were in a most precarious condition. "It was then decided," adds the biographer, " that the custom of hanging up stockings should be abolished in the precincts of the castle -—a resolution wbich has been strictly kept." ...