DEATH OF PRINCE ALRERT.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 6, Issue 287, 10 April 1862, Page 4

DEATH OF PRINCE ALRERT.

During the Saturday morning—at least in the early part—his Royal Highness undoubtedly seemed better, and, notwithstanding that, his condition was in the highest degree precarious, tlie change, though sudden, was marked, and almost justified the strong hopes which were i-hen entertained that he would recover. This change, was but for a short time, and in fact, but one of those expiring efforts of nature which give delusive hopes to the mourners round so. many death-beds. Soon afterwards hia Royal Highness again relapsed, and before the evening it became evident that it was only a question of an . hour more or less. The Prince sank with alarming grapidity At four the physicians issued a bulletin stating that their patient was then in “a most critical condition,” which was indeed a sad truth, for at tliat time almost every hope of recovery passed away. Her Majesty and the Prince of Wales (who had travelled through the previous night from Cambridge) the. Princesses Alice and Helena, and the Prince and Princess Leiningen, were-with: their illustrious relative during all this mournful and most trying period. The approach of death from exhaustion was so rapid that all stimulants failed to, check the progressive increase of weakness, and the fatal termination was so clearly foreseen that, even before nine o’clock on Saturday evening a telegram, was forwarded from Windsor to. the city stating that the Prince Consort was then dying fast. Quietly and he continued slowly to sink, so. slowly that the wrists were pulseless long before the last moment bad arrived, when, at few minutes before eleven, be ceased to breathe, and all was oyer. An hour after and the solemn tones of the great bell of St. Paul’s—a bell of evil omen—told all citizens how irreparable has been the loss of their beloved Queen, how great the loss to. the country. The followingare extracts from a Windsor correspondent of a provincial paper, writing on Sunday ; “ Her Majesty beats up with considerable fortitude. To one who spoke to, her of resignation this morning, her Majesty replied, through her tears, ‘ I suppose I must not fret tQp, much, for many poor women have to go thro igh the same trials.’ Last night, about halfpast. eight o’clock, when no hope remain-, ed, her Majesty and her children were admitted into the chamber of death to, take a last earthly farewell of the Prince. All were present save the Crown Princess of Prussia, prince Alfred, and Prince Leopold. The scene was intensely painful affecting. The Princess Alice was carried from, the chamber in a state of hysterical agitation, and when the fatal news was communicated to her she was seized with a rigidity of thejnervea, and temporary insensibility which alarmed the attendants. The griel of her Majesty and her royal children was scarcely less intense. At ten o’clock, General Biddulph, master of the household entered the Prince’s chamber. The Prince did not know him. A state of coma had supervened, which continued until death j and in about an hour the

sufferer ceased to breathe. The Prince’s sufferings during the last day or two of his life are said to have been agonising. When an attempt was made to lift him, or mov; his {position, his groans were distressing to hear. During tlie latter part of yesterday his weakness was so great, that he could not raise his head from the pillow. The Queen’s attention to lier Royal consort has been most exemplary and unceasing. As his disorder approached its crisis, the Prince could not bear her to leave the room, and was impatient for her return. The Queen and the. Princess Alice sat up with him the whole of Friday night. About throe o’clock they were joined by tlie Prince of Wales, who remained with them during the rest of their mournful vigil. A gentleman who has seen the corpse informs me that the features have more than the usual pallor of death. The face, always composed and statuesque in . expression, is wonderfully calm, placid and peaceful in death. It is as if the figure had been suddenly transmuted into the whitest alabaster. It appears that Prince Albert has not been in a good state of health since his return from Scotland. His illness dates, howover, from his visit to the Prince of Wales at Cambridge, about a month ago, when he went out shooting, got wet through, and, it is said, was imprudent enough to sit in his wet clothes. The private apartments and corridors at Windsor Castle,are,l hear, kept at a temperature of about 60°, and hence the Prince took with him to Cambridge a susoep ibility to cold which rendered any long exposure imprudent, if not dange-r. rous. About a fortnight since the Queen and Prince Consort reviewed the Eton School Volunteer Rifle Corps. The rain fell fast during the ceremony, and the Prince was seized on the ground with pains in the back, resembliug an attack of lumbago. He became feverish and complained of pains in liis limbs. Confinement to. his room was ordered. Gastric fever- supervened, and wasted his strength. Typhoid fever followed, and his five physicians were unable to make head against this combination of maladies., I hear 'that Sir James Clark, a week ago, prophesied that last night would be the crisis of the patient’s disorder. Sir James and Dr. Jenner remain at the Castle, as matter of caution.. It is consolatory to. know that there is nothing infectious in the- disease which carried off the Prince. The marriage of the Princess Alice will be, it is believed, postponed for. another year.”