THE BETROTHAL OF PRINCESS BEATRICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3277, 28 March 1885, Page 3

THE BETROTHAL OF PRINCESS BEATRICE.

(Times.) We have to makean announcement which will awaken sympathetic interest throughout the whole nation. The Queen's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, has been betrothed, with Her Majesty's consent, to Prince Henry of Baittonberg, ( third son of Prince Alexander of Hesse. The House from which Prince Henry springs is well known m this country, and i 3 already closely bound up with our own Royal House. '* His cousin is the Grand Dnke of Hesse, husband of the lamented Princess Alice ; and his eldest brother, Prince ' Louis of Battenberg, waa married last spring the Grand Duke's eldest daughter, the granddaughter of the Queen, Princess Victoria of Hesse. It is not unreasonable to surmise that the pleasant announcement which we make to-day is the result of the intimacy which musit naturally have aprnng from the marriage between Her Majesty's granddaughter and Prince Henry's brother. The good wishes of the people of these kingdoms will be heartily offered to Princess Beatrice on this happy occasion. Her devotion to her widowed mother has won her respect and affection wherever the English tongue is spoken. Owing to the many years during which she has been the constant companion of the Queen, the sharer of her joys, the comforter of her sorrows, the public seems to know far more of her than it usually known of unmarried Princesses of the Royal House, and can thus feel a peculiar sympathy with her now. There has not been wanting of late years occasions on which Princess Beatrice has come forward herself m aid of some work of charity or general usefulness, to open a hospital bazaar or to distribute prizes to female art j studentß. Her efforts have been watched and appreciated, and general congratulations will attend her on her marriage. But, after all, it is the mother and not the daughter of whom the country will think most. All the Queen's other children have married and established homes of their own, most of them many years ago ; and now the last is to leave her., The separation is, indeed, to be as slight as possible. Prince Henry is to take up his residence m England, and near to the Queen. But though the separation may be- minimised, it will remain' none the less a separation. It is now nearly fourteen years ago since Princess Louise was mar; riedto the Marquis of Lome, and throughout all that time Princess Beatrice has been the constant and often the sole companion of her mother. It is not difficult to realise how great must be the wrench at parting with her. Though the Princess and her husband be settled m Windsor Park or m the Isle of Wight, that will be a very different thing from her daily presence attheCastle, or at Osborne, or at Balmoral. Happily the Queen may look for other companions m her wide family circle. She may count upon the bereaved Duchess of Albany, with whom she shares a great and a recent sorrow ; and she is blessed with many grandchildren here and m Germany whose attendance she may command. Whatever the trials of Her Majesty's life, and they have been many and great, she has had no slight compensation ia the happy marriages of her sons and daughters, and m the unfailing sympathy of her people m all her domestic joys and sorrows. This sympathy will be.extended m full measure on an occasion which, while it forshadows, we trust, another happy marriage, takes from her home the last of the Queen's children.