Respecting the succession, in case Ernest should die without children, it would not do to stipulate now, but your second son, if you had one, should reside at Coburg.

That can easily be arranged if the thing should happen hereafter, and the English would not like it to be arranged now...._ [Pageheading: THE DECLARATION] _Queen Victoria to the Prince Albert._ WINDSOR CASTLE, _23rd November 1839._ ...

Just arrived here, 5.30.Everything has gone off very well.

The Council[67] was held at two o'clock; more than a hundred persons were present, and _there_ I had to read the Declaration.

_It was rather an awful moment, to be obliged to announce this to so many people, many of whom were quite strangers, but they told me I did it very well, and I felt so happy to do it._ Good Lord Melbourne was deeply moved about it, and Uxbridge likewise; it lasted only two or three minutes.