(NO. 39.) SECOND READING. (Hansard, 9 March 1866)

§ EARL GRANVILLE

In the absence of my noble Friend at the head of the Government, in consequence of indisposition—from which, however, I am happy to say he is fast recovering—I have the honour to ask your Lordships to agree to the second reading of this Bill. The object of it is to provide an annuity for the Princess Helena. I think it is almost unnecessary for me to state that with our undoubted love of our constitutional limited monarchy and our national institutions, and even from apart from any respect we may have for the personages who compose the Royal Family, we must feel it our duty, owing to a sense of dignity on the part of the country, to make due provision for the Members of that illustrious Family. Your Lordships are aware that the Queen has given up the estates which formerly belonged to the Crown; but it was not intended when those estates were surrendered that the Crown should have a smaller income than it enjoyed previously. There are already two precedents in regard to measures of this character. The first is that of the Princess Royal, and the second that of the Princess Alice. In the case, however, of the Princess Alice, as Her Royal Highness 1790 was not the eldest daughter of the Sovereign, a smaller sum was granted to her than had been granted to the Princess Royal. It is now proposed to give exactly the same annuity to the Princess Helena upon her marriage as was granted to the Princess Alice, that sum being a dowry of £30,000, and £6,000 a year. The three Royal marriages already concluded—those of the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice—have produced unalloyed domestic happiness, and I trust that the Princess Helena will meet with the same amount of happiness in the union which is about to take place. I may venture to recall to your Lordships' attention the fact, which must be known to all, that while the Princess Alice exhibited remarkable qualities both of mind and character at the time when her Royal mother met with a great calamity, yet as she left this country shortly afterwards in consequence of her marriage, which had been arranged before the death of the Prince Consort, the Princess Helena did after that time—she being the eldest unmarried daughter of the Queen—everything in her power to alleviate the sorrows of her Royal mother and comfort her by her society during her prolonged seclusion. Every one who has had an opportunity of witnessing this is aware of the singular affection with which Her Royal Highness discharged those duties towards the Queen. I think the happiness of the Princess will be greatly increased by the fact that, while she is about to be married to a Prince on whom she has bestowed her affections, she may hope to have the happiness of residing in this country and of continuing those filial attentions to her illustrious mother which she has hitherto found to be both a pleasure and a duly to discharge. I have now, therefore, to move that the Bill be read a second time.