All seemed to breathe freedom and peace, and to make
one forget the world and its sad turmoils.' Mr Greville, as clerk of the
Council, saw the circle there in 1849, and thought the Queen and prince
appeared to great advantage, living in simplicity and ease. 'The Queen is
running in and out of the house all day long, and often goes about alone,
walks into the cottages, and sits down and chats with the old women.... I
was greatly struck with the prince. I saw at once that he is very
intelligent and highly cultivated; and, moreover, that he has a thoughtful
mind, and thinks of subjects worth thinking about. He seems very much at
his ease, very gay, pleasant, and without the least stiffness or air of
dignity.' The Queen was in Ireland in 1849, and had a splendid reception.
The Queen took possession of the new castle at Balmoral in the autumn of
1855, and a year later she wrote that 'every year my heart becomes more
fixed in this dear paradise, and so much more so now, that all has become
my dear Albert's own creation, own work, own building, own laying out, as
at Osborne; and his great taste, and the impress of his dear hand, have
been stamped everywhere.'
After building the cairn on the top of Craig Gowan, to commemorate their
taking possession of Balmoral, the Queen wrote: 'May God bless this place,
and allow us yet to see it and enjoy it many a long year.
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