Princess Alice of the United Kingdom papers to and from her government ministers, while the Queen secluded herself from all public life. Alice was aided in this task by her younger sister Princess Louise. Although Princess Helena, Louise's elder sister, would normally have been selected to assist, her inability to go long without crying was held against her. Alice's matrimonial plans were begun in 1860 by her mother. Queen Victoria had expressed her wish that her children should marry for love, but this did not mean that her choice of suitors would necessarily be extended to anybody outside the royal houses of Europe. Raising a British
Beatrice of Portugal to a daughter who lived only a few days, so Beatrice remained the only legitimate child of King Ferdinand I. King Ferdinand I of Portugal died on 22 October 1383. Leonor Teles, his widow, in accordance with the Treaty of Salvaterra and the testament of the deceased monarch, assumed the regency and government of the Kingdom in the name of her daughter. The regent maintained her clique of Castilian Petrists, which strengthened an opposition faction that demanded that the Council of the regent only included councilors of Portuguese origin. News of the death of the Portuguese King came to John