Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom "in heaven, but Beatrice hopes she will return". This comfort was significant because Queen Victoria had isolated herself from her children except the eldest unmarried, Princess Alice, and Beatrice. Queen Victoria again relied on Beatrice and Alice after the death of Albert, of typhoid fever, on 14 December. The depth of the Queen's grief over the death of her husband surprised her family, courtiers, politicians and general populace. As when her mother died, she shut herself off from her family—most particularly, the Prince of Wales, (whom she blamed for her husband's death), with the exception of Alice and Beatrice. Queen
Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont Cannes, France, in March 1884. At the time of Leopold's death, Helena was pregnant with their second child. The couple had two children: According to the memoirs of Helena's daughter, Princess Alice of Albany, Helena was very intelligent, had a strong sense of duty, and a genuine love of welfare work. The Queen, initially worried that Helena might turn out to be a stereotypically-remote German Princess, remarked in a letter to her eldest daughter The Princess Royal and German Crown Princess that she was pleased Helena liked 'to go among the people.' The Queen soon came to regard her young