She was all her life
a deeply religious woman, and though her observance of Sunday was
strict, she never allowed it to become a day of penance. Her religion
was 'humane'--indeed, her intense sympathy with all sorrow and
suffering was one of her supreme virtues, and her early upbringing
made her dislike all elaborate forms of ceremony during the service.
When in the Highlands she always attended the simple little
Presbyterian church, where the congregation was, for the most part,
made up of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood.
It is this simplicity and 'homeliness' of the Queen which were so
often misunderstood by those who could not realize how much she was
at one with her people. The Queen was never more happy than when she
was visiting some poor sufferer and comforting those in sorrow. Her
memory for the little events which made up the lives and happiness
of those far below her in social rank was amazing. She was a great
and a truly democratic Queen. She gave the greater portion of her
Jubilee present toward a fund to establish institutions to provide
nurses for the sick poor.
During the latter years of her reign, when she was less and less to
be seen at public functions and ceremonies, many complaints were made
about her reputed neglect of royal duties. She felt the injustice
of such statements very keenly and with good reason. No allowances
were made for her poor health, for her years, for the family losses
which left her every year more and more a lonely woman.
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