In 1939 Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, decided to translate selections from the diary of her maternal great-grandmother Augusta, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The result was a fascinating glimpse of family history, covering the years from 1806 to 1821. It was a time that saw the last illness and death of her husband, the marriages of several of their children, and above all the war with Napoleon Bonaparte's France that ended with his escape from Elba and subsequent defeat at the battle of Waterloo.The book was published in 1941, but owing to wartime shortages, in a very small print run that quickly sold out and was not reprinted or reissued. This new edition includes the full text of the original, plus additional illustrations, a new foreword, and notes on the family of the Duchess.