"In a few minutes she came into the room," says Mr. Holmes, "a shawl thrown over her dressing-gown, her feet in slippers, and her hair falling down her back. She had been awakened by the Duchess of Kent, who told Her Majesty she must get up; she went alone into the room where Lord Conyngham and the archbishop were waiting. The Lord Chamberlain then knelt down, and presented a paper, announcing the death of her uncle, to the Queen; and the archbishop said he had come by desire of Queen Adelaide, who thought the Queen would like to hear in what a peaceful state the King had been at the last."
At nine o'clock the Prime Minister was received in audience alone; and soon afterwards an informal gathering of Privy Councillors, including the Queen's uncle, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Wellington, and a dozen or so of ministers, prelates, and officials, was held in the anteroom to the Council Chamber, when an address of fealty and homage was read aloud and signed by those present.
After this the doors were opened, "disclosing"--to quote the words of Mr. Barrett Lennard, now the sole survivor of the scene, except the Queen herself--"a large State Saloon, close to whose threshold there stood unattended a small, slight, fair-complexioned young lady, apparently fifteen years of age. She was attired in a close-fitting dress of black silk, her light hair parted and drawn from her forehead; she wore no ornament whatever on her dress or person. The Duke of Sussex advanced, embraced and kissed her--his niece the Queen. Lord Melbourne and others kissed hands in the usual form, and the Usher taking the address, closed the doors, and the Queen disappeared from our gaze. No word was uttered by Her Majesty or by any present, and no sound broke the silence, which seemed to me to add to the impressive solemnity of the scene."
The room where this took place is low and rather dark and gloomy, with pillars in it, supporting the floor of the "Cube Room" above.
The subsequent meeting of the Queen's first Council, which took place at eleven o'clock, is familiar to everyone from Wilkie's well-known picture--"though, at the expense of truth he has emphasized the principal figure by painting her in a white dress instead of the black which was actually worn." Her Majesty was introduced to the Council Chamber by her uncles, the Dukes of Cumberland and Sussex, and at once took her seat on a chair at the head of the table.