The Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice on 14th December 1878 to the House of Commons, told this touching story.
The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria.
And so the doctors told the princess not to kiss her because by kissing her she would endanger her own life by breathing in the child’s breath.
Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death.
Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, "Momma, kiss me!"
Without thinking of herself, Princess Alice tenderly kissed her daughter.
And as a result she contracted diphtheria herself and died some days later.