OUR SOVEREIGN LADY
QUEEN VICTORIA:
HER LIFE AND JUBILEE.
BY
THOMAS ARCHER, f.r.h.s.,
Author of " Pictures and Royal Portraits, illustrative of English and Scottish History;' « Fifty Years
of Social and Political Progress ; " "The War in Egypt and the Soudan ; &c.
ILLUSTRATED BY AN ORIGINAL SERIES OF HIGHLY-FINISHED ETCHINGS.
The present year, 1887, will mark an epoch in the social
and domestic as well as in the imperial History of Britain,
as being the Jubilee Year of the reign of Queen Victoria.
Everywhere in the United Kingdom, and throughout the
British Empire, there is an earnest desire among all classes
of the community to join in celebrating what is regarded
as a real occasion for public rejoicing, not only because Our
Gracious Queen and Governor has reigned for fifty years-not
solely because that reign has been marked in a high degree by
national progress and prosperity.-but also for the reason that
the Sovereign has displayed those personal and household
virtues which are dear to her people, with whom she has
ever manifested sincere, and it may even be said, familiar
svmpathv. rTT . ,
' While many of the celebrations of the Jubilee of Her Majesty s
(Vols.)
reign will be marked by all the pomp and splendour which
properly belong to great national demonstrations, and while
institutions of various kinds will be formed in honour of the
occasion, it is believed that for the multitudes of men and women
who regard the Queen with a sentiment that may be spoken of
as that of personal regard and affection, no more fitting memorial
can be provided than a complete and worthy Life o( our Sover-
eign Lady — a " Life," such as that which is here announced.
The forthcoming narrative will present a biographical rather
than a historical record: a record, faithful, interesting, and well
illustrated, of the Royal Family and of the Queen as Sovereign
Lady rather than as Sovereign Ruler. It is designed to be a
complete and consecutive account, derived from the most trust-
worthy sources, of the life story of the revered and beloved
Lady to whom we owe more than ordinary allegiance!; and it
will also be a permanent record of the celebrations by which
the year will be distinguished. This will of itself constitute a
distinguishing feature of the Work, and materially add to its
historical value.
To narrate such a story as will be presented would, of
course, be impossible without taking into important account
the many great events and public occasions with which the
Queen and the Royal Family have been personally and in-
timately associated; but the chief endeavour of the author
will be directed to bringing before the reader in a bright and
attractive form the chronicle of more than fifty years of the
real life, the pure womanly, and therefore truly Royal life of
our gracious Queen. For though Her Majesty as a constitu-
tional sovereign has always taken a direct and personal part
■ — a larger part than is frequently supposed — in the government
of the country, it is less the political or imperial aspect of her
sovereignty, than the still higher recognition of it by the will
and affection of the nation, that leads our thoughts towards
emphatic and significant demonstrations of reverence and regard,
now that we seek to celebrate the jubilee of her reign.
The life of Queen Victoria has been in perfect accord with
the real life of the nation, for with the "people," their hopes
and efforts, their aspirations and their troubles, the highest
Lady in the land has ever been in sympathy. For cottagers
and peasants — workers in factory and mine, at loom and forge
■ — for soldiers in the ranks, sailors in the forecastle, toilers by
sea and land — for all who strive to do their duty — she has
on countless occasions manifested true and gentle interest, and
in their times of rejoicing or of sorrowing has sought to convey
to them assurances of her constant desire to be at one with
them in the sentiments that rule the heart and support the
spirit of a nation.
" Let my people see me," said the youthful Queen on one
of the earliest occasions on which she chose an open carriage,
that she might more freely respond to the loyal demonstrations
of welcome from the crowds that filled the streets. The words
were significant. For many succeeding years, and until the
shadow of a great sorrow had fallen upon her, and more than
the weight of passing days had impaired her strength, the
Queen may be said to have lived in the sight of her people.
The story of her life from year to year, even to the present
hour, is one that will deeply interest loyal and truthful souls, to
whom she has been ever true and loyal.
The publishers, therefore, have reason to believe that this
work will be received with hearty welcome as a complete and
timely memorial of Her Majesty's Jubilee, and they will spare
no pains to make it worthy of the occasion by producing it
in an elegant and attractive form.
The work will be in form small 4to, printed in the best
manner on a fine paper specially manufactured for the pur-
pose. The illustrations will consist of a series ot twenty-eight
highly-finished etchings, including portraits of Her Majesty,
the late Prince Consort, and all the members of their Family;
also scenes and events, public and private, in which the Queen
has personally taken part.
*#* The work will be published exclusively by subscription, and will be
issued in 4 volumes, cloth extra, gilt edges, price cjs. each. No subscriber's
name will be received for less than the entire work. Any subscriber who
through change of address or otherwise is not regularly supplied, will please
notify the Publishers.
LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, PUBLISHERS,
GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN.
( Vols. )
QUEEN VICTORIA
HER LIFE AND JUBILEE.
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OUR SOVEREIGN LADY
QUEEN VICTORIA:
HER LIFE AND JUBILEE.
BY
THOMAS ARCHER, f.r.h.s.
AUTHOR OK "FIFTY YEARS OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PROGRESS;"
"THE WAR IN EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF HIGHLY-FINISHED ETCHINGS.
VOL. I.
/
n
yO- h
LONDON:
BLACKIE & SON, PUBLISHERS,
GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, & DUBLIN.
1887.
GLASGOW :
W. O. BLACKIK AND CO., PKINTEILS,
V1LLAFIELD.
CONTENTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Her Majesty Queen Victoria, set. 22.
From the picture by Winterhalter, etched by A. Ramus Frontispiece.
Victoria Maria Louisa, Duchess of Kent.
From the picture by Winterhalter, etched by A. Ramus 76
The Princess Victoria makes a Discovery, 1831.
From the drawing by Gordon Browne, etched by Thomas Brown, 1 28
Albert, Prince Consort, set. 22.
From the picture by Winterhalter, etched by Thomas Brown, 1 82
Queen Victoria's First Council.
From the picture by Sir David Wilkie, R.A., etched by F. Fraenkel, 202
The Coronation — The Homage : the Archbishop of Canterbury as premier
Peer kissing hands.
From the drawing by T. Walter Wilson, R. I., etched by William French, 234
The Queen's Plantagenet Ball, 1842 — First Quadrille, "France."
From the drawing by T. Walter Wilson, R.I., etched by Frank Willis, 268
CHAPTER I.
1
A new national era: Birth of the Princess
Victoria in 1 819,
Kensington Palace and Gardens — The
Home of previous English Queens — En-
larged by Queen Caroline of Anspach, .
The Court of William and Mary — Ken-
sington Palace in the Reign of Queen
Anne, ......
8
Accession of the House of Hanover— Char-
acter of George I. — Fashionable Society
in his day — His dislike to his son George, 1 4
Fashions of Dress in time of George II. —
" Morning Receptions," . . 23
George II. and his Queen Caroline — Their
sons Frederick Prince of Wales and
William Augustus — Death of the Queen
and the Prince — Kensington Palace
abandoned as a Royal Residence,
26
Accession of George III. — Ascendency of
the Earl of Bute — Early Training of the
King — His attachment to Lady Sarah
Lennox — He marries Princess Charlotte, 3 1
Buckingham House purchased — Domestic
Life of George III. and Queen Charlotte
— The Royal Family at Kew House, . 38
George III.'s sons — Edward Augustus,
afterwards Duke of Kent — Is neglected
by his Father and Brothers — Sent to
VI
CONTENTS.
study in Germany and Switzerland — I lis
limited Allowance of Money — His Mili-
tary Career at Gibraltar and in the West
Indies — His Pecuniary Difficulties, . 42
Edward Augustus returns to England — Is
made Duke uf Kent and Commander of
the Forces in North America — After-
wards sent to Gibraltar, and suddenly
recalled — A Court-martial refused — His
Affairs administered by Trustees, . 50
The Duke of Kent's Political Creed— Is
made a Field-Marshal — Repudiation of
the Charges against the Duke of York —
Interposition in the unhappy relations
between the Prince Regent and the
Princess Caroline — Refuses to see Caro-
line's intercepted Letters — He retires to
Brussels, . . . . . -53
Illness of George III. — His Jubilee, . 57
The Prince of Wales appointed Regent-
Birth of his Daughter, . . 58
Early years of the Princess Charlotte —
Betrothal to the Prince of Orange— ller
opposition to the Match, . . .59
Prince Leopold of Coburg— Ilis Marriage
to the Princess Charlotte, . . .64
Baron Stockmar, Leopold's Confidential
Secretary— His -Sketches of the Regent
and Royal Dukes, . -67
Household of Leopold and Princess Char-
lotte—Death of the Princess— Sinister
Accusations against the Regent and
Queen Charlotte— Suicide of the Phy-
sician Sir Richard Croft, . . .72
Marriages of the Dukes of Kent and Clar-
ence—Death of Queen Charlotte, . 74
The Duke and Duchess of Kent at Amor-
bach — Pecuniary Embarrassments -
Difficulty of return to England— Resi-
dence in Kensington Palace, . . 77
Birth of the Princess Victoria, . 79
Birth of Prince Albert, . . 81
Baptism of the young Princess — The
Regent's choice of a Name, .
Descent of Queen Victoria from the
Saxon Egbert, .....
Infancy of the Princess Death of the
Duke of Kent at Sidmouth, .
PAGE
83
85
86
92
96
100
The widowed Duchess returns to Kensing-
ton— Kindness of the Princess Adelaide, 90
Death oi George III. — Funeral of his son
the I Hike of Kent, . . . -91
Upbringing of the infant Princes, — A
Mother's Devotion — Their simple life
at Kensington — The Duke of York's
Present Mr. Wilberforce's Visit,
The daily routine at Kensington— Affec-
tion of her half-sister Feodora for the
young Princess— A dangerous Accident
— The Princess and her pet Donkey —
Visits to Ramsgalc -Miss Jane Porter's
description of the royal Child,
The Princess at play in Kensington Gar-
dens— A Present from George IV.,
Baroness Lehzen becomes Governess and
J >r. Davys Tutor to the Princess —
Anecdotes of her Childhood — Reminis-
cences and Recollections,
Happy Days at Claremont,
Death of George IV. and Accession of
William IV. — Events at Home and
Abroad — Leopold becomes King of the
Belgians, . . . . . .114
Character of the" Sailor King" — Appoint-
ment of a Provisional Regency — Un-
founded dislike to Queen Adelaide, . 120
Marriage of the Princess Feodora, . . 123
The Duchess of Kent and the Princess at
their Summer Quarters — -The Princess's
Pocket-money, . . . . .124
Sir Walter Scott presented to the young
Princess — How she discovered her near-
ness to the Throne, . . . .126
102
112
CONTENTS.
VII
Annual Allowance voted for the Princess
— Her Education and Instructors —
Death of her Grandmother the Duchess-
dowager of Coburg,
. 12S
CHAPTER II.
First Appearance of the Princess at Court
— Rumours regarding her absence from
the Coronation Ceremony of William IV.
— Her Thirteenth Birthday — Reasons
for her comparative Seclusion, . . 131
Portraits of the Princess — Her Tour
through England and Wales, . . 137
The Iron Duke's Ministry — Demands for
Reform— Sir Robert Pee!, . . . 13S
Earl Grey's Ministry — Lord John Russell
introduces a Reform Bill — Parliament
dissolved — Agitation and serious Riots
— The "National Hymn," . . . 142
The Reform Bill passed — Slavery abo-
lished — Religious and Philanthropic
Activity — Epidemic of Cholera, . .153
A pleasant Excursion through some parts
of England and Wales — Addresses and
Receptions — Simple life passed in the
Isle of Wight — Narrow escape of the
Princess on board the Emerald — Visit to
Queen Maria of Portugal at Portsmouth, 156
Society at Kensington Palace — Visit of
Southey — The Princess confirmed, . 162
Authenticity of the numerous Anecdotes
and Reminiscences of the Princess — Her
Visit to Ascot — An American's Criticism
on the Royal Party — A State Dinner at
Burghley Castle — With the Duke of
Wellington at Walmer Castle, . .166
Visit of the King of the Belgians — His wife
Louise, daughter of Louis Philippe, . 171
King William's bitter feeling towards the
Duchess of Kent — A Scene at the Royal
Table — Intrigues of the Princess Lieven
— Charges against the Duke of Cum-
berland — A significant Toast — The
Conspiracy of the Orange Societies, . 173
William IV. 's opposition to the young
Prince of Coburg seeking the Princess
in marriage— Personal Appearance and
Character of Prince Albert — His early
Training — His Father's second Marriage
— Prince Albert and his brother Ernest
at Rosenau — Their Visit to Berlin, . 1S1
Proposed Visit of Prince Albert to Eng-
land— Stockmar's Advice — Albert and
Victoria meet in Kensington Palace — ■
Victoria's Estimate of the Prince — Her
Letter to her uncle Leopold — Albert
and his Brother at Brussels and Bonn, . 189
Celebration of the Princess Victoria's
Eighteenth Birthday — Illness of King
William — Letters from the young Prince
at Bonn — The Ball at St. James's Palace, 193
Baron Stockmar arrives in England —
His relations to King Leopold and the
Princess, . . . . . .196
Death of King William — The News
brought to Kensington — Its reception
by the Princess, ..... 197
Victoria meets the Privy- council — The
Scene described by Greville — Her De-
claration — The Proclamation — Mother
and Daughter, . . . . . 199
Admiration and Affection for the young
Queen — Sir Robert Peel's Speech in the
House, 203
The Queen receives Prince Albert's Con-
gratulations— His present of an Album —
Her Sympathy for the widowed Queen, 206
Her Majesty's first appearance before Par-
liament—Address to both Houses— Her
enthusiastic Reception, . . .210
The Queen entertained by the Lord-mayor
and Corporation of London, . . 212
Lord Melbourne as Prime-minister — His
influence with the Queen — Baroness
Lehzen and Baron Stockmar— Opening
of the Queen's first Parliament, . .215
Vlll
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
PAGE
Preparations for the Coronation — The
Scene in Westminster Abbey — The
Procession and the Ceremonial — Doing
Homage, ...... 222
Resignation of the Melbourne Ministry —
Sir Robert Peei and the Ladies of the
Bed-chamber, ..... 239
Proposed Marriage with Prince Albert
— The Prince in Italy — His Visit to
England — Love on both sides — The
Royal Courtship — Letter-writing and
Letter- reading, ..... 245
The Privy-council and Parliament informed
of the intended Marriage — Questions of
the Prince's Annuity and Position, . 255
The Prince's Journey to England— His
Reception on landing, .... 259
The Royal Marriage — Appearance of her
Majesty and of the Prince — The Cere-
mony in the Chapel-Royal, St. James's
Palace — The Wedding Breakfast — The
Royal Pair leave for Windsor, . .261
Court Festivities — Depressed State of
Trade — Grand Ball for the Relief of the
Spitalfields Weavers — The Great Cos-
tume Pall or "Queen's Plantagenet
Ball" given at Buckingham Palace, . 267
QUEEN VICTORIA
HER LIFE AND JUBILEE.
CHAPTER I.
Birth of the Princess Alexandrina Victoria. The Opening of a New National Prospect. Ken-
sington Palace and Gardens. The Queen's Predecessors. A Retrospect of the House of
Hanover. The Georges. Family of George III. The Prince Regent and the Royal
Dukes. Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold. The Duke of Kent. His Marriage and
Return to England. The Duchess of Kent. The Future Queen. Her Sponsors and
Teachers. Early Training and Education. On the First Step to the Throne.
ON the morning of the twenty-fourth of May, in the year
eighteen hundred and nineteen, an event, destined to
be a blessing to this country and to the great colonies and
dependencies included in the British Empire, was made known
in the brief announcement :—" At a quarter past four o'clock
this morning, at Kensington Palace, Her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Kent, of a daughter."
There were neither electric telegraphs to flash the message
to remote regions of the world, nor railways to carry it swiftly
to distant provincial towns and villages in the United Kingdom;
but as quickly as the news spread, it awakened deep interest
among thoughtful people not only in England but on the
Continent of Europe. There appeared to be little immediate
probability of the infant princess succeeding to the throne, but
peculiar circumstances had placed the royal authority in the
hands of the Prince Regent, who was fifty-seven years old. His
Vol. I. 1
QUEEN VICTORIA.
daughter the Princess Charlotte had died two years before;, and
as only the Duke of York and the Duke of Cumberland had
been married previous to that event and were still childless,
the announcement from Kensington Palace gave to the nation
an impression, which soon became a lively hope, that the infant
daughter of the Duke of Kent might become Oueen.
An impartial retrospect of the history of social and political
progress in England during the past fifty years will show how
great has been the influence exercised, — at first perhaps almost
unconsciously, — but always honestly and directly, — by a sovereign
who in her earliest days won the hearts of the people by the
happy characteristics of fearlessness, simplicity, and truthfulness,
no less than by a personal charm which was altogether different
and superior to the artificial mannerism of mere etiquette. The
early training and the native disposition of the Princess Victoria
had made it impossible to her to endure the sickening atmo-
sphere of court intrigue, and she appeared to a multitude of loyal
souls as a gracious, pure, and childlike presence, coming forth
unsullied by old evil traditions, low aims, and narrow selfish
interests; to represent from the throne a genuine sympathy with
the higher aspirations and brighter hopes which had begun to
stir even the masses of the people.
Considering the period of turbulent political demonstration
that had preceded and followed the passing of the Reform
Bill, and the rumbling of the storm which wrought such changes
in France and Belgium, it may well be believed that by the
accession of the young princess, and the sentiments of loyalty
evoked by her youth and the frank confidence with which she
trusted her subjects — serious social and political dangers were
averted. It is quite certain that the pure — womanly, sincere,
and affectionate nature of the Oueen had the effect of at once
THE HOME OF THE INFANT PRINCESS.
promoting all legislation and all social movements designed to
strengthen family ties and enhance the sweetness and dignity
of domestic life; and at the same time, the sentiments with
which the sovereign continued to be regarded, were immediately
associated with the best endeavours to attain to a higher
standard of national morality, to improve the condition of the
poorest, to promote social purity, and to advance the claims ot
mental and physical education.
In a word, it was universally understood and taken to the
heart of the people that (to use the common phrase) the " bring-
ing up" of the youthful sovereign had been that of a healthy
English child — untainted bv heartless ceremonial observances,
and though subjected to rather more than usual responsibility
in pursuing those studies which made her one of the most
accomplished girls to be found even amidst the cultured aris-
tocracy, enjoying the freedom and docile independence that
comes of wise maternal influence and companionship.
The suite of rooms in Kensington Palace was a home which,
though often dull, and always secluded, as the home of a widow
and a fatherless child must too frequently seem to be, was the
abode of loving care and assiduous attention. The mother,
even in the first hour of her bereavement, had chosen to devote
herself to the nurture of the infant before whom lay the pro-
bability of having to fulfil a great destiny at a time when the
relations between the sovereign and the people would undergo
a marked and significant change.
The public interest which was still manifested in the palace
at Kensington was almost entirely associated with the know-
ledge that the Duchess of Kent and her infant daughter dwelt
there. The queer composite building, distinguished neither by
antiquity nor by architectural beauty, would, but for its being
4 QUEEN VICTORIA.
-V
the birth-place of her Majesty, claim little really historical
importance, for though the courts of William and Mary, of Anne
and of the two first Georges were held there, its history scarcely
takes us further back than
•' The tea-cup days of hoop and hood,
And when the patch was worn."
It is desirable, however, in the interests of those among us
who may not have a clear apprehension of the relationships which
governed the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne In-
direct succession, to make a brief retrospective reference to the
former courts and royal occupants of Kensington Palace, and
this will enable us also to appreciate more distinctly the remark-
able contrast presented by the court and reign of our Queen.
Speaking of Kensington Palace itself, it may be remarked, as
Leigh Hunt says, that ''it possesses a Dutch solidity; it can be
imagined full of English comfort; it is quiet, in a good air, and
though it is a palace, no tragical history is connected with it;-
all which considerations give it a sort of homely fireside character,
which seems to represent the domestic side of royalty itself, and
thus renders an interesting service to what is not always so well
recommended by cost and splendour. Windsor Castle is a place
to receive monarchs in, Buckingham Palace to see fashion in,
Kensington Palace seems a place to drink tea in. . . . The
reigns that flourished here, appositely enough to the nature of
the building, were all tea-drinking reigns."
There had previously been royal residences, as well as those
of the nobility and gentry, in Kensington, for the whole district
was delightfully open and distinguished for the purity of the air;
but there had been no palace till William the Third bought the
mansion of Daniel Finch, second Earl of Nottingham and son
PREVIOUS QUEENS AT KENSINGTON.
of the first earl, Heneage Finch, the famous Lord Chancellor,
who had risen to that office after having been Solicitor-
Sfeneral at the restoration of Charles the Second.
The garden belonging to the house included fifteen acres,
a pleasant and ample breathing space even for a hard-worked
official of such distinction; but Sir Heneage, who, though above
reproach, prudently took care of himself, increased it by a grant
from the adjoining land of Hyde Park. These gardens con-
sisted principally of the ground squaring with the south side
of the building, laid out in the formal and rather dreary style
which existed in England before Charles the Second had invited
Le Nqtre, the famous French gardener, to come to England and
make a new fashion in some of the royal parterres. Clipped
yew-trees and other sombre accessories were also in accordance
with the fashion when the ground was first laid out, and some
of these features remained till quite recently.
William, having designed to live at Kensington, and there to
hold such court as suited his reserved and somewhat repellent
temper, converted the country-seat of the Finches into a palace,
not so much by architectural improvement as by making it the
nucleus for a more extensive building; for which purpose he
added to the lower portion an upper story designed by Wren,
who also designed the Orangery, an accessory which was
perhaps the most attractive feature of the palace.
Queen Anne, when she succeeded to the throne and to Ken-
sington Palace, added about thirty acres to the gardens, which, it
would appear, did not previously to i 705 extend further to the
north than the conservatory, a narrow building then used for its
original purpose of a banqueting-house. The palace itself was
little altered, and was even at that time regarded as having no
oreat claim to admiration; but the famous gardeners, Wise and
6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
Loudon, carried out the picturesque improvements, and Addison
in the Spectator says, " If as a critic I may single out any pass-
age of their work to commend, I shall take notice of that part
in the upper garden of Kensington, which was at first nothing
but a gravel pit."
Georee the First succeeded to both palace and gardens, but
he cared little about either, or about England for that matter, in
comparison with his native Herrenhausen and his own country-
men. He could not speak English; he had left his queen,
Sophia Dorothea of Zell, in Germany, imprisoned for life on an
accusation never really proved to be true, so far as history has
made known; and lie was on no good terms with his son the
heir to the throne. The government here was in the hands of
Sir Robert Walpole, and the king seldom appeared abroad, even
in the comparative seclusion of Kensington Gardens, where,
however, persons of fashion who obtained admission had begun
to meet and promenade, on certain days, to see and be seen.
Caroline of Anspach, the consort of the Prince of Wales, of
course attended the court with her maids of honour, and as the
gardens were at first open to a few favoured visitors, and after-
wards to a considerable number of persons who had claims to
gentility, the promenades became famous. Caroline was a
handsome or at all events an attractive looking princess, and
though the king used to express dislike to her, presumably
because she was the wife of his son (whom he disliked still
more), and used to speak of her as "Cette diablesse, Madame
la Princesse," there can be little doubt that she did much to
popularize not only the promenade and the assembly at Ken-
sington, but the dull and splenetic King also.
At anyrate, when her husband came to the throne, Caroline
of Anspach obtained the respect and even the admiration of
THE GARDENS.
those who knew her best, and though her assumption of a kind
of encyclopaedic knowledge, or of the love of it, gave a curious
air to the court at Kensington, she succeeded in making the
palace and the gardens the resort of a great number of distin-
guished as well as of undistinguished people, and contrived to
let her conceited, narrow-minded, and tyrannical little husband
imagine that he had by far the largest share in attracting
attention, even though the royal train was composed of famous
wits and beauties, who, whether their claims to eulogium were
well founded or not, are celebrated by name in the published
poems or letters of Pope, Gray, and other writers of immortal
verse or polite and amusing letters.
To Caroline, Oueen of George the Second, is due the
inclusion — perhaps the preservation as a fine open space — of
the present Kensington Gardens, for which she obtained about
three hundred additional acres, and practically commenced that
free admission of visitors and promenaders which has resulted
in this now delightful resort becoming a public haunt, where
innumerable Londoners go to " breathe in sunshine and see
azure skies," — amidst the pure air of verdant open spaces, the
shade of pleasant groves, and beds, plantations, and borders,
where the best old characteristics of the gardens are preserved
in numerous trees and shrubs which are still marked by labels
showing their botanical designation, and in the beautiful flower-
ing trees that make the north walk so delightful by their spring
bloom or summer burgeon.
The gardens are now so thickly wooded that the only large
open space is that in which the " round pond " is situated, and
the vista which leads from that spot to the park. The " Ser-
pentine River," as it is called, was also formed under the scheme
of improvements ordered by Queen Caroline — a series of ponds
OUEEN VICTORIA.
beino- so connected as to unite them in one sheet of water,
which instead of being straight like a Dutch canal was irregular
in its course.
Though William of Orange made a palace of the house
at Kensington, it can scarcely be said that he formed a court
there as a court was understood by the previous frequenters of
Whitehall. There was little society, though there were many
important councils. Not well used to the manners or the
language adopted by the nobility of France or of England, he
was characterized by a bluntness of speech and a reserved and
saturnine demeanour, which, to the superficial observer, appeared
to indicate a cold and unfeeling heart, though it is evident that
beneath that impassive manner and expression there existed the
capacity for sincere regard and intense feeling, as may be proved
by the long and unbroken affection which, in his own undemon-
strative way, he manifested for his sincere friend Bentinck, the
companion who, with quiet and unselfish solicitude, had served
him so faithfully and so well. But the plots and snares that had
encompassed his youth had made William wary and reticent;
the peculiar circumstances under which he came to the throne,
and the rivalry of parties which he had to encounter, increased
his caution, and there were few in whom he could confide. At
the council of war or of state he was congenially employed,
and still more so in forming plans for attaining the ends to
which he devoted himself — a strong confederation for the purpose
of resisting and ultimately breaking the power of France. He
cared little or nothing for dramatic performances such as were
then common; and during a youth, one might almost say a child-
hood, absorbed in the study of state affairs he had acquired neither
the knowledge of nor the taste for poetry and general literature.
Science was of little interest to him, except as far as it related
DEATH OF WILLIAM AND MARY AT KENSINGTON.
to politics or to the improvement of the art of war; but he had
acquired sufficient knowledge to speak and write in Latin,
Spanish, French, Italian, and German, and he was acquainted
with English as well as with Dutch, so that he was under no
such disadvantages as those that beset the Hanoverian suc-
cessor to Queen Anne.
The delight of the small, frail, " asthmatic skeleton," as
Macaulay has called him, was in action. Neither stage-plays,
court concerts, cards, dice, assemblies, nor the small observances
of society had any charm for him. He had little leisure for
amusements, and his chief recreation was hunting, which he
followed with a violent and almost reckless ardour.
But little as William loved England, and few as his sym-
pathies were for the English ways and people, he always made
his own pleasure and ease, and even his supposed prejudices,
completely subservient to the duties he had undertaken. He
visited Hampton Court once a wreek, on Saturdays, and made
his home at Kensington; and though his domestic and even his
moral character was not a type of perfection, it cannot be doubted
that the presence of his devoted and amiable Mary — Queen in
name though she yielded all authority to her husband — made
Kensington Palace more attractive than even the old house at
the Hague would have been without her. It was at Kensington,
when she died, that he was carried from her bedside fainting
and overwhelmed with grief. It was to Kensington that he
was carried after the accident that threw him from his horse
while he was riding at Hampton Court, and occasioned the
injury which hastened his death and left the succession to Anne.1
1 According to the generally received story the King was riding at his usual gallop when the
horse stumbled on a mole-hill and the rider was thrown to the ground, breaking his collar-bone.
The Jacobites used afterwards to drink "to the little gentleman in black," meaning the mole
which had caused the King's death.
Vol. I. 2
JO QUEEN VICTORIA.
In her rekrn Kensington Palace was no more lively than it
had been in the time of her predecessors; the Queen was dull,
her husband was duller, and probably as a consequence the
company was dullest, though several of the letters and annals of
the time indicate some "high jinks at Saint James'" amongst
the court ladies and gentlemen. In fact there was often little
company to speak of except on particular occasions, for the
Queen was " wrapped up " in Sarah Jennings Duchess of Marl-
borough, a passionate friendship for whom had begun at an
earlier date, and but for the intrigues of political parties and the
insatiable trreed and ambition of the favourite herself, might
have continued till Anne's death. We all know how the
difference of rank was abolished between them in the con-
fidential sense of equality insisted on by the Queen. How, as
Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman, they lived as two idle and
rather self-indulgent gossips — impatient of the ceremonial occa-
sionally to be observed before strangers — until the companion
and confederate became a dictatorial tyrant, and Anne suffered
under the constant domination of her unscrupulous termagant,
and the political opponents of Marlborough induced her to
abandon her former dearest friend and to adopt Mrs. Abigail
Hill as her confidante, with the new appellation of Mrs. Masham.
Kensington Palace, dull as it was, must have been the very
centre of intrigue at that time — a time, however, which has
been called the Augustan aQfe of literature. We can indeed
/ scarcely refer to Kensington Palace and the court of Anne,
without thinking of Pope, Addison, Swift, Steele, Prior, and
the galaxy of dramatists, wits, poets, and philosophers, in
whose writings political allusions, descriptions of society, and
satires upon the court and the fashions are to be found.
There is no need to dwell upon the domestic life of Queen
"GOOD QUEEN ANNE." II
Anne at the palace at Kensington. Her husband, who was too
insignificant even to raise the ire of lames the Second at his
desertion, wras neither ambitious to take any prominent part in
public affairs nor capable of doing so if he had been permitted
to assert himself.
In a reign during which the union with Scotland was effected,
and the power and prestige of England was restored by the
victories gained by the army of the Duke of Marlborough and
his generals, the court was perhaps the "dowdiest" in Europe.
The Queen had been on no good terms either with her sister
Mary or with William of Orange, though her determination to
support the Protestant succession — and, therefore, her own claims
— had caused her to desert her father, who had not scrupled to
desert her, and by her presence she had encouraged a meeting of
the adherents of the Prince of Orange. During his reign, how-
ever, she had been tolerated rather than cherished, and, having
married the kind of man who would do little to discourage her own
indolent disposition, she fell into that kind of easy, self-indulgent
way of living which is commonly called "coddling," a tendency
which was obvious enough in Mary, but in Anne's case had been
fostered by her having remained in retirement at Campden
House in Kensington, with the permission to spend a month or
two of the year at Windsor. It should be remembered, too, that
she had a very large family of children, none of whom survived
the days of early infancy except one, the unhappy little Duke of
Gloucester, who died at the age of eleven, two years before his
mother came to the throne — died, it was alleged, of the arduous
studies set him by Bishop Burnet, appointed as the child's tutor
and governor by the order of William, who, of course, recog-
nized the boy as heir to the crown. It is on record that the
little fellow had command of a regiment of boy soldiers, who
I2 QUEEN VICTORIA.
wore a special uniform, and with their band used to parade
before him as he sat on his pony in full regimentals of a general
or colonel, and that they would occasionally have a field-day on
Wormwood Scrubs or a review in Kensington Gardens, where
William the Third would himself be present to see how the
mannikin commander managed his Lilliputian force.1 But the
little prince was already suffering from water on the brain,
though neither his parents nor others seemed to be aware of
the cause of his lethargy and physical feebleness. It is even
said that he was cruelly punished for ill-temper, laziness, and
obstinacy, while his apparent sullenness and indisposition to
exertion were the results of the disease of which he died.
It is not to be wondered at, perhaps, that the new regime in
Kensington Palace did not promise much court gaiety. The
husband of the Queen was a cipher, not devoid of a certain
undemonstrative regard, but caring little for anything that
disturbed his enjoyment of a good dinner, and with neither taste
nor talent for literature or art. There can be little doubt that
he exercised his dull persistent influence to aid the Duke and
Duchess of Marlborough in neutralizing any practical expression
of a sentiment which had arisen in the mind of the Queen in
favour of forgiving the injuries she had formerly believed she had
suffered by the marriage of her father with Mary of Modena, and
the birth of the son who was now known as the "Pretender."
With a weak but kindly and generous nature she had repented oi
the complaints and invectives that she had so often indulged in
against Mr. and Mrs. Mansel, as she called her father and his
wife when writing to her sister Mary, and her penitence seemed
likely to take the form of acknowledging her half-brother as her
1 The late Emperor Napoleon III. caused a regiment of boy soldiers to be drilled and placed
with their juvenile officers under the command of his son, the late " Prince Imperial," at a very
earlv age.
DREARY FESTIVITIES. i-
successor. This disposition was seized upon by the adherents
of James and by the more violent opponents of the influence
of Marlborough and the Whigs, and the result was continual
plotting to bring the prince to England, and mutual vehement
denunciations between the two parties, in which the clergy of
the English Church took a prominent part. It was to the clergy
that Anne in a oreat measure owed the title of " Good Oueen
Anne," for she consistently supported the Church not by empty
patronage but by relinquishing the "first fruits" and "tenths"
of ecclesiastical benefices to augment the small livings, so that
" Queen Anne's Bounty " represented substantial relief to many
who were in need. The Queen was not wanting in dignity
of manner, combined with an attractive presence and a kindly
pleasant aspect which made her popular, but her nature was
generous and confiding — qualities which her weakness of purpose
allowed self-seeking statesmen to turn to their own advantage.
The whole atmosphere of the court at Kensington was that of
political intrigue, and public opinion was in a tumult of divided
interests, in which fierce animosity was stimulated by songs,
caricatures, satires, and pasquinades which the rival factions
printed and distributed broadcast.
The reicm of Oueen Anne has been called " cdorious "
because of the victories gained in the long wars, of which the
nation at last grew tired; and doubtless the advances made in
literature and the drama contributed to make it appear like the
commencement of a new era. There were Tory and Whig
writers, wits, panegyrists, and satirists, and many of them were
to be seen at the levees or receptions at Kensington Palace; but
Anne herself was often too depressed or too indolent to hold a
brilliant court, and though she demanded the observance of
strict etiquette on such occasions, she was apparently relieved
14 QUEEN VICTOR/ A.
when, after a reception, she could get away from her cere-
monious visitors and go to dinner, and to the card-tables which
were set out for the evening.
There was no startling breach of morality, no coarse or
disagreeable diversion in the court circle, but it was often
almost insufferably dismal, and no wonder, for the poor Queen
had no children, her health was failing, her former intimate
associate had been dismissed in disgrace when the Tory in-
fluence triumphed, and Marlborough and his duchess had been
abandoned. She had outlived her husband, her increasing bulk
and her infirmities prevented her from taking her former exer-
cise of following the hounds and the stag in a light carriage
built on purpose that she might "hunt" at Windsor, and she
was now wheeled about the gardens at Kensington in a chair.
She suffered from what appear to have been epileptic fits, and
while she lay dying after the last of these seizures, the Jacobite
party in power had nearly succeeded in proclaiming the Pre-
tender; but their plans were frustrated by the Dukes of Argyle
and Somerset, who presented themselves at the council sitting
at Kensington Palace, while Argyle's regiment was marched
from Westminster to take the place: of the soldiers who were on
guard at Kensington. The queen was then dying — it was on a
Friday evening. A little after daybreak on the Sunday morning
there was a commotion in front of the rate leading to the
palace, where a large crowd had already assembled, and the
guards stood waiting for something. There was a blast of
trumpets, and presently the heralds came forth to proclaim
George Lewis, Elector of Hanover, King of England.
The succession had changed, and the throne was waiting for
the son of Ernest Augustus Duke of Brunswick Luneburg and
Elector of Hanover, and of Sophia the youngest child of
THE HEIRS OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. I 5
Frederick Elector Palatine and Elizabeth daughter of James the
First. Bolingbroke and Ormond, the Tory leaders, had fled,
Marlborough was on his way back, but was detained at Ostend.
There would soon be new inmates, and the lancruaoe of the
court at Kensington Palace would be a foreign one, for the king
could speak no English, and was not very likely to acquire a com-
plete knowledge of the language, for he was fifty-four years old.
His son George Augustus, now to be created Prince of Wales,
was thirty, was already married to Caroline of Anspach, and their
little son Frederick was seven, so that the new dynasty already
seemed to be secured, while there was an additional advantage
in the fact that George Augustus had served with the British
under Marlborough, and had distinguished himself at Oudenarde.
The change of dynasty involved important changes in many
other respects. William the Third had maintained the claims of
personal government, but the conditions on which he had been
accepted as King of England were in accordance with his own
political professions and secured the authority and privilege
of parliament. The restoration of the Stuart rule would have
been impossible without a reactionary revolution, and those who
had formed the new government were too strong for the con-
spirators who were in constant communication with the late king,
whom the nation had never loved. It might have been said:
•• Pricked by the Papal spur we reared
And flung the Second James;"
and this would have expressed the general sentiment, though
men like Atterbury and other less distinguished representatives
of the English Church were among those who took an eager part
in the endeavour to bring over the Pretender, that he might be
readv to mount the throne at the moment of Anne's death.
1 6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
They might have succeeded in inducing the Oueen to nominate
her half-brother as her successor, which would at once have
provoked a storm of opposition that could scarcely have stopped
short of civil war, but Anne had become more infirm of purpose
as her bodily infirmities increased, and the fury of the rival
parties had driven her into a condition of constant timidity,
which, while it made her subservient to the faction which was
using every effort to keep in office, drove her to seek seclusion,
at Hampton Court or Windsor, from the turbulent assemblies at
St. James's. Yet in earlier days the Oueen had been more than
a mere lay-figure. She represented to the English people some
very definite sentiments. She was an English queen, she made
no demands that conflicted with the liberties secured by the
constitution, and she was of a kindly and liberal nature, finding
pleasure in acts of benevolence. Her coming to the throne was
in a very popular sense a "restoration," and her name was "a
name to conjure with." It seemed, to some, to open the door
for James Francis Edward from St. Germains. But James the
Second had alienated the English people, and his son was more
French than English in character, manners, and lan^uaee. His
mother, Mary of Modena, was a foreigner; he had been educated
in the Roman Catholic religion under the patronage of the French
king, the arch-enemy of England and of political freedom; and
if report spoke truly he had inherited or acquired the family vices
and the family weakness and duplicity, even though he some-
times displayed an engaging courtesy, which belonged rather to
his uncle Charles than to his father James the Second.
So much of wealth and liberty had been squandered in the
attempt to make James accessible to reason, so much had been
sacrificed to regain the rights which he had endeavoured to
annul, that men, looking at the young Chevalier cle St. George
NORMAN AND SAXON UNITED. 1 7
— as he was called — and at the middle-aged George Louis,
Elector of Hanover, saw in the latter an heir to the British
throne, who, by religion, education, and experience in constitu-
tional government, was most likely to leave the administration
of the state in the hands of English ministers, and to refrain from
attempting to reinforce that personal sovereignty which in either
case would have been unbearable.
Nor were these conclusions ill founded. George the First
was not a candidate for the throne of England. He received
the intimation that he had been proclaimed with a reservation
that was next to disappointment. He prepared to grasp the
situation with the cool and assiduous determination which
distinguished him, and set off as soon as he could to present
himself to his new subjects; but he did so rather from a sense
of the responsibility which had fallen upon him than with
elation. George represented a branch of the great Guelph
family, which on both his father's and mother's side was related
to the Norman and the Saxon kings of England, by the mar-
riage of Henrv the Lion with Matilda, daughter of Henry the
Second. Not only his son but his daughter, Sophia Dorothy, was
already married when he came to England. He accepted the
succession not with avidity but with reluctance, and never atter-
wards scrupled to show that Hanover stood far before England
in his regard; and that he left his adopted country with satis-
faction whenever his duties there permitted him to visit the
land of his birth. It would, perhaps, be too much to say that
he disliked England and the English people, — but he was not
at home here, and he was too old to learn to sympathize with
English manners, to assimilate himself to the peculiarities ot
English character, or even to acquire the language. ' He could
speak no English, and was past the learning of it." Only two
Vol. I.
1 8 OCEEN VICTORIA.
or three of the ministers of his council spoke French, — none of
them German — and it is on record that Walpole, to whom he
continued to intrust the control of affairs, had to manage the best
way he could with conversation in Latin.
The court life at Kensington Palace and St. James's was of
a quiet sort. The evening parties must have been dull enough
for the few English peers or gentlemen and ladies who met the
German friends of the King, including the repulsively gaunt and
the monstrously corpulent ladies who had been respectively
made Duchess of Kendal and Countess of Darlington, and of
whom the least said here the better, as their rapacity was the
theme of numberless satires and pasquinades; and their relations
to the King, who brought them with him to England, were such
as to have offended a truly moral court — if a truly moral court
had been in existence at that period in England or elsewhere.
Not that society at the palace was conspicuously immoral.
It was dreary --though occasionally there were episodes of
rather forced merriment. The King was somewhat lazy in his
recreations. The evening party mostly went to cards; if his
Majesty visited the play-house or the opera he was carried in a
sedan-chair, and sat like any private gentleman in the corner
of a lady's box, " with a couple of Turks in waiting, instead of
lords or grooms of the bedchamber." So Lady Townley — the
wife of one of his ministers — wrote; and the couple of Turks
appear, or once appeared, in the wall paintings at Kensington
House. They seem to have been two faithful pages, named
Mahomet and Mustapha, who had been taken prisoners by
Prince Charles, brother to Georcre the First, in the Austrian
war against the Turks.
If George had exhibited no alacrity in assuming the English
throne, he was not wanting in tenacity when he had once
GEORGE THE EI EST— THE SATIRISTS.
19
occupied it. This was a part of his character, but it was also
a part of his character to endeavour honourably to fulfil such
duties as his rather narrow judgment and limited education
enabled him to undertake. Doubtless he was always ready to
promote any measure which appeared to be to the advantage of
his Hanoverian kingdom, and much of the revenue which he
personally derived from this country went there; but his char-
acter contrasted favourably with that of the Stuarts. His word
could be depended on. In a dogged narrow kind of way he
was anxious to do strict justice without much tinge of generosity,
and on the other side with a persistence in punishing offenders
which was often brutal in its want of sensibility. A dull, unsus-
ceptible, hard man, with undeniable courage and firmness, and
not much humour. On the whole meaning well, and so far as
England was concerned, doing well, by leaving the government
in the hands of ministers whom he had found could best carry V
on the work.
It is only necessary to touch lightly the story of the courts
of the Georges at Kensington, St. James's, or Buckingham
Palace. In the letters and other writings of Swift, Horace
Walpole, of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Pope, Steele,
Addison, will be found pictures of the coarseness as well as
of the polished courtesy of the society of that period; the
society that met at Ranelagh, at Vauxhall, and sometimes in
taverns, where titled dames would entertain their friends — as
well as at those masked and costume balls where the license ol
the time and the merely conventional decency of some ot the
leaders of fashion permitted such scandals that public opinion
rose against them.
It must be noted that the whole country teemed with political
squibs, satirical songs and lampoons, skits upon the fashions and
20 QUEEN VICTORIA.
bitter sarcastic letters, social and political libels, and furious, de-
famatory denunciations. Nothing was safe: from the wild torrent
of imputation which teemed from the press, and many of the
songs, stories, and anonymous broadsides were either impious or
obscene, though numbers of them were distinguished by genuine
wit and literary ability. The political and other caricatures, too,
became powerful factors in directing public opinion, and the best
of them were, and are still, distinguished for marvellous faculty
of art as well as for trenchant humour. Hogarth, Gillray, Kow-
landson how the three names stand forth, and what a power the
men represented; though among the amazing number of pictures
that Gillray and Rowlandson issued, especially among those of
Rowlandson, are many that shock modern sensibilities because
of their uncompromising coarseness. But they only somewhat
exaggerated the actual coarseness of the day, and the dress,
habits, and manners of the people whom they portrayed. The
country, and of course more especially the town, was, so to
speak, pelted witli caricatures, pictorial and literary; and coarse
and violent as many of these productions were, it can scarcely
be denied that the caricaturists were sometimes among the most
powerful of the moralists. Down to a date within living memory
lampoon and caricature remained, if they do not still remain,
a powerful factor in public life; as The Caricature History of
the Georges, that able work compiled by the late Mr. Thomas
Wriofht, abundantly testifies.
The dislike of George the hirst for his son had been so
marked that, though it was afterwards concealed by an external
compromise which enabled the Princess Caroline to attend the
court at Kensington House and St. James's, there was no cordial
regard. It has been stated that the determination of the Prince
to defend the reputation of his mother against the charges brought
THE SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE. 2 I
against her, and the endeavours made by his grandfather and the
King to compel her to agree to a formal divorce, was the cause
of the mutual animosity, but it was also alleged that the Kino
resented the independent action of the Prince who was left
as regent during his Majesty's visits to Hanover. However this
may have been, it was certain that there was no love lost between
father and son; and though the daughter of George the First
(Sophia Dorothy) had, in 1 706, married Frederick William, after-
wards King of Prussia, and the chief place at court was therefore
left to the Princess of Wales, we have seen that there was also
no love lost between the King and his son's wife. But Caroline
had a rare if somewhat a motley following of wits, poets, divines,
and men of science, as well as of beauties, and she herself, of tall
and commanding presence, and with no small pretensions to
beauty, wras well able to hold her own, even when the King
and her husband were on the worst of terms, and while the
Prince was in political opposition at a time when the efforts
of the Jacobites added to the embarrassment of the government.
It is so difficult as to be almost impossible to make a trust-
worthy estimate of the real character and disposition ol the
eminent personages of that time. The whole atmosphere of the
court and of society was one of detraction and those disparaging-
slanders that belong to the meanest and most spiteful exhibitions
of party spirit. From the time that we have already glanced
at, and of which we may read in Horace Wal pole's letters,
clown to this later period — and even to the time of the French
Revolution, to which his flighty, heartless records extend — levity,
scandal-mongering, and misrepresentation seem to pervade the
successive circles that moved in the precincts of the palace.
Lord Chesterfield, Selwyn, H anbury Williams, and Beau Nash
King of Bath, were the contemporaries of Walpole, who saw
2 2 QUEEX VICTORIA.
out many fashions and many successive beauties: the Bellendens
and Lepells, who were followed by Miss Chudleigh — the maid of
honour who married first the Earl of Bristol and then a duke;
and the Misses Gunning — those famous beauties who were
mobbed by an admiring crowd whenever they appeared in public,
and who received offers of marriage from the highest noblemen
of England, till one of them became Countess of Coventry and
the other the Duchess of Hamilton. So determined was the
Duke of Hamilton to marry the vounger of these two sisters, that
he insisted on an extempore wedding; and having met the lady
at Lord Chesterfield's sent for a parson, who, refusing to perform
the ceremony without license or ring, at last agreed to use the
ring of a curtain and married them in Mayfair Chapel. There
was nothing very unusual in this, for the Fleet marriages, as
they were called, were not only permitted, but had grown to
be fashionable, and any couple could get a parson to perform
the ceremony in a few minutes for a fee that sometimes did
not amount to more than a bottle of wine or hall a eruinea.
Society in these days was riotous, dissipated, and apparently
reckless. Vauxhall and Ranelagh were by no means the worst
examples of the manners of high life; and it may be declared
that there was a degree of brutality, ignorance, and gross
indifference to morality among some of those who belonged to
the ranks of title and fashion, which is not now commonly found
in any class, and may be illustrated by reference to the plays
and novels of the time, and emphasized by the accounts of the
"Mohocks," the "Scowrers," and the bands of fashionable bullies
and drunkards, who made the streets of London terrible to timid
and decent people compelled to be abroad after nightfall. Foot-
pads in the thoroughfares and purlieus of town, and highway-
men no further off than Kensington itself, added to the dangers
PUBLIC MORALS AND MANNERS. 2^
that beset those who went out, even for a short distance,
unprotected, but a section of the fashionable world had little
more to boast of on the score of morals than the heroes of Gay's
Beggars Opera. When a waiter at Arthur's Coffee-house was
arrested for robbery George Selwyn said, " What a horrid idea
he will give of us to the people in Newgate!" and the sarcasm
had a deep truth in it. But they were marvellous times for all
that. When George the First, dying of an apoplectic fit in his
carriage on the way to Osnaburg, left the throne vacant for his
already middle-aged successor, the country was prosperous and
rising in power among nations; and though George the Second •
was an obstinate, selt-sufficient, and conceited little sovereign,
he was not altogether without the qualities that were needed for
holding his own and taking a prominent part in the affairs of the
world. At all events he possessed that personal courage which
is always a valuable quality, as he showed when he led his men,
sword in hand, at Dettingen, and though he had the egregious
vanity, which could not rest without his prowess and accom-
plishments being made conspicuous by the compliments of his
courtiers, he was not otherwise devoid of the sturdy common- JL
sense that had distinguished his father.
The fashions of dress during the greater part of the reign
of George the Second were as preposterous as the manners,
though artificially courteous, were wanting in real decorum.
Enormous hoops, paniers, and sacks or loose robes over vast
expanses of whaleboned petticoats — were succeeded by towering
head-dresses, constructed of horse-hair, grease, and flour, finished
oft with lace, bows, flowers, and feathers. Some of these "heads,"
as they were called, were designed to represent cabriolets (a
fashion brought from France1, post-chaises, and even wagons,
and mingled with the natural hair as a foundation and plastered
24 QUEEN VICTORIA.
into a solid edifice, were worn for weeks without being opened
and the monstrous rows of curls combed out, The dresses of
some of the men who aspired to be beaux were absurd; the
wigs being of stupendous size, the coat either artificially spread
out in the skirts or reduced to a mere jacket, and the stockings
"clocked" in various devices. There was no end to the
vagaries of the fops who were called, or called themselves,
macaronis, and wore an immense knot oi artificial hair at the
back of the head, a very small cocked hat, and jacket, waistcoat,
and breeches cut down to the closest dimensions, the costume
being completed by a tremendous knotted walking-stick fur-
nished with huge tassels. The lives ol people oi fashion were
passed in trivial pursuits, and there appeared to be little delicacy
or propriety as there was scarcely any privacy. The fashion
of receiving company at the Icvcc or morning toilette was
common. A set of verses entitled " A Modern Morning,"
written in 1757, is little exaggerated. The lady, alter taking
her chocolate, has risen from bed.
" Then Celia to her toilet goes,
Attended by some fav'rite beaux,
Who fribble it around the room,
And curl her hair and clean the comb.
And do a thousand monkey tricks
That you would think disgraced the sex."
The Spectator and other periodicals of that day frequently
refer to these morning receptions, and they are sufficiently
indicative of the manners of the time when in fashionable society
there was little modest reserve, and when people with any pre-
tensions to "ton" lived in a kind of publicity which led to their
flaunting vices and foibles as though they were evidences of
good breeding.
A "SKIT" ON THE QUEEN'S LEVEE. 25
It need scarcely be said that the conversation and some
of the amusements at the levees and assemblies of Caroline of
Anspach would not be tolerated now even among people of
lower rank, but Caroline was superior in delicacy and in other
respects to many of the " ladies of quality " who assisted in her
boudoir. Lord Hervey (the vice-chamberlain), who wrote a
kind of satirical comedy representing a supposed scene on the
intelligence of his own death, gives us the impression that the
conversation was vapid enough, that the Queen was a good-
natured soul, with capacity for the smallest of small talk. But
Queen Caroline was watchful and sagacious under a slightly
skittish assumption of a desire to engage in conversation with
clever people, and to listen to theological controversies, about
doctrines to which, as far as can be known, she was indifferent,
except as they may have afforded intellectual diversion, or even
the lower kind of amusement derived from setting dogmatists
by the ears. Lord Hervey's not very pleasant "skit" is as
wanting in taste as its author was in honour, but the fact
that it was read in the royal circle and afforded much amuse-
ment shows what could be tolerated there.
In the first part of this comedy the Queen is represented
at the toilette in her dressing-room with the princesses and the
ladies of the bed-chamber, Lady Stanhope, Lady Burlington,
and Lady Sundon. Morning prayers are being said in the next
room, of which the door is partly open; and the Queen says,
" I pray, my good Lady Sundon, shut a little that door, those
creatures pray so loud we cannot hear one's self speak [Lady
Sundon goes to shut the door]. So, so; not quite so much;
leave it open enough for these parsons to think we may hear,
and enough shut that we may not hear quite so much."
It has been explained that this satirical passage does not
Vol. I 4
26 QUEEN VICTORIA.
honestly represent the Queen's attitude towards religious offices,
to which, though she was in general indifferent, she accorded
reverence when they were supported by men of learning and of
religious sincerity; but what strikes us is that a chief official of
the court in constant attendance should have written a drama
in which this and other professed reproductions of the scenes at
a morning levee and reception should have been accepted, and
have caused, not offence, but amusement.
It was not altogether a pleasant society at Kensington
Palace at that time. George the Second with his high-heeled
shoes, his swagger and assumption of dignity, his boasting of
a courage which nobody could deny, his conceited airs, intended
to carry a notion of gallantry, appeared to be artificial even
when his intentions were honest. He was nearly as brusque as
George the First; but he, of course, spoke English fluently,
though with an accent, and this crave him a greater advantage.
He was as avaricious and more meanly parsimonious than his
father, but yet he was ready to disburse large sums on occasions,
and never went from his word if he had promised to give or to
pay. Happily for him and for the nation the Queen exercised
great and constant influence over him, which she had acquired
without his knowing it, and maintained because he scarcely
suspected it. She was a woman of great tact, and was able to
manage him without his perceiving that she did so, because she
was his confidante. He consulted her about everything that
concerned him. Even his faults and more than frailties she
condoned, humoured, and to some extent controlled. That he
loved her as deeply as he could love anybody was not to be
doubted, and she deserved it, for she sacrificed what most
women would have considered to be self-respect rather than
alienate his confidence; and she may be said to have shortened
FREDERICK PRINCE OF WALES. 2 J
her life for the sake of her dutiful attendance on him, plunging
her rheumatic feet into cold water that she might, with whatever
difficulty, walk with him in Kensington Gardens or ride in her
hunting chaise at Hampton Court.
In the promenade at Kensington the King and Queen were
in early days surrounded by a bevy of princesses, for, beside
Frederick Prince of Wales, and William Augustus Duke of
Cumberland, there were five girls, two of whom never married,
while the eldest and the two youngest married, respectively,
the Prince of Orange, the Landgrave of Hesse, and Frederick
the Fifth, King of Denmark. Neither Frederick, Prince of
Wales, nor his wife made long visits to Kensington: for if there
had been dislike and disagreement between George the F"irst
and his son, the feeling of George the Second towards his son
Frederick amounted to detestation. Nor was this profound
aversion confined to the King. Neither his mother nor his
sisters could long endure the society of the Prince of Wales,
who never seemed to lose an opportunity of opposing his father,
either by supporting the adverse faction in parliament, or by
demands for money at the very time that he was acting with
shameless animositv.
Whatever were his faults of manners and of violent temper
George the Second was honest and true to his word; he was so
regular in his engagements that it was said of him that "the
fact of his having done a thing to-day was a reason why he
should do the same thing to-morrow;" and he was undoubtedly
brave, temperate, and honourable in fulfilling his promises.
Frederick was, in many respects, the reverse; and his tastes
were low; his conduct marked by want of feeling and a falseness
and irresolution which caused unmistakable dislike and an
expression of contempt to be applied to him by his parents, his
OUEEN VICTORIA.
sisters, and even by ministers and politicians, except those who
had something to gain by a temporary adhesion to his interests.
He had been a trouble and an anxiety to his mother from
boyhood, and in manhood he traduced and insulted her even
after he was married to the Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha,
and made occasional visits to Kensington, where he would
annoy the Queen by going late to the chapel, and making his
wife, instead of entering by another door, squeeze to her seat
between the Queen and her Majesty's prayer-book.
William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, was not often
at court either. He was with his father at Dettingen, and was
afterwards, as everybody knows, engaged in the suppression
of the rebellion which greeted the arrival of the Pretender in
Scotland. In his case, as in that of every prominent personage
of the time, it is difficult to estimate the popular opinion, for on
one hand enthusiasm for his signal success and the victory at
Culloden led to his being spoken of in terms of adulation, while
the bright and fragrant flower known as Sweet William is said
to have been named after him; on the other hand, the cruelties
which under his authority were needlessly and indiscriminately
inflicted on the wretched people of the Highlands after the
suppression of the rebellion, gained for him the appellation of
" the Butcher," and this with his corpulence gave the cue for
numberless caricatures and lampoons. The duke never married.
In the latter part of his father's reign he was driven from
Hanover by the French and returned to England, where he
lived but little noticed till 1765, five years after his father's
death, when he died after a stroke of palsy.
The Queen had died in 1737, but the event did not take
place at Kensington Palace. George was deeply affected at his
wife's death, declaring that he had never seen another woman
IL EST MORT."
29
who was worthy to buckle her shoe, and perhaps he then awoke
to the consciousness of all that she had borne for his sake,
including the knowledge of his immoralities and the uncon-
tradicted aspersions that had attributed his parsimony and
avarice to her influence. His sense of her loss did not, however,
prevent him from bringing Madame Walmoden from Hanover
and making; her Duchess of Yarmouth.
Caroline had on her death-bed recommended the Kino- to
the minister in whose sagacity she had so long confided, and
Walpole continued for some time to maintain his pre-eminent
influence, but other times and other complications were at hand;
the new alliance against France, the war which drained the
King's private resources for the protection of Hanover, the
political situation, which, after Walpole had been made a peer,
led to the administration of the elder Pitt, and the subsequent
stirring period in which England recovered and triumphed over
threatened adversity, closed the reign of the second sovereign
of the house of Brunswick-Hanover.
The Prince of Wales was still a thorn in the side of the
King — still had his party, which was ready to push the tactics
of faction almost to rebellion — but there had been a tacit toler-
ance on the part of his Majesty, and a more decent regard for
appearances on the part of the prince, for some time before the
death of the latter, which occurred after a short illness in 1751,
when he was forty-five years old. The cold self-contained
King was greatly affected when Lord North was sent to him
with the intelligence. The King, who was playing at cards —
for it was in the evening — immediately went down to Lady
Yarmouth, looking extremely pale and shocked, and only said,
"II est mort;" but brief as the remark may appear, and little
as it might have implied, the conduct, kind and even gentle,
3Q
OLE EN VICTORIA.
of the King to the widow was a proof that he was not destitute
of a feeling of deep regret and of compassion for her and her
children. George the Second was, so far as we can judge, a
better man and a more kindly one, than his reserved nature and
disdain of pretending to an interest in pursuits and conversation
for which he did not really care, led people to imagine.
At the death of Oueen Caroline the court at Kensington
Palace underwent considerable changes. On the death of George
the Second it ceased to be held there; for his grandson, George
the Third, abandoned it as a royal residence. George the Second
had survived his troublesome son for above eight years. Early
in the morning of the 25th of October, 1760, he had risen as
usual, had taken his chocolate according to rule, and was about
to go down for a walk, when his valet, hearing a heavy fall,
ran into the room. The Kingf was either dead before he could
be raised from the floor or died immediately afterwards; one
4
account being that he had said, " Call Amelia," referring to
his daughter, who, coming presently, but because of her deaf-
ness being unable at once to understand what had occurred, did
not perceive that he was dead till she went to look at him lying
on the bed or couch where he had been placed. The cause of
his death was the bursting of the right ventricle of the heart.
He was seventy-eight years old.
Frederick, his son, had left six children, George William
Frederick, who, as George the Third, succeeded his grandfather;
Edward Augustus, Duke of York, who was never married;
William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, wrho married the Countess
Waldegrave, and whose son Frederick William married the
Princess Mary, daughter of George the Third; Henry Frederick,
Duke of Cumberland, who married Lady Luttrell, but left no
children; the Princess Augusta who married the Duke of
BOYHOOD OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 3 I
Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel and was mother of the Duke of Bruns-
wick who fell at Ouatre Bras, of Charlotte who married the
Duke of Wurtemburg, and of Caroline the erratic and unfor-
tunate princess who became the wife of George the Fourth. The
vouno-er daughter of Frederick was married to Christian the
Seventh, King of Denmark.
Georee the Third was the first sovereign of the Hanoverian
dynasty born in England, and from his earliest years he appears
to have gloried in being English. He was only a boy of
thirteen when his father died, and he had been kept in such
retirement, not to say seclusion, by his mother and her friend
and counsellor the Earl of Bute, that little was known of him
in the court or society till he became of age. It is recorded that
" till he was twenty-one years old he had never been intro-
duced to the privy-council, nor matriculated at either of the
universities, nor had he ever been allowed to display the powers
of his mind, his judgment, or his taste in the selection of his
associates: that he had been held in a state of liberal seclusion
as absolute and unbroken as if his capacity to fulfil the varied and
weighty functions of a king had depended upon his remaining
a stranger to those future functions, utterly ignorant of the
character of his subjects."
This is taken from the point of view of a political opponent
of Lord Bute; but it was unquestionable that when, at the age
of twenty-three, George the Third came to the throne his
attainments were not conspicuous, though it was pretty generally
declared that the instructors who had the charge of forming his
ideas had impressed upon him the power which he should
exercise when he became King, and the personal authority
which belonged to the royal prerogative, even if they had
stopped short of preaching the doctrine of arbitrary rule. At
32 QUEEN VICTORIA.
the same time he was kept under the strict control of his mother
and the Earl of Bute, with the object, it was believed, of their
being' able to retain power in their own hands by acting through
his instrumentality. He was ior some years even made to
continue to dress in a more juvenile fashion than his age war-
ranted, that his mother might subject him to those domestic
restraints, which he never appeared to resent with any violence,
though they were carried so far as to make him frequently
listless and even sullen. Of course the influence of Bute was
made the subject of gross and venomous scandals and caricatures
against the dowager princess — for John Stuart, Earl of Bute, was
considerably detested, and though, when he became the head
of the ministry on the accession of the prince, he appeared to
encourage literature and the arts, he was himself more con-
spicuous for his pride and overweening ambition than for his
talents, and it soon became plain enough that the literature of
which he became the patron was that of the men, amongst
whom was Smollett, who were on what was called the Jacobite
or high Tory side, and would write to support the royal
authority and arbitrary power.
Frederick Prince of Wales had first made the acquaintance
of the young Scotch nobleman at some private theatricals at the
house of the Duchess of Oueensberry, where he performed the
part of Lothario in " The Fair Penitent." He was invited to
Leicester House and became a companion of the prince, after
whose death he remained the confidant of the dowager princess,
who gave him the office of groom of the stole, a position from
which, by participating in the political intrigues that were carried
on at Leicester House, he contrived to obtain an influence which,
after the resignation of the elder Pitt, who was created Earl of Chat-
ham, led to his succeeding Newcastle as first lord of the treasury.
AN UNFORTUNATE TRAINING. $^
There can be no doubt that the education of George the
Third was seriously neglected, but it is at the same time doubt-
ful whether his intellectual power was such as to have enabled
him to attain any distinction in the higher branches of study.
He never could be induced to apply himself to Greek and Latin,
and though he was said to have gained some proficiency in
music, of which he was a good judge, and also to have a know-
ledge of mathematics and mechanics, and more than a mere
taste for the study of astronomy, it is probable that the sub-
jection in which he was held, the strife and suspicion which
were too prominent in the household, and his own natural in-
clination for a quiet rural life, united to increase a natural
depression which was habitual with him. All accounts agree
in representing him to have been, even as a youth, singularly
temperate in his habits, precise and careful in his demeanour,
and with a simple kindliness and affection in his relations to
his family. It would appear that, to use a common expression,
the dowager princess was of a "nagging" temper in her relations
to her eldest son. Perhaps she could not admire or appreciate
a youth who displayed neither scholarly accomplishments nor
what were then regarded as elegant manners. But George
maintained a dignity of his own, though he dressed plainly and
his manner was quiet even in his amusements. He was never
lacking in courage, was fond of riding spirited horses, was tall
and well-proportioned enough to look well in the saddle, and was
distinguished for a certain determination of demeanour, and a
directness and honesty of purpose which are often associated with
the kind of firmness that may degenerate to obstinacy under
opposition. It was unfortunate that the lessons which he received
on the subject of royal authority served to warp an intellect some-
what narrow, and to lead to violent assertions of determined
Vol. I. 5
;4
OUEEN VICTORIA.
self-will on occasions when his opinions were opposed to those
of his advisers who could best estimate the attitude of the
nation. His really strong' religious principles and his genuine
desire to rule wisely and for the benefit of the country did not
always enable him soon to overcome the smouldering anger
with which he regarded any representation which he fancied
was an attempted infringement of his prerogative, and for which
he expressed his resentment by secluding himself from his
ministers and nursing his wrath in moody contemplation of the
affront offered to his royal authority by any strong expression of
an opinion contrary to his own. There can be little question that
these fits of obstinate self-assertion and the accompanying irrita-
bility at any contradiction or remonstrance were attributable to
a defective training acting on a tendency which in later years
became so pronounced as more than once temporarily to impair
the mental balance when subjected to strong provocation, and
this may be sufficient to account for the malady which rendered
it necessary on two or three occasions for him to go into retire-
ment, leaving his son, the Prince of Wales, to act as Regent.
This, however, belongs to a later date, and forms no part of
the narrative with which these pages are concerned. Nor need
we enter for more than a moment upon the records of the
comparatively pure and blameless life of the youth who, at
twenty-three years old, succeeded to the throne of George the
Second. By the real goodness of his intentions and the
practical virtues which distinguished his personal character
George the Third may be said to have commenced a new era
in the history of court life; and one or two stories of early
attractions are by contrast so innocent, that even if they were
proved to be true they would have no weight against the
untarnished chronicle of a domestic fidelity which afforded no
LADY SARAH LENNOX. 35
opportunity even to the unscrupulous libellers and scandal-
mongers who were ever on the watch to assail the private, no
less than the political, relations of the throne. It was generally
known and accepted at the time that Prince George of Wales
had formed a youthful but still a deep and ardent attachment to
the young- and charming Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of the
Duke of Richmond. The prince, who was much engaged in
out-door recreations, was said to have seen the young lady on
some occasion when she was at a haymaking, in which she and
some aristocratic companions were taking a playful part, but,
at anyrate, they had many opportunities of meeting, and the
prince earnestly urged his suit, to be met with a refusal, which
had the effect of making him so unhappy that he gave up his
field-sports and neglected dogs and horses. Then, it is said,
the young lady relented, and there was really an engagement
between them, which, though it was not cancelled by the
dowager princess and her adviser, neither of whom, perhaps,
dared to carry matters with such a high hand, came to an end
on the sudden accession of the prince to the throne, when the
view of public duty which was adopted by the young King, and
had probably been constantly presented to him, led him to
relinquish his intention to marry Lady Sarah and to make her
his consort. The conviction that such a marriage was not
permissible seems to have grown in intensity afterwards, and to
have led him not only to endeavour to control his brothers
in their choice, and to prevent them from forming any other
legal ties than those that would mate them with royal families,
but also at a still later date to his promotion of the Royal
Marriage Act — a measure which secured little and inflicted
much, as it probably caused more evils than it was designed
to prevent.
?6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
J
The intelligence of the death of his grandfather was con-
veyed to the young prince on The Hundred Acres of Banstead
Downs, whither he had ridden to follow a stag that was to
have been turned out. The prince was preparing for the chase
when the messenger arrived, and he at once got off his horse to
question the man. Accounts that were afterwards published
professing to be from the statements of attendants remind one
of the declarations of Mr. Perch, the messenger to the firm of
" Dombey and Son," who used to confide to his acquaintances
the remarks made to him by eminent clients of the house during
the crisis of its history. One report represents the prince as
saying, when he heard the tidings of the King's death, " Poor
old gentleman! I little expected these tidings this morning, for
the King was remarkably well last night;" and represents him
to have been much affected by the thought of the grief of his
aunt Amelia. Another equally authentic addition to the story
is that he said, "God rest his soul and enable her to bear this
heavy blow! All the pleasures of this life are now for ever
past with me;" a sufficiently remarkable observation unless it
had reference to his dread of responsibilities which he afterwards
undertook with no little resolution, or to the conviction that he
would now be compelled to relinquish the object of his affections.
Similar accounts, including that of Sir Levett Hanson, imply
that the means taken by the dowager princess and Lord Bute
to separate the lovers and to impress the prince with the dire
effects of his persisting in the determination to marry Lady
Sarah, had the effect of convincing him that it was necessary for
the sake of his mother's happiness and the good of the nation to
sacrifice his deepest feelings; and it is even represented that he
expressed some fear that his mind would not bear up against
the shock of disappointment, but that he finally wrote a letter
GEORGE THE THIRD'S COURT.
37
full of bitter regret and tender sorrow to the lady, explaining that
he was called upon to make this sacrifice to duty.
These representations, however, have to be regarded with
caution; for, at all events, Lady Sarah Lennox having been, of
course, prohibited from all further correspondence with the
prince, recovered from her disappointment sufficiently to be
present at the marriage of her former lover to the princess whom
he had chosen for his consort.
It says something also for his firmness and determination
that in an extraordinary council in the year following his acces-
sion he announced that he had made his choice; that ever since
his accession he had turned his thoughts towards a princess for
his consort, and that, after mature deliberation, he had come to
a resolution to demand in marriage the Princess Charlotte of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In the following year the marriage took
place, and the joint coronation followed in September, so that no
time was lost in vain regrets, if any such existed.
With the court of George the Third there is no need to
occupy these pages. Enough to say that the simple decorum
and the orderly domestic character of the king was shared by
his consort, a precise, somewhat formal, but not arrogant and
not unkindly little woman, with no pretensions to beauty, but
with a very decided opinion of what was due to the somewhat
exacting etiquette and assiduous attention which she demanded
o{ maids of honour and attendants, and with a keen eye to
economy. It should be recorded, however, that her alleged
avarice, and even the supposed parsimony and stinginess with
which both she and the Kine were charged in endless libellous
pictures and coarse lampoons, had little foundation except in
comparison to the extravagance of their sons, and the examples
set by those who could be profuse at the expense of creditors,
og QUEEN VICTORIA.
%
or in the expectation of obtaining aid from parliament to pay
their debts.
The court was no longer held at Kensington Palace, nor
did the King and Oueen ever reside there. Perhaps not
without reason George the Third seems to have had a dislike
for the place or its associations, and preferred Buckingham
House, where the levees of the King were held from the year
1806 to 1S10, in fact till he became unable to attend even
though they were private receptions. Buckingham House, or
"the Oueen's House" as it was then commonly called, was
not a palace, but was a large and finely arranged mansion, very
beautifully situated in St. James's Park on the site occupied by
the present palace, to make room for which the original house
was pulled down in 1825 by order of George the Fourth. Buck-
ingham House was built by a Captain Wynde, a native of Bergen-
op-Zoom, for John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, the poet and
patron of Dryden. At his death in 1721 the Prince and Princess
of Wales (afterwards George the Second and Queen Caroline)
endeavoured to purchase it of the widow, but did not succeed;
but in 1761 George the Third bought it of Sir Charles Sheffield
for ,£21,000, and settled it on Queen Charlotte as a substitute
for Somerset House, the former palace or house of the Protector
Somerset, which then occupied the site of the present pile of
public buildings, and had always been recognized as part of the
jointure of the Oueen -consort.
When George the Third and Oueen Charlotte left their
favourite Windsor to come to London, Buckingham House was
their home, and there all their children were born, excepting their
eldest son, George, Prince of Wales.
The royal family was a large one, and was not in all respects
distinguished for the docilitv which might have been better de-
QUEEN CHARLOTTE. 39
veloped under a less precise and rigid domestic government than
that which appears to have been employed by the royal parents.
George the Third was not only deeply influenced and very
injuriously affected by the seclusion and suppression to which
he had in early life been subjected, but he made the mistake
of displaying, in the domestic sphere, the arbitrary power which
he had afterwards been taught that he possessed. In the
domestic sphere, however, it is most desirable that such power,
if it be exercised at all, should never be allowed to show itself
in sullen, unreasoning obstinacy, but should be tempered with
parental wisdom. This wisdom it may be feared the head of
the nation did not possess, though he had a kindly heart and
a fund ol sound common sense which supplied the place of
judgment when it was not obscured by gusts and fits of a
temper, doubtless partly attributable to the effects of a mental
malady, which recurred in a marked form only at long inter-
vals until near the end of a protracted life, when he remained
altogether in retirement.
If the discipline of the royal family was somewhat rigid and
monotonous, the court etiquette was also precise and even severe,
while it was simple and unostentatious. The royal household
was unpretentious, there were no magnificent hospitalities, few
splendid festivities — too few, perhaps, since some of those
which had in earlier times been regarded as essential to the
royal state and of which a revival was expected, were not
observed. Queen Charlotte was a shrewd, sensible, gentle-
speaking, decorous, very plain-looking little woman, with a certain
pride which exacted not only the deference of state courtesy, but
the drilled manner of conventional respectability and morality.
This was perhaps all that could be enforced in a society which
had to be reconstituted among the persons chosen by the sov-
^O QUEEN VIC TOR El.
ereio-n as personal attendants. That the court was dull, and the
duties of the ladies and maids of honour arduous and even ex-
hausting, may be learned perhaps from the pages of the diary of
Madame d'Arblay — the Miss Burney whose name is so intimately
associated with the Johnsonian recollections; — but probably
nobody who had the means of knowing anything of the royal
family really doubted the goodness and — underlying her narrow
precision and parsimony — the kindly nature of Queen Charlotte.
Most certainly she did not accumulate money for the purpose ol
indulging in personal extravagance or selfish gratification. At
her death, when her will was proved, it was found that she had
no hoard of wealth — that her possessions were in lact so lew
that except by the sale or distribution of her valuable jewels she
was unable to leave any considerable legacies to her daughters.
Possibly such money as she could command had been spent in
trying to avert the effects of the extravagance of some of her
sons, who had as vast a faculty for public display, for enormous
extravagance, and getting into debt and endeavouring to shift
the responsibility of it, as their mother had for avoiding such
liabilities. It is only fair to believe she may have contrived to
secure much privacy and seclusion not only because of her own
disposition, but for the purpose of preserving the quiet mode
of living which she thought was essential to the health of the
King, whose condition no less than his tastes made it desirable
that he should have frequent intervals of retirement from public
excitement.
The more domestic life of the royal family during the boy-
hood of the sons of George the Third was frequently passed at
Kewr, where the royal dukes received their early education under
preceptors who prepared them for school or college. Kew House
had belonged to Samuel Molineux, who was secretary to George
CHAXuES IX SOCIETY AT COURT.
4'
the Second while he was Prince of Wales. He was known as
"an ingenious astronomer." The Prince took a lease of the
house, and often resided there, and it afterwards came into the
possession of his son Frederick, who commenced the formation
of Kew Gardens, and his widow continued to reside there, and
in 1760 established the Botanic Garden. After her death George
the Third renewed the lease; and the associations of the place,
unlike those of Kensington, were so agreeable to him that he
commenced building a new palace on a spot nearly opposite the
familiar house, but the building was unattractive in appearance
and inconvenient in its arrangements, was never completed, and
remained unfinished until it was taken down. Close to the spot
where this building was erected, however, was an old house
which, in 17S1, had been bought in trust for the Queen, who
had taken over a long lease of it, and this ancient mansion was
in reality the residence of various members of the royal family.
It was here that George the Fourth was educated, and here
Queen Charlotte died in 18 18.
The history of political and national events of the period
over which we have been passing forms no part of the intro-
ductory references necessary to the narrative which is to occupy
the following pages. The tremendous episodes of the establish-
ment of American independence; the French Revolution, the
excesses of which had the result of consolidating and main-
taining British loyalty and patriotism; and the long and
determined opposition by which England became instrumental
in breaking down the usurpation of Napoleon Bonaparte on the
Continent of Europe were all included in the long and, speaking-
after the manner of loyal histories, "the Monous" reiqm of George
the Third. Our retrospect, however, has been for the purpose
of tracing the succession bv which a reiom truly noble, and
Vol. I.
42 QUEEN VICTORIA.
attended with beneficent influences, inaugurated a new era of the
social and domestic life ol the nation/ It is, of course, to be
remembered that the accession of George the Third was also
an event which exercised a vast influence, because of the
character of a sovereign who from early youth had manifested
a simple and sincere regard for religion and morality. At the
moment that he ascended the throne he emphatically declared
his intention to uphold the claims of both, and by his domestic
example, and his determination to discountenance the vices which
had too long prevailed in society, he gave powerful aid to those
who were earnestly engaged in promoting the moral and religious
improvement of the people. ^Excesses that had been regarded
without abhorrence, even if not with complacency, while they
seemed to be countenanced by the manners of a dissolute circle
associated with the court, were no longer openly tolerated by
those who sought the favour of a Kino- and Oueen who during a
long married life maintained mutual confidence and faithful affec-
tion. The royal approval and assistance were never sought in
vain for efforts to raise the standard of public virtue above the
brutal debauchery and gross sensual indulgence which had too
strongly marked the manners of a vast section of the population.
At the same time, various institutions for increasing education
and promoting art and science, which had already been estab-
lished or proposed, were rapidly developed. Numbers of
energetic and enthusiastic men found that the time had come
when their efforts would be successful in organizing and directing;
well-devised means for the rescue of society from much of the
vice and ignorance by which it was debased.
Though the court of George the Third was unlike that of
his predecessors, there appeared to be much quarrelling and
disorder among the members of the royal family. The royal
FATHER OF OUR OUR EN.
43
dukes were perpetually opposing each other in politics, and
frequently disregarding- the opinions of the King, but there
seems to have been a good deal of genuine affection, especially
between the elder brothers, in times of trouble and domestic
sorrow.
Perhaps the exception was Ernest, who became Duke of
Cumberland on the death of his uncle, the brother of Georee
the Third. There has scarcely been a man in the history of the
country for the last seventy years who contrived to make himself
less popular, or indeed more generally detested, than " the dreary,
galloping duke," as he used sometimes to be called; but we
shall have to say a few words about him presently.
It can scarcely be said that George the Third was ever on
very good terms with all his sons at the same time, even if he was
heartily in sympathy with any of them after they had passed the
days of childhood. In fact, from boyhood they were a troublesome
family, and as they grew older some of them had to be sent
away to Germany or elsewhere to school or college. Neither
of their royal parents possessed the qualities necessary to control
or to direct a number of lads who inherited a considerable amount
of self-will, and were by their position able to disregard many of
the restraints to which youths in ordinary stations are more easily
subjected.
There were very remarkable differences of character in
the princes, and neither father nor mother appears to have
been able wisely to discriminate, so that the more really amiable,
sincere, and obedient member of the family — Edward Augus-
tus, afterwards Duke of Kent —appears to have received the
fewest marks of regard, his very frankness, and a certain fear-
less truthfulness and independence of character, placing him at
a peculiar disadvantage, which led to his being left out of the
44
QUEEN VICTORIA.
family circle, so far as a cordial recognition of his real merits
was concerned. He spent most of his time in military service
abroad, and was so strict and assiduous in the performance of
his duties that on more than one occasion those under his
command were inclined to resent, as exactions, the details of
discipline which he conceived to be necessary for restoring" and
maintaining efficiency. While his elder brother, the Duke of
York, was, as commander-in-chief ot the army, occupying a high
position in England, and (apart from the episode which led to his
being accused, and put on his trial, for conniving at the reception
of bribes for promotion) effecting reforms which not only com-
pelled officers in the army to study their profession, but vastly
increased the comfort and efficiencv of the men, the Duke of
Kent was left almost entirely without the kind of personal support
which should have been extended to one whose courage and
ability commanded public distinction. He always felt that he was
neglected, and that he had little to hope either from his father
or his two elder brothers — the Prince Regent and the Com-
mander-in-Chief. It is not easv to determine whether this sense
of being neglected and excluded was partly owing to a kind of
sensitiveness which was too ready to take a gloom}- view of the
apparent indifference which comes of separation and the worldly
maxim of "everyone looking after his own interests." It is
true that the debts which the Duke of Kent incurred — and
explained as being inevitable, because of the position in which
he was placed and the orders he received — were paid, after some
delays, and that he received promotions, but the latter came
at times when they had the effect of increasing his financial
difficulties. It would appear, also, that he was conscious of
being left unnoticed, unless he made repeated applications, which,
as they might be resented as extortions, he patiently deferred
A SHORT ALLOWANCE.
45
until his condition seriously affected his spirits. This led him
to believe that he was, from some unexplained cause, out of the
pale of family sympathy, and compelled to occupy a position
such as that endured by the "whipping boy" in ancient school-
days, when an unfortunate lad was nominated to receive the
punishment deserved by but not inflicted upon royal or
aristocratic scholars.
It might have been suspected that his impressions were the
result of a morbid fancy, but singularly enough there were
evidences that the complaints which he afterwards made had
considerable foundation. It would appear from the testimony
of those best able to judge that the very frankness and
uncompromising truthfulness of his nature caused him to be
oppressed. "He could not dissemble;" and if he had committed
a fault, would not deny it, but if questions were asked would
at once take the consequences of acknowledging it with
outspoken courage, even in the face of impending severe
punishment.
It seems highly probable that to a temper like that of
George the Third this would come like defiance and obstinacy,
which required to be broken by any means that could be made
effectual ; while the boy himself may have been unconscious
that he had done anything which had not been demanded
by a regard for honour. However this may have been, he was
sent when he was eighteen years old to the dreary town of
Luneburg to study military science under the direction of a
Baron Wagenheim, whose chief aim, whether under orders from
the king or not, seems to have been to keep his charge under
the strictest and most oppressive discipline, and on his own
account to pocket the allowance of /"iooo a year granted to the
prince, to whom he doled out a guinea and a half a week, which,
46 QUEEN VICTORIA.
after it had been reduced by the infliction of certain fines,
was to provide for all personal expenses.
This short allowance does not seem to have been an excep-
tion, however, for the Duke of Sussex declared late in life to a
friend that till he was one-and-twenty his pocket-money never
exceeded a guinea a week; — that when he was one-and-thirty an
income of /, 2000 a year was allotted to him, and that at that
time he was always in arrears and poor. The younger dukes
at all events seem to have been but meanly provided for in
their early years; and yet they saw with what reckless profusion
their eldest brother the Prince Regent spent money, and either
witnessed or heard of the showy splendour and costly hospitalities
of Carlton House. The)' knew of the vast sums of debt
incurred for excesses and indulgences, which were paid for,
even though they were continually resented and denounced,
by the nation, and when their turn came it can scarcely be
wondered at that, with a common tendency to extravagance
which seemed to be a ^larinij" and almost an alarmhv'" reaction
against the personal economy of the king and queen, they should
launch into expenses without any very serious apprehension of the
consequences. The Duke of Sussex, however, was in England,
and led for the most part a quiet life; while the Duke of Kent
was abroad, and engaged in military duties in various parts of
the world. After a year at Luneburg he was transferred to
Hanover to continue his studies, where he was under the same
restrictions, and subjected to a surveillance which he declared
included intercepting his letters to his father, who, not hearing
from him, attributed his silence to an undutiful temper, and at the
same time received false reports of his conduct and complaints
of his extravagance, though he was still limited to his guinea
and a half a week, and was not allowed either horse or carriage.
PROMOTION TO DEBT. 47
From Hanover he was sent to Geneva, but without any
increase of pocket-money, though his governor received ^6000 a
year for maintaining an establishment. He had now passed his
twenty-second year, and being unable any longer to endure the
position in which he was detained, and receiving no satisfactory
reply to his requests, he started for London without asking per-
mission of anybody, and after five years' absence found himself
at an hotel in King Street, writing for permission to see his father,
who angrily refused to receive him, though his two elder
brothers — the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York — interceded
for him. After a fortnight of suspense he received orders to go
at once to Gibraltar, with an intimation that the King would
grant him a short interview on the night before his departure.
Whatever may have taken place during this hurried visit,
the position of the young prince v/as altered, for it would
appear that he went out to Gibraltar to take command of the
7th Fusiliers, of which he was made colonel, and that he was
allowed £"5000 a year. He still, however, required a sum of
money to pay for an establishment and outfit, as he had
nothing provided for him, and no sufficient sum being forth-
coming, he went into debt, with the not unusual result of so
far exceeding his immediate expectations that he had to
make prospective arrangements with his creditors, to whom
he gave bonds which were to be redeemed in seven years.
His debts amounted to ,£20,000, so that when he was ordered
with his regiment to Canada he was obliged to sell off everything
belonging to him at Gibraltar, and to pay his most pressing
creditors; and as he was again without any allowance for outfit
and equipment, he had no resource but to incur fresh liabilities.
Like a good many other young men who have extravagant tastes
and have not learnt how to begin to practise economy, he com-
AS queen victoria.
plained that he never had a fair start, and in his case the com-
plaint was not groundless. He was compelled to go into debt
for the personal and household equipments which were immedi-
ately necessary; and, perhaps for the very reason that he could
not pay for them at once, ordered many more than he really
required, only to find that the position and appearance which he
desired or was expected to maintain absorbed his entire income.
His pecuniary misfortunes were enormously aggravated by the
actual loss of consecutive outfits on which he had expended
money or credit. In 1793 he had to leave Quebec (in little
more than two years) to join the expedition against the French
West India Islands, and his effects were again sold, as an
entirely different equipment had to be obtained. This was lost
in crossing Lake Champlain, which was frozen over, and a supply
of necessary articles was procured at Boston.
The prince had already taken rank as an organizer, and had
in fact promoted one section of army reform at an earlier date
than that at which his brother, the Duke of York, commenced
his efforts to achieve complete reconstruction of the service, and
those endeavours to increase the well-being of the men in the
ranks, which had gained for him the name of "the soldier's
friend." In the West Indies, where he joined Sir Charles Grey,
Edward Augustus entered upon the serious business of a cam-
paign in which he took a prominent part, heading the flank
division at the storming of several strong and important forts
in Martinique and Guadaloupe, where the commander-in-chief
remonstrated with him for his reckless bravery. He was in
command of a battalion of grenadiers who disembarked at Mari-
got des Roseaux, under Yice-Admiral Sir John Jervis (after-
wards Earl St. Vincent), for the attack of Morne Fortunee, and
who conducted themselves so admirably in that affair, under the
ALL COURAGEOUS EXCEPT ONE.
49
immediate command of his royal highness, as to entitle them
to particular notice in the commander-in-chief's despatch. Their
leader himself hoisted the British colours on the post, the name
of which was changed to "Fort Charlotte" in honour of his
mother the Queen. The conquest of the whole island was soon
after accomplished without the loss of a single man, though the
troops were exposed to a heavy fire from the batteries and works
of the enemy. In the following month, at the capture of Guada-
loupe, the prince led on the first division, consisting of the first
and second battalions of qrenadiers and a hundred of the naval
battalion, to the attack of the post on Morne Marcot, and he and
his companions received the thanks of the English and Irish
Parliaments for their distinguished services. In fact the father
of our Oueen had his full share of the courage for which the line
ot Hanover-Brunswick has mostly been famous. George the
Third is reported to have declared, "All my sons are courageous
except one, and him I will not name as he is to succeed me."
This is a remarkable example of Georgian reticence, and seems
to accord somewhat with the declaration of Georee the Fourth
that he had been at the battle of Waterloo — an assertion so often
repeated that, perhaps, the prince had come to believe it, and
actually on one occasion appealed to the Duke of Wellington to
confirm it. "I was there, wasn't I, Arthur?" "I have often
heard your royal highness say so," was the cautious but truthful
reply. After the West Indies expedition, Prince Edward was
raised to the rank of lieutenant-general and made commander of
the forces at Halifax; but his former ill-luck attended him with
regard to an expensive outfit, which was the fifth that he lost.
The vessel in which it was sent out was, like its predecessor,
captured by the French, and the same fate befell two succeeding
ones, so that he had lost altogether about the value of ,£10,000
Vol. I. 7
50 QUEEN VICTORIA.
at the time that he was further promoted to the rank of general
and commander-in-chief of the forces in North America. Another
vessel had disappeared with his library, maps, plans, and a stock
of wine.
In 1798 he returned to England and took up his temporary
abode in Kensington Palace, and in the following year, when
he was thirty-two years of age, was made Duke ol Kent and
Strathern and Earl of Dublin. At last he seems to have gained
the position which he had deserved, and for which he had so
long waited in vain. The king had previously written to him
expressing approbation of the whole of his conduct, and after
his reception had appointed him to the command of the army
of the interior. When he became I Hike of Kent he was made
commander-in-chief of the English forces in North America and
Lieutenant-Q'overnor of Nova Scotia.
After this he was closely engaged in official work, and had
some expectation of having command of the troops in Ireland,
the union having been then nearly completed. He was again
called to England, partly because he was in ill-health and partly
by desire of the King, with whom he stayed for some time at
Weymouth. In 1S02 he went out as governor to Gibraltar,
where the garrison had become so disorganized that his efforts to
restore discipline resulted in an attempted mutiny, and it was
said that a plot for seizing him when he was on parade, and
flinging him from the Rock, was frustrated by a whispered
warning given to the duke, while he was visiting the hospital,
by a soldier who lay there dying from the effects of a long course
of intemperance. Whether this was the chief cause of the recall
of the duke or not need not be discussed, — but no sooner had
he succeeded in restorino- order than he was ordered to leave the
command in the hands of the officer next in authority and to
THE MONEY QUESTION.
51
return to England. The order was of course obeyed, but he
felt that some explanation should be given of such an unusual
proceeding, and on arriving in London he asked for a court-
martial to be appointed to inquire into the circumstances. This
was refused on the ground that it would not be expedient
in the case of an officer of his rank; and consequently he was
once more left to feel that he had been subjected to some adverse
influence, which in this case was attributed by the public — and
it would also seem by the duke himself-- to his brother the
Duke of York, who was omnipotent at the Horse Guards.
Though the duke had enough troubles of his own, he was
always ready to listen to the troubles of others, and to help his
friends as far as his duty and his limited influence and limited
means would permit. Strict, and even severely punctilious and
minutely methodical as he was reputed to be in his military
capacity and in the ordering of his establishment, he had a loyal
and tender heart and an affectionate nature. That his influence
was comparatively small, so far as any military or government
patronage was concerned, may be well imagined from the manner
in which his own requests were received or rather rejected, and
his own money difficulties prevented him from exercising to the
full his generous disposition.
It cannot be denied that the duke shared to some extent
the expansive views of his brothers as to the purchasing power
of a sum of money either in hand or in prospect, but it is also
certain that he did not share in the money itself. When the
King, with a munificence for which he has seldom been fully
credited, made very large presents to his sons from the balance
which came to him from prize-money, the Duke of Kent had
the smallest portion; and yet when he applied to Pitt to bring
before Parliament his claims for losses incurred through no fault
c9 QUEEN VICTORIA.
of his own, but in the public service and in consequence of
delay in the settlement of his "parliamentary establishment," he
took the opportunity of representing that the allowances of his
younger brothers were insufficient for the position those princes
were expected to maintain.
The death of Mr. Pitt soon afterwards, though it did not
prevent an increase in the allowances of the younger brothers,
left the promises of the minister to the Duke of Kent unfulfilled.
The consequence was that the engagements which he had made
with creditors, on the assurance that his claims would be
considered, and in the conviction that their justice would be
acknowledged, could not be fulfilled, and he had to arrange
with trustees to devote half his income for the extinction of his
debts. It will be enough to say that neither then, nor at a later
date, when, as a husband and a father, he might " reasonably"
(that is, without an appeal to sentiment) have expected some
consideration, did he receive any aid either from the o-overnment
or from his brother the Regent, whose demands, added to the
less alarming but still excessive expectations of the Duke ot
York, exhausted the supplies to be obtained from Parliament.
As we are referring for a moment to this later period (1819),
when the duke was driven to offer his house at Castlebar
(valued at ,£51,000) for sale, it may be interesting to note that
Mr. Hume, the sworn foe to extravagance, but at the same
time the sworn foe to injustice, stood up for him to the extent of
showing that if, in respect of parliamentary allowance, he was
placed on the same footing as the Duke of Clarence he would
have to receive £96,000, and if on a footing with the Duke of
Sussex ,£29,000.
Though we may not linger upon these preliminary pages,
they are of some importance in what purports to be a really
THE DUKE OF RENT'S LIBERALISM. 53
intelligible narrative of the life of our gracious and beloved
Queen, tor they show what were the conditions against which
her noble and excellent father had to contend, and they will
explain the unobtrusive but truly dignified conduct of the
widowed duchess, who, in the quiet seclusion of her home,
devoted herself to the loving care which should make the best
attributes of childhood and of womanhood the foundation for
the character of Princess and of Sovereign.
Without projecting the faintest shadow of politics upon the
page it may be permissible to say that the fact of the Duke of
Kent having decidedly taken the "Liberal" side, so far as he
entered upon political questions, was not likely to have advanced
his interests, the very pronounced Liberalism of the Duke of
Sussex having perhaps emphasized the profession of any such
opinions in other members of the family. Thus we find the
Duke of Kent speaking at a banquet in response for the toast
of the royal family, and saying, " I am a friend of civil and
religious liberty all the world over. I am an enemy to all reli-
gious tests. I am a supporter of a general system of education.
All men are my brethren; and I hold that power is delegated
only for the benefit of the people. These are the principles of
myself and my beloved brother the Duke of Sussex. They are
not popular principles just now. That is, they do not conduct
to place or office. All the members of the royal family do not
hold the same principles. For this I do not blame them; but
we claim for ourselves the right of thinking, and acting as we
think best." These were broad sentiments, and by no means
likely to be palatable either to the King, the Duke of York, or
the Duke of Cumberland, who were dead against such senti-
ments and against the removal of political disabilities from the
Roman Catholics. Doubtless the Duke of Kent had the courage
54
(WEEN VICTORIA.
of his convictions. At the same time it should be remembered
that the practical political "Liberalism" of the Duke of Kent
so far as he entered upon political matters at all, might now
probably be regarded as resembling what has been called demo-
cratic Toryism. As a matter of fact, however, he would not
have anything to do with pronounced politics. The royal dukes
were rather given to "orating" in or out of the House of Lords,
and the Duke of Sussex was always good for presiding some-
where or other, especially at charity and other dinners, or
meetings for promoting philanthropic objects, while his posi-
tion as grand-master of freemasonry possibly gave to his ad-
dresses the peculiar effect which is supposed to belong to
the utterances that distinguish the occupants of " the chair
of King Solomon." The Duke of Kent, however, though he-
was amiably willing to preside at anniversary festivals and
. assemblies for promoting benevolent objects, and though his
good-nature, easy eloquence, and imposing appearance, in
addition to his roval rank, made him a model chairman, and
led to his having to work harder than he would have done "in
his place" in the Upper House, chiefly confined his speaking
in public to such kindly efforts. He had enough of family
opposition without exasperating it by party debate, for which
he had no inclination. He wrote to Lord Eldon respecting
attendance in Parliament, reminding him of a conversation on
the day of the opening of the session, in which he had said he
would always be ready to attend the House of Peers whenever
he had the slightest direct intimation that his presence was
wished for. "In doing this," he added, "I am anxious your
lordship should understand that I am actuated by that principle
I have ever professed of supporting the King's government, and
never taking any part in political disputes, for which I have the
FAMILY TROUBLES. CAROLINE. 55
utmost abhorrence, and, indeed, am less fit than any other
member of our house, having never given my attention to any
other pursuit but that of my own profession."
The necessity for his acting with constant precaution in
relation to public affairs soon became apparent, for he was now
raised to the rank of field-marshal, and yet his position in the
royal family made it very difficult for him to avoid being
personally implicated in the scandals which were then exciting
public attention. Charges of receiving bribes had been brought
against the Duke of York, and these accusations, as well as
the conduct of the Prince Regent in insisting on a separation
from his wife the Princess Caroline, affected all the members
of the royal family in different ways, so that it was exceedingly
difficult to maintain a neutral position. To add to these
embarrassments, just before the inquiry into the allegations
made against the Duke of York, pamphlets were published
professing to- defend the Duke of Kent against the persecution
and neglect to which it was stated he had been subjected by
his brother. He had nothing whatever to do with these pub-
lications, and he went to the House of Lords to assure their lord-
ships that there was no animosity between him and his brother,
that all reports to the contrary were unfounded and untrue, and
that he was fully persuaded that all the charges made against his
brother were false, and would be proved to be without foundation.
From the allegations made against the Princess Caroline
and the so-called " investigations" instituted by her husband the
Prince Regent, he was less able to hold aloof, and such part as
he took in that miserable business ended in his incurring the
resentment both of the Prince and of the unfortunate but most
indiscreet and incorrigibly flighty Princess, who had intrusted to
the Rev. Dr. Randolph to take with him to Germany a packet
3
0 QUEEN VICTORIA.
of letters, which he protested he had sent back to her, declining
to be responsible for conveying them. They were either
intentionally intercepted or by some means fell into the hands of
some one who took them to Queen Charlotte, and as they were
full of strong expressions and some injurious representations with
regard to almost every member of the royal family who was then
at court, they contributed not a little to increase the aversion
felt by many relatives of the Prince to the misguided woman
who had written them. The whole transaction was discreditable
to both sides, and of course the letters should not have been
conveyed to the court, and should not have been read by those
who complained of their aspersions. The Duke of Kent had
not seen and would not receive them. He afterwards wrote a
precise memorandum in which he said, " These letters (most
unhappily for the writer) fell into hands for which most certainly
they were never intended. I have not seen them myself. I
never would see them, nor allow them to come into my
possession (though they have been more than once offered for
my inspection) for various reasons, among them a conviction
that their being in existence at all, and certainly in the hands
of the parties who held them, was a breach of that honourable
confidence which ought to actuate all persons in matters where
private correspondence is concerned." It is evident that the
duke was not at all the kind of man for exercising the "diplo-
macy" necessary for promoting the ambitions of the Prince
Regent, who had already been offended with him for having used
his influence to prevent a scandal being made of a former
" anonymous letter and a drawing " which had been attributed to
the Princess, and had also got into mischievous hands.
The conduct of the duke, however, appeared to be that of an
honourable and an amiable man, and it is not surprising that the
THE THRONE AND THE REGENCY. 57
Re<Tent afterwards asked him to take some trouble in reference
to the disputes which had already arisen with the Princess
Charlotte.
Findine that nothing would be done to brine: his claims
before the House of Commons, and that he had little to hope
from the Prince Regent, whose lavish expenditure had set so
ill an example to his brothers, and who, now that he was in
royal authority, because of the condition of the aged King, was
little likely to abate his demands on the public purse, the duke
retired to Brussels. There he took up his residence, occasion-
ally travelling on visits to Germany, where he had several
friends, doubtless included among the numerous correspondents
who kept him so extensively employed that he had to engage
a secretary and a couple of sergeants of his regiment who acted
as clerks. This business of letter-writing had grown upon the
duke in consequence of his readiness to interest himself in the
affairs of everybody who sought his counsel or patronage. He
was accessible to almost anyone who needed his aid and had
any reasonable plea for his assistance, and it may therefore be
easily imagined that he was always communicating with one
or other of the public departments, forwarding petitions, and
seeking favourable consideration for people who sought redress
or asked for appointments.
At that time (1816) the King had been for six years in
permanent seclusion, and there was no hope of his recovery.
In 1789 he had been obliged to retire from all public life for
three months, but the cloud which then obscured his mental
faculties passed away, and he had, with his family, attended at
Saint Paul's Cathedral to give thanks for his restoration to
health. In 1809, twenty years afterwards, commenced the
fiftieth year of his Majesty's reign, and the event had been
0
Vol. I.
58 QUE EN VICTORIA.
observed as a public festival, with many appropriate celebrations.
In the following year, however, there was a return of the malady
from which he had previously suffered.
The death of his favourite and youngest daughter the
Princess Amelia had greatly affected him, and it became evident
that his condition at such an advanced age was too serious
to allow any sanguine hopes of his recovery. To the Duke
of York was intrusted the personal care of the sovereign, and
the Prince of Wales, who was appointed Regent, practically
succeeded to the throne, and assumed the rights of royalty,
with the consent, though it can scarcely be said with the hearty
concurrence, of the people, a large proportion of whom regarded
him with a dislike not far removed from contempt. This was
partly caused by the self-indulgent and dissolute life that he
had led, and by his enormous extravagances, which had resulted
in frequent appeals to the public purse, — but all the ill-will
which was manifested towards him had been accentuated by
his unhappy relations with his wife, from whom he had separated
in 1796, almost immediately after the birth of a daughter,
who became next in succession to the throne. George the
Third, who constantly protected the unhappy Caroline, took
charge of the young princess, and the mother retired to a
private residence at Blackheath, and when in London occupied
a house in Connaught Place, facing Hyde Park. When the
King's condition became hopeless the child was placed under the
care of the Queen, who, it is to be feared, was not over-kind
to her, and only allowed her mother to see her once a week.
With the miserable and unedifying story of the Regent
and his unhappy Princess — especially with its later episodes
when he became King and her alleged wrongs led to popular
tumults — we need not here be concerned. It is necessary,
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 59
however, to refer as briefly as may be to her daughter, the
Princess Charlotte, for whom, as she grew older, there was
manifested by the nation a deep and almost passionate regard,
which owed much of its strength to the very opposite feeling
with which her father was greeted, especially as there was a
general conviction that he was treating her with indifference
and neglect, if not with actual cruelty and oppression. These
suspicions were not without foundation. The Prince Regent
cared chiefly for his own selfish ease and amusements. His
child knew nothing of parental affection, and had never had
any of the care and happiness that belongs to true home life,
nor the moral developments that come of close and generous
friendships in early youth. Before she had reached womanhood
she had learned to pity and to excuse, if not to defend, much
that was blameworthy in her mother's conduct. Her very
deep sense of justice added to a genuinely affectionate dispo-
sition and a yearning for affection in return caused her to side
with her mother, and may have had much to do with the strong
opposition to her father's imperious orders which she sometimes
manifested. One sentence — a remark which she made at a
rather later date to Baron Stockmar (of whom we shall see more
presently) — is vastly significant of the decided impression which
she had formed and of the injurious circumstances amidst which
she must have been placed. " My mother was bad, but she
would not have become as bad as she was if my father had
not been infinitely worse:"- — a terrible sentence, look at it how
we may.
The Princess Charlotte possessed admirable and some noble
qualities, such as were well calculated to make the people
idolize her, and abundantly to justify the enthusiasm with which
her name was mentioned, although she was allowed few oppor-
bo QUE EX VICTORIA.
tunities of appearing in public in such a way as to call forth
regular expressions of loyalty. She grew to be a handsome
woman, above the ordinary height, with a fine figure, an expan-
sive and genial beauty, manners frank, vivacious, and sometimes
unconventional enough to give a kind of charm to her conver-
sation with those whom she liked. There was an occasional
caprice almost approaching to flightiness, which, however, was
corrected by her frank good-humour and her modest dress and
decorous though rather careless demeanour. Her great
characteristic seems to have been a deeply-loving nature and a
very amiable and charitable temper, amidst much that was wilful
and wayward in her conduct. She needed the guidance of true,
strong, and one might add sedate; affection, and this she found
but for one happy year — the last year of her earthly life.
When she was sixteen a separate town residence was
provided for her at Warwick House, near her father's palace
of Carlton House, and there or at Windsor she lived among
comparative strangers with her governess, and for companion
Miss Cornelia Knight, who afterwards wrote an account of the
life that was led there. She was only allowed to see her mother
once a fortnight, and for the next three years her experiences
may be inferred from the fact that at seventeen she had not
been confirmed — which was then considered to be a very
serious negligence for a < • irl of that age. Neither had she
appeared at court, which, considering what the court was,
perhaps places some small grain of credit to the account of her
father, if his motive was a higher one than to save himself
trouble and responsibility. His conduct towards her was
summed up in the directions he gave to Miss Knight :
' Remember that Charlotte must lay aside the idle nonsense
of thinking that she has a will of her own : while I live she
TWO WILFUL TEMPERS. 6l
must be subjected to me, as she is at present, if she were thirty,
or forty, or forty-five." This may seem to show that he had
already been made to feel that she had a will of her own and
might unexpectedly exercise it, and she did exercise it when, at
eighteen, an offer of marriage was made by the Prince of Orange,
who afterwards became King William the Second of the
Netherlands.
The Prince Regent saw that here was an opportunity of
getting rid of a great responsibility, and therefore he consented
with alacrity to the proposed alliance, and so hurried on the
engagement that the princess was betrothed almost before
she was aware of it, although on her first meeting with the
Prince of Orange she was not very favourably impressed either
with his manners or appearance. It would seem that she
immediately began to insist on conditions, the discussion of
which would delay the marriage, and she was supported in her
demands by the "opposition" in Parliament and by her mother,
to whom the Prince of Orange had already shown himself to
be inimical.
So strongly did the Regent endeavour to overcome her
objections to leave England and take up her residence in
Holland for a considerable part of each year, that he was
suspected of indifference to her succession to the throne; and
it may wrell be imagined that the influence of the Duke of
Cumberland was in this direction, since — as after events proved
-he was alive to the possibility of his own claims being put
forward if the salique law observed in Hanover could be
established in England.
o
The princess soon showed that she could be as determined as
her father or as either of the royal dukes, and so persisted in her
objections to a foreign residence that the marriage was delayed.
62 QUEEN VICTORIA.
On the 7th of June, 1814, the allied sovereigns and their
victorious generals visited London, and were sumptuously
entertained by the Prince Regent, who at the same time refused
to allow his wife to be present at the court festivities, from which
his daughter was also excluded. This prohibition increased the
indignation of the Princess Charlotte, who saw in it a deliberate
design to injure the reputation of her mother in the opinion of
the royal and imperial guests, and her resentment was excited
by the conduct of her affianced husband, who, with an utter
disregard of her sentiments, attended the assemblies from which
she had been peremptorily banished.
She now demanded not only that she should remain in
England immediately after the marriage, but that her future
home should be open to the visits of her mother, and as the
intended bridegroom refused his consent to such an arrangement
she distinctly told him that the marriage was impossible, and he
accepted the decision with so little emotion that it was evident
not much love had been lost on either side. The Prince Regent
was in a fury, and characteristically went to Warwick House,
suddenly dismissed the household of the princess on the ground
that they had connived at her disobedience, and commanded her
at once to prepare to go to Cranbourne Lodge at Windsor,
where, as she well knew, she would be kept in seclusion, and
under the espionage of strangers. When it was supposed she
was preparing for the journey, she stole out of the house and
entered a hackney-coach, in which she drove to her mother's
house in Connauofht Place.
There was a great commotion when her flight was discovered.
The Regent was baffled, and had to send to the Duke of York
and others to assist him in bringing back the princess. The Duke
of Sussex was out at a dinner-party when a hastily-scribbled note
A BROKEN TROTH. 6^
from his niece was put into his hand. She implored him to protect
her, and said she had sought refuge with her mother. Without
waiting to find his carriage he had a hackney-coach called, and
drove off to Connaught Place. Hackney-coaches were in
remarkable request that evening for the conveyance of distin-
guished passengers to the same destination. When the duke
arrived he found Mr. Henry Brougham there. This rising advo-
cate was already employed as the legal adviser of the Princess
of Wales. When the duke heard who he was, he turned to him
and asked, " Pray, sir, supposing that the Prince Regent, acting
in the name and on behalf of his Majesty, were to send a sufficient
force to break open the doors of the house and carry away the
princess, would resistance in such a case be lawful?" Brougham
replied that it would not. " Then, my dear," said the duke
to his niece, " you hear what the law is, and I can only advise
you to return with as much speed and as little noise as possible."
The princess was now inclined to yield. Her mother joined
in urging her to show obedience to her father. When the Duke
of Sussex left the house he found the lord chancellor and two
chief-justices in a coach together, waiting to be admitted.
In another coach came the Duke of York, and eventually he
persuaded the princess to return with him to Warwick House.
The end of it was that she stayed for a few days at Carlton
House with her father, who seems to have shown a less arbitrary
temper now that he saw what she might dare if driven to
extremities, and she was afterwards taken to Windsor, all her
attendants having been chanp;ed. But the marriage was
irretrievably broken off — and what was more, she had already
seen somebody whom she believed she would love much better
than she ever could have loved the Prince of Orange, who two
years afterwards married a Russian grand-duchess.
64 OCR EX VICTORIA.
By that time the Princess Charlotte had married that some-
body else. No other, indeed, than Prince Leopold of Coburg,
a man whose bereavement by her death after a year of happy
conjugal affection was deeply felt by the whole nation, and
whose noble qualities, solid acquirements, and sincere character
gave him a distinguished place in the councils of Europe for
many years afterwards, when he had by general consent been
elected to the throne of Belgium.
Prince Leopold was directly descended from the old and
noble house of the great Pdector of Saxony, Frederic the Wise.
This elder, or as it was called the Ernestine, branch of the
great Saxon family was represented by the owners of various
duchies, which were acquired after the electorate had passed to
the younger or Albertine branch of the family in consequence of
devotion of the elder family to the Protestant religion. P>ederic
the Wise, Elector of Saxony, the friend and protector of Martin
Luther, was powerful enough to hold his own, but the defeat
of lohn Frederic by the Emperor Charles the Fifth, in 1547,
chano-ed the succession to the younger branch, the treacherous
Maurice having deserted the Reformed faith, and thus secured
elevation to the electorate. At the death of the great grandson
of Frederic the Wise,- Ernest the Pious, Duke of Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha-Coburg, — the several duchies acquired by the
family and now possessed by his descendants were divided.
They included the dukedoms of Saxe- Gotha- Altenburg, of
Saxe-Meiningen (the family of the Princess Adelaide, consort of
William the Fourth), of Saxe-Hildburghausen, and Saxe-Coburg-
Saalfeld. Of these, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg went to the eldest
son, Frederic; and Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld1 to the youngest,
1 By subsequent family arrangements as to succession he took the Duchy of Gotha and
surrendered that of Saalfeld to the Duke of Meinin<jen.
OUR QUEEN'S MATERNAL ANCESTORS. 65
John Ernest, the ancestor of Ernest the First, eldest brother of
Leopold and, as we shall see hereafter, father of Prince Albert.
This Duke Ernest was eldest son of Duke Francis and of a
very clever and sensible woman, Augusta, daughter of Prince
Henry the Twenty-fourth of Reuss-Ebersdorff. He had suc-
ceeded to the dukedom in 1806 when it was in the occupation
of the French, from which it was not set free till 18 13. The
second son was Ferdinand George, who married the Princess
Kohary of Hungary, and whose son married Donna Maria the
Second, Queen of Portugal. Prince Leopold was the third son,
and with him we are more concerned. There were four daughters :
Sophia married Count Mensdorff Pouilly, who left France at
the Revolution and obtained a high position in the Austrian
service, his son, Count Alexander Mensdorff, having been well
known at a much later date as Austrian minister of foreign affairs;
Antoinette, the second daughter, married Duke Alexander of
Wurtemburg ; Julie, the third daughter, the Grand-duke Con-
stantine of Russia, from whom she separated in 1802, taking
up her residence in Switzerland ; Victoria Marie Louise, the
youngest daughter, had been married to Emich Charles, Prince
of Leiningen, and had (in 18 13) been left a widow with two
children, a son and a daughter, to whom, though she was still
a young, handsome, and accomplished woman, she devoted her-
self with maternal care and affection.
Prince Leopold was distinguished even in a distinguished
family for a remarkable personal charm — keen intellect, much
tact, and courtesy of manner, the sagacity which includes a
knowledge of men and enables its possessor to estimate char-
acter, and a fine sense of humour. His "record" was clear as
to character and conduct, and he was just one of those men who
are not only generally attractive, but who command esteem and
Vol. I.
66 QUEEN VICTORIA.
regard. To the temperate blood, sound brain, and habitual self-
possession of the Coburg family he added a wisdom and con-
sistency of conduct which is usually only the result of age and
experience. In England he was popular almost immediately that
he became known. His characteristics were those that the
English appreciate, and rightly or wrongly claim for themselves.
The highest praise they could give him was — " What a complete
English gentleman!" He had, however, had some experience, for
at fifteen he had entered the Russian army, just before the battle
of Austerlitz; and though there were some family disagreements
with the Grand-duke Constantine — he did not sever his con-
nection with the imperial court, but in 18 1 3 was the first German
prince who joined the Russian army for the liberation of
Germany, and was on Constantine's staff. He had visited
Napoleon at Paris in 1807, and was at the Congress of Erfurt
in 1808. He was a successful negotiator at the Congress 0f
Vienna, and in 18 15, at Paris, obtained an increase of terri-
tory for his brother the Duke of Coburg. In the previous
year (18 14), he also was one of the honoured guests who
came to England, and were magnificently received at Carlton
House. Though the Princess Charlotte was excluded from
these superb gatherings, she had met Leopold, and was anxious
to become better acquainted with him. She confided her wishes
to her aunt, the Duchess of York (the Princess Frederica of
Prussia, daughter of Frederick William the Third), who, knowing
that there would otherwise be great difficulty in bringing these
young people together, promised to give a ball for her, and to
invite the prince. This was done, and it need scarcely be said
that the meeting, at which there was soon a mutual understanding,
sealed the fate of the proposed Orange marriage. It was a
critical position for Prince Leopold, and the Prince Regent was
BARON STOCKMAR.
67
at first inclined to oppose him, especially as it had been repre-
sented that he had taken means to supersede the Prince of
Orange; but his invincible amiability and patient good sense,
no less than his admirable manners, actually won over the
Regent. The Duke of York as well as the Duke of Kent were
generally favourable to the suit, and the marriage was afterwards
arranged, though for some time after Leopold had left England,
in 1S14, the whole matter seemed to be doubtful, and but for
the kindly Duke of Kent, who enabled the lovers to correspond,
the difficulties might have become insuperable. In January,
18 16, however, Leopold received an invitation to return to
England, and the marriage took place amidst the congratulations
and rejoicings of the nation, who regarded the wedded pair with
the utmost delight and complacency.
When Prince Leopold arrived in England he stayed first at
Brighton and there awaited the arrival of Christian Frederick
Stockmar, whom he had appointed to be his physician, but who
afterwards became his confidential secretary and most faithful and
trusted companion. Stockmar, who subsequently received the
title ol baron and whose name has been associated with many of
the events relating to the early life of our Queen, was a very
remarkable man, — remarkable not only because of his undoubted
ability and accomplishments, but for a sincerity and integrity
which was never known to fail. His self-devotion led him to
give up family ties, many personal ambitions, and much prospect
of ease and comfort, in the service of the prince, for whom he
had the greatest esteem and affection.
There is a peculiar self-effacement by which some men of
keen perceptions, an intense sense of humour, and yet with an
undercurrent of melancholy, apparently keep themselves in the
background, at the same time experiencing deep self-satisfaction
68 QUEEN VICTORIA.
in the notion that they are exercising- a powerful influence on
those about them by their advice and the results of their observa-
tions. Stockmar had something of this quality, and undoubtedly
possessed a remarkable talent for what is called " reckoning
people up." As a politician or as a theoretical statesman, and as
one who had more than usual opportunities of observing and
associating- with ministers and leaders of opinion, he set himself
to diagnose character as unhesitatingly as he would, in his
capacity of physician, have diagnosed disease. He had been
educated at the Coburg Gymnasium and at Wurzburg, Erlangen,
and Jena. In the period of the war dating from 1S12 he
became " town and country physician " at Coburg, where he had
been practising medicine, and there lie organized a military
hospital. In January, 1814, and again in 18 15 he had as
physician accompanied the Saxon ducal contingent to the Rhine,
and in the latter year into Alsace. In that campaign Prince
Leopold had become acquainted with him, and such was their
mutual regard that when the marriage of the prince with
Princess Charlotte was settled, Stockmar received and accepted
the offer of the appointment of physician in ordinary to the
prince, whom he followed to England on the 29th of March,
[816.
As an example of the manner in which he would by a few
vivid touches of description indicate his impressions of important
people whom he met we may quote from his diary (not at the
time of course intended for any eye but his own) his remarks
on some members of the royal family. Of the Regent he wrote:
'Very stout, though of a fine figure; distinguished manners;
does not talk half as much as his brothers; speaks tolerably
good French. He ate and drank a good deal at dinner. His
brown scratch-wig not particularly becoming." The Duke of
STOCKMAR'S ESTIMATE OF THE ROYAL DUKES. 69
York was "tall, with immense embonpoint, and not proportionately
strono- legs ; he holds himself in such a way that one is always
afraid he will tumble over backwards ; very bald, and not a very
intelligent face. . . . Spoke a good deal of French with a
bad accent." The Duchess of York, daughter of Frederick
William the Second of Prussia, is described as " a little, animated
woman ; talks immensely and laughs still more. No beauty ;
mouth and teeth bad. She disfigures herself still more by
distorting her mouth and blinking her eyes. In spite of the
duke's various infidelities their matrimonial relations are good.
She is quite aware of her husband's embarrassed circumstances,
and is his prime minister and truest friend, so that nothing is
done without her help. As soon as she entered the room she
looked round for the banker, Greenwood, who immediately came
up to her with the confidentially familiar manner which the
wealthy go-between assumes towards grand people in embar-
rassed circumstances." The Duke of York had married the
Princess Frederica Charlotte Ulrica, Princess Royal of Prussia,
in September, 1 79 1, when he was twenty-eight and she was
twenty-four years old, and the portion of ,£30,000 which she was
said to have received from her father was probably a considerable
attraction; whether the promise which the Prussian monarch was
said to have made, also to pay the duke's debts to the amount of
,£20,000, was an expression of satisfaction at his daughter's
marriage need not be discussed, but it is declared that on the
marriage being settled he said to her, " Ma fille vous avez attendu
longtemps, mais vous avez tiree le gros lot."
Of the Duke of Clarence, afterwards King William the
Fourth, Stockmar wrote : " The smallest and least good-looking
of the brothers (he must have meant the elder brothers),
decidedly like his mother, as talkative as the rest." But the
jO QUEEN VICTORIA.
observation on the Duke of Kent is in accordance with the
known character of that prince: "The quietest of all the dukes
I have seen, talks slowly and deliberately, is kind and courteous."
A very different estimate to that given of Ernest, Duke of
Cumberland: "A tall, powerful man, with a hideous face; can't
see two inches before him; one eye turned quite out of its
place." This duke had in 1814 married his cousin, Frederica
Caroline Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had been twice
previously married; first to Prince Frederick of Prussia, and
secondly to the Prince of Salms-Braunsch, from whom she had
been divorced.
The Duke of Sussex did not at this time come within the
diagnosis of physician Stockmar. He was living quietly, rather
as an English nobleman than as a prince of the royal family. As
we have seen he was an avowed Liberal; and he was probably
the most really cultivated of all the royal dukes, his extensive
library at Kensington Palace containing many rare books, and
especially a fine collection of Bibles and ancient manuscripts, for
he was a student of Biblical literature. He, like some of his
brothers, was a great smoker, and possessed a remarkable
collection of meerschaum and other pipes, some of them of
considerable value. Another characteristic was a liking for rather
handsome attire, especially gorgeous dressing-gowns. One can
scarcely think of the Duke of Sussex in this regard without
associating some of his peculiarities with his experiences in
freemasonry. There may have been much in masonic cere-
monies and decorations to account for a few of his ways.
The Duke of Sussex, while in Italy, when he was only a
youth of nineteen, had fallen distractedly in love with Lady
Augusta Murray, daughter of the Earl of Dunmore, a governor
of one of the American provinces. The lady was staying in
THE QUEEN'S AC/NTS. ji
Rome with her mother, and so vehemently did the prince urge
his suit that, unknown to the mother, the young people were
married by an English clergyman there. In the winter the whole
party returned to England, and the ceremony was repeated,
the duke figuring as Mr. Frederick. It was a love-match, and
the lady was of high lineage, descended in fact from the same
royal lines as the duke himself; but the union was pronounced
to be void, and was set aside by the King, under the terms of
the Royal Marriage Act of 1773, which made the marriage of
any descendant of George the Second under twenty-five and
without the King's consent absolutely null and void.
Of the youngest of the royal princes — Adolphus Frederick,
Duke of Cambridge — Stockmar wrote: "A good-looking man
with a blonde wig. Speaks French and German very well, but,
like English, with such rapidity that he carries off the palm in
the family art." He was a popular prince in many respects,
and deservedly so, for he was a pleasant and good-natured man,
unpretentious, quiet, and reputable in his conduct, had served in
Flanders not without distinction, was a ready patron of move-
ments intended to ameliorate the condition of the poor, and was
not only a promoter of the art of music and of musical education,
but was a very good singer. At the time of the wedding of the
Princess Charlotte he was unmarried, but in May, 18 18, was
united to Wilhelmina Louisa, youngest daughter of the Land-
grave of Hesse -Cassell. In 18 14 he had been appointed
governor of Hanover, and held that position till 1839, when, on
the death of William the Fourth, the Duke of Cumberland
succeeded to the Hanoverian throne.
Of the surviving daughters of George the Third (one, as we
have seen, had died in 18 10) two were married — the elder to
the KingofWurtemburg; the Princess Elizabeth (third daughter)
72
CUE EN VICTORIA.
to the Landgrave of Hesse; the Princess Augusta (the second
daughter) remained unmarried. The fourth daughter, Princess
Mary, was then unmarried, but in iSi6 married her cousin the
Duke of Gloucester, son of the brother of the King, and a
prince who was usually regarded as deficient in intelligence, and
decidedly was somewhat of a cipher, but quiet and inoffensive,
and capable of very genuine friendship. The Princess Sophia,
the younger daughter of George the Third, was unmarried.
There had been no children of the marriages, and therefore
intense interest was manifested in the Princess Charlotte,
and in her approaching alliance with Prince Leopold. The
union seemed in most respects to promise great happiness, for
the young couple thoroughly understood each other, and were
mutually devoted.
On the 2d of May, 18 16, they were married, and
immediately afterwards went to the Duke of York's residence
at Oatlands, returning in a few days for the London season,
during which they remained at Camelford House, Park Lane,
afterwards going to reside permanently at the prince's own
beautiful house at Claremont, near Esher, which had been
purchased for them by the government for ,£69,000.
Stockmar, though he was only one of the chief officers of
the simple household (which, besides himself, consisted of Mrs.
Campbell, lady-in-waiting to the princess, and three gentlemen
equerries or aides-de-camp), was in so confidential a position
that he could well estimate the happy relations of the prince and
princess. " In this house reign harmony, peace, and love," he
wrote in October, 1S16; "in short, everything that can promote
domestic happiness. My master is the best of all husbands in
all the five quarters of the globe, and his wife bears him an
amount of love, the greatness of which can only be compared
DEATH OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 7-
with the English national debt." Ten months afterwards: "The
married life of this couple affords a rare picture of love and
fidelity, and never tails to impress all spectators who have
managed to preserve a particle of feeling."
Alas! a shadow was gathering over that abode of mutual
affection — the curtain of death was to be drawn across the
picture. The princess was about to become a mother, and the
event was looked forward to with anxiety, not only by all
England but by foreign nations. There appeared to be no
reason for apprehension: all was apparently going well. Stock-
mar had firmly and wisely enough refused to undertake an)'
responsibility, or to attend the princess even as resident
physician, and the result showed that it was prudent for him
as a foreigner to abstain from interference. The physician in
ordinary was the famous Dr. Baillie; Sir Richard Croft was
accoucheur. In those days a good deal of medical treatment
consisted of depletion, — bleeding, cupping, and means for lowering
the system were considered necessary in cases where quite a
different course would now be pursued. The strength of the
princess had, it was said, been greatly diminished. The period
of suffering before the birth of her child was unusually pro-
tracted: the ministers, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other
important personages had assembled at the house awaiting
the result. A male child was born, but born dead. It was a
terrible disappointment, but the prince bore it with resignation,
and, worn out with long watching by his wife, retired to rest,
the princess appearing to be well and free from pain. At mid-
night Stockmar was awakened by Sir Richard Croft coming
to his bedside, and begging him to inform the prince that the
patient was in a dangerous condition. Two hours afterwards,
at two o'clock in the morning of the 6th of November, 1817, the
Vol. I 10
«4 QUEEN VICTORIA.
dead mother lay beside the dead child; and the husband, broken
down with grief, felt as though his life had been wrecked and
there would be no more joy for him in the world.
The terrible event caused profound grief throughout the
nation. The country was in mourning, and was pervaded by a
sense of gloom, amidst which sinister accusations against the
Rep-ent and Queen Charlotte found extravagant expression. The
unfeeling conduct of the father, and the dislike and harshness
manifested towards the princess by the Queen, were bitterly
remembered, and suspicions of neglect, and worse than neglect,
were first whispered, and afterwards more openly disseminated.
They were entirely without foundation, for the princess had
been under the unceasing care of a devoted husband; and apart
from the question of the erroneous medical practice of the time,
no immediate responsibility could be placed upon anyone in
attendance upon her. But the calamity was so awfully sudden
and unexpected that people sought for some further explanation
than was to be found in mistaken treatment. This state of
public feeling was painfull)' increased by the suicide of Sir
Richard Croft, whose mind had been so affected that he was in
a state bordering on insanity. He could not endure the grief
and anxiety which, added to the conviction that he was the object
of public denunciation, overthrew his reason, and while attending
the wife of a clergyman, whose condition seemed somewhat
to resemble that which preceded the death of the princess, he
shot himself with a pistol which he found in the room that he
occupied in the house.
The Duke of Kent was still in Brussels, where he had been
completing the stables and gardens of a mansion which he had
obtained for his residence. He was now fifty years of age; but his
manner of living had been different to that of his elder brothers,
THE PARENTS OF OUR QUEEN. 75
and as compared with them he was still in his prime. In one of
his visits to Germany he had met the youngest sister of Prince
Leopold — the Princess Victoire (Victoria) Maria Louisa — widow
of the Prince of Leiningen, who with her two children lived at
Amorbach in Bavaria, in a residence assigned to her as princess-
dowager. The princess was but thirty years old, her husband
having been much her senior. She had now been for four
years a widow, with a son, Charles Emich, Prince of Leiningen,
about twelve, and a daughter, Anna Feodora, about nine years
of aore.
The duke, a man of handsome presence, courteous and most
kind and attractive manners, and with accomplishments which
give distinction even to princes, had probably soon won the
regard of this lady, as her singularly engaging appearance,
amiable and unselfish disposition, and admirable character, had
certainly secured his affection. Stockmar in his journal recorded
that she was of middle height, with a o-ood fioure, fine brown
eyes and hair, fresh and youthful; naturally cheerful and friendly,
most charming and attractive ; naturally truthful, affectionate,
unselfish, full of sympathy and generous. This is a description
which might seem to derive some eulogy from the language of a
courtier; but Stockmar was no courtier, and wrote in his diary
only what he had reason to believe of the sister of his beloved
Prince Leopold. His estimate of the mother of our Queen
was verified by the long and consistent life of that gracious lady,
who, by the characteristics here attributed to her, and by her
gentleness and patience, overcame the prejudices and innumerable
difficulties which awaited her on her arrival in England.
The Princess Charlotte, heiress to the throne, was dead.
The Prince Regent was separated from his wife, from whom he
desired to be divorced. The Duke of York had no children.
76 QUEEN JVC TO RL I.
There was none to succeed the princess in relation to the future
accession to the throne. The regular life of the Duke of Kent
had made it probable that he would survive his elder brothers.
It was not surprising therefore, that after receiving the sad intel-
ligence of the death of his niece, which greatly affected him, he
should consider what would be its political result, and make
definite arrangements for his marriage, which took place on the
29th of May in the following year (1818) at Coburg, where it
was solemnized according to the rites of the Lutheran Church.
It was necessary, however, that, in accordance with the Royal
Marriage Act, the ceremony should be performed in England,
and on the 11th of July two royal weddings took place at
Kew, for William, Duke of Clarence (afterwards William the
Fourth), at same time took to himself a wife — the Princess
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. Queen Charlotte, full of years
and full of cares — for the husband with whom she had spent a
long life was already dead to the world, almost dead to sense,
and to mental as well as physical light — exerted herself to be
present. It was the last time that she was able to appear at any
ceremonial observance, and she died shortly afterwards. The
Prince Regent had so far relented as to give away both brides,
and after the ceremony had been performed by the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, and the Queen had
retired, he presided at a grand banquet in honour of the occasion.
The comfort of the happy re-married pair had been cared for by
the bereaved Prince Leopold, and in his carriage they drove to
Claremont House, where they were to stay for a time before
returning to Germany to take up their residence at the house of
the duchess at Amorbach.
The duke was an "amiable, courteous, and even chivalrous
husband" (to quote Stockmar again), and the marriage was an
■ ■
■
■
8L*CKIE ft SON. LONDON, GLU
THE "LACK OF PENCE:' 77
eminently happy one; but his financial embarrassments con-
tinued, and he could neither obtain a settlement of them, nor
any adequate assistance from the government or from his
brothers, the Regent acting as though the superficial reconciliation
implied by his having given away the bride should be regarded
as sufficient concession to compensate for any lack of further
interest.
The Castle of Amorbach was part of the inheritance of the
young prince, the son of the duchess; and she had, upon her
marriage, relinquished an annuity which had been paid her as
dowager, and amounted to about ^5000 a-year. The want cf
money was pressing, and as time went on became serious, for it
was the earnest desire of the duke that the child which he had
reason to expect, should be born in England, the country over
which he had a strong conviction either he or his offspring
would one day be called to reign. The duchess, however, was
prevented from making the journey, because of the want of
means to pay the expenses, until some private friends of the
duke in England proffered their aid. It may be interesting to
know that these friends were Alderman Wood and Lord Darnley,
the trustees who received the revenues of the Duke of Kent
in trust for his creditors when he retired to Brussels, and
received only a small amount of his income. His liberal politics
had prevented him from enjoying the advantages of office
conferred on other members of the royal family, and yet his
debts were not to be compared with those of the Duke of York.
When Alderman Sir Matthew Wood heard of the situation
of the duchess, he wrote to the duke at Brussels to suggest
his removing to England. The duke replied that a consider-
able sum would be necessary to defray the expenses; and
as no funds were in hand, the alderman suggested to Lord
7 8 QUEEN VICTORIA.
Darnley that they two should execute a personal bond to
Messrs. Coutts, the bankers, for an advance to the duke, they
taking their chance of his living long enough for them to be
repaid out of income. By these means the duke and
duchess were enabled to reach England, and it may be
added that the advance was only just repaid at the time of the
duke's premature death.1 Knowing how anxious our gracious
Sovereign was at the commencement of her reign not only to
meet all the obligations contracted by her father, but also to
acknowledge the aid which ho had received, it is not surprising
that the well-known alderman (a Liberal in more than one
aspect) received a baronetcy offered him by Lord Melbourne, in
accordance with her Majesty's commands. This is a digression,
but it is not out of place.
Having obtained this friendly aid, at a time when further
delay would have made the journey impossible (it already
involved some risk), the duke promptly prepared for the journey
to England. It is recorded, and it was eminently characteristic
of the man, that feeling reluctant to intrust anybody with the
responsibility, he himself drove the carriage in which the duchess
travelled for the whole of the journey by land from Amorbach
to London, where they arrived early in the month of April, 1819,
taking up their residence in Kensington Palace, in which a suite
of apartments had been prepared for them.
The rooms occupied by the Duchess of Kent were spacious,
and all the more convenient and home-like for not being of too
great a height. A room on the first floor at the north-east
corner of the palace, and with three windows on one side looking
out on the private grounds, was the bed-room, and there the
1 Memoir oj the Right Hon. William Page Wood, Baron Halherley. Edited by his
nephew, W. R. W. Stephens, M.A. 1883.
BIRTH-PLACE OF OUR QUEEN. 79
baby who was to be our Queen was born. The adjoining
"north drawing-room" was converted into a nursery.
The state apartments of the palace at Kensington during
the residence there of the Duchess of Kent and the Princess />
Victoria consisted of a suite of twelve rooms, approached by the
grand staircase, the balconies of which, as already noticed, were
painted with groups of figures, including the portraits of the
"Turks" who were attendants of George the Second, a figure of
" Peter the Wild Boy," and some other celebrities of the time
when the work was executed. The state apartments were now
used only on extraordinary occasions. The Cubic Room, or
grand saloon, where the christening was held, was a showy
room, 37 feet square, gaudily decorated and containing gilt
mythological statues in marble niches, surmounted by gilt busts;
a bust of Cleopatra over the mantel-piece, and a very fine marble
sculpture by Rysbrach representing a Roman marriage. The
paintings in the galleries and state rooms were numerous, and
included a number of historical pictures and family portraits, and
several of them had been collected by Queen Caroline, who
took particular pleasure in regaining as many as possible of
those that had belonged to Charles the First; but many changes
had been made, and several of the most remarkable works
had been removed to Windsor and Buckingham Palace.
It may be mentioned that the duchess had walked daily in
the gardens, and that no ill effects had ensued from the long
journey taken at a critical period. In her case, following the
Coburg custom, the services of a famous accoucheuse named
Charlotte Siebold were secured, the regular medical attendants
being in waiting only in case of their advice being required; but
all went well, and the ministers and noblemen who had assembled
at the palace soon received the announcement of the birth of a
So QUEEN VICTORIA.
princess. Amongst those present were the Duke of Sussex,
the Duke of Wellington, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord
Lansdowne, the Bishop of London, Mr. George Canning", and
Mr. Nicholas Vansittart, afterwards Lord Bexley.
It is no flattery to say that the "new princess" was a
beautiful baby. That was the universal conclusion. Even
Stockmar said so, and lie was not likely to be "carried away"
amidst the general delight and congratulation which extended
beyond this country, and was equally felt in the old home at
Coburg; at the Rosenau, the palace of Duke Ernest (the elder
brother of the Duchess of Kent), about four miles from the old
town; and at Ketschendorf, the dwelling of their mother, the
dear affectionate old dowager-duchess, the grandmother of the
little baby-princess at Kensington, who, many years afterwards,
could write of her: "The Queen remembers her dear grand-
mother perfectly well. She was a most remarkable woman,
with a most powerful, energetic, almost masculine mind, accom-
panied with great tenderness of heart and extreme love for
nature."
The mother's heart was in the letter that the dowager sent
to her daughter, the Duchess of Kent. " I cannot express how
happy I am to know you, dearest Vickel, safe in your bed with a
little one, and that all went off so happily. May God's blessing
rest on the little stranger and the beloved mother ! Again a
Charlotte, destined, perhaps, to play a great part one day, if a
brother is not born to take it out of her hands. The English
like queens, and the niece of the ever-lamented, beloved
Charlotte will be most dear to them. I need not tell you how
delighted everybody is here on hearing of your safe confinement,
/ou know that you are much beloved in this your little home."
A charmingly simple and loving letter, with a truly home-like
\z
THE OTHER BABY AT ROSEN AU. 8 I
tone, just such as might have been expected, for the faithful
Siebold having concluded her duties in London had returned to
Coburo-, and there had described the new-comer in terms that at
once suo-crested to the nature-loving grandmother the sweet and
appropriate name of " May-flower " for the princess born in
May.
Madame Siebold was wanted at Coburgrfor the Duchess Louise
was about to present her husband the duke with a second child;
and on the 26th of August (iS 19) at a little before seven in the
morning a groom from the Rosenau rode into the court-yard of
Ketschendorf to summon the dowager-duchess, bringing the
news of the birth of a prince — a prince destined to sustain the
closest and dearest relations to his cousin the infant princess then
sleeping beside her mother in the room at Kensington. The
good news was sent off to the Duchess of Kent by the dear old
dowager on the following day. "Rosenau, August 27, 1819.
The date will of itself make you suspect that I am sitting by
Louischen's bed. . . . Siebold, the accoucheuse, had only
been called at three, and at six the little one gave his first cry in
this world and looked about like a little squirrel. . . . At a
quarter to seven I heard the tramp of a horse. It was a groom
who brought the joyful news. I was off directly, as you may
imagine, and found the little mother slightly exhausted but gaie
ct dispos. She sends you and Edward (the Duke of Kent) a
thousand kind messages. . . . The little boy is to be
christened to-morrow,1 and to have the name of Albert. The
Emperor of Austria, the old Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, the
Duke of Gotha, Mensdorff, and I are to be sponsors. Our boys
will have the same names as the sons of the Elector Frederic
1 The event was deferred till the 19th of September, when the baby prince was christened in
the marble hall at the Rosenau.
Vol. I. 11
$2 QUEEN VICTORIA.
the Mild, who were stolen by Kunz of Kauffengen — namely,
Ernest and Albert. . . . How pretty the May Flower will
be when I see it in a year's time ! Siebold cannot sufficiently
describe what a dear little love it is. Une bonne fois, adieu!
Kiss your husband and children. — Augusta."
Prince Leopold, watchfully kind in the midst of his own
sorrow, had come to the aid of his sister and her husband when
they needed it, but though he was heartily at one with them he
could at present take little or no personal part in the rejoicings.
The sorrow that had stricken his life had gone deep, the wounded
heart was still bleeding, and he had to find in retirement that
resignation and restoration which a man of his character would
not seek in vain. " The Prince of Coburg," wrote Bollmann in
one of the letters to be found in Varnhagen's reminiscences,
"stands out in noble outline before the nation. If he docs nothing
in the opinion of the public to break the association with their
loved princess and remains conspicuously the noble man of
blameless life, I believe that further events may make his career
a very remarkable one." This forecast was verified indeed, but
for several years before it was fulfilled in any manner such as
the writer contemplated, the good, sagacious, and accomplished
prince had accepted the charge that he believed had devolved
on him — that of ^ivin^ his invaluable aid and counsel in
protecting, instructing, and directing the education of the princess
who would, he believed, occupy the position which once had been
expected for his beloved Charlotte. The child loved him dearly,
and spent the happiest days of her somewhat lonesome child-
hood at the beautiful house at Claremont. On a visit to Coburg,
where he went to arrange for a visit of the dowao-er-duchess to
Italy, when the infant Prince Albert was but two years old, the
same affection was manifested for him by the little boy, whose
THE ROYAL CHRISTENING. 8*
mother wrote: "Albert adores his uncle Leopold, and will not
leave him for a moment; he looks sweetly (makes soft eyes) at
him, kisses him every moment; and is only happy when he is by
him." Assuredly the uncle was to become a foremost beloved
figure in the story of those young lives. He could not take any
leading part in the celebrations, but he was present at the christ-
ening of the infant princess, which took place at Kensington Palace
on the 24th of June, a month after the date of her birth.
Although the Prince Regent took care to make it understood
that in case of his obtaining a divorce from the Princess Caroline
he might marry again, and though there was some probability of
the Duchess of Clarence giving an heir to the throne, the Duke
of Kent was firm in the conviction that the crown would come to
the princess, and when showing the infant to his friends, who of
course were much interested in her, would say with a kind of
subdued delight, " Look at her well, for she will be Queen of
England." It is not surprising therefore that the christening
was an event which occasioned a little excitement and was made
of some importance. The gold font was brought from the
Tower of London, where it had long remained undisturbed, the
draperies from the Chapel Royal, Saint James's, were hung in
the grand saloon of the palace, where the solemn rite was
performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of
London. The chief sponsors were the Prince Regent and the
Emperor Alexander of Russia, represented by the Duke of York,
and in whose honour the infant princess was to receive the name
of Alexandrina. The godmothers were the Princess-dowager
of Wurtemburg (the princess-royal and eldest aunt of the infant
princess), represented by Princess Augusta; and the Dowager-
duchess of Coburg (the grandmother of the infant princess),
represented by the Duchess of Gloucester, the Princess Mary.
t>4 QUEEN VICTORIA.
At first it was the wish of the Prince Regent, as a mark
perhaps of great conciliation, to bestow on the child his own
name and that of the former regnant members of the family, and
to have her christened Georgiana Alexandrina. We may be
thankful that the nation was spared that. The English may-
flower, by any other name than \ ictoria, would have been as sweet,
but it would have taken some time to get over " Georgiana!'
The Duke of Kent had wished the child to be named Elizabeth,
as it was a favourite name in England; but the Regent seems to
have only dropped " Georgiana" in favour of paying a compli-
ment to the Russian emperor, and so the name was given as
Alexandrina, and on the Duke of Kent saying that he should
like a second name, the prince replied: "Then let it be her
mother's, but Alexandrina must precede it." The future Queen
was, therefore, named Alexandrina Victoria; but the first name
was almost from the first abandoned for that of Victoria, a name
that soon stole into the hearts of the English people, and for
fifty years has represented to them the dominant grace and
goodness of their sovereign Lady.
We have already1 seen what is the lineage of her Majesty on
her mother's side, and that it was also the lineage of the prince
who was in years to come to be her royal consort, but it will
be convenient here to show in a tabulated form the descent
of her Majesty the Queen from Egbert, the first actual King
of England; the line of Brunswick-Hanover joining the succession
by the marriage of the Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, afterwards
Elector of Hanover, to Sophia, who was the youngest child of
the Elector-palatine and Elizabeth eldest daughter of James
the First. George the First was the son of the said Duke of
Brunswick Elector of Hanover, and Sophia.
i i>
Page 64. The elder branch of the Saxon family — the Saxe-Coburgs
DESCENT OF QUEEN VICTORIA FROM
EGBERT. (^O A& £ T^yJ
i. Egbert. 2. Ethelwolf. 3. Alfred the Great. 4. Edward the Elder.
5. Edmund. 6. Edgar. 7. Ethelred. 8. Edmund Ironside. 9. Edward (not a king).
10. Margaret, wife of Malcolm, King of Scotland. II. Matilda, wife of Henry I.
12. Matilda or Maud, Empress of Germany, and wife of Geoffrey of Anjou. 13. Henry II.
14. John. 15. Henry III. 16. Edward I. 17. Edward II. iS. Edward III.
19. Lionel, Duke of Clarence.
I
20. Philippa,
m. Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.
I
21. Roger Mortimer, Earl of March.
22. Anne Mortimer, m.
Edmund,
Duke of York.
Richard,
Earl of Cambridge.
23. Richard,
Duke of York.
John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster,
m. Catherine Swynford
(issue afterwards legitimated).
I
John Beaufort,
Earl of Somerset.
I
John Beaufort,
Duke of Somerset.
I
Margaret,
m. Edmund Tudor,
Earl of Richmond.
James IV. of Scotlan
24. Edward IV.
I
25. Elizabeth married Henry VII.
I I
I
m 26. Margaret Tudor 11
. m 2ndly, Archibald Douglas
Earl of Angus.
7. James V. of Scotland. Margaret Douglas,
m. Earl of Lennox.
28. Mary, Queen of Scots m Lord Darnl
ey.
29. James VI. of Scotland (James I. of England1.
I
30. Elizabeth, m. Frederick, Elector Palatine.
I
31. Sophia, m. Ernest Augustus of Brunswick, Elector of Hanover.
I
32. George, Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I.
I
33. George II.
I
34. Frederick, Prince of Wales.
I
35. George III.
I
36. Edward, Duke of Kent.
I
37. VICTORIA.
86 QUEEN VICTORIA.
In the domestic suite of rooms at Kensington Palace the first
months of the princess's infancy were passed, but even at that
early age she was occasionally seen outside the world of the
nursery. In the month of August the princess was vaccinated,
and to use a common expression — the vaccination " took well,"
a fact worth mentioning, because it was only just before that
date that the discovery of the use of vaccine by Dr. Jenner
had begun to supersede the old plan of " inoculation," and the
baby Victoria was the first member of the royal family who was
submitted to the new treatment.
The child throve famously, for her mother performed all
those maternal duties which are, or were, too often neglected
by ladies of high rank, and not only "nursed" her baby, but
then and long afterwards personally attended to the daily
bathing and the tiny toilette. These may appear to be small
matters to record, but they have a very definite relation to the
sound health which her Majesty has enjoyed, and for the
strength which has enabled her cheerfully to fulfil her duties to
the state even under very trying conditions.
The responsibility accepted by the Duchess of Kent was
at all events sufficient to cause admiration if not surprise, for
we find the duke writing in reply to Dr. Collyer: — " I appreciate
most gratefully your obliging remarks upon the duchess's conduct
as a mother, upon which I shall only observe, that parental
feeling and a just sense of duty, and not the applause of the
public, were the motives which actuated her in the line which
she adopted. She is, however, most happy that the performance
of an office most interesting in its nature has met with the
wishes and feelings of society."
When the cold weather set in with some severity the duke
made arrangements for spending part of the winter in the
THE PRINCESS IN DANGER. 87
milder climate of Devonshire, and secured a pleasant abode at
Woolbrook Cottage at Sidmouth. The journey was a long one,
and the roads were so bad that it took nearly two days to go
from Salisbury, so that it was necessary to stay for a night at
an inn at Ilminster; but the destination was safely reached, and
the good folk at Sidmouth were loyally delighted to receive
the distinguished visitors, who, by the simplicity and kindliness
of their manners, immediately became popular.
The first serious danger which threatened the infant princess
was at this quiet abode. A careless boy who had contrived
to get hold of a gun, and went out to shoot any small birds
that he could find, carried his sport so close to the duke's
cottage that he fired through the nursery window. The glass
was shattered, and some of the shot passed close to the head
of the child in the nurse's arms. The delinquent was captured
and brought before the duke, who with the duchess had been
seriously alarmed; but perhaps not much more alarmed than
the culprit himself, who, however, escaped with a solemn warning
and reprimand on promising to be more careful in future.
Alas! this was but a small trouble — a flutter of anxiety-
soon to be followed by a terrible calamity. The child for
whom such tender care was manifested became fatherless, — the
mother for the second time a widow, — the nation was again
mourning — mourning the loss of a prince who had been dis-
tinguished for his kindly charities and personal virtues, no less
than for a liberal patriotism. His constant delight was in the
child for whom he presaged so great a future : but this was to
be made a reason for simple and unpretentious training — the
training of the heart and mind.
Amidst numerous current stories and anecdotes of the early
life of the Oueen, some of which are, of course, not authentic,
88 QUEEN VICTORIA.
but most of which have been recently repeated, is one which may
be accepted as illustrative, not only of the earnest and anxious
affection that the duke bore to his child, but of his deep religious
feeling. It was originally related by a clergyman who was on
most friendly terms with the duke, and who had called at
Kensington Palace to take leave of him previous to the journey
to Sidmouth. The duke asked him to see the infant princess in
her crib, and said, "As it may be some time before we meet
again, I should like you to- see the child and give her your
blessing." They went into the little princess's room, and on the
visitor closing a short prayer that as she grew in years she might
orow in grace and favour both with God and man, the duke
responded with a fervent "Amen," and said with much emotion,
"Don't pray simply that hers may be a brilliant career, and
exempt from those trials and struggles which have pursued her
father; but pray that God's blessing may rest on her, that it may
overshadow her, and that in all her coming years she may be
guided and guarded by God."
The pleasant cottage at Sidmouth had been occupied only
a few weeks when the duke took an illness which proved fatal.
He had been out for a long walk with his trusted friend and
equerry Captain Conroy, and had returned probably somewhat
heated and certainly with wet boots, which (neglecting the advice
of his companion), he delayed changing, attracted to linger for a
little while, it was said, to play with his baby daughter, whom he
saw holding out her hands to him. Whatever may have been
the cause, he appears to have taken a chill, and in the evening
showed some of the symptoms of a bad cold, which increased to
inflammation of the lungs and fever. It was, however, not of this
that he died, but of the same kind of mistaken medical treatment
which had killed the Princess Charlotte. The duke was a strong
DEATH OF THE DUKE OF KENT. Sg
man, and the plan adopted for curing his disorder was to make
him a weak one, by "cupping" and bleeding.
On the afternoon of the 2 2d of January (1S20) it was known
that he could not recover. He appeared to be losing conscious-
ness, but he at once knew the voice of his old and attached
friend General Wetherall, who had been brought to his bedside.
He was able to talk coherently, and by a strong effort to listen
to the reading of his will, which he signed slowly, taking pains
to make each letter of the word "Edward" clearly legible. His
"beloved wife Victoire, Duchess of Kent," was made sole
guardian to the infant princess, and the estate was for their
benefit, Captain Conroy and General Wetherall being left
trustees. The duke died on the following day (Sunday the 23d)
very early in the morning, and the duchess, who for days and
nights had been by his bedside, was left desolate. The Princess
Feodora, then a little more than nine years of age, deeply felt
the death of her stepfather. Years afterwards, when she had long
been married to the Prince Hohenlohe and separated from her
little sister, who had become Oueen of England, and whom she
had tenderly loved, she wrote: "Indeed, I well remember that
dreadful time at Sidmouth. I recollect praying on my knees
that God would not let your dear father die. I loved him dearly;
he always was so kind to me." There is something very
charming in this; it is a testimony to the wrorth of the man, more
valuable than a hundred studied eulogies.
1 he kind and faithful brother Prince Leopold was in Scotland,
but hastened to the bereaved wife; not only to sympathize with
her, but to console her by immediate support and generous
assistance. Her position was a painful one; for she was almost
a stranger to the English royal family, from whom she probably
had few expectations, knowing what had been the experience of
Vol. I. 12
9o QUEEN VICTORIA.
her husband and having heard something of the continued quarrels
and divisions. She was also in comparative poverty. There
had been no settlement of the duke's pecuniary difficulties, and
she did not even possess the means to return with her estab-
lishment to Kensington until her brother's ready aid enabled
her to make adequate arrangements.
Loving sympathy was not altogether wanting in the hearts
of her husband's kinsfolk, however. The royal dukes were
touched and grieved at the sad news of their brother's illness;
and the Princess Augusta, to whom the Duchess of Kent had
written (in French, for she could not write English), was, as she
said, nearly heart-broken, for she sincerely loved her brother, and
seemed to be the amiable pacificator, willing but not able to
heal the animosities of the family. Speaking of the duchess, in
a letter to Lord Harcourt, she said: "She has conducted herself
like an angel; and I am thankful dearest Leopold was with her.
I long to hear of her; but I fear we shall not for these ten days;
it will be a sad meeting to us both. But she will be doubly clear
to me now, and indeed I loved her dearly before."
Some days later, when the duchess and her children with
their household had made the journey from Sid mouth and were
at Kensington, the princess again wrote- — " She is the most pious,
good, resigned little creature it is possible to describe. She has
written to me once; and I received the letter from her and one
from Adelaide, written together from Kensington. Dearest
William is so good-hearted that he has desired Adelaide to go to
Kensington every day, so she is a comfort to the poor widow;
and her sweet, gentle mind is of great use to the Duchess ot
Kent. It is a oreat delieht to me to think that they can read
the same prayers and talk the same mother-tongue together; it
makes them such real friends and comforts to each other."
THE FOURTH GEORGE.
91
This reference to the Princess Adelaide, the wife of the Duke
of Clarence (afterwards William the Fourth), is very touching,
and suggests the amiable disposition and tenderness of that
really good woman.
Hers was a gentle, unselfish spirit, apparently incapable of
mean jealousy, and her affectionate heart was touched by the
affliction of the mother and the apparent isolation which must be
the lot of the fatherless girl, unless the duty of lovingkindness
appealed to those who were themselves near the throne. Her
own infant, a daughter born two months before the birth of
the Princess Victoria, had lived only a few hours, but this loss
of the child who would have stood near to the succession left
no bitter feeling; and even two years later (on the nth of
March, 1821), when a second daughter died only a few weeks
old, the sorrow and disappointment brought nothing but tender
thoughts of the child at Kensington. "My children are dead,
but yours lives, and she is mine too," wrote this dear lady to
her sister-in-law. Such a message sent in the midst of grief
needs no comment.
On the 29th of January, 1820, six days after the death of the
Duke of Kent at Sidmouth, his father, King George the Third,
expired at Windsor. "It has pleased the Almighty to release
the Kino- from all further suffering-" was the announcement
which told of his death, and the words were appropriate, for he
had been long dead to most of those things that belong to the
duties and the pleasures of life. The accession of the Prince
Regent as George the Fourth was little more than a formal
proclamation, for he had been practically on the throne for ten
years, and was himself seriously ill with a cold which ended in
a similar disorder to that of which his brother the Duke of Kent
had died.
92
OIEEN VICTORIA.
The funeral of the duke took place on the [2th of February
at Windsor, whither his body had been brought from Sidmouth,
the journey occupying nearly a week, the procession having to
halt on successive nights at Bridport, Blandford, Salisbury, and
Basingstoke, the coffin being deposited in the church of each
town with a military guard. From Cumberland Lodge, where
the body lay in state for a day, there went a long and stately
funeral procession, consisting of the Dukes of York, Clarence,
Sussex, and Gloucester, and Prince Leopold, in long black
cloaks borne by attendants, and of field-marshals and generals
bearing the pall and canopy —"poor knights," pursuivants, pages,
and heralds. The funeral took place at night, and those who
took part in it walked by torch-light amidst a large assembly of
persons who, in that wintry weather, had arrived from London
and other parts of the country to witness the solemn spectacle
"viewed from the distance of three miles through the spacious
long walk, amidst a double row of lofty trees, whilst at intervals
the glittering of the flambeaux and the sound of martial music
were distinctly seen and heard." A few days afterwards the
body of the King was also laid in its last resting-place.
But happily even amidst sorrow and mourning the realities
of life fail neither in their compensations nor their demands,
and the Duchess of Kent, in obedience to her husband's last
injunctions and with an unfailing sense of the obligations which
she alone could adequately fulfil, prepared to face a situation of
great difficulty and of what to one in her position was actual
poverty. It would appear that by some flaw in the act of
Parliament or the settlement she could not claim the amount
which was to have come to her as jointure, and as she had
already forfeited her previous settlement she was compelled
to accept the aid of her brother Prince Leopold, and of other
ALONE WITH DUTY.
93
friends, until the error was rectified by the payment of the
jointure, which amounted to ^"6ooo a year. As she had
consented to give up the property bequeathed by the duke, for
the discharge of his debts, she had still for some time to rely
upon the generosity of her brother, who, it was understood, made
her a considerable annual allowance.
She, however, possessed much calm courage, supported by
the consciousness of integrity, and stimulated by the responsi-
bilities which devolved upon her. Her own brief and simple
statement explains her situation as seen in the first months of
her widowhood : "A few months after the birth of my child, my
infant and myself were awfully deprived of father and husband.
We stood alone, almost friendless and unknown in this country.
I could not even speak its language. I did not hesitate how to
act. I gave up my home, my kindred, and other duties to
devote myself to a duty which was to be the sole object of my
future life."
That duty was commenced with a reverent and hopeful
belief that it would be a blessed one ; and the belief was well
founded. Her life at Kensington with her children was an
example of pure and simple domestic peace, and she had the
deep and abiding satisfaction of seeing under its influence the
formation of elements which were to give a new character to
royalty, and silently to work in unison with the highest and best
form of that social reformation which was approaching though
not yet distinctly perceived. She gained the esteem, the
affection, not only of her children, but of the pure in heart who
recognized the value of her labour of love. Withdrawn, almost
secluded, from the court and from the conventional gaieties and
pleasures of fashionable life, she was within the borders of a
better and nobler kingdom. She had secured the regard and
94 QUEEN VICTORIA.
respect of the people and the true leaders of the nation even before
she had thoroughly acquired the language, which she was not
slow to learn.
Viscount Morpeth and Viscount Clive waited on the Duchess
of Kent with an address of condolence from the House of
Commons, and she met them with her child in her arms — a
simple unceremonious reception, but affecting and significant.
Many friends of her late husband, and several representatives
of charitable and benevolent institutions in which he had been
personally interested, also went to pay their respects, and the
baby princess was, so to speak, introduced to a considerable
number of loyal and loving persons, who kept a place in their
hearts and memories for the fair, rosy, smiling face, above which
some of them fancied they saw the reflected light of a not-far-
distant crown. The Duke of York, who, with all his great
faults, had a kindly heart, called to encourage and to sympathize,
and, if we are to accept a story which has often been repeated,
baby Victoria unconsciously won that heart at once. The duke
had scarcely entered the room when the child, recognizing in
him a likeness to her father, held out her arms with a smile
accompanied by infantile exclamations which quite overcame
him. Warmly embracing her he declared with emotion that he
would indeed be a father to her, and he appears to have shown
real kindness to her and to her mother until his death in 1827.
One of his early presents was a beautiful donkey on which the
child afterwards learned to ride, much to the benefit of her health,
and this donkey, which was a docile and excellent animal, became
popular, if not historical, so frequently did it appear gaily
caparisoned in Kensington Gardens, or at a later date at
Tunbridge Wells and elsewhere, sedately bearing its little
mistress. It is said that when, soon after her fourth birthday, her
MR. WILBERFORCE AT THE PALACE. 95
uncle, George the Fourth, had sent an invitation for her to visit
Carlton House, she gleefully asked, "Oh! mamma, shall I go
upon my donkey?" for she could not doubt that his Majesty
would be pleased to see an animal of which she held such
a good opinion.
Among the earlier visitors to the duchess after her bereave-
ment was Mr. Wilberforce, who was invited to Kensington as
an old and esteemed friend of the duke, who agreed with him
in his philanthropic opinions and in his efforts to abolish negro
slavery. He lived at Gore House, Kensington, afterwards
famous as the dwelling of Lady Blessington and Count d'Orsay,
and much later, during the Great Exhibition of 185 1, as the
" symposium," or refreshment-house, where the culinary art of
various nations was exemplified under the direction of the
celebrated Alexis Soyer. Mr. Wilberforce, who is described by
Leigh Hunt as a "worthy ultra serio-comic person, — a little,
plain-faced man, radiant by nature with glee and good humour,
very 'serious' at a moment's notice, an earnest devotee, a genial
host, a good speaker, and member of parliament," wrote to his
friend Hannah More on the 21st of July, 1820: "In consequence
of a very civil message from the Duchess of Kent I waited on her
this morning. She received me with her fine animated child on
the floor by her side with its playthings, of which I soon became
one. She was very civil, but as she did not sit down I did not
think it right to stay above a quarter of an hour, and there being
but a female attendant and a footman present I could not well
get up any topic so as to carry on a continued discourse. She
apologized for not speaking English well enough to talk it; but
intimated that she might talk it better and longer with me at
some future time. She spoke of her situation, and her manner
was quite delightful."
96 QUEEN VICTORIA.
The princess was early trained to simple and regular living,
and was carried frequently in the open air. As she grew older
she took plenty of exercise, either riding on her pet donkey or
running at a remarkable pace about the lawns and gardens of
Kensington Palace, so that she was often observed by passers-by,
who could see her from the other side of the railings, and to
whom she often used very gracefully to proffer pretty infantile
greetings. Of course she had not been made to learn many
lessons before she was four years old. "Do not tease your little
puss with learning. She is so young still," wrote the dowager-
duchess to her daughter; but she had learned to read almost
before she could speak plainly, and though she was afterwards
sometimes as wayward with regard to her lessons as many other
children are, and even when being taught her alphabet is said to
have asked, "What good this? what good this?" she was no
sooner convinced of the advantage of learning1 than she studied
with much regularity, and even with avidity. But then it
must be remembered that her mother was her earlv instructress,
constantly watched over her, and wisely arranged that in work
or play, physical, as well as mental and moral health and develop-
ment should receive due attention. In childhood and in girlhood
the princess slept in her mother's room. An account which has
been received as authentic says: "At eight, in summer, the
family party met at breakfast; Princess Victoria had her bread
and fruit and milk on a little table by her mother's side. After
breakfast the Princess Feodora studied with her governess Miss
Louise Lehzen, or the two princesses would walk or drive for
an hour. From ten to twelve Princess Victoria received
instruction from her mother, and would then run about or amuse
herself with her toys in the suite of rooms that formed two sides
of the palace. Mrs. Brock was the name of the nurse, who,
AN ALARMING ACCIDENT.
97
however, was generally saluted as 'dear, dear Boppy!' At two
o'clock the duchess had luncheon, and the princess partook of
her plain dinner by her mother's side. Then till four o'clock
lessons again occupied the time, after which there was a visit
or a drive, and then perhaps a ride or walk in the gardens.
Occasionally on fine summer evenings the whole party would
sit out under the trees on the lawn. When the time came for
her mother to dine, a simple supper was laid beside her for
Princess Victoria. After a little time to play with her nurse,
the princess joined the party at dessert, and at nine retired to
her bed, which was placed beside her mother's."
It was a well-ordered child life, and though we can fancy
a sense of loneliness when the rosy plump child, or, later, the
little girl with much capacity for fun and social pleasures, broke
the rather subdued echoes of the old galleries and rooms with
the sound of her flying feet, or loitered sometimes to gaze at the
pictures and scan the portraits, some of them of rather puffy-
faced juveniles representing members of the previous royal
families, there was some compensation in the hours spent out
of doors.
A very tender affection existed between the little princesses,
the half-sister Feodora evidently loving "the baby" dearly, and
being well satisfied to accompany the miniature phaeton drawn
by an attendant, or the almost equally diminutive pony carriage.
It was in Kensington Gardens, while "taking the air" in this
carriage, that the infant Victoria met with an accident which,
but for the quickness and presence of mind of a private soldier
who was passing, might have had a very serious result. The
pony was being led by a page, a lady — presumably the duchess
—walked on one side, and a young woman beside the chaise.
A larcre water- dog- crambollinof on the road Q^ot between the
Vol. I. 13
98 QUEEN VICTORIA.
legs of the pony and caused it to plunge, bringing the wheels of
the carriage on to the pathway. The child was falling out, and
the carriage appeared to be toppling over upon her, when,
before she reached the ground, head foremost, the soldier, whose
name was Maloney, caught her by the dress and swung her
upward into his arms. After restoring her to the lady, amidst
the congratulations of the lew people assembled, he was told to
follow the carriage to the palace, where he received a guinea and
the very fervent thanks of the duchess, and it is said that he was
afterwards not lost sight of.
In her very early days, when riding on her pet donkey, the
princess was often attended by a pensioner, presumably Hillman,
a soldier who had been with the Duke of Kent's regiment at
Gibraltar, and remained faithful to him at the time of the
attempted mutiny. This man continued in the duke's service,
and he and his family had a cottage provided for them near the
palace at Kensington, and were not forgotten in later years.
The princess was sometimes reluctant to dismount from her
donkey that she might walk or run on the grass as she was
encouraged to do by her mother or the attendants, and it was
occasionally necessary for the old soldier to use his persuasive
powers, or for a representation to be made that the donkey
needed to be fed or to have a rest; and these arguments were
usually effectual, for the princess had a remarkable regard for
animals, and was very careful of their well-being. It may-
be readily understood that the tiny Victoria, though usually
good-tempered and docile, had a strong will of her own, and we
have yet to learn that this is any other than a good attribute
when that will is conformable to right convictions. It had the
effect, however, combined with a love of fun, to make it difficult
always to control the exuberant spirits of the child; and when
THE BABY VICTORIA AT PLAY. 99
she had begun to run — and she ran at an extraordinary rate —
along the length of the broad gravel walk, or up and down the
green slopes, it was difficult to induce her to leave off, even
when a considerable number of ladies, gentlemen, and children
had assembled and stood in a semicircle watching: her. In
fact, on these occasions it is said the infant princess would
occasionally speak to the lookers-on as though they were taking
some part in her amusement. It may be imagined how many
"little dears," and "sweet little loves," were elicited from the
women who watched her; for the baby princess loved to be
noticed, and to notice everybody in return by dainty little
curtseys and kisses of her chubby hand. This frank and unaf-
fected demeanour towards everybody whom she met, either in
London or at the various places which she visited, remained
even after the unconscious freedom and merry familiarity of first
childhood had passed; and it is potent to-day, because it proceeds,
not from any studied method of conduct for the purpose of
courting popularity, but from simple and healthy training of a
heart naturally trustful of loyalty, and believing in mutual good-
will.
The general regard, or we might say the respectful familiarity
with which the frequent presence of the little princess was
noticed, wras repeated at Ramsgate, whither the Duchess of Kent
went for the summer, when the child was five years old, and
where she afterwards stayed on several occasions. There one
hears of Princess Victoria on the sands in her simple dress, a plain
straw-bonnet with a white ribbon round the crown, a coloured
muslin frock looking gay and cheerful, and as pretty a pair of shoes
on as pretty a pair of feet as anyone could wish to see. There,
too, we hear of William Wilberforce again conversing with the
duchess and laughing as a wave unexpectedly rippled over these
IOO QUEEN VICTORIA.
little shoes and feet. Here, too, we hear of the visit of the child
to the bazaar, or shops where shell-boxes, coral ornaments, and
knick-knacks were and are still sold, or of her bestowing her
weekly allowance of pocket-money on some poor old creature
whom she notices as she passes along the High Street.
The name of Miss Jane Porter is still remembered by people
who in their youth were acquainted with her stories, The Scottish
Chiefs and Thaddeus of Warsaw. This lady was living with
her sister, Anna Maria (who wrote The Hungarian Brothers
and The Recluse of Norway), with their aged mother at a cottage
not far from Claremont, and when the duchess and her daughter
were staying there these three ladies were never tired of waiting
or walking when they would be likely "to meet the young hope
of England taking her morning exercise," either "walking by the
side of her governess, or running forward in the eagerness of
childhood's happy impulses with a bounding elasticity of active
enjoyment, which full health only, or the spring of earliest youth
can know." Miss Porter in a letter describes the infant princess
as " a beautiful child, with a cherubic form of features, clustered
round by glossy fair ringlets; her complexion was remarkably
transparent, with a soft but often heightening tinge of the sweet
blush rose upon her cheeks that imparted a peculiar brilliancy
to her clear blue eyes."
But the early domestic life at Kensington was probably of
the most interest, at all events to Londoners, and many brief
but always loyal and pleasant references were made to it and to
the appearance of the princess, who had already begun to dwell
in the affection of people holding very different views and
opinions on political and other matters, but in excellent accord
on the subject of the healthy training of the child, her bright and
attractive ways and appearance, and her unaffected simple manner.
HONOURED BY NOTICE. IOI
It will be seen that even in these very early days the little
princess attracted a good deal of public notice. On more than one
occasion references were made in magazines and newspapers to
the appearance of the child as, holding the hand of her sister the
Princess Feodora, and drawing a toy cart by a string, she returned
the salutations and compliments of the persons who were passing.
It is said that even then, but more particularly when she was a
little older, she took the greatest interest in other children, and
was always particularly pleased to be allowed to speak to any
infant that was bein^ carried in the gardens. She would also
take great pleasure in meeting a school of young ladies out for a
walk, and would stop and talk to the younger ones of the party.
When the princess was only three years old a correspondent of
a daily paper wrote: " Passing accidentally through Kensington
Gardens a few days since, I observed at some distance a party,
consisting of several ladies, a young child, and two men-servants,
having in charge a donkey, gaily caparisoned with blue ribbons,
and accoutred for the use of the infant. The appearance of the
party, and the general attention they attracted, led me to suspect
they might be the royal inhabitants of the palace. I soon learnt
that my conjectures were well founded. . . On approaching
the royal party, the infant princess, observing my respectful
recognition, nodded, and wished me a 'good morning' with
much liveliness, as she skipped along between her mother and
her sister the Princess Feodora, holding a hand of each. Having
passed on some paces, I stood a moment to observe the actions
of the child, and was pleased to see that the notice with which
she honoured me was extended, in a greater or less degree, to
almost every person she met. Her royal highness is remarkably
beautiful, and her gay and animated countenance bespeaks per-
fect health and good temper."
102 QUEEN VICTORIA.
On her fourth birthday the princess received a superb and
characteristic present from the King her uncle, who had not
seen her since she was a year old. He sent her a miniature
portrait of himself set in diamonds. Soon afterwards, by his
Majesty's special request, she was taken to visit him at Carlton
House, where she was introduced with her mother to special
guests invited to a state dinner party. It has been recorded that
the princess was dressed in a plain white frock, of which the left
sleeve was looped up and fastened with the costly miniature.
The King like other people was delighted with the bright
and frank good humour of the child, and from that time showed
more kindness to the Duchess of Kent, while his interest in his
niece was shown by his causing an application to be made to
Parliament for a Qrant for her maintenance and education. The
princess, as we have seen, received her early instruction from
her mother, who was also competent to superintend her later
studies, but she had also the inestimable advantage of being
under the care of the lady who had come to England as the
governess of the Princess Feodora, and who remained to carry
on the education of the little Princess Victoria, to whom she was
devotedly attached. This lady was Louise Lehzen, daughter of
a Hanoverian clergyman, and in 1827, three years after she had
been officially recognized as governess to the princess, she
received the rank of a Hanoverian baroness, conferred on her
by George IV. at the request of the Princess Sophia. The
household at Kensington was characterized by mutual regard
and esteem — and it appears to have been a harmonious one,
although it was quiet, and was, so to speak, pitched to a subdued
tone. As governess and lady in- attendance the Baroness
Lehzen remained till the princess was to become queen, and
long afterwards, amidst the cares of state and domestic duties,
THE TUTOR TO THE PRINCESS. \ox
the former pupil continued regularly to write to the governess,
who had retired to Hanover, where she died in 1S70 at the ao-e
of eighty-seven. "My dearest, kindest friend old Lehzen expired
on the 9th," wrote the Queen in her journal on that occasion. "She
knew me from six months old, and from my fifth to my eighteenth
year devoted all her care and energies to me with the most
wonderful abnegation of self, never taking one day's holiday.
I adored, though I was greatly in awe of her. She really
seemed to have no thought but for me."
According to precedent the princess was also instructed by
a "preceptor," who, in due time, taught her Latin, mathematics,
and some Greek. The tutor or preceptor chosen by the duchess
was the Rev. George Davys, who appears to have thoroughly
deserved the confidence that was reposed in him, and to have
been an excellent and judicious instructor. Afterwards, when
the princess became direct heir to the throne, and it was
suggested to the duchess that a bishop should be appointed
instructor, she acutely replied that she had such reason to
approve of Dr. Davys that she objected to any change being
made; but that if it were thought necessary that the tutor to the
princess should be a dignitary of the church, there could be no
objection to Dr. Davys receiving the preferment which he so
well merited. The result of this reply was that Dr. Davys was
afterwards made Dean of Chester. At the close of his duties as
tutor he became Bishop of Peterborough.
The infant princess had already been educated to obedience,
to affectionate resfard for the claims and feelings of others, and
to a certain observance of orderliness; but it may be supposed
there could have been little actual suppression of her naturally
buoyant spirits, little "lecturing" as to the proprieties or the dig-
nities, or she never would have acquired that simple but dignified
104 QUEEN VICTORIA.
self-possession, which is the reverse of what is usually called
self-consciousness, and is her Majesty's truly royal characteristic.
Eminent truthfulness, she may be said to have inherited from her
parents. "The Queen always had, from my first knowing her,
a most striking regard for truth," Dr. Davys told Bishop
Wilberforce. "I remember when I had been teaching her one
day she was very impatient for the lesson to be over — once or
twice rather refractory. The Duchess of Kent came in and
asked how she had behaved. Lehzen said, 'Oh, once she was
rather troublesome!' The princess touched her, and said, 'No,
Lehzen, twice, don't you remember?' The Duchess of Kent,
too, was a woman of great truth."
It will be easily understood that sound judgment and much
discretion was necessary to enable the Duchess of Kent to
maintain a certain independence in the management of her
household and the education of the princess, and to avoid being
implicated in party or family quarrels. Her child, as was well
known, might at no very distant date become the sovereign of
a great empire; but for some years such an event remained only
remotely probable, as there might yet have been a nearer
successor to the throne, and at her tender age the Princess
Victoria could only be truly prepared for the great responsibility
by being kept from any expectation of it. To have made the
possible accession to a throne an incentive to obedience, docility,
and childlike purity of intention would have been a mistake, and
was a danger to be avoided.
1 his, with the need for refraining from any appearance of
seeking to form a coterie, may have so limited the circle of
visitors as to make the childhood of the little princess sometimes
lonely for the lack of playfellows and companions. Her sister
the Princess Feodora was so much older than herself, that though
THE NEED OF A PLAY-FELLOW. \Q-
they loved each other they could scarely be constant associates,
and it should be remembered that the elder sister was married
and had left England before the younger was ten years old.
There is little doubt that many of the early days of the young-
Victoria were not altogether happy, and needed the cheering
influence of play- fellowship to relax the sense of precision
and watchfulness, which may be oppressive, where the child life
does not find some sphere of its very own, and into which only
rarely endowed adults who have never lost the chiidlikeness
can expect frequently to enter. There is an anecdote of an
occurrence, which, if it be true, sweetly and almost pathetically
illustrates this need on the part of the princess. The duchess,
always wishing to find suitable amusement to interest her
little daughter, and knowing how delighted she was to listen to
music, for which she had a remarkable talent, sent for a pre-
cocious juvenile performer on the harp, a child who, under
the name of Lyra, had caused considerable sensation in the
musical world. Lyra arrived at the palace, where she played to
the princess, who sat listening with that intent and absorbing
interest which was habitual to her when her attention was secured.
In the midst of the performance the duchess was called to receive
a message from an attendant, and was absent for some time. On
her return the sound of the harp had ceased, and on re-entering
the room she found the two children seated on the hearth-rug
in happy consultation over the toys with which the princess
had enticed the young musician, and some of which had been
generously offered for her acceptance. If this story be true, and
it has often been repeated without contradiction, it would make
a charming subject for a picture; the direct assertion of the
instinct for companionship in the two children who missed so
much — one because of family claims and the exactions of royal
Vol. i. 14
106 (WEEN VICTORIA.
rank, the other probably because of family needs and the
exactions of her art.
But we cannot regard the Princess Victoria as having
had even a tinge of what is called a " moping " temper, and
knowing how assiduously she followed the instructions of her
teachers, it is something of a relief to learn that her usual good
spirits and sense of fun sometimes led to a smart reminder of the
fact that she recognized the possibility of asserting a will of her
own if she chose to do so. The princess could sing with a very
sweet and clear voice when she was yet little more than an infant,
and could play the pianoforte very creditably at an age when few
young ladies could accomplish more than the simplest scales. She
must therefore have been young indeed when on being exhorted
to make herself " mistress of the pianoforte," and that there was
no royal road to learning music, she gaily retorted by locking the
instrument, putting the key in her pocket, and saying, "There!
that is being mistress of the piano ! and the royal road to learn-
ing is never to take a lesson till you are in the humour to do it."
We must imagine this to have been said with a smile of mock
defiance, for the story ends with the intimation that having made
her amusing demonstration she went and finished her lesson.
The little wilfulnesses of the princess appear to have given
greater emphasis to the frank and charming submission or
acknowledgments which appear to have followed, and were
sometimes unexpectedly candid.
When walking in the grounds of Earl Fitzwilliam, whom she
had visited with the duchess during a journey in the north of
England, one of the under-gardeners called to her not to go
along one of the paths as it was " slape," meaning that it was
very slippery after a heavy rain.
"Slape, slape! and pray what is slape?" inquired the princess.
A PRACTICAL EXPLANATION. 107
The meaning of the word was explained, but she was such
an accustomed pedestrian, or rather runner, that this was not
likely to cause her to hesitate, and she therefore went on without
heeding the warning, and in a few seconds came rather heavily
to the ground.
" Now your royal highness has an explanation of the term
' slape,' both theoretically and practically," cried Earl Fitzwilliam,
who was standing at some distance.
" Yes, my lord, I think I have," replied the little lady with
humorous meekness as she was assisted to pick herself up. " I
shall never forget the word 'slape.''
On another occasion— the story belongs to Ramsgate — the
fearless child, always fond of animals, was playing with a dog,
and was told that the creature was uncertain of temper, but she
was not to be deterred, and presently there came a snap at her
hand, and her cautioner ran up, expressing great fear that she
had been bitten.
"Oh, thank you!" was the artless acknowledgment. "You
are right and I am wrong; but he didn't bite me, he only warned
me. I shall be careful in future."
There was a truly healthy tone of mind and body, and con-
sequently there was no affectation, and there has always been in
the character of our Queen that characteristic which is potent in
maintaining consistency and tact — a genuine sense of humour.
Not much verbal wit is expected of children, but more than one
very amusing utterance of this kind has been repeated, as having
been among the early utterances of the child, who began early to
learn three or four European languages, and asked little favours
in German as easily as in English, though she always persisted
in protesting that she was a little English girl, and spoke her
native language in preference.
joS QUE EN VICTORIA.
These are but small chronicles of a young life, but they may
be interesting", even it they are less authentic than the announce-
ments of the court newsman. In truth the little princess was
not much concerned with the court newsman, for though her
education was superior to that of most children, and she became
more really "accomplished" than most young ladies even amongst
the nobility, she was in the "fashionable" sense far less con-
spicuous than many girls who were members of wealthy middle-
class families.
The princess had made no state appearance at court, although
of course she had visited her uncles and aunts, especially the
Duke and Duchess of Clarence, and we hear something of her
being taken to Windsor, where she was pleasantly received.
The king was living there in comparative seclusion, his health
seriously broken, his popularity not increased.
The records of some of those who at that time saw the child
who was so soon to become next heir to the throne were to be
permanently associated with a new era of English literature.
Lord Albemarle, when he wrote his Autobiography, described
the interest that he, like many other people, took in observing
the outdoor recreations of the little princess when she was about
seven years old.
" One of my occupations of a morning, while waiting for the
duke, was to watch from the windows the movements of a bright,
pretty little girl seven years of age. She was in the habit of
watering the plants immediately under the window. It was
amusing to see how impartially she divided the contents of the
watering-pot between the flowers and her own little feet. Her
simple but becoming dress contrasted favourably with the gor-
geous apparel now worn by the little damsels of the rising
generation — a large straw hat and a suit of white cotton, a
MA CA ULA Y—BRO UGH A M—LA MB. 1 09
coloured fichu round the neck was the only ornament she wore.
The young lady I am describing was the Princess Victoria, now
our gracious Sovereign, whom may God long preserve."
But there is a still more striking reference by the hand of a
man, to whose memory this country owes a tribute which it is
more ready to pay for any other service than for that of the
author or of him who, by toiling, often with very restricted means
and little opportunity for rest or leisure, to provide pure and
elevating literature, promotes the best education of the people.
This is not the place to speak of the remarkable development
of what came to be called popular literature which took place at
about the time that the little princess was playing in Kensington
Gardens. Then, and for a good while afterwards, "albums,"
" keepsakes," "books of beauty," generally called " annuals," were
among the principal lighter periodical literature for family
reading, and there were the heavy quarterlies; but the age of
truly popular periodicals may almost be said to have commenced
with the Penny Magazine. Charles Knight, who succeeded his
father as a bookseller at Windsor, was the projector and publisher
of that, the Penny Cyclopaedia, and a host of other admirable and
entertaining books issued in weekly or monthly parts, to which
he himself contributed (for he was a bright and instructive
writer), assisted at various times by men of the advanced school
of literature. Among these were Macaulay (then a young man),
Brougham, and others, of whom Charles Lamb and Leigh Hunt
already occupied a foremost place as contributors of light scholarly
essays, stories, poems, and criticisms, which were highly enter-
taining and delightful in style and moral purpose.
We have from the hand of Charles Knight himself, in his
Passages of a Working Life, a very charming reference: "In the
early morning, when the sun was scarcely high enough to have
HO QUEEN VICTORIA.
dried up the dews of Kensington's green alleys, as I passed along
the broad central walk, I saw a group on the lawn before the
palace, which, to my mind, was a vision of exquisite loveliness.
"The Duchess of Kent, and her daughter, whose years then
numbered nine, are breakfasting in the open air — a single page
attending upon them at a respectful distance — the matron
looking on with eyes of love, whilst the 'fair, soft English face'
is bright with smiles. The world of fashion is not vet astir.
Clerks and mechanics, passing onward to their occupation, are
few; and they exhibit nothing ol that vulgar curiosity which I
think is more commonly found in the class of the merely rich
than in the ranks below them in the world's estimation.
"What a beautiful characteristic it seemed to me of the
training of this roval sfirl, that she should not have been taught
to shrink from the public eye — that she should not have been
burdened with a premature conception of her probable high
destiny — that she should enjoy the freedom and simplicity of
a child's nature — that she should not be restrained when she
starts up from the breakfast-table and runs to gather a flower
in the adjoining parterre — that her merry laugh should be as
fearless as the notes of the thrush in the groves around her.
"I passed on and blessed her; and I thank God that I have
lived to see the crolden fruits of such trainino-."
These and similar expressions, which appear enshrined in the
published sentiments of famous people, ring with a true note; and
it may be remarked that they are not the words of courtesy or
of flattery, by men and women who had any personal end to gain.
On the contrary, they are remarkable for being frequently the
spontaneous utterances of persons who were neither politically
nor by temperament of the courtier class. Charles Knight was
broadly liberal in his views, and was responsible for many a
PROSECUTION OF THE TWO HUNTS. I i i
shrewd satirical hit and genial but remarkably telling touch of
satire directed against certain persons in high places. Leigh
Hunt, as everybody knows, was what was then regarded as a
violent Radical, if the term violent could be applied to so gentle
and cultured a publicist. At any rate, the plain, bold strictures
upon the government published in the Examiner, had subjected
him and his brother John to official prosecutions. The first,
which was for an attack on the Regency, was abandoned;
another for an article on military floggings, was defeated by
the able defence of Lord Brougham; but a third was too
dreadful. Leigh Hunt, in his light satirical vein, had referred
to the Regent as "a fat Adonis of fifty," and the brothers
were sent to the Marshalsea prison for two years and fined
^"500 a-piece, — a sentence which, of course, caused them to
become popular, and to receive the support of many leading wits,
poets, and reformers; while the time in prison was not ill spent,
for there Leigh Hunt wrote some admirable poems.
But let us see what he wrote, late in his long life, of a
recollection which stirred his kindly heart and made his after
loyalty as true as it was consistent.
"We remember well the peculiar kind of personal pleasure
which it gave us to see the future Queen, the first time we ever
did see her, coming up a cross path from the Bayswater gate, with
a girl of her own age by her side, whose hand she was holding
as if she loved her. It brought to our mind the warmth of our
own juvenile friendships; and made us fancy that she loved
everything else that we had loved in like measure, — books, trees,
verses, Arabian tales, and the good mother who had helped to
make her so affectionate.
" A magnificent footman, in scarlet, came behind her, with
the splendidest pair of calves in white stockings that we ever
I 12 QUEEN \1C TORI A.
beheld. He looked somehow like a gigantic fairy, personating,
for his little lady's sake, the grandest kind of footman he could
think of; and his calves he seemed to have made out of a
couple of the biggest chaise-lamps in the possession of the
godmother of Cinderella. As the princess grew up, the world
seemed never to hear of her, except as it wished to hear, — that
is to say, in connection with her mother; and now it never hears
of her, but in connection with children of her own, and with her
husband, and her mother still, and all good household pleasures
and hospitalities, and public virtues of a piece with them. May
life ever continue to appear to her what, indeed, it really is to
all who have eyes for seeing beyond the surface; namely, a
wondrous fairy scene, strange, beautiful, mournful too, yet hopeful
of being 'happy ever after,' when its story is over; and wise,
meantime, in seeing much where others see nothing, in shedding
its tears patiently, and in doing its best to diminish the tears
around it.
Claremont, the fine mansion which had been bought for
Prince Leopold, was now seldom visited by him, but it was left
much at the disposal of his sister and her daughter, who were
very dear to him. The house, being large and with lofty
commodious rooms, and commanding fine views from the front,
was a most agreeable residence, especially in summer, for the
home demesne extended to about 420 acres, and the park and
farms were about 1600 acres. It was not without sad memories.
On an eminence in the garden a small Gothic building, erected
for the Princess Charlotte, had, after her death, been converted
into a mausoleum, dedicated to her memory, and containing a
very fine bust.
The situation of the place, near Esher in Surrey, and only
seventeen miles from Hyde Park Corner, made it easily acces-
HAPPY DAYS AT C LA REM ON T. 113
sible from Kensington; and the walks and drives were so
delightful that the princess always rejoiced when the time
arrived to spend a season there. But there was a stronger
reason even than her keen appreciation of the pleasant park
and homestead, the beautiful gardens, and the long rambles in
summer days. Her uncle Leopold, though he had ceased to
reside at Claremont, came as a visitor while his little niece and
her mother occupied it, and in his loved society the child was
always happy, for he devoted much attention to her, walked
with her, talked to her, and, with a rare faculty for teaching
without books, gave her pleasant lessons on botany, in which he
was fairly proficient, and contrived to make his companionship
the means of changing the monotony of ordinary lessons, and
giving each day the aspect of a holiday. It must have been
some keen remembrance of this which caused the Queen — when
writing to her uncle years afterwards (in January, 1843) — to say of
Claremont, where she was staying after Prince Leopold had visited
England: "This place has a peculiar charm for us both, and to
me it brings back recollections of the happiest days of my
otherwise dull childhood, when I experienced such kindness
from you, dearest uncle, kindness which has ever since continued.
. . . Victoria (the princess royal, her own little daughter)
plays with my old bricks, and I see her running and jumping in
the flower-garden as old. though I feel still little Victoria of
former days used to do." Even when this letter was written
the Queen was only twenty-four, and doubtless often inclined to
join in the frolics of Victoria the second.
We hear of a visit of the kind, sensible grandmother, the
Dowager-duchess of Coburg, to Claremont, where there was
quite a pleasant family reunion, and she could see the little May-
flower whose portrait she had cherished, and to whom her heart
Vol. I. 15
114 QUEEN VICTORIA.
went forth with genuine affection. We hear, too, of the celebra-
tion of the seventh birthday of the little princess in that pleasant
home, and of a grand procession of her fifteen dolls, each repre-
senting a member of the royal family, and dressed by herself,
aided by her nurse Mrs. Brock; and, moreover, there is a record
of presents, among which stand forth a pair of the smallest
mouse-coloured Highland ponies ever seen, brought especially
from Scotland by Lady Huntly, who afterwards became Duchess
of Gordon.
But we have already touched upon a later date, when the
princess was approaching her eleventh year, and the time was
coming at which she would have to occupy a more clearly defined
position in relation to the throne, of which neither the glory nor
the shadow had yet fallen upon her.
On the 26th of June, 1830, George the Fourth died at
Windsor. As we have noted, the Duke of York had died in
1827, and therefore William Henry, Duke of Clarence, succeeded
to the throne, and the Princess Victoria, who was just entering
on the twelfth year of her age, stood next in succession.
The world had been moving since, in 1822, Mr. Canning
became foreign secretary and devoted his splendid abilities to
opposing the " Holy Alliance" formed after the Peace of Paris
between France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, to maintain what
were, in most cases, despotic governments in Europe.
In 1824 Louis XVIII. had made way for his brother
Charles X.; and in the same year Alexander I. of Russia had
been succeeded by Nicholas I., who, as grand-duke, had paid a
visit to Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte at Claremont in
1816. He was then just twenty years old, singularly handsome,
tall and erect in figure. Mrs. Campbell, the lady-in-waiting to
the Princess Charlotte, had said of him : "What an amiable
EVENTS AT HOME AND ABROAD. i 15
creature! he is devilish handsome: he will be the handsomest
man in Europe." According to his usual custom the grand-duke
slept on a leathern sack filled with hay from the stable. Almost
immediately after his accession Russia began to push its claims
in the east of Europe at the expense of Turkey; while the
attempts of Turkey and Egypt against Greek independence led
to the alliance of the English, French, and Russian fleets, and
to the battle of Navarino, which ended the war and made Greece
into a kingdom, the throne of which Prince Leopold would have
occupied, but for his refusal to accept certain conditions.
In 1825 Brazil had become an independent empire under
Dom Pedro, son of John VI. of Portugal, and on John's death in
1826 Pedro renounced the Portuguese throne in favour of his
daughter Donna Maria, a child of about the a^e of the Princess
.&...._ _ — — ^ , „ ^ *,. ... ..,^ u&.
Victoria. Dom Pedro gave the Portuguese a national constitu-
tion when he resigned the throne, but his brother, Dom Miguel,
was as averse to the liberties thus secured as he was to seeing
his niece wearing the crown, and promoted a civil war which
lasted till 1834, when the youthful sovereign was established on
the throne. She soon after (in 1835) married the Duke of
Leuchtenberg, who died three months afterwards. She then
married (in 1836) the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand of
Coburg, who was son of Prince Ferdinand, the younger brother
of Duke Ernest of Coburg by Antoinette, the daughter of the
Prince of Kohary.1
But to the young Princess Victoria the most important event
on the continent of Europe occurred in this very year (1830), in
which she was to take a more prominent place in the eye of the
world. The revolution in Brussels, which had the effect of sever-
ing the Belgian provinces from the rule of Holland, took place
1 See page 65.
Il6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
earl)- in the year, and though it did not secure that result till
September, it led to negotiations which in 1831 ended in the
establishment of Belgian independence, with Leopold as an
elected constitutional sovereign, in whom the people and indeed
other European states were already displaying the confidence
which comes of genuine esteem. It may easily be believed that
the prospect of parting with her beloved uncle was a great grief
to the princess, to whom he had been lather, friend, and coun-
sellor; but, as we shall see, he maintained these relations with
unabated regard, and amidst the arduous dtities of government
paid frequent visits to this country, and maintained the same
lovinc care which he had alwavs manifested.
Events in England during the years just preceding 1830 had
also shown that vast changes were imminent, that a new era was
soon to open. In Parliament the questions of Roman Catholic
emancipation and parliamentary reform had loomed large,
illuminated by the eloquence of Canning and of Brougham.
O'Connell in 1824 had organized a Catholic Association, and in
1S25 a Roman Catholic Relief Bill, brought in by Sir Francis
Burdett, had passed the House of Commons, to be thrown out in
the Lords, where the Duke of York had solemnly sworn that if
he came to the throne he would never consent to the repeal ol
the Catholic disabilities, but it was felt that the rigorous exclusion
of Catholics from office and from Parliament could not be long
maintained.
The death of the Duke of York in 1827 was followed by the
paralysis which ended the official life and the administration of
Lord Liverpool; and little as George the Fourth liked Canning,
because he had refused to countenance the persecution of Queen
Caroline, and had supported the Catholic claims, Canning was
made premier. But he was in ill-health, and his attendance at
THE EVE OF REFORM. \ \ -j
the funeral of the Duke of York hastened his death, which took
place in a few months, and shortly afterwards the Duke of
Wellington formed an administration, of which Mr. Peel was
home secretary. The friends of Canning, Mr. Huskisson, Mr.
Grey, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Lamb (who almost immediately
afterwards, by the death of his father, became Viscount Mel-
bourne) abandoned the ministry. Lord John Russell moved for
the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and Mr. Peel, left
in a minority, withdrew his opposition. In the Lords the motion
was supported by Lord Holland (the nephew of Charles James
Fox), and the Duke of Sussex, whose ardent support of civil and
religious liberty had not diminished, and had been resented by the
King. The measure passed, and this, with the election of Daniel
O'Connell to represent the county of Clare in Parliament, gave
new and irresistible stimulus to the demand for the relief ol
the Catholics, who could not consistently be longer excluded.
Both the Duke of Wellington and Peel saw that the claims of a
large body of their fellow-countrymen must be acknowledged;
and neither Wellington nor Peel was such a bigot as to refuse
concession to demands which were obviously supported by the
nation. The duke declared with deep emotion that there must
either be concession or civil war, and Peel brought in the bill
which, after strong opposition in the Lords, and warning tears
from Lord Eldon (who had a weakness for crying on special
occasions), opened Parliament and offices of state to the Catholics,
for whom a new form of oath was prepared in place of the oath
of supremacy. They were still excluded from the offices of
Regent, of Viceroy of Ireland, and of Lord Chancellor. It is
to be noted, however, that the words in the new oath, "on the
true faith of a Christian," had the effect of excluding Jews from
Parliament till 1858, when they also had a special oath. Eight
US Ql TEEN I rIC 1 'OKI. I .
years afterwards (in 1866) the separate form of oath for Catholics
was abolished.
The King' gave his royal assent to the bill with an ill grace,
and showed no little resentment; but the ball of reform and
improvement was set rolling. Many mitigatory changes in the
criminal law, and a commission on the state of the law proposed
by Brougham, which led to great improvements, were followed
(in 1830) by the measure establishing the new police force. There
was everywhere apparent an accession of earnest political activity,
which, to experienced eyes, showed that a great measure of
reform could not be far distant.
Before the end of the year (1830) another revolution had
changed the aspect of affairs in France. Charles X. and his
minister Polignac, reverting to the high-handed Bourbon policy,
attempted to stifle political discussion in the press by prosecuting
editors, and issuing "ordinances" forbidding publication of pam-
phlets or newspapers without official permission. There had
been a bad harvest and a severe winter in the previous year, and
there were not wanting signs of discontent ready to break out
into open disaffection on any adequate provocation. The provo-
cation soon came. When the elections came on in May a royal
proclamation was issued attempting to influence the popular
votes, and when this failed, the elections were declared to be
annulled on the ground that the people had been misled, and
directions were given altering the number and qualifications of
the deputies and the manner of electing them. These "ordi-
nances" were issued at midnight on the 26th of July. The next
day there was a panic on the Bourse, and ominous gatherings of
groups of citizens were to be observed in various parts of Paris.
The editors, acting on counsel's opinion, declared that the ordi-
nances were illegal. Polignac sent out police to stop the
REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. LOUIS PHILIPPE. 119
publication of the newspapers, but the offices were closed
against them, while the journals were being thrown out of
the windows to the crowds of people who assembled in the
streets. The Tribunal of Commerce and the le^al authorities
were opposed to the demands of the king, but the police broke
open the doors of the printing-offices and destroyed the types
and presses. About thirty of the elected deputies met and were
waited on by a party of citizens, who told them that Marshal
Marmont, who only had in Paris about 4000 troops whom he
could trust, was posting soldiers all round the city. Next day
the streets were blocked with barricades; the Hotel de Ville was
seized by the insurgents, who rang the alarm-bells and sent the
tricolor flying from the steeples. The marshal sent to assure the
king that he must make concessions or there would be an insur-
rection; but history was to repeat itself. The king was at
cards; the court was amused; and the marshal was told to put
down the insurrection. He withdrew to the Tuileries with as
many of the soldiers as had not gone over to the insurgents.
Two of the peers waited on Polignac and urged the immediate
withdrawal of the ordinances; and as he refused, they ordered
Marmont to arrest him. He escaped to St. Cloud, and the king,
now really alarmed, agreed after some parleying to revoke the
ordinances and appoint a new ministry. But it was then too late,
for the revolution had become an accomplished fact. Charles
was left with only a few soldiers. Marmont could do nothing
with his doubtful troops, for whom he could not provide rations.
Late on the 1st of August the king and his companions were
informed that a strong provisional government had nominated
Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, Lieutenant-general of
Prance. Charles then offered to abdicate in favour of the Grand
Due de Berri, but his proposals were received with indifference.
I20 QUEEN VICTORIA.
He was strongly advised to hand over the regalia without
further parley, and to depart from France by way of Cherbourg.
He may be said to have left the kingdom without a hand being
raised in his favour. He and his escort could not arouse the
least demonstration of loyalty. It was like the departure of
James the Second from England, and though nobody offered
him violence, he did not feel safe until he embarked in an
English vessel for Spithead.
It was not a " bloodless revolution," for there had been a good
deal of fighting in the streets, and 800 citizens of Paris had been
killed and 4500 wounded, while a large number of the opposing
soldiers had been slain. Decorations and pensions were given
to the wounded citizens, the dead received honourable burial; the
ministers were tried and sentenced to imprisonment and forfeiture
of property. Lafayette, who was ready to take advantage of any
turn of the tide, espoused the new cause by proposing Louis
Philippe as "the best of republics" for France, and the result
was that under the title of King of the French, that astute and
experienced personage swore fidelity to the charter, and France
had an elected instead of an hereditary sovereign.
This reference is not out of place here, for we shall soon have
to meet Louis Philippe again in these pages, — and moreover, the
excitement in favour of parliamentary reform in this country at
the time of the accession of William the Fourth in 1830 was
raised to extreme activity by events in F ranee.
One cannot now read the current political comments of that
time without a smile when we come to \\ llliam being called the
"reforming king" and the "patriot king," in the sense that he
initiated or even effectually promoted the " Reform Bill." 1 hat
he yielded to political necessity or expediency goes without
saying, but he scarcely did so with a good grace, and not until
"THE SAILOR KING.n QUEEN ADELAIDE. 121
he perceived that the country and the Whig ministry of Earl
Grey would take no denial.
Not to speak of less respectful appellations, he was more
truly and popularly called "the Sailor King," for he had been a
sailor, and had much of the bluff hearty kind of bonhomie and
good-nature which was usually associated with sailors. There
can be little doubt that he had much of the bluntness and some
of the coarseness that were also attributed to manners on board
ship; and it is said on the authority of Greville that though at
the meeting- of ministers on the death of George IV. he behaved
very well, he forgot himself when he was about to sign the
constitutional declaration, — and blurted out, "This is a d bad
pen you have given me." The Archbishop of Canterbury was
present, and this was supposed conventionally to have made the
expression less excusable.
One of the first provisions which Parliament thought it
necessary to make on the accession of William was that of the
appointment of a regency in case of his death, for the King was
sixty-six years old, and there were no children of his marriage.
His relations with the famous Mrs. Jordan (Dorothy Bland) the
actress, long previous to his marriage, had been known and recog-
nized; and it has been recorded that his amiable consort, finding
that he had given orders for the removal of certain portraits of
Mrs. Jordan and her children (who had been named Fitz-
clarence), ordered them to be restored to their former position
in the King's apartments.
It is to be regretted that this and other more striking traits
of her kindly nature — notably her unselfish affection for the
Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria, who now stood next
the throne — were not publicly known at that date, for such
knowledge would have gone far to mitigate the unfounded
Vol.. I. 16
122 QUEEN VICTORIA.
dislike which was manifested to her by those who regarded her
as an enemy to popular freedom, and resented her quiet ways—
her German nationality — her want of popular accomplishments.
Brougham was partly responsible for the political animosity, and
much mischief was done by coarse caricatures, which were
designed to bring this gentle lady into contempt, — but she
survived both.
There is not the least probability that Queen Adelaide
desired to be appointed Regent, or that she tried to prevent
the provisional appointment of the Duchess of Kent to that
position, but the King seems to have regarded the possible
regency of the duchess with no little antipathy. Under the
circumstances it was inevitable that she should be appointed, or
that the office should be conferred on the Duke of Cumberland,
and such a proposal would have raised a popular tumult, which
would have been very serious indeed. In his first message to
Parliament, however, the King said nothing about the appointment
of a regency in case of his death, and though the Houses of
Lords and Commons both made reticent allusions to the matter,
they were assured that the King was very well, and that they
need not trouble themselves. The Tory ministry of the Duke of
Wellington, — Peel, Goulbourn, and Aberdeen, remained in office,
though Parliament was dissolved as usual on the accession;
but the government of Karl Grey succeeded it, and the
consideration of the appointment of a provisional regency had
to be resumed. Towards the end of the year a bill was
introduced into Parliament providing that Queen Adelaide, in
the event of her giving birth to a child after the death of the
King, should be guardian of such child and regent of the kingdom.
If that event should not occur, the Duchess of Kent was to be
regent during the minority of her daughter the Princess
MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS FEODORA. I 23
Victoria, who was not to marry while a minor without the
consent of the King, or, if he died, without the consent of both
Houses of Parliament. The duchess was to be assisted by a
Council of Regency, consisting of members of the royal family
and ministers of state; and she was to forfeit the regency should
she marry a foreigner during the lifetime of the King, and
without his consent.
The Princess Victoria herself was unacquainted with the
fact that she was next in succession to the throne. The utmost
care had been taken to keep her from the knowledge of her
position while there was any considerable doubt of her being the
next heir, or until she was of an age to understand what were
her expectations without being injured by the knowledge.
Her own shrewd observation had led her to note some
difference between the salutations offered to her and to her elder
sister, and it is said that at a very early date she inquired why
all the eentlemen took off their hats to her instead of to the
Princess Feodora. This, of course, could be explained by the
reminder that she was a princess of the English royal family
while her sister belonged to a foreign house; but it was
difficult sometimes to avoid her questioning glances and quick
observation. The elder sister had now (in 1830) been two years
married to Prince Ernest Hohenlohe, one of the most upright
and blameless of men. The wedding had taken place at Ken-
sington Palace in February, 1828, according to the simple rites
of the Lutheran Church, the ceremony being performed by Pastor
Dr. Kuper, the chaplain of the Royal Lutheran Chapel. The
King (George IV.) was too ill to be present, but the Duke and
Duchess of Clarence, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke and Duchess
of Gloucester, the Princess Sophia, the Princess Sophia of Glou-
cester, and Prince Leopold had been present, and the Duke of
124 QUEEN VICTORIA.
Clarence gave away the bride, who almost immediately afterwards
accompanied her husband to Germany. It was probably in view
of the increased dulness of the household to the princess, then
not quite ten years old, that the Duchess of Kent afterwards
spent a considerable part of the year either at the seaside or at
some other agreeable resort.
At Broadstairs or at Ramsgate where they occupied Towne-
ley House, overlooking the harbour, — at the Marina of St.
Leonard's, and at Tunbridge Wells, the Duchess of Kent and
the Princess Victoria were already well known and loyally wel-
comed; but the\' visited these places in simple and unpreten-
tious fashion. The princess — plainly, but always becomingly
attired — rode, or walked, or ran, without much regard to the
weather, for she had been trained to healthy exercise; and her
own ingenuous manner and ready appreciation of the courtesy of
everybody around her, enabled her to appear without restraint
in places where visitors congregated, or to visit shops and bazaars
and spend her pocket-money as other children did.
The mention of pocket-money may remind us that it was
very well understood by everybody concerned that habits of
economy were observed and inculcated. The Duchess of
Kent had reason to know that extravagance has to be paid
for by somebody, probably at the cost of much inconvenience
if not of suffering; and she also recognized that the duty had
fallen to her to pay debts which had not been incurred by
herself, and carefully to avoid giving occasion for reproach by
increasing her liabilities.
There can be no doubt that the little princess was taught
quite early that pocket-money was not illimitable, and that she
learned to be contented with a very moderate allowance, and to
be satisfied with such recreations as were inexpensive, that is to
THE TIME FOR TELLING THE SECRET. 125
say, visits to some of the galleries and show places in London,
and the " parade," the morning assembly, or the esplanade and
the band at the summer resorts. An incident said to have
occurred at Tunbridge Wells has often been repeated. The
princess was buying a few presents to give to her friends, and
had spent all her money, when she remembered that there was
another person to whom she would like to give a little souvenir,
and at the same time her attention was attracted by a very pretty
box, the price of which was half-a-crown. The woman who kept
the shop would have sent the box with the rest of the purchases,
though it had not been paid for, but the princess's governess
could not permit it. " As the princess has not got the money
she cannot buy the box," she remonstrated. " But I will put it
aside then, and keep it for her royal highness," said the shop-
keeper. " Oh, if you will be good enough to do that, the prin-
cess can come for it when she has the money." This was done,
for punctually on pocket-money morning the princess appeared
at the shop on her donkey and completed her purchase. There
is not much in the story; but it was told on the authority of
Harriet Martineau, and it was one of many which were current
at the time, and then and afterwards people in London, as well
as at Ramsgate, Brighton, St. Leonard's, Tunbridge Wells, and
elsewhere showed unmistakable pleasure in hearing and repeating
such anecdotes.
When George the Fourth died the Duchess of Kent and her
little daughter were at Malvern, where the same good-will and
admiration for the princess attended them. The simple life of
the princess, who appeared almost daily on her donkey as any
other young lady of her age might do, the kindly manners of the
duchess, the unostentatious gifts to the poor and the distressed
in the neighbourhood, were spoken of here as they had been
126 QUEEN VICTORIA.
elsewhere, and doubtless a pleasant holiday was passed amidst
the beautiful scenery of Herefordshire and Worcestershire; but
it was necessary to return to London, and the time soon arrived
when it was thought desirable that the princess should learn in
what relation she now stood to the throne, for, as we have seen,
the Regency Bill was already before Parliament.
It was not easy to suppose that the knowledge had really
been concealed from her; but assiduous care had been exercised
to direct the bright intelligence and the young ambition to a
disinterested attainment of those qualities and distinctions that
fit their possessor for exercising eminent personal influence in
any station. Sir Walter Scott, who was one of the honoured
visitors at Kensington Palace, had written in his diary on May
19th, 1S28: "Dined with the Duchess of Kent. I was very
kindly received by Prince Leopold, and presented to the little
Princess Victoria, the heir-apparent to the crown, as things now
stand. . . . 'Phis little lady is educating with much care,
and watched so closely that no busy maid has a moment to
whisper, 'You are heir of England.' I suspect if we could
dissect the little heart, we should find some pigeon or other bird
of the air had carried the matter."
This was a reasonable conclusion, but Sir Walter was mis-
taken. It was not till after the accession of William the Fourth
that the secret was told, and for a good many years the manner
of its being imparted was the subject of stories more or less con-
jectural, and mostly representing the Duchess of Kent delivering
a stilted didactic discourse to her daughter, somewhat after the
manner of examples in Enfield 's Speaker.
What really took place was made known by the Baroness
Lehzen, the old governess, in a letter to the Queen in December,
1867, in which she said: "I ask your Majesty's leave to cite some
HOW THE PRINCESS DISCOVERED HER STATION. 127
remarkable words of your Majesty's when only twelve years old,
while the Regency Bill was in progress. I then said to the
Duchess of Kent that now, for the first time, your Majesty ought
to know your place in the succession. Her royal highness
agreed with me, and I put the genealogical table into the
historical book. When Mr. Davys [the Queen's instructor,
afterwards Bishop of Peterborough] was gone, the Princess
Victoria opened as usual the book again, and seeing the
additional paper, said, 'I never saw that before.' 'It was not
thought necessary you should, princess,' I answered. ' I see I am
nearer the throne than I thought. ' 'So it is, madam,' I said.
After some moments the princess resumed, 'Now, many a child
would boast, but they don't know the difficulty. There is much
splendour, but there is more responsibility,' The princess
having lifted up the forefinger of her right hand while she spoke,
gave me that little hand, saying, ' I will be good. I understand
now why you urged me so much to learn, even Latin. My
aunts Augusta and Mary never did; but you told me Latin
is the foundation of English grammar, and of all the elegant
expressions, and I learned it as you wished it; but I understand
all better now,' and the princess gave me her hand, repeating,
T will be good!' I then said, 'But your aunt Adelaide is still
young and may have children, and of course they would ascend
the throne after their father William IV., and not you, princess.'
The princess answered, 'And if it was so, I should never feel
disappointed, for I know by the love aunt Adelaide bears me,
how fond she is of children."'
This frank and tender reply of the princess is to be associated
with her knowledge that her aunt had lost her children, and had
written to the Duchess of Kent the few affecting words already
noticed in a previous page. In reference to this, the Queen
128 QUEEN \1C TORI A.
makes a note upon the letter of the Baroness Lehzen — " I cried
much on learning it, and ever deplored this contingency."
With the recognition of the position occupied by the princess
came a grant from Parliament of £, 10,000 a year for her
maintenance and education, and the Duchess of Northumber-
land was appointed governess, which, of course, meant general
directress of the princess's studies, and not that the invaluable
Baroness Lehzen should be superseded. Her other teachers
were mostly English. Mr. Amos instructed her in the elements
of constitutional government, Dr. Davys continued his tuition,
and music lessons were still given by Mr. Sale, singing was
taught by the famous Signor Lablache, dancing by Madame
Bourdin, and writing and arithmetic by Mr. Steward, writing-
master of Westminster School. In music the princess excelled,
as she was not only an excellent singer, but an admirable
pianist, and the lessons in drawing which she received from Mr.
Westall, R.A., the well-known painter, developed a talent which
she has ever since exercised, much to her own pleasure and
occasionally to the gratification of those of her subjects who have
seen some of the Queen's sketches. In languages the princess
had alreadv been well instructed, and those who know what an
excellent horsewoman the Queen has always been will not be
surprised that she received riding lessons from Mr. Fozard,
the most famous teacher of his day.
These studies demanded much time and attention, and the
old quiet life was not very materially changed. Though we
have referred to a certain loneliness, or a need for youthful
companionship in these early days of the young princess, there
were, of course, uncles, aunts, and cousins enough to claim
recognition, and to increase the number of visitors who were
occasionally received at Kensington; and it need scarcely be
Drawn by Gordon
Engraved by Tho5 Br
THE PRINCESS VICTORIA MAKES A DISCOVERY
1831.
blackie & son, lonoon. Glasgow, » Edinburgh
THE PRAYERS OF A FAITHFUL SOUL. 129
said that now there was no longer as much occasion for reticence
and seclusion. The princess was already in correspondence with
some of her relatives at Coburg, but neither of the cousins
there had yet visited London, and the clear old grandmother,
the Dowager- duchess of Coburg, was no more to look upon
the face of the little May-flower whom she loved so well.
She had written to the Duchess of Kent on the princess's
eleventh birthday: "My blessings and good wishes for the day
which gave you the sweet blossom of May! May God preserve
and protect the valuable life of that lovely flower from all danger
that will beset her mind and heart! The rays of the sun are
scorching at the height to which she may one day attain. It is
only by the blessing of God that all the fine qualities He has
put into that young soul can be kept pure and untarnished.
How well I can sympathize with the feelings of anxiety that
must possess you when that time comes. God, who has helped
you through so many bitter hours of grief, will be your help still.
Put your trust in Him."
She wrote again in the following June, after the death of
George the Fourth: "God bless old England, where my beloved
children live, and where the sweet blossom of May may one day
reign! May God yet for many years keep the weight of a
crown from her young head! and let the intelligent, clever child
grow up to girlhood before the dangerous grandeur devolves
upon her."
Again, after the provision of the Regency Bill on the 30th of
December, 1830: "I should have been very sorry if the regency
had been given into other hands than yours. It would not have
been a just return for your constant devotion and care to your
child if this had not been done. May God give you wisdom and
strength to do your duty if called upon to undertake it! May
Vol. I. 17
130 QUEEN VICTORIA.
God bless and protect our little darling! If 1 could but see her
once again! The print you sent me of her is not like the dear
picture I have. The quantity of curls hide the well-shaped head,
and make it look too large for the lovely little figure."
In the following November (183 1) the family at Coburg, the
daughter and grand-daughter at South Kensington, and the son
at Brussels, had to mourn the loss of this steadfast friend — this
loving heart. There were two boy princes at Coburg, Ernest and
Albert, — the latter of whom was, as we have seen, born in the same
year as the Princess Victoria, — who felt that loss bitterly. Their
father, Duke Ernest, was near his mother when she died. Her
next son Ferdinand was present also, — but Leopold, the younger
and favourite son, last saw her when she visited him at Brussels
in the summer, on his election as King of the Belgians. He
could not leave the affairs of his new kingdom to attend her
in her last hours, nor would his new responsibilities permit him
to be so constantly near his little niece in England, to direct and
regulate her studies, oi which he used previously to receive a
weekly report.
DOMESTIC LIFE AT KENSINGTON. 131
CHAPTER II.
The Princess Victoria at Court. State Festivities. Political Excitement. Town and Country.
The Iron Duke. The Royal Muddle. The Reform Bill. A Provincial Tour. Court
Scandal. Visit of the Coburg Cousins. The Beginning of a Love Match. Coming of
Age. Death of William IV. Accession of Victoria. The Coronation.
The princess had now to appear at court and at the various
places to which she paid holiday visits, in a new capacity. Little
change was made in the simplicity of the domestic life at Ken-
sington, and studies and recreations went on much as usual: nor
had the frank, winning manners of the child been lost in the more
sedate girlhood: but when she was present on public occasions,
or even when she appeared walking or driving, there was just
the difference that she was now the acknowledged heir to the
throne, and that people regarded her more directly as the future
Queen. As we have noted, there was also more " company " at
Kensington Palace. Sir John Hobhouse, after dining at the
Palace, where the princess was seated at her mother's right hand
as in the old days, says, " The young princess was treated in
every respect like a grown-up woman, although apparently quite
a child. Her manners were very pleasing and natural, and she
seemed much amused by some conversation with Lord Durham,
a manifest favourite at Kensington. When she left the room, she
curtsied round very prettily to all the guests who were present,
and then ran out of the room." This would seem to point to
the early hours which the princess observed, and there are other
references of the same kind at a still later date — one by the poet
Moore, who was present at a party when the princess delighted
the company by her singing, and would have continued for some
132 QUEEN VICTORIA.
time longer but for premature intimation of bed-time. There is
also a record of a ball at which the princess was permitted to be
present while on one of the visits to the provinces, but she only
graced the occasion lor a short time, and after one dance retired
at quite an early hour.
The first appearance of the princess at court " in state," was
at the " drawing-room " held by Queen Adelaide in February,
1 S3 1. It was the Queen's birthday, and therefore there was an
additional reason for the presence of the youthful princess, who
was already sufficiently self-possessed to stand on the throne
on the left of her Majesty, and to note all that took place
with evident interest. She was herself probably the chief
object of attraction to that brilliant assembly, amidst which her
bright, ingenuous face, her beaming blue eyes, and the modest
dignity of her bearing consorted well with the simple frock of
English blonde over white satin of Spitalfields manufacture, the
pearl necklace, and the diamond ornament which fastened the
braids of fair hair.
It was the most magnificent drawing-room that had been
seen since that which had taken place on the presentation of
Princess Charlotte of Wales upon the occasion of her marriage,
for it was intended to do honour to the new Queen, and to
introduce to her proper place in the royal circle the young
maiden who, in simple becoming guise, attended with her mother
the Duchess of Kent, her suite consisting of the Duchess of
Northumberland, Lady Charlotte St. Maur, Lady Catherine
Parkinson, the Hon. Mrs. Cust, the Baroness Lehzen, General
\Vetherall,and Captain (then Sir John) Conroy,with Lady Conroy.
Before this appearance at the drawing-room, the absence of
the princess from the coronation of the King and Queen on the
previous September had excited a good deal of remark, and was
RUMOUR'S HUNDRED TONGUES. 1^
the cause of innumerable comments in the newspapers. Of
course the world of politics no less than the world of fashion was
interested in speculating on the cause of what was set down as
the premeditated absence of the princess, and as usual, any
interpretation but the simple and obvious one was likely to be
adopted. When it was discovered that no place had been
assigned to the princess in the ceremony at Westminster Abbey
a hundred rumours found tongue. It was the fault of Earl
Grey; it was the fault of the Duchess of Northumberland, who
was seeking to assert political influence with her pupil; it was
the fault of the Duchess of Kent, who refused to allow her
daughter to be present because she had herself not been treated
with proper respect by the King; it was the fault of Lord
Adolphus Fitzclarence, who, in arranging the plan for the pro-
cession, had placed the princess last of the royal family, instead
of giving her the proper place immediately after their Majesties.
These were the reports which were circulated, until a simple
explanation was given by the announcement that the sanction of
the Kingf had been obtained for the absence of his niece from a
ceremony, the fatigue and excitement of which it was believed
would be injurious to her health. Here was another topic of
discussion: all kinds of forebodings were indulged in, and a
temporary indisposition or, at worst, a slight declension of
strength, which made it necessary to avoid the excitement and
exhaustion caused by repeated state ceremonials, was magnified
into a report of symptoms betokening some inherent weakness
or constitutional defect
The Duchess of Kent was, for more than one reason,
reluctant to see her daughter drawn into the court atmosphere,
and she had repeatedly to run the risk of offending the King,
and perhaps even of seeming to slight the kindness always
134
QUEEN VICTORIA.
displayed by the Queen, because of her determination that the
child, who had been reared with so much care, should not
sacrifice domestic peace and order, and the education which
was to raise her above the ordinary court measure, by being at
her early age committed to the intrigues, the slanders, and, it
may be added, the contaminations of those who would have
endeavoured to secure an influence over her. Such a result
neither the King nor the Queen might have perceived till it was
too late to prevent it, though the King would certainly have
resented it as he afterwards resented the infrequency of his
niece's visits. At anyrate the Princess Victoria, instead of
taking part in the coronation and the subsequent festivities, was
quietly pursuing her studies. In the following autumn (1831)
the Duchess of Kent went with her household to the Isle of
Wight, where they occupied Norris Castle, near East Cowes,
which was from that time retained as a marine residence, and
where they were removed from the rioting and disturbances
which shook not London only, but the great provincial towns,
during the excitement caused by the opposition to the Reform
Bill.
The coronation ceremony had not been of a very splendid
character, as compared with that of George the Fourth, which
had become historical not only for its extravagant cost
(,£268,000), but because of the attempts of the unhappy Queen
Caroline to assert her rights by seeking to force her way into
Westminster Abbey, from which she had been excluded. Yet
the quiet celebration of investing William the Fourth and
Queen Adelaide with the insignia of rovalty involved an ex-
pense of over ,£43,000, of which ,£22,234 was for the several
departments of the household, and ,£12,000 for the office of
works for fitting up Westminster Abbey, &c, while ,£3034 was
ABSENCE OF THE PRINCESS FROM COURT.
\5
spent in fireworks and for opening the theatres to the public on
the night of the coronation.
The King and Queen spent a good deal of their time at
Windsor, and brilliant court festivities were not very numerous;
but the King was remarkably fond of giving dinner parties, at
which it is not surprising that the Duchess of Kent and her
daughter were seldom to be seen. We hear, however, of some
important state assemblies where the Princess Victoria was
present, and, indeed, more than one wras given in her honour
by Queen Adelaide. The principal of these was a grand ball
given on the 24th of May, 1832, to celebrate the thirteenth birth-
day of the princess, who was much impressed by the brilliant
scene which she now witnessed for the first time, but amidst
which she moved with the frank grace that was habitual to
her, and with a modest self-possession which even in those early
days seems to have enabled her to sustain her part in all such
ceremonial assemblies, and preserved her from any appearance
of disadvantage, notwithstanding her youth and inexperience.
Doubtless her attractive appearance and behaviour caused the
dissatisfaction expressed by the King at the comparative
seclusion in which she was educated. He grumbled that she
was not more at court, and every time he saw her the grievance
was emphasized by his perceiving that, to use a common phrase,
she " would be a credit to him," though he appeared to lose
sight of the credit due to the Duchess of Kent. To her
judicious care, and her reluctance to subject the "May-flower"
to the blighting influences of a court circle, were largely due the
natural ingenuous address which delighted the Sailor King, and
was probably far more keenly appreciated by his gentle Queen.
When the King went to prorogue his first Parliament the
Queen had invited her niece to see the state procession, and,
I ^6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
J
standing in the balcony, was perceived by the crowd below,
who raised a hearty cheer. The kind lady took the little girl
by the hand and led her to the front of the balcony to share in
the homage of the people, and this may be said to have been
the first official introduction of the princess as immediate heir
to the crown. In January, 1831, too, the princess had appeared,
for the first time, at the theatre — Covent Garden — where she
witnessed the entertainment with evident pleasure.
Not only the manner of her education, but the disposition
and appearance of the Princess Victoria were pretty well known
to the public, and the just reasons for her comparative seclusion
at that early age were also understood. A correspondent of the
Mirror, in the later months of 1831, says: "The heiress pre-
sumptive to the British crown is gradually becoming an object
of great interest to all classes of her future subjects . . . and
it is well known that no mother has more anxiously studied to
inculcate on her daughter's mind a due sense of moral and
religious duties, and the practice of kindliness, gentleness, and
forbearance to all those about her, than has the Duchess of Kent
towards her precious charge. Her studies have been pursued
with as unremitting attention as her health would bear: she is
quick in acquiring languages, and speaks fluently English,
French, and German, is well read in history, and has attained
such perfection in music as to be able to take part in the private
concerts frequently given by the Duchess of Kent, who is
herself extremely fond of music. Many contradictory reports
of the state of her health have been spread, arising, possibly,
from the physician of the household paying her regular visits
for form's sake, and to satisfy the duchess's natural anxiety.
We know, however, from good authority, that the princess's
health is satisfactory, and the exuberance of her spirits is a
PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCESS VICTORIA. 137
sufficient proof of there being no cause for alarm on this head.
Her disposition is spoken very favourably of, and her
oood humour never fails her, though she is not much in the
habit of associating with young ladies of her own age, but leads,
on the whole, a secluded life. From everything that is known,
therefore, of this interesting young personage during her yet
short career, there is every reason to induce us to look with
confidence to the day when she will be called on to wield the
sceptre of the most powerful empire in the known world."
With the personal appearance of the princess a few of those
who had not seen her had gained some knowledge from pictures
and engravings. Mr. Fowler, an artist at Ramsgate, had
painted two portraits of her, one of which, completed in her
ninth year, was sent for exhibition to the Royal Academy,
but was rejected. There was some correspondence on the
subject between the president, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and the
Duchess of Kent, who considered that, with one exception, the
portrait was the best likeness of her daughter which had then
been accomplished, the exception being a very fine bust by
Behnes, which is now to be seen at Windsor Castle. An oil-
painting of the duchess seated on a sofa, on which her little
daughter stood beside her, had been made for the King of the
Belgians by Sir William Beechey; and there was a bust of the
infant princess by Turnerelli, the sculptor, the father of a
gentleman who more recently became conspicuous in relation
to some rather remarkable endeavours to raise a popular testi-
monial to Lord Beaconsfield. The most satisfactory likeness of
a later date, however, was the full-length portrait painted by
Mr. Westall, R.A., her instructor in drawing, when the princess
was in her twelfth year.
On the 28th of May, 1832, four days after the birthday
Vol. I. 18
I t.S QUEEN VICTORIA.
ball, we hear of the princess at her second " drawing-room," and
then of her retirement till the summer, when she accompanied
the duchess on a tour, which continued during the autumn,
through some of the most attractive historical and picturesque
portions of England and Wales, a journey designed to serve the
higher purpose of education as well as to delight the imagina-
tion— to maintain the health of the princess, at the same time
that it removed her and the household from the disquieting
influences of that political crisis, of which it is necessary to note
some of the circumstances, since they will have associations with
subsequent pages of the present narrative.
After the coronation of William the Fourth there had been
no immediate change in the government, but the administration
presided over by the Duke of Wellington was detested by the
people, and had to sustain not only the powerful opposition of
both Radicals and Whigs, who were pledged to support the
urgent demand for reform, but also the demands of extreme
Tories, who seemed determined to oppose to the uttermost a
government which had granted Catholic emancipation. All
over the country ministerialists were defeated, and a number of
the successful candidates were ardent representatives of popular
rights. The scenes at the elections were more violent than
anybody has seen on similar occasions during the past fifty
years; for the riot and confusion at the hustings and at polling
places before the passage of the Reform Bill could not be
imagined by the present generation; and when the country was
eager to assert its dissatisfaction with the government the tumult
was so exaggerated that it became alarming evidence of the
probability of further demonstrations of a very dangerous kind.
The result of the general election, however, was that the ministry
lost about fifty votes in the House of Commons, and that the
THE IRON DUKE'S MINISTRY. 139
reformers were victorious in many places where the power and
influence of the government were set against them.
On the 2d of November, 1830, the King had opened Parlia-
ment in person, and the address in reply passed, but not without
some allusions to the subject of reform; in the House of Commons
by Brougham, and in the Lords by Earl Grey. The Duke of
Wellington took up the matter without hesitation, and concluded
his remarks by saying, " I am not only not prepared to bring
forward any measure of this nature, but I will at once declare
that, as far as I am concerned, as long as I hold any station in
the government of this country, I shall always feel it my duty to
resist such a measure when proposed by others."
This was quite characteristic of " the 1 ron Duke," for he was
a man of "unbending" opinions, one of which was that in this
country, where property of various descriptions required to be
protected, and where, to sum up what he conceived to be his
political duty in his own phrase, the matter of the first impor-
tance was " to carry on the King's government," no better form
of legislation could possibly be devised than that which already
existed. This was in effect what he actually said, and when he
concluded by avowing his determination to resist any suggestion
of reform in the parliamentary representation of the country, his
declaration meant war, and was taken as such. The ministry
of which he was the head was not likely to last long after that,
but he was not a man to yield at once.
It will show how strongly the unsympathetic feeling between
the duke in his ministerial capacity and the representatives of
those who desired political progress and out-and-out reform was
accentuated, if we recall the fact that when Wellington was
appointed prime-minister Henry Brougham, in a remarkable
speech, said, among other things, that the appointment was
140
QUEEN VICTORIA.
unconstitutional. This was, of course, an extreme statement, but
was explained, after he had expressed the greatest respect for
the duke's illustrious character and abilities, by his saying that
he could not feel gratified to see the regular and confidential
adviser of the crown at the head of the civil and military
establishments, dispensing all the patronage of the crown, the
army, and the church. It was in this speech that there occurred
the remarkable passage which introduced the phrase of " the
schoolmaster abroad." " Let it not be supposed," said Brougham,
" that I am inclined to exaggerate. 1 have no fear ol slavery
being introduced into this country by the power of the sword.
. . . The noble duke might take the army, he might take the
navy, he might take the mitre, he might take the seal — I would
make the noble duke a present of them all. Let him come with
his whole force, sword in hand, against the constitution, and the
energies of the people will not only beat him, but laugh at his
efforts. There have been periods when this country has heard
with dismay that the soldier was abroad. This is not the case
now. Let the soldier be ever so much abroad in the present
age, he can do nothing. There is another person abroad — a
less imposing person, and in the eyes of some an insignificant
person — whose labours have tended to produce this state of
things. The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust more to the
schoolmaster, armed with his primer, for upholding the liberties
of the country, than I fear the soldier with his bayonet."
There is something enormously significant in this — as an
indication not only of the "situation" at that date, but of the
signs of the times. But Wellington never pushed his convic-
tions to such an extreme as to carry compulsion against the
evident will of the nation. He has been debited with saying
that the people would be quiet, and that if they did not keep quiet
S/R ROBERT PEEL. 141
there was a way to make them; but if he said so he never meant
by it a forcible opposition to the unmistakable demands of the
country. He and Peel were ready to accept accomplished facts,
after having these facts hammered into them so that they were
beyond dispute, and the grand old soldier grew simply eloquent
when, in spite of his previous honest convictions and prejudices,
he had to yield intellectual and even moral consent to a course
which he saw was inevitable, and not only to retreat himself
but to take others with him, including the King. Probably
Wellington never quite realized that he was not a highly
capable minister, well acquainted with the theory of government,
but he modified a good deal as he grew older, when his autocratic
notions had sobered down before the conviction that the forces
of public opinion could not be beaten — that the armies he had to
encounter were not those of the enemies of the country abroad,
and that, in fact, the government would have to be carried on
without him, or in spite of his former theories.
Peel, as most middle-aged people know, was the son of a
cotton manufacturer, or rather of a calico-printer, in a very large
way of business, as many as 15,000 hands having been employed
in his father's factories at one time. The elder Peel was ex-
ceedingly wealthy, and was made a baronet (so Cobbett declared),
because he contributed ,£10,000 to the " Loyalty Loan," which
was the Royal Patriotic Fund of his day. He was in Parlia-
ment, where he distinguished himself as a thorough-going Tory,
and his elder son Robert, who was a steady and studious lad at
Harrow, and afterwards took a "double-first" at Oxford, was also
returned to the House while still little more than a youth, and
almost immediately took office with the near prospect of a place
in the cabinet. In 1830 he had succeeded to the title and a
large fortune and estate on the death of his father. Sir Robert
142 QUEEN VICTORIA.
Peel would never accept any honorary distinctions on his own
behalf, putting all such offers aside with a manner which appeared
to be an almost haughty intimation that he considered they
would add nothing to his dignity or social position. He was
a man of scrupulous honour and integrity, much sensitiveness
and humanity, and with great tenacity of opinion, which did
not, however, prevent him from holding broad and generous
views, or from being open to conviction. It may easily be
understood that such a man would be cherished by the Duke
of Wellington, who was much inferior to him in high culture
and true breadth of perception.
Everybody was read)- to give homage to the duke as the
great general who had broken the power of France, but popular
demonstrations against him as head of the government became
so violent that it would have been almost impossible for him
to have continued to hold office. Brougham had announced
an intention to introduce a measure dealing with parliamentary
reform, and approved by a large number of members, but the
day before he was to bring it forward Sir Henry Parnell moved
for the appointment of a select committee to consider the esti-
mates on the civil list, and as this was carried against the
government by a majority of twenty the ministry took the
opportunity of sending in their resignation.
The King at once sent for Earl Grey, whose high character
and consistent advocacy of moderate reform, no less than his
ability and experience, made him the head of the Whig party,
and the new ministry was soon completed, on the clear under-
standing that a measure for an extensive reform in Parliament
should be at once introduced, and that in the prosecution
of his plan for effecting it the prime-minister should receive the
King's countenance and support. The Whigs had not been
S TANLE Y—PA LMERS TON—GRA HA M— RUSSELL.
H3
in office for five-and-twenty years, and now was the oppor-
tunity for carrying a measure the demand for which was shown
by political demonstrations in various parts of the country.
Henry Brougham was made lord-chancellor with the title of
Lord Brougham and Yaux, but he hesitated at first to accept it,
for he preferred to be free as a leader of the party of inde-
pendence, and he had such a splendid practice at the bar that
the emoluments of the office of lord-chancellor were not much
temptation. He had to be persuaded to accept it by Lord
Althorp (son of Earl Spencer), one of the most disinterested men
living, who became chancellor of the exchequer. The Hon.
E. G. Stanley, afterwards to become famous as the Earl of
Derby — "the Rupert of debate" — was appointed chief secretary
for Ireland, but failed to be elected for Preston because he
refused to pledge himself to support vote by ballot. Lord
Melbourne, a rather neutral friend of reform and by no means
anxious for the promotion of an extensive measure in that
direction, was home secretary; Viscount Palmerston, foreign
secretary; the Marquis of Lansdowne, president of the council;
Sir James Graham, first lord of the admiralty; and Lord John
Russell paymaster of the forces, without a seat in the cabinet.
The work of framing the government measure of reform
was assigned to a committee composed of Lord Durham, Lord
Duncannon, Sir J. Graham, and Lord John Russell; but it was
the scheme of Lord John Russell which was the foundation of
the bill. This was as it should have been for more reasons
than one. Lord John was the representative of the great
historical Whig family, and was a consistent upholder of prin-
ciples that were at that time in advance of those of many of
his own political associates. His speech and manner displayed
the quality of caution more than of temerity; for he seldom
144 QUEEN VICTORIA.
rose to a display of eloquence; often hesitated for the right
word, though lit; seldom used a wrong one; was never brilliant,
but never either tried or pretended to be so, and mostly spoke
sensibly and much to the purpose. When, in addition to his
negative qualities, it is remembered that he was rather plain-
looking, so short as to be almost dwarfish in person, with a large
head, hidden mostly by a large hat slouched down over his fore-
head, so that when he sat in the House of Commons little could
be seen of his lace but his mouth, which bore an expression of
dry humour; it may be wondered at that he was for the greater
part of his long career a popular man, and at the time we are now
considering, when he was still comparatively young, the best
liked of the leaders of the cause of reform. Me had always been
a consistent Liberal; he had carried the repeal of the hated Test
and Corporation Acts in the teeth of the Wellington government.
He was a man of honesty and integrity and with strong religious
principles, and an advocate for religious freedom, and the tradi-
tions of the noble family to which he belonged, joined with a
kindly recognition of his earnest political convictions, caused the
people to like and to trust him. " Little Johnny," as he was too
often irreverently designated — or Lord John, as he was quite
familiarly called — was always true to his colours, and mostly had
a good following; though he was as little as possible like
Brougham, who, at the time of the Reform Bill of 1S32, made
speeches so vigorous, varied, and defiant of opposing powers,
that they were read with boundless delight by " the masses."
On the 1 st of March Lord John Russell was to bring for-
ward the bill, and the House of Commons, its lobbies, passages,
and approaches, were crowded to excess. As the clock struck
six a little active figure — a calm, pale, determined face — appeared
entering the house. There was a momentary hush, and then
THE REFORM BILE
!45
followed a tremendous cheer; then, amidst a profound silence,
Lord John commenced an exposition of the bill, which he
declared was founded on the ancient constitution of the country,
which declared that no man should be taxed for the support
of the state who had not consented, by himself or his repre-
sentative, to the imposition of these taxes. That reform was
a matter of right and of reason, as well as of policy and
expediency, he unhesitatingly asserted. A stranger who was
told that this country was unparalleled in wealth and industry,
and more civilized and more enlightened than any country was
before it, — that it was a country that prided itself on its freedom,
and that once in every seven years it elected representatives
from its population to act as the guardians and preservers
of that freedom, — would be anxious and curious to see how that
representation was formed, and how the people chose their
representatives, to whose faith and guardianship they intrusted
their free and liberal institutions. Such a person would be
very astonished if he were taken to a ruined mound and told
that that mound sent two representatives to Parliament; if he
were taken to a stone wall, and told that three niches in it
sent two representatives to Parliament; if he were taken to a
park where no houses were to be seen, and told that that park
sent two representatives to Parliament; but if he were told all
this, and were astonished at hearing it, he would be still more
astonished if he were to see large and opulent towns, full of
enterprise, and industry, and intelligence, containing vast maga-
zines of every species of manufacture, and were then told that
these towns sent no representatives to Parliament. Such a
person would be still more astonished if he were taken to
Liverpool, where there was a large constituency, and told, "Here
you will have a fine specimen of a popular election." He would
Vol. J. 19
146 QUEEN VICTORIA.
sec bribery employed to the greatest extent, and in the most
unblushing manner; he would see every voter receiving a iium-
ber of guineas in a box as the price of his corruption; and after
such a spectacle he would, no doubt, be much astonished that a
nation whose representatives were thus chosen could perform
the functions of legislation at all, or enjoy respect in any degree.
This was the prefatory appeal, and it indicates tersely, but
sufficiently, the conditions for which a reformation was being
demanded. There is no need in these pages to give an
exposition of the various parts of the measure which was then
proposed. The number of persons who would be entitled to
the suffrage under the bill not previously possessing that right
was supposed to be, in the counties, 1 10,000; in the towns,
50,000; in London, 95,000; in Scotland, 50,000; in Ireland,
about 40,000; and it was believed that the measure would add
to the constituency of the Commons House of Parliament about
half a million of persons, all connected with the property of the
country, having a stake in it, and deeply interested in its institu-
tions. The number of members of the house would be decreased
by 62, the number of representative constituencies from 658 to
596, as 168 seats which were to be abolished by disfranchise-
ment of boroughs would not be compensated by the additions
effected by redistribution, or the accession of representation in
other places.
The debate on the bill was long, and members of the
opposition set themselves to impede the progress of the measure,
which they succeeded in doing for fifteen months, during which
not only the ministry but Parliament itself underwent repeated
vicissitudes, while the country was kept continually disturbed
by riots and deeds of violence. On the 14th of March the bill
was read for the first time. The second reading was moved
THE KING AND THE LORDS. 1 47
on the 2 1 st of March, and was carried by one vote only. The
excitement in and out of the House was tremendous; but no
more could be done till after the Easter recess, when Parliament
reassembled on the 12th of April. Then General Gascoyne
moved an instruction that the number of members ought not
to be diminished, which Lord Althorp said was the first of a
series of obstructions, but after an acrimonious discussion it
passed by a majority of eight.
The opposition thought that they had effectually " mated,"
if not checkmated, the ministry, for the countercheck was the
dissolution of Parliament, and it was known that the King, who
was by no means so "patriotic" as to desire as wide a measure
of reform as that represented by the bill, had a great aversion
to this alternative.
An address was being prepared in the House of Lords
asking him not to dissolve Parliament. There was no time to
lose, and Brougham was equal to the occasion. He went at
once to his Majesty and urged him to go down to the House
of Lords and exercise his royal authority by announcing a
dissolution. The Kingf was in a dilemma. He could not
sacrifice the ministry after the promises that he had made to
support them in the measure that they now sought to carry
through Parliament by an appeal to the country, and yet he
disliked the appearance of committing himself to the provisions
of the bill. There was no compromise; and though he would
have liked to "run with the hare and hunt with the hounds,"
it was in this instance impossible; or, as he afterwards said,
incompatible with his character as a sovereign and a gentleman.
He was next angry with the Lords, who were preparing to
petition him against a dissolution; and hurrying on his robes
he called out, " Bring me a hackney-coach," as though he had
148 QUEEN VICTORIA.
no time left even to wait for the royal carriage. But the royal
carriage was soon ready, and off he went in semi-state, the Life
Guards riding wide as an escort; the people in the streets
huzzaing with a demonstrative energy that for the time reminded
him he had done the right thing for maintaining his popularity.
The House of Lords was in a tumult when the Kino-
entered, and the disturbance was barely hushed to listen to his
Majesty when he said that he had come to prorogue Parliament
prior to a dissolution. Parliament was dissolved the next day,
and the public rejoicings were sufficient to prove to the anti-
reformers that there would be a fierce straggle at the elections.
There were illuminations in the city and in many parts of the
West End: which, however, was no decisive sign of political
satisfaction, since it was pretty well known to householders
that unless they exhibited lighted lamps or candles in their
windows the mob outside would probably smash every pane
of glass. This took place at the houses of known anti-reformers,
who would not illuminate; and at Apsley House, the residence
of the Duke of Wellington, not only was every pane of glass
that looked upon the streets ruthlessly demolished by showers
of stones, but a yelling mob remained for a long time uttering
execrations, for which the duke probably cared little, though
he afterwards had his mended windows provided with external
shutters of iron.
When the elections came on there were truer and nobler
signs that numbers of people were in earnest, though in the
fourteen days during which the poll continued enormous sums of
money were spent in bribing and treating, and the scenes of riot
and disorder, in which crowds filled the streets and processions
marched hither and thither with bands and banners, were made
the more feverishly exciting by the unusual heat of the weather.
THE LORDS AND REFORM— RIOTS. 149
Parliament opened on the 14th of June, and on the 24th
Lord John Russell again brought forward the bill, which, with
some modifications of details, was read without opposition.
The second reading was fixed for the 4th of July, and again a
vast and expectant crowd filled the house and all its approaches.
The debate lasted for three nights, and at five o'clock on the
morning of the 7th the measure was carried by a majority
of 136, and then went into committee. It was not till the
morning of the 2 2d of September that the bill passed by 345
votes against 239, and then the question was, What will the
Lords do? Solemnly Lord Althorp and Lord John Russell,
followed by a hundred reformers, carried the bill to the bar
of the Upper House. Solemnly it was received; but in spite
of the serious and dignified appeals of Earl Grey and the
impassioned eloquence of Lord Brougham, it was thrown out.
Lord Eldon and Lord Lyndhurst and other anti- reforming-
peers had already made up their minds against " the revolution-
ary violence of the measure." Wellington was, of course, im-
movable; the bishops were against it, and by a considerable
majority it was rejected.
The news went through the country like flame. In London
and other large towns the shops were closed, the church bells
were muffled, everywhere meetings were held, and violent
speeches were made in all parts of the country. At one
of these meetings 100,000 persons were present, and a resolu-
tion was passed to pay no more taxes till the bill became law,
and this example was afterwards followed elsewhere. The
common council of the city of London held a meeting at
Guildhall in favour of the measure, and there was another
assembly of leading merchants and bankers at the Mansion
House. The corporation voted an address to the King, and
150 QUEEN VICTORIA.
it was carried up attended by 50,000 people, the lower sort
among whom again vented their fury by attacking Apsley
House, and committing other acts of violence.
On the 20th of October the King again went down and
prorogued Parliament, delivering a conciliatory speech, which
referred to the general manifestation of a desire for constitu-
tional reform in the Commons' House of Parliament, to the
certain direction of the attention of the next Parliament to
the question, and to his unaltered desire to promote its settle-
ment. The violence of public meetings somewhat abated, but
the political organizations became more formidable, and their
proceedings were declared to be illegal. There was indeed reason
for alarm, for in various parts of the country the dots had
approached to attempted revolution. At Nottingham the castle,
which was the; property of the Duke of Newcastle — an extreme
Tory — was fired and destroyed.
The Bristol riots were still more serious in their results,
for the whole town was terrorized by a furious and madly
drunken mob, who sacked and burned numbers of houses,
destroyed furniture and valuables which were thrown from the
windows, and ruined a great many respectable people by the
wanton destruction or seizure of their property, and the casual
sale of their valuable effects in the public streets. A mob of the
vilest miscreants, under the pretence of a political demonstration,
set up an insurrection of brigandage, and would have destroyed
the whole city, while the military officer in command of the troops
sent to quell the riot would do nothing effectually to prevent
these atrocities. The arrival of an officer of a different stamp
put an end to the riot after a great slaughter, in which five
hundred wretched creatures were killed, and hundreds wounded:
nor could any other remedy have been applied, for the mob had
GREAT MEETING— THE "NATIONAL HYMN." 151
by that time taken possession of a quarter of the town where
they prepared a desperate resistance to the troops and the
thousands of sturdy constables enrolled from the crews of mer-
chant ships and the respectable inhabitants of the city
But there were meetings which, by their orderly organization
and peaceable but intense earnestness, were immeasurably more
effectual as demonstrations than any display of unreasoning-
violence. Such was the great Midland meeting at Birmingham,
at which there were present 150,000 men, with 200 bands of
music and 700 flags. Assembled at the foot or on the lowrer
slope of Newhall Hill, this vast multitude was hushed to silence
as they heard a trumpet blown — a signal that they were to unite
in singing:
Lo! we answer! see we come.
Quick at freedom's holy call,
We come ! we come ! we come ! we come !
To do the glorious work of all:
And hark! we raise from sea to sea
The sacred watchword, Liberty!
God is our guide! from field, from wave.
From plough, from anvil, and from loom.
We come our country's rights to save,
And speak a tyrant faction's doom.
And hark ! we raise from sea to sea
The sacred watchword, Liberty !
God is our guide ! no swords we draw.
We kindle not war's battle-fires;
But union, justice, reason, law
We claim, the birthright of our sires;
We raise the watchword, Liberty !
We will, we will, we will be free !
We have scarcely improved upon this kind of national song
152 QUEEN VICTORIA.
or hymn in later times. Without committing ourselves to
political opinions, we may acknowledge that it is more real, more
earnest and impressive than most of the "patriotic" productions
of the present day, whether they invoke Juggernaut or Jingo.
But these men were seriously and reasonably in earnest; they
knew what they wanted; they wanted nothing that was subversive
of law and order.
That they thought the aspect of affairs was serious — serious
for political and civil liberty — may be gathered from the fact
that after singing the " national hymn" the multitude, with
uncovered heads, followed a fugleman in reciting a vow or
declaration: — "With unbroken faith, through every peril and
privation, we here devote ourselves and our children to our
country's cause." There could, perhaps, be no better proof of
the sober reasonableness of their intentions than the fact that
a fortnight afterwards, when there was a promise of the crisis
being over and a belief that the ministry would carry the bill,
these 150,000 men again met on Newhall Hill and united in
solemn thanksgiving
A very great deal had happened in that fortnight. The
ministry saw that there was but one course for them beside
resignation, and they were pledged to the country not to resign
while there was any other course open. It was evident either
that the King must create as many new peers as would suffice
to make a majority for the bill, or the Lords must give way.
During nine days when there was no ministry there was little
business done. Crowds and knots of persons were every-
where discussing the situation; the King's head, wherever it
appeared on a signboard, was covered with crape, and that ol
the poor Queen, who was suspected of high Tory principles, was
smeared with lampblack. The National Union petitioned the
THE NEW ERA. 15
House of Commons to refuse supplies and to put the exchequer
in commission. O'Connell, who was an ardent reformer, and
went for manhood suffrage and vote by ballot as well as for the
repeal of the Union, was addressing vast assemblies in London;
so also were Sir De Lacy Evans and Mr. Hume. There was
a general cry to " stop the duke," and to run on the bank for
gold. Members taking up petitions for stopping supplies were
charged to say that no more taxes would be paid until the bill
had passed. It was reported that the Unionists were preparing
to march on London. The country was turning against the
King himself. He was hooted, and the newspapers contained
insulting references to him; dirt was flung at his carriage, and
the guards had to ride close for his protection. There was
nothing for it but to recall the ministry
The result of their return was the abandonment of the
King's objections to increase the peerage, but there was no
need to put the prerogative in force. The peers gave way,
many of the opponents of the bill remaining absent from the
house, and after some amendments, which were agreed to by
the Commons, the great measure was adopted. The King
would not give his assent to the bill in person, but on the 7th
of June (1832) it received the royal assent by commission, and
a new political era had begun.
Events moved apace, and in 1834, after a period of
enthusiastic public meetings and great debating in Parliament,
slavery was abolished in all the British dominions, and the
enormous sum of ^20,000,000 was paid to the West India
planters as compensation. Great advances had already been
made in other directions, and the years 18 30- 18 34 were a
period of great ecclesiastical and religious as well as philan-
thropic activity. In 1831 the "Congregational Union of
Vol. I. 20
J54
Q UEEN 1 1C TORL- 1 .
England and Wales" was founded, Dissenters were actively
and vigorously forming various societies for missionary and
educational effort, and "Exeter Hall" became a power. In
1834 the Wesleyan Methodist association was founded, and in
1833, while the Whigs had abolished ten bishoprics of the
Established Church, what was known as the Tractarian move-
ment began to show signs of organization at Oxford. The
repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts had not removed all
disabilities from Nonconformists, and the grotesque but not
absurd declarations of Sydney Smith, the witty canon, in his
Plymley Letters, were even yet not out of date. " When a
country squire hears of an ape his first feeling is to give it nuts
and apples; when he hears of a dissenter his immediate impulse
is to commit it to the county jail, to shave its head, to alter
its customary food, and to have it privately whipped." The
country was getting beyond this, and civil and religious freedom
went hand in hand with political and social reform, while earnest
endeavours were also made to establish schools and advance
education, though no truly national system was yet within
measurable distance.
The clouds that had obscured the horizon wrere breaking —
were, in fact, opening wide and disappearing before a light that
was increasing in brilliancy and benign power, and the whole
national atmosphere was stirring with a freer and purer air.
This may be said of the physical atmosphere also. In the
autumn of 1831, the storm and tumult of political strife was
followed by the threatened subversion of law and order by
those who incited to riot and rapine, and " the arrow that flieth
by day " took greater terrors because the " pestilence that
walketh in darkness," the cholera, was here.
At the time that the infuriated mob was assailing Apsley
THE PRINCESS VICTORIA AND PUBLIC EVENTS. 155
House, and all London was in a ferment of heat, strife, and
anger, the disease, against which the doctors seemed to strive in
vain, was causing a terrible rise in the death-rate. There was
scarcely a neighbourhood in which some of the poorer inhabitants
were not stricken, and patients were borne along the streets
to the hospitals in covered stretchers, on the approach of which
the knots of people, gathered to discuss the news or to declaim
about the Reform Bill and the duke, would hurry out of the
way, many of them sniffing at camphor or holding handkerchiefs
to their faces.
But even the cholera brought its lessons.- Not only was
there a decidedly perceptible increase in the attendance at
churches and chapels, and a greater seriousness in relation to
religious observances, but investigations and some practical
improvements were made for the purpose of promoting better
sanitary measures in streets and houses. Parts of London
and other large towns continued to be undrained or badly
drained, and the cesspool was not abolished for many years
afterwards, but the subject of public health was receiving more
attention.
These more prominent events of the time at which the
Princess Victoria became the recognized heir to the throne
demand to be briefly noted, that we may intelligently follow
the course of the narrative of a life that had then become dearer
to and more closely identified with the national interests and the
national progress. Though, of course, neither the Duchess of
Kent nor her young daughter could take any conspicuous part
in public events, and there were obvious reasons for preserving
that unostentatious manner of living which guarded them from
an appearance of challenging public attention, the princess
was, as we have seen, sufficiently "in evidence" to mark her
I r 6 Q UEEN 1 1CT0RL I .
new relationship to the court, though by no means sufficiently to
satisfy the King.
We may note also that the birthday ball and the drawing-
room were held at the time when a tremendous political
conflict was going on in London, and the whole country was
stirred with the question of the action of the Lords in relation
to the Reform Bill. The princess must surely have witnessed
symptoms of the general excitement; and, without doubt, the
surging of the wave of popular commotion was heard at
Kensington Palace, even if a dash of the spray was not felt in
a place where a good deal of company was now occasionally
seen, and which the Duke of Sussex had in some sense identi-
fied with "advanced" liberal opinions.
But when the Reform Bill had passed, and the King and
Queen had retired to Windsor, the young princess with her
mother went on that pleasant tour through some of the most
attractive districts of England and Wales which has been
already mentioned, — an excursion which included visits to the
mansions of many English noblemen, to those stately houses
where the youthful princess was a welcome and a most distin-
guished guest.
It would be easy to fill the page with suggestions of the
vivid sentiments and pleasant imaginings which were probably
awakened by historical scenes and buildings, by ancient mansion
and cathedral, by quaint and picturesque towns, by mouldering
ruins, by busy scenes of industry, and sequestered woods and
vales, where the very stones and trees had long been themes
of song and story, or landmarks of the by-ways of historic lore.
It would be easier still to follow the journey of the princess, and
repeat the legend or the chronicle with which each place is
associated; but it was neither a guide-book excursion nor a royal
A ROUND OF VISITS.
157
progress. The effect of such a tour on the quick and inquirino-
intelligence of the princess was doubtless emphasized by the
reception that she met with, by some public signs of welcome,
by ceremonies such as the opening of a bridge or a building,
and by addresses presented to the Duchess of Kent; but it
will be sufficient to indicate these without oivina- them a
prominent place in the narrative.
The journey was first to North Wales, and there the princess
enjoyed her first experience of mountain scenery, remaining for
some time amidst the most charming localities of the country
before proceeding through Coventry and Shrewsbury, and
visiting Powis Castle, Wynnstay, and Beaumaris, where her
royal highness was present at the national musical and bardic
contest — the Eisteddfod — and presented the prizes to the suc-
cessful competitors. At Anglesey the royal visitor and her
mother were the guests of General the Marquis of Anglesey
(Henry William Paget), who had led the final charge against
the French guards at Waterloo, and had received a wound in
the knee which cost him his leg. From his mansion at Plas
Newydd the distinguished party went to spend a day at Eaton
Hall, the seat of the Marquis of Westminster, and thence to
Oakley Park, near Ludlow, the home of the Clive family, near
relatives of the Duchess of Northumberland, the governess of
the princess. Returning by Chester they stayed for two or
three days at the quaint, picturesque old city, a place full of
interest, where they were received by the bishop on their visit
to the cathedral. In her reply to an address presented by his
grace, the Duchess of Kent said : " I cannot better allude to your
good feelings towards the princess than by joining fervently
in the wish that she may set an example in her conduct of that
piety towards God, and charity towards men, which is the only
[ e 8 Q UEEN VICTOR!. I .
sure foundation either of individual happiness or national pros-
perity." The princess named a new bridge which was opened
at Chester during- her stay, but it was called the "Grosvenor "
bridge, the duchess cautiously refraining from giving permission
for it to be named the "Victoria."
A short stay was made at Chatsworth, the superb residence
of the Cavendishes, Alton Abbey, the seat of Lord Shrews-
bur)-, Hardwick Hall, Shugborough, the seat of the Earl of
Lichfield, and the old city of Lichfield, with its fine cathedral
where "The Sleeping Children," Chantrey's beautiful sculpture,
delighted the princess, to whom, even while she was herself an
infant, babies and little children had always been so great an
attraction.
From Chatsworth a visit had been paid to Belper in Derby-
shire, to the famous cotton mills of the Messrs. Strutt, and
there Mr. James Strutt had explained to the princess by means
of a model the various processes of cotton spinning. In this
the young visitor took most intelligent interest, and it is not
too much to say that the opportunity afforded by the journey,
and those provincial tours which succeeded it, to make acquain-
tance with great industrial enterprises, and the occupations of
mechanics and operatives, was the beginning of a new bond
of interest between the future sovereign and the people, which
afterwards enabled her to mix with more complete freedom
and mutual good understanding with her subjects, and to take
keen personal concern in the progress of those inventions and
manufactures upon which the vast commercial prosperity of the
country so much depends. Her royal highness was greatly
pleased with the enthusiastic reception given her by the work-
people at Belper, and they were equally delighted, for this was
the first royal visit ever paid to a cotton mill. It may be men-
THE PRINCESS AT OXFORD.
J59
tioned here that in 1856 the son of Mr. James Strutt received
the dignity of a peerage with the title of Baron Belper.
It is recorded that the nailers and iron-workers of Broms-
grove were also visited while the princess was in Worcestershire,
and that she was specially delighted with a present made to her
by the workmen of a thousand minute examples of nails of
various patterns inclosed in a quill contained in a small gold
box.
Of course there were addresses, receptions, and various cere-
monial signs of welcome, to all of which the duchess replied on
behalf of the princess. There was a rare round of visits : the
Earl of Plymouth, and the Earl of Liverpool, a good friend of
the Duchess of Kent, from whose abode at Pitchford Hall they
went to quaint old historical Shrewsbury, both received the
welcome guests, who reached Woodstock on the 7th of Novem-
ber, and stayed till next day at Wytham with the Earl of
Abingdon. On the following day they went over to Oxford,
their entrance to the great university city being attended by an
escort of yeomanry. The celebrities of the university, the pro-
fessors, dons, and doctors, assembled in the Sheldonian Theatre
to receive the princess with hearty enthusiasm, and there the
vice-chancellor presented an address, to which in her reply the
Duchess of Kent said: "We close a most interesting journey
by a visit to this university that the princess may see, as far as
her years will allow, all that is interesting in it. The history of
our country has taught her to know its importance by the many
distinguished persons who, by their character and talents, have
been raised to eminence by the education they have received in it.
Your loyalty to the King, and recollection of the favour you
have enjoyed under the paternal sway of his house, could not
fail, I was sure, to lead you to receive his niece with all the
l6o QUEEN VICTORIA.
disposition you evince to make this visit agreeable and instruc-
tive to her. It is my object to ensure by all means in my power
her being so educated as to meet the just expectation of all
classes in this great and free country."
The present of a magnificent Bible from the university press,
and an account of her visit printed on white satin, added to the
pleasure she had experienced in seeing the beautiful halls and
colleges, the churches, and the treasures of the Bodleian and
Radclyffe libraries. It was a fitting termination to a remarkable
and instructive tour. On the 9th of November the faces of
the travellers were set homewards, and they once more reached
Kensington — after a journey which, we should remember, was
made by road, for there were yet no railways, no special trains
and royal saloon carriages.
The excursions in the following autumn (1^33) were confined
to places on the south coast, which were visited while the house-
hold were occupying Norris Castle, in the Isle of Wight. They
even went as far as Plymouth and Torquay, where the princess
evinced an unmistakable liking for the sea and an interest in
everything relating to maritime affairs. At Norris Castle the
old simple mode of life was renewed, and long walks, drives,
and visits to the scenery of the island were among the pleasures
that were most enjoyed; but trips were frequently made by
sea in the yacht Emerald, which was retained for the princess.
The Duchess of Kent was, as she said in reply to addresses at
Plymouth and elsewhere, anxious that her daughter should
visit the various places that wrere associated with the marine
importance of the country; and it should be noticed that, in
order to carry out this part of the education of the princess, as
well as to give her what soon became a great pleasure, that ol
making sailing excursions to some distance, the careful mother
SEAFARING— A NARROW ESCAPE. l6l
had to exercise much self-denial, for she was by no means " a
good sailor," and frequently had to suffer great inconvenience
and discomfort that she might accompany the princess in these
voyages.
It was while returning from the Eddystone on board the
Emerald that an accident placed the princess in very serious
danger, from which she was rescued by the presence of mind of
the pilot, Mr. Saunders. It was rather brisk weather, and the
princess was on deck when a mast was sprung and heard to
crack. The pilot saw that the topmast was likely to come down
near the spot where her royal highness was standing, and, as
there was no time for ceremony, darted to the spot and carried
her aft out of harm's way. The next moment the top-mast
fell crashing on the deck at the spot from which she had been
removed, and where she would in all probability have been
killed but for the presence of mind of Mr. Saunders, to whom
the princess with much emotion expressed her gratitude for his
prompt and timely action. It need scarcely be added that the
pilot and his family were not lost sight of after the accession of
the princess to the throne.
There were many memorable visits paid to places of interest
to which the voyage could be made on board the Emerald, but,
perhaps the most important event of the pleasant holiday was
the opening of the new landing pier at Southampton, a ceremony
which the Duchess of Kent and the princess graced by their
presence. The royal yacht, having been towed from Cowes to
Southampton Water by a steam-tug, was met by a deputation from
the corporation of the town, who came in a state barge, on board
which one of the town Serjeants attended bearing a silver oar.
The deputation presented an address, to which the duchess replied
that she wished her daughter to become attached at an early age
Vol. I. 21
162 QUEEN VICTORIA.
to works of utility. The distinguished visitors entered the barge
and were rowed ashore, where they were entertained at luncheon,
and the pier having been declared open was, by permission,
named the Royal pier.
It was while on their journey to Weymouth, the quiet and
highly decorous watering-place where the Duke of Kent had
stayed with George the Third, who made it his favourite seaside
resort, that the duchess and her daughter stopped at Portsmouth
to pay a visit to the young Queen Donna Maria da Gloria of
Portugal, of whom mention has already been made. This
youthful sovereign received much kindly and courteous attention
from the English royal family, and in the Greville Memoirs we
are told of a ball given by the King, who led the juvenile Queen
of Portugal by the hand. She was magnificently attired, her dress
and appearance offering a remarkable contrast to the simplicity of
costume and the fresh, fair, sensible face of the Princess Victoria.
The royal guest maintained most notable dignity of mien,
though during the progress of the ball she accidentally fell and
was somewhat hurt. We have already seen that Donna Maria
became related by marriage to the Queen, and it may be men-
tioned here, before her disappearance from the narrative, that
she was grand-niece to Amelie, Queen of Louis Philippe, King
of the French. Amelie was the daughter of the King of Naples
and Sicily, and married Louis Philippe (then Duke of Orleans)
while he was at Palermo, where her father and his family were
living under British protection. It was said that Louis Philippe
had been intriguing to make a match between one of his sons
and the young Queen Donna Maria when his intentions were
frustrated by her marrying Prince Ferdinand of Coburg.
The next two years passed quietly enough, though some of
the best society in England was occasionally entertained by the
SOCIETY AT KENSINGTON PALACE. 16^
Duchess of Kent at Kensington Palace. Sir Walter Scott, alas!
would no more record a visit there, for the " Wizard of the
North," who had enchanted a nation with his wondrous genius,
had died at Abbotsford in 1S32 — died of a last vast effort to
conquer the adversity of debt and difficulty which had overtaken
him in his later years. We hear, however, of Lord Campbell
dining at Kensington Palace in 1833, when the invited guests
found the Princess Victoria in the drawing-room on their arrival
and again on their return thither after dinner. This was not
always the case, especially in the two succeeding years; but the
mention cf it shows with what care the childhood of the princess
was preserved till she had reached an age when she could
more properly participate in all the social pleasures that belong
to a refined and intelligent circle. The duchess could not, of
course, permit her young daughter to visit much at houses
where "society" was always making itself conspicuous. The
assemblies at Holland House and other places, which were
attractive centres of famous people, would not have been suitable
associations for the princess, even had she been two or three
years older; but now that she was, by her knowledge, her
studious disposition, and her marked intelligence, able to ap-
preciate the company of those who were distinguished in science,
art, or literature, or were known for their philanthropy and other
marked qualities, there were frequent gatherings not only of
those who held high rank or place in the state but of the
aristocracy of culture. We hear of a visit of Southey, who
appears to have called expressly to see the princess, and found
not only that she was acquainted with his works, but that she
could pay him a graceful and artless compliment by saying how
she had read his life of Nelson half a dozen times over. We
hear, too, of authors, artists, and a number of other people by
164 QUEEN VICTORIA.
whom the English " May-flower," now in sweetest bloom, was
looked upon with loving, reverent, but not unfamiliar exes. It
is not to be supposed that no visits were ever paid other than
those of ceremony, or when the duchess and the Princess
Victoria were the guests at great mansions and historical houses,
where the noble hosts welcomed them during1 their autumn
journeys; but the visiting in London was necessarily restricted,
and though the poet Moore speaks of being invited to meet
these distinguished guests at the house of a private friend, the
circle so honoured was necessarily select. But the Princess
Victoria now began to appear more in public, at musical
performances and picture-galleries, and Leslie, the Academician,
recording her visit to the Royal Academy, says that she had all
the charms of youth, health, and high spirits, adding she could
have seen little of the exhibition as she was herself, from the
moment of entering the room, the sole object of attraction, as
there were so many people among the nobility present whom
she knew, and everyone of whom had something to say to
her. It is also recorded, as incidental to the visit, that she shook
hands and chatted with Mr. Rogers, the banker and poet, and
also that Mr. Charles Kemble, the famous actor, was presented
to her.
In July, 1S34, the princess, then fifteen years old, was
confirmed by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Howley) in the
Chapel Royal, St. James's. The rite of confirmation, for which
she had been prepared according to the instructions ordained
by the English Church, is understood to mark the personal
acceptance of those spiritual obligations which at the time ol
baptism are represented by the promises of the sponsors who
devote the infant to the service of the Most High in the
Christian faith and life; and there is reason to believe that the
PRACTICAL BENEVOLENCE. 1 65
infinitely serious meaning and the solemn responsibility of this
obligation were deeply realized. The King and Queen were
present with the Duchess of Kent, attended by some other mem-
bers of the royal family; and when, after the confirmation, the
archbishop tenderly but very earnestly addressed the princess,
exhorting her to consider the great duties which her high
position would require her to fulfil, and entreating her in every
trial and difficulty to seek strength and guidance of Him who,
being the King of Kings, can alone give to his children and
subjects help in their utmost need, she was so deeply affected
that every one present was moved to tears.
The current of the young life going peacefully on gives
little to record during that year; but there are suggestions of
kindly and benevolent deeds, indications that the perception of
personal responsibility took a practical form. One anecdote,
which seems, possibly because of some touching associations,
to have been more distinctly repeated, records that at Tunbridge
Wells, whither the Duchess of Kent and the princess went for
the autumn, the husband of an actress who was engaged at the
small theatre there had died, leaving the poor woman, who was
soon to become a mother, in great want and distress. The
princess on hearing of the sad case at once took ten pounds from
her own allowance of pocket-money, and, after persuading the
Duchess of Kent to contribute the same amount, carried the
money to the poor widow, with whom she conversed for some time.
It is not easy to imagine what was the gratitude of the sufferer,
who seems, however, to have been a person both worthy of this
timely and gracious help and capable of interesting her distin-
guished visitor, for we are told that further aid was given, and that
on the accession of the princess to the throne an annuity of £\o a
year was conferred on the woman for the remainder of her life.
1 66 QUEEN VICTORIA.
It may be worth while to pause here for a moment to
remember that among the numerous anecdotes and professed
reminiscences relating to the Princess Victoria, as well before as
after she became Queen, there are many which are not authentic.
man)- that have no foundation in fact, and that at a comparatively
recent date her Majesty has permitted a statement of a
pretended incident in her early life to be contradicted. That
none of those statements, which have about them even a remote
air of probability, are in the least derogatory to the child who,
as a princess, won the hearts of the people, who saw her so
frequently, or to the Queen who has carried on that conquest in
the stories of our lives from year to year, is in itself a marvellous
testimony to her worth. It is obvious that authentic anecdotes
such as those which we have been able to record as illustrations
of the private or domestic life and the characteristic disposition
of the Princess Victoria, could only be multiplied by a breach
of confidence on the part of those who have been privileged to
witness acts of personal beneficence or domestic incidents, which,
however admirable, should be reserved from the public eye
unless they are made known with the sanction of the august
person who is directly interested.
The life of our sovereign Lady has been plain and clear to
the respectful onlooking of her people. She herself has made it
so, and has depicted its domestic no less than its regal conditions
in words so simple and unaffected that even children can under-
stand and appreciate them. The Queen has left little opportunity
for the inventions or the pretended disclosures of prying gossip-
mongers, either in or out of print, whose province it seems to
be, at once to stimulate and profess to satisfy a mean curiosity
which disregards the reticence that belongs to common courtesy.
The visits of the Princess Victoria to the theatre or places of
THE PRINCESS AT ASCOT. 1 67
public amusement had not been numerous even at the time of
her accession to the throne, though her delight in music had
been gratified by her comparatively frequent presence at
concerts and at the opera-house. Till 1835 she had not
appeared in public in state as a member of the royal family
and heir to the throne, except when she accompanied the
King and Queen to the musical festival at Westminster Abbey
in the previous year. In June, 1835, however, in presence of a
brilliant assembly, and of a multitude who lined the race-course
at Ascot on the gold-cup day, the royal cortege arrived preceded
by the Life Guards. The Princess Victoria, her fresh, fair
young face beaming with pleasure at the spectacle presented by
the enthusiastic crowd and the aspect of the grand-stand, was
recognized, and shared with the King and Queen the continuous
and hearty applause, though she appeared to be more delighted
with the welcome accorded to the King than with any direct
manifestations of loyalty to herself. A description of her
appearance on the occasion tells us that her hair was braided
in " Clotilde " bands under a large bonnet of pink or pale-rose
colour, and that over a rose-coloured satin dress " brocJic" she
wore a "pelerine" trimmed with black lace.
The mention of these particulars carries us back to a time
which only the elderly reader can remember: the time of large
widely-spreading bonnets, of short waists and rather short skirts
just reaching the ankles, of sandal shoes, and pelerines. Yet,
who can tell! The wave of fashion may set that way again ere
long; indeed it is a matter of surprise that the jubilee year has
not witnessed a " revival " in this direction.
It happened that in the summer of 1835 Nathaniel Parker
Willis, an American author and journalist of some reputation,
was in England, and having introductions to various fashionable
1 68 QUEEN VICTORIA.
circles, made a good deal of literary capital out of his observa-
tions by describing, without much delicacy of reticence, people
he had met, and repeating their remarks and conversations. He
was at Ascot on the occasion of the royal visit, and subsequently
included this among his rather random and personal pencilling^:
" In one of the intervals I walked under the King's stand and
saw her Majesty the Queen and the young Princess Victoria
very distinctly- They were leaning over the railing" listening to
a ballad singer, and seeming as much interested and amused as
any simple country folk could be. The Queen is undoubtedly
the plainest woman in her dominions, but the princess is much
better looking than any picture of her in the shops, and for the
heir to such a crown as that of England unnecessarily pretty and
interesting. She will be sold, poor thing! bartered away by those
<zreat dealers in royal hearts, whose grand calculations will not be
much consolation to her if she happens to have a taste of her own."
The rawness of these remarks seems peculiar to-day when
wre remember that in America Mr. Willis was regarded as a
highly cultured writer, and had gained much distinction as a
poet, or, at all events, as a writer of verses of sentiment; but the
assumption of the critic and the moralist is immensely amusing.
It is not on record that Mr. Willis was ever presented to the
Princess Victoria, who, soon after the Ascot meeting, accom-
panied her mother on a journey northward as far as York,
where they visited the Archbishop at Bishopsthorpe, and were
greatly interested in the noble minster when they attended the
York musical festival, at which the fine oratorio the Messiah was
performed. It may not be inappropriate to quote the following
lines which appeared in Blackwood' s Magazine, addressed " To
the Princess Victoria on seeing her in York Cathedral during
the performance of the Messiah." —
THE DINNER AT BURGH LEV. 169
" Sweet princess ! as I gaze upon thee now,
In the bright sunshine of thy youthful grace.
And in thy soft, blue eyes, and tranquil brow,
Would seek resemblance to thy lofty race,
I think how soon the whelming cares of state
May crush thy free, young spirit with their weight,
And change the guileless beauty of thy face ;
Nor leave of that sweet, happy smile one trace:
Then earnestly I pray that thou mayst be
Through all thy life beloved, good and great;
And when from thy calm home, by Heaven's decree,
Thou art called to rule a mighty nation's fate,
Mayst thou throughout thy reign be just and wise,
And win at last a crown immortal in the skies."
On the homeward journey visits were made to the Earl of
Harewood at Harewood House; to \Yentwrorth, near Rotherham,
where the duchess and the Princess Victoria were the euests of
Earl Fitzwilliam; and to the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir, whence
they went to stay with the Marquis of Exeter at Burghley
House. " They arrived from Belvoir at three o'clock in a heavy
rain," says Greville, the chronicler whose rather acrid and cynical
humour has made his memoirs famous, and ogives them something
of the flavour of court scandal, which he occasionally reproduces —
" they arrived from Belvoir at three o'clock in a heavy rain, the
civic authorities having turned out at Stamford to escort them,
and a procession of different people, all very loyal. When they
had lunched, and the mayor and his brethren had got dry, the
duchess received the address, which was read by Lord Exeter
as recorder. It talked of the princess as 'destined to mount the
throne of these realms.' Conroy handed the answer just as the
prime-minister does to the King. They are splendidly lodged,
and great preparations have been made for their reception.
1 he dinner at Burghley was very handsome; hall well lit; and
Vol. I. 22
;o QUEEN VICTORIA.
all went off well, except that a pail of ice was landed in the
duchess's lap, which made a great bustle. Three hundred
people at the ball, which was opened by Lord Exeter and the
princess, who, after dancing one dance, went to bed. They
appeared at breakfast next morning at nine o'clock, and at ten
set off for Holkham." Greville of course was present: and on
reading this and other descriptive touches in his memoirs one is
led to wonder whether he and the American tourist Mr. Willis
ever met, and if they did, what they thought of each other.
Among the visits made by the princess, probably one of the
most interesting was that to the Duke of Wellington at Walmer
Castle, near Deal, where, as warden of the Cinque Ports, his
grace mostly resided for a part of each year. The fine bracing
sea air and the outlook over the great roadstead of the "Downs,"
with its ever-changing fleet, suited him well, and though at
sixty-seven years old he maintained the plain habits of living
which, even as the commander in long campaigns, he had acquired,
he could doubtless observe as splendid hospitality at the castle
as he displayed at Apsley House. Personally — that is, for him-
self— the great captain had some disdain for luxuries and even
for superfluities. Few people have been more simple in their
requirements; and it was declared on good authority that, even
at his great house in town, he slept upon a narrow camp bedstead
in a room bare of all but actually indispensable furniture.
He was, however, punctilious, if not somewhat ceremonious,
in observing those distinctions which society expected in a noble
host, and what may be called his rule of manners was well
expressed when, on one occasion, he resented what appeared to
be disrespectful familiarity on the part of a great personage, and
defended his anger by saying, "No man has any right to take
a liberty with me, for I never take a liberty with any man."
THE KING AND QUEEN OF BELGIUM.
171
In fact he was too really great a gentleman to think about
condescension. His manners, though rather formal, were cheer-
ful, and on ordinary occasions were as simple as his tastes; and it
was well known that the children of houses where he visited were
delighted to have the duke for a playmate, for he was neither
formal nor austere with them, but jovially abetted them in their
noisiest romps and even in some of their mischievous pranks.
Doubtless the visit of the Duchess of Kent and the Princess
Victoria was one of some ceremony; but it is certain that "the
duke" must already have been regarded as a faithful friend, and
it is quite certain that he had a loyal and, so to speak, a paternal
affection for the young princess to whom he would one day
devote his allegiance. Already he must have felt that his duty
was to protect her; for he had for some time past had his eagle
eye upon the Duke of Cumberland, whom he neither liked nor
respected, and whose clumsy machinations against the Duchess
of Kent and the Princess Victoria were soon to be brought to
public notice.
The stay at Walmer Castle was brief, but it was likely to be
agreeably associated with a cherished and most pleasant event,
for, during a sojourn at Ramsgate, the Duchess of Kent and
the princess received a visit from the brother and uncle who
had been guardian and counsellor. Prince Leopold was then
firmly established on the throne of Belgium. He had in his
opening address to the Belgian parliament declared that he
would encourage industry, and rule according to the principles
of civil and religious liberty; and this promise he had so well
redeemed that his reign was secure while other sovereigns were
watching, not without dismay, the changes wrought by revolu-
tion. Leopold had now a queen to share his throne. He
would never lose the memory — a sad and abiding, though no
I j 2 QUEEN VICTORIA.
longer a poignant memory — of the wife who had died so soon,
in the first blossom of wedded happiness. With that sorrow
fresh in his heart he had been unable to look upon the face of the
infant Victoria, who, in respect to the succession to the throne,
was to take the place ol his Princess Charlotte; but it was from
no ignoble feeling of jealousy or base repining — only that the
sight of the little babe in his sister's arms roused too keenly the
recollection of that hour of anguish when his own wife and her
babe lay dead at Claremont. In the hour of his sister's affliction,
however, he was at hand, and not only looked upon, but loved
her child, all the more, perhaps, that he saw in her some resem-
blance to her whom he had lost. Whether this was so or not, he
bestowed a genuine affection on the little Victoria, and made her
and her future well-being his especial care. Nor was that care
to cease now that he had found a worthy queen and companion,
the Princess Louise-Marie-Thcrese, eldest daughter of Louis
Philippe, King of the French, and his Queen, the amiable
Amelie. 'Phis princess, like all the daughters of Amelie, was a
charming and most estimable woman. Everybody loved, every-
body spoke well of her. Even Stockmar, who, in his admiration
for his royal master, might have been expected to utter only
undertones of praise, speaks of her as though she were a saint,
and yet his words found true echo in the hearts of those who best
knew Louise, Oueen of the Belgians. In a few memorial words,
written years after he had formed the highest opinion of her char-
acter and also of her clear insight and sound judgment, he said:
" From the moment that the queen entered that circle in which I
lor so many years have had a place, I have revered her as a
pattern of her sex. We say and believe that men can be noble
and good: of her we know with certainty that she was so. We
saw in her daily a truthfulness, a faithful fulfilment of duty, which
THE KING OUT OF TEMPER. I 73
makes us believe in the possible, though but seldom evident,
nobleness of the human heart. In characters such as the
queen's I see a guarantee of the perfection of the Being who
has created human nature."
The Queen Louise accompanied her husband on that visit
to Ramsgate, where she met the young princess, to whom she
became a beloved and intimate friend, thenceforth to be held in
closest regard.
The year 1836 was an important and an eventful one for the
Princess Victoria, who then had attained the seventeenth year
of her age. Until September the Duchess of Kent had
remained at Kensington, where much company had been
entertained and special visitors had been received. There had
also been assemblies, state dinners, and state concerts, and the
months from the birthday of the princess in May to late in August
had been rather full of excitement and marked by peculiar
interest.
The incidents were not all agreeable, however, and even
some of the more important occurrences were calculated to be
hostile to the peace of the princess. The King appears to
have been under some jarring influence which increased the
asperity of temper that he had on more than one occasion
displayed towards the Duchess of Kent, whose determination
to maintain the entire direction of her daughter's training and
education seems to have aroused his resentment. The King,
who was certainly liable to get into a passion, and when in
it to use expressions which were neither dignified nor polite,
had apparently been jealous of the independent position taken
by the Duchess of Kent, and had not hesitated to say in as
many words that he expected and desired to see the princess
more frequently at Buckingham Palace or at Windsor. That he
IJ4 QUEEN VICTORIA.
would have liked to have been more frequently consulted, and to
have had a great deal more control over the appointment of her
surrounding's and the bestowal of her engagements, was obvious
enough; and during the early part of this year the part taken by
Prince Leopold as well as by the Duchess of Kent in directing
her probable destinies had, perhaps, been more conspicuous.
At anyrate, though his Majesty showed much kindness to his
niece, and spoke both to her and of her in a manner that was
affectionate, he was evidently much disturbed in temper: at first
in somewhat of a sulky humour, that afterwards worked up to
one of those rages in which he was sometimes known to "speak
his mind," or what he thought was his mind, in a very disturbed
and unceremonious manner.
Most of the court and other festivities were drawing to a
close when, on the King's birthday, the 21st of August, the
Duchess of Kent and the princess were at Windsor Castle
on a visit, and there was a private dinner, at which, however,
about a hundred persons were present. The Duchess of
Kent sat on one side the King and the Princess Augusta on
the other, and his majesty, having proposed, and joined in
drinking, the health of his sister, said, "And now, having
given the health of the oldest, I will give that of the youngest
member of the royal family. I know the interest, which the
public feel about her, and although I have not seen so much
of her as I could have wished I take no less interest in her,
and the more I do see of her, both in public and in private,
the greater 'pleasure it will give me." This is what the King
was afterwards reported to have said; but we have been told in
memoirs more recently published that he said more; that in
answering to the drinking of his own health he referred in direct
and angry terms to the seclusion of the princess from court,
A DANGEROUS INTRIGUANTE.
!/5
and to what he considered to be disrespect or insult on the part
of the Duchess of Kent. Of the duchess he spoke with so much
asperity and evidently uncontrolled temper that the Queen was
much distressed, the princess in tears, and the whole company
somewhat horrified; while the lady herself, too indignant or
too prudent to make any reply to such an attack, rose to leave
the table and asked for her carriage; but, on some kind of
explanation or concession being made, was induced to remain
till next day. It is not out of place to refer to this, even if it be
only a piece of court scandal, for it indicates what was certainly
the condition of temper exhibited by the King, and it is possible
also that there may have been the same sinister influence at
work as that which in that very year was exposed in Parliament
— the influence of the Duke of Cumberland, who, though he
was not likely to succeed in setting the King against the
Princess Victoria, might without much difficulty arouse his
existing jealousy of the duchess of Kent and excite his sus-
picions with regard to the regency which she was to exercise in
case of the death of the King before the princess came of age.
The report of this unseemly speech of the King and of his
marked attack on the duchess wTas, however, only taken from
hearsay: said to be from a repetition of what took place by
Adolphus Fitzclarence. This piece of scandal, however, appears
to have been made known at second hand by the Princess
Lieven, the wife of the Russian ambassador, a dangerous,
and apparently a malicious intriguante, who, it is known, was
plotting with Cumberland in political matters at an earlier date,
and of whom it is perhaps only necessary to give Stockmar's
word-portrait to indicate her character. " A disagreeable, stiff,
proud, and haughty manner. It is true she is full of talent, plays
the pianoforte admirably, speaks English, French, and German
[76 QUEEN VICTORIA.
perfectly; but then, she is well aware of it. Her face is certainly
handsome, though too thin, and the pointed nose as well as the
mouth, which can be contracted into various folds, show, even
outwardly, the small inclination she has to consider others as her
equals. Her neck is like a skeleton's."
This personage seems to have had something of the same
kind of spite against the Duchess of Kent which was shown by
the Duke of Cumberland. After the coronation we learn from
Greville's memoirs that she told him (Greville) of an interview
she had had with the duchess, in which the animus with which
she repeats and interprets very natural and simple remarks
suggests at once that she had been biassed by dislike or by some
previous interest which was inimical to the duchess and to the
Queen herself.
It is not difficult to fancy what this influence was by the
light of other events which occurred in 1836. The Duke of
Cumberland was violent and overbearing, and of course, as an
extreme Tory, had been opposed to Catholic emancipation and
other concessions. This would not have mattered so much had
he not been, in spite of his arrogant assumptions of high-minded-
ness and religious principle, a coarse and sometimes almost brutal
man, with ungovernable pride, not many scruples where his own
advantages were concerned, and with an almost fatal knack of
acting in such a way as to alienate those who might have inclined
to be friendly to him. He seemed to care very little who was
unfriendly, and was ready to trample or to gallop over anybody
who stood in his way, and to treat anybody with almost ogreish
insult. It would not be accurate to say that everybody detested
him, for he continued to be on good terms with a few people,
and kept up a correspondence with them, and especially with
one of them (Lord Strangford) for some years after he had left
ATTEMPTS OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND. 1JJ
England; but he was heartily disliked by nearly everybody with
whom he came in contact, and the people of England, for the
most part, held him in positive abhorrence.
It is pretty certain that any personage in such a high position,
if he be disliked, will have accusations brought against him for
which there may be little or no foundation, and it is not necessary
to recount other charges that were made against the Duke of
Cumberland. It is only that of conspiring to set aside the
succession to the crown that need be even briefly referred to
in these pages. That the duke was a Tory of an extreme
type, was of less consequence because of the general break-up
and disappearance of that section of political parties; indeed,
what had been known as the Tory party was seemingly
destroyed; and the tactics of Sir Robert Peel had organized
against the Whig or Liberal government a steady though small
opposition, who assumed the name of " Conservatives." The
weakening of the Whig government by the secession of some
of the cabinet on the Irish Church question, causing the resigna-
tion of Earl Grey in July, 1834, had been followed by the forma-
tion of a feeble ministry by Lord Melbourne, and its dismissal by
the Kin£r in the following- November, when Sir Robert Peel was
sent for from Rome and undertook the government on " Liberal-
Conservative" principles, a declaration which led to his being
distrusted by both parties, and to his defeat and resignation in
April, 1835, when Lord Melbourne returned to office.
The Duke of Cumberland had been so violent at the time
of the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill that the King
(George the Fourth) had been positively afraid of him, and the
Duke of Wellineton had to show that he was not the man to
be frightened by anybody. The headstrong, abusive brother of
the King was so generally suspected and disliked that, though
Vol. I. 23
178 QUEEN VICTORIA.
he was grand-master or president of the Orange lodges, and the
Brunswick lodges which represented Protestant ascendency,
Peel wrote to the Duke of Wellington, " The Duke of Cumber-
land has no sort of influence over public opinion in this country,
or over any party that is worth consideration. I do not believe
that the most violent Brunswickers have the slightest respect for
him or slightest confidence in him." The plan that the Duke of
Cumberland then took was to haunt the sick and dying King
(George the Fourth), and to use every opportunity to malign the
Duke of Wellington and the ministry. Greville calls his conduct
" atrocious — a mixture of narrow-mindedness, selfishness, truck-
ling, blustering, and duplicity, with no object but self — his own
ease and the gratification of his own fancies and prejudices." The
King would have given a good deal to get rid of him, but he
would not go abroad as he was entreated to do. William the
Fourth, however, was not so easily frightened, and, when his
brother began to trouble and worry him, showed that he would
neither be bullied nor cajoled. " The land we live in, and let
those who don't like it leave it," was the significant toast given
by the bluff sailor King at one of his dinners when the Duke of
Cumberland was present.
It was the public distrust of this fierce, unscrupulous "grand-
master" which produced the feeling that the Princess Victoria
would not be safe in case of the Kind's death without the
appointment of a regency, and in 1835 there had been some
disclosures which sufficiently justified the suspicions that had
been entertained. Several of the Liberal members, including
Mr. Sheil, a famous parliamentary orator, and Mr. Hume, had
unearthed a portentous secret, and pressed for an answer to the
question whether it was true that 1S2 addresses from Orange
societies had been presented to the King, and whether answers
THE ORANGE SOCIETIES. I 79
had not been returned to the parties, stating that the addresses
had been most graciously received. The question was evidently
intended to lead up to something else. Sir Robert Peel and
ministers were taken by surprise, and could only say in defence
of returning such answers to Protestant societies alleged to be
illegal, that the illegality of Orange lodges had never been
judicially declared, and that the addresses had been received and
answered only according to usual form. Mr. Sheil moved for
the production of copies of the addresses and of a letter by Lord
Manners when he was Chancellor of Ireland relative to the
illegality of Orange societies, and also for the opinions of the
Irish law officers. This was resisted and finally withdrawn; but
Mr. Hume obtained a committee to investigate the matter of
the Orange lodges and their designs, and the evidence taken was
startling enough, and was regarded as proof of the existence of
a powerful conspiracy of Orange clubs, having for its object to
set aside the Princess Victoria as next in succession.
The chiefs of the Orange movement pretended or professed
to suspect the Duke of Wellington of an intention to seize the
crown, a notion for which they were perhaps indebted to
Napoleon Bonaparte, and they proposed to declare William IV.
to be insane, to set aside the princess as a woman and a minor,
and to place the Duke of Cumberland on the throne. There
could at all events be no doubt that there was in existence an
extensive Orange confederation, and that the duke as grand-
master, and the Bishop of Salisbury as grand-chaplain, with
several Tory peers among the Orange leaders, must have been
aware of it. In England there were 145,000 members, in
Ireland 175,000, and there were branches in nearly every
regiment of the army at home and abroad. Naturally enough
the "dreary duke" and Lord Kenyon, who was implicated
l8o QUEEN VICTORIA.
along with him, denied having any guilty knowledge of the
proceedings, and declared that they did not know of the exis-
tence of Orange clubs in the army. Tin's was so improbable
that the committee could do no other than report that they
could not reconcile the statement with the evidence. Lord
John Russell induced the House to suspend judgment, and this
was to give the duke time to withdraw from the association and
make the best of his shameful situation; but as he took no such
steps, and bullied and protested as usual, he was censured by
vote. Then it came about that in 1S36 the Radicals with a fine
iron)' determined to indict the Duke of Cumberland, the Bishop
of Salisbury, and Lord Kenyon under an act which had become
almost obsolete (the act making the extra-judicial administration
of oaths a criminal offence). The irony was this, that not long
before, numbers of operatives who were members of trades-
unions had been holding meetings, and their example seemed
likely to be followed by some agricultural labourers, who thought
they might unite to secure some improvement of their condition.
This filled land-owners and farmers with alarm, and the question
was asked what could be done to stop such dangerous demon-
strations. The question was answered when six Dorchester
peasants were caught administering unionist oaths to some of
their poor companions, and, under the Extra-judicial Adminis-
tration of Oaths Act, were indicted, found guilty, and sentenced
to seven years transportation. Of course they were ignorant
of the law, and though they were not excused on that account
they knew quite well that they were being punished, not for the
oaths, but for meeting to agitate the questions that most affected
them. There were tremendous demonstrations of the actual
trades-unions; a deputation of 30,000 waited on Lord Melbourne,
who sent word to them that they could not be attended to unless
THE PRINCESS'S SUITORS. 181
they sent in a memorial in a proper manner: consequently the
memorial was sent, and after a time the Dorchester labourers
received a free pardon.
Under the same act against administering illegal oaths the
indictments against the Duke of Cumberland and his con-
federates were drawn; and the prosecution was about to
commence, but the death of an important witness delayed it;
and when the House of Commons again met, Mr. Hume pro-
posed an address to the crown. The duke was then obliged to
do what he had the opportunity of doing at first, and, apparently
without any shame or a feeling of humiliation, he proceeded to
break up the confederation.
There was one very obvious cause of King William's ill-
temper, which had been smouldering ever since he had heard
that the principal birthday guests at Kensington Palace would
be the Duke of Coburg and his two sons, the Princes Ernest
and Albert. Even if the secret had been kept from the princess,
he probably knew that it had always been the desire of King
Leopold, and perhaps of the Duchess of Kent, that the younger
of the two princes should win his way to the affection of the
little " May-flower," of whom the court and family circle at
Coburg wrere ever speaking lovingly, and of whom even the
nurse of the prince used to talk to him as though some twin
destiny had been appointed for him and his little cousin in
England.
The King, however, was altogether opposed to the young
Prince of Coburg becoming a suitor to the Princess Victoria,
and he went so far as to endeavour to prevent the duke's
visit with his two sons to England. William the Fourth
doubtless considered that, as his niece could not be supposed
to have any preference, even if at her early age the subject
I 82 QUEEN VICTORIA.
had been presented to her, he ought to claim precedence in
providing a suitable bridegroom, and he was greatly in favour of
Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, brother of the King of
Holland. He had never mentioned this to the Princess Victoria,
nor does it appear that at that time she had heard any distinct
references to the claims or qualifications of other apparently
eligible suitors; but not unnaturally the King may have thought
that his candidate should have the earliest opportunity.
It says something for the King's good-nature, however, that
he invited the visitors to be present at all the court festivities.
More than this, the Queen has made known that in later years
Queen Adelaide said to her, that if she had told the King
it was her own earnest wish to marry her cousin, and that her
happiness depended on it, he would at once have given up
his opposition to it, as he was very fond of, and always very
kind to his niece. We have it on the Queen's authority that
she certainly would never have married anyone else, though
several other candidates for her hand were seriously thought of.
Among these, it might be supposed, were her cousins in England,
Prince George of Cambridge and Prince George of Cumberland;
but the attitude assumed by the Duke of Cumberland towards
his niece must at all events have prevented any such expecta-
tions on the part of his son, even if the unfortunate, youth had
not passed, by an accident, from partial to almost total blindness.
Duke Ernest of Wurtemberg, in whose favour some interest
was being made, was the brother of Prince Albert's step-mother;
and among later requests for permission to seek the hand of
the Princess Victoria was that on behalf of Prince Adalbert, the
son of Prince William of Prussia.
It was evident to those who had carefully and anxiously
watched the habits and education of Prince Albert, that he
ALBERT,
PRINCE CONSORT.
■ -. i e ■ '
By Permission
from the print &*■< i
Published by H. Graves 5 Co.
Bl ,. n SC
AC*1E & SON. LONDON. GLASSOW, 5, EDINBURGH.
THE BOY-PRINCE. iSl
showed promise of soon becoming eminently suitable for the
position, at once delicate and arduous, of consort to the future
queen of this country. In personal appearance he was singularly
and even strikingly handsome, and, though not so tall and
apparently not so strong as his brother, who was a year older,
bore an expression of higher refinement. This expression,
together with remarkable faculties of observation and reflection,
increased during the completion of his education, which after
that time was principally conducted under the advice of Baron
Stockmar. In accordance with his opinion the princes, who
from infancy had been inseparable, went to Brussels to pursue
their studies partly under the eye of their uncle Leopold,
who would himself be able to instruct them on political and
international questions and the principles of constitutional govern-
ment. From Brussels they went to the university at Bonn,
where they remained from April, 1837, to the end of 1838,
during which period Stockmar, at the earnest request of King
Leopold, came to reside in England as the trusted helper and
adviser of the Princess Victoria.
The young Prince Albert must have been endowed with a
rare mental and moral temperament to have escaped, without
being spoiled, from the open admiration and " petting " which
attended his childhood; but it was not only the remarkable
personal beauty of the fair-haired, blue-eyed infant, nor even
his childlike gentleness combined with unusual vivacity, that
made him a favourite. The same equable good sense which
seemed to preserve him from the deteriorating influence of
admiration, was itself a chief reason for the undeviating affection
and esteem entertained for him by his early friends, companions,
and play-fellows, no less than by those who were his later
associates. Fellow-students and companions on educational
184 QUEEN VICTORIA.
tours or at college — men distinguished in statesmanship, science,
or art, professors, tutors — all were attracted and interested by the
same characteristics, which deepened as infancy passed to boy-
hood and youth to manhood.
" Every grace had been showered by nature on this charming
boy," wrote Herr Florschiitz, the " Rath" or tutor chosen to in-
struct the children while the)- were yet infants (Albert being not
five years old), and who remained with them till they went to
college. " Every eye rested on him with delight, and his look
won the hearts of all." Herr Florschiitz was a man eminently
suited for his position. He loved the boys, and they learned
to love him, and this affection grew with their learning and
the knowledge that he imparted; but he was not too indulgent,
and as they had plenty of play and lived much in the open air,
the good Rath, both then and later, lamented — almost resented
-the time spent in breakfasting with their father in one or
other of the gardens belonging to the palaces, a practice which,
he considered, wasted the whole of the forenoons during the
spring and summer months in the year. Still they made good
progress with their studies, and as both were very precocious
children, and Albert especially so, it may have been as well that
the tutorial instincts were not to have all their own way.
The little Albert, so little that he was glad for Herr
Florschiitz to carry him up stairs, was not " let off" much during
school time.
" I cried at my lesson to-day because I could not find a verb,
and the Rath pinched me to show me what a verb was. And
I cried about it," wrote the little prince in a journal which
he kept in 1825 before he was six years old, and while the
Duke of Coburg was much away from Rosenau, where the
children remained. "I wrote a. letter at home. But because
IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL. 185
I had made so many mistakes in it the Rath tore it up and threw
it into the fire. I cried about it." This was on the 26th of March,
a month after the former entry; but the next day the entry was,
" I finished writing my letter, then I played;" and on the 4th of
April came the pleasant announcement that the duke had
returned. " After dinner we went with dear papa to Ketschen-
dorf. There I drank beer, and ate bread and butter and cheese."
It may be remarked that the consumption of beer or of wine did
not become a habit, for Prince Albert could, or at all events
seldom did, drink little else than water at dinner, and was more
than indifferent to what are called the " pleasures of the table."
This journal, kept with much regularity, was singularly
truthful. It recounted events and recorded faults without
palliation. " I got up well and happy; afterwards I had a fight
with my brother. . . . After dinner we went to the play.
It was ' Wallenstein's Lager,' and they carried out a monk "
This is on April 9th. On the 10th: "I had another fight with
my brother: that was not right." A previous entry records . . .
" I was to recite something, but I did not wish to do so- that
was not right : naughty!"
There is, of course, nothing extraordinary in tnese childish
records, though even to keep a journal at all at so early an age
is unusual; but there are indications of character even here, and
as the entries go on — for it was continued for some years — the
development of the education and disposition of the prince is
apparent, and especially the maintenance of that strict truth-
fulness which is equally observed in his letters to his father, his
grandmothers, and his young friends.
There can be no doubt that the childhood of the princes was
a happy one, and though Albert in infancy was in some respects
not robust and suffered from attacks of croup, their habits were
Vol. I. 24
I 86 QUEEN VICTORIA.
simple, active, and healthy. There was much exercise, much
change in visiting various friends and taking part in sports and
entertainments, and, along with eager and well-ordered stud)-,
a good deal of recreation and numerous playfellows to join in
games of the sturdy Saxon fashion.
The duke appears to have had a very genuine affection for
his sons; but they had, even at the earlier age of which we have
been speaking, lost the care of their mother, the Princess Louise,
daughter by his first wife (a princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin)
of Augustus, last reigning duke but one of Saxe-Gotha-Alten-
burg. She was a beautiful little woman, fair with blue eyes,
and was full of cleverness and talent, but, according to Herr
Florschiitz, she showed too much partiality in the treatment of her
children. " She made no attempt to conceal that Prince Albert
was her favourite child. He was handsome and bore a strong
resemblance to herself. He was, in fact, her pride and glory.
The influence of this partiality upon the minds of the children
might have been most injurious; and to this was added the
unfortunate differences which soon followed, and by which the
peace of the family was disturbed, differences that, gradually
increasing, led to a separation between the duke and duchess
in 1S24, and a divorce in 1826."
The children must, of course, have been affected by this, for
when the duchess finally left Coburg they never saw her again.
The marriage had not been a happy one. Incompatibility of
temper, and views that wTere irreconcilable, appear to have
ended in the necessity for this separation, which, though it must
for some time have been the occasion of wonder and grief to the
two children, did not permanently interfere with their happiness,
nor did they lose a loving and respectful memory of the mother
whom they did not see.
THE RIVAL GRANDMOTHERS. 1 87
The Queen has recorded that the prince (Albert) " never
forgot her, and spoke with much tenderness and sorrow of his
poor mother. . . . One of the first gifts he made to the Queen
was a little pin he had received from her when a little child.
Princess Louise (the prince's fourth daughter, and named after her
grandmother) is said to be like her in face."
The father of the duchess had been loner married a second
time, and her stepmother, the Duchess Dowager of Gotha, appears
to have been a sincere friend to her, to the time of her death,
after a long and painful illness, at St. Wendel in Switzerland in
1 83 1, when she was in her thirty-second year.
It was then that the amiable Duchess, her stepmother,1
wrote to the Duke of Coburg: — "My dear Duke, — This also I
have to endure, that the child whom I watched over with such
love should go before me. May God now allow me to be
reunited to all my loved ones! . . . It is a most bitter
feeling that the dear, dear House of Gotha is now extinct."2
The little princes at the Rosenau were still the objects of
a constant care and solicitude which was next to maternal.
There was a loving competition between the old Dowager
Duchess of Coburg, their paternal grandmother, and the other
maternal step-grandmother at Gotha, who had them always near
her heart, and, as often as she could, would have them to stay
with her as visitors, taking care to make that visit a holiday,
from which they returned improved in health and spirits.
The education of the princes was of the broad general
character best suited to their position. It included history,
geography, mathematics, philosophy, religion, Latin, and the
1 She was the Princess Caroline of Hesse Cassel (born in 176S), daughter of William, Elector
of Hesse, and Wilhelmina of Denmark.
2 See p. 64.
l88 QUEEN VICTORIA.
modern European languages, relieved by the study of music
and drawing, for both of which the prince early showed a marked
inclination. He was also from childhood fond of natural history.
In the autumn of 1833 the duke remarried, the new
duchess being the Princess Mary of Wurtemberg, the daughter
of his sister Princess Antoinette and Duke Alexander of
Wurtemberg. She was a year older than the first wife of the
duke would have been had she lived, and the two lads, who
accompanied their father to the Castle of Thalwitz in Saxony,
there to await the arrival of the princess from Petersburg and
to escort her to Coburg, appear to have afterwards treated her
with genine loyalty, and the letters written to her by Prince
Albert during his travels are expressive of confidence and
affection.
Up to the year 1835, with the exception of a short visit to
their uncle, King Leopold, at Brussels, in 1832, the princes had
not left home. In that year, after their confirmation in the
Protestant faith in the chapel of the palace at Coburg, they went
to Mecklenburg to congratulate the Grand-duke of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin, their great-grandfather by the mother's side, on the
fiftieth anniversary of his accession, and, after a few days spent
there, they travelled on to Berlin. At both places they were
well received, and produced a most favourable impression. "It
requires, however," writes the prince from Berlin (9th May, 1835),
to his stepmother, the Duchess of Coburg, " a giant's strength to
bear all the fatigue we have had to undergo. Visits, parades,
rides, dejeuners, dinners, suppers, balls, and concerts follow each
other in rapid succession, and we have not been allowed to
miss anyone of the festivities." From Berlin the princes went
to Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Pesth, and Ofen, returning towards
the end of May to Coburg to resume their studies, with which
SWEET SEVENTEEN. 189
Prince Albert, at all events, was well pleased. Their simple
habits of early rising, plain living, open-air exercise, daily
lessons, and regular amusements made him indifferent to
fashionable assemblies and conventional "gaieties," which bored
and fatigued him, and he had an invincible tendency to fall
asleep when the hour grew late. This feeling of drowsiness
was constitutional; his tutor had known him when quite a child
to slumber so profoundly as to fall off his chair, and, unhurt, to
remain still asleep upon the floor; and he was frequently
compelled after a long day, if engaged at a late hour in any
festive gathering, to steal away to some recess or bay of a
window, and there have, at least, a few minutes' repose. The
tendency never left him, but he never suffered it to interfere with
the duties of courtesy, and, however fatigued, would stand or
move about for a whole evening watchful for the comfort and
enjoyment of others.
For some time before the seventeenth birthday of the Princess
Victoria, in May, 1836, rumours of proposed matrimonial
alliances for her may have reached the ears of the King of the
Belgians. In the following year she would attain her majority,
and her accession to the throne could not be far distant, he
therefore seriously considered how a meeting of the prince and
princess might best be proposed, with a view to awakening a
spontaneous but undeclared interest, the first half-conscious and
yet unembarrassed advances of mutual admiration and regard.
If these lines were part of a novel, and that part of it over which
we might linger with a touch of fancy, subtle and delicate, some-
thing might be said of tender thoughts, unexpressed questions,
gentle resolves, wistful hopes or fears that had vibrated at inter-
vals in two young hearts— the heart of the princely youth in the
old palace of the Rosenau, amidst the beautiful peaceful scenery
IQO QUEEN VICTORIA.
of the Thurincrerwald; — the heart of the maiden, in the rather
dowdy old palace at Kensington or the more delightful seclusion
of Claremont. Messages and tokens of cousinly good-will had
passed during these years of childhood. Something of the
semblance of each was probably known to the other so far as
portraits went, though the sun had not then risen upon photo-
graphs. One might almost take a simile from photography
itself, and say that in these young souls the sensitive plates were
all this time being prepared, and that they needed for their
development only the illumination of the eyes that would look
love to eyes that looked again.
Thus far we may speculate without being indebted to
imagination. No novel that was ever written, no poem that
was ever sunof or said, has more in it of a true love storv than
arose from the first meeting of this prince and princess, of
whose wooing it probably was declared, that it was " cut and
dried — arranged beforehand, as all royal wooings or betrothals
are.
It had been "cut and dried" -arranged beforehand — no
doubt in the minds, the hopes, the ardent wishes of those who
held these children dearest, but who, because they held them
so dear, were for hearing the voice of their hearts before even
the fondest of these wishes should be formed into fetters how-
ever golden. If the youth and maiden had, as children, been
accustomed to some half dawning of the relation which they
might one day sustain to each other, they were not to be
reminded of it at the time of the first approach.
Stockmar, who had been taken into the counsels of the King
of the Belgians, and at once began critically to diagnose the
character of the prince and to suggest plans for his education,
that he might be worthy to fulfil the trust that should be reposed
A HAPPY VISIT.
191
in him, advised the acceptance of the invitation to the birthday
of the Princess Victoria. On the 16th of April (1836) he wrote,
" Now is the right moment for the first appearance in England.
If the first favourable impression is now made the foundation-
stone is laid for the luture edifice. But it must be a conditio
sine qud 11011, that the real intention of the visit should be kept
secret from the princess as well as the prince, that they may
be perfectly at their ease with each other."
There seems to be little — though in significance there must
have been much — to record of that four weeks' visit to Kensington
Palace. We are not informed how inquiring eyes met the light
each in each, or whether the flicker of a tell-tale blush went out
for a moment as signal amidst the greetings. These are matters
into which none need pry. Enough for us to remember, that
both youth and maiden were of self-possessed, because not weakly
self-conscious temperament, — that there was a noble simplicity
in both, and a modesty that consists with the true dignity that
can bide its time. They were kindred in pursuits, tastes, and
acquirements, and it has been distinctly declared that there was
a marvellous likeness observed between them as the prince came
into the hall. There is no need to repeat the list of entertain-
ments and assemblies which the princes and their father
attended. Only one descriptive note need be added, and it
occurs in the words of the Queen herself. " The prince was
at that time much shorter than his brother, already very hand-
some, but very stout, which he entirely grew out of afterwards.
He was most amiable, natural, unaffected, and merry; full of
interest in everything, playing on the piano with the princess,
his cousin, drawing; in short, constantly occupied. He always
paid the greatest attention to all he saw, and the Queen
remembers well how intently he listened to the sermon preached
192 QUEEN VICTORIA.
in Saint Paul's, when he and his father and brother accompanied
the Duchess of Kent and the princess there on the occasion
of the service attended by the children of the different charity
schools. It is, indeed, rare to see a prince not yet seventeen
\ ears of a^e bestowing such earnest attention on a sermon."
The Princess Victoria had been left to form her own estimate
of the young prince, and though it is scarcely probable that she
was unaware of the wishes of the family that there should be a
mutual regard between her and her cousin, the young people
were left to form an unbiassed opinion of each other. That the
mutual impression was favourable was to be seen in the letters
which the princess sent to her uncle after the departure of the
visitors. The language of love needs no words, and even the
first advances thitherward are known to those most interested
by tokens too subtle and delicate for direct speech. There had
been nothing said, nothing hinted between them, unless it
may have been by such signs as the giving of a flower, the
glance of an eye, the momentary pressure of a hand; but yet
from the time of this visit there was not only an understanding
on the part of all concerned, but a very general belief among
the public that this young couple would be married. King
Leopold now spoke more distinctly to his niece of his hope that
the wishes which had been entertained were likely to be pro-
moted by her knowledge of the prince, whose society had been
so agreeable to her, and the replies of the princess were suf-
ficiently decided to show that she had become deeply interested
and that her affection had been engaged. The letter in which
she responded to these inquiries concluded by saying: " I have
only now to beg you, my dearest uncle, to take care of the
health of one now so dear to me, and to take him under your
special protection. I hope and trust that all will go on pros-
BIDING THEIR TIME. THE BIRTHDAY. 193
perously and well on this subject, now of so much importance
to me."
This was written on the 7th of June, 1836, and though the
modest avowal of the princess gave much satisfaction to her
uncle Leopold, it appears not to have been thought advisable
at once to acquaint the prince with the favourable light in which
he was regarded. That is to say, there was no formal engage-
ment; but the advice of Stockmar was adopted, and the educa-
tion of the prince was directed into such channels as would best
fit him for the position to which he might be called. He and
his brother went at once to Brussels, calling at Paris on the
way, to make the acquaintance of the Orleans family, one of
the most cultivated, amiable, and agreeable in Europe. At
Brussels the youths entered at once upon a serious course
of study of history, modern languages, and the higher mathe-
matics, Prince Albert being an ardent pupil of M. Ouetelet, the
famous statist. From Brussels, in April, 1837, they went to
Bonn, where they studied under the most eminent professors of
that university, and Prince Albert distinguished himself by his
attainments in the natural sciences, political economy, and philo-
sophy, at the same time that he won the affectionate regard and
esteem of his companions, one of the most intimate of whom was
Prince William of Lowenstein. Meantime the princes, and particu-
larly Prince Albert, maintained a simple, affectionate, and cousinly
correspondence with the Duchess of Kent and the Princess
Victoria at Kensington. The young people were biding their
time, each perhaps with the consciousness of a secret which
possibly each thought might be not quite known to the other.
In 1837 the princess would be eighteen years of age and
would therefore attain her majority. Preparations were made
suitably to celebrate the event. As the birthday approached,
Vol. I. 25
194 QUEEN VICTORIA.
however, the condition of the King was such as to preclude him
from taking any active or prominent part in the forthcoming
festivities. His Majesty, who was seventy-one years of age,
had mostly been liable to attacks of hay-fever in the spring of
the year, and at this time he was sullering severely not only
from that disorder, but from other infirmities and from the
weakness which followed the attacks. He strove manfully to
fulfil his duties, and on the 21st of May held a levee and
drawing-room, but was obliged to remain seated while receiving
the company. On the 24th, the birthday of the princess, he
could not quit his apartments, and the Queen could not leave
him; but he sent affectionate messages to his niece, alonor with
a very elegant present of a superb grand-piano, and made
arrangements for a grand ball to be held in her honour at Saint
James's Palace. It is said that he had some time previously
offered to allow her a considerable additional income if she
would, on coming of age, commence with a household of his
appointment, but that the offer was declined. Even if this had
been the case, it seems to have made little difference in the
kindness with which his Majesty had prepared to celebrate the
birthday; and when he and the Queen found that they could
not be present, they would not allow their absence to interfere
with any of the rejoicings or to mar the festivities, the day
being observed as a general holiday in London, and both
Houses of Parliament suspending their sittings on the occasion.
Early in the morning — at seven o'clock (the hour of the birth
of the princess) — a band of vocal and instrumental musicians
performed a serenade in Kensington Gardens close to the palace.
The princess, alwrays an early riser, listened to this concert from
a window, and requested the repetition of one of the pieces. The
concert ended with the national anthem, in which the public, who
THE FAITHFUL STOCK MAR. 1 95
had been admitted to the gardens, joined very heartily. Ken-
sington was en fete: flags were flying, bells ringing, and every-
where there were signs of holiday gladness; while, during the
clay, a succession of carriages brought friends to express their
warm congratulations, and, of course, there was a long succession
of receptions and of the interchange of good wishes, which were
more than merely ceremonial. The presents were numerous
and valuable, and doubtless the loving mementos from Coburcr
o o
held a place and had a value of their own apart from their
intrinsic worth. In the letters from the young prince at Bonn
there are naturally few allusions to which reference can be
made; but we can easily imagine the simple, manly, unaffected
way in which the prince would write to his cousin on her birth-
day. He was no flatterer, and was far too much his own master
to think he ought to be constantly reminding of his absence her
to whom he stood in so peculiar a relation; but his messages, if
brief, were tender and true. The circumstances did not admit
of so-called love-letters, but the words used were such as to
display and to evoke a serene confidence. " A few days ago,"
he wrote to his father, soon after the birthday of the princess,
" I received a letter from Aunt Kent, inclosing one from our
cousin. She told me I was to communicate its contents to you,
so I send it on with a translation of the English. The day
before yesterday I received a second and still kinder letter from
my cousin, in which she thanks me for my good wishes on her
birthday. You may easily imagine that both these letters gave
me the greatest pleasure."
The state-ball at St. James's Palace was very magnificent,
and though the absence of the King, in consequence of the
severity of his illness, during which the Queen found it
necessary to remain near him, caused much disappointment, it
196 QUEEN VICTORIA.
was, perhaps, felt that the duties which therefore devolved on
the youthful princess were all the more significant. This was,
of course, the first occasion on which her royal highness took
precedence of the Duchess of Kent and, indeed, of every person
present, occupying the central chair of state supported by the
duchess and the Princess Augusta.
The illumination of the streets of the metropolis, and the
various demonstrations of popular rejoicing throughout the
country, were followed by successive addresses of congratulation,
the earliest being those of the corporation of the city of London,
which were presented by the lord-mayor, aldermen, and repre-
sentatives of the common council. The Duchess of Kent
replied with great tact and good sense to these addresses, and
the princess also occasionally responded briefly, but with much
grace and self-possession, to some of those specially intended
for herself.
The position of the princess, so young, so liable to become
the object of political intrigue, so certain, amidst the jealousies
and rancours of parties, to be placed in a position of great diffi-
culty, needed a faithful, independent, and disinterested adviser,
possessed of consummate ability, and yet able to keep in the back-
ground, and to give no reason for suspicion that any advice given
or assistance rendered would have any other motive than that
of dutiful regard and willing: service. Such a faithful adviser
and assistant King Leopold had found in Stockmar, and, turn-
ing to Stockmar once more to help him in the task that was
dear to his heart, that self-sacrificing servant and affectionate
philosopher responded without delay. On the 25th of May,
the day following the eighteenth birthday of the princess, he
arrived in England.
Perhaps no other man could have fulfilled the precise
ILLNESS AND DEATH OE THE KING.
197
position occupied by Stockmar, for he was in some sense the
friend and guardian of the personal interests of the princess,
and this continued for some months after she came to the
throne; while on the other hand — though there were, of course,
accusations of " German " influence and undue interposition —
he carefully refrained from interfering in any affairs of state.
Stockmar was trusted and his integrity was thoroughly acknow-
ledged by ministers and by leading men of both parties, who
gave voluntary testimony to his ability as well as his worth
and disinterested motives. From love for those whom he
served, he consented to long and frequent separations from the
wife and children for whom he had an ardent affection. He
had, by force of circumstances, been so placed as to be able,
by his personal qualifications, to do much to influence the
conditions of some of the reigning families of Europe, and his
loyalty to Leopold of Belgium, to the Princess Victoria, and
to the House of Coburg, especially so far as Prince Albert was
concerned, was undoubted, though it is worthy of record that
with regard to the proposal for the marriage of the prince with
the future Queen of England, Stockmar spoke with his usual
plainness in reference to the qualifications which the prince must
be able to attain to fit him for so responsible and arduous a
position. Even in his later correspondence with Prince Albert,
his letters, though full of affection and sympathetic praise and
encouragement, never lost the tone of serious exhortation.
The health of the King continued so seriously to decline
that before the end of the month of May it was feared that he
would not recover. He was too ill to be removed to Brighton,
as had been intended, and there was a general feeling of grief
throughout the country, for William the Fourth was deservedly
popular, his faults of hasty temper and of self-will having always
198 QUEEN VICTORIA.
been redeemed by real good - nature, a kind and forgiving
disposition, and a generous regard for all who had any claims
on his good-will. In his last days, too, all the asperities and
infirmities of temper seemed to fall away from him. His mind
was serene, his manner placid, his whole demeanour that of
a man who has sought and found in the blessed consolations
of religion that gentle fortitude and loving consideration for
others which combine to make the Christian character. To the
last he continued to transact the official business of the country
which required his personal attention.
His good and faithful Queen was with him constantly. He
had anxiously desired to live over the anniversary of the battle
of Waterloo — Sunday the iSth of June. At twelve minutes
past two on the morning of Monday, the 19th of June, he
passed away, and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Howley),
Lord Conyngham (the lord chamberlain), the Karl of Albemarle
(master of the horse), and Sir Henry Halford, the late King's
physician, started at once to ride from \\ nidsor to Kensington
through the pearl-gray twilight before the dawn of that summer's
day.
Everything was still as they neared London, for, though
it was known that the King was in all probability sick unto
death, his immediate dissolution was not anticipated, and no
intelligence of it could have reached the metropolis before the
arrival of the distinguished messengers at Kensington Palace.
The event had been so little anticipated in that quiet household
that, when they arrived at about five o'clock, they found nobody
stirring, and had considerable difficulty in making their presence
known. According to the account afterwards received, they
knocked, thumped, and rang for a long time before they could
rouse the porter at the gate; they were again kept waiting in the
A MESSAGE TO "THE QUEEN." 1 99
court-yard, then turned into one of the lower rooms, where they
seemed to be forgotten by everybody. They rang the bell, and
desired that the attendant of the Princess Victoria might be sent
to inform her royal highness that they requested an audience on
business of importance. After another delay, and another ringing
to inquire the cause, the attendant was summoned, and, with an
apparently complete inability to understand that anything could
be of more importance than her own special charge, stated that
the princess was in such a sweet sleep she could not venture to
disturb her. The archbishop and the lord chamberlain must
have been lost in admiration at such an example of single regard
to immediate and specific duty, but they had to explain that they
had come to the Oueen on business of state, and that even her
sleep must give way to that. The word " Queen," perhaps, im-
pressed the attendant with a sense that she might venture to wake
her young mistress, who was so concerned at the probable news,
and at her two visitors having been kept waiting on such an
occasion, that, without causing a further delay of more than a
few minutes, she came into the room attired in a shawl over
a loose white night-gown, " her night-cap thrown off, and her
hair falling upon her shoulders, her feet in slippers, tears in her
eyes, but perfectly collected and dignified."
This is in effect the account given by Miss Wynn in the
Diary of a Lady of Quality and there is reason for believing it
to be substantially accurate. The intelligence was sudden and
the occasion a very solemn one, but there was little time for
reflection, as it was necessary at once to communicate with Lord
Melbourne, that he might summon the privy-council without
delay.
The archbishop and the lord chamberlain hastened to Lon-
don: the message went forth, the privy-council was summoned
200 OCX EN VICTORIA.
to attend at Kensington at eleven o'clock, and at that hour
the youthful Queen, with the Duchess of Kent, entered the
council chamber. Probably the best and most authentic account
of the scene, and of the effect produced on the assembly
by the appearance and conduct of the young" princess thus
suddenly placed in such an exalted situation, is that of the
diarist who, even though his official position may be supposed
to have influenced him in speaking of the occasion, his
published journals show to have been an unsparing, if not a
cynical and bitter, recorder of the scenes and events of which
he was for so many years a witness. Greville, who was the clerk
of the council, says in his journal: — "Never was anything like
the first impression she produced, or the chorus of praise and
admiration which is raised about her manner and behaviour, and
certainly not without justice. It was very extraordinary, and
something far beyond what was looked for. Her extreme
youth and inexperience, and the ignorance of the world concern-
ing her, naturally excited intense curiosity to see how she would
act on this trying occasion; and there was a considerable assem-
blage at the palace notwithstanding the short notice which was
given. The first thing to be done was to teach her her lesson,
which, for this purpose, Melbourne had himself to learn. I gave
him the council papers, and explained all that was to be done,
and he went and explained all this to her. He asked her if she
would enter the room accompanied by the great officers of state,
but she said she would come in alone. When the Lords were
assembled the lord-president informed them of the King's death,
and suggested, as they were so numerous, that a few of them
should repair to the presence of the Queen and inform her of
the event, and that their lordships were assembled in consequence;
and accordingly the two royal dukes (Cumberland and Sussex,
HER MAJESTY'S DECLARATION. 201
the Duke of Cambridge being at Hanover), the two archbishops,
the chancellor, and Melbourne went with him. The Queen
received them in the adjoining room alone. As soon as they
had returned the proclamation was read, the doors were thrown
open, and the Queen entered accompanied by her two uncles,
who advanced to meet her. She bowed to the Lords, took
her seat, and then, in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and
without any appearance of fear or embarrassment, read the
following declaration: 'The severe and afflicting loss which
the nation has sustained by the death of his Majesty, my
beloved uncle, has devolved upon me the duty of administering
the government of this empire. This awful responsibility is
imposed upon me so suddenly, and at so early a period of my
life, that I should feel myself utterly oppressed by the burden,
were I not sustained by the hope that Divine Providence,
which has called me to this work, will give me strength for
the performance of it, and that I shall find in the purity
of my intentions, and in my zeal for the public welfare, that
support and those resources which usually belong to a more
mature age and to longer experience. I place my firm reliance
upon the wisdom of Parliament and upon the loyalty and affec-
tion of my people. I esteem it also a peculiar advantage that
I succeed a sovereign whose constant regard for the rights
and liberties of his subjects, and whose desire to promote the
amelioration of the laws and institutions of the country, have
rendered his name the object of general attachment and venera-
tion. Educated in England under the tender and enlightened
care of a most affectionate mother, I have learned from my
infancy to respect and love the constitution of my native country.
It will be my unceasing study to maintain the reformed religion
as by law established, securing at the same time, to all, the full
Vol. I. 26
202 QUEEN VICTORIA.
enjoyment of religious liberty; and I shall steadily protect the
rights and promote to the utmost of my power the happiness
and welfare of all classes of my subjects.' She was quite plainly
dressed, and in mourning. After she had read her speech and
taken and signed the oath for the security of the Church of
Scotland, the privy-councillors were sworn, the two dukes first
by themselves, and as these two old men, her uncles, knelt
before her, swearing allegiance and kissing her hand, I saw her
blush up to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between their
civil and natural relations, and this was the only sign of emotion
which she evinced. Her manner to them was very graceful
and engaging; she kissed them both, and rose from her chair
and moved towards the Duke of Sussex, who was furthest from
her and too infirm to reach her."
The meeting of the council concluded by the cabinet
ministers tendering to the Oueen their seals of office, which she
was graciously pleased to return, and they were then permitted
to "kiss hands" on their reappointment. Arrangements had
then to be made for the public proclamation, and the Queen
appointed ten o'clock the next morning, June 21st, for the
ceremony, which was to be at St. James's Palace.
On the following day, therefore, the young Queen, plainly
dressed in deep mourning, with white tippet and cuffs, and a
border of white lace under a small black bonnet, went thither,
accompanied by her mother and ladies in attendance and with
an escort of cavalry, and was there met by members of the royal
family, cabinet ministers, and officers of the household. It must
indeed have been a trying occasion, and one likely to flutter
even steady nerves, so that there is little to wonder at in finding
it recorded that when Lord Melbourne and Lord Lansdowne
led her to the window of the presence-chamber overlooking
ONE TOUCH OF NATURE. LOYAL LOVE. 203
the court-yard, which was filled with heralds, pursuivants, robed
officials, and " civic dignitaries," she looked fatigued and pale.
There was an immense concourse of people, and on her appear-
ance the cheering and acclamations were most enthusiastic.
The scene in the court-yard was very imposing, and as the
sonorous tones of the herald gave emphasis to the solemn wishes
that closed the proclamation, and the trumpets blared out, the
assembly cheered, and the stirring notes of the band playing the
national anthem burst forth, the young heart was too full. A
sense of the great position, the solemn responsibility, smote
upon the sovereign who was yet a child, and tears were on
the youthful face as she turned with a pathetic look to the
mother who thenceforth would have a difficult and sometimes a
painful task to observe. Her daughter, as sovereign, must now
be, in a certain sense, separated from her — no longer to obey,
but officially, at anyrate, to command — while the duchess must
avoid all that might seem to bear the appearance of undue
influence, or could be construed into an assumption of power
or authority in the counsels of her daughter. But the tears
were there, for nothing ever could or did make Victoria other
than truthful and natural, and it was a time when emotion
stirred every breast. Those who were present saw and deeply
sympathized; the sight of the weeping Queen caused other tears
to flow in renewed springs of loyalty and love.
There was but one sentiment throughout the country with
regard to the personal admiration and affection with which the
young Queen was welcomed; and her abandonment of the name
Alexandrina for her second name Victoria in assuming the royal
title met with general approval, though it necessitated a change
in the rolls documents of the House of Lords, and in the
printed form of the oath to be presented to the members of the
204 QUEEN VICTORIA.
House of Commons. It is true that apprehensions, which were
not altogether without reason, existed anions the older members
of the Tory party. The Melbourne ministry was not likely to
be subjected to such vicissitudes as it had suffered from the
disaffection of the late sovereign, and as the Queen had, it
was believed, been taught to look upon the Whigs as her friends,
and had even been educated in Whig principles, the opposition
could scarcely look forward to a return to power. Indeed, the
Duke of Wellington is reported to have regarded the accession
of the young Queen as a distinct disablement of himself and his
colleagues, and he was represented to have said, " I have no
small-talk, and Peel has no manners," a remark which we can
only infer, from the gallantry of the speaker and his admiration
for Peel, was made in a half jesting or satirical manner, for
Wellington, like the rest of the world, looked with interested
admiration on the girl sovereign.
The succession of a female to the throne severed the
connection between the kingdoms of Britain and Hanover,
which had been maintained ever since George I. reigned over
both countries. Probably nobody in this country was sorry
for the separation, for Hanover was of little advantage to us,
and yet entailed considerable expenses, which had been paid
out of English taxation. If any sentimental regret yet lingered
in the minds of any, it may have been dispersed by the reflec-
tion that, by the death of William IV., it was the Duke of
Cumberland who became King of Hanover, and that this country
would be well rid of the man who had been accused, and not
acquitted, of having conspired to set aside the succession of a
queen, to the oath of allegiance to whom he was now the first to
attach his signature.
On the 2 2d of June a royal message was laid on the table of
SIR ROBERT PEEL ON THE ADDRESS. 205
both houses of parliament, stating that in the judgment of her
Majesty it was inexpedient that any new measures should be
recommended for adoption beyond such as might be requisite
for carrying on the public service from the close of the session
to the meeting of the new parliament on the 15th of November;
and the address was unanimously agreed to. Sir Robert Peel,
in a speech of great eloquence, expressed the general sentiments
of all parties when he said: " I will venture to say that there
is no man who was present when her Majesty, at the age of
eighteen years, first stepped from the privacy of domestic life to
the discharge of the high functions which, on Tuesday last, she
was called on to perform, without entertaining a confident
expectation that she who could so demean herself was destined
to a reign of happiness for her people and glory for herself.
There is something which art cannot emulate and lessons cannot
teach; and there was something in that demeanour which could
only have been suggested by a high and generous nature.
There was an expression of deep regret at the domestic calamity
with which she had been visited, and of a deep and awful sense
of the duties she was called upon to fulfil; there was a becoming
and dignified modesty in all her actions, which could, as I have
already observed, only have been dictated by a high and gener-
ous nature, brought up, no doubt, under the guidance of one to
whose affection, care, and solicitude she is, and ought to be,
deeply grateful. I trust I have said enough to convince the
house that all persons, without reference to party distinctions,
and in the oblivion, on this day, of all party differences, join in
the expression of cordial condolence with her Majesty on the
loss which she and the country have sustained, and in the most
heart-felt wish that we are now at the commencement of a long,
a prosperous, and a happy reign."
206 QUEEN VICTORIA.
There was something peculiarly charming in the presence
of this young and innocent girl — something perhaps almost
bewildering in the notion that with her an entirely new relation
would be established between the ministry and the crown. " If
she had been my own daughter I could not have desired to
see her perform her part better," said the Duke of Wellington
bluntly, and probably forgetting in his paternal admiration his
rather bitter impression that neither he nor Peel would be
among her counsellors. Even Greville himself, the unsparing
critic and recorder of the doings of his contemporaries, was
under the same influence, for he says, " she appears to act with
every sort of good taste and good feeling, as well as good sense;
and so far as it has gone, nothing can be more favourable than
the impression she has made, and nothing can promise better
than her manner and conduct do."
A letter written, on the 26th of June, 1837, to the young
Queen by her cousin, was as simple as it was judiciously
unassuming. There is no suggestion in it of any expectation
or mutual understanding.
" My dearest Cousin, — I must write you a few lines, to
present you my sincerest felicitations on that great change which
has taken place in your life.
"Now you are Queen of the mightiest land of Europe, in
your hand lies the happiness of millions. May Heaven assist
you, and strengthen you with its strength in that high but
difficult task.
" I hope that your reign may be long, happy, and glorious,
and that your efforts may be rewarded by the thankfulness and
love of your subjects.
" May I pray you to think likewise sometimes of your
cousins in Bonn, and to continue to them that kindness you
THE PRINCE ON HIS TRAVELS.
207
favoured them with till now. Be assured that our minds are
always with you. I will not be indiscreet and abuse your time.
Believe me always, your Majesty's most obedient and faithful
servant, Albert."
In Brussels, wnere the princes had been staying, the report
that a marriage was contemplated between the young Queen
of England and Prince Albert had been considerably talked
about, and it was therefore desirable, as no definite proposals
of the kind had been made, or were likely to be made for some
time to come, that the princes should withdraw from public
notice by making a quiet tour in Switzerland and Italy. This
was quite in accordance with Prince Albert's views, and accord-
ingly the vacation from college at Bonn was spent in a delightful
journey, which ended by crossing the Simplon into Italy, and
visits to the Italian lakes, Milan, and Venice.
At this time there had been no understanding whatever with
regard to the relations between the Prince and the Oueen.
There was no engagement, no words of "courtship" had passed,
and by the etiquette which rules sovereigns no actual proposal
of marriage could be first directly made except by the Queen
herself. It requires a moment's thought to enable youths and
maidens not of royal rank to realize the difficulties of such a
situation. Such communications as passed between the cousins
were necessarily a little guarded, simple as they may have been.
Amidst all the excitement of her accession to the throne and
her approaching coronation, and even afterwards when she was
learning to realize the privileges and responsibilities of royalty,
the young Queen may secretly, and perhaps half unconsciously,
have cherished the thought that among the distinguished
students at the old university of Bonn, or on the route to some
scene famous in history, or for natural beauty, or treasures
208 QUEEN VICTORIA.
of art, a young prince — who by nobility, personal beauty, high
aims and attainments, and manly purity of life, was peer to
any sovereign or potentate — bore her image in his heart and
memory, but she could at present make no sign. Nor could
he do more than remember that his fair young cousin, from an
eminence almost perilous, might be looking forward to the day
when it would be required of her to say whether the whispered
hopes and anticipations of those who had been their best friends
in infancy and childhood, should be realized. Both his position
and his personal independence of character forbade his taking
for granted that he would be regarded even as a suitor for the
Queen's hand, but at the same time his loyal simplicity, his
manly patience, and tranquillity of soul, enabled him to observe
the sweet courtesies of cousinly regard without for a moment
overstepping the bounds of princely etiquette. An alpine rose
from the summit of the Rigi, a scrap of the writing of Voltaire
obtained from an old servant of the philosopher when a visit
was paid from Geneva to the house at Ferney, a book contain-
ing views of nearly all the places visited on the journey in
Switzerland and Italy, and forming a small album, with the
dates at which each place was visited in the prince's hand-
writing,1 were tokens sent to show that in the midst of his travels
he often thought of his young cousin.
The old palace of Kensington was no longer to be the home
of the Duchess of Kent and the youthful sovereign; but their
departure has been associated with a very happy reminiscence
of the kindness of heart which has always characterized our
sovereign Lady. The old soldier who had once been a servant
of the Duke of Kent still lived in a cottaoe not far from the
palace, and he and his family had been cared for and visited
1 This album the Queen has always considered to be one of her greatest treasures.
L O VING-KINDNESS. 2 09
by the princess. Two of that family, a boy and girl, had always
been weak and ailing, and the boy had died, but the girl lived
and was made happy by the visits of the princess. A few clays
after the Queen had quitted Kensington the clergyman of the
parish called to see the invalid, and found her radiant with
delight. When he inquired the reason she drew a little book
from under her pillow, with smiles lighting the tears which
filled her eyes, saying: " Look what the new Queen has sent
me to-day;" and went on to explain that it was a book of Psalms,
and that one of the Oueen's ladies had brought it, with the
message that though obliged to leave Kensington, the young
Queen of England did not forget her: that the lines and figures
in the margins of the book marked the dates of the days on
which the Queen herself had been accustomed to read those
particular psalms, and that the "book marker," with a little
peacock worked on it, had been made by the Queen's own hands
while she was still the Princess Victoria.
It has been recorded that on the death of William the Fourth
the widowed Queen Adelaide had written to her niece saying
that she desired to remain for a time at Windsor Castle, and
that the young Queen immediately replied by a letter of con-
dolence, in which she asked her to remain as long as she pleased
and to consult only her own convenience. This reply was
addressed to " the Queen of England," and a lady in attendance
calling the attention of the young sovereign to this, said: " Your
Majesty is now Queen of England;" to which the answer was,
" I am aware of it, but the widowed Oueen is not to be reminded
of it by me." Whether this is to be regarded as an actual
incident or not, it is to some extent supported by the fact that
the queen-dowager was afterwards properly enough spoken of
by her niece as "the Queen," and "our dear Queen Adelaide."
Vol. I. 27
2IO QUEEN VICTORIA.
The suffering widowed queen had been present in the
royal closet of the chapel of St. George's, Windsor, on the
occasion of the funeral of the King, which took place on the
evening of the 8th of July, attended by members of the royal
family, the Duke of Sussex being the chief mourner. On the
13th, the Duchess of Kent and the young Queen took up their
abode at Buckingham Palace, in which several alterations had
now been made, and some new buildings added on the south.
The last drawing-room of the former reign had been held
at St. James's Palace early in June; the first under the new
regime was almost immediately after the arrival of her Majesty
at Buckingham Palace. Of course the court was in deep
mourning, the young sovereign wearing black crape with jet
embroidery over black silk, the star of the order of the Garter
alone relieving it; but the royal bearing and striking appearance
of the petite but graceful figure, and the fair young face elicited
the genuine admiration of those who attended in very large
numbers to witness the girl Queen presiding over her court,
and to introduce the debutantes who were in a flutter of excite-
ment to be presented. But even more important duties had to
be fulfilled.
On the 17th of July the Queen went in state to the House
of Lords to dissolve parliament. The streets were crowded,
and an enormous concourse of persons assembled to welcome
the young sovereign with shouts and acclamations. On this
her first appearance before her parliament her Majesty was
superbly attired in a robe of white satin, the ribbon of the
Garter across her shoulder She wore a tiara of magnificent
diamonds and a necklace of brilliants, the front of the dress
being also adorned with brilliants of great lustre. She, of
course, assumed the crimson robe of state on entering the
FIRST SPEECH TO PARLIAMENT. 211
house. At the sound of the trumpets peers and peeresses rose
and remained standing till her Majesty ascended the throne, Lord
Melbourne standing near her and ready to instruct her in the
usual formalities, the first of which was to request those present
to be seated, which was done in a low but audible tone and with
courteous gesture. In addressing the assembly, including, of
course, members of the House of Commons present, her Majesty
said : " I have been anxious to seize the first opportunity of
meeting you, in order that I might repeat in person my cordial
thanks for your condolence upon the death of his late Majesty,
and for the expression of attachment and affection with which
you congratulated me upon my accession to the throne. I am
very desirous of renewing the assurances of my determination
to maintain the Protestant religion as established by law; to
secure to all the free exercise of the rights of conscience; to
protect the liberties and to promote the welfare of all classes of
the community. I rejoice that in ascending the throne I find
the country in amity with all foreign powers; and while I faith-
fully perform the engagements of the crown, and carefully watch
over the interests of my subjects, it will be the constant object
of my solicitude to maintain the blessings of peace." The
manner in which the young Queen read her speech — the perfect
self-possession, the clear and musical accents of a voice which,
though not loud, was of a quality that caused every syllable to
be heard throughout the assembly — caused admiration amount-
ing to enthusiasm. No less competent a judge than Miss
Fanny Kemble afterwards wrote: "The serene serious sweet-
ness of the candid brow and clear soft eyes gave dignity to the
girlish countenance; while the want of height only added to the
effect of extreme youth of the round but slender person and
gracefully moulded hands and arms. The Queen's voice was
2 I 2 QUEEN VICTORIA.
exquisite, nor have I ever heard any spoken words more musical in
their gentle distinctness than ' My Lords and Gentlemen,' which
broke the breathless silence of the illustrious assembly, whose
gaze was rivetted on that fair flower of royalty. The enuncia-
tion was as perfect as the intonation was melodious."
The court had returned to Buckingham Palace on the first
days of November, and the Queen had accepted an invitation
to dine with the lord -mayor and corporation of the city of
London at the Guildhall on the 9th. This was the first visit of
her Majesty to the city, and preparations were made for a
magnificent reception. In spite of inclement weather and
the murky atmosphere of a November day, a great crowd lined
the route from Buckingham Palace to Cheapside. The Queen,
who rode in the state carriage attended by the mistress of the
robes and the master of the horse (Lord Albemarle), was greeted
with continued acclamation, and her appearance elicited hearty
admiration. She was attired in a very beautiful dress of pink satin
shot with silver, and her fair hair shone beneath the wreath-
shaped tiara which became her so well. The bells of the
churches pealed forth, and the flags and banners that decorated
the streets, the crimson hangings, green boughs, and flowers
that adorned many balconies and windows, together with the
coloured lamps formed into devices for an illumination at
night, gave an aspect of warmth and freshness even on that
November day. Conspicuous, because of his well-known face
and figure, and made more noticeable by the repeated bursts
of cheering that greeted his appearance, was the Duke of
Wellington, who received these thunders of applause with his
customary salute of two fingers to the brim of his hat. His
usual calm imperturbable smile and a twinkle of the eye showed
a certain sense of humour as well as of pleasure as he recognized
A CIVIC BANQUET. 213
the change of front presented to him by the public since he
was hissed during the Reform Bill days.
At Temple Bar, which then stood with its massy gates
marking the boundary between the City and the Strand, the
lord-mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen had mounted horses brought
from the artillery barracks at Woolwich, each horse being led
by the soldier to which it belonged. On the approach of the
Queen the lord-mayor dismounted, and, holding the civic sword
of state, awaited her Majesty on the south side of the gate.
The royal carriage stopped at the gateway in the rain while the
chief magistrate delivered the keys to her Majesty, who at once
graciously returned them amidst the cheers of the people, who
filled the streets and the windows, from attic to basement, and
the seats and scaffoldings erected for the occasion. The lord-
mayor then took his place immediately before the royal carriage,
the other civic authorities formed in procession, and went on to
the Guildhall, where, they arrived at about five o'clock. The
lord-mayor assisted her Majesty to alight at the gate, and the
lady-mayoress and the attendant civic maids of honour stood to
receive her. The council chamber, converted into a drawing-
room, and the royal boudoir, were sumptuously decorated in
crimson, gold, and white satin. The Queen was attended by
her mother the Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Cambridge,
and the Duchess of Gloucester.
In the drawing-room a loyal address from the city of London
was read by the recorder, and fitly responded to by the youthful
Queen, who, on dinner being announced, was conducted to the
grand old hall by the lord-mayor and lady-mayoress — Sir John
and Lady Cowan — who stood on either side of her Majesty as
she took her seat at the royal table, till she requested them to be
seated at their own table, where they were to preside over the
2 14 QUEEN VICTORIA.
company, which included cabinet ministers, foreign ambas-
sadors, and many of the nobility, as well as city dignitaries and
members of the common council. All eyes, all hearts were
directed to that small, slight figure in the central chair of state —
the child that so many remembered not long before, riding or
running in the gardens at Kensington — now the girl Queen of
a vast empire, and resplendent in the sheen of the diamonds
that flashed on her brow and neck, and the jewel and " George "
that sparkled from her shoulder. The Duchesses of Kent,
Cambridge, Gloucester, and Sutherland (mistress of the robes),
the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, and her Majesty's two
cousins Prince George and Princess Augusta of Cambridge, sat
on either side of her at the royal table. The banquet was as
profuse as civic banquets are, but there was an air of mingled
state and sentiment pervading the assembly, and not till after
the "N011 nobis, Domine" was sung, and a flourish of trumpets
had heralded the announcement that the lord-mayor gave the
toast of " Our most qracious Sovereign Oueen Victoria," did
the enthusiasm of the company find voice. The national
anthem was sung with vehement emphasis, and the Queen
rose and bowed with evident gratification. Then the trumpets
blared again and the common crier announced that her most
gracious Majesty the Queen gave the toast of " The Lord-mayor
and Prosperity to the City of London." A selection of music
followed, and then the final toast by the lord-mayor, "The
Royal Family." At half-past eight, after partaking of tea in the
drawing-room, the Queen left the hall, accompanied to her
carriage by the lord-mayor, to whom she said, shaking hands
with him as he stood at the step, " I assure you, my lord-
mayor, that I have been most highly gratified." At the end
of Cheapside, amidst a strange gleam y mist, composed partly of
MELBOURNE AND THE WHIGS.
215
fog and partly of the beams of the illuminations, the cortege
stopped for a few minutes to listen to the national anthem
sung by the Harmonic Society accompanied by a band of wind-
instruments, and followed by multitudinous cheers the royal
party returned to Buckingham Palace. The value of the plate
used at the Guildhall on the occasion of this banquet was valued
at from ,£300,000 to ,£400,000.
On the lord-mayor, Sir John Cowan, a baronetcy was con-
ferred, and on the sheriffs, Mr. John Carroll and Mr. Moses
Montefiore, the honour of knighthood, the latter gentleman
being the first member of the Jewish community who had
received that distinction.
At the general election, which quickly followed the dissolution
of parliament, the Whigs said a great deal too much of the
influence which their party exercised in the councils of the
young Queen, and this had the effect not only of weakening
their cause, but of discrediting the ministry and even the Queen
herself, by the charge of political favouritism and undue authority
conceded to Lord Melbourne as the adviser of the sovereign.
It was undoubtedly true that the prime-minister had from the
time of her accession been the trusted adviser and instructor
of the Queen, and there was perhaps no man more capable of
imparting a knowledge of political and state affairs in a manner
at once unprejudiced and disinterested, — no man who, to the
experience which comes of age and long acquaintance with
statesmanship, united more of that ease and grace of manner
which takes from serious counsel the appearance of dictation,
and from important instruction the air of authoritative teaching.
He was no strenuous politician, and therefore many solemn
doctrinaires abused him for being indifferent to what they
regarded as the best interests of the country. He hated
2i6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
" humbug" and pretence, and therefore fell into what was, if not
pretence, an affectation of laisser faire. The man who, while
receiving a deputation, would balance a sofa-cushion in his
hands, or blow at the feather of a quill pen, though diligently
listening all the time, would not be likely to be credited with
profound political convictions. Even his shrewd common-sense
would be very liable to be misinterpreted, when, after con-
sidering some question which his colleagues thought demanded
immediate attention, but which he regarded as unnecessary or
premature, he would say: "Can't we leave it alone?" If there
was one thing about which he was really indifferent it was his
own exaltation. He had little of the pride of place or power,
and simply laughed away the Queen's proposal to bestow upon
him the blue ribbon of the Garter as a mark of her gratitude.
" A garter may attach to us somebody of consequence whom
nothing else would reach," he replied; "but what would be the
use of my taking it? I cannot bribe myself!" Acute observers
like Sydney Smith and Lord Lansdowne saw and said that his
appearance of indifference was only assumed, that he was really
a man with a capacity for hard work, but one who offered,
by his pretence of levity, a kind of practical sarcasm on the
solemnity of Peel and the volcanic energy of Brougham. Even
in his accomplishments — and he was a man not only of elegant
and courtly manners but of great culture — he assumed a dilettante
air, while those who knew him best were aware that he was
a hard reader, his studies extending to an unusual knowledge
of the works of the fathers of the Church.
Before Lord Melbourne had, at fifty-eight years of age, given
up the greater part of the time left him for rest or leisure from
his duties as prime-minister to the instruction and friendly
guardianship of his young sovereign, there had been constant
THE QUEEN'S BUSINESS.
217
complaints and suspicions about the supposed influence of the
Baroness Lehzen, who for a short time acted as private secre-
tary as well as lady in attendance on the Queen. After she
had retired from that position, there were mutterings which
grew into open accusations of the interference and authority
of Baron Stockmar, and of the influence which, it was hinted,
he exercised not only on the Queen, but on Melbourne and the
government. That this charge was without foundation Mel-
bourne knew well enough, and he sometimes said so in un-
mistakable terms; but the declaration that "German" influence
and Whig monopoly had joined to ruin the country, made a
strong party cry at the time of the election. It must be granted,
also, that the opposition had much reason for the animosity which
they displayed, in the conduct of some of the ministerialists, who
went to the hustings with the swagger of being supported by
the favour of the young Queen, and, as their opponents said,
"placarded with her Majesty's name, as though they expected
the Whig ministry, with Melbourne as premier, to be maintained
in perpetual authority."
At this time, however, though there were inimical influences
at work, and her uncle the King of Hanover was already
writing to his correspondents in England letters that were
offensive, and were soon to be followed by others that were
malignant, there was little or no diminution of the exuberant
loyalty which was manifested for the Queen. It may be said,
too, that whatever may have been the influence of Melbourne's
kindly and unselfish devotion, it would have been futile even
for him to have endeavoured to reduce the young sovereign
to a cipher. From the very first she set herself assiduously,
not only as far as possible to control her own household and to
establish the order of the daily observances and recreations, but
Vol. I. 28
2 J 8 QUEEN VICTORIA.
to the business of state, and to the understanding of all that
was required from her, so that she would refuse to sign a
state document or a paper of an)- importance until she under-
stood not only its meaning and intention, but its probable con-
sequences. It is even said that on one occasion she insisted
on delaying to place her name to a paper that was considered
to be immediately important because Lord Melbourne had
represented that it was "expedient;" her reply being that she
had been taught that anything might be right or wrong, but
she could not understand expediency in such a serious matter,
and must first, as far as possible, thoroughly acquaint herself
with the meaning of what she was asked to sign.
The results of the election were that the former government
returned to power with a small majority and considerably
weakened in reputation. This, however, did not affect the
loyalty of the opposition, and when parliament had reassembled
and on the 12th of December the Oueen asked the House
of Commons for an addition to the provision made for the
Duchess of Kent, the income of the duchess was increased
lrom £ 22,000 to ,£30,000 a year. There was some debate
over the proposals made for the civil list. The Queen had
placed unreservedly in the hands of parliament the hereditary
revenues transferred to the public by the late King, and it was
pointed out, while former sovereigns had inherited considerable
property, Victoria had not even the revenues of Hanover, which
had now become a separate kingdom. Eventually the sum of
£385,000 was voted as the annual income of the sovereign, of
which £60,000 was the amount for the privy-purse.
It may be said of the Queen, that the healthy tone of mind
and body which had resulted from her previous education pre-
served her from many mistakes which might have been serious.
THE QUEEN'S FIRST PARLIAMENT. 2IQ
Her position was a very difficult one, and only a strong con-
scientious desire to do right, and to fulfil even the most trying
obligations of the high station to which she had been called,
would have enabled her to enter so thoroughly into the business
of the state. Yet she retained that simple buoyancy and love
of fun which belonged to her youth. She had the happy
faculty of working when she worked and playing when she
played; and though some slight records of the ordinary daily life
of the royal household seem to point to the fact that the routine
was rather formal and sometimes a little dreary, there is a
certain pathetic interest in imagining the girl Queen arranging
the proprieties and the amusements, the duties and recreations
of the royal establishment.
One paramount duty was not forgotten. Directly the civil list
was settled and her Majesty knew how much money she had to
spend, she had said to Lord Melbourne, " My father's debts
must be paid;" and so heartily did the daughter mean what she
said, that within the following year she had paid them. In the
next twelvemonths the obligations incurred by the Duchess of
Kent during the years that she had held an onerous and difficult
position were also discharged.
The opening of parliament — her first parliament — by the
Queen had been the occasion of another great demonstration of
loyalty and attachment as she went in state through the streets,
and the concourse of people assembled at and near the approaches
to Westminster was as great as that which had awaited the
prorogation. Again her Majesty performed with admirable
self-possession the formal duties of royalty, and in a clear and
audible voice repeated after the lord-chancellor the declaration
which involves a solemn denial of those tenets of the Church of
Rome which are opposed to the belief of English Protestants.
2 20 QUE EX VICTORIA.
There were many topics of importance to engage the attention
of the legislature, for there was much distress in the manu-
facturing districts and many signs of political agitation, which
took the form of what was called Chartism, and a demand
for the repeal of the taxes on food imported from abroad.
There were symptoms of serious troubles in Lower Canada,
where disturbances had arisen from the opposition offered by
the Canadian legislature to resolutions carried in the House of
Commons in March, 1836, declining to make the council of
Lower Canada elective, continuing the charter of the Land
Company, and authorizing the provincial government, indepen-
dent of the legislature, to appropriate the money in the treasury
for the administration of justice and the support of the civil
government. Early in the year Lord John Russell had pointed
out that since October, 1832, no provision had been made by the
legislators of Lower Canada for defraying the charges of the
administration of justice or for the support of civil government
in the province. The arrears amounted to a very large sum,
which the House of Assembly refused to vote, and at the same
time demanded an elective legislative council and entire control
over all branches of the government.
Thus the political and social atmosphere was less serene
than might have been desired at a time when the youth and
inexperience of the sovereign needed the support of a stronger
ministry than that which was accused of clinging to office by
virtue of the prime-minister having become mentor to the throne;
but the popularity of the Queen herself continued both in
parliament and in the country. The royal speech had concluded
with the words: " In meeting this parliament, the first that has
been elected under my authority, I am anxious to declare my
confidence in your loyalty and wisdom. The early age at which
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION. 22 1
I am called to the sovereignty of this kingdom renders it a more
imperative duty that under Divine Providence I should place
my reliance upon your cordial co-operation and upon the love
and affection of all my people."
That reliance was not misplaced. Notwithstanding the
seething of public opinion and the signs of coming political
conflict, the whole nation was more immediately concerned with
the preparations for the coronation, which was to take place on
the 28th of June in the following year. It was not only that the
ceremony was to be gorgeous and imposing, and the signs of
rejoicing splendid and appropriate; but the national sentiment,
which had been deeply moved at the accession of a young and
innocent girl to the throne, was maintained and even increased
by all that was known of her. The expenses of the coronation
were to be limited to ,£70,000, a considerable portion of which
sum was expended on preparations and appointments for the
ceremony at Westminster Abbey, to which, with the other most
important ceremony in the life of her Majesty — her marriage —
we may well devote a separate if a brief chapter.
2 22 QUEEN 11C 10 Rl A.
CHAPTER III.
Preparations. Coronation Day. The Abbey. The Procession. The Ceremony. National
Rejoicing. Court Festivities. The Prince Waits. Love Conquers. A Brief Wooing.
Marriage of the Queen and Prince Albert. Grand Assemblies and Entertainments. Royal
Life in London and Windsor.
For many weeks before the clay fixed for the coronation
all kinds of preparations were being made to celebrate the
occasion. Coronation jewelry, ribbons, and ornaments of
every kind were manufactured, medals were struck, portraits
were engraved, pictures painted, concerts rehearsed, festivities
organized. A new issue of coin with the Queen's image and
superscription was to be made from the Mint, and in every town
and shire there was to be feasting of rich and poor. On every
cliff around the coast, on every hill where a beacon had flashed
in olden time, a signal was to flame; in the London parks
and on provincial fields and commons there were to be displays
of fireworks; and in the streets of the metropolis, of old historic
cities, or of modern towns that had grown round mills and
factories, the windows of shops and houses were to be illuminated
with wreaths and crowns and mottoes formed of coloured lamps
or jets of gas with the letters V. R. ablaze at every corner, and
even in quiet thoroughfares or sequestered by-ways a candle
in every window-pane.
In place of the royal banquet in Westminster Hall, which had
formed a feature of previous coronation observances, there was
to be a grander and more imposing procession for the grati-
fication of the people who would assemble to see the maiden
Queen and her splendid cortege going to and returning from
WESTMINSTER ABBEY IN STATE. 22*
the Abbey. The banquet for the few was to give place to the
spectacle for the many; and Dymocke, the hereditary royal
champion, was no more to fling down his gauntlet on the floor
of the great hall and challenge all the world to gainsay the
right of the royal claimant of the crown.
It is difficult to convey any adequate impression of the
magnificence of the spectacle in Westminster Abbey on the
occasion. The superb and ancient pile is in the form of a cross,
the aisles from the royal entrance running west and east and the
transepts north and south. The royal entrance led beneath the
organ gallery to a " theatre " or raised platform twenty-four feet
wide, and with a smaller platform on either side for those who
were to take part in the ceremony. In the centre of the build-
ing immediately under the lantern was a raised dais or platform
ascended by four steps covered with claret-coloured drapery and
embroidered in gold. On this facing the altar stood the throne,
or rather chair of state, on which her Majesty was to receive
the homage of the vast assembly. It was a richly carved and
gilded chair covered with crimson velvet and gold embroider)-
and emblazoned with the royal arms, and in front of it was a
footstool similarly decorated. The galleries were so arranged
that, rising like a vast amphitheatre, a view could be obtained
of the general effect even from the loftiest of them, and that
general effect was magnificent beyond description, for the
decorations, sumptuous as they were, accorded well with the
architectural character of the grand old building, which, it should
be remembered, was not at that time crowded with the incongru-
ous monuments and the aggressively prominent sculpture that
has of late years tended to depreciate its matchless proportions
and to distract the eye from its exquisite architectural beauty.
If the scene in the Abbey was designed to be grand and
224 QUEEN VICTORIA.
impressive, the pageant of the state procession was well calculated
to delight the vast multitude of people who by daybreak began
to wend their way towards the parks, and to occupy the line
of route from Buckingham Palace, up Constitution Hill, and
along Piccadilly, St. James' Street, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street,
Whitehall, and Parliament Street. It was computed that to the
London population were to be added 400,000 persons who had
come from the provinces and foreign countries to witness the
spectacle. At seventeen minutes past three in the morning a
salute of twenty-one guns, fired from the Tower of London, had
heralded the dawn of that auspicious day, and though for some
hours the skies looked threatening, and rain occasionally fell,
nothing seemed to damp the ardour of the crowds that thronged
the streets on foot or in every variety of vehicle. By six o'clock
the thoroughfares mentioned were closely lined by expectant
crowds, and every window, balcony, and platform was soon
packed with those who had secured places; while at many private
mansions, banks, and public buildings, and at the principal club-
houses, great preparations had been made, not only for seeing
the pageant, but for dispensing hospitality to invited guests.
The Green Park, the Mall, and the inclosure of St. James' Park
were thronged. At eicdit o'clock the band of the Life Guards
played the national anthem, and soon afterwards the first
carriages of the procession prepared to take their places.
Equerries, trumpeters, and a squadron of Life Guards led the
way, followed first by the carriages of the foreign ambassadors
resident in this country, and next by those of the ambassadors
and ministers-extraordinary who had come to represent foreign
powers on the august occasion. They took precedence accor-
ding to the date at which they had made known their arrival in
England; and first was the ambassador from the Sultan — next
THE CORONATION PROCESSION. 22
being the famous old warrior, Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia,
who had come to represent France. As the front of the
pageant moved on through the closely-packed ranks of the
people, a great shout arose and continued — a shout of hearty
applause and generous welcome of the soldier who had come to
visit us, no longer as a foe, but as a comrade of our own vic-
torious duke. The white head bowed repeatedly in courteous
recognition of these greetings, the rugged war-worn face was
bright with smiles, and thereafter Marshal Soult was a firm
friend of French and English alliance.
After the ambassadors came the elder members of the royal
family. They were but few now, and the Princess Augusta,
who was seventy years of age, was unable to be present, while
the Princess Sophia was in such weak health that she feared
the exertion and excitement of the occasion. The King and
Queen of Hanover (Duke and Duchess of Cumberland) and the
Princess Elizabeth of Hesse-Homburof were also absent. The
carriages of the royal family and their attendants were drawn
each by six horses, and accompanied by an escort of Life Guards.
That of the Duchess of Kent came first, and the mother of the
Queen was received with unbounded enthusiasm and applause,
the police and troops having at some points to restrain the front
ranks of the crowd from surging round the carriage in an attempt
to shake hands with the duchess. The Duchess of Gloucester
came next, and was followed by the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex, who was received with
abundant manifestations of popular favour. Then came a pro-
cession of twelve royal carriages, each drawn by six horses, and
conveying ladies of the bed-chamber, maids of honour, principal
officers of the household, and her Majesty's suite, preceded by
equerries, a regiment of the household brigade, the Queen's
Vol. I. 29
226 QUEEN VICTORIA.
bargemaster and forty-eight watermen, and followed by a squad-
ron of Life Guards, the mounted band of the household brigade,
and the brilliant military staff and officers, royal huntsmen and
foresters, horses from the royal stables, decked in gay trappings,
and led by grooms; the knight marshal, with his marshals, and
yeomen mounted and on foot. The state coach was drawn
by eight cream-coloured horses, and a yeoman of the guard
walked at each wheel, and two footmen at each door; Viscount
Combermere (gold stick) and the Earl of Ilchester, captain of
the yeomen, riding on either side. With the Queen were the
Duchess of Sutherland, mistress of the robes; the Earl of
Albemarle, master of the horse; and the Duke of Buccleugh,
captain-general of the Archer Guard. The pageant closed with
an escort of six squadrons of Life Guards.
It was ten o'clock when the Oueen entered her state carriage
at Buckingham Palace, and two robust-looking sailors, who had
charge of the flagstaff on the top of the Marble Arch at the
entrance, set the royal ensign flying in the clear summer air as
a mighty shout went up from the dense multitude. The clouds
had dispersed, the sun shone out as with jubilant -welcome, and
the day became an example of what has since come to be known
as "Oueen's weather."
Amidst continuous outburst of cheering and acclamation the
state carriage reached the west door of Westminster Abbey
at half-past eleven o'clock. The great officers of state, the
noblemen bearing the regalia, the Archbishops of Canterbury
and York, the Bishops of Bangor, Lincoln, and Winchester,
carrying the patina, the chalice, and the Bible, and the Bishops
of Bath and Wells and of Durham, were there to receive her
Majesty as she entered, all the bands playing the national
anthem as she alighted, and her arrival being signalled by
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
! 2 7
the firing of a gun. The ambassadors and other distinguished
personages had already been conducted to their seats before
the Queen appeared from the robing-room, and the whole
scene presented by that great and brilliant assembly amidst the
superb decorations, which, with all their wealth of colour, were
subordinated, toned, and harmonized by the " dim religious light"
and the marvellous architecture of the gray old Abbey, was so
magnificent that even oriental visitors and others, who were
accustomed to witness the most splendid spectacles, paused to
gaze around them with solemn wonder and admiration before
they were conducted to their seats. The dais of cloth of gold
bearing the throne; the altar, with its grand communion service
of gold plate; and the chair of Saint Edward, or King Edward's
chair,1 which stood within the altar rails, were objects of the
greatest interest.
At a little after twelve o'clock the gorgeous procession
entered the choir amidst a profound silence which had
succeeded to a burst of acclamation. First came the dean
and prebendaries of Westminster, and then followed officers
at arms, — the chief officers of the royal household, the
lord privy- seal, the lord -president, and the lord -chancellor
of Ireland. An officer from the Jewel Office bore upon a
velvet cushion a sword for the offering at the altar, and the
ruby ring which was to be used in the ceremony. Next
came the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Armagh, with
the lord-chancellor; and then the princesses of the blood
royal, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Kent, and
the Duchess of Gloucester, in robes of state of purple velvet,
and wearing circlets of o'old on their heads, their coronets
1 The chair in which the Scottish kings had been crowned before Edward I. brought it from
Scotland in 1296.
2 28 QUEEN VICTORIA.
carried by viscounts, their trains borne by noble ladies-in-
waiting. Then came the bearers of the regalia: St. Edward's
staff carried by the Duke of Roxburgh, the golden spurs by-
Lord Byron, the sceptre royal by the Duke of Cleveland,
the sword of justice or temporality by the Marquis of West-
minster, the sword of mercy by the Duke of Devonshire,
another sword by the Duke of Sutherland. The lord great
chamberlain of England — Lord Willoughby d'Eresby — pre-
ceded the royal Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex, — whose
coronets and trains were borne by gentlemen of title, — the Duke
of Norfolk, earl marshal of England, with his staff of office, and
on either side Viscount Melbourne bearing the sword of state,
and the Duke of Wellington, high constable of England,
with staff and field-marshal's baton. The Duke of Richmond
bearing the sceptre and dove, lord high steward the Duke
of Hamilton bearing the crown — which has been named St.
Edward's crown after the ancient one — and the Duke of Somerset
bearing the orb, were followed by the bishops with the patina,
Bible, and chalice. Then the Oueen entered the choir wear-
ing a royal robe of crimson velvet and ermine bordered with
gold lace, the collars of the orders of the Garter, Bath, Thistle,
and St. Patrick, and on her head a circlet of gold. Between
the two bishops, who walked at either side, and the accom-
panying gentlemen-at-arms, she moved slowly but with graceful
and dignified mien, and her face was animated and radiant.
Her Majesty's train was borne by eight ladies who even
in that assembly were distinguished for grace and beauty:
Lady Adelaide Paget, Lady Prances Cowper, Lady Anne
Wentworth Fitzwilliam, Lady Mary Grimston, Lady Caroline
Gordon Lennox, Lady Mary Talbot, Lady Catherine Stanhope,
and Lady Louisa Jenkinson, The Duchess of Sutherland as
THE CEREMONY—THE "RECOGNITION." 229
mistress of the robes, followed by Lady Lansdowne first
lady of the bed-chamber, and the other ladies of the bed-
chamber, and a bevy of maids of honour, came next. The
brilliant procession, in which noble ladies, youthful pages, and
gentlemen-at-arms attended to bear trains and carry coronets,
and were many of them attired in gorgeous and picturesque
costume, closed with the captain-general of the Royal Scottish
Archer Guard and a following of officers of the yeomen of the
Sfuard and orentlemen-at-arms and their attendants.
During the procession, when every eye had been fixed on
the Queen, the anthem " I was glad " was performed, and
then the Westminster boys chanted Vivat Victoria Regina.
The peers, peeresses, lords, and ladies who were not further
engaged in the ceremony took their seats, and her Majesty
moved towards the space between the throne of homage and
the altar, where a faldstool had been placed before a chair.
She then knelt down and after a few moments of silent prayer
took her seat in the chair.
The rather intricate ceremonial commenced with " The
Recognition." The Archbishop of Canterbury advanced to
the Queen with the lord-chancellor, the lord-chamberlain,
the lord high constable, and the earl marshal, preceded
by the deputy garter, and said: "Sirs, I here present unto
vou Queen Victoria the undoubted Oueen of this realm, there-
fore all you who are come this day to do homage, are you
willing to do the same?" This was answered by the vast
assembly with a loud cry of " God save Queen Victoria!" The
archbishop, turning to the north, south, and west, repeated
"God save Queen Victoria!" the Queen turning at the same
time.
The patina, chalice, and Bible were placed on the altar
230 QUEEN VICTORIA.
by the bishops who carried them in the procession. The
Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops who were to read
the litany put on their copes. The Queen, attended by the
Bishops of Bath and Wells and Durham, and the great officers
of state, and noblemen carrying the regalia, advanced to the
altar, knelt upon the crimson velvet cushion, and made her first
offering of an altar-cloth of gold, which had been brought by
an officer of the wardrobe and was handed to her Majesty
by the great chamberlain. The archbishop placed it upon
the altar, and the Queen then handed to him an ingot of
gold of one pound weight, which had been brought by the
treasurer of the household. This the archbishop placed in
the oblation basin.
After prayer by the archbishop the regalia, except the
sword, were laid on the altar, the great officers of state,
except the lord-chamberlain, took up their respective places
on the dais near the chair of state.
After the singing of the Sanctus the communion service
was read by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of
Rochester reading the epistle, and the Bishop of Carlisle the
gospel. The sermon was preached by the Bishop of London
from the 31st verse of the 34th chapter of the 2d Book of
Chronicles, "And the king stood in his place, and made a
covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to
keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes,
with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words
of the covenant which are written in this book."
Next came the administration of the coronation oath by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who advanced, and, standing
before the Queen, asked, " Madam, is your Majesty willing to
take the oath?" to which the Queen replied "I am willing."
THE ANOINTING. 231
Her Majesty then solemnly promised to govern the people of
the United Kingdom and the dominions belonging to it accor-
ding to the statutes in Parliament agreed on and the respective
laws and customs of the same; to her power to cause law and
justice, in mercy, to be executed in all her judgments; to the
utmost of her power to maintain the laws of God, the true
profession of the gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion
established by law; and to maintain and preserve the settlement
of the united Church of England and Ireland, and its doctrine,
worship, discipline, and government as by law established within
England and Ireland and the territories thereunto belonging,
and to preserve to the bishops and clergy of England and
Ireland, and the churches there committed to their charge, such
rights and privileges as by law do or shall appertain to them.
Her Majesty, attended by her supporters and the lord great
chamberlain, the sword of state being carried before her, went to
the altar, and kneeling, laid her right hand upon the Gospels
tendered to her by the archbishop, kissed the book, and signed
a transcript of the oath. She then kneeling upon the faldstool,
the choir sang the Vent, Creator, Spirihis. After preparatory
prayer and the anthem " Zadok the Priest," &c, there followed
the anointing. The Queen, having been disrobed of her crimson
robe by the mistress of the robes, sat in the ancient chair of
King Edward, four knights of the Garter, the Dukes of Buccleugh
and Rutland, and the Marquesses of Anglesea and Exeter, hold-
ing a pall of cloth of gold. The Dean of Westminster poured
some oil from the ampulla into the anointing spoon, and the
archbishop anointed her Majesty on the head and hands, mark-
ing them in the form of a cross, saying, "Be thou anointed with
holy oil as kings, priests, and prophets were anointed, and as
Solomon was anointed king by Zadok the priest and Nathan the
232 QUEEN VICTORIA.
prophet, so be you anointed, blessed, and consecrated Queen
over this people, whom the Lord your God hath given you to
rule and govern." After the invocation, the Queen knelt duringf
the prayer and blessing. When she had resumed her seat, the
golden spurs were taken from the altar by the dean and handed
to the lord-chamberlain, and by him presented to her Majesty,
who returned them to be laid again on the altar. Viscount Mel-
bourne next delivered the sword of state to be laid on the altar
by the archbishop, who repeated the prayer, " Hear our prayers,
O Lord, we beseech thee, and so direct and support thy servant
Victoria," (\:c. Then, accompanied by the other bishops, he
gave the sword into the Queen's right hand, saying, " Receive
this kingly sword, brought now from the altar of God and
delivered to you by the hands of us, the servants and bishops of
God, though unworthy." Then followed an exordium, and the
sword having been restored to the altar, Lord Melbourne,
according to ancient custom, redeemed it for a hundred shillings,
and carried it unsheathed during the rest of the ceremony.
The Queen, when standing, was invested by the dean with
the imperial mantle or declaration robe of cloth of gold, the Lord
Great Chamberlain fastening the clasps. When she was again
seated, the archbishop handed to her the orb with a suitable
exordium before its return to the altar. Then followed the
" investiture per annulum et baculum, by the ring and sceptre, the
archbishop receiving the ruby ring and placing it on the fourth
finger of the Queen's right hand. The dean then brought the
sceptre with the cross and that with the dove and delivered them
to the archbishop; and the Duke of Norfolk as Lord of the
Manor of Worksop, left his seat to perform his ancient suit and
service of presenting to her Majesty a glove, embroidered with
the arms of Howard, for her right hand. This her Majesty put
THE CROWNING. 2X%
on, and the duke stood by her to support her right arm and to
hold the sceptre. The archbishop first delivered the sceptre of
the cross, or royal sceptre, and then the sceptre of the dove, or
rod of equity.
The actual "Coronation" followed, and this was really the
grandest part of the ceremonial. The archbishop, placing the
crown upon the altar, offered up a prayer to Almighty God on
behalf of the Queen, that she might be crowned with all princely
virtues — then, accompanied by the other prelates, he advanced
towards the Oueen, and receiving the crown from the Dean of
Westminster, placed it reverently upon her head. At this
moment, from every part of the grand edifice arose the cry
"God save the Queen!" — a multitudinous shout accompanied by
acclamations, the waving of hats and handkerchiefs; — trumpets
blared out, drums beat, the peers and peeresses put on their
coronets, the bishops their hats, the kings-at-arms their crowns,
and the guns at the park and the Tower boomed out their
signals. It would be difficult to imagine any scene more grand
and imposing. Almost at the moment of the crown being placed
on the head of the Queen a broad brilliant stream or ray of sun-
light from one of the windows fell upon her and lighted up the
jewels of the imperial diadem and the fair young face beneath
it. Earlier in the ceremony, that one apparently small figure,
made to look smaller by the long-trained robe, the surrounding
pageantry, and the accompanying attendants, had been greeted
with acclamations, not unmingled with tears. " She looked
almost like a child," said one spectator, who noticed that those
near him were affected as he was. But at the moment when
the crown was placed upon her head, and that great burst of
sound proclaimed her Queen indeed, amidst shouts and fanfares
and psalms of rejoicing, the princess herself was visibly weeping,
Vol. I. 30
234 QUEEN VICTORIA.
and had to summon all her courage — or may we say the recol-
lection of the sustaining goodness of God — to preserve her self-
control. For a few seconds, it is said, she looked wistfully at
her mother, who was herself so overcome with emotion as to be
sobbing audibly, but in a few moments the young Queen had
regained composure, perhaps because she could see expressions
of sympathy, admiration, and affection in every face.
The Bible was next taken from the altar and presented to
the Queen by the archbishop, to whom she restored it, that he
might place it on the altar again. His grace then pronounced
the benediction, the other bishops and the peers responding,
and then, turning to the people, pronounced the invocation,
"And the same Lord God Almighty grant," &c, after which the
" Tc Dewn" was sung by the choir, and her Majesty removed to
the chair of recognition, the two bishops (her supporters), the
great officers of state, and the noblemen who had borne the
regalia, attending her. The Queen then ascended the dais for
the enthronment, the archbishop, bishops, and peers around her
lifting her into the throne of state. After the exhortation
"Stand firm and hold fast," &c, and having delivered the sceptre
to the Lord of the Manor of Worksop and the Duke of Rich-
mond, her Majesty received the homage of the peers, which was
an imposing and interesting part of the august ceremony, having
something of a feudal character. The Archbishop of Canterbury
himself first knelt and did homage for himself and the other
lords spiritual, who knelt around him, repeated the words after
him, and succeeded him in kissing hands. The Dukes of Sussex
and Cambridge followed, the Duke of Sussex saying the words,
which were repeated by the Duke of Cambridge as follows: —
" I do become your liegeman of life and limb and of earthly
worship: and faith and truth I will bear unto you, to live and die,
2
O
x
THE "HOMAGE" OE THE PEERS. 235
against all manner of folks. So help me God." The royal
dukes each touched the crown upon the Queen's head and kissed
her on the left cheek, and it was afterwards said that the Duke
of Sussex, a man of very impressionable nature and then in
infirm health, was so much affected that he could not control his
emotion, and was assisted from the dais by peers in attendance.
The other peers made their homage kneeling, the senior peer in
each degree pronouncing the words, saying alter him, and each
of the same degree touching the crown and kissing her Majesty's
hand. The Duke of Wellington, Earl Grey, and Lord Mel-
bourne were loudly cheered as they ascended to the dais to
perform the homage. While this ceremony was going on, the
anthem, " This is the day," was sung, and the Earl of Surrey,
treasurer of the household, threw silver coronation medals about
the choir and lower galleries, and a decided scramble ensued, in
which some of those present, including noble ladies, maids of
honour, and pages, joined with such eagerness that some of
the more sedate and punctilious onlookers were a little scan-
dalized. This, however, was not the only incongruous incident
of this part of the ceremony. Among those barons who came
to pay homage was Lord Rolle, an old nobleman who had
received George III., the Queen's grandfather, at his house in
Devonshire, and had made that occasion one of great display.
He was now more than eighty years of age, but though
physically infirm, full of courage and loyalty, so that he made a
brave attempt to mount the steps of the throne, supported by
two noblemen to assist him, for he was a large heavy man. He
had nearly reached the royal footstool when, either stumbling or
missing his footing, he slipped through the hands of his sup-
porters and fell, rolling over and over to the bottom step, where
he lay coiled up in his robes till he was lifted up, when he tried
2^6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
again and again to mount the steps. Meantime the Queen was
much concerned at his efforts, and was seen to speak to Lord
Melbourne, who stood at her shoulder, and on his bowing an
affirmative she rose, and with a gentle smile held out her hand
to the brave old man, who was excused from touching the crown.
He was not hurt, and took his misadventure with the utmost
good-humour, which was perhaps the reason that some foreigners
present took for fact the representation of some unscrupulous
jester, who said that the noble lord had only been observing a
custom relating to feudal tenure, by which he held his title of
Lord Rolle. Another version of the story attributed this jest to
his lordship's own daughter, who was present.
The "homage" having been completed, the Queen prepared to
receive the communion, and removing her crown, which was held
by the Lord Chamberlain, knelt at the altar, and after returning
to the archbishop the chalice and patina to be placed there,
made the second offering of a purse of gold. Her Majesty,
after receiving the sacrament, at once returned to the throne,
where she again held the sceptre, remaining there till the end of
the communion service, the anthem " Hallelujah! the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth," the final prayers, and the blessing. Then
attended, as before, with the swords carried before her, she
went through the south door into St. Edward's Chapel, amidst
the music of the organ and the orchestra. She delivered the
sceptre with the dove to the archbishop, who laid it on the
altar. She was then disrobed of her imperial robe of state and
arrayed in her royal robe of purple velvet. With the swords
carried before her the Queen went to the west door of the Abbey,
the sceptre with the cross in her right hand, the orb in her left.
Near the door the swords and the portions of the regalia which
had not been again placed on the altar were received by the
A DISTRESSING EVENT. 237
officers of the Jewel Office, and her Majesty, wearing her crown,
and the princes and princesses, peers and peeresses, wearing
their coronets, returned to the palace in the same order as they
had left it. Thus this splendid ceremony came to a close; it
had lasted three hours, and the majority of those who occupied
seats in the Abbey had been there some hours longer.
A state banquet at Buckingham Palace, where a hundred
royal and noble guests were entertained, and afterwards, from
windows and roofs, witnessed the fireworks in the park, closed
the day, which, throughout the country, and among British
communities in foreign lands and in distant colonies, was devoted
to festivity and rejoicing. In London the holiday-making lasted
all the week. On Friday, Saturday, and the following Monday a
fair in Hyde Park was succeeded by a review, at which the Queen
and some of her distinguished guests were present, and where
old Marshal Soult again came in for popular applause, which
he shared with the Duke of Wellington. Her Majesty appeared
in an open barouche, with her aides-de-camp in full uniform.
There was a short season of repose at Windsor in the autumn
and winter of 1838, when Leslie, the painter, went thitherto
obtain sittings of the Queen and the principal personages in her
train for the coronation picture; but early in the year 1839, when
the Queen had returned to London, an occurrence of a very
painful nature threw a temporary shadow upon the social and
domestic life of the court; and though her Majesty had no per-
sonal part in the circumstances that led to it, political jealousy
and party calumny turned it to account in associating her
ministry, and, by implication, the Duchess of Kent and the
Queen herself, with what was a very sad and distressing mistake,
and had been represented as a palace plot on the part of certain
Whig ladies of the court.
238 QUEEN VICTORIA.
It is not necessary to repeat all the details of the too-often-
told story of Lady Flora Hastings, the lady who had borne the
train of the Duchess of Kent at the coronation, and was in
attendance on her royal highness at court. This lady was the
daughter of Flora, Countess of Loudoun, and of Earl Moira, a
distinguished soldier and statesman, who had been Governor-
general of India, was created Marquis of Hastings, and died at
Malta while he was eovernor-o;eneral there. .She was dearly
beloved by her relations, highly accomplished, and with reputation
unblemished; and though her family had become "Conservative"
in politics, she occupied a position of confidence at the court.
Early in the year Lord Melbourne informed Sir James Clarke,
the court physician, of a communication made by Lady Tavistock,
one of the ladies of the Duchess of Kent's household, that the
personal appearance of Lady Flora Hastings had given rise to
the suspicion that she might have been privately married. This
was a most serious imputation, and the more painful because it
seemed to be somewhat justified by the appearance referred to,
which had been noticed by the physician, who also attributed it
to the cause that had been su<roested. The Duchess of Kent
expressed her entire disbelief in any imputation against the
character of the lady, and in the conclusions which had been
stated; but the imputation had been made, and farther inquiry
was therefore deemed necessary. Lady Flora, after firmly and
indignantly denying that there were any grounds for such a
suspicion, submitted to an examination, which proved that the
peculiarity referred to was caused by an internal disorder, and
that there were no reasons for the insinuation that had been
made. The Marchioness of Hastings, naturally indignant at the
proceedings, and at the clumsy and blundering manner in which
her daughter had been made a victim to suspicions, magnified
POLITICAL TROUBLES.
239
into accusations by Whig ladies of the court, demanded further
inquiry into the origin of the slander, and called for the dismissal
of Sir James Clarke as physician to her Majesty. These
demands were not complied with, as Lord Melbourne considered
that they were not reasonable, and the letter to the Queen, in
which they were made, did not make them appear so. Lady
Tavistock, on the other hand, declared that what had been said
and done was for the honour of her Majesty and the character
of the household, that the suspicion entertained should not be
permitted to grow and spread. In writing an account of what
was called "the Palace Conspiracy" to her uncle at Brussels, the
unfortunate Lady Flora mentioned the tenderness of the Duchess
of Kent, of whom she said that a mother could not have been
kinder to her, while the Queen not only endeavoured to show
her regret by her civility to her, but " expressed it handsomely
with tears in her eyes." Whether the disease from which the
poor lady was suffering had been increased by the anxiety and
agitation cannot be declared, but she died four months afterwards
at the palace, at the age of thirty-three.
The Tories, however, soon had another party cry of " Whig
conspiracy," which immediate events gave them the opportunity
of using with more or less effect.
On the 5th of February parliament was opened by the
Queen, and the royal speech referred to events in Afghanistan
which might make military operations necessary. Lower Canada
was still in a disturbed condition, and hostile incursions had
been made into Upper Canada by some lawless inhabitants
of the United States of America. The Chartist agitation was
also referred to, as its leaders in some parts of the country endea-
voured to excite larofe assemblies to disobedience and resistance
to the law, and to recommend dangerous and illegal practices,
240
QUEEN VICTORIA.
for the counteraction of which the efficiency of the law, the
good sense and right disposition of the people, and their
attachment to the principles of justice and their abhorrence
of violence and disorder would be depended on. The affairs
of Ireland were still a cause of considerable agitation, and
Daniel O'Connell was constantly maintaining it by addressing
vast meetings, and using expressions of profuse loyalty to the
Oueen, while denouncing the Tories and the Orange societies,
among whom there were speakers as violent and abusive against
the Oueen and her government. A measure relating to Irish
municipal corporations was promised in the speech from the
throne, and reference was made to further measures of law
reform.
On the 6th of April there was a debate on the ministerial
proposal temporarily to suspend the constitution of the Jamaica
government, because of the alleged excesses and lawlessness
of the planters. This was opposed by the Radicals, because
of its alleged violation of Liberal principles, and their influence
added to Conservative opposition left the government with
only a majority of five. The ministers, who had contemplated
a similar measure for Canada, therefore resigned, and Lord
Melbourne advised her Majesty to send for the Duke of
Wellington, who referred her to Sir Robert Peel. For two
years the Oueen had been in almost daily communication
and in the most friendly relation to Lord Melbourne, in whom
she had implicit confidence, and most of the ladies who were
her friends and attendants in her household were, of course,
included in her favourable estimate of the only ministry she
had known. It probably did not much mitigate the some-
what constrained and reserved manner of Peel to be told by
the Queen that she much regretted having to part with her
MISUNDERSTANDING WITH PEEL. 24 I
late minister, in whom she had confidence, but it was frankly
said, and Peel was a man who appreciated frankness and
that personal loyalty which gave sentiment to the Queen's
regret. He lived to acquire the same confidence and the
same high estimation, and it may be assumed that his already
strong loyalty was not diminished by the young sovereign's
outspoken expressions of favour to his opponents. Unfortu-
nately for his immediate chance of a similar distinction, when
he undertook to form a ministry, and sent to her Majesty a
list of those who would be invited to become his colleagues, he
also required that some of the first ladies of the royal house-
hold should resign their position, because of their relationship
to members of the previous cabinet. The reason for this
was that Ireland was becoming, or had become, the chief
difficulty of the government, and indeed of any probable Con-
servative government, for the Whigs only held office by a
kind of hollow alliance with O'Connell; and the wife of Lord
Normanby, who had been Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and
the sister of Lord Morpeth, who had been Irish secretary
under the Whig government, were in close attendance and
companionship with the Queen.
It ought to have been made clear that the demand for the
dismissal of the ladies of the bed-chamber meant only the chief
ladies, for probably the Queen understood that she was to be
separated from all those ladies, members of her household, with
whom she had long been on terms of intimate companionship.
In a personal interview, however, Sir Robert had intimated that
it would be of great importance as an indication of her Majesty's
confidence if certain offices of the household of the higher rank,
which might not be voluntarily relinquished by the ladies holding
them, were subject to some change; and he afterwards told his
Vol. I. 31
242 QUEEN VICTORIA.
proposed colleagues that he meant only those of the rank of ladies
of the bed-chamber. The Queen stated in reply that she must
reserve the whole of these appointments to herself. There was
a slight touch of imperious temper here, and a touch of strong will,
for her Majesty felt strongly on the subject, and was perhaps
ruffled by a request which seemed, almost in the form of a demand,
to aim at her private friendships. At all events she wrote next day:
" The Queen, having considered the proposal made to her yester-
day by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the; ladies of the bed-chamber,
cannot consent to a course which she conceives to be contrary
to usage, and is repugnant to her feeling." To this Sir Robert
replied that he was reluctantly compelled by a sense of public
duty and the interest of her Majesty's service to adhere to his
opinion, and gratefully thanking her Majesty for the distinction
conferred on him of requiring his advice and assistance to form
an administration, it was his earnest prayer that whatever
arrangements her Majesty might be enabled to make for that
purpose might be most conducive to her personal comfort and
happiness and to the promotion of the public welfare. So
there was dignity on both sides, and the Melbourne ministry was
recalled, a minute being adopted at a cabinet meeting to the
effect that though the great offices of court and situations in the
household held by members of parliament should be included in
the political arrangements made on a change of administration, a
similar principle should not apply to the offices held by ladies in
her Majesty's household. It may be mentioned, however, that
it has since been the custom for the ladies holding the higher
offices to retire on a change of ministry.
It may be understood that the return of the Whig adminis-
tration— not, as Melbourne declared, because he sought office,
but because he would not hold back from assisting the sovereign
DISL 0 YA L MA NIFES TA TJONS. 243
when his services were required — gave new occasion for political
denunciation. O'Connell and others represented that the Queen,
by refusing the demands of the Tories that she should dismiss her
friends, had knowingly defeated Tory machinations and fully
purposed keeping the Whigs in power. Thus she was becoming
more and more identified with what was already a feeble, and,
in some respects, an incompetent government. The excitement
in London was very great, especially at the clubs and elsewhere,
where it was reported that at the Queen's ball on the 10th of
May her Majesty "had danced with Lady Normanby's son, and
the Tories had looked foolish."
Court entertainments and festivities had necessarily become
more frequent and more splendid since the coronation, and
the addresses of congratulation, the bestowal of peerages and
honours, and the royal receptions, assemblies, and visits that
followed. Even at Windsor — though the ordinary domestic life,
the morning's attention to the business of the state, the afternoon
rides or drives, the music and singing, the rather formal but yet
pleasantly friendly dinners, and the evening's conversation or
listening to the music of the band were resumed — there were
receptions of distinguished guests and pleasant quadrille parties,
in which the Queen took part. For a short time after the
political crisis just referred to there was some diminution in the
expressions of loyalty that greeted her when she appeared in
public. Some hostile hisses were heard amidst the acclamations
on one or two occasions, especially when she visited Ascot; but
they were to be attributed to violent partisans of the opposition,
who sought to discredit the Queen that they might injure the
ministry. The more ignorant of the public had expected that
the influence of the youthful and amiable sovereign would lead
to an immediate redress of all kinds of grievances.
244 QUEEN VICTORIA.
There was, therefore, some disappointment, which was
increased to a passing feeling of disloyalty by the representations
of unscrupulous partisans and scurrilous prints filled with shameful
insinuations against the Queen. But the loyalty of the nation
had been too personal and real a sentiment to be perverted; the
truthful character no less than the simple confiding manner of
Victoria appealed to the mass of the people, as it did to those
by whom she was immediately surrounded. The charm which
wrought on the hearts of all was no false spell, but was well
described by a writer whose somewhat cynical and critical
disposition had succumbed to it. " It is, in fact, the remark-
able union of naivete, kindness, and native good-nature with
propriety and dignity which makes her so admirable and so
endearing to those about her as she certainly is. I have been
repeatedly told that they ant all warmly attached to her, but
that all feel the impossibility of for a moment losing sight
of the respect which they owe her. She never ceases to be
a Queen, but is always the most charming, cheerful, obliging,
unaffected Queen in the world." At the same time her position
was one of increasing difficulty, if not of danger — danger to the
simplicity and truthfulness which were her happy characteristics
— danger also to that freshness of spirit which enables its
possessor to enjoy, because it forbids satiety. A court, be it
never so pure, is full of large or small anxieties and wearing
responsibilities for the mistress of it, and especially if she
be young and with a forthright conscientiousness of soul. Its
round of observances too may be deadening, and with a sense
of solitude amidst all the splendour, till the very amusements
and festivities become formalized into somewhat dreary and
heartless observances. The Queen herself has said, " A worse
school for a young girl, or one more detrimental to all natural
O'ER YOUNG TO MARRY.
245
feelings and affections, cannot well be imagined, than the position
of a Queen at eighteen, without experience and without a
husband to guide and support her. This the Queen can state
from painful experience, and she thanks God that none of her
dear daughters are exposed to such danger."
The prince, who had with manly modest independence
only occasionally sent his royal cousin a souvenir of his travels,
was not forgotten, but after her accession the Oueen had not
kept up her correspondence with him as she had done before
it, and this she much regretted at a later time. He was, so
to speak, a figure with the halo of sincere and loving interest
around it, but at present seen through the mist of indefinite
time and space. The sudden change from the secluded life
at Kensington to the independence of her position as Queen
Regnant at so early an age had, the Queen tells us, put all
ideas of marriage out of her mind.
It was not greatly to be wondered at, and we may surmise
that there existed that indefinable desire common to all youthful
maidens whose choice is made, and wrho know that the response
is waiting-, before binding engagement or betrothal, to take
a short flight of liberty without relinquishing the sweet sense
that there will soon come a time when a word shall be spoken
that will be a signal for voluntary return and happy self-
bestowal. Moreover, the Queen had had reasons for deferring
an engagement that must have meant early betrothal and
marriage. Her clear common -sense was concerned in the
perception that Prince Albert spoke English imperfectly, that
he needed to learn more of the language and the ways of
the country which would be the land of his adoption. Also,
young as she herself was to marry, he was two or three
months younger, and though he was for his age manly, accom-
246 QUEEN VICTORIA.
plished, and with a serene self-possession that became him
well, he yet was not old enough to be husband to a queen.
But many months had passed, and the youth who had gone
to complete his studies and to acquire more of princely know-
ledge, as well as to exercise princely virtues and strengthen
princely character, had been earnestly devoting himself to
these ends, and had become an able, self-reliant young man,
far-seeing, and with clear views of life, and above all with
the power of patience and a nobility above self-seeking. These
qualities were inseparable from a manly independence, which
required to be satisfied that so far as his relations to the
Oueen were concerned, his waiting would not be in vain.
In the early part of 1838 the King of the Belgians had
written to the Queen, and probably had then definitely referred to
the subject of the proposed marriage. In March the king
must have had some sanction from his niece to communicate
with Prince Albert on the same subject, and this communication
was made while the young princes were at Brussels before
going on their Swiss tour. Prince Albert looked at the question
from its most elevated and honourable point of view, and
when told that his youth would make it necessary to postpone
the marriage for a few years, he replied that he was ready
to submit to that delay if he had some certain assurance to
go upon; but if after waiting perhaps three years he should
find that the Oueen no longer desired the marriage, it would
place him in a very ridiculous position, and would to a certain
extent ruin all the prospects of his future life.
The king was greatly impressed with the character, attain-
ments, and manners of the prince, who had already so manly
an appearance that though he was not then nineteen he might
have been taken for two or three and twenty.
THE PRINCE IN ITALY. 247
The opinion expressed by the prince was endorsed by his
father the Duke of Coburg, who pointed out that should he
wait till he was twenty-two or twenty-three, he would be unable
to begin any new career, and his whole life would be marred if
the Oueen should change her mind. Of this, however, the
Oueen herself has said she never entertained any idea, and she
afterwards informed the prince that she would never have married
anyone else, a declaration emphasized years afterwards by the
admission that she could not even then think without indigna-
tion against herself of her wish to keep the prince waiting, at
the risk of ruining all his prospects for life, until she might feel
inclined to marry.
In the month of June, 1839, Ernest, the hereditary prince of
Coburg, came of age, and Prince Albert had, by special act oi
the legislature, been declared to be of age at the same time.
" Now," he wrote, " I am my own master, as I hope always to
be, and under all circumstances." In July the majority of the
princes had been celebrated at Coburg. Prince Albert and
his brother had parted with mutual grief, for the latter had
gone to pursue his military studies by taking service with the
Kino- of Saxonv at Dresden, and Prince Albert had, as we
have seen, been making a journey in Italy, where he had the
advantage of being accompanied by Baron Stockmar, and, at
Florence, by Lieutenant (afterwards Major-general) Seymour,
who read English with him, and whose refinement of manners and
character so well suited the prince that they became firm friends.
The days spent in Italy were to good purpose, and the prince-
lived in his accustomed simple manner. Early rising, study
from six to noon, a simple mid-day meal, a visit to some gallery
of art or public building, a long walk or ride into the country,
or two or three hours devoted to playing the organ in the church
248 QUEEN VICTORIA.
of the Badia, where the passing monks would stay to listen to
the music of the foreign prince, whose performance equalled that
o{ their own organ-master — such were the usual occupations,
with occasional attendance at a ball or some assembly, invitations
to which could not be refused. When the pleasant working
holiday was over the prince was about to settle down at
Rosenau to complete his English studies, but his father called
upon him to accompany him to Carlsbad. At the beginning
of October we find him with his brother at Brussels, whence
they were to pa)- another visit to England, the prince intending
to tell the Queen that if she could not now make up her
mind she must understand that he could no longer wait for
a decision, as he had done at a former period when the mar-
riage was first talked about. They brought with them a
guarded letter from King Leopold, who recommended them to
the " bienveillance " of his dearest Victoria, saying, "They are
good, honest creatures, deserving your kindness, and not
pedantic, but really sensible and trustworthy. I have told them
that your great wish is that they should be quite at their ease
with you. I am sure that if you have anything to recommend
to them they will be most happy to learn it from you." The
king probably had made a shrewd guess that matters would be
brought to a happy crisis, though the prince went under the
impression " that the Queen wished the marriage to be broken
off, and that for four years she could think of no marriage." To
this effect he had written to his old and intimate friend Prince
von Lowenstein, and he perhaps had good reason for it in the
representations made by King Leopold, as repeating those
of the Queen herself; but a good many changes had taken place
since the cousins had last met. The mutual distrust of political
parties was increasing, and it was more and more difficult for
THE PRINCES AT WINDSOR. 249
the sovereign to hold a position of neutrality. There were many
reasons in favour of the young Queen having a suitable pro-
tector, with the right to be constantly near her. Other alliances
had already been proposed, and might soon be pressed upon her
attention. The change that had taken place in the young-
princes themselves was remarkable, and Albert's appearance was
so striking for its manly beauty and for the expression of self-
control, gentleness, and high intelligence, that doubts founded
on his youth and inexperience were not likely to last.
On the 1 2th of October, the second day after their arrival, it
was evident that whatever reasons the Queen may have had for
demanding delay were destined to give way before the personal
influence of the prince. "Albert's beauty is most striking, and
he is most amiable and unaffected," her Majesty wrote to her
uncle, " in short very fascinating. The young men are very
amiable, delightful companions, and I am very happy to have
them here." To this the king replied, "Albert is a very
agreeable companion. His manners are so gentle and har-
monious that one likes to have him near oneself. . . . May
Albert be able to strew roses without thorns on the pathway
of life of our good Victoria! He is well qualified to do so."
Before this letter reached her, however, " our good Victoria "
had wisely acted according to her new impulse. Lord Mel-
bourne, Lord Clanricarde, Lord and Lady Granville, Baron
B run now, and Lord Normanby were staying at the castle, and
the daily routine was for the princes to pay the Queen a visit
in her own room after breakfast, and at two o'clock to take
luncheon with her and the Duchess of Kent. In the afternoon
nearly everybody went out riding, forming a large cavalcade;
and every evening there was a great dinner, with a dance
afterwards, on three evenings a week.
Vol. I. 32
250 QUEEN VICTORIA.
It is on record that Lord Melbourne had sometime
previously spoken to the Queen on the subject of her probable
marriage, but whether this was so or not, on the 14th of October
her Majesty told him that she had made up her mind. Such
an acute observer — and one too who watched with loving- and
guarding eyes— was probably not much surprised, and he cer-
tainly received the news with great satisfaction. " I think it
will be very well received," he said, " for I hear that there is
an anxiety now that it should be, and I am very glad of it;"
adding in a paternal tone, "You will be much more comfortable,
for a woman cannot stand alone for any time in whatever position
she may be."
An intimation had next to be given to the prince, ior royal
etiquette debarred him from speaking; and Baron Alvensleben,
the master of the horse to the Duke of Coburg, who had
accompanied the prince to England, was charged with a message
that the Queen wished to speak to him next day.
The prince, with his brother, was out early the next morning,
for it was a hunting day; but he returned at noon, and half-an-
hour afterwards obeyed the summons to the Queen's room,
where she was alone. The first few words of the interview
must have been the prelude to other words — spoken, perhaps,
with hesitation, certainly with modest emotion, but as certainly
without affectation. The Queen's frank, truthful nature, and the
delicacy that belonged to her purely womanly character, would
have made her lovely, even if she had not been already loved.
It is, of course, chiefly from letters that we have any of these
side-lights which show us what took place at this happy time.
In one written to his beloved grandmother at Gotha the prince
said: "The Queen declared to me, in a genuine outburst of love
and affection, that I had gained her whole heart, and would
THE WOOING. HAPPY DAYS.
251
make her intensely happy if I would make her the sacrifice of
sharing her life with her, for she said she looked on it as a
sacrifice; the only thing which troubled her was that she did not
think she was worthy of me. The joyous openness of manner
in which she told me this quite enchanted me, and I was quite
carried away by it."
That the prince received the sweet intimation as a lover
should, with the warmest demonstration of kindness and affection,
is known on the best authority. " How I will strive to make
him feel as little as possible the great sacrifice he has made! I
told him it was a great sacrifice on his part, but he would not
allow it," the Queen wrote in her journal. " I then told him to
fetch Ernest, which he did, who congratulated us both, and
seemed very happy."
" I write to you," says the prince in a letter to Baron
Stockmar, " on one of the happiest days of my life, to give you
the most welcome news possible. Victoria is so good and kind
to me that I am often at a loss to believe that such affection
should be shown to me. I know the great interest you take in
my happiness, and therefore pour out my heart to you.
More or more seriously I cannot write to you, for at this
moment I am too bewildered.
" Das Auge sieht den Himmel offen
Es schwelgt das Herz in Seligkeit."1
To this dear old confidential friend of them both the Queen
had already written : " I do feel so guilty, I know not how to
begin my letter, but I think the news it will contain will be
sufficient to ensure your forgiveness. Albert has completely
1 " Heaven opens on the raptured eye,
And flooded is the heart with bliss."
— Schiller's Song oj the Bell.
2^2 QUEEN VICTORIA.
won my heart, and all was settled between us this morning-.
I feel certain he will make me very happy. I wish
I could say I feel as certain of my making him happy, but I
shall do my best."
To her uncle Leopold the Queen had also written on the
same day, telling' of her happiness, speaking of the kindness and
encouragement shown by Lord Melbourne, and saying that it
had been thought better that the marriage should take place
soon after the meeting of parliament, about the beginning of
February. The letter concluded by saying: " I wish to keep
the dear young gentlemen here till the end of next month.
Lrnest's sincere pleasure gives me great delight. He does so
adore dearest Albert."
The king replied: "Nothing could have given me greater
pleasure than your dear letter. I had, when I learnt your
decision, almost the feeling of old Simeon, ' Now, lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace.' . . . You say most amiably
that you consider it a sacrifice on the part of Albert. This is
true in many points, because his position will be a difficult one,
but much, I may say all, will depend on your affection for him.
If you love him, and are kind to him, he will easily bear the
bothers of his position, and there is a steadiness, and at the same
time a cheerfulness in his character which will facilitate this."
It was afterwards determined that, instead of waiting to make
the announcement first to parliament, the Queen should, after
the departure of her cousins, assemble the privy-council, and
make the announcement to them.
The princes were to leave Windsor on the 14th of November,
and the intervening days were very happy; the young lovers
talking over future arrangements, among which it was settled
that Prince Albert should not take anv title, but that he should
CONFLICTING EMOTIONS.
253
naturally have precedence of everyone else after the Queen. It
was a brief but happy wooing, and there is a tone of joy in the
young Queen's brief records of it — a pervading sense of the
sweetness of mutual affection, of the heart-glow and comfort of
belonging to somebody who is dearest.
A battalion of the Rifle Brigade was quartered at Windsor,
under the command of General, afterwards Sir, George Brown,
and so there was a review in the Home Park by the Queen, in
her Windsor uniform, a jacket with deep tabs, a black silk neck-
cloth covering the shapely neck, and a cap, with a big peak,
almost concealing the fair hair; the prince cantering by her side
in the green uniform of the Coburg troops, and taking care to
wrap the dear little fiancee in her cape, the weather being stormy,
wet, and cold.
They were delightful days — days to be remembered with
tears in time of after sorrows, but yet with a blessed hope of
reunion. There was much letter-writing and letter-reading, and
from Stockmar comes a long epistle to the prince full of good
advice, exacting reminders, and deep affection; letters from
Coburg and from Gotha reminding the prince that he would
have to leave his old home, his country, his relatives, his life of
freedom and leisure, and devote himself to the onerous duties
of a great position, and to the continuous effort to secure the
confidence and promote the welfare of a people who for some
time to come would regard him as a foreigner. But he had set
his heart to the fulfilment of the duties that would fall to him,
and he shared the opinion expressed by King Leopold: if the
Queen loved him he could face all the difficulties of his position.
On the 14th of November the prince left Windsor for
Coburg, where the rejoicings on the announcement of the com-
ing marriage were most enthusiastic. The prince himself was
2 54 QUEEN \1C TORI A.
evidently happy in the love of the bride who awaited him, and
he appeared mostly to be in the best of spirits; but he was
necessarily subjected to many conflicting emotions.
"I think I shall be very happy, for Victoria possesses all the
qualities which make a home happy," he wrote to his friend
Ldwenstein. To the Duchess of Kent, who had from the first
taken the prince to her heart as a son, he wrote in reply to a
letter from her: "What you say about my poor little bride sitting
all alone in her room, silent and sad, has touched me to the
heart. Oh that I might fly to her side and cheer her!" The
duchess appears to have asked him to send her as a souvenir
something that he had worn, and the prince says: 'T send you
the ring which you gave me at Kensington on Victoria's birthday
in 1836. From that time it has never left my finger. Its very
shape proclaims that it has been squeezed in the grasp of many
a manly hand; but the name is Victoria's too, and I beg you
to wear it in remembrance of her and of myself.'' And at a
later date, during the excitement at Coburg, he also earnestly
referred to the multitude of emotions which overwhelmed him :
"Hope, love for dear Victoria, the pain of leaving home, the
parting from very dear kindred, the entrance into a new circle
of relations all meeting me with the utmost kindness, prospects
the most brilliant, the dread of being unequal to my position,
the demonstrations of so much attachment on the part of the
loyal Coburgers, English enthusiasm on the tiptoe of expectation,
the multiplicity of duties to be fulfilled, and, to crown all, so
much laudation on every side, that I could sink to the earth for
very shame." "Love letters" now travelled between London and
Coburg, and had even anticipated his arrival at Coburg, for from
Wiesbaden, when he was on the way home, he had written:
' That I am the object of so much love and devotion often comes
THE QUEEN TELLS THE PRIVY-COUNCIL. 255
over me as something I can hardly realize. My prevailing feel-
ing is, What am I that such happiness should be mine? For
excess of happiness it is for me to know that I am so dear to
you." And again, from Coburg on the 7th of December: " I
cannot even yet clearly picture to myself that 1 am to be indeed
so happy as to be always near you, always your protector."
From the elder brother, Ernest, the Queen had also received
a charming manly letter, full of tender homage and of unstinted
praise for the brother whom he held so dear, and to part from
whom he felt would be a great grief.
The Queen had now to perform the trying duty of making a
declaration of her intended marriage. On the 23d of November
eighty members of the privy-council assembled in the "Bow-
room" at Buckingham Palace. Precisely at two o'clock the
Queen went in. "The room was full," she records in her
journal; "but I hardly knew who was there. Lord Melbourne
I saw looking kindly at me with tears in his eyes, but he was
not near me. I then read my short declaration. I felt my
hands shook, but I did not make one mistake. I felt most
happy and thankful when it was over. Lord Lansdowne then
rose, and in the name of the privy-council asked that this most
gracious and most welcome communication might be printed!
I then left the room. The Duke of Cambridge came into the
small library where I was standing and wished me joy." The
Queen wore a bracelet with the Prince's picture, and this she
says "seemed to give me courage at the council."
If any doubts existed as to the manner in which the intelligence
of the approaching marriage would be received by the country
they were soon dissipated. The announcement was received with
cordial congratulations on all sides, and with demonstrations of
rejoicing, which showed that the people were animated by heart-
2=; 6 QUEEN VICTORIA.
felt wishes lor the happiness of their sovereign- sentiments
which were not diminished by the reilection that we should now
finally get rid of Hanover, where the king (the still detested
Duke of Cumberland) was indulging in abusive comments on
men and affairs in England.
The anxieties of the Queen, however, were not half over.
On the 1 6th of January, 1840, she went to open parliament,
and not only the House of Lords but the streets leading to
it were crowded, while there was a revival of the enthusiastic
welcome which her Majesty had been wont to receive. This
augured well for the national interest in the intended marriage
which was now to be announced to parliament; and the occasion
was one which may well have moved the hearts of the people,
as the sovereign, now only in her twenty-first year, went to
say with modest mien, and with a thrill of emotion, but
with no uncertain or inaudible voice, " Since you were last
assembled I have declared my intention of allying myself in
marriage with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
I humbly implore that the divine blessing may prosper this
union, and render it conducive to the interests of my people
as well as to my own domestic happiness; and it will be to
me a source of the most lively satisfaction to find the resolu-
tion I have taken approved by my parliament."
As Lord Melbourne had prognosticated, the marriage was
popular because it was well understood to be " a love match,"
and not an alliance for merely dynastic or political reasons,
and it soon became the subject of exuberant congratulation
and sympathy; nor were there any other expressions than those
of the expectation of domestic happiness and public advantage
in the addresses that followed the royal speech in both houses
of parliament.
SLANDERS AGAINST PRINCE ALBERT. 257
Sir Robert Peel, as representing the opposition, claimed
the right of joining most warmly in the congratulations offered
to her Majesty, and his speech was remarkably felicitous. But
there were still important matters to be debated, in relation
to the prince who was to occupy so distinguished a position,
and these were made unnecessarily painful to the Queen, not
only because of opposition or contention, but in consequence of
some inexcusable blundering.
In the declaration of the marriage made to the privy-council
the statement that Prince Albert was a Protestant had been
omitted, and this was taken hold of, in spite of the fact that the
prince and all his house were well known to be Protestants.
The prince pointed out in a letter to the Queen, that to the
house of Saxony, Protestantism, in a measure, owed its existence;
that there had not been a Catholic or Papistical princess intro-
duced into the family since the appearance of Luther in 1 52 1,
and that the Elector Frederick the Wise was the very first
Protestant that ever lived. That his future wife and queen,
at all events, might know and judge for herself what his creed
and religious principles 'were, the prince sent her the confession
of faith which he had worked out for himself in 1835, and
had then publicly avowed in the High Church at Coburg.
The Duke of Wellington, as well as others, argued that the
word "Protestant" should be inserted; and though it was repre-
sented that the addition was superfluous, and Brougham pointed
out that though an English sovereign was not forbidden by
law to marry a Catholic, such a marriage meant simply the
forfeiture of the crown: the addition was made. The calumny
then changed sides, following perhaps the malignant assertion
of the Duke of Cumberland; and the prince was spoken of as
a sectarian, as a freethinker, as a man destitute of religious
Vol. I. 33
2 ^8 QUEEN VICTORIA.
principles. All these suggestions died the death of lies that
cannot bear the light.
When the settlement of the prince's annuity was brought to
the vote of parliament, a proposal of ,.£50,000 was met by
an amendment from Mr. Hume that it should be reduced to
£2 1,000; but this being negatived, Colonel Sibthorp, supported
by Sir Robert Peel, several leaders of the opposition, and the
economical Whigs, who had sided with some of the Radicals,
proposed another amendment, making the amount /, 30,000,
which was carried after considerable asperity of debate. Next
came the question of the position the prince was to hold,
with regard to his precedence as husband of the Queen. No
provision existed in the constitution for the husband of a queen
remnant, though the wife of a king stood next her husband
in dignity; and instead of dealing with the exceptional circum-
stances at once, the ministry only introduced a bill for the
naturalization of the prince, and this left the whole question
of the prince's rank or position to be dealt with by letters-
patent, a royal prerogative which enabled the Queen to give
him precedence only in England.
Lord Torrington and Colonel (afterwards General) Grey had
gone to Gotha to escort Prince Albert to England for the
marriage, taking three of the Oueen's carriages with them. On
the 23d the prince was invested with the order of the Garter
by command of the Queen, the duke, his father (himself a knight
of the order), having been authorized to invest, assisted by Prince
Leiningen. There were great festivities afterwards, and then
came the farewells and the journey to England, whither Prince
Albert was to be accompanied by the duke and Prince Ernest,
attended by the ducal master of the horse and other noblemen and
gentlemen, as well as by Lord Torrington, Colonel Grey, and
ARRIVAL OF PRINCE ALBERT. 259
Mr. Seymour, a party of twelve occupying six travelling carriages,
and followed by two fourgons. At Aix-la-Chapelle the prince
heard of the proceedings in parliament. Stockmar, who had
returned to England to assist in making some arrangements for
the royal household, wrote to him explaining the effects of
parties in England in relation to the vote on the annuity. The
prince understood the conditions pretty well, and though he was
provoked that there should have been contention, and what
seemed like squabbling on the subject, which he thought made
it personally degrading to him, he was not angry with any
particular party, and only expressed regret that the diminution
of the amount would leave him less to spend on the promotion
of art and literature. He had be^un to face the troubles and
responsibilities of his position, and to face them with calmness
and cool judgment. He wrote to the Queen that the news had
had an unpleasant effect upon him when it reached him on his
journey, and that people in parliament seemed to have made
themselves unnecessarily disagreeable, but concluded with, "All
I have to say is that while I possess your love they cannot
make me unhappy."
He had been under the depressing doubt, whether the
opposition in parliament and the calumnies directed against
him were not indications of popular objection to the marriage,
but the moment he arrived at Dover this doubt was dispelled.
He and his party had been suffering considerably from a
rough passage, but there was a great crowd of people at Dover,
and with determined energy he shook off his malady and
stood on the deck to respond to their genuine and hearty English
welcome. These Greetings attended him, and even increased in
ardour during his journey, till, on the 8th of February, he
reached Buckingham Palace, from Canterbury, where the party
260 QUEEN VICTORIA.
had stayed on the previous night, and whence the prince had
despatched a loving message to her Majesty, and sent on as
avant-couriers his faithful valet Cart, and his favourite greyhound
"Eos," which had been with him in England in 1836, and had
then become an attached retainer of the Oueen.
The marriage of her Majesty Victoria, Queen of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to (Francis) Albert
Augustus Charles Emmanuel, Prince of Coburg and Gotha, was
to be solemnized on Monday, the 10th of February. It was
half-past four in the afternoon of Saturday that the duke and
the princes had arrived at Buckingham Palace, where they were
received at the hall door by the Queen and the Duchess of Kent,
attended by the whole household. At five, the lord chancellor
administered the oaths of naturalization to the prince, and there
was a state dinner in the evening. On the next day (Sunday)
divine service was held in the palace by the Bishop of London,
and there was an exchange of the wedding gifts. The prince had
brought for his bride a beautilul sapphire and diamond brooch,
and he received from her the star and bad^e of the Garter and
the Garter itself set in diamonds. In the afternoon the prince
went out to pay the usual formal visits to members of the royal
family, and the crowds that filled all the approaches to the palace
at once manifested by their acclamations that they at all events
approved of his personal appearance.
In a very few days Stockmar, who had been anxiously ob-
serving events, was able to say, " The prince is liked. Those
who are not carried away by party feelings like him greatly."
The appreciation of his high and noble qualities grew rapidly,
from the hour that he stood with calm and princely mien and
thoughtful happy face before the altar, to place the wedding-ring
upon the hand of her he loved. The general sorrow shown by
THE ROYAL WEDDING. 26 1
the people of Gotha on the departure of their young prince had
manifested how deeply he was beloved by all around him there,
and the grief of the grandmother who held him so dear was acute.
Even on the morning of his wedding he remembered that a
message from him at that time would give her comfort, and he
wrote: "In less than three hours I shall stand before the altar
with my dear bride! In these solemn moments I must once
more ask your blessing, which I am well assured I shall receive,
and which will be my safeguard and my future joy. I must end.
God be my stay!"
The marriage was to take place at the Chapel Royal, St.
James's Palace, at one o'clock, and at half-past twelve the Queen
left Buckingham Palace, with her mother and the Duchess of
Sutherland in the same carriage. Her Majesty wore a rich
white satin dress trimmed with orange blossoms, with a wreath
of orange blossoms, over which a beautiful veil of Honiton lace
hung down on each shoulder, but did not conceal her face. She
wore the collar of the Garter and a diamond necklace and ear-
rings. The Queen on leaving her apartment went to her carriage
leaning on the arm of the Earl of Uxbridge, the lord chamber-
lain, supported by the Duchess of Kent, and followed by a page
of honour, and was preceded by the Earls of Belfort, Surrey,
and Albemarle, Lord Torrington, and other officers of the house-
hold. There were seven carriages, that of the Oueen coming
last, and the preceding ones conveying gentlemen- ushers,
equerries, and grooms-in-waiting, great officers of the house-
hold, bed-chamber women, maids of honour, and ladies-in-
waiting. The cortege was attended by a full guard of honour,
but the carriages were drawn by only two horses each, and
without the usual rich caparisons used on state occasions. It
moved slowly with its cavalry escort, and shortly before one
20 2 QUEEN VICTORIA.
o'clock reached St. fames's Palace. The Oueen was conducted
to her apartment behind the throne-room, the maids of honour
and train-bearers being in attendance. The princely bridegroom,
with his attendant train, had of course reached the palace some
time before, attended by the suite from Saxe-Coburg, and accom-
panied by his father and brother. He wore the uniform of a
British field-marshal, and had no other decoration than the collar
and jewel of the Garter, with the star of the order and the
Garter itself (the presents from the Queen) set in diamonds.
The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha wore a dark-green uniform
with red facings, high boots, and besides the collar and star of
the order of the Garter, the star of his own order of Coburg.
Prince Ernest was in lisjdit-blue cavalry uniform with silver orna-
ments, and carried a light helmet. He wore the grand cross of
a foreign order. The lord-chamberlain and other great officers
of the household, with Lord Torrington, who wore the grand
cross of the order of Saxe-Coburg, had conducted Prince Albert
and his suite from Buckingham Palace before the Oueen left
it; and on descending the grand staircase the prince was
received with acclamations by the select few who stood behind
the yeomen of the guard. Trumpets sounded, colours were
lowered, and the escort presented arms as the prince entered
his carriage with his father and brother, the attendants following
in two other carriages, and a squadron of Life Guards accom-
panying them to St. James's Palace. The carriages were
closed and the journey was a short one, so that only a few
among the vast crowd which had assembled recognized the
prince, or knew that the bridegroom was on his way to await
the royal bride. The lord -chamberlain had then the prince
at St. James's Palace, and returned to conduct her Majesty
thither, amidst the vast multitude which had assembled in St.
BEFORE THE ALTAR. 263
James's Park, and in the vicinities of both palaces; while pecple
were still thronging jn great numbers towards Carlton Terrace
and the foot of Constitution Hill that they might see the royal
procession on the return from St. James's. But the crowd was
orderly and good-humoured, and the police performed their
cluties with equal good temper and discretion, and though the
crush was tremendous there were only some casualties of a
somewhat ludicrous character, chiefly caused by the futile efforts
of a few people to obtain a view of the procession by climbing
the trees. The enthusiasm with which the Oueen was received
brought a smile and a look of grateful recognition to her face,
which was paler than usual, and naturally wore a serious and
somewhat anxious expression.
While her Majesty remained within her private apartment,
the procession which was to accompany her to the chapel was
marshalled in the throne-room, and the principal persons who
were to compose the respective processions then assembled
in the presence-chamber, that they might fall into their places,
and pass in proper order through Queen Anne's drawing-room,
and the guard or armoury room, into the vestibule, down the
grand staircase, and along the colonnade to the chapel.
A fanfare of trumpets and a roll of drums, at twenty-five
minutes past twelve, heralded the approach of the bridegroom,
who, preceded by gentlemen of honour and heralds, supported
by his father and brother, and attended by the officers of their
suite, entered the chapel amidst great acclamations, which
were chiefly directed to the prince himself, whose appearance
elicited general admiration. His royal highness, bowing to the
peers in acknowledgment of their salutations, was conducted to
the chair provided for him. He walked up the aisle carrying
a book in his right hand, and having reached the haut pas,
264 QUEEN VICTORIA.
kissed the hand of the queen-dowager, and bowed to the arch-
bishops and the dean. An organ voluntary was performed by
Sir George Smart, until a fresh blare of trumpets and beating
of drums announced that her Majesty was approaching, and the
lord-chamberlain and the lord-steward having conducted the
prince to the altar, prepared to conduct the Queen. The royal
procession entered the chapel, preceded by the knight-marshal,
pursuivants, heralds, and pages of honour. Lord Melbourne
carried the sword of state before her Majesty, whose train was
borne by twelve bridesmaids, most of them the ladies who had
attended her at the coronation.
Though acclamations greeted some members of the royal
family, all interest was naturally centred first on the Queen, and,
secondly, on the company of beautiful maidens, who, attired in
white, with wreaths of roses, kept their attention fixed on their
royal mistress, who walked up the aisle without returning any
salutations, and knelt on her footstool in private prayer before
taking her seat. After a few seconds her Majesty rose and
advanced with Prince Albert to the communion-table, when the
Archbishop of Canterbury at once commenced the marriage
service, which was strictly according to the rubric, the Queen
promising, as a wife, to love, honour, and obey; and the prince
to love, comfort, honour, and keep her as a husband should; both
bride and bridegroom speaking the " I will" in tones that could
be heard, and the Duke of Sussex giving away the bride in the
good old fashion. After the ring had been placed on the Queen's
finger, and the concluding prayer had been offered by the arch-
bishop, the park and Tower guns fired a royal salute, in answer
to a semaphore signal, and the service concluded with the Dais
misereatur performed by the organ and choir, and the remainder
of the service as prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer.
THE WEDDING-RING. SUNSHINE. 265
The members of the royal family near the altar then paid their
congratulations to the royal bride, the Duke of Sussex kissing
her with paternal affection. The Queen then hastily crossed to
where the queen-dowager was standing and kissed her. The
processions returned in much the same order as that in which
they had entered the chapel, with the important exception that
her Majesty walked with his royal highness her husband,
who held her hand in his in such a way as to display the
wedding-ring.
The cheering, clapping of hands, and waving of handkerchiefs,
as the royal bride and bridegroom and their brilliant retinue
entered the colonnade of the palace, was vehement and continuous,
and it broke out with creat vigour as the Duke of Wellington
appeared, though he had no personal part in the procession.
In the throne-room the attestation was made and the marriage
register was signed, and the brilliant company then returned
to Buckingham Palace, amidst the cheering of a vast assem-
blage of the people who awaited the royal pair. On reaching
Buckingham Palace the prince led in his bride with graceful
pride, and the number of privileged spectators within the hall
received them with a ringing welcome. The Queen, no
longer pale, but with a blush that heightened the happy
and radiant expression of her face, acknowledged the greeting
with bows and smiles, and the royal and noble party, which
had been joined by Viscount Palmerston and Lord John
Russell, with some other invited guests, partook of the
wedding breakfast, after which, at a quarter to four o'clock,
the Queen and the Prince departed for Windsor amidst the
vociferous acclamation of the dense masses of people who
still waited to give expression to their loyal good wishes.
The early part of the February day had been wet, murky, and
Vol. I. 34
266 QUEEN VICTORIA.
lowering, but as the royal bride left Buckingham Palace the
sun shone out, the mist cleared, and amidst cheerful bright-
ness and the continuous sounds of rejoicing the royal pair,
with their attendants, reached Eton. The college welcome was
expressed, not only by jubilant shouts, but by a great triumphal
arch in form of a Grecian portico, bedecked with flags, illu-
minated at night with 5000 coloured lamps, and bearing on its
pediment the royal arms and the legend "Gratulatio Victorian et
Alberto." Eton scholars shouted themselves hoarse, the college
and town were illuminated, and festivities were the order of the
evening. At Windsor the bride and bridegroom were awaited
by throngs of people, and the streets were decorated with flags,
wreaths, and transparencies. At twenty minutes before seven
the royal carriage and its escort arrived in the High Street. A
(light of rockets had announced their approach, and by that time
the town was brilliant with illuminations. The royal carriage
slowly passed through the assembled crowds, and amidst over-
whelming demonstrations of loyalty and rejoicing, and when
the last acknowledgments of the Queen and the Prince were
made, and the royal pair had entered the castle, the people of
Windsor continued to celebrate the happy occasion, several
dinners being given at the principal taverns and at private
houses, and generous provision having been made for a good
substantial meal for the poorer inhabitants.
On the 1 2th of P"ebruary the Duchess of Kent, the Duke
and the hereditary Prince of Coburg, and the whole court
followed to Windsor. There were two days of festivity, with
dancing in the evening; and on the 14th it was time to return
to London to receive addresses from parliament and almost
every public body in England, to pay state visits to the theatres,
and to commence a series of receptions, assemblies, and enter-
STATE FESTIVITIES. POPULAR FEELING. 267
tainments which were regarded as necessary celebrations of the
royal marriage.
On the 19th the Queen held a levee, and was led in by the
Prince, who then took the place on her Majesty's left hand
which he always afterwards occupied at state ceremonials.
The great dinners, state balls, concerts, and receptions of
royal and distinguished visitors continued, not only during the
time immediately following the royal wedding festivities, but for
successive seasons, and the round of splendid hospitality was in
some quarters made the subject of bitter censure; the lavish
expenditure for these entertainments being contrasted with the
distress and want arising from depression of trade and the need
of broader measures of political economy and popular repre-
sentation. The country was agitated, the public mind excited,
and the "extravagance and luxury of the court" was a text
ready to the hand of the disaffected and the uninformed. It was
thought that cries for "the cheap loaf," for the relief of factory
hands, for the amelioration of the suffering poor, were to be
emphasized by pointing to the magnificence of royal assemblies.
When it was discovered that the cost incurred for these
splendours was not sent in as a bill for parliament to pay, and
that the Queen sacrificed much of the rest and peace which
she would have desired — especially after she was engaged in
maternal duties as well as the duties of state, — for the purpose
of stimulating trade by a succession of state festivities, the
adverse feeling subsided. It was known at last that the object
of the Queen and the Prince was to encourage the spending oi
money on British productions, and this was particularly mani-
fested on several occasions. One grand ball given at Coven t
Garden Theatre in May, 1842, for the relief of the Spitalfields
weavers, was attended in state by the Queen and Prince Albert,
268 QUEEN VICTORIA.
and the Queen had almost invariably set the example of wearing
silk, satin, and other materials of British manufacture. A
fortnight before the " Spitalfields" ball, however, there had been
given at Buckingham Palace a Bal CostumS of such magnificence
that it became historical as the most superb entertainment
known in modern times.
The " Oueen's Plantagenet Ball," as it came to be called, was
organized by her Majesty and Prince Albert for the express
purpose of helping trade in London, which was greatly de-
pressed; and the large sums of money expended by those who
were privileged to attend it must, at least, have had some effect
in temporarily reviving some of the suffering industries.
Her Majesty was to represent Queen Philippa; and Prince
Albert, Edward the Third; and the court was to appear in the
court dress of that period. The preparations were on a great
and sumptuous scale. Buckingham Palace had undergone some
alterations, which were also great improvements. The library
leading across the sculpture-gallery to the hall, the grand stair-
case of white marble, the lofty green drawing room occupying
the centre of the eastern front, opening on the upper story
of the portico and decorated in green satin with gold, and
mirrored panels; and the throne-room, with its richly em-
blazoned coved ceiling, its sculptured frieze of white marble, and
its hangings of crimson satin, were furnished and redecorated
in accordance with the period to be represented. A throne of
purple velvet with crowns, shields, and arms wrought in gold
stood in an alcove in the throne -room. A great richly
adorned tent, formerly belonging to Tippoo Saib, was raised
beneath the Corinthian portico adjoining the green drawing-
room. The windows were removed, and the tent was lit by an
" Indian sun" eight feet in diameter set round a chandelier.
I
<
ID
in
z
THE "QUEEN'S PLANTACENET BALL." 269
In this tent refreshments were to be served, and it was appointed
with exquisite art and taste.
The whole scheme of this great entertainment was wrought
out with the utmost care to make it a magnificent historical
picture — an event to be remembered, and everybody with any
pretensions to rank and fashion, especially everybody having
the remotest chance of an invitation, became enthusiastic.
There was, of course, a rage for securing accurate Plantagenet
costumes, which, however, gave way in the main to more
easily attainable habiliments of various historical periods and
nationalities, since only the members of the court were expected
to appear in the style of the reign of Edward the Third.
It would be useless to repeat the rumours that kept the
town in a lively commotion. Enormous sums were said to
have been expended on individual dresses by many among the
noble guests, of whom a great company had been invited. The
members of great and ancient families of high title, as well as
of ample wealth, prepared to do honour to the occasion, and
many of the rich and costly dresses were adorned with diamonds
and jewels of almost fabulous value.
The leading feature of the ball, and that which gave it a
distinctively historical character, was the assemblage and meeting
of the court of Edward III. and Philippa and that of Anne
of Brittany, who was represented by the Duchess of Cambridge;
and this, as well as the other proceedings, was admirably accom-
plished. Arriving by a separate entrance, the Duchess of
Cambridge and her court of Brittany assembled in one of the
lower rooms of the palace, while the Queen and Prince Albert
with a brilliant and gorgeous entourage awaited them in the
throne-room.
Her Majesty's costume, which was entirely composed of the
2~0
(WEEN VICTORIA.
manufactures of Spitalfields, consisted of a surcoat of blue and
o-old brocade lined with miniver over a skirt with demi-train
of ponceau velvet edged with fur. A mantle of gold and silver
brocade lined with miniver was fastened with a jewelled band,
which, traversing another band of jewels in gold tissue descend-
ing from the stomacher, gave the appearance of a great jewelled
cross. Her Majesty's hair was taken up in the proper fashion
of the period represented, and was surmounted by a light crown
of gold, bearing but a single diamond of great size and brilliancy
-said to be worth /" 10,000.
Prince Albert was attired in a robe of blue and gold brocade
slashed with blue velvet, over which was a scarlet velvet cloak
lined with ermine and trimmed with gold lace in a pattern of
oak leaves and acorns, and edged with pearls. The band of his
cloak, the collar of his robe, and the shoes worn with scarlet
silk hose were richly studded writh jewels; and his gold coronet
was set with precious stones.
The immediate suite were in correct costumes of the period,
the maids of honour wearing; dresses and surcoats decorated
with gold and silver trimmings, the bed-chamber women with
quarterings of lions and fleurs-de-lys, the Duke of Buccleugh,
master of the horse, as one of the first Knights of the Garter,
the Countess of Rosslyn as the Countess of Salisbury.
At half-past ten, marshalled by heralds, the procession
ascended the white marble staircase and by the green drawing-
room to the throne -room. The suites of apartments were
thrown open, and were ablaze with light.
Many of the noble guests must have looked as though
they were the old family pictures, from which their costumes
had been copied, come out from the frames; but they had less
to do with the actual spectacle of the ball than those visitors
THE PROCESSION OF QUADRILLES. 27 1
who were to take part in the series of brilliant state quadrilles
that were to be the vivid episode of the occasion. There were
quadrilles of various nationalities, French, German, Spanish,
Italian, Greek, Scotch, Russian, a Waverley Quadrille led by
Countess De la Warr, and a Crusaders Quadrille led by the
Marchioness of Londonderry, who shone with brilliants even to
her gloves and shoes. The great ceremony was the passing
of the quadrilles before the Queen, who with the prince had
headed the procession as it passed to the ball-room, where the
general company was assembled. Taking their places on a
haut pas under a canopy of amber satin they awaited each
quadrille as it was danced in their presence. There were
famous beauties, lovely dames, and fair maidens, knights and
nobles of renown. The state quadrilles lasted for an hour, the
Scottish sets taking the form of reels; and the court then
returned to the throne-room to watch the Russian mazurkas;
led by the Baroness Brunnow in a Cossack costume of Catherine
II., a tunic of scarlet velvet over full loose trousers of white
silk, gold-embroidered white satin boots, and a cap of scarlet
velvet with heron's feathers. The scene in the throne-room
during this dance was very striking and magnificent.
At one o'clock an ancient seneschal (Lord Liverpool, the
lord high steward) conducted her Majesty to the dining-room,
where supper was magnificently served at a long double table
covered with grand and massy gold plate and beautifully decked
with elegant services of china and glass. Opposite the centre
of the cross tables, where the Queen sat, a splendid buffet rising
almost to the lofty ceiling was covered with plate, which gleamed
amidst a profusion of choice flowers. After supper her Majesty
danced one quadrille with Prince George of Cambridge for a
partner, and the Duke of Beaufort and the Duchess of Buccleugh
2 J2 Ql EEN VICTORIA.
as their vis-a-vis. At a quarter to three the Queen retired from
the ball-room, and an hour afterwards the brilliant assembly
dispersed.
Though this "Plantagenet Ball" was held, as we have seen,
at a later date than the royal marriage, to which our main
narrative has been brought, it properly belongs to the present
page, for it may be said to have been the most remarkable of
that series of splendid entertainments which began after the
return of the royal pair from Windsor to London.
In the meantime other important social and political events
had happened, and the Queen had entered upon a new phase
of life. The tender cares and solicitudes of maternity had
added a fresh grace to her youth. The birth of a princess
royal and of a prince who would be heir to the throne had
given a sweet but solemn intensity to all other responsibilities.
END OF VOL. I.
BINDING SECT. AUG 3 1 1981
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