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From Photo by] \IV. &• O. Downey, 57 &■ 6i, Ebury Street, S.fP 
 
 HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 
 

 
 THE 
 
 PERSONAL LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 BY & - 
 
 SARAH A. TOOLEY 
 
 " ii 
 
 AUTHOR OF "LIVES GREAT AND SIMPLE," "LIFE OF HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD MEAD & CO. 
 
 149-15 1 FIFTH AVENUE 
 
 1S97 
 
MAY 
 
 
 CftDV 
 
 k 
 
 54 
 
PRE FAC E 
 
 THE aim of the writer of this " Life" has been 
 to narrate those incidents which tend most to 
 reveal the personal history and character of the Queen, 
 and no attempt has been made to deal with the events 
 of her reign which belong more to the historian than 
 to the personal biographer. In writing of one so 
 illustrious and far removed from ordinary acquaintance 
 and observation, the difficulties of faithful portraiture 
 are apparent ; but the frank manner in which Her 
 Majesty has revealed the details of her domestic life 
 in Sir Theodore Martin's " Life of the Prince Consort," 
 the two volumes of " Leaves from Our Journal in the 
 Highlands," and the " Memoir of Princess Alice," makes 
 the task easier. In addition to these sources of infor- 
 mation, I am indebted to the "Greville Memoirs," the 
 "Life of Baron Stockmar," Lady Bloomfield's " Reminis- 
 cences," the Bunsen and Malmesbury " Memoirs," and 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 many other " Lives" and " Reminiscences" of eminent 
 courtiers and statesmen which throw side lights upon 
 the Queen's private life. Among the many books 
 written upon Her Majesty I have found none more 
 suggestive than the biographies by Jefferson, Barnett 
 Smith, and Grace Greenwood, and Humphrey's " Queen 
 at Balmoral." Fugitive literature throughout the reign 
 has been laid under contribution as affording pictures 
 of scenes and events as they passed before the public 
 eye. 
 
 A large amount of private information has been 
 kindly given by those personally acquainted with Her 
 Majesty, and who have had the opportunity for observ- 
 ing the attractiveness and dignity of her character in 
 private ; and to them I am indebted for many of the 
 incidents and anecdotes related. Canon Davys, son of 
 the Queen's tutor, a former Bishop of Peterborough, has 
 also supplied much interesting information regarding 
 her early years. 
 
 SARAH A. TOOLEY. 
 
 Streatham, 1896. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA .... 3 
 
 II 
 
 THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA - - . -35 
 
 III 
 THE MAIDEN MONARCH 69 
 
 IV 
 
 BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN 
 
 VICTORIA IOI 
 
 V 
 HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA . -135 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 VI 
 
 PAG* 
 
 THE LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA . . I65 
 
 VII 
 
 THE WIDOWED MONARCH 1 97 
 
 VIII 
 VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 221 
 
 IX 
 
 PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF QUEEN 
 
 VICTORIA 251 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 A N American gentleman being called upon, at a banquet 
 ±~\ in London, to propose the health of Her Gracious 
 Majesty the Queen, did so in the following terms : " The 
 Queen of England, the Empress of India, the Woman of 
 the world." Nothing could more happily have expressed the 
 keynote to the love and loyalty which have surrounded the 
 throne of Victoria — it is her womanliness which has held 
 the heart of the nation. The laws of heredity and of 
 environment make no distinction between king and peasant ; 
 and it is to the parentage and early training of the Queen 
 that we must look to see how her character, so distinguished 
 by womanly virtues and domestic graces, has been moulded. 
 
 We find that her father, the Duke of Kent, fourth son of 
 George III., was deservedly known as the "Popular Duke." 
 He was a tall, stately man of soldierly bearing, characterised 
 by courteous and engaging manners, and was generous to a 
 fault. He was connected with no less than sixty-five charitable 
 organisations at the time of his death. From him the Queen 
 has inherited her love of order and punctuality, and she is 
 fond of referring to his connection with the Army. Once, 
 when presenting new colours to the Royal Scots, she said to 
 
 3 
 
4 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the men : " I have been associated with your regiment from 
 my earliest infancy, as my dear father was your Colonel. 
 He was proud of his profession, and I was always taught 
 to consider myself a soldier's child." Fit complement to 
 the soldier-Duke was the Queen's mother, who, without 
 being a beauty, was a charming and attractive woman, 
 elegant in figure, with fine brown eyes and luxuriant brown 
 hair. She was warmly affectionate, free and gracious in 
 her manner, but withal a duchess of duchesses to her finger- 
 tips, as after events showed. Above everything else, she 
 was distinguished for motherly devotion and the domestic 
 virtues. It was these characteristics which caused the Duke of 
 Kent to fall in love with her. He was entrusted in 1818, by 
 Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, then in retirement at Clare - 
 mont mourning his young wife, the beloved Princess Charlotte, 
 with letters to his sister, the Princess of Leiningen, who was a 
 young widow living a retired life in her castle at Amorbach, 
 Bavaria, superintending the education of her two children. 
 The Duke of Kent, a bachelor of fifty, was entirely charmed 
 by the picture of domestic felicity which he found when he 
 arrived at Castle Amorbach, and in due time became the 
 affianced husband of the widowed Princess. 
 
 They were married at Coburg on the 29th of May, 18 18, 
 according to the rites of the Lutheran Church, and re-married 
 in England shortly afterwards at a private ceremony at Kew 
 Palace, after which they returned to Bavaria. The prospect of 
 the birth of a child, however, made the Duke of Kent anxious 
 to bring his wife to England, so that his coming heir might 
 be "Briton-born." He thought at first of taking a house in 
 Lanarkshire, in which case the Queen would have been born 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF KENT, AND THE PRINCESS VICTORIA AT THE AGE OF TWO. 
 
 a Scotchwoman ; but he finally decided on a suite of rooms at 
 Kensington Palace. Brave indeed was the Duchess of Kent 
 to quit her native land and her kindred to undertake a tedious 
 journey by land and sea within a short time of her confinement 
 So solicitous was the Duke for her safety that throughout the 
 whole of the journey by land he suffered no one to drive her 
 but himself. The Duchess reached Kensington Palace in 
 
6 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 safety, and at four o'clock on the morning of the 24th of 
 May, 1 8 19, a pretty little princess was born, who, according 
 to Baron Stockmar, was as "plump as a partridge." 
 
 One may be permitted to say that the Duke was 
 ridiculously proud of his wee girlie, and is said to have 
 cried for joy when she was presented to the royal and 
 official persons who had been awaiting news of her birth in 
 the ante-chamber. Although several lives stood between the 
 infant Princess and the throne, her father had a prophetic 
 instinct that she was destined to be Queen of England. 
 " Take care of her," he would say; "she may yet be Queen of 
 England." No disappointment was ever expressed that the child 
 was a girl. The grief which had filled the country when the 
 Princess Charlotte died showed that the people were eager for 
 a queen, a sentiment referred to by the Dowager Duchess 
 of Coburg when writing congratulations to her daughter, the 
 Duchess of Kent. "Again a Charlotte," she writes, "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 Princess Charlotte 
 will be most dear to them." It was Grandmamma of Coburg 
 who named the new-comer the blossom of May. " How 
 pretty the little Mayflower will be," she writes, " when I see 
 it in a year's time ! Siebold [the nurse] cannot sufficiently 
 describe what a dear little love it is." Siebold was a lady 
 doctor from Berlin, popularly known as " Dr. Charlotte," who 
 attended the Duchess of Kent at her confinement, she having 
 declined the services of the male physicians in attendance at 
 the Palace. Three months later Dr. Charlotte returned to 
 Germany to officiate at the birth of a little prince, one day 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA AS A CHILD. 
 
 to be the husband of his pretty cousin the " Mayflower," who 
 was merrily crowing in the old palace of Kensington. When 
 the children were in their cradles, that charming and vivacious 
 old lady, Grandmamma of Coburg, with match-making propen- 
 sity, wrote of little Prince Albert, " What a charming pendant 
 he would be to the pretty cousin ! " Unfortunately she was 
 not spared to see the day when her fondest wish was realised 
 by the marriage of her grandson with her granddaughter, the 
 " Mayflower," who had blossomed into a sweet young queen. 
 
 Nothing could have been more propitious than the birth of 
 our beloved Queen. She was a thrice- welcome child, born 
 
8 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of a happy union between parents distinguished for goodness 
 and piety, and from the hour of her birth she basked in the 
 sunshine of love. She came when the world of nature was 
 fresh and jubilant — the sweet spring-time, when birds were 
 singing, trees budding, and the air fragrant with the odour of 
 flowers. Small wonder that she was a lovely baby. She had 
 flaxen hair, blue eyes, a fair skin, and was the picture of 
 health — chubby, rosy, beautifully formed, and of a happy, 
 lively disposition. The Duchess of Kent nursed her at her 
 own breast, and in the absence of the Princess's special nurse, 
 Mrs. Brock, dressed and undressed the little one herself. 
 Robert Owen, the Socialist, is said to have been the first 
 man who held the Princess in his arms, he having called 
 to see the Duke of Kent on business shortly after her arrival. 
 The christening of the infant Princess took place in the 
 Grand Saloon of Kensington Palace, the gold font from the 
 Tower being brought for the occasion. The Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and the Bishop of London officiated. The sponsors 
 were the Prince Regent in person, the Emperor Alexander of 
 Russia, represented by the Duke of York, the Queen-Dowager 
 of Wurtemberg, represented by the Princess Augusta, and the 
 Dowager Duchess of Coburg, represented by the Dowager 
 Duchess of Gloucester. The Duke of Kent was anxious that 
 his " little Queen " should be named Elizabeth, but the Prince 
 Regent gave the name Alexandrina, after the Emperor of 
 Russia, upon which the Duke asked that another name might 
 be associated with it ; then the Prince Regent, who according 
 to Greville was annoyed that the infant was not to be 
 named Georgiana, after himself, said, "Give her her mother's 
 name also." Accordingly the Princess was named Alexandrina 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 THE DUKE OF KENT, FATHER OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 Victoria. For a while she was called Princess Alexandrina 
 or " little Drina " ; but gradually her mother's name prevailed, 
 and she was known only as the Princess Victoria. This 
 choice was confirmed by the Queen herself when she signed 
 her first State document simply Victoria. Shortly after the 
 christening the Duchess of Kent was publicly "churched" at 
 St. Mary Abbott's, Kensington, the Duke himself conducting 
 her with much ceremony to the communion table. 
 
 The first eight months of the Queen's life were passed 
 at Kensington Palace, where glimpses of her, laughing and 
 crowing at her nursery window, were often caught by strollers 
 
io THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 through the Gardens. The Duke was always pleased to have 
 her shown to the people, and when she was only four months 
 old took her in the carriage with him to a review on Hounslow 
 Heath. The Prince Regent, annoyed at the attention which 
 she created, sharply remonstrated, saying, " That infant is too 
 young to be brought into public." At three months old the 
 Princess was vaccinated, and was the first royal baby to be 
 inoculated after the method of Jenner. 
 
 In order to escape the rigour of the winter, the Duke and 
 Duchess removed, at the end of the year, with their darling 
 child, into Devonshire, staying at Woolbrook Glen, Sidmouth, 
 a lovely retreat lying back from the sea, and surrounded by , 
 picturesque grounds. On their way to Sidmouth the royal 
 party stayed two days with the Bishop of Salisbury. His 
 Lordship was fond of jumping the little Princess in his arms, 
 and during one of these frolics she seized hold of the good man's 
 wig and shook it so violently with her dimpled hands that 
 she covered herself with powder, and was not prevailed upon 
 to loosen her clutches until she had pulled off a tuft of hair 
 also. 
 
 I have found no more charming glimpse of this period of 
 the Queen's infancy than is recorded by Mrs. Marshall in her 
 " Recollections of Althea Allingham." The Allinghams were 
 living at Sidmouth at the time of the royal visit, and we get 
 this graphic picture of the local interest it elicited. 
 
 " ' I have just heard a piece of news,' Oliffe said. ' The 
 Duke of Kent has taken the " Glen " at the farther end of 
 the village, and the servants are expected to-morrow to put 
 the place in order for the Duke and Duchess of Kent and the 
 little Princess Victoria.' " Sidmouth was elated at the prospect 
 
THE DUCHESS OF KENT, MOTHER OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of receiving the royal party, and Mrs. 
 Allingham's little daughters were full of 
 anxiety to see the baby Princess. Their expectations were 
 soon realised, and they frequently saw her being taken out 
 for her daily airing. Mrs. Allingham thus describes her : " She 
 was a very fair and lovely baby, and there was, even in her 
 infant days, a charm about her which has never left our 
 gracious Queen. The clear, frank glance of her large blue 
 eyes, and the sweet but firm expression of her mouth, were 
 really remarkable, even when a baby of eight months old." 
 
 One bright January morning the Allinghams were returning 
 from an excursion, when they met the Duke and Duchess of 
 
i 4 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Kent, " linked arm in arm," the nurse carrying the little 
 Princess, who looked lovely in a white swansdown hood and 
 pelisse, and was holding out her hand to her father. He took 
 her in his arms as the party drew up in line, respectfully 
 waiting, uncovered and curtseying. 
 
 "Stella exclaimed: ' What a beautiful baby!' 
 
 " The Duchess hearing, smiled and said, ' Would you like 
 to kiss the baby ? ' 
 
 "Stella coloured with delight, and looked at me [Mrs. 
 Allingham] for permission. 
 
 "The Duke -kindly held the little Princess down towards 
 Stella, and said : 
 
 " ' I am glad my little May blossom finds favour in your 
 eyes.' 
 
 " Then a shout was heard from the donkey where Stephen 
 sat. 
 
 " ' Me too, please, Duke.' 
 
 " Instead of being in the least shocked with my boy's 
 freedom, the Duke laughed, saying : 
 
 ' ' Dismount, then.' 
 
 " Stephen scrambled down, and coming up received the 
 longed-for kiss. 
 
 " ' Father calls Stella and Benvenuta his May blossoms,' 
 Stephen volunteered. 
 
 " ' And you may be proud of them,' the Duke said, as 
 he gave the Princess back into her nurse's arms ; and the 
 Duchess, with repeated bows and smiles, passed on." 
 
 This tender picture of domestic felicity was, alas ! soon to 
 be marred by death. The Duke of Kent, returning from an 
 excursion in the vicinity of Sidmouth, sat down in wet boots 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 1 5 
 
 to play with his little daughter, and was so enchanted with 
 her baby ways that he could not tear himself away to make 
 the needed change of his damp garments. A chill ensued, 
 which resulted in a fatal attack of inflammation of the lungs. 
 
 He died on the 23rd of 
 January, 1820. Two days 
 later, the good people of 
 Sidmouth, who had wel- 
 comed the Duke with so 
 
 KENSINGTON PALACE. 
 
 much joy, stood sorrowfully to watch the departure of his 
 widowed Duchess and her babe for London. The little Princess 
 was held up to the carriage window to bid the people farewell, 
 and she sported and laughed joyously, patting the glass with 
 her pretty dimpled hands, in happy unconsciousness of her 
 melancholy loss. Prince Leopold (afterwards King of the 
 Belgians) acted as their escort, he having arrived at Sidmouth 
 
1 6 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 just in time to see his sister's husband breathe his last. In his 
 " Reminiscences " he says : " The Duchess, who had lost a most 
 amiable and devoted husband, was in a state of the greatest 
 distress. The poor Duke had left his family deprived of all 
 means of subsistence. The journey to Kensington was very 
 painful, and the weather very severe." From this time forward 
 we find Prince Leopold acting as a father and guardian to his 
 little niece, Victoria. It was he who generously supplemented 
 the jointure of ^6,000 which the Duchess of Kent received 
 from the country, and enabled her to rear our future Queen 
 in a manner befitting her position. By her second marriage 
 the Duchess had sacrificed her dowry, and she conscientiously 
 yielded the Duke of Kent's estate to his creditors, so that all 
 that remained to her was her jointure. 
 
 The same day on which the Duchess and her infant returned 
 to Kensington, George III. died, and was succeeded by the' 
 Prince Regent. This event, coupled with her father's death, 
 placed the Princess two lives nearer to the throne. The 
 Duchess, doubtless actuated by these circumstances, determined 
 to rear her child in the land over which she might eventually 
 rule, and gave up her own natural desire to return to Bavaria. 
 Speaking of herself and infant at this time, she says : " We 
 stood alone — almost friendless and alone in this country ; I 
 could not even speak the language of it. I did not hesitate 
 how to act ; I gave up my home, my kindred, my duties [the 
 regency of Leiningen] to devote myself to that duty which was 
 to be the whole object of my future life." Thus nobly did the 
 I^uchess of Kent start upon her important work — no light task 
 — the training of a queen. From that day forward she lived 
 at Kensington in stately seclusion, watching over the young 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 17 
 
 " hope of England," who was never allowed to be an hour out 
 of her sight. From the day of her father's death until she 
 ascended the throne, the Queen had never passed a night 
 outside her mother's bedchamber. She had never been seen 
 in public or even heard of except in conjunction with her 
 mother. 
 
 The apartments occupied by the Duchess of Kent and the 
 Princess Victoria were in the south- 
 
 THE ROOM IN WHICH THE QUEEN WAS BORN. 
 
 east portion* of the 
 Palace, beneath the 
 King's gallery. 
 They are now un- 
 used ; but a visitor will find in one of the rooms on the principal 
 floor, having three windows looking eastward over Kensington 
 Gardens, a gilt plate upon the wall, with this inscription : 
 
 IN THIS ROOM 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 WAS BORN, 
 
 May 24, 18 19 
 
18 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 A room on the top floor served as the Princess's nursery, and 
 in one corner still stands a doll's house, a headless horse, and 
 the model of a ship, remnants of the toys which delighted 
 her rather monotonous childhood. 
 
 Here, in the old Palace which in days gone by had been the 
 stately abode of kings and queens and the scene of gay court 
 revels, the Princess was nurtured in all that was simple, 
 loving, and pure. She had a natural home life free from the 
 formalities of a court. The one misfortune was that she had 
 no companions of her own age : 
 
 " For her there was no mate, 
 A roya] child of power and state." 
 
 Her step-sister, the Princess Feodore (daughter of the Duchess 
 of Kent by her first marriage), was eleven years her senior, and 
 though the little Princess was devotedly attached to her as an 
 elder sister, she was no playmate for her. A pretty story is 
 told of the visit of the infant harp-player, Lyra, to Kensington 
 Palace, and how delighted the Princess Victoria was — not with 
 the harp-playing, but with having a little girl of her own age 
 to speak to. When the Duchess of Kent returned to the room 
 after a brief absence, she found the two children sitting on the 
 hearthrug with toys strewn around them, enjoying themselves 
 hugely as they laughed and prattled, oblivious of the harp 
 standing desolate, as the one which " rang through Tara's halls." 
 The little Princess dearly loved a romp, as is testified by 
 William Wilberforce, who lived at Gore House, Kensington, 
 and was occasionally received by the Duchess of Kent. The 
 philanthropist, in writing to his friend, Hannah More, says : 
 " In consequence of a very civil message from the Duchess of 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 19 
 
 Kent, I waited on her this morning, and found her with her 
 fine, animated child on the floor by her side with its playthings, 
 
 of which I soon became 
 
 one** 
 
 The Princess was 
 
 brought up in the most 
 
 THE NURSERY AT KENSINGTON PALACE, SHOWING RELICS OF THE QUEEN S TOYS. 
 
 simple and regular style of living, her whole surroundings being 
 utterly devoid of the pomp and show of royalty. In this early 
 training we find the foundations of that love of simplicity and 
 frugality which has always distinguished our gracious Queen, 
 
20 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 We well remember being in a country town when the Queen 
 came to unveil a statue of the Prince Consort. The local 
 authorities had provided a sumptuous luncheon, with all the 
 delicacies of the season ; but great was the consternation when 
 Her Majesty asked for rice pudding. No such homely dish 
 was included in the menu. 
 
 The little Princess's day was passed in the following 
 manner. She rose early, and breakfasted at eight o'clock in 
 the pretty morning-room of the Palace, sitting beside her 
 mother in a little rosewood chair, a table to match in front of 
 her on which was placed her bread and milk and fruit, her 
 nurse standing beside her. After breakfast her half-sister, the 
 Princess Feodore, retired with her governess, Fraulein Lehzen, 
 to study, and the little Victoria mounted her donkey, a present 
 from her uncle, the Duke of York, and rode round Kensington 
 Gardens. From ten to twelve she received instruction from 
 her mother, assisted by Fraulein Lehzen ; then came a good 
 romp through the long suite df rooms with her nurse, Mrs. 
 Brock, whom she affectionately called her " dear, dear Boppy." 
 At two o'clock she dined plainly at her mother's luncheon 
 table, afterwards came lessons again until four o'clock, then 
 she went with her mother for a drive, or, if the weather was 
 hot, spent the afternoon in the Gardens under the trees, coming 
 out early in the evening for a turn in her little pony-chaise. 
 The Duchess dined at seven o'clock, at which time the 
 Princess supped at the same table on bread and milk ; she then 
 retired for a little play in a farther part of the room along 
 with " dear Boppy," joining her mother again at dessert. At 
 nine o'clock she went to her little French bed with its pretty 
 Chintz hangings, placed beside that of her mother. An 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 21 
 
 occasional visit to Windsor to see her " Uncle King," as she 
 called His Majesty George IV., a sojourn at Claremont with 
 her adored Uncle Leopold, and a few weeks at the sea in 
 autumn, were the only breaks in her little life. 
 
 On her fourth birthday she had a great excitement, no less 
 than being bidden by " Uncle King" to attend a State dinner 
 party with her mother at Carlton House. She was dressed 
 for the occasion in a simple white frock looped up on the left 
 sleeve by a miniature of the King, set in diamonds, His 
 Majesty's birthday present to his little niece, whose vivacious 
 manners seemed to have delighted him vastly. 
 
 Several stories are told of the quick repartee which " Uncle 
 King " received from his amusing little niece of Kent. During 
 one of her visits to Windsor, the King said, " Now, Victoria, 
 the band is waiting to play ; what tune would you like to 
 hear best ? " 
 
 " ' God Save the King,' if you please, uncle," she promptly 
 replied. 
 
 And again, when asked what part of her visit had been the 
 greatest treat, she discreetly said, " Oh, the ride in the carriage 
 with you, uncle." On this occasion the King had driven her 
 himself, which was doubtless a great event. We get a further 
 glimpse into these little trips to Windsor in one of Grand- 
 mamma Coburg's charming letters. Writing in 1826 to the 
 Duchess of Kent, she says : " I see by the English newspapers 
 that ' His Majesty George IV. and H.R.H. the Duchess of 
 Kent went on Virginia Water.' The little monkey [Princess 
 Victoria] must have pleased and amused him. She is such 
 a pretty, clever child." 
 
 A few years later " Uncle King " gave a child's ball in honour 
 
22 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of the visit of Donna Maria, the little Queen of Portugal, to 
 this country. This was the first Court ceremonial at which the 
 Princess Victoria was present. A lady of the Court, however, 
 gave great offence to the King by saying how " pretty it would 
 be to see the two little Queens dancing together." His Majesty 
 had no mind as yet to hear his niece of Kent dubbed a 
 queen. By all accounts the juvenile ball was a pretty and 
 brilliant affair. The children of the highest nobility were 
 there, and paid mimic court to the little Queen of Portugal, 
 who sat by the side of the King, dressed in a red velvet frock 
 and literally blazing with jewels from head to foot. This was 
 the first occasion upon which that spicy Court chronicler, Mr. 
 Greville, saw the Princess Victoria ; but he appears to have 
 been carried off his head by the dark-eyed Donna of Portugal's 
 brilliant appearance. " Our little Princess," he writes, " is a 
 short, plain-looking child, and not near so good-looking as 
 the Portuguese." Fie upon you, Mr. Greville ; did not the 
 fine Donna Maria awkwardly trip in the dance and fall down 
 and bruise her face, while our fair-haired, blue-eyed Princess, 
 in her simple white frock, kept her head and her heels, and 
 was admired by all people of good taste for her natural, 
 unadorned beauty ? 
 
 Visits to Uncle King were very rare events, as the Duchess 
 of Kent did not wish her little daughter to see much of 
 Court life ; but she took her frequently to see her Uncle 
 Leopold at Claremont, and these visits were the most delightful 
 holidays of all. Writing in after years from Claremont to her 
 uncle, then King of the Belgians, the Queen says : " This place 
 brings back recollections of the happiest days of my otherwise 
 dull childhood — days in which I experienced such kindness 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VIC10R1A 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA AT THE AGE OF TEN. 
 
 from you, dearest uncle. Victoria [the Princess Royal] plays 
 with my old bricks, and I see her running and jumping in 
 the flower garden, as old (though I still feel little) Victoria of 
 former days used to do." 
 
 In the autumn of 1824, Grandmamma of Coburg was a 
 visitor at Claremont, along with the Duchess of Kent and the 
 Princess Victoria ; and it has often been said that she brought 
 her little grandson Prince Albert of Coburg with her, but we 
 believe that this was not the fact. We are fortunate in finding a 
 
24 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTOR J A 
 
 charming account of the royal party in the letters of Miss Jane 
 Porter, author of " The Scottish Chiefs." She dwelt with her 
 mother and sister in a cottage close to the grounds of Claremont, 
 and had frequent opportunities for seeing the Princess, who, she 
 was delighted to find, resembled her lamented aunt, the Princess 
 Charlotte. Miss Porter describes her as " a beautiful child, with 
 a cherubic form of features, clustered round by glossy fair 
 ringlets. Her complexion was remarkably transparent, with a 
 soft and often heightening tinge of the sweet blush-rose upon 
 her cheeks, that imparted a peculiar brilliancy to her clear blue 
 eyes. Whenever she met any strangers in her usual paths, 
 she always seemed, by the quickness of her glance, to inquire 
 who and what they were." 
 
 At home the Princess was not allowed to attend public 
 worship at Kensington Church for fear of attracting too much 
 attention, service being conducted in the Palace by the 
 Duchess herself during her daughter's earliest years, and after- 
 wards by the Rev. George Davys, her tutor. But while at 
 Claremont she was taken to the little village church at Esher. 
 Fortunate Miss Porter had a seat facing the Claremont pew, 
 and we fear that her devotions were somewhat disturbed by the 
 attention which she gave to the movements of the royal visitors, 
 although she is able, at least on one occasion, to give a very 
 good reason for her attentive scrutiny. " I should not volun- 
 tarily have so employed myself in church," she piously writes, 
 " but I had seen a wasp skimming backwards and forwards over 
 the head and before the unveiled summer bonnet of the little 
 Princess ; and I could not forbear watching the dangerous 
 insect, fearing it might sting her face. She, totally unobserving 
 it, had meanwhile fixed her eyes on the clergyman, who had 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 25 
 
 taken his seat in the pulpit to preach the sermon, and she never 
 withdrew them thence for a moment during his whole dis- 
 course." Next day, from a lady personally intimate at Clare- 
 mont, Miss Porter learned the reason why the Princess riveted 
 her eyes upon the clergyman, who, according to her account, 
 was not an attractive person, so that she saw not the " dangerous 
 insect " — she was required to give her mother not only the text, 
 but the leading heads of the discourse. Poor little Princess ! 
 those were the days of long and formal sermons. 
 
 It was in the autumn succeeding this visit to Claremont 
 that the Princess paid the first of her many visits to Ramsgate. 
 Three years before she had taken her first sight of the sea at 
 Brighton. During her seaside visits she was allowed to play 
 with other children on the sands, have donkey rides ad libitum, 
 and to run out to meet the on-coming waves. If they chanced 
 to ripple over her little feet, she was in a high state of glee. 
 Then at Ramsgate she used frequently to go to a delightful 
 old dairy-woman's cottage to have a glass of milk before break- 
 fast. We find a graphic sketch of the Princess at this time by 
 a writer in Fraser's Magazine, who in somewhat florid style thus 
 relates his observations : " When first I saw the pale and pretty 
 daughter of the Duke of Kent, she was fatherless. Her fair, 
 light form was sporting in all the redolence of youth and health 
 on the noble sands of old Ramsgate. She wore a plain straw 
 bonnet with a white ribbon round it, and as pretty a pair of 
 shoes on as pretty a pair of feet as I ever remember to have 
 seen from China to Kamschatka. I defy you all to find me a 
 prettier pair of feet than those of the belle Victoria, when she 
 played with the pebbles and the tides on Ramsgate sands." 
 The Princess on this occasion was accompanied by her mother 
 
26 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 and by William Wilberforce ; the latter is said to have beguiled 
 the adventurous Victoria from sporting too freely with the waves 
 by telling her stories of the slave children whom he was 
 labouring to emancipate. As he did so, he stood on the shore, 
 an impressive figure, clasping in his own the tiny hands of the 
 five-years-old Princess, into whose heart his words were sinking 
 deep and were destined to bear glorious fruit in after years. 
 When they turned homeward from the shore down the High 
 Street, the Princess espied an old Irishwoman sitting pale and 
 dejected by the wayside, and literally " teased " a silver coin 
 from her mother to give to this lonely wayfarer. 
 
 The Duchess and her daughter frequently returned to visit 
 Ramsgate, staying principally at Townley House, close to the 
 picturesque grounds of East Cliff, the residence of Mr. Moses 
 Montefiore, who courteously provided them with a special key 
 to his private gate in order that they might use his grounds at 
 their pleasure. On the occasion of the Queen's visit to the City 
 of London soon after her accession, Mr. Montefiore received her 
 in his capacity of Sheriff, and one can imagine that Her Majesty 
 was not unmindful of those pleasant days at Ramsgate when 
 she bade him rise up Sir Moses Montefiore. He was the first 
 Jew to receive the honour of knighthood. 
 
 But a truce to the little Princess's holiday jaunts ; we must 
 continue the thread of her life at Kensington. An old lady 
 friend has often described to me how she used to watch the 
 Princess taking her walks and rides in Kensington Gardens. 
 She never wore smart things, but was plainly and prettily 
 dressed in a straw hat with a ribbon round it — sometimes the 
 hat was lined with blue — and her summer dresses were of simple 
 white cotton, relieved by a coloured silk fichu. She was often 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 27 
 
 PRINCESS VICTORIA RIDING HER DONKEY IN 
 KENSINGTON GARDENS. 
 
 to be encountered in the Gardens skipping along between her 
 mother and the Princess Feodore, each of whom held one of her 
 hands. The little one would bow and smile at the passers-by, 
 and say " lady " and " good morning " in a pretty, silvery voice, 
 sometimes holding out her dimpled little hand to be kissed. 
 The wise mother taught her to approach strangers fearlessly, and 
 to return their salutations graciously. Everybody in the neigh- 
 bourhood grew to love the winsome little Princess. But the 
 prettiest sight of all was to see her mounted on her white 
 
28 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 donkey, gaily caparisoned with blue ribbons, an old soldier, a 
 former retainer of her father's, leading her bridle rein, while 
 some of the ladies of the household walked by her side. She 
 was then at the height of enjoyment, and, once mounted, " not 
 all the king's horses nor all the king's men " could persuade her 
 to come down again. Her mother had made a little rule that 
 she should ride and walk alternately ; but there were not a few 
 scenes, and we fear some screams, in Kensington Gardens when 
 nurse or governess tried to force the little lady to dismount, for 
 she was as wilful as she was engaging. It was only when the 
 old soldier, who was a special favourite, held out his arms for 
 her that she was persuaded to quit her dear donkey's back. 
 
 She used sometimes to ride in a pony-chaise over the gravel 
 walks, led by a page. One day a dog ran between the pony's 
 legs, causing the tiny carriage to upset, and the Princess would 
 undoubtedly have been killed by the fall had not a soldier 
 passing at the time caught her clothes and swung her into his 
 arms. His name was Maloney, and he was of course thanked 
 and rewarded by the Duchess of Kent. This was the second 
 providential escape from death which the Queen had in 
 her childhood. The first was during her stay at Sidmouth. 
 A boy was shooting sparrows close to the Duke of Kent's 
 residence, and a shot came through the nursery window, where 
 the Princess was sitting in her nurse's lap, and narrowly escaped 
 hitting her head. 
 
 I am indebted to Miss Kortright, an old inhabitant of 
 Kensington, for some pretty little incidents relating to this 
 period of the Queen's life. The Princess was known to go 
 with her mother and her step-sister, Feodore, to a milliner's 
 shop in Kensington, buy a new hat, stay while it was trimmed, 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 29 
 
 and carry it home in her hand quite proudly — but surely it 
 was the old one she carried in her hand ! Meeting the Princess 
 in her pony-chaise one day, an " unknown little girl " asked to 
 be allowed to kiss her. The Princess Feodore stopped the 
 tiny carriage and indulged the child's wish. The "unknown 
 little girl" who secured a kiss from her future Queen was 
 Miss Kortright's elder sister. 
 
 Mr. Charles Knight, the publisher, has left a pleasing record 
 of this period of the Queen's life. He tells that, during an early 
 morning walk through Kensington Gardens, he saw a group 
 upon the lawn in front of the Palace which seemed to him a 
 "vision of exquisite loveliness." It was the Duchess of Kent 
 and the Princess Victoria breakfasting in the open air, attended 
 by a single page. " What a beautiful characteristic it seemed 
 to me," he writes, " of the training of this royal girl, that she 
 should have been taught not to shrink from the public eye — 
 that she should not have been burdened with a premature 
 conception of her probable high position— that she should enjoy 
 the freedom and simplicity of a child's nature. I passed on 
 and blessed her ; and I thank God that I have lived to see 
 the golden fruits of such training." 
 
 The education of the Princess Victoria was conducted at 
 first by her mother with the help of Fraulein Lehzen, who at a 
 later date was formally appointed her governess, and remained 
 with the Queen as confidential secretary for a number of years 
 after her accession. The Princess learned her letters at her 
 mother's knee, but not very willingly, and we find Grandmamma 
 of Coburg taking sides with the little truant. She writes to her 
 daughter, " Do not tease your little puss with learning. She 
 is so young still," adding that her grandson, Prince Albert, was 
 
3 o THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF KENT AND THE PRINCESS VICTORIA BREAKFASTING IN THE 
 OPEN AIR. 
 
 making eyes at a picture-book. When it was made clear to 
 the Princess that until the A B C was mastered she could not 
 read books like her mother, she replied with alacrity, " Me learn 
 too, very quick " ; and she did, for there was no lack of ability. 
 Her regular education began in her fifth year, when the Rev. 
 George Davys, eventually Bishop of Peterborough, became her 
 
THE CHILDHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 31 
 
 tutor. " I fear you will find my little girl very headstrong," 
 explained the Duchess of Kent to the new tutor ; " but the 
 ladies of the household will spoil her." As she grew older, the 
 Princess became docile in all things except taking medicine, 
 and she reformed on this point when she discovered that her 
 physician only entertained her with stories after the medicine 
 had been taken. She was reared to speak in French and 
 German as well as in her native tongue. German she found 
 most efficacious when she wanted a favour from her mother. 
 By the time she reached her eleventh year Italian, Latin, Greek, 
 and mathematics had been added to her studies. Music she 
 studied under Mr. John Bernard Sale, afterwards organist at 
 the Chapel Royal, and drawing under Mr. Westall, R.A. 
 
 Sketching was a favourite occupation with the Princess, her 
 love of form and of the beauties of nature having been observ- 
 able at a very early age. When taking walks about Esher with 
 her Uncle Leopold, she often pointed out beautiful bits of land- 
 scape, and it was at Claremont that she first began sketching 
 from nature. She was fond too of looking at pictures and of 
 imagining what the people in them might be saying to each 
 other, a dramatic element in her character which found further 
 expression in the mock ceremonies which she enacted with her 
 retinue of dolls. Upon a long board full of pegs, into which the 
 dolls' feet fitted, she rehearsed court receptions, presentations, 
 and held mimic drawing-rooms and levees. Her dolls numbered 
 one hundred and thirty-two ; a large number of them were 
 dressed entirely by herself in artistic costumes to represent 
 historic characters or people she knew. A list of them, with 
 their names and history, was kept in a copybook. She was 
 passionately fond of animals and of seeing natural history 
 
32 the Personal life of q\Ueen victoria 
 
 collections ; her first visit to the British Museum was an un- 
 bounded joy, and she begged to be taken there often. Botany 
 too delighted her, and she began the study, under the tuition 
 of her Uncle Leopold, among the bowery groves of Claremont. 
 Lord Albemarle remembers seeing her watering her flowers at 
 Kensington Palace, and tells that it was amusing to see how 
 impartially she divided the contents of her watering-pot 
 between the flowers and her own little feet. 
 
 And so the childhood of the Queen passed under the 
 watchful eye of that wisest of mothers, and year by year saw 
 her fine natural abilities developing, and her character ripening 
 into thoughtful maidenhood. As yet no busybody had been 
 allowed to disturb the simplicity of her child's nature by 
 whispering in her ear, " You are the future Queen of England." 
 She had been reared in all things to be a queen, without being 
 oppressed or unduly elated by a knowledge of the high position 
 to which she might attain. In closing this period of the 
 Queen's life, we can but echo the words of Grandmamma 
 of Coburg, who, writing to the Duchess of Kent upon the 
 Princess's eleventh birthday, says : " 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 the dangers 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." 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
II 
 
 THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 THE day on which the Queen was told that she was 
 heiress to the throne of Great Britain may be regarded 
 as marking that period in her life when she emerged from mere 
 childhood into the more thoughtful period of girlhood. This 
 occurred when she was approaching her twelfth birthday. Two 
 years previously, Sir Walter Scott, after dining with the 
 Duchess of Kent, noted in his diary that the " little Victoria 
 is educated with much care, and watched so closely that no 
 busy maid has a moment to whisper, ' You are heir of Eng- 
 land.' " There are several accounts of the manner in which 
 the information was first conveyed to the young Princess. 
 It was current gossip of the time that Prince George of 
 Cumberland, who was fond of teasing his pretty cousin, twitted 
 her one day with the unpleasant prospect of having to be a 
 queen, enlarging on the discomforts of the position, and throwing 
 out dark hints of the untimely end of Mary Queen of Scots. 
 If the Princess failed in her lessons, or was discovered in a 
 delinquency, Prince George improved the occasion by saying, 
 " A pretty sort of queen you will make." All such references 
 were received by the Princess with passionate tears. 
 
 Another version is given by Caroline Fox. Writing in 
 35 
 
36 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 her journal, she details a gossipy visit from her friend Mrs. 
 Corgie, the " rightful Lady George Murray," who told her that 
 the Princess Victoria was first informed of the high position 
 which awaited her by her mother. The Duchess of Kent 
 desired that her daughter should read aloud that portion of 
 English history which related to the death of the Princess 
 Charlotte. In reading, the Princess made a dead halt, and 
 asked if it were possible that she should ever be Queen. Her 
 mother replied : " As this is a very possible circumstance, I 
 am anxious to bring you up as a good woman, when you 
 will be a good queen also." 
 
 It appears also that the Princess's governess, the Baroness 
 Lehzen, and her tutor, the Rev. George Davys, both claim to 
 have informed their pupil of her place in the succession to the 
 throne. In a letter written in her eighty-fourth year by the 
 Baroness to her former pupil, she says : " I ask your Majesty's 
 leave to cite some remarkable words of your Majesty 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." The Baroness continues her 
 story to the effect that when the Princess opened the book 
 and noticed the additional paper, she said, " I never saw 
 that before." 
 
 "'It was not thought necessary you should, Princess,' the 
 governess replied. 
 
 " ' I see,' continued the Princess, ' I am nearer the throne 
 than I thought.' 
 
 "'So it is, madam,' replied the Baroness. 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 37 
 
 " After some moments, the Princess answered, ' Now, many 
 a child would boast, but they don't know the difficulty. There 
 is much splendour, but there is more responsibility ' ; and laying 
 her hand in that of her governess, she said, 'I will be good. 
 I understand now why you urged me so much to learn even 
 Latin.' " 
 
 The Baroness then explained to the Princess that her aunt, 
 Queen Adelaide, might yet have children, in which case she 
 would not succeed to the throne. 
 
 " And if it were so," replied the Princess, " I should never 
 feel disappointed, for I know by the love Aunt Adelaide bears 
 me how fond she is of children." 
 
 I am indebted to the Rev. Canon Davys, son of the Queen's 
 tutor, Bishop Davys, for yet another account of how the 
 momentous tidings were conveyed to the Princess Victoria. 
 
 " The story of the Princess discovering that she would be 
 Queen," Canon Davys tells me, " has not generally been 
 correctly told. My father had set her to make a chart of the 
 kings and queens. She got as far as ' Uncle William.' Next 
 day my father said to the Princess, ' But you have not put 
 down the next heir to the throne.' She rather hesitated, and 
 said, ' I hardly like to put down myself My father mentioned 
 the matter to the Duchess of Kent, who said she was so glad 
 that the truth had come upon her daughter in this way, 
 as it was time she became aware what responsibility was 
 awaiting her." 
 
 The three accounts agree in showing that the Princess's 
 mother, together with her governess and her tutor, all felt, after 
 the accession of William IV., that the time had arrived for the 
 Princess to be informed of her position, and that each of them 
 
38 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VIC10RIA 
 
 made a lesson in history the means by which to tell her. As 
 to ^whether Prince George of Cumberland had previously let the 
 proverbial a cat out of the bag " remains a moot point. 
 
 The Princess Victoria was now regarded by the people as 
 the heiress-apparent ; but the King himself never ceased hoping 
 that a child of his own might yet be born to succeed, and at 
 times he displayed jealousy of his niece of Kent and ill-will 
 towards the mother who had borne her. In beautiful con- 
 trast was the attitude of the Good Queen Adelaide. When 
 her second child died, soon after the birth of the Princess 
 Victoria, she wrote to the Duchess of Kent, " My children 
 are dead, but yours lives, and she is mine too." 
 
 A Court lady recalls a pleasing little incident which she 
 witnessed when Queen Adelaide was still Duchess of Clarence. 
 The lady was sitting with Her Royal Highness, when the 
 Ducliess of Kent and the Princess Victoria were announced, 
 whereupon she rose to withdraw. 
 
 " Do not go yet," said the Duchess of Clarence. " I want 
 you to see little Victoria ; she is such a sweet child." 
 
 After drawing the Princess towards her with affectionate 
 greeting, the Duchess of Clarence produced a child's tea-service 
 of the prettiest china imaginable, which, in her sweet, kind way, 
 she had provided as a surprise for her little niece. Trivial as 
 the incident is, nothing could better illustrate the love of the 
 childless Queen for the heiress to the throne. 
 
 The Princess Victoria attended her first Drawing-Room 
 on the 24th '"of February, 1831, on the occasion of Queen 
 Adelaide's birthday. It was a reception of unusual splendour ; 
 nothing had been seen like it since the Drawing-Room at which 
 the Princess Charlotte had been presented on the occasion of 
 
H.R.H. PRINCESS VICTORIA IN 183O. 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 4 i 
 
 her marriage. There were three things to make it of special 
 import : it was the first Drawing-Room held after the accession 
 of William IV., it was Queen Adelaide's birthday, and the first 
 formal appearance at Court of the Heiress of Great Britain. 
 
 The Princess set out from Kensington Palace with her 
 mother, attended by a suite of ladies and gentlemen in State 
 carriages, and escorted by a detachment of Life Guards. This 
 was our beloved Queen's first public procession, and the number 
 in which she has taken part since it would indeed be difficult 
 to enumerate. Some of the people, as they watched her, 
 cheered, and others wept, for there was something both joyous 
 and pathetic in the sight of this young girl upon whose head 
 the weight of a crown might fall all too soon. At the Drawing- 
 Room she was the centre of observation. She stood on Queen 
 Adelaide's left hand, dressed in a frock of English blonde 
 draped over white satin. Her fair hair was arranged Madonna- 
 like, according to the fashion of the times, and the braids were 
 fastened at the back of her head with a diamond clasp. 
 Around her throat she wore a single row of lovely pearls. 
 It was no small ordeal for a young girl of twelve, reared in the 
 strictest seclusion, to pass through ; but she bore herself with 
 modest dignity, and took evident delight in watching the 
 presentations. The gay scene was as novel to her as to the 
 simplest girl in the land. 
 
 Two months later another opportunity was taken by Queen 
 Adelaide of giving prominence to the Princess. The Queen 
 and the royal ladies were standing on the balcony watching the 
 pageant which attended William IV. on the prorogation of his 
 first Parliament. As the people cheered, Queen Adelaide took 
 the young Princess Victoria by the hand, and, leading her to 
 
42 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the front of the balcony, presented her to the assembled crowds. 
 It would be difficult to decide whether the deafening shouts 
 which rent the air were given more in honour of the future 
 Queen or in recognition of the Good Queen Adelaide's attitude 
 towards the young girl. In the same year the Princess made 
 her first appearance at the theatre, attending a children's enter- 
 tainment at Covent Garden. A staid chronicler of this event 
 would have us believe that the pleasure which the Princess 
 evinced at seeing a play was rather the result of musical 
 sympathy with the orchestra than of attachment to the drama. 
 Why, then, Mr. Chronicler, did she not go to a concert instead ? 
 
 The Princess Victoria having been brought so far into 
 prominence, there was much comment regarding her absence 
 from the Coronation of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide 
 in Westminster Abbey, September, 183 1. Many reasons were 
 assigned for this omission. Some said that the King, jealous 
 of the attention which the Princess had excited during the last 
 few months, would not assign her the place in the procession 
 due to her rank as the heiress-presumptive. On the other hand, 
 it was affirmed that the Duchess of Kent pleaded the delicate 
 state of her young daughter's health as an excuse for keeping 
 her away from the ceremonial. It is a matter of history that 
 there was always friction between the Duchess of Kent and the 
 King regarding the comparative seclusion in which the Princess 
 was kept. The Duchess was determined to preserve the girlish 
 innocence and purity of her daughter by withholding her as 
 much as possible from the Court. The King was well known 
 for a coarse wit. When he was in a good humour " he swore 
 like an admiral," and when he was in a bad humour " he swore 
 like our armies in Flanders." His facetious extravagances at 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 43 
 
 COTTON SPINNING BEING EXPLAINED TO THE PRINCESS 
 BY MEANS OF A MODEL DURING A VISIT TO 
 MESSRS. STRUTT'S WORKS AT BELPER. 
 
 the dinner table were the gossip of the time. Still, his sailor- 
 like bluntness and cheery jocosity made him, in spite of his easy 
 morals, a favourite with the populace, and there were many who 
 blamed the Duchess of Kent for persistently opposing him. 
 We find a morning journal reproving her in plain terms for 
 her " impertinence " in keeping her daughter away from the 
 Coronation. 
 
44 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 The confidence and esteem with which the Duchess of 
 Kent was regarded, however, by the nation was amply testified 
 by the action of Parliament in appointing her to be Regent 
 in the event of the Princess Victoria succeeding to the throne 
 before she came of age. The Regency Bill was passed imme- 
 diately after the accession of William IV., and during its 
 discussion Cabinet ministers vied with each other in praising 
 the admirable training given by the Duchess of Kent to her 
 daughter. An extract from the speech of Lord Lyndhurst 
 will illustrate the general feeling : " The first question which 
 your lordships will naturally ask is, whom do we propose as 
 the guardian of Her Royal Highness under the circumstances 
 inferred? I am sure, however, that the answer will at once 
 suggest itself to every mind. It would be quite impossible 
 that we should recommend any other individual for that high 
 office than the illustrious Princess, the mother of H.R.H. the 
 Princess Victoria. The manner in which Her Royal Highness 
 the Duchess of Kent has hitherto discharged her duty in the 
 education of her illustrious offspring — and I speak upon the 
 subject not from vague report, but from accurate information 
 — gives us the best ground to hope most favourably of H.R. 
 Highness's future conduct. Looking at the past, it is evident 
 that we cannot find a better guardian for the time to come/' 
 
 After the passing of the Regency Bill, we find another of 
 those charming letters from Grandmamma of Coburg to her 
 daughter. " It is only a just return," she writes to the Duchess 
 of Kent, " for your constant devotion and care to your child. 
 May God bless and protect our little darling. If I could but 
 once see her again ! The print you sent me of her is not 
 like the dear picture I have. The quantity of curls hide the 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 45 
 
 well-shaped head, and make it look too large for the lovely 
 little figure." 
 
 The tender family circle of the Princess seemed to be 
 narrowing sadly at this period of her early girlhood. Her 
 favourite paternal uncle, the Duke of York, had died ; her 
 half-sister, the Princess Feodore, had married the Prince of 
 Hohenlohe and had left England ; and in 1831 her beloved 
 Grandmamma of Coburg died. About the same time her 
 Uncle Leopold succeeded to the throne of Belgium. This was 
 perhaps the greatest grief of all, bringing to an end as it did 
 her delightful visits to Claremont. The Queen has herself 
 told us that she " adored " her Uncle Leopold, and his de- 
 parture from the country filled her with despair. From the 
 hour of her father's death he had been her watchful guardian, 
 advising her mother in all points regarding her training, and 
 even providing additional income. The Princess was a warm- 
 hearted girl, passionate in her attachments, as she has remained 
 throughout her life, and one can understand that the break up 
 of so many family ties oppressed her spirits at this time. She 
 had few of the outlets of ordinary girls for throwing dull care 
 aside, the circumstance of her high estate keeping her life 
 monotonous and lonely. When I asked one who knew the 
 Princess well as a girl what her amusements were, he replied 
 that they were all of a quiet kind — chiefly walking in Kensington 
 Gardens, driving her ponies, and playing with her favourite dog 
 Dash, a black-and-tan spaniel. In order to vary this rather too 
 quiet existence, the Duchess of Kent took her daughter on a 
 series of visits to places of interest in her native land. In these 
 days of varied travel, one marvels to find that Her Majesty 
 never set foot off English soil, if we except Wales, until she 
 
4.6 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 had been several years upon the throne, and was both wife 
 and mother. 
 
 The royal visitors could not enjoy Brighton by reason of 
 the crowds which dogged their footsteps ; but at Broadstairs 
 they spent some pleasant times, residing at Pierpont House; 
 and Ramsgate was always a favourite watering-place. In 
 1830, the Princess spent a long holiday at Malvern, where 
 she led a free outdoor life, and displayed agility in climbing 
 walls and trees. Unfortunately she did not descend with equal 
 ease, and on one occasion had to be rescued from the bough 
 of an apple tree by the gardener. At Tunbridge Wells the old 
 people recall her fearless donkey-riding, and her fondness for 
 coming -to drink the water from the widow who kept the well. 
 There comes a story, too, that her mother would not allow her 
 to outrun her exchequer by the purchase of a half-crown box 
 until she had the money to pay for it, her rather reckless 
 purchase of presents for her friends having reduced the Princess 
 to a temporary state of insolvency. When her next allowance 
 of pocket-money became due, she set forth on her donkey at 
 seven o'clock in the morning to claim the box, which the 
 shopkeeper had retained for her. 
 
 . She was. also taken on visits to country seats ; and the story is 
 told that during a visit to Wentworth House the Princess was a 
 little too adventurous in racing about the glades and unfrequented 
 parts of the grounds, heedless of the warning which the gardener 
 had given her that they were "slape." "What is 'slape'?" 
 asked the Princess, receiving when she had scarcely uttered the 
 words a practical demonstration as her feet slided from under 
 her on the slippery path. " That is slape, miss," replied the old 
 gardener, with a sense of humour, as he assisted her to her feet. 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 47 
 
 Lttiltarillfc 
 
 PIERPONT HOUSE, BROADSTAIRS, WHERE QUEEN VICTORIA 
 STAYED AS A GIRL. 
 
 A note from the diary of Thomas Moore gives a peep behind 
 the scenes when the royal travellers were expected at Watson 
 Taylor's place, near Devizes. " Have been invited," he writes, 
 " to meet the Duchess of Kent and young Victoria . . . rather 
 amused with being behind the scenes to see the fuss of pre- 
 paration for a royal reception." He then proceeds to describe 
 a musical evening, the Duchess and the Princess singing duets 
 together. " No attempts at bravura and graces," is his criticism, 
 " but all simplicity and expression. Her Royal Highness 
 evidently is very fond of music, and would have gone on singing 
 
48 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 much longer if there had not been rather premature preparations 
 for bed." To have pleased the ear of so fastidious a judge as 
 Thomas Moore proves tnat the Princess had a sweet and 
 well-trained voice. 
 
 Even during these early jaunts the Princess took part in 
 public functions. We find her opening the Victoria Park at 
 Bath, and distributing colours to a regiment of foot at Plymouth, 
 and later on, when she visited Wales, she gave the prizes 
 to the successful competitors at the Eisteddfod. 
 
 In 1832, the Princess was taken on a further tour, which, 
 being attended with some ceremonious arrangement, caused the 
 old King to speak with amused cynicism of his niece's jaunts 
 as " royal progresses." The Duchess of Kent and the Princess, 
 attended by a modest retinue, set forth in carriages from 
 Kensington Palace, travelling by way of Shrewsbury and 
 Coventry, into Wales. They crossed the Menai Strait, enjoying 
 the lovely scenery at their leisure, and passing over the water 
 to Anglesey made a prolonged stay in the island, returning home 
 by way of the Midland counties. An opportunity was taken in 
 passing through the manufacturing towns to show the Princess 
 the interiors of some of the factories. It is amusing to find, 
 in records of the period, that the interest which she took in 
 what was shown her is gravely interpreted as evidence of her 
 desire to promote British industries. The fact that she was 
 delighted with a working model illustrating cotton-spinning is 
 commented upon as though our beloved Queen had been a 
 second Arkwright come to judgment, instead of a bright, clever 
 girl full of curiosity. During this tour the Duchess of Kent and 
 her daughter paid visits to several historic country seats, among 
 them Eaton Hall, Chatsworth, Alton Towers, and Powis Castle. 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 49 
 
 Wherever they appeared the people came out in great crowds 
 to see them, testifying their loyalty to the young Heiress of 
 Britain. The King indeed was not far wrong when he testily 
 spoke of these visits as "royal progresses," for, however 
 desirous the Duchess of Kent might have been to make 
 the Princess's journeys private, the people insisted upon 
 openly displaying their loyalty. 
 
 In 1833, the Duchess and her daughter resided for some 
 months at Norris Castle in the Isle of Wight, where the Princess 
 was frequently seen enjoying country rambles, or listening to 
 the stories of the sailors and the coastguardsmen as she lingered 
 about the shore. A pretty incident is told by an American 
 writer who was visiting the island. While in Arreton church- 
 yard, near Brading, he noticed a lady and a little girl seated 
 near the grave of the " Dairyman's Daughter." The lady was 
 reading aloud the story of the humble heroine, and as the visitor 
 regarded the pair he could see that the large blue eyes of the 
 young girl were suffused with tears. He subsequently learned 
 that the ladies were the Duchess of Kent and the Princess 
 Victoria. It was doubtless during this visit of her girlhood that 
 the Queen formed an affection for the Isle of Wight, which induced 
 her, in later years, to select Osborne as a marine residence. 
 
 After a period of rest at Norris Castle, the Duchess of Kent 
 and her daughter went on board their yacht, the Emerald^ 
 for a cruise in the Channel, visiting Southampton, Plymouth, 
 and Torquay. At each place they were welcomed by loyal 
 addresses from the local authorities. The enthusiasm of the 
 people was great ; and if the old King had been annoyed at 
 the homage paid to the mother and daughter during their tour 
 by land, he was more chagrined than ever by the popular 
 
 4 
 
50 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 demonstrations of loyalty which attended their progress by 
 water. He sent forth a royal decree that an end should be put 
 to the continual " poppings " of the ships in the Channel in the 
 way of salutes to the Duchess of Kent's yacht. The naval 
 authorities were of opinion that the royal ladies were legally 
 entitled to the salutes, whereupon the irate King endeavoured 
 to coerce the Duchess into waiving her right to them ; but Her 
 Royal Highness replied with becoming dignity : " If the King 
 would offer me a slight in the face of his people, he can offer it 
 so easily that he should not ask me to make the task easier." 
 We fear there were young midshipmen irreverent enough to 
 cry, " That's ' one ' for the King," as they tossed their caps in 
 the air and gave three cheers for the pretty, blue-eyed Princess, 
 who was so merrily sailing the waters of the Channel under 
 the care of her dignified mamma. The King finally ended the 
 miserable contention by summoning the Privy Council to pass 
 an order that henceforth no salute should be offered to any 
 vessel flying the royal flag unless the King or the Queen were 
 on board. The Court chronicler very fittingly describes this 
 as a " council for a foolish business." 
 
 It was during her cruise on the Emerald that the Princess 
 met with her third narrow escape from death. She was sitting 
 on deck when the yacht came into collision with another vessel 
 so violently that the top-mast of the Emerald fell close to 
 the Princess, and would have struck her but for the timely 
 intervention of the pilot, Mr. Saunders, who snatched her up in 
 his arms and carried her to a place of safety. The Queen never 
 forgot her gallant preserver. She promoted him to the rank 
 of Master when she ascended the throne, and cared for his 
 widow and children after his death. 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF Qt/EEJV VICTORIA 
 
 BISHOP DAVYS, THE QUEEN S TUTOR. 
 
 While the Princess was thus expanding her mind by travel, 
 her general education was being pursued with strictest care. 
 After the passing of the Regency Bill, and the public recognition 
 of the Princess as heiress-presumptive, Parliament granted an 
 extra ;£io,ooo a year for her education. Her resident governess 
 from childhood was Fraulein Lehzen, the daughter of a 
 Hanoverian clergyman, who came first to Kensington Palace 
 as the instructress of the Princess Feodore. She was made a 
 Baroness by George IV. in recognition of her services to the 
 
52 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Princess Victoria. The Queen has related that she regarded 
 her with the warmest affection, although she stood much in 
 awe of her. It has already been told how the Baroness 
 acquainted her pupil with her nearness to the throne, and it 
 would appear from the Baroness's letters of this period that she 
 had been absent for a time from Kensington Palace, and 
 returned there from Paris in May, 1831. "My Princess," she 
 writes, "will be twelve years old to-morrow. She is not tall, 
 but very pretty, has dark blue eyes, and a mouth which, though 
 not tiny, is very good-tempered and pleasant, very fine teeth, 
 a small but graceful figure, and a very small foot. She was 
 dressed (to receive me) in white muslin with a coral necklet. 
 Her whole bearing is so childish and engaging that one could 
 not desire a more amiable child." Again she writes, shortly 
 afterwards, that her Princess " flourishes in goodness and 
 beauty." 
 
 It was now thought, however, desirable by the King that 
 an English governess should be appointed for the Princess in 
 conjunction with the Baroness, and His Majesty selected for 
 this important post Charlotte Florentia (Clive), third Duchess 
 of Northumberland and second daughter of the first Earl of 
 Powis. It was the duty of the Duchess to instruct her pupil 
 in matters of Court etiquette and ceremonial, to train her in 
 deportment, and to generally instruct her in the lighter 
 graces. How apt was the pupil and how well the instructress 
 succeeded in her delicate task was evinced by the almost 
 startling ease and grace of manner which distinguished 
 the girl-Queen when she first ascended the throne. It is 
 the universal testimony of all who have been about the 
 Queen that she is unsurpassed for graciousness and aueenly 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 53 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND, THE QUFEN S GOVERNESS. 
 
 bearing. Madame Bourdin instructed her in dancing, and 
 the famous vocalist, Luigi Lablache, in singing. The Princess 
 must surely have derived some entertainment from her 
 singing-master, for he is reported to have been of such 
 huge dimensions that one of his boots would have made 
 a small portmanteau, and a child might have been clad 
 in one of his gloves. His portentous voice rang through 
 the house like a great bell. His wife is said to have been 
 aroused by a sound in the middle of the night which she took 
 
54 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 for the tocsin announcing a fire ; but it was only Lablache 
 producing in his sleep these bell-like sounds. 
 
 Mr. Bernard Sale continued to instruct the Princess in 
 music, and Mr. Richard Westall, R.A., in drawing and painting, 
 in which she grew so proficient that, had she been " Miss " 
 instead of the Princess Victoria, her tutor was of opinion that 
 she would have been the first woman artist of the day. She 
 once told her tutor that her pencil was a source of great 
 delight to her, and that it was a study in which she would 
 willingly spend more of her time than in any other. This 
 talent has been inherited by all the Queen's daughters, but 
 more especially by the Princess Louise, who is both artist 
 and sculptor. Mr. Stewart, the writing- and arithmetic-master 
 at Westminster School, instructed the Princess in those branches 
 of education. 
 
 From the well-known riding-master of the day, Mr. Fozard, 
 the Princess was rapidly acquiring that grace in the saddle of 
 which old people never tire of speaking, as they recall the days 
 when they saw the girl-Queen cantering down the Row. Her 
 mother was her chief instructress in languages ; Mr. Amos 
 trained her in the difficult paths of constitutional history ; while 
 her chief preceptor in Greek, Latin, mathematics, theology, and 
 literature continued to be her childhood's tutor, the Rev. George 
 Davys, who had been made Dean of Chester, and was eventually 
 to be Bishop of Peterborough. The Queen constantly speaks 
 of him as " my kind, good master." The Duchess of Kent 
 thought very highly of her daughter's tutor, who also served 
 as domestic chaplain at Kensington Palace. An amusing 
 story used to be told by him. " I like your sermons so 
 much, Mr. Dean," said the Duchess one day, adding, as he 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 55 
 
 NORRIS CASTLE, ISLE OF WIGHT. 
 
 bowed lew, "because they are so short." I am indebted to 
 his son, Canon Davys, for a corrected version of the story. 
 What the Duchess really said was that she liked the Dean's 
 sermons because they were so good and so short. Bishop 
 Davys' modesty or his sense of humour led him to omit the 
 word "good" when he told the story. 
 
 The reverend tutor had a quiet humour, and enjoyed his 
 pupil's clever repartees. The Dean had been preaching from 
 his favourite text, " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
 reap." The Princess asked, " Do not men reap anything but 
 what they sow ? " " Yes," replied the Dean, " if they allow 
 some one to come and sow tares amongst their wheat." " Ah, 
 I know who that some one is," said the Princess, " and I must 
 keep him at arm's length." " At arm's length only, your 
 
5 6 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Royal Highness ? " rejoined the Dean. " Well, if I keep him 
 there, he won't do much harm," was the quick reply. 
 
 Bishop Davys was fond of telling another story as illus- 
 trating his young pupil's fearless truthfulness. The Princess 
 had been giving trouble to her tutor over her lessons one 
 morning, and the Baroness Lehzen had occasion to reprove 
 her. When the Duchess of Kent came into the room, she 
 inquired after her daughter's behaviour. The Baroness reported 
 that the Princess had been naughty once. But the little culprit 
 interrupted her with, " Twice, Lehzen ; don't you remember ? " 
 A less partial judge than Bishop Davys might have discovered 
 a little sauciness in this very truthful statement. 
 
 The Bishop was an exceedingly good elocutionist, and it is 
 to his careful training that the Princess owed her clear and 
 expressive intonation. She was very fond of good literature, 
 and read principally in the English classics ; Pope, Dryden, and 
 Shakespeare being special favourites. The " Spectator " was 
 the class book chiefly used by the Princess, and she also read 
 the Latin authors under her tutor's direction. To him also 
 she looked for religious guidance in the solemn ceremony of 
 confirmation, for which she was now preparing. There is every 
 evidence to show that her feelings at this period were of a 
 serious and devout kind. On the 30th of August, 1835, the 
 Princess stood in her simple white confirmation dress in the 
 Chapel Royal of St. James's. The Archbishop of Canterbury 
 and the Bishop of London officiated at the ceremony, which 
 was entirely private. There were present the King and Queen, 
 the Duchess of Kent, the Duchess of Saxe- Weimar, and several 
 other members of the royal family. The address of the Arch- 
 bishop was tender and solemn, and as he dwelt upon the 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 57 
 
 COPY OF A PICTURE PAINTED 
 
 INCESS VICTORIA POR A BAZAAR IN 183I. 
 
 obligations of her high estate, and impressively commended her 
 to the guidance of the Almighty Ruler of the universe, the 
 Princess turned to her mother, and laying her head upon her 
 bosom, sobbed with emotion ; a sight which brought tears to 
 the eyes of most who were present. 
 
 During the past year the Princess had been in a delicate 
 
58 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 state of health; in fact, at the close of her fifteenth year her 
 condition caused general concern. When, after her recovery, 
 she was again seen driving with her mother in Hyde Park, 
 the demonstration of joy shown by the people amounted to an 
 ovation. We find her now emerging from the unformed period 
 of girlhood into maidenly maturity and comeliness. She was 
 seen more frequently at public places of amusement, and her 
 fresh, fair face, peeping from under the huge bonnet of the 
 period, was the delight of the London crowds. The extreme 
 simplicity of attire which had distinguished her as a child was 
 exchanged for rich and tasteful costumes. In the summer of 
 1835, she accompanied Queen Adelaide to the Ascot races, 
 and as she drove in the royal procession to the racecourse 
 her pretty appearance was much talked of. She wore a large 
 pink bonnet and a rose-coloured satin frock, which matched 
 the roses on her cheeks and contrasted nicely with her fair 
 hair and blue eyes. Mr. Nathaniel Parker Willis, the American 
 writer, then visiting London, has recorded his impressions of 
 the Princess as he saw her at Ascot. He came to the conclu- 
 sion that she was quite " unnecessarily pretty and interesting " 
 for a royal princess. " She will be sold, poor thing ! " continues 
 this youth of eighteen, " bartered away by those great dealers 
 in royal hearts, whose calculations will not be of much 
 consolation to her if she happens to have a taste of her own." 
 Not so fast, Mr. Willis ; the Prince Charming will shortly 
 appear to woo and win the fair Princess in the pink bonnet 
 and the rose-coloured dress, and she has " a taste of her own, 
 and will show it." 
 
 In the autumn of this year the Princess and her mother 
 made another " royal progress," this time through East Anglia. 
 
THE G1KLHQ0D OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 59 
 
 vG WILLIAM IV. 
 
 Loyal demonstrations met them everywhere, and at King's 
 Lynn the railway navvies took the horses from the carriage 
 and drew it for some distance. At Burghley great preparations 
 were made for their reception. Mr. Greville records that all 
 passed off well at the official dinner, except that a pail of ice 
 was " landed " by a nervous waiter in the Duchess of Kent's 
 lap, which made a great bustle. The Court chronicler does not 
 
60 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 say so, but we are afraid the Princess laughed at the contretemps. 
 A ball followed, which was opened by Lord Exeter and the 
 Princess, who after dancing one dance went to bed ; the 
 Duchess never allowing any festivity to interfere with the 
 simple routine of her daughter's life. Next day » the royal 
 ladies set off to Holkham, where they were the guests of the 
 Lady Anne Coke. Separate bedrooms had been prepared 
 for the Pjincess and her mother ; but the Duchess desired that 
 a bed should be provided for her daughter in her own room, 
 as they never slept apart. The Earl of Albemarle, who came 
 to assist his sister, Lady Anne Coke, to entertain the royal 
 visitors, records in his autobiography that the Princess " had 
 most sweet and winning manners." 
 
 In May, 1836, when the Princess was seventeen, there came 
 to Kensington Palace some very interesting visitors — the Duke 
 of Coburg and his two sons, Ernest and Albert. It was the 
 first meeting of the Princess Victoria and her cousin Prince 
 Albert. Fond relatives had destined the two for each other 
 from their cradles ; but the happiness of the Princess was too 
 dear both to her mother and to her uncle, King Leopold, for 
 any coercion to be used. It was arranged for the young 
 people to meet without reference being made to any tenderer 
 tie than that of cousinship. They passed several weeks in 
 each other's society, playing duets on the piano, sketching, 
 walking and riding in Kensington Gardens, and attending 
 some functions in town. Prince Albert, writing home regarding 
 this visit, said : " Dear aunt is very kind to us, and does every- 
 thing she can to please us, and our cousin also is very amiable." 
 The Queen, in after years, gave the following description of 
 her husband at this period : " The Prince was at this time very 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 61 
 
 QUEEN ADELAIDE, WIFE OF WILLIAM IV. 
 
 handsome, but very stout, which he entirely grew out of after- 
 wards. He was most amiable, natural, unaffected, and merry — 
 full of interest in everything." Baron Stockmar, that judicious 
 person whose business it was to attentively scrutinise the 
 Prince Albert, had already reported to " Uncle Leopold " that 
 he was endowed with the personal characteristics " likely to 
 please the sex," and that his mental qualities were also of 
 a hi?h order. 
 
62 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 At the end of a month the Duke of Coburg and his sons 
 left Kensington and returned to Germany. The Princess 
 parted from each of her cousins with equal affectionateness, 
 but we find that Prince Albert is mentioned with special 
 tenderness in a letter to her Uncle Leopold. Prince Albert 
 too, during his Continental travels, which followed the visit 
 to Kensington, collected views of the places which he visited, 
 and sent them in an album to the Princess, together with a 
 rose gathered from the top of the Rigi. Now a rose is a rose 
 the whole world over when passed between man and maid, 
 even though it be a dried one from the top of the Rigi. 
 Still we are told that there was nothing between Princess 
 Victoria and her handsome cousin at this time. It" was well 
 known that the King did not favour such an alliance for his 
 niece, and was disposed to give his help to one of the other 
 suitors, for, like " Portia," the young Princess was bewildered 
 by the number of Princes who came wooing. There were five 
 suitors at this time besides Prince Albert. We find a letter 
 of the period in which an application is made on behalf of 
 Prince Adalbert of Prussia that he might be permitted " to 
 place himself on the list of those who pretend to the hand 
 of the Princess Victoria." The Duchess of Kent replied that 
 such an application must be referred to the King, adding, 
 " But if I know my duty to the King, I know also my maternal 
 ones, and I am of opinion that the Princess should not marry 
 till she is much older." So in the meantime Prince Albert 
 was travelling and studying in order to be a fit consort, if 
 fortune favoured him, for the Queen of Great Britain ; the 
 other five suitors were kept at a distance, and the Princess 
 continued to live her happy, quiet life at Kensington Palace. 
 
PRINCESS VICTORIA AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN. 
 
THE GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN VICTORIA 65 
 
 On the 2 1 st of August, 1836, the King celebrated his 
 seventy-first birthday by a State dinner, at which the Princess 
 Victoria occupied a prominent position. Unfortunately it proved 
 to be the most terrible ordeal through which the Princess had 
 yet passed. The King in his after-dinner speech made this 
 cruel thrust at the Duchess of Kent. " I trust in God," he said, 
 " that my life may be spared nine months longer, after which 
 period, in event of my death, no regency will take place. I 
 shall then have the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority 
 to the personal exercise of that young lady " (here the King 
 indicated the Princess Victoria, who sat on the opposite side 
 of the table), "the heiress-presumptive of the Crown, not in 
 the hands of a person now near to me " (here the King turned 
 in an angry manner and glanced at the Duchess of Kent, who 
 sat at his side). He continued his angry tirade, to the effect 
 that he had been insulted by the Duchess having kept away 
 her daughter from his Court, and commanded that in future 
 the Princess should upon all occasions appear. The Duchess 
 of Kent received this brutal outburst with dignified silence, but 
 the warm-hearted Princess burst into tears. After dinner the 
 Duchess ordered her carriage, and was about to depart with 
 her daughter ; but by the intercession of the Good Queen 
 Adelaide she was prevailed upon to remain at the Castle 
 for the night. 
 
 Nine months later, on the 24th of May, 1837, the Princess 
 Victoria attained her legal majority. This, her eighteenth 
 birthday, was celebrated with every demonstration of regard 
 and attachment by the inhabitants of Kensington. At six 
 o'clock the Union Jack was hoisted at the summit of the old 
 church on the green opposite the Palace ; while from the 
 
 5 
 
66 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Palace itself floated a flag of pure white silk, upon which was 
 embroidered in letters of blue, " Victoria." Never had the old 
 Court suburb looked gayer. Flags and colours were displayed 
 from every house along the High Street, and as early as six 
 o'clock in the morning the crowds began to throng into Ken- 
 sington Gardens. At seven o'clock a serenade was performed 
 beneath the windows of the Princess's room ; and all through 
 the day the great world of London flocked to Kensington 
 Palace to pay congratulatory homage to the heiress-apparent, 
 who would ere long be Queen, for the King was fast nearing 
 his end ; he was, indeed, so ill that their Majesties could not 
 take part in the festivities. At night a State ball of unequalled 
 splendour was given at St. James's Palace, and opened by the 
 Princess with a quadrille, in which she danced with Lord 
 Fitzalan, eldest son of the Earl of Surrey, and grandson of 
 the Duke of Norfolk. It was observed by the guests that the 
 Princess now took precedence of her mother, occupying the 
 chair of State between the dances. During the days which 
 followed came congratulatory addresses from the municipal 
 authorities throughout the country, and one from the City of 
 London. The King presented his niece with a handsome grand 
 piano, and many beautiful and costly presents were sent to her 
 from all parts of the empire. Ten days later a Drawing-Room 
 was held to celebrate the Princess's majority, and this proved 
 to be her last appearance at Court as the Princess Victoria. 
 With her womanhood came also her queenhood. 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 b7 
 
Ill 
 
 THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 ON the 17th of June, 1837, it was rumoured in Court circles 
 that His Majesty King William IV. was rapidly sinking, 
 and that the Archbishop had gone to Windsor to administer 
 the last Sacrament. Three days later came the tidings, " The 
 King is dead." He expired shortly after two o'clock in the 
 morning ; and without loss of time my Lord Archbishop Howley 
 and the Chamberlain, Lord Conyngham, left Windsor, and 
 took coach for London to announce to the Princess Victoria 
 her accession to the throne of the British Empire. The old 
 king of seventy-six was succeeded by the maiden of eighteen. 
 
 Driving post haste along the silent roads, in the opening 
 dawn of the June morning, the Lord Primate and the Lord 
 Chamberlain reached Kensington Palace at five o'clock. All 
 was silent, save the singing of the birds, who fittingly were 
 the first of living creatures to serenade the Maiden Monarch, 
 as eighteen years ago they had welcomed her birth, in the 
 same old Palace, with similar song. The lordly messengers 
 had much ado to awake the sleeping household. They knocked, 
 they rang, they thumped for a considerable time before they 
 could rouse the porter at the gates, and they were again kept 
 waiting in the courtyard. Finally, after much ringing of bells. 
 
 69 
 
•jo THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the attendant of the Princess Victoria appeared, and informed 
 their lordships that her royal mistress was in such a sweet sleep 
 that she could not venture to disturb her. Then said they : " We 
 are come to the Queen on business of State, and even her sleep 
 must give way to that." It did ; and, to prove that she did not 
 keep them waiting, " in a few minutes she came into the room 
 in a loose white nightgown and shawl, her nightcap thrown off, 
 and her hair falling upon her shoulders, her feet in slippers, 
 tears in her eyes, but perfectly collected and dignified." 
 
 This piquant bit of description, regarding the young Queen's 
 appearance, is from Miss Wynn's "Diaries of a Lady of 
 Quality " ; and although it is repeated by most biographers of 
 Her Majesty, and has been given the dignity of historic record 
 by Mr. Justin McCarthy in his " History of Our Own Times," 
 it must not be overlooked that Mr. Greville, Clerk of the 
 Council, who arrived at the Palace a few hours later, and 
 received his information from the Lord Chamberlain, relates 
 that, " On the morning of the King's death the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury and Lord Conyngham arrived at Kensington at 
 five o'clock, and immediately desired to see 'the Queen.' They 
 were ushered into an apartment, and in a few minutes the door 
 opened, and she came in wrapped in a dressing-gown, and with 
 slippers on her naked feet." We are inclined to think that the 
 Queen would and did put on her dressing-gown before giving 
 audience to the Primate and Chamberlain, although in the 
 excitement of the occasion some one may have mistaken it for 
 her nightdress. In 1863, when Dean Stanley was on a visit 
 to Osborne, he asked Her Majesty if she would give him an 
 account of how the news of her accession was conveyed to her, 
 which she did in the following words : " It was about 6 a.m. 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA, 1 838. 
 
 that mamma came and called me, and said I must go to 
 see Lord Conyngham directly — alone. I got up, put on my 
 dressing-gown, and went into a room where I found Lord 
 Conyngham, who knelt and kissed my hand, and gave me the 
 certificate of the King's death. In an hour from that time 
 Baron Stockmar came. He had been sent over by King 
 Leopold on hearing of the King's dangerous illness. At 2 p.m. 
 that same day I went to the Council led by my two uncles, the 
 King of Hanover and the Duke of Cambridge." All accounts 
 
J2 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 agree that, immediately the momentous tidings of her accession 
 were conveyed to the Queen, she turned to the Primate, and 
 said, " I ask your Grace to pray for me." And so was begun, 
 with the tears and prayers of a pure young girl, the glorious 
 reign of Victoria. 
 
 Immediately after the announcement had been made to the 
 Queen of her accession preparations were made at Kensington 
 Palace for the holding of her first Council. Many who were 
 present at that most memorable Board have recorded their 
 testimony to the admirable composure of the young girl 
 suddenly called to such a trying ordeal. " Had she been my 
 own daughter," said the Duke of Wellington, " I could not have 
 wished to see her play her part better " ; and Sir Robert Peel, 
 speaking of the Queen's demeanour, said : " There is something 
 which art cannot make and which lessons cannot teach ; there . 
 was that in her demeanour which could only be suggested by a 
 high and generous nature." A little incident occurred during 
 the administration of the Oath for the security of the Church 
 of Scotland which showed that the young Queen was not 
 disposed to be overawed by her Ministers. When she had 
 occasion to recapitulate the title of an old Act of Parliament in 
 which the word " intitulated " was used instead of " entitled," 
 Lord Melbourne, standing by her side, said, " Entitled, please, 
 your Majesty." She turned quickly towards him with a look of 
 surprise, and looking again at the paper repeated in a louder 
 voice, " An Act intitulated." When the Council was over, she 
 went to her mother's room, and with deep emotion expressed 
 her inability to realise that she really was Queen, and requested 
 that she should be left absolutely alone for two hours to think 
 over the responsibilities lying before her. 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 73 
 
 THE QUEEN AS SHE APPEARED AT HER PROCLAMATION. 
 
 To the Good Queen Adelaide, who had been to her like a 
 second mother, the young Queen showed the most thoughtful 
 regard. Almost her first act, after meeting the Council, was to 
 write to the sorrowing widow a letter of affectionate condolence, 
 which she addressed to " Her Majesty the Queen," delicately 
 refusing to remind her aunt that she was no longer entitled to 
 that distinction. When Colonel Wood, who was conducting 
 executive business for the Dowager Queen Adelaide, after the 
 funeral of the King, represented to Her Majesty that there were 
 some little things at Windsor Castle which the Dowager would 
 like to retain, she replied, " Oh, Colonel, let the dear Queen have 
 them by all means, and anything else in the Castle which she 
 may desire." Later on, when the young Queen had removed 
 with her Court to Windsor, she noticed that a bed of violets 
 which her Aunt Adelaide had cherished were in bloom, and 
 
74 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 gave directions for the flowers to be gathered and despatched, 
 with her love, to the widowed Queen. A very simple act, 
 but one which showed that queenhood had not spoiled the 
 simple, loving nature of Victoria. 
 
 At ten o'clock, on the morning after her accession, the 
 Queen, accompanied by her mother, and attended by a train 
 of coaches carrying her lords and ladies, and escorted by 
 cavalry, drove to St. James's Palace to be publicly proclaimed. 
 All the avenues leading to the Palace were lined with people, 
 and prominent in one of the balconies was the striking figure 
 of Daniel O'Connell, whose loyalty knew no bounds. While 
 the Proclamation was being read, the " little Queen " stood at 
 the window of the Presence Chamber, in view of the people, a 
 somewhat pathetic figure. She was dressed in deep mourning 
 with white cuffs, a white tippet, and a border of white crape, 
 under what the " Court Chronicle " calls a " small " black 
 bonnet — small for the period of enormous headgear, we may 
 add — which was placed far back on her head, showing her 
 light hair, simply parted over her forehead in the " pure virginal 
 style." She was looking very pale, but retained her composure 
 while the routine of the ceremonial was proceeding. When, 
 however, the cannon began to thunder, the trumpets sounded, 
 the band struck up the National Anthem, and the plaudits of 
 the people, crying, " God Save the Queen," rent the air — 
 
 11 She saw no purple shine, 
 
 For tears had dimmed her eyes ; 
 
 She only knew her childhood's flowers 
 Were happier pageantries ! 
 
 And while the heralds played their parts 
 Those million shouts to drown — 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 75 
 
 THE QUEENS FIRST COUNCIL. 
 
 ' God save the Queen,' from hill to mart 
 She heard through all her beating heart, 
 And turned and wept ; 
 She wept to wear a crown." 
 
 It was but a passing and natural wave of emotion, for we 
 find the "weeping queen" an hour later, with her tears dried, 
 presiding over her Privy Council, with as much ease as though 
 she had been doing nothing else all her life. She afterwards 
 returned to Kensington Palace, and remained in strict seclusion 
 until after the funera\l of the late King. A story is told which 
 illustrates the Queen's desire to show fitting respect to the 
 memory of William IV. Sir David Wilkie was commissioned 
 to paint her first Council, and in order to heighten the artistic 
 effect the Queen is represented as wearing a flowing white silk 
 robe, while as a matter of fact she was dressed in a simple 
 mourning dress. It is said that the Queen expressed anxiety 
 
76 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VIC10RIA 
 
 over this change in her attire, hoping that it might not be 
 misconstrued as an act of disrespect to the late King, for, she 
 added, " I was in black, notwithstanding." When Wilkie was 
 painting the picture, he had occasion to remark upon the ' 
 Queen's orderliness. " She appoints a sitting once in two 
 days," he writes, "and she never puts me off." The painter's 
 courtly enthusiasm also leads him to descant upon the lovely 
 form in which the regal power had now appeared. He writes : 
 " Her Majesty is an elegant person ; seems to lose nothing of 
 her authority, either by her. youth or delicacy; is approached 
 with the same awe, and obeyed with the same promptitude, 
 as the most commanding of her predecessors." 
 
 On the 13th of July the Queen, accompanied by her mother, 
 quitted Kensington, and took up her abode at Buckingham 
 Palace. It must have been a period of sad good-byes, for the 
 young Queen was quitting the home of her birth and the haunts 
 of her childhood, as well as leaving many loyal hearts around 
 whom her own had entwined. No one was forgotten in her 
 leave-takings ; even a poor sick girl, the daughter of Hillman, 
 an old servant of her father's, was made happy by the present 
 of a book of Psalms marked with the dates of the days on 
 which the Queen had been accustomed to read them, and in 
 the book was a marker with a peacock worked on it by her 
 own hands. 
 
 It was a great contrast from historic Kensington, with its 
 homely surroundings, to the new grandeur of Buckingham 
 Palace ; and we fancy the Queen must have experienced a chill 
 of repugnance as she took up her abode there. It is invariably 
 spoken of in the journals of the period as the " New Palace at 
 Pimlico," for it was not yet quite completed, and workmen 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 77 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF KENT. 
 
 were busy night and day fixing the superb bronze entrance 
 gates, preparatory to Her Majesty's arrival. All round was 
 a grey waste of sand which led into dirty roads and squalid 
 alleys. No sooner, however, did the sweet young Queen take 
 up her abode at the New Palace — which everybody said ought 
 to be called the Queen's Palace — than Pimlico, the most 
 desolate suburb in Middlesex, started out of its caterpillar 
 
;8 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 condition, and took wings like a butterfly. Penny barbers 
 burst forth into fashionable perfumers, and tobacconists re- 
 painted their wooden Highlanders. The hovels disappeared, 
 and business began to look up. All day long ambassadors' 
 carriages and the equipages of the nobility were careering over 
 the once sandy waste, and it became he most fashionable 
 promenade for all classes. Beauty walked serene in huge 
 round bonnets and voluminous skirts. The beaux were there 
 to admire, dressed in satin waistcoats, tailed coats, with high 
 collars, enormous neckcloths, curled and scented hair, and 
 whiskers of the style known as " mutton chop." A man who 
 had appeared in a moustache would have been scouted by 
 his friends. The nursery-maids no longer stayed under the 
 trees in the adjacent park, but brought their small charges to 
 the confines of the Palace ; and soon elderly gentlemen were 
 using strong language — also fashionable — as they tumbled 
 over poodles and small boys, or got their legs entangled in 
 hoops. From eight in the morning until eight at night a 
 crowd waited outside the gates on the chance of seeing the 
 Queen drive out for an airing ; and if only a royal servant 
 walked across the courtyard, everybody was in a state of 
 excited expectation. 
 
 To those of us who know Her Gracious Majesty only as an 
 elderly woman bowing to her loyal people with a smile a little 
 sad and weary, it is difficult to think of her as the merry young 
 Queen of the thirties, moving about in continuous pageant. 
 The sight of her, in the large round bonnet of the time, with a 
 wreath of daisies or roses inside, framing her fair, girlish face, 
 was indeed sunshine to the crowds who waited daily at Hyde 
 Park Corner to see her drive into the park. Most eyes grew 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 79 
 
 
 CHARLOTTE FLORENTIA, WIFE OF HUGH, THIRD DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, 
 GOVERNESS TO THE QUEEN.* 
 
 moist at sight of her ; she looked so like a child beside her big, 
 elderly aunts and uncles. Mothers loved her because she was 
 such a good daughter ; girls adored her because she was one of 
 themselves, and they smoothed and braided their hair to look 
 like the Queen, adopted her favourite colours of pink and blue, 
 and thanked their good fortune if they chanced to be fair, blue- 
 eyed, and petite, while the tall, dark girls were correspondingly 
 unhappy. Wise matrons, mindful of the sad death of the 
 
 * Reproduced by kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland. 
 
8o THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Princess Charlotte with her first-born son, hoped the Queen 
 would not rush into the perils of marriage and maternity too 
 soon, and some even thought it might be safer for her to copy 
 the example of Elizabeth in abjuring wedlock altogether. The 
 young folks did not mind so long as she married for love. 
 The condition of susceptible young men was indeed tragic. 
 Some shot themselves, and some went mad all for love of the 
 virgin Queen. One gentleman of position was reduced to 
 weeding the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens in the hope 
 of obtaining a sight of her, and when the Queen left for 
 Buckingham Palace he had his phaeton in readiness, and drove 
 in front of her carriage all the way to town. He continued to 
 make himself so obtrusive that the authorities were obliged to 
 take him in hand. 
 
 Charles Dickens was one of the youths who had a severe 
 attack of Queen fever ; happily he recovered, or we should not 
 have received anything from his pen beyond the " Pickwick 
 Papers." His youthful aberration must have come to the great 
 novelist's memory with amusement when, at the climax of his 
 fame, he was commanded to lunch with the Queen at Windsor, 
 and received from her hands a copy of Her Majesty's " Tour 
 in the Highlands," inscribed with the words : " From the 
 humblest to the most distinguished author in England." 
 
 Meantime in the New Palace Her Majesty was holding 
 countless functions. A gorgeous new throne, upholstered in 
 crimson velvet with gold trimmings, had been set up, and the 
 gay young Queen tried it, in sportive mood, and said that it 
 was "the most comfortable throne she had ever sat upon." 
 Deputations from the universities, the corporations, and different 
 societies throughout the kingdom trooped to Buckingham 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 THE QUAKER DEPUTATION TO THE QUEEN ON HER ACCESSION (HAVING THEIR 
 HATS LIFTED). 
 
 Palace to offer her their loyal addresses. Amongst others came 
 a deputation from the Society of Friends, headed by Joseph 
 Sturge, the eminent philanthropist of Birmingham. Never 
 surely were conscientious Quakers placed in more awkward 
 circumstances by reason of their hats. It was clear that they 
 could not enter the royal presence with their hats on, yet — they 
 
 6 
 
82 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 uncovered not in presence of peasant or of king. What was to 
 be done ? There was no red tape about her youthful majesty, 
 and a compromise was made with the sturdy Quakers that as 
 the deputation ascended the grand staircase of Buckingham 
 Palace the Yeomen of the Guard should lift each man's hat 
 for him. Miss Grace Greenwood relates that when she asked 
 Joseph Sturge whether his principles permitted him to kiss the 
 Queen's hand, he answered, " Oh yes, and found that act of 
 homage no hardship, I assure thee. It was a fair, soft, delicate 
 little hand." Another unique ceremony performed by the 
 Queen was presiding over a Chapter of the Order of the Garter 
 for the purpose of bestowing the vacant ribbon on her half- 
 brother, the Prince of Leiningen. The occasion was too 
 tempting for the gossip-mongers, and a story went the round 
 of the papers that the Queen, when arranging her dress for 
 the ceremonial, sent for the venerable Field Marshal, the 
 Duke of Norfolk, and asked with charming naivety " But, 
 my Lord Duke, where am I to wear the garter?" His 
 Grace was able to assure Her Majesty that it might be worn 
 as an armlet, according to the custom adopted by Queen 
 Anne. 
 
 On the 17th of July, scarcely a month after her accession, 
 the Queen prorogued Parliament in person. It was said that 
 the Duchess of Kent and Her Majesty's physician endeavoured 
 to persuade her not to undertake such an exciting ordeal. In 
 fact, the " old folks " about the young Queen undoubtedly 
 showed a disposition to keep her away from great public 
 ceremonials, thinking it not " quite nice " for a young maiden 
 to be exhibited to a thronging populace. They had counted 
 without their host. Victoria had made up her mind to be a 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 83 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA IN MILITARY COSTUME. REVIEW AT WINDSOR, SEPTEMBER, 1837. 
 
 queen in fact, and not a mere figure-head, and she quickly 
 proved that she could perform the duties of her high estate 
 without losing anything of her delicacy and modesty as a 
 woman. As for the excitement affecting her health, she laughed 
 merrily at the idea, and bade her physician remember that after 
 her very quiet life she found pageants and ceremonials most 
 diverting. So a splendid new throne was set up in the House 
 of Lords, and around it was blazoned in gold letters " Victoria 
 Regina." The Queen was dressed for the ceremony in a white 
 satin kirtle embroidered in gold, over which was a crimson robe 
 
84 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of velvet, trimmed with ermine. The robe was confined at 
 the waist and shoulders with a gold cord and tassels. Her 
 stomacher was a mass of flashing jewels, and she wore diamond 
 bracelets and the armlet of the Garter. On her arrival at the 
 House the upper part of her dress was exchanged for the 
 parliamentary robes of crimson and ermine. She laughed and 
 chatted gaily with her ladies as they robed her, and, preceded 
 by the heralds and lords-in-waiting and attended by all the 
 great officers of State, entered the House, wearing for the first 
 time a diadem upon her brow. She ascended the throne with 
 a firm step, and remained standing and smiling as the lords-in- 
 waiting completed her attire with the mantle of purple velvet. 
 Then in musical accents came the words, " My Lords, be 
 seated," and the time-honoured ceremonial began. The reading 
 of the Queen's speech was the event of the day. " I never 
 heard anything better read in my life than her speech," wrote 
 Charles Sumner, who was present ; and the Duke of Sussex, 
 when she had finished, wiped his eyes as he exclaimed, 
 " Beautiful ! beautiful ! " 
 
 As soon as the Queen was settled at Windsor Castle she 
 received a visit from her Uncle Leopold, King of the Belgians, 
 and his consort Louise, daughter of Louis Philippe. One can 
 imagine that the royal hostess spared no pains to fittingly 
 entertain the uncle to whose kindness she owed so much in 
 childhood. The Queen was her own housekeeper, so far as 
 circumstances permitted, and she managed things right royally, 
 but never contracted a debt. She arranged dinner-parties, 
 had delightful impromptu dances, picnics on Virginia Water, 
 organised riding- and driving-parties, and got up little evening 
 concerts, at the Castle, at which she frequently sang herself. 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 % 
 
 LORD MELBOURNE. 
 
 She was in the saddle most days for two or three hours, 
 attended by a gay cavalcade of ladies and gentlemen. The 
 Queen's passion for riding infected all the women of the country, 
 and is said to have extended even to Lesser Russia. At the 
 Kherson races the ladies rode in caps a la Reine Victoire. 
 Usually the Queen wore a green cloth riding-habit and a black 
 beaver hat ; but when, in the autumn, she reviewed the troops 
 in the Home Park, she made quite a martial figure mounted 
 on a splendid grey charger and dressed in a blue cloth coat 
 
86 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 and skirt and a military cap with a deep gold border. From 
 Windsor she proceeded to Brighton, took possession of the 
 Pavilion, and had a gay time as she took the sea air. She was 
 back again in London in November, and on Lord Mayor's Day 
 made a State entrance into the City, knighted the Mayor and 
 the two Sheriffs (one of whom was Sir Moses Montefiore), 
 and dined at the Guildhall. Never had Gog and Magog looked 
 down upon a fairer guest than the young Queen in her pink 
 and silver brocaded silk gown. A little contretemps happened 
 at the dinner. Her Majesty's lace ruffles, having accidentally 
 become entangled with her bouquet and fan, which, with her 
 smelling-bottle, she had laid on the table beside her plate, were 
 the occasion of breaking the wine-glass from which she had 
 just drunk the toast of the Lord Mayor and the City of London 
 — an accident which caused her some little annoyance. On the 
 20th of November the Queen opened her first Parliament, and 
 was greeted during her progress to the House by the most 
 loyal demonstrations. The question of the Civil List was 
 settled during the session, and the sum of ^"385,000 was voted 
 as the annual income for the young sovereign. One of the 
 first things which Her Majesty did with her income was to pay 
 her father's debts, contracted before she was born. It was 
 also said that the Duchess of Kent met with a pleasant surprise 
 one morning when she found on her breakfast table receipts 
 for all outstanding debts. It must be remembered that the 
 Duke of Kent owed his monetary difficulties to his generosity, 
 and that his income was inadequate for a royal duke. 
 
 But to turn to the more arduous side of the Queen's life. 
 Upon her accession she made her choice in favour of being a 
 working Queen rather than a show monarch, and it became the 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 s; 
 
 PORTRAIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA IN THE CHAPEL ROYAL, WINDSOR. 
 
 duty of her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, to instruct her 
 in statecraft. She proved a very apt pupil, and a somewhat 
 trying one too, for she would know the why and wherefore of 
 every document laid before her, and signed nothing until she 
 
88 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 had read it. When the Prime Minister apologised for bringing 
 so many business despatches, the Queen replied : " My Lord, 
 the attention required from me is only a change of occupation. 
 I have not hitherto led a life of leisure, for I have not long left 
 my lessons." There are many well-known stories about the 
 business exactitude of the young sovereign and of her conscien- 
 tious scruples ; and it is said that Lord Melbourne declared 
 that he " would rather manage ten kings than one queen," 
 notwithstanding that the courtly Melbourne liked his posi- 
 tion of chief adviser to a lovely young Queen vastly. He 
 was close upon sixty years of age, cultured, polished, every 
 inch a courtier, a man of the world, and a man of honour. 
 There is no doubt that he was an old beau and devoted to 
 the sex. He had no family of his own, no one to love, and 
 he devoted himself to the young Queen with the affection of 
 a father. He was the leader of the Whig Party, then in 
 power; but even the Tory leaders acknowledged his aptitude 
 for the delicate post of adviser to the Maiden Monarch. The 
 Duke of Wellington said, " I have no small talk, and Peel has 
 no manners, and so the Queen must be left to Melbourne." 
 The Prime Minister's attitude to Her Majesty was far from 
 obsequious, but it conveyed respectful deference, and was 
 winning and sincere. He lived at the Castle, and for the 
 Queen's sake accustomed himself to a mode of life which in 
 other circumstances would have been an intolerable " bore." 
 In the Queen's presence he usually took care only to speak 
 the Queen's English, and pruned his speech of all needless 
 expletives ; but on one occasion he forgot himself. He was 
 sitting in his accustomed place at the Queen's left hand at 
 dinner, when the conversation turned upon the recent con- 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 89 
 
 THE QUEEN IN CORONATION ROBES. 
 
 version of Sir Robert Peel and the Tories to Free Trade and 
 the Corn Laws. " Ma'am," said Melbourne excitedly, " it is 
 
 a dishonest act." The ladies-in-waiting were in a state 
 
 of consternation ; but the Queen, with the admirable tact and 
 good sense which always distinguished her, laughingly told 
 
go THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 her minister that he might discuss the Corn Laws with her 
 in private. 
 
 The persons who exercised the chief influence upon the 
 Queen at this time were Baron Stockmar, the trusted friend 
 of her uncle, King Leopold, who had been despatched by 
 him to the British Court to watch over his niece's welfare ; 
 the Baroness Lehzen, her former governess, and now her 
 private secretary ; the beautiful Duchess of Sutherland, her 
 favourite lady-in-waiting ; and, of course, her mother, the 
 Duchess of Kent, who was always her daughter's loved com- 
 panion, though she took no part in affairs of State. Still, it 
 was to Lord Melbourne that the young Queen always turned 
 for advice. The oracular Stockmar, who became such an 
 important figure in Court circles after Her Majesty's marriage, 
 remained at present in the background. His chief function 
 was to watch " how the wind blew " with regard to Prince 
 Albert of Coburg, the devoted lover whom the coy young 
 Queen was keeping at a distance. In homely phrase, she 
 meant "to enjoy herself for a few years before she got 
 married." 
 
 The Queen's life at Windsor was regulated with due 
 regard for her many duties. She rose at eight, breakfasted 
 with her mother — who was so strict in her observance of 
 etiquette that she never came to her Queen-daughter's presence 
 until she was summoned — then, dressed in her white silk robe 
 de chambre, the Queen received Lord Melbourne in her 
 boudoir, read the despatches, and transacted State business. 
 Later in the morning she gave audience, when necessary, to 
 Cabinet Ministers. At two o'clock she rode out, generally at 
 full gallop, attended by her numerous suite, and with Lord 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 9' 
 
 THE HOMAGE. 
 
 Melbourne on her left hand. After riding she amused herself 
 with music and singing and playing with the children, if 
 there were any staying in the Castle. At eight o'clock she 
 entered the room where the guests were assembled for dinner, 
 spoke to each lady, bowed to the men, and, taking the arm 
 of the most distinguished man present, walked into the dining- 
 room. The Queen had one little rule which one notes with 
 interest. She would not allow the gentlemen to remain over 
 their after-dinner wine more than a quarter of an hour, and 
 
92 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 always remained standing in the drawing-room until they made 
 their appearance. The evening was spent in music and con- 
 versation, varied by quadrille parties ; the Duchess of Kent 
 always having her rubber of whist. At half-past eleven the 
 Queen retired. Her life at Windsor was varied by sojourns 
 at Buckingham Palace and at the Pavilion at Brighton. Where- 
 ever she was, each hour of the day was mapped out, and she 
 spent no idle moments, having the happy faculty for working 
 when she worked and playing when she played. If the 
 Queen had led a quiet, uneventful girlhood, she certainly made 
 up for lost time now, and there was no one in Her Majesty's 
 dominions who enjoyed life with its pleasures and gaieties more 
 thoroughly. 
 
 And so the months passed swiftly by until in the merry 
 month of June all the town was agog for the Coronation. 
 Country cousins came flocking in by the thousand. Every hotel 
 and lodging-house was filled from garret to basement, and 
 there was not a private house without staying-guests. It was 
 calculated that there were some five hundred thousand people 
 from the provinces in London, in addition to the distinguished 
 representatives from every court in Europe, with their retinues. 
 On the morning of the 28th, at seventeen minutes past three, 
 just as the first streak of dawn appeared in the horizon, a salute 
 of twenty-one guns heralded in the auspicious day, and from 
 every tower and steeple rang out a joyous peal. The hundreds 
 and thousands of the poorer folk who had passed the night in 
 the streets looked anxiously at some ominous dark clouds in 
 the sky, but after a slight shower they dispersed, and the sun 
 shone bright and gloriously. 
 
 At five o'clock the doors of Westminster Abbey were thrown 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 93 
 
 ift 
 
 y 
 
 H 
 
 lift' 
 
 fi 
 
 
 W ' ll niiii f— ■*flf *** " ^4*?! 
 
 ; .. 
 
 
 
 ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN'S PROCESSION AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY FOR THE CORONATION. 
 (From an old print.) 
 
 open to the eager crowd of ticket-holders, and the bells of 
 St. Margaret's clanged and pealed. 
 
 At length the firing of the Park guns announced that the 
 royal procession had left the Palace. At the boisterous salute 
 the young Queen put her hands to her ears in mock alarm, 
 and then chatted merrily with the Duchess of Sutherland, who, 
 as Mistress of the Robes, rode in the carriage with her. The 
 Queen wore a dress of crimson velvet and ermine richly 
 adorned with diamonds and pearls. On her head was a gold 
 circlet fixed on to a cap of purple velvet lined with white taffeta 
 and turned up with ermine. Eight lovely girls of the highest 
 nobility, dressed in white silk, with blush-roses, attended like 
 a bevy of fairy nymphs to bear her train. 
 
 Her Majesty's State carriage was drawn by eight cream- 
 coloured horses, and the equipages of the foreign ambassadors 
 
94 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 were in corresponding magnificence. For length and picturesque 
 effect no such procession had ever passed along the streets 
 of London. The " old folks " about her had endeavoured to 
 persuade the young Queen not to have a public procession ; 
 but while she willingly renounced the time-honoured banquet 
 at Westminster Hall, she insisted upon coming out amongst 
 her people, and chose the most circuitous route to the Abbey. 
 Once the traces of her carriage broke, and she sat with perfect 
 composure while the damage was repaired ; and when at 
 another point the crowd pressed so closely that the equipage 
 was brought to a standstill, she gave orders to wait awhile, and 
 would not allow her guards to use violence to the people. This 
 thoughtfulness had its reward. The coronation of the Maiden 
 Monarch was a white day ; not a single fatal accident marred 
 its joyousness. The Duchess of Kent's carriage was stopped 
 more than once by exuberant citizens, who insisted upon shaking 
 hands with her as a token of approval of the manner in which 
 she had reared their Queen. Marshal Soult came in for 
 vociferous cheering, and Waterloo was forgotten as he and the 
 Duke of Wellington shook hands. 
 
 An eye-witness relates that the Queen entered the Abbey 
 " gay as a lark and looking like a girl on her birthday." A 
 moment of breathless silence preceded her entry ; then from 
 choir and organ burst forth the strains of the anthem, " I was 
 glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of 
 the Lord," as, with her brilliant following, she swept slowly 
 along to the centre of the choir. The anthem now gave 
 place to a thrilling rendering of " God Save the Queen," with 
 trumpet accompaniment. The cannon boomed, but the sound 
 was deadened by the tumultuous acclamations within the 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 95 
 
 Abbey as the Queen reached the Recognition Chair, beside 
 the altar. She knelt a few moments in silent prayer. When 
 she arose, the Westminster boys seized the golden opportunity, 
 and, rising en masse, shouted with one voice, " Victoria, 
 Victoria ! Vivat Victoria Regina ! " 
 
 The Archbishop now presented the Queen to the people 
 in the quaint formula, " Sirs, I here present unto you Queen 
 Victoria, the undoubted Queen of this realm ; wherefore, all 
 you who are come this day to do your homage, are you 
 willing to do the same ? " which was answered from all points 
 of the compass, as Her Majesty turned to the north, to the 
 south, to the east, and to the west, by " Long Live Queen 
 Victoria," accompanied by the blowing of trumpets and the 
 waving of banners. 
 
 The Coronation, with its various ceremonies, civil and 
 religious, lasted more than four hours, and throughout the 
 Queen played her part with wonderful composure. Care had 
 been taken to provide a crown suitable for her small head ; 
 but no one had thought about reducing the size of the orb 
 which she was required to carry in her tiny hand. "What 
 am I to do with it ? " she asked in concern. " Carry it, your 
 Majesty," replied Lord John Thynne. " Am I ? It is very 
 heavy," the Queen answered in a tone of amazement. How- 
 ever, it was too late for protest, and she obeyed the exigencies 
 of the situation. A worse mistake had been made with regard 
 to the ruby coronation-ring. The jeweller had made it to fit 
 Her Majesty's little finger, whereas the Archbishop declared 
 that according to the rubric it must be put upon the larger 
 finger, and accordingly forced it into that position. The 
 Queen bore her painfully swelling finger with the same 
 
96 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEE2V VICTORIA 
 
 heroism that she carried the weighty orb. Afterwards the 
 ringer was so much swollen that it had to be bathed in iced 
 water before the ring could be drawn off. 
 
 The supreme moment of the ceremony came when the 
 crown was placed upon the Queen's head. At the same 
 instant the peers and peeresses put on their coronets, the 
 bishops their mitres, the heralds their caps, whilst the trumpets 
 sounded, the drums beat, the cannon outside fired, the Tower 
 guns answered, and the people within and without rent the 
 air with shouts of " God Save the Queen ! " After this came 
 the ceremony of the Homage, when all the Lords spiritual 
 and temporal ascended the steps of the throne, and, taking 
 off their coronets, touched the crown on the Queen's head, 
 repeated the quaint oath of allegiance, and kissed her hand. 
 Formerly it had been the cheek of the monarch which was 
 kissed. During the Homage occurred the episode of old Lord 
 Rolle, who was so infirm that his effort to ascend the steps 
 to the throne resulted in his falling down, but such was his 
 loyalty that he again essayed the impossible feat. Then it 
 was that the Queen rose from the throne and held out her 
 hand to the old man, pityingly as a daughter might have 
 done. An old lady, who was present at the Coronation and 
 often described the scene to the present writer, when she 
 came to this part of the story used to lose all control of 
 the aspirates in her excitement, and invariably finished the 
 narration with : " And then, my dear, when the sweet young 
 Queen rose from her throne, and extended her hand for that 
 gouty old lord to kiss, I thought that the (H)Abbey would 
 have come down with the cheering." 
 
 It was four o'clock in the afternoon before the Queen 
 
THE MAIDEN MONARCH 97 
 
 THE CORONATION FAIR. 
 
 {From an old print.) 
 
 entered the State coach for the return journey. All the way 
 back to the Palace she smiled and bowed to the exultant 
 crowds, performing her part beautifully to the last, although 
 the strain of the day's work would have prostrated most 
 young ladies. On entering the Palace court and hearing the 
 bark of her favourite dog, she exclaimed, " There's Dash ; I 
 must go and give him his bath." It is easy to imagine with 
 what a sense of relief the young Queen put off her State 
 trappings, the ring which had caused her such discomfort, 
 and the heavy orb which had made her wrist ache, to have 
 a frolic with her pet and a brief rest before she received the 
 one hundred guests who composed her dinner-party that 
 evening. For several days revelry reigned throughout London, 
 and indeed in every place in the country. The poor were 
 
 7 
 
98 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 feasted, the school-children had holiday, and business was 
 forgotten in one loyal burst of enthusiasm. The most notice- 
 able feature in the metropolis was the great Coronation Fair 
 in Hyde Park, lasting for four days, which the Queen honoured 
 with her presence. 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE OF 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 99 
 
IV 
 
 BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN 
 VICTORIA 
 
 T T J HEN Queen Victoria announced to her Prime 
 V V Minister that she had resolved to marry, Lord 
 Melbourne replied, with paternal solicitude : " Your Majesty- 
 will be much more comfortable, for a woman cannot stand 
 alone for any time, in whatever position she may be." 
 
 This was in the autumn of 1839, and the previous six 
 months had probably been to the young Queen the most 
 unhappy which she had ever experienced, owing to the strifes 
 and jealousies of the two great political parties in the country. 
 The atmosphere of reserve in which Her Majesty was compelled 
 to live was very unnatural for a young girl, and oppressive 
 to one of her open, candid disposition. Often she must have 
 longed for the companionship of one with whom she could 
 be herself, unrestricted by regal considerations. The happy 
 change which her marriage wrought in her isolated position 
 is thus expressed by the Queen : " We must all have trials 
 and vexations ; but if one's home is happy, then the rest is 
 comparatively nothing. . . . My happiness at home, the love 
 of my husband, his kindness, his advice, his support, and his 
 company make up for all." 
 
102 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VLCTORIA 
 
 There were many suitors for the hand of the fair occupant 
 of the greatest throne in the world, among them the Prince 
 of Orange ; and it is a curious coincidence that a former 
 Prince of Orange came a-wooing to the Princess Charlotte. 
 After a period of indecision, that royal lady dismissed her 
 suitor peremptorily, not, however, without going to the window 
 to take a last look at him as he mounted his horse, which 
 caused the ladies-in-waiting to think that the Princess was 
 about to relent ; but when, after gazing intently at his 
 retreating figure, clad in a scarlet uniform surmounted by a 
 hat with nodding green plumes, she exclaimed, " How like a 
 radish he looks ! " it was felt that his fate was finally settled. 
 There are not any stories about Queen Victoria either receiving 
 or dismissing suitors, the proposals for her hand being made 
 officially and rejected in the same manner. The one love 
 episode of her life was with her cousin, Prince Albert, second 
 son of the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and all the 
 world knows of its happy fulfilment. 
 
 When a small boy, Prince Albert was often promised by 
 his nurse, as a reward for good behaviour, that he should 
 marry his cousin, the Princess Victoria. Such a union had 
 been designed by fond relatives when the children were yet 
 in their cradles, and became the darling hope of Grandmamma 
 of Coburg and Uncle Leopold, and was favoured by the 
 Queen's mother, the Duchess of Kent, though it was by no 
 means popular with King William IV. and the royal dukes. 
 A visit was paid by Prince Albert to the Duchess ot Kent, 
 at Kensington Palace, in 1836, and he then made a favourable 
 impression upon the Princess Victoria. The cousins rode, 
 sang, played, danced, and walked together, and enjoyed each 
 
THE QUEEN IN WEDDING DRESS. 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE 105 
 
 other's society after the usual manner of a youth and maiden 
 at the impressionable age of seventeen. We have heard of 
 little love tokens exchanged, but it is not generally known 
 that a ring — a small enamel with a tiny diamond in the 
 centre — was given by the Prince to his pretty cousin during 
 this visit. This early gift from her lover has always been 
 worn by the Queen, together with her engagement-ring, a 
 beautiful emerald serpent, above her wedding-ring, which, we 
 believe, has never been taken off since her wedding-day. 
 One of her ladies tells the story that, when a sculptor was 
 modelling Her Majesty's hand, she was in an agony lest 
 the ring should come off with the plaster, which she would 
 have regarded as a bad omen. 
 
 After the return of the Prince to Germany, letters occa- 
 sionally passed between him and the Princess Victoria ; but 
 after her accession to the throne even these cousinly epistles 
 ceased. In reply to the wish expressed by her Uncle Leopold 
 that a formal betrothal with Prince Albert should take place, 
 the young Queen said that she wished the affair to be con- 
 sidered as broken off, and that for four years she could not 
 think of marriage. Not that her feelings towards the Prince 
 had really changed, for Her Majesty says that, " from her 
 girlhood, she had never thought of marrying any one else." 
 It was the Prince's youth which stood in the way. Girl 
 though she was, the Queen had plenty of sound common 
 sense, and she shrewdly suspected that, though the people 
 were romantically loyal to a young maiden, their lawful 
 sovereign, they might not be very enthusiastic about a 
 consort who was only a youth of eighteen. Moreover, the 
 Queen had her part to learn, for she had determined to be a 
 
106 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 ruling monarch, and it seemed better that she should be 
 unfettered by new ties during her apprenticeship in statecraft. 
 In short, Her Majesty found queenhood enough for the 
 present, without the addition of wifehood and motherhood. 
 
 But when, in after years, she realised the burden of a 
 crown, and the value of the wise head beside her own, and 
 the comfort of a loving husband's help, she greatly regretted 
 that her marriage had not taken place earlier, and with 
 characteristic candour Her Majesty has expressed the indigna- 
 tion which she feels against herself at having kept the Prince 
 waiting. The excuse which the Queen makes is that the 
 sudden change from the secluded life at Kensington to the 
 independence of her position as Queen Regnant, at the age 
 of eighteen, put all ideas of marriage out of her mind. " A 
 worse school for a young girl," she adds, "or one more 
 detrimental to all natural 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." 
 
 It was a few months after her coronation that the Queen 
 realised the words, " Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." 
 Party jealousy now began to make her its victim, the Tories 
 growing jealous of the Whig influences which surrounded the 
 sovereign. The Queen's father had been a staunch Whig ; 
 her mother sympathised with his views, as did also her uncle, 
 King Leopold ; the Whigs were in power at the time of the 
 Queen's accession, and her chief friend, adviser, and political 
 tutor was the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. It was said 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRLED LIFE 
 
 [07 
 
 that the Tories, in order to destroy the Whig influences about 
 the Queen, plotted the fall of Melbourne by hatching a Court 
 scandal. There was in attendance upon the Duchess of 
 Kent a beautiful and accomplished woman, the Lady Flora 
 Hastings, and rumours were set afloat that the behaviour of 
 this lady was such as to render her continuance about the 
 person of the Queen's mother a scandal. Things were repre- 
 sented to Her Majesty in such a light as to leave her no 
 option but to banish Lady Flora from Court. The Marchioness 
 of Hastings then demanded an investigation into the charges 
 made, which resulted in the complete vindication of her 
 daughter's character. Lady Flora, in writing an account of 
 the affair to an uncle in Brussels, states that the Duchess of 
 Kent treated her with great tenderness after the explosion 
 of the scandal, and that the Queen expressed her regret 
 " handsomely, with tears in her eyes." However, a few months 
 later the unfortunate lady died. It was alleged by many 
 that Lady Flora had died of a broken heart, and scurrilous 
 letters were addressed to the Queen's private secretary and 
 confidante, the Baroness Lehzen, accusing her of having 
 plotted the downfall of Lady Flora. Capital was made out 
 of the affair by the Tories, and it was argued that Lord 
 Melbourne was responsible for having allowed such a scandal 
 to creep into the Court of the young Queen. Shortly after- 
 wards, upon a narrow Government majority, Lord Melbourne 
 resigned office. 
 
 Her Majesty was in the greatest grief, both concerning 
 the case of Lady Flora Hastings and at the resignation of the 
 Melbourne Ministry. She kept her private apartments for a 
 day, and was in deep sorrow. To part with the Prime 
 
108 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Minister seemed like losing her only friend and adviser ; still, 
 she must face the exigencies of her position, and accordingly 
 the news went through the town that " the Queen had sent 
 for the Duke." In the popular mind of those days England 
 had but one Duke, and that was the hero of Waterloo. 
 Wellington, however, declined to form a ministry, and the 
 Queen on his advice sent for Sir Robert Peel. Her Majesty 
 was naively frank with Sir Robert, and told him that it was 
 a grief to her to part with her late Government ; still, she 
 was prepared to do her duty as a monarch. All went well 
 until it was intimated that the Ladies of the Royal House- 
 hold must be replaced by others favourable to the party now 
 in power ; then the woman arose within her, and the Queen 
 distinctly refused to part with her loved and valued friends, 
 foremost among whom was the Mistress of the Robes, the 
 beautiful Duchess of Sutherland, for whose splendid qualities 
 the Queen had the greatest admiration. The Duchess was a 
 daughter of the noble Howard family, and the wife of a 
 Scotch duke. Her interests in the literary and philanthropic 
 movements of the day, and in all that affected the well-being 
 and advancement of women, are well known, and while she 
 reigned at Stafford House it was a centre of the forward 
 social movements of the day. It was in her drawing-room 
 that Harriet Beecher-Stowe pleaded the cause of the slave. 
 We do not wonder that the Queen did not like losing the 
 attendance of such a truly noble Duchess, nor of Lady 
 Normanby, the Duchess of Bedford, and the other ladies ; 
 but it was, we believe, unconstitutional for her to refuse the 
 wishes of her Ministers. Writing of the affair to Lord 
 Melbourne she said : " They wanted to deprive me of my 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MAR R LED LLFE 
 
 109 
 
 PRINCF ALBERT. 
 
 Ladies ; and I suppose they would deprive me next of my 
 dressers and housemaids ; they wished to treat me like a girl, 
 but I will show them that I am Queen of England." And 
 she did too, for the combined efforts of the Duke of 
 
no THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Wellington and Sir Robert Peel could get no further con- 
 cession from Her Majesty than, " You may take my Lords, 
 but not my Ladies." 
 
 Her Majesty was beginning to find that standing alone 
 was not a very pleasant thing, and when, in the autumn of 
 1839, Prince Albert, accompanied by his brother, Prince 
 Ernest, paid a visit to Windsor Castle, her views about 
 marrying underwent a change. The Prince was now greatly 
 improved by foreign travel, and had developed into a strikingly 
 handsome man, with graceful, winning manners. A graphic 
 sketch of Prince Albert at this period was written by an 
 English gentleman resident at Gotha : " His Serene Highness 
 Prince Albert is a fine young man ; his complexion is clear ; 
 his eyes greyish blue, exceedingly expressive ; his features 
 are regular, the forehead expanding nobly, and giving the 
 notion of intellectual power. His hair is brown, parted on 
 the side of the head in the modern fashion. He wears 
 mustachios, which add much to the manliness of his counte- 
 nance, and he has also whiskers. He is exceedingly erect in his 
 person, and is said to excel in all the martial exercises of the 
 military profession, and to be exceedingly au fait in the more 
 elegant exercises of the drawing-room, the saloon, and the 
 ball-room." He was three months younger than the Queen, 
 having been born August, 1819, at Rosenau, the summer 
 residence of his father, the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg- 
 Gotha. An unhappy estrangement took place between his 
 parents when he was a little fellow of five, and he never 
 again saw the beautiful mother whom he was said to resemble, 
 and for whose memory he entertained the deepest affection. 
 She died murmuring the names " Ernest ! " " Albert ! " — the 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE III 
 
 two boys, whom in her last moments she longed to clasp in 
 her arms. The young Princes were carefully trained by 
 their father, and watched with loving solicitude by their two 
 grandmothers. Prince Albert pursued his studies at the 
 University of Bonn, and became an accomplished student 
 in literature and the fine arts. He was thoughtful, reserved, 
 and dignified beyond his years, and a veritable Galahad in 
 all the moral virtues; it seemed to every one that he was 
 just the man to make the young Queen happy. 
 
 When the Prince came to Windsor in 1839, he was un- 
 doubtedly a little touched in his dignity, and had resolved to 
 tell the Queen, like a man, that he was not going to be played 
 with ; she must make up her mind to a formal betrothal or 
 consider the affair at an end. His mind, however, was soon 
 set at rest. " On the second day after our arrival," he wrote 
 home to a college friend, "the most friendly demonstrations 
 were directed towards me, and two days later I was secretly 
 called to a private audience, in which the Queen offered me 
 her hand and heart. I think," he adds, " that I shall be very 
 happy, for Victoria possesses all the qualities which make 
 a home happy, and seems to be attached to me with her 
 whole heart." 
 
 Her Majesty's superior rank made it imperative that the 
 proposal of marriage should come from her, and it is variously 
 reported how she made it. There is a story that she tentatively 
 asked the Prince such leading questions as, " How did he like 
 England?" "Would he like to make it his home?" But the 
 Prince says that the Queen declared her feeling for him in a 
 " genuine outburst of love and affection," with which he was 
 " quite enchanted and carried away." The proposal was made 
 
U2 THE PERSONAL LTFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 on the morning of the 15th of October, 1839. The Prince 
 had been out hunting early with his brother, and immediately 
 after his return the Queen summoned him to her boudoir and 
 made the interesting communication. The happiness of the 
 young pair seems to have been beyond expression, and we 
 find both of them writing ecstatic letters to their near relations ; 
 the Queen dwelling upon the great sacrifice which the Prince 
 was making in leaving his country to share her life, and he 
 in his turn feeling all unworthy of the love which was shown 
 him. Uncle Leopold and the worthy Baron Stockmar were 
 delighted at the news, and both the Duchess of Kent and 
 Lord Melbourne were pleased also. Beyond these and a 
 favoured few the engagement was not made known until after 
 Prince Albert had returned home. 
 
 For a whole month the lovers courted in secret. The Queen 
 took her first holiday from Lord Melbourne's political instruc- 
 tions, and enjoyed a merry time, galloping about the Park in 
 the day with the handsome Prince at her side, and having 
 delightful little dances and festivities in the evening. She 
 reviewed the troops in the Home Park, dressed in her Windsor 
 uniform and cap, and mounted on her old charger " Leopold," 
 having the Prince in his green uniform of the Coburg troops 
 on her right hand. It rained and was piercingly cold, but 
 what did that matter when " dearest Albert " settled her cape 
 'so comfortably" for her? 
 
 The gay, happy time came to an end all too soon. The 
 Prince and his brother returned home, and the Queen, according 
 to the gossip of the time, gave herself up to a sweet melancholy, 
 and would sing only German songs ; and in sympathy with 
 the royal lovers young ladies warbled " I caught her tear at 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRLED LIFE 
 
 ii3 
 
 parting," which became the popular song of the day. The 
 royal lovers corresponded daily, and the miscarriage of one 
 of the letters was the occasion of an amusing incident. The 
 Queen was sitting one morning at Windsor Castle in conversa- 
 tion with Lord Melbourne, when word was brought that a 
 
 young man had called 
 demanding to see 
 the Queen on private 
 
 THE QUEENS DRAWING-ROOM, 1 842. 
 
 business. Her Majesty of course declined to see the stranger ; 
 but finding that he would not go away unheard, Lord Melbourne 
 went to inquire what he wanted. He refused to say at first, 
 but, further pressed, admitted that he had a packet which he 
 must place in no one's hands but those of the Queen. Finally 
 he was brought to the royal presence, and drawing forth from 
 his breast a mysterious package he delivered it to Her Majesty, 
 who on opening it found that it was a letter from Prince Albert, 
 which had been omitted by mistake from the royal letter-bag, 
 
 8 
 
1 1 4 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 and which the postal authorities had sent by special mes- 
 senger. The young man received a suitable reward, and was 
 commended for his fidelity to his trust. 
 
 In the midst of her new-found happiness the Queen had 
 important business to perform ; first the Privy Council was 
 summoned, and she declared to these solemn old gentlemen, 
 some eighty in number, that it was her intention to marry 
 Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The reading of 
 the formal declaration only occupied a few minutes, and Her 
 Majesty says that she was very nervous, and saw nothing save 
 Lord Melbourne looking at her with tears in his eyes, and 
 upon her wrist the medallion of her "beloved Albert," which 
 seemed to give her courage. Next came a more trying ordeal 
 still, the announcement of her approaching marriage in a speech 
 from the throne, in the House of Lords. She did it with the 
 utmost dignity, and in those clear musical tones so peculiar 
 to her. Both were doubtless " nervous occasions," but the 
 Queen confided to the Duchess of Gloucester that neither 
 of them was half so trying as " having to propose to Albert." 
 The troubles were not as yet over, and it seemed that the 
 course of true love was not in this case to run smooth. There 
 was heated discussion both in and out of Parliament regarding 
 the allowance to be given to the Prince. The original proposal 
 of £50,000 a year was voted down to £30,000, and the discussion 
 concerning it was in the worst possible taste ; when Mr. Hume 
 told Lord John Russell that he "must know the danger of 
 setting a young man down in London with so much money 
 in his pockets," the House, instead of calling him to order, 
 roared with laughter. Then came the matter of the Prince's 
 precedency. The Queen wished a clause put in the Naturalisa- 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE 
 
 ii5 
 
 tion Bill to the effect that her husband was to take rank in 
 the country next to herself, but the royal Dukes, her uncles, 
 objected to this, and Parliament dropped the clause, upon which 
 the Queen asserted her 
 royal prerogative that 
 it was her will and 
 pleasure that the 
 Prince should " enjoy 
 place, pre-eminence, 
 
 THE QUEEN HOLDING A RECEPTION AT HOLYROOD PALACE 
 
 and precedence next to Her Majesty." This settled the 
 question within British dominions ; but the refusal of Parliament 
 to pass the Precedency Clause left it optional with foreign 
 courts to give the Prince the same royal status as his wife, 
 and in after years caused the Queen great annoyance when 
 
u6 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 visiting continental sovereigns. The Queen's sentiments were 
 very creditable to her womanly feelings, and we do not wonder 
 that she was highly indignant at the action of Parliament, 
 for was not the Prince to be regarded, not only as the Queen's 
 husband, but as the father of our kings to be? The nation 
 practically insulted itself when it refused him royal status. 
 
 With manly independence Prince Albert refused all the 
 titles which his future wife might have conferred upon him, 
 and never displayed the least resentment at the recent squabbles 
 over his income and precedence. " While I possess your love," 
 he wrote to the Queen, "they cannot make me unhappy." 
 
 The Queen's wedding was a grand and beautiful pageant. 
 It took place on the ioth of February, 1840, in the Royal 
 Chapel of St. James, before an assembly second only in 
 magnificence to that which had witnessed her coronation in 
 Westminster Abbey. The royal bride was pale, but looked 
 very sweet in her magnificent bridal robe of Honiton lace 
 over white satin trimmed with the time-honoured .orange 
 blossoms. The train was of white satin trimmed with the same 
 flowers, and borne by two pages of honour. Her veil was 
 comparatively short, being only one yard and a half square, 
 and was worn flowing back from the wreath over her shoulders, 
 leaving her face uncovered. She wore a necklace and ear- 
 rings of diamonds, and the armlet of the Garter. The satin 
 for the dress was manufactured at Spitalfields, and the Honiton 
 lace was made by two hundred poor lace-workers in the 
 village of Beer, near to Honiton, the Queen sending Miss 
 Bidney from London to superintend the work. The joy of 
 these poor women at being employed, expressly by the 
 Queen's command, to make her bridal lace was unbounded ; 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE n ; 
 
 Nisflf 
 
 THE QUEEN AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-TWO. 
 
 they could not sufficiently express their gratitude. When the 
 lace was completed, the pattern was destroyed. 
 
 The wedding took place from Buckingham Palace at noon. 
 Previously royal marriages had been celebrated in an evening, 
 but it was the wish of the Queen to conform to the same rule 
 as her subjects, and she was also desirous of giving them an 
 opportunity to see the procession as it passed to the Chapel 
 
nS THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Royal. First down the grand staircase of the Palace came 
 the bridegroom, looking very handsome in his uniform with 
 the collar of the Garter, surmounted by two white rosettes, 
 carrying a Prayer Book bound in green velvet in his hand. 
 He was accompanied by his father, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg 
 and his brother, Prince Ernest, and as he passed to his carriage 
 was saluted by the household with the same honours given 
 to royal personages. When he entered the chapel, the organ 
 played "See the Conquering Hero Comes." He was the 
 man who among all the princes of Europe had secured Victoria, 
 Queen of England, for his bride. After an interval Her 
 Majesty the Queen, escorted by her Lord Chamberlain, came 
 sweeping slowly down the grand staircase in her snowy satin 
 and lace, graciously acknowledging the obeisances made and 
 looking very lovely. It was observed that for this occasion 
 she had laid aside her crown, and only a wreath of orange 
 blossoms rested upon her brow. She was accompanied by 
 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, wearing a white 
 satin dress embroidered in silver, and by the Duchess of 
 Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes, who wore a superb dress 
 of pink moir6, embroidered in sea-weed and shell pattern 
 At the Chapel Royal twelve bridesmaids, young and fair, 
 dressed in white, with wreaths of pale roses, were ready to 
 attend her to the altar. She was given away by her uncle 
 of Sussex, of whom a wag of the time said, " The Duke of 
 Sussex is always ready to give away what does not belong 
 to him." 
 
 The marriage service was conducted according to the rubric 
 of the Church of England, the Archbishop having dutifully 
 waited upon Her Majesty beforehand, to know if the promise 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE 119 
 
 PRINCE ALBERT AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-TWO. 
 
 " to obey " was to be omitted, but she replied that she wished 
 " to be married as a woman, not as Queen." When Prince 
 Albert solemnly repeated the words, " With all my worldly goods 
 
120 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 I thee endow," it was observed by some that the bride gave 
 him an arch smile. He took the wedding-ring from his own 
 finger to hand it to the Archbishop, and when it was placed 
 upon the Queen's slender finger volleys of cannon mingled 
 with the pealing and the clanging of the marriage bells. 
 Unfortunately " Queen's weather," which has since become pro- 
 verbial, did not prevail ; but the rain did not damp the loyalty 
 of the people, and the streets were thronged with cheering 
 multitudes to greet the young Queen and the husband of 
 her choice. As Prince Albert led his wife from the altar 
 he held her hand in a position which prominently displayed 
 the wedding-ring. It is said that the Queen's look of confi- 
 dence and comfort at the Prince as they walked away together 
 as man and wife was very pleasing to see. It was such a new 
 thing for her to have an equal companion, friend, and husband, 
 a young heart against which she could rest her own. Few 
 bridegrooms show to advantage at the wedding ceremony ; but 
 the quiet dignity and stately simplicity of bearing shown by 
 the Prince filled every one with admiration. After the marriage 
 register had been signed in the royal attestation book, placed 
 upon a golden table, the wedding party returned to Buckingham 
 Palace to a dijeuner. The great feature of the table was the 
 gigantic wedding cake — three hundred pounds in weight, three 
 yards in circumference, and fourteen inches in depth, which took 
 four men to carry it. The ornamentation was superb. On the 
 top was Britannia blessing the royal couple, and amongst other 
 figures was a cupid writing in a volume spread upon his knees, 
 
 ' ioth February, 1840." 
 
 The brief honeymoon of three days was spent at Royal 
 
 Windsor, where the Prince was seen driving his wife about, 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE 
 
 1HK yUi-LNS FIKST RAILWAY TKIP. 
 
 tete-ci-tett\ in a pony phaeton. The day after her marriage the 
 Queen wrote to Baron Stockmar, " There cannot exist a purer, 
 dearer, nobler being in the world than the Prince." Happy 
 Queen ! that in the years which followed she never had occa- 
 sion to modify her young bride's enthusiasm. A Royal Idyll 
 had indeed begun such as this country had never looked 
 upon before. 
 
 As a memento of the occasion Her Majesty presented 
 each of the officiating clergy with a handsomely bound volume 
 containing a suitable inscription, and to each of the bridesmaids 
 she gave a brooch in the form of a bird, the body being formed 
 of turquoises, the eyes of rubies, the beak of a diamond, the 
 claws of pure gold, resting upon pearls of great size and value. 
 
122 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 In accordance also with an early English custom, she ordered 
 a number of wedding-rings to be made, with her portrait 
 engraved in the centre and surrounded by true lovers' knots, 
 to send as gifts to her special friends. We wonder that this 
 pretty custom of olden times has not had a modern revival. 
 
 On the 14th of February the Queen and the Prince returned 
 with the Court to Buckingham Palace, the roads along the 
 route being lined with enthusiastic crowds exhibiting white 
 favours. Next day Her Majesty held a levee, and was 
 conducted to her seat by her husband, who took his stand 
 beside her, a position which he ever afterwards retained at all 
 State functions. When in the autumn the Queen prorogued 
 Parliament in person, the Prince accompanied her, and sat 
 on the seat of honour beside the throne. By this act Her 
 Majesty settled the question of her husband's precedency, and 
 the Duke of Wellington said afterwards, with an inward 
 chuckle : " I told you that was the best way to settle the 
 dispute — let the Queen place the Prince where she thinks fit." 
 My lords and gentlemen were of course powerless to oppose 
 the action of a young bride, and a Queen to boot, who would 
 insist upon having her husband at her side. 
 
 In the height of the brilliant season which succeeded the 
 royal marriage, London was startled on the evening of the 
 10th of June by the report of the attempted assassination 
 of the Queen. She was driving with Prince Albert up 
 Constitution Hill when a young man named Oxford presented 
 a pistol and fired directly at her. The Prince rose in conster- 
 nation to shield his wife, and meantime the miscreant fired 
 again, and was this time seized by the bystanders. Her 
 Majesty displayed the utmost courage, rising in her seat to 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIEE 
 
 ^3 
 
 THE QUEEN S PLANTAGENET BALL, 1842. 
 
 show the people that she was not hurt, and then ordered her 
 postilions to drive to Ingestre House, where the Duchess of 
 Kent was now living, her first thought being to save her 
 mother the shock of an exaggerated report. Old people still 
 speak of the unbounded demonstrations of loyalty which the 
 affair occasioned, and of the gay cavalcade of ladies and 
 gentlemen which for days afterwards attended the Queen's 
 carriage as a voluntary bodyguard when she drove in the Park. 
 Two days later Her Majesty visited the opera, and received 
 an unparalleled ovation of loyalty, and, what pleased her best 
 of all, the Prince was called for and given three separate 
 
124 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 cheers. Previous to this Prince Albert had presided at a 
 great public meeting in Exeter Hall for the Abolition of the 
 Slave Trade, and made an excellent speech in English, which 
 he had rehearsed to the Queen in the morning. One can 
 imagine how proud she was that his first public effort was in 
 so good a cause, for it was one which had been of deep interest 
 to her since those early days when she had listened to slave 
 stories from the lips of Wilberforce on the Ramsgate sands. 
 The sweet Quakeress, Caroline Fox, was there to beam ap- 
 proval upon the Prince, whom she thought "a very beautiful 
 young man." 
 
 Society was soon thrown into a state of interested ex- 
 pectancy, as the journals spoke of the Queen as looking less 
 blooming than usual, and the last Drawing-Room of the season 
 was held by Her Majesty sitting ; her dainty white-slippered 
 feet resting on a gold brocaded cushion. Early in November 
 elaborate preparations were made at Buckingham Palace for 
 the approaching accouchement of the Queen, and there on 
 the 21st of the month at 1.40 p.m. a little Princess Royal 
 was born. The Prince was a little disappointed that it was a 
 girl ; but the Queen said, " Never mind, the next one shall be 
 a boy," adding the hope that she might have as many children 
 as her grandmother, Queen Charlotte. The next day there 
 was a scare in the Palace by reason of the discovery of a 
 disreputable little urchin, known to fame as " the boy Jones," 
 under a sofa in a room next to that of the Queen. He 
 audaciously acknowledged to having listened with interest to 
 Her Majesty conversing with Prince Albert. Being too young 
 for punishment he was sent to a House of Correction. 
 
 The devotion of Prince Albert during his wife's seclusion 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE 12; 
 
 FRANCIS SHOOTING AT THE QUEEN. 
 
 was an example to all husbands. The Queen has recorded 
 that he was content to sit by her side in a darkened room, 
 to read to her and write for her. No one but himself ever 
 lifted her from her bed to the sofa, and he always helped to 
 wheel her on her bed or sofa into the next room. For this 
 purpose he would come instantly from any part of the house. 
 His care for her was like that of a mother ; " nor could there," 
 adds the Queen, "be a kinder or more judicious nurse." A 
 month after her confinement Her Majesty was keeping 
 Christmas at Windsor in right merry style, and a Christmas 
 tree was set up to please the baby, and there were trees also 
 for the Household — a pretty custom first introduced into this 
 country by Prince Albert. The stately Castle had never wit- 
 nessed such homely gaiety in royal personages before. On the 
 10th of February, the first anniversary of the Wedding Day, the 
 Princess Royal received her mother's name, and several others 
 
126 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 besides, with befitting ceremonial in the throne-room of 
 Buckingham Palace. In the following November, on Lord 
 Mayor's Day, the Queen was as good as her word, and 
 presented her husband with a son, and the nation with a 
 Prince of Wales. 
 
 The following amusing incident, in connection with the 
 framing of the bulletin announcing the royal birth, occurred. 
 After the usual statement the bulletin ran thus : " Her Majesty 
 and the Prince are perfectly well." When this was shown to 
 the Queen by Prince Albert, previous to its publication, she 
 said, with a laugh, " My dear, this will never do." " W 7 hy 
 not ? " asked the Prince. " Because," replied the Queen, " it 
 conveys the idea that you were confined also." Prince Albert 
 was a little dumbfounded, but the bulletin was altered to, 
 " Her Majesty and the infant Prince are perfectly well." 
 
 There was another merry Christmas at Windsor, and this 
 year there were two pairs of little eyes to view the Christmas 
 tree. The christening of the heir to the throne was a very 
 imposing ceremony, and took place on the 25th of January, 
 1842, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The King of Prussia 
 came to stand as chief sponsor. The infant Prince was named 
 Albert after his father, and Edward after his grandfather, the 
 Duke of Kent. At the conclusion of the ceremony the over- 
 joyed father requested that the Hallelujah Chorus might be 
 sung. Immediately afterwards the Queen held a chapter of 
 the Order of the Garter, and appointed the illustrious god- 
 father a Knight Companion, herself buckling the Garter round 
 his knee. 
 
 The year 1842 was a memorable one in the Queen's life 
 for many things. In June she took her first trip by rail, 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE 127 
 
 returning from Windsor by the Great Western Railway to 
 Paddington, the famous engineer, Brunei, driving the engine. 
 There was a royal saloon provided, and crimson carpets were 
 laid from the Queen's carriage to the train. The journey 
 occupied twenty-five minutes, and Her Majesty was received 
 by a large assembly, with great applause, when she reached 
 the terminus, although wiseacres probably shook their heads 
 and wondered that the royal lady had not more sense than 
 to trust herself to such an infernal machine. In this year two 
 attempts were made upon the Queen's life ; the first by John 
 Francis, who fired a pistol at her when she was driving down 
 Constitution Hill. It appears that he had held a pistol in 
 a threatening attitude the day before, and the Queen, with 
 her usual bravery, determined to drive out again and let him 
 do his worst, rather than have the uncertainty of another 
 attack hanging over her. She would not allow her ladies to 
 accompany her, which occasioned much surprise at the time ; 
 but, upon returning home, she said to Miss Liddell, one of 
 the maids of honour : " I dare say, Georgy, you were surprised 
 at not driving with me this afternoon, but the fact was that, 
 as we returned from church yesterday, a man presented a 
 pistol at the carriage window, which flashed in the pan ; we 
 were so taken by surprise that he had time to escape ; so I 
 knew what was hanging over me, and I was determined to 
 expose no life but my own." Francis was tried and sentenced 
 to death, but was reprieved at the Queen's request. The 
 next attempt on her life was made by a hunchback, John 
 Bean, who levelled a pistol at Her Majesty when she was 
 driving to the Chapel Royal ; fortunately it did not go off. 
 The London season of 1842 was marked by two functions 
 
128 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of great splendour. First came what was called at the time 
 the Queen's Masque ; though it has descended into history 
 as the Plantagenet Ball. The entertainment took place at 
 Buckingham Palace, and was a magnificent historical picture 
 arranged and planned by Her Majesty. The chief feature was 
 the assemblage and meeting of the Courts of Edward and 
 Philippa with Anne of Brittany, after which quadrilles were 
 danced by representatives of all nationalities, succeeded by 
 a general dance in which all were blended. In the Highland 
 set the present Duke of Argyll, then the young Marquis of 
 Lome, took a spirited part. Her Majesty, as Queen Philippa, 
 wore a magnificent dress of the period in blue and gold 
 brocade trimmed with fur, and having a stomacher literally 
 blazing with jewels, the cost of which was estimated at £60,000. 
 It was on view in Hanover Square previous to the day of 
 the ball, and two hundred and fifty carriages stood at one 
 time crowded with ladies waiting their turn to get a sight 
 of the lovely and magnificent robe. A fortnight later came 
 the famous ball held at Covent Garden for the relief of the 
 Spitalfields weavers, which was attended by the Queen and 
 Prince Albert in state. These and other minor festivities 
 which followed were planned by the Queen with a view to 
 stimulating trade ; but her motives were misunderstood and 
 much called in question at the time, and there were papers 
 which printed the cost of the Court pageants in one column, 
 and gave the list of those who were dying from starvation 
 in another. 
 
 In the autumn of 1842 the Queen paid her first visit to 
 Scotland, accompanied by the Prince. She travelled by water, 
 and was received at Granton Pier by the Duke of Buccleuch, 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRLED LIFE 
 
 129 
 
 THE PRINCESS ROYAL AND THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 driving through Edinburgh to Dalkeith Palace. The new 
 experiences of the first visit paid outside her native land 
 delighted the Queen, and found very graphic expression in 
 her Highland Journal. Nothing escaped her quick eyes ; the 
 many-storied houses of the Old Town, the aged crones 
 standing at the doors in their white mutches, the bare-footed 
 lads and lassies, the fish-wives in their short petticoats, with 
 the " caller herrin', fresh drawn frae the Forth " in kreels 
 upon their backs, and all the sights of the historic town were 
 quickly noted down. Her Majesty took oatmeal porridge 
 to her breakfast, tried the " Finnan haddies," and pronounced 
 the homely Scottish fare excellent. She held a reception 
 at Holyrood Palace, and a levee at Dalkeith House, visited 
 Lord Rosebery (grandfather of the present Earl) at Dalmeny, 
 
 9 
 
130 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 and journeyed farther north to the Highlands, visiting all 
 the places of interest en route. Scott was constantly in her 
 hand, and she delighted to verify the places and scenes of 
 which he wrote. Never probably had the Queen so enjoyed 
 a holiday. She roamed about the lochs and glens, made 
 friends with the old women in the cottages, and enjoyed 
 a freedom which was absolutely new to her. Great was her 
 amusement to see the astonishment of one old woman, when 
 told that the young lady to whom she had given flowers from 
 her garden was the Queen. The ancient dame rubbed up her 
 best English, and endeavoured to make Her Majesty under- 
 stand that she was richt welcome to Scotland. There were 
 torchlight dances, and reels and strathspeys for the enter- 
 tainment of the royal visitors, with all of which the Queen 
 was greatly pleased, and at the close of the tour she confessed 
 to having become quite fond of hearing the bagpipes. 
 
 Everywhere she was received with enthusiasm, and many 
 are the stories told of the criticisms, full of pawky humour, 
 offered by the crowd. A gentleman in Edinburgh said to 
 his farm-servant, " Well, John, did you see the Queen ? " 
 " Troth did I that, sir. I was terrible 'feared afore she came 
 forrit — my heart was maist in my mouth, but when she did 
 come forrit, I was na feared at a' ; I just lookit at her, and 
 she lookit at me, an' she bowed her heid at me, an' I bowed 
 my heid at her. She's a raal fine leddie, wi'oot a bit o' 
 pride aboot her at a'." The Queen quitted Scotland on the 
 1 5th of September, after staying a fortnight. " As the fair 
 shores of Scotland receded more and more from our view," she 
 writes in her journal, " we felt quite sad that this very pleasant 
 and interesting tour was over ; but we shall never forget it." 
 
BETROTHAL AND EARLY MARRTED LIFE 131 
 
 After their return home, the Queen and the Prince took 
 their two little children on a visit to the Duke of Wellington 
 at Walmer Castle, to get the sea air. The following spring 
 sweet little Princess Alice was added to the royal nursery, 
 and the Queen was now beginning to feel great responsibility 
 about the training and education of her rapidly increasing 
 family. " It is hard," she once said, " that I cannot always 
 hear my children say their prayers." The duty of overlooking 
 the management of the nursery, which the Queen would 
 gladly have undertaken herself, if her position had permitted 
 it, was delegated to Lady Lyttelton, one of the Ladies of the 
 Bedchamber. The royal nursery became a very lively place, 
 and many amusing stories are told by Lady Bloomfield, 
 a lady-in-waiting, about the precocity of the Princess Royal. 
 Whilst they were out driving one day, the Queen called her 
 " Missy," which she often did. The Princess took no notice 
 the first time ; but the next she looked up very indignantly, 
 and said to her mother, " I'm not Missy, I'm the Princess 
 Royal." On another occasion, the Queen was talking to one 
 of her ladies, and not taking any notice of the little Princess, 
 who suddenly exclaimed : " There's a cat under the trees " — 
 fertile imagination on her part — but, having succeeded in 
 drawing attention, she quietly said : " Cat come out to look 
 at the Queen, I suppose." 
 
 And so the early married life of Queen Victoria glided 
 peacefully by, rich in the love of husband and children ; and 
 though storms might threaten the political horizon, as yet 
 there was no shadow on the home. 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 *33 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 BY the year 1844 people were ceasing to speak of the 
 " young Queen," for although Her Majesty was young 
 in years, being only twenty-five, she was now a comely 
 matron with four children — two boys and two girls — Prince- 
 Alfred having in this year succeeded little Princess Alice. It 
 was to convey the tidings of Prince Alfred's birth from 
 Windsor to London that the electric telegraph was first used 
 to announce such an event. 
 
 The home life at Royal Windsor was, indeed, an example 
 to the nation, and afforded the best object-lesson ever given 
 as to the possibility of a woman combining public and 
 political work with the duties of a wife and mother. We 
 are indebted to a gentleman-at-arms for information regarding 
 the Queen's mode of spending her day. Her Majesty rose 
 at 6.30 in summer and 7.30 in winter. After making her 
 toilet and attending morning service with the household, in 
 the chapel, she breakfasted upon coffee, bread-and-butter, 
 eggs or cold meat, then took a walk with her husband in 
 the gardens and inspected th Home Farm. She was fond 
 of seeing the poultry fed, and did not disdain to give the 
 poor pigs a look. Then there were the aviary, studs, 
 
 i35 
 
136 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 aquarium, and the pet animals to be visited ; the favourite 
 dogs bounded by her side with delight as she moved about, 
 and the pigeons came out to perch on her shoulders and 
 on Prince Albert's hat. Returning to the Castle, the royal 
 mother inspected the nurseries and saw the older children at 
 their studies ; and having satisfied herself that everything was 
 en regie, she glanced through the Times and Morning Post, 
 after which she received the Master of the Household in the 
 library, discussed the domestic arrangements for the day, 
 received his report upon letters and applications addressed to 
 her, and gave commands regarding the guests to be invited 
 to the Castle. These usually arrived in time to dine, remained 
 all next day, and returned home on the third, the three days 
 being called days of " Rest," " Reception," and " Departure." 
 
 It may here be stated that in the first years of her 
 married life the Queen made great alterations in the arrange- 
 ment of the menage at Windsor. A Master of the House- 
 hold was appointed to perform the duties which had hitherto 
 belonged to three State officials, who were rarely on the 
 premises to discharge their functions. So bad had been the 
 regulations that if a pane of glass was broken in the scullery 
 window, it took many weeks before the repair could be 
 effected, owing to the difficulty of finding out whose duty it 
 was to attend to it. A gentleman who had occasion to attend 
 at the Castle related to the present writer that one morning 
 he saw the Queen enter the dining-room and ring the bell 
 several times before she could get any one to attend to her 
 requirements. There was no one even to show guests to 
 their bedrooms, which on one occasion led to an amusing 
 incident. M. Guizot was a guest at the Palace, and upon 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 137 
 
 GROUP SHOWING HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, PRINCE CONSORT, AND FOUR 
 CHILDREN IN WINDSOR FOREST. 
 
 retiring for the night he spent nearly an hour wandering 
 about the corridors to try and identify his bedroom. At 
 length he opened a door which he imagined led to it; but 
 
i 3 8 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 before he had advanced many steps into the room he 
 discovered that a lady was seated before the toilet table with 
 a maid brushing her hair. The abashed gentleman made a 
 hasty retreat, and was fortunate when he returned to the 
 bewildering corridors to find a guide who took him to his 
 own room. The incident had almost passed from his mind, 
 when the following evening he was reminded of it by a 
 laughing allusion made by the Queen. M. Guizot then 
 discovered that it was Her Majesty's dressing-room he had 
 entered. Hitherto the unused bread had been wasted in the 
 royal kitchens, but the Queen now directed that it should 
 be sent to the inmates of the almshouses within the burgh 
 of Windsor ; and many other reforms were instituted by the 
 royal housekeeper and her methodical husband. 
 
 But to return to her manner of portioning out her day. 
 Having so far disposed of the household matters, the Queen 
 turned her attention to affairs of State. At eleven o'clock 
 the despatch boxes were opened, and their contents discussed 
 with the principal secretaries of State, when necessary, or 
 perused with the Prince. In the Foreign Secretary's box 
 were all the recent correspondence with foreign powers and 
 the drafts of the proposed replies for the Queen's considera- 
 tion, and like minutiae were observed in the despatches of 
 the War, Admiralty, and Home departments. After this 
 business had been transacted, Her Majesty received visitors 
 " invited " or " commanded " — artists, publishers, foreigners 
 with special introductions, people with presents for the 
 aviary, and tradesmen with novelties to exhibit. At two o'clock 
 came luncheon, at which the Queen ate and drank heartily 
 after her morning's work, and was ready to enjoy several 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 139 
 
 hours' riding or driving in the afternoon, accompanied by 
 the Prince, the Duchess of Kent, and often by one or 
 other of the children. Whenever the Queen was staying at 
 Windsor her mother occupied Frogmore House, quite near, 
 and invariably dined with her daughter. On returning from 
 driving the Queen and Prince spent some time in private. 
 Sometimes they amused themselves with drawing etchings 
 upon copper of their children or pet animals, which were 
 printed at their private press. One of the most interesting 
 of these was an etching by the Queen of the Princess Royal 
 as a baby in long clothes, gazing at a parrot in a cage 
 placed to arrest her attention. At one time Mr., afterwards 
 Sir, George Hayter attended at Windsor Castle to give 
 the Queen and the Prince instruction in etching. 
 
 Dinner, which took place at eight o'clock, was a stately 
 affair, served by servants in scarlet and powder, while a military 
 band played in an ante-room. The conversation took place 
 in subdued whispers, except when the Queen addressed a guest. 
 Politics were by her desire never discussed, and the gentlemen 
 remained behind over their wine only for a very short time. 
 An anecdote of the Queen's perfect courtesy as a hostess may 
 here be mentioned. A certain nobleman, who was an abstainer, 
 was dining with the Queen, and was asked by a royal Duchess 
 present to drink wine with her. Upon his polite refusal the 
 Duchess laughingly appealed to Her Majesty to use her 
 authority over her water-drinking guest ; but the Queen replied 
 with a smile : " There is no compulsion at my table." Not 
 infrequently she would have what one of her ladies termed a 
 " tete-a-tete dinner," alone with her husband. 
 
 After the ceremonious dinner was over, the Queen chatted 
 
1 4 o THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 with the ladies and gentlemen in the drawing-room, unless 
 there were special guests to claim her attention, in a charmingly- 
 free-and-easy manner. In her gay moods she was the life of 
 the company, and we catch glimpses of her seizing hold of an 
 astonished lady and whirling her round in a polka, or dancing 
 a reel, a recent accomplishment which she had learned in the 
 Highlands. Music played an important feature in the evening's 
 entertainment, and the Queen would sing duets with her ladies, 
 and did not disdain to act as accompanist. On one occasion 
 Jenny Lind was singing before the Queen, and was put to 
 considerable annoyance by the vagaries of the Court musi- 
 cian. Her Majesty's quick ear detected what was wrong, 
 and advancing to the piano, she said, " I will accompany 
 Miss Lind," which she did to perfection. Prince Albert also 
 shared his wife's taste for music, and was a composer and an 
 accomplished player upon the organ, which he considered the 
 finest instrument for expressing the feelings. The prominent 
 place given to music in the royal household exercised an 
 immense influence over the life of the people, and these little 
 impromptu concerts at Windsor Castle were the precursors of 
 the musical evenings which became fashionable in society, 
 and which gradually extended to the humbler homes of the 
 land. 
 
 Mendelssohn was more than once an honoured guest at 
 Windsor, and his letters give some charming accounts of the 
 skill and enthusiasm of the Queen and Prince Albert in his 
 own beloved art. The great composer thought very highly 
 of the Queen's singing, more highly in fact than he deemed 
 it good taste to admit in her presence ; it was only after her 
 Majesty's modest confession that she felt too nervous to take 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 141 
 
 ETCHINGS BY HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT. 
 
 a long G properly, that Mendelssohn praised her heartily and 
 with a clear conscience. It was owing to the efforts of the 
 Queen and Prince Albert that the Castle band was brought to 
 such perfection, and the wind largely superseded by stringed 
 instruments. On one occasion, when some special music had to 
 be practised, the bandmaster commanded a Sunday rehearsal, 
 at which two German players, who were Methodists, refused 
 to comply on conscientious grounds. The affair came to the 
 
1 42 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Queen's ears, and she settled it immediately, saying, " I will 
 have no more Sunday rehearsals." 
 
 And so we find the evenings at the Court being spent in 
 music, little dances, conversation, and round games. " Patience " 
 was a favourite game with the Prince, and Vingt-et-un was 
 sometimes played, and " Follow my leader," and there was 
 spinning of counters, asking of riddles, and playing tricks with 
 stuffed mice — in short, a quiet evening at Windsor was very 
 like an old-fashioned party in ordinary life, even to grand- 
 mamma having her rubber of whist. The Queen could get 
 amusement out ot very trifling things, and never seemed bored, 
 or complained of ennui \ the secret of it being that she was 
 never idle. When one of her former maids of honour, then 
 an ambassador's wife, told the Empress of Russia that she had 
 received a letter from Queen Victoria, the Empress exclaimed, 
 " W r hat ! in her own handwriting? Is it possible that the Queen 
 finds time to write letters ? " 
 
 Another trait in the Queen's character was her cheerfulness ; 
 in fact, when she started to laugh she found it difficult to stop, 
 and her laugh was no company laugh, but thoroughly hearty. 
 Mr. Gibson, R.A., tells a story that when Her Majesty was 
 sitting to him, he asked permission to measure her mouth. 
 " Oh, certainly," replied the Queen, " if I can only keep it still 
 and not laugh." The proposal was so unexpected and droll that 
 it was some time before the Queen could compose herself; 
 directly she closed her mouth she burst out laughing again. 
 The same sculptor describes a little conjugal episode which 
 occurred when he was to model the Queen in evening dress. 
 She came into the room accompanied by the Prince, who, like 
 a fond young husband, had his arm round his wife's neck, 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 143 
 
 PORTRAIT OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN. 
 
 and pointing to her shoulder said, " Mr. Gibson, you must 
 give me this dimple." Her Majesty's neck and shoulders were 
 greatly admired in those days. 
 
 Now and again amusing celebrities were commanded to 
 Windsor, notably Tom Thumb, who strutted about like a 
 
H 4 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 little peacock, and told the Queen, to her amusement, that 
 her place was "first rate." Charles Kcan acted as Her Majesty's 
 Master oi the Revels, and under his superintendence her 
 friends the " poor players " gave many celebrated performances 
 at the Castle. In those days the " boards " were trod by 
 M.utv.ulv, Phelps, and the Kcmbles, and Rachel and Grisi 
 were the stars of the operatic stage. It was the Queen who 
 first invited Jenny Lind to sing in this country, she having heard 
 her in Coburg in '45, and when " Jenny " made her memorable 
 triumph at Covcnt Garden it was the Queen's bouquet which 
 was the first to be cast at the feet of the singer. In those 
 bright, happy days Victoria stood in the forefront of the national 
 life. She patronised all that was best in literature, art, and 
 the drama, and gave her sympathy and help to the philan- 
 thropies of the time. Theatres which aimed at royal patronage 
 were obliged to conform to the Queen's taste, and gradually 
 the coarse survivals of a ruder time were swept from the stage. 
 Society took its cue from her, and the Court became as pure 
 as a good woman could make it. 
 
 The Queen undoubtedly loved the gaieties ot town in the 
 early years of her reign ; but as the little ones began to 
 cluster about her knees, she longed for the quietude cf 
 country lite, drawn to it also by her thoughtful, studious 
 husband. We find her running away in the height of the 
 season to enjoy a quiet time with her husband and children 
 amidst the flowery glades of Claremont On one of these 
 occasions "Vicky" and "Bertie" came to the Queen's room 
 to wish her many happy returns of her birthday, dressed 
 Tyrolese fashion, and looking such sweet little foreigners that 
 their mother hardly knew them. This little surprise was 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 145 
 
 
 
 (5 
 
 
 
 
 f Mjt 1 
 
 
 
 
 iff 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 sur •^^ff^gj 
 
 
 **■ 
 
 
 Hp 
 
 
 
 MbBI^HIHB 
 
 
 THE PRINCE CONSORT. 
 
 planned by the Prince and the Duchess of Kent, and affords 
 a pleasing glimpse into the home life of the royal pair. 
 
 Her Majesty was no stickler for extreme Court etiquette 
 
 10 
 
146 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 when it caused actual discomfort to others. It had been the 
 custom for the sovereign to hold drawing-rooms seated upon 
 the throne, thus obliging those presented to mount the steps 
 to kiss hands, and then retire backwards — no easy task with 
 a voluminous train behind. To lessen the difficulties of the 
 ladies, the Queen received them at the foot of the throne, 
 and permitted them, after retiring a few steps backwards, to 
 take their trains over their arms and resume their natural 
 walk. 
 
 The same consideration was shown by the Queen to her 
 maids of honour ; no weary standing on tired feet, no hours 
 of reading aloud, of which poor Miss Burney complained in 
 the days of old Queen Charlotte, and certainly the ladies did 
 not get their ears boxed for misdemeanour, a not uncommon 
 thing in the " good old times." Her Majesty treated her 
 ladies as friends ; they sang and played with her, accom- 
 panied her upon horseback or in the carriage, and appear to 
 have had few actual duties beyond these, and handing the 
 Queen her bouquet at dinner. She addressed them by their 
 Christian names, and when they returned to residence received 
 them with a kiss and inquiries regarding the home circle 
 which they had just left. One thing the Queen did rigidly 
 exact, and that was punctuality. 
 
 Those who have been about Her Majesty invariably speak 
 of the charm of her conversation and presence. Lady 
 Bloomfield, writing of a musical evening at Windsor, says : 
 "I enjoy nothing so much as seeing the Queen in that nice 
 quiet way, and I often wish that those who don't know Her 
 Majesty could see how kind and generous she is when she is 
 perfectly at her ease and able to throw off the restraint and 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 147 
 
 form which must and ought to be observed when she is in 
 public." The Baroness Bunsen writes to her son in the same 
 strain after lunching with the Queen at Stafford House : 
 " The Queen looked well and charming, and I could not help 
 the same reflection that I have often made before, that she 
 is the only piece of female royalty I ever saw who was also 
 a creature such as God Almighty has created. Her smile is 
 a real smile \ her grace is natural^ although it has received a 
 
 WINDSOR CASTLE. 
 
 high polish from cultivation- 
 there is nothing artificial about 
 her." In evidence of the de- 
 light which this lady felt in 
 dining with the Queen, she 
 relates that in spite of a severe 
 cold, which inconvenienced her to the extent of necessitating 
 the use of six handkerchiefs during the morning, she availed 
 herself of the privilege of dining with the Queen in the 
 evening. We fancy in former reigns a bad cold would have 
 been welcomed as a convenient excuse for not obeying the 
 royal command. Fortunately for the Baroness, it was the time 
 when ladies carried their monchoirs in dainty little bags, so 
 she was not limited in her supply. 
 
148 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Lady Lyttelton, the second daughter of Earl Spencer, 
 who had been lady-in-waiting since the Queen's accession, 
 had, as we have seen, been entrusted by Her Majesty with 
 the charge of the royal children. She was a kind, motherly 
 lady, admirably fitted for this important office, which she held 
 for eight years. The royal mother, however, remained herself 
 the chief authority in nursery matters, and supervised every 
 detail of the children's training. In drawing up some rules 
 for their education, she said : " The greatest maxim of all is — 
 that the children should be brought up as simply as possible, 
 and in as domestic a way as possible ; that, not interfering 
 with their lessons, they should be as much as possible with 
 their parents, and learn to place their greatest confidence in 
 them in all things. . . . Religious training is best given to 
 a child at its mother's knee." Apropos of the latter, there is 
 a story of that brilliantly clever child, the Princess Royal. 
 The Queen was reading the Bible with her little daughter, 
 and came to the passage, " God created man in His own image, 
 in the image of God created He him," upon which " Vicky," 
 who had a sense ot beauty and fitness, exclaimed, "But, 
 mamma, surely not Dr. Pratorious ? " This gentleman was 
 secretary to Prince Albert, and by no means good-looking. 
 
 When the children were young, all goods purchased for 
 their wear were submitted to the Queen, and it was at her 
 command that only the plainest fare was sent to the nursery, 
 "quite poor living — only a bit of roast meat and perhaps a 
 plain pudding," one of the servants told Baron Bunsen, adding 
 that the Queen would have made " an admirable poor man's 
 wife." As the Princesses grew older, they were taught to take 
 care of their clothes, even to that old-maidish custom of rolling 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA i 49 
 
 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY AT THE QUEENS POWDER BALL, JUNE, 1 845. 
 
 up the bonnet-strings. One of the chief anxieties of the royal 
 mother was that her children should be kept free from the 
 enervating influences of rank and power, self-indulgence and 
 flattery. They were taught consideration for the feelings of 
 others, and to be universally polite. The Prince of Wales 
 was a perfect little gentleman, and when his mother said, 
 " Make your bow, sir," upon introducing him to a visitor, he 
 did it with charming grace. We find the Queen constantly 
 speaking of him as " good little Bertie." The Princess Royal 
 
1 50 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 was the delight of the Court and of the people ; but her mother 
 had to exercise severe discipline to keep her in order. For 
 example, when Dr. Brown, of Windsor, entered the service 
 of Prince Albert, the little princesses, hearing their father 
 address him as "Brown," used the same form of speech. 
 The Queen corrected them, and told them to say " Dr. Brown." 
 All obeyed except " Vicky," who was threatened with " bed " 
 if she transgressed again. Next morning, when the Doctor 
 presented himself to the royal family, the young Princess, 
 looking straight at him, said, " Good morning, Brown ! " Then, 
 seeing the eyes of her mother fixed upon her, she rose and, 
 with a curtsey, continued, "and good night, Brown, for I am 
 going to bed," and she walked resolutely away to her punish- 
 ment. This was the same young lady who, at three years 
 old, motioned away her governess, Lady Lyttelton, with, 
 " N' approcJies pas moi, mot ne veut pas vous." 
 
 When quite young, the children were taken by their royal 
 parents to see a review of the Guards in honour of the Prince 
 of Wales's birthday. The troops marched past the royal family, 
 presenting arms, and afterwards fired a. feu de joie. This rather 
 frightened the Princess Royal, and when the band struck up 
 " God Save the Queen," fearing that there was going to be 
 another volley, she put her hands to her ears, and shocked her 
 mother dreadfully. The repartee of the little Princess would 
 have been " delicious " if some one had whispered in her ear 
 that her own mamma had done the same thing when the 
 cannon thundered on her coronation day. 
 
 Thus early the royal children were made accustomed to 
 pageants, and we find that on the occasion just referred to the 
 Prince of Wales and tiny Princess Alice stood throughout the 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 151 
 
 HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT IN COSTUMES FOR THE 
 POWDER BALL, 1845. 
 
 manoeuvres almost motionless, which led one of the ladies to 
 exclaim that she had never seen such good children. Another 
 story shows that the Princess Royal had a sense of dignity 
 regarding her small performances. A certain Major Douglas 
 had sent her a handsome present ot toys, and when he next 
 had an audience, Her Majesty desired the little Princess to 
 thank him for them, which she did very nicely. When Lady 
 Lyttelton took her down to the Queen's room, she mentioned 
 in an undertone that the child had delivered her speech very 
 well, at which the Queen turned round to her, and said : " Well, 
 Pussy, and what did you say ? " The consequential little 
 mite answered, " I said — I said my speech." 
 
152 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 A notable figure in the Queen's married life was that trusted 
 friend and adviser, Baron Stockmar, who for seventeen years 
 moved quietly in the background of the Court. He was an 
 army physician who became attached to the suite of Prince 
 Leopold, the Queen's uncle, and was with him at Claremont 
 when his young wife, the Princess Charlotte, died. Later on he 
 accompanied Prince Leopold when he became King of Belgium. 
 Upon the Queen's accession, Uncle Leopold despatched the 
 trusted Stockmar to England to watch over the welfare 
 of his niece. It was not, however, until after the Queen's 
 marriage that he became a permanent figure in her house- 
 hold. What " the Duke " was to the nation, " the Baron " 
 became to the Court, and the wags dubbed him the " Old 
 Original." lie was a man of sterling qualities; upright, 
 sagacious, with a vast amount of knowledge of the world, and 
 was equally useful beside a sick-bed or at a writing-table. 
 In the royal nursery he was a perfect oracle, and is reported 
 to have said, " The nursery gives me more trouble than the 
 government of a kingdom would do." Under his judicious 
 management the delicate little Princess Royal became so fat 
 and well that he was able to write of her, " She is as round 
 as a barrel," and the Queen said in one of her letters, 
 " Pussy's cheeks are on the point of bursting." The queer 
 old German Baron was a kind of fairy godfather to the little 
 folks ; it was to his room they ran with their latest toy, or 
 when they wanted a story. The Princess Royal, however, 
 was his favourite, her smart wit delighting him vastly. 
 
 The Baron was, as might be expected, a privileged person. 
 lie was permitted to sit at Her Majesty's dinner table in 
 trousers, while other old gentlemen shivered in "shorts.'' 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 153 
 
 Immediately the meal was over he would be seen walking 
 off to his own room without ceremony. He never sacrificed 
 his comfort to etiquette. When the spring came, he suddenly 
 disappeared, without any adieux ; then would follow letters 
 of regret from his royal master and mistress, and, after 
 
 spending a few months 
 
 ;Jtif0^- witn his wife and 
 
 '^^^f^fit' family in his native 
 
 4tf2gJi&':' ■■ Coburg, the Baron 
 
 would return to Wind- 
 
 IM 
 
 7 ™ 
 
 
 WM m^m^A 
 
 , 
 
 OSBORNE HOUSE. 
 
 sor as mysteriously as he had disappeared, and resume his 
 role of chief adviser and general referee. 
 
 The Queen had now what she called " a home of her' 
 own," in contradistinction to the royal palaces, having 
 purchased the beautiful estate of Osborne, in the Isle of 
 Wight, and built herself there a marine residence at a cost 
 of ^200,000. The grounds were artistically laid out under 
 the direction of that most skilled of landscape gardeners, 
 Prince Albert. The original estate was added to, until now, 
 as a coachman in the island will tell you, the Queen can 
 
154 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 drive for twelve miles without going outside her own domain. 
 The house-warming at Osborne took place in September, 
 1846, when a maid of honour threw an old slipper for good 
 luck as the Queen entered her new abode, and at the 
 Prince's suggestion an appropriate German hymn was sung, 
 beginning : 
 
 " God bless our going out, nor less 
 Our coming in." 
 
 Later on, to celebrate one ol the Queen's birthdays, the 
 Swiss Cottage was erected in the grounds for the use of the 
 children. There the boys learned carpentering, under their 
 father's direction, and the princesses studied culinary arts in 
 a model kitchen and dairy, entertained their parents to 
 repasts prepared with their own hands, and made dishes for 
 the poor. The Cottage also contained a museum of natural 
 history, the contents being largely collected by the royal 
 children. In front were the gardens, one for each child, 
 which they tended themselves, under the direction of a 
 gardener, who instructed them not only in flower culture, but 
 in the rearing of fruit and vegetables. Few children have, 
 indeed, been taught more thoroughly how to use their hands 
 than the Queen's family. Her Majesty and the Prince were 
 charmed with their beautiful retreat, with the woods sloping 
 down to the blue sea, and in summer evenings they walked 
 in the plantation to listen to the nightingales, which grew so 
 familiar with the Prince that they would answer his whistle. 
 The entire building and laying out of the Osborne estate was 
 not completed until 185 1, the portion known as the Pavilion 
 being occupied meantime. 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 155 
 
 THE QUEENS HORSES. 
 
 The year 1845 was famous for another of the Queen's 
 Bals Masque. The period chosen was between 1740 and 1750, 
 and the prevailing feature of powdered wigs gave it the name 
 of the Powder Ball. The time was not one at which the dress 
 was very becoming, and when the royal fiat went forth ladies 
 were horrified at the idea of wearing powdered toupees, 
 pomatumed curls, and wide-spreading hoops. The costume was 
 arranged, however, to look as becoming as possible, and the 
 ladies became reconciled to it when they discovered that 
 powdered hair made the complexion look more brilliant, and 
 that if the hoop disguised the figure the stomacher displayed 
 it. Half the great houses in London were turned into 
 milliners' shops, and filled with stuffs, patterns, and drawings 
 of costumes. Society dames studied the family portraits of 
 
I S 6 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the period, and the grandmothers' heirlooms were in great 
 requisition, The Queen, dressed as the Lady of the Feast, 
 wore a magnificent brocade covered with point lace drawn 
 from the hoards of her grandmother, Queen Charlotte ; while 
 Prince Albert looked bravely in a scarlet velvet coat and 
 gold waistcoat. They opened the ball with a polonaise, and 
 closed it with Sir Roger de Coverley. It would take a long 
 list to mention the celebrities and beauties who graced the 
 occasion. The Duke of Wellington was there in a marshal's 
 uniform of the period, which hung so loosely about his spare 
 limbs as to render him almost unrecognisable. It was said 
 that no one would have known him but for his nose. He 
 walked about with his lovely daughter-in-law, the Marchioness 
 of Douro, who wore a brocade trimmed with lace flounces 
 which had once belonged to the vestment of a pope. Miss 
 Burdett-Coutts, the banker's heiress, was then just coming into 
 society, and the jewels she wore at the ball were the talk of 
 the town for many weeks afterwards, prominent amongst them 
 being a necklace which had belonged to Marie Antoinette. 
 
 In 1848 the Prince leased Balmoral Castle as a hunting- 
 box, and the royal pair had then their Island and Highland 
 homes (the present Castle was not built until some years 
 later). Old Balmoral was a pretty little grey castle in the 
 Old Scottish style, situated amongst the picturesque mountain 
 scenery of the valley of the Dee. It was originally a farm- 
 house, and had gradually grown into palatial appearance, 
 although at the time when the Queen first lived there it was 
 little larger than an ordinary gentleman's house. It was 
 surrounded by primitive huts, with the peat smoke issuing 
 from holes in the roofs — a solitary, picturesque, and peaceful 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 157 
 
 spot, with the deer creeping stealthily round the house. 
 Here, 'mid Dee's " rushing tide " and the heather-clad hills, 
 the Queen enjoyed each autumn the free, outdoor life which 
 was a passion with her. She climbed the mountains on her 
 Highland pony, explored the solitudes, took refuge from 
 storms in shepherds' huts, was carried over marshy ground 
 
I 5 8 THE PERSONAL LIEE OF QUEEN VICTOR J A 
 
 on a plaid slung between two Highlanders, had " scratch " 
 meals in wayside inns, and accompanied her husband on his 
 deer-stalking expeditions, remaining out sometimes for nine 
 hours at a time. She was fond of sketching amongst the 
 hills, and one day had an amusing encounter with a herd 
 laddie, who found that his flock were timid at the sight of 
 her upon the sheep track. 
 
 " Gang out of the road, lady, and let the sheep gang 
 by," he cried. Finding that his appeal produced no effect, he 
 shouted yet louder, " I say, gang back, will you, and let the 
 sheep pass ! " 
 
 "Do you know, boy, whom you are speaking to?" asked 
 the Queen's attendant. 
 
 " I dinna know, and I dinna care," replied the exasperated 
 lad ; " that's the sheep's road, and she has no business to 
 stand there." 
 
 " But it is the Queen," was the reply. 
 " Well," replied the astonished boy, " why don't she put on 
 clothes so that folks would know her ? " 
 
 A Minister of State was always in attendance when the 
 Queen was at Balmoral, and we fear that some of those 
 stately gentlemen rubbed their eyes and could not believe 
 their senses when they beheld the Monarch of the British 
 Empire and her illustrious Consort living like small gentle- 
 folk, in a small house, with small rooms, and having only a 
 few attendants. The Clerk of the Council, who accompanied 
 Lord John Russell, the Prime Minister, to Balmoral, exclaimed 
 in horror, " There are no soldiers, and the whole guard of 
 the sovereign and the royal family is a single policeman." 
 adding further that the Queen was to be seen running in 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 159 
 
 OLD BALMORAL CASTLE. 
 
 and out of the house all day long, and visiting the old 
 women in the cottages unattended. Worse still, Lord 
 Palmerston found the Queen sallying forth for a walk in the 
 midst of heavy rain with a great hood over her bonnet, con- 
 cealing all the features except her eyes ; and poor Lord John 
 Russell, after dining for the first time at Balmoral, actually 
 saw the dining-room cleared for the Queen and Prince to 
 take lessons in reels and strathspeys from a Highland dancing- 
 master, to the tune of a fiddle. The royal children, too, clad 
 in kilts and tartans, wandered by the hillside, paddled in the 
 burn, played with the cottage children, and on Sundays 
 accompanied their parents to the little Presbyterian church 
 of Crathie on the other side the Dee. One wonders that 
 society did not refuse to attend the next Drawing-Room, and 
 that the Bench of Bishops did not travel express to Balmoral ! 
 Never has the Queen shown herself greater than when she 
 has put aside the trappings of royalty and stood forth in 
 the grandeur on her own womanhood. Victoria of England 
 is great enough to be herself. 
 
160 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 It would seem, indeed, that the Queen was safer at 
 Balmoral, guarded by one policeman, than in London, for in 
 May, 1849, Her Majesty was again fired at when driving 
 along Constitution Hill, this time by a mad Irishman, 
 William Hamilton, and one can sympathise with the indig- 
 nant words of Lord Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley) when he 
 said, " While the profligate George IV. passed through a life 
 of selfishness and sin without a single droved attempt to take 
 it, this mild and virtuous young woman has four times 
 already been exposed to imminent peril." But the good 
 man thanked God that the Queen and her husband were 
 what they were, with a moral Court, domestic virtues, and 
 some public activity in philanthropic things. Nothing daunted 
 by this attack, in the August following the Queen paid her 
 first visit to Ireland, accompanied by the Prince and four of 
 the children. She landed at the Cove of Cork, which hence- 
 forth became Queenstown. All sorts of dreadful things had 
 been prophesied, but nothing could exceed the loyalty and 
 enthusiasm shown by the people. From one of the triumphal 
 arches a live dove, sweet emblem of peace, fluttered into the 
 Queen's lap, and a stout old lady in Dublin exclaimed, 
 " O Queen dear ! make one of them dear children Prince 
 Patrick, and all Ireland will die for you." The hint was not 
 forgotten; when on the 1st of May, 1850, the Queen's seventh 
 child was born, he received the name of Arthur Patrick Albert. 
 
 It is noticeable that at this period of the Queen's life she 
 began to take active interest in social questions and in the 
 condition of the working people. We find that she and 
 the Prince sent for Lord Ashley, and asked his advice as to 
 what they could do to ameliorate the condition of the work- 
 
HOME AND COURT LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 161 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT OPENING THE EXHIBI 
 
 ing classes, and they entered most sympathetically into his 
 schemes for the better housing of the poor, and his humane 
 legislation on behalf of the women and children employed in 
 mines. The keen anxiety felt by the Queen to promote 
 peaceful industry and the brotherhood of man, the world 
 over, had an outcome in that memorable Peace Festival, 
 when all nationalities displayed their products and industries 
 — the Great Exhibition of 1851. We are used to exhibitions 
 now, but this one was counted a marvel, and even to-day old 
 
 1 T 
 
162 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 people refer to it as an epoch in their lives. " It was when 
 I was in London in '51, you know, my dear," they will say. 
 The Exhibition was opened by Her Majesty at nine 
 o'clock on the morning of the 1st of May, 185 1. There 
 were thirty-four thousand people in the building, and nearly 
 a million on the line of route ; but instead of the riots and 
 disturbances prophesied as the result of this vast gathering of 
 all nationalities, the Queen was rejoiced to hear that, like her 
 coronation, it was a white day — not one accident or police 
 case. One who was present at the opening has told the writer 
 that never had the Queen looked so radiantly happy as she 
 did when she entered the beautiful Palace of Crystal, leaning 
 on the arm of her handsome husband, to whose untiring efforts 
 this great and unique enterprise was due. She wore a pink 
 silk poplin, of Irish manufacture, trimmed with white lace, 
 and upon her head a tiara of diamonds, with white ostrich 
 feathers drooping gracefully on either side. The Prince of 
 Wales, then a little fellow of nine, held her hand, while the 
 Princess Royal, dressed in white with a wreath of roses, held 
 that of her father, and the people said how like she was to 
 her mother when she was young. It was, indeed, a complete 
 and beautiful triumph, and the Queen speaks of it as being 
 the proudest and happiest day of her life. 
 
THE LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEA VICTORIA 
 
 163 
 
VI 
 
 THE LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 THE Exhibition year of 185 1, which marked an epoch 
 in the history of the nation, marked also the meridian 
 of Queen Victoria's married life. There seemed to be scarcely 
 a cloud upon her horizon. She rejoiced in the beautiful 
 children who clustered at her knee, and in the husband who, 
 after eleven years of wedded life, was more than ever her 
 beau ideal of all that was noble, good, and true ; and it was 
 her further happiness to find that the country was beginning 
 to appreciate him too. The overwhelming success of the 
 Great Exhibition, Prince Albert's own creation, silenced for 
 the present his detractors, and Ministers were now eager to 
 tell the Queen that it was a wonderful conception, and that 
 the Prince was a very remarkable man, to which Her Majesty 
 was apt to reply in effect, if not in words, " Didn't I tell 
 you so ? " Shortly after her engagement she had told Lord 
 Melbourne that the Prince was perfection, and the old man 
 smiled at a girl-bride's enthusiasm ; but the day came when 
 he wrote to the Queen : " You said when you were going to 
 be married that he [the Prince] was perfection, which I 
 thought a little exaggerated then ; but really I think now 
 that it is in some degree realised." 
 
 Such happiness and content was naturally reflected in the 
 165 
 
1 66 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Queen's appearance at this period. Her face, which in her 
 girlhood was bright and pretty, had taken a more enduring 
 charm in its softened, thoughtful expression, and those who 
 were about her speak of the spiritual serenity of her counte- 
 nance and the lovableness of her disposition. Baron Stockmar, 
 who had watched her long and critically, said : " The Queen 
 improves greatly. She makes daily advances in discernment 
 and experience ; the candour, the love of truth, the fairness, 
 the considerateness with which she judges men and things 
 are truly delightful, and the ingenuous self-knowledge with 
 which she speaks about herself is simply charming." For 
 fourteen years she had wielded the greatest sceptre in the 
 world, and the experience thus gained was showing itself in 
 her mastery of the duties and responsibilities of her position. 
 The young Queen who had resented the downfall of the 
 Melbourne Ministry because it removed loved friends from 
 her side had learned to regard such changes from the con- 
 stitutional standpoint, and not from private feeling. Landseer, 
 who had many opportunities of judging, told Caroline Fox 
 that he thought the Queen's intellect superior to any woman's 
 in Europe. Her memory was so remarkable that he had 
 heard her recall " the exact words of speeches made years 
 before, which the speakers had themselves forgotten." The 
 Queen had now developed into a sagacious stateswoman with 
 whom Cabinet Ministers had to reckon. 
 
 Her Court was at once the purest and one of the most 
 splendid in Europe, and the season which followed the open- 
 ing of the Great Exhibition was the most brilliant of any 
 since the Queen's accession ; the town literally swarmed with 
 distinguished people from all parts of the world. The two 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 167 
 
 THE QUEEN, 1855. 
 
 chief society events were the Queen's Stuart Ball and the 
 City of London Ball. The strong dramatic element in the 
 Queen's character led her to adopt the bal masque as her 
 favourite form of entertainment. Fancy balls illustrating the 
 Plantagenet and Georgian periods had already been given, 
 and on the 13th of June, 185 1, the famous Stuart Ball, to 
 illustrate the time of the Merry Monarch, took place at 
 Buckingham Palace. The Queen and Prince Albert appeared 
 in superb dresses of the period, and Her Majesty's pretty 
 
1 68 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 fair hair was plaited with pearls beneath a crown of diamonds. 
 It might be described as a " gentlemen's night," for they 
 took the palm for smart dresses ; gay cavaliers were they 
 all, with love-locks, collars and cuffs of Honiton lace, and 
 such a profusion of ribbons as had never been seen before. 
 They wore them hanging in bunches like a Highlander's 
 philibeg, and even their shirt sleeves were bound and orna- 
 mented with ribbons. Of course " the Duke " was there, but 
 he drew the line at love-locks, and wore his own scanty grey 
 hair, which made him a marked figure in the crowd with flowing 
 curls. It is interesting to note that Mr. Gladstone figured 
 as Sir Leoline Jenkins, Judge in the High Court of Admiralty, 
 and wore " a black velvet coat turned up with blue satin, 
 ruffles and collar of old point lace, black breeches and stock- 
 ings, and shoes with spreading bows." 
 
 About a month later came the ball at the Guildhall 
 given by the Mayor and Corporation to the Queen in celebra- 
 tion of the Great Exhibition. Her Majesty drove from 
 Buckingham Palace through dense crowds of people, literally 
 shouting in every tongue, and to see her return more than 
 a million people waited in the streets until three o'clock in 
 the morning. The ball itself was the most amusing affair 
 possible, many of the guests not having the least idea of 
 Court, or even of ordinary good behaviour. A nobleman 
 who was present relates that the ladies passed the Queen at 
 a run, and then returned to stare at her. Some of the gentle- 
 men passed with their arms round the ladies' waists, and 
 others holding them by the hand at arm's length, as if going 
 to dance a minuet. But when one man kissed his hand to 
 the Queen, her risibility could stand no more, and she went 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA i6q 
 
 THE PRINCE CONSORT IN I852. 
 
 off into one of those uncontrollable fits of laughter for which 
 Her Majesty is rather famous, and doubtless the Lord Mayor's 
 guests thought this the best part of the entertainment. 
 
 In accordance with the spirit of peace and goodwill to all 
 men with which the Queen and Prince Albert had initiated 
 the Exhibition, religious, philanthropic, and scientific institu- 
 tions received a marked share of attention. A monster meeting 
 on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts was held, at which Prince Albert presided, 
 and made a remarkably fine speech ; and he was also active 
 on behalf of the British Association. At length there came 
 a lull in the routs, meetings, and festivities — town was out of 
 town, for the Queen had left for the Highlands. 
 
i;o THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 It was on this occasion that Her Majesty first travelled 
 by the Great Northern Railway. She halted at Peterborough 
 to receive her " kind, good master," Bishop Davys. Canon 
 Davys, the son of the Bishop, has told the present writer that 
 Her Majesty never visited his father at Peterborough Palace, 
 as some writers allege, knowing the simple life which he led ; 
 but she never failed to invite him to meet her at the station 
 when she passed through Peterborough on her way to Scotland. 
 She always received her old tutor in the royal saloon carriage 
 like a valued friend, and would show him her children, and 
 talk over their futures with him. Canon Davys attended as 
 chaplain on such occasions, and he well remembers the Queen 
 bringing forward Prince Alfred (the present Duke of Saxe- 
 Coburg), and saying, " We arc going to make this boy a 
 sailor." Proceeding to Edinburgh, the Queen passed a night 
 at Holyrood Palace. It ma)' not be generally known that 
 Her Majesty has always shown a sympathetic interest in the 
 fate of Mary Queen of Scots, and this her first sojourn in the 
 Palace so intimately connected with her was full of romantic 
 interest, and she told Sir Archibald Alison that she was glad 
 that she was descended from Mary Stuart and not from 
 Elizabeth Tudor. From Holyrood the royal party proceeded to 
 Balmoral, which had now been purchased by Prince Albert, he 
 having previously rented it. Here the autumn was passed by the 
 Queen in that free, simple manner which she loved — walking, 
 driving, riding, sketching, and visiting the cottagers. At first 
 the simple Scotch folk were a little disconcerted by the royal 
 visits ; but when one of the old women expressed her nervous- 
 ness to the Queen, Her Majesty replied that she hoped that 
 they would not allow any feeling of that kind to trouble them 
 
THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 171 
 
 WtXLIXGTOH DM HOPSEEACK. 
 
 as she was just a woman like themselves. The following story 
 will illustrate the feeling which speedily grew up between the 
 Queen and her poorer neighbours. A man from Balmoral was 
 being examined as a witness before the jury, when the presiding 
 judge spoke rather sharply to him. "Just allow me to tak' 
 time, my lord," said the man ; " I'm no accustomed to sic a 
 company " ; adding to the bystanders, after he left the witness- 
 box, " The Queen has been to my hut, and she speaks pleasantly 
 and draws pretty pictures for the bairns. I would far rather 
 speak to the Queen than to yon chap in the big wig." 
 
 After leaving the Highlands the Queen paid her first visit 
 to Liverpool and Manchester. The festivities at Liverpool 
 
172 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 were marred by a steady downpour ; but at Manchester the 
 weather was more propitious, and an interesting demonstration 
 took place in Peel Park, where eighty thousand school children, 
 belonging to the various religious denominations, were assembled. 
 The " canny " Manchester folk had hit on the right thing to 
 please the Queen's motherly heart. Her look of delight as she 
 gazed at the children, ranged tier above tier, fourteen deep, was 
 long remembered by the people. Continuing her journey to 
 London, the Queen paid a farewell visit to the Exhibition, 
 where she found Mary Kerlynack, the plucky old woman who 
 walked all the way from her native Cornwall to see the wonder, 
 still hovering about the doors, and appeared ready to cry 
 when the Queen looked at her. The Exhibition was closed on 
 the 15th of October, the twelfth anniversary of Her Majesty's 
 betrothal to Prince Albert. Its success had exceeded the most 
 sanguine expectations ; yet a feeling of sadness seemed to be 
 in the heart of the Queen and of the nation, a half-conscious 
 foreboding that this Peace Festival was to be the herald of a 
 darker instead of a brighter time, for already the* war-clouds 
 were gathering which burst in the Crimean war. 
 
 While the Queen was staying at Balmoral in the autumn of 
 1852 she received a pleasant surprise in the shape of a legacy 
 of £250,000, left to her by Mr. John Camden Neale, a man of 
 penurious habits, who had accumulated this large sum by 
 denying himself the necessaries of life. When one of Mr. 
 Neale's executors came to Balmoral to make the communication, 
 the Queen laughingly said that she " could not think what had 
 led the old gentleman to do it," and at first she refused to accept 
 the legacy. Finding subsequently that there were no relations 
 to inherit, she decided to take the money, first increasing 
 
THE ROYAL CHILDREN IN A MASQUE REPRESENTING THE SEASONS. 
 
 Princess Royal "Summer." Prince of Wales "Winter." Prince Alfred "Autumn. 
 Princess Alice "Spring.'' Princess Helena "The Amazon." 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 175 
 
 Mr. Neale's bequest to his executors of £100 to ;£ 1,000. She 
 also provided for his old housekeeper, for whom he had made no 
 provision, although she had been with him for twenty-six years. 
 It was while still in Scotland that the Queen received the 
 news of the death of the Duke of Wellington, which filled her 
 with grief. " One cannot think of the country without the 
 Duke, our immortal hero," she said. A curious coincidence 
 occurred on the morning when the Queen received the tidings. 
 She was out walking, and suddenly missed the watch given 
 her by the Duke, which she always wore. Later in the 
 morning a servant returned to the Queen, who was sketching 
 at the Glassalt Shiel, to say that the watch was all right at the 
 Castle, but at the same time handing Lord Derby's telegram 
 giving the news of the Duke's death. Her Majesty returned 
 to town to witness the funeral procession, which was the most 
 remarkable death pageant of her reign. It took place on the 
 1 8th of November, 1852, and passed to St. Paul's through 
 streets draped in black ; a " masquerade in ink," Dickens 
 rather flippantly called it. Duty to the Crown had always 
 been the mainspring of Wellington's life, and his devotion to 
 the Queen, over whom he had watched with a fatherly pride 
 from her earliest years, was quite romantic. 
 
 On the 7th of April, 1853, the Queen's eighth child and 
 fourth son was born at Buckingham Palace, and received, 
 among others, the name of Leopold, after her beloved uncle, 
 the King of the Belgians. Only three weeks before this event 
 an alarming fire had broken out at Windsor Castle close to 
 the white drawing-room, where the Queen and Prince were 
 sitting ; but Her Majesty displayed her usual intrepidity, and 
 received no harm. A few months after her confinement, she 
 
176 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 had her family "down with the measles," and suffered a slight 
 attack herself. Happily all quickly recovered, and in the 
 succeeding August the royal party visited Ireland to open the 
 Exhibition of Art and Industry at Dublin. 
 
 In the autumn of 1853 the Queen was considerably 
 "worried" by a revival of the charges of "foreign influence" 
 directed against her husband. War was now imminent with 
 Russia, and the popular feeling was in its favour ; still, there 
 was hesitation and dissension in the Cabinet, and this was 
 attributed to the influence " behind the throne." The feeling 
 displayed drew from the Queen a letter to Lord Aberdeen, 
 in which she said that the Prince was one and the same with 
 herself, and that attacks upon him were the same as attacks 
 upon the throne. When Parliament met in January, 1854, 
 the calumnies against the Prince were refuted in both Houses, 
 and for the first time . the right of the Prince to advise the 
 sovereign — his wife— was officially accepted. Shortly after 
 this dark cloud had been lifted, the Queen kept the fourteenth 
 anniversary of her marriage at Windsor, when the royal 
 children performed a Masque of the Seasons, which the 
 Baroness Bunsen, who was present, describes as being a 
 wonderfully pretty sight. Spring was represented by Princess 
 Alice, Summer by the Princess Royal, Autumn by Prince 
 Alfred, and Winter by the Prince of Wales. A separate 
 tableau was given for each season, and the children recited 
 suitable verses from Thomson's " Seasons." As a finale, all 
 the seasons stood in a group while the little Princess Helena, 
 dressed as Britannia, pronounced a blessing on their parents. 
 The Queen's elder children were now entering upon their 
 teens, and it was a conscientious duty with her that they should 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 177 
 
 THE QUEEN AND PRINCE ALBERT AT THE STUART BALL, 185I. 
 
 be rightly trained for their high position. When some years 
 previously Mr. Birch had been appointed tutor to the Prince 
 of Wales, the Queen wrote : " It is an important step, and 
 God's blessing be upon it ; for upon the good education of 
 princes, and especially those who are destined to govern, the 
 welfare of the world, in these days, very greatly depends." 
 The instruction which she had given for the religious training 
 of the Princess Royal was followed in the case of all the royal 
 children. " I am quite clear," wrote the Queen in a memo- 
 
 12 
 
178 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 randum, that " she should have great reverence for God and 
 religion, but that she should have the feeling of devotion and 
 love which our heavenly Father encourages His earthly 
 children to have for Him, and not one of fear and trembling ; 
 and that the thoughts of death and an after life should not 
 be represented in an alarming and forbidding view, and that 
 she should be made to know as yet no difference of creeds, and 
 not think that she can only pray on her knees, or that those 
 who do not kneel are less fervent and devout in their prayers." 
 Her Majesty, indeed, kept the religious instruction of her 
 children largely in her own hands. A story is told that 
 when the Archdeacon of London was catechising the young 
 Princes he said, "Your governess deserves great credit for 
 instructing you so thoroughly." At which the boys piped up, 
 " Oh, but it is mamma who teaches us our Catechism." It 
 is not perhaps generally known that the Queen occasionally 
 taught a Bible-class for the children of those in attendance at 
 Buckingham Palace, and that, it having come to her knowledge 
 that the children of the servants and attendants at the Palace 
 were without the means for ordinary instruction, she com- 
 manded that a school should be started for them in Palace 
 Street, Pimlico, and herself showed the greatest interest in its 
 management. 
 
 Her Majesty encouraged her own boys to choose their 
 profession when they were quite young, and had them educated 
 in accordance with their choice, excepting of course the Prince 
 of Wales, who was born to wear the purple, and had no option 
 in the matter. His training and education were, however, 
 a conscientious study with his parents, who placed him suc- 
 cessively under the care of Mr. Birch and Mr. Gibbs, and 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 179 
 
 MR. GLADSTONE AS SIR LEOLINE JENKINS AT THE STUART BALL, 1 85 1 . 
 
 when in 1859 he entered Cambridge University, General the 
 Hon. Robert Bruce, brother of Lord Elgin, accompanied him 
 as " Governor." The attachment of " Princey," as the heir to 
 the throne was frequently called by the Queen's ladies, to his 
 
180 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 tutors was quite touching. Lady Canning writes from Windsor 
 Castle in June, 1852 : "Mr. Birch [the tutor] left yesterday. It 
 has been a terrible sorrow to the Prince of Wales, who has 
 done no end of touching things since he heard that he was to 
 lose him, three weeks ago. He is such an affectionate, dear 
 little boy ; his little notes and presents, which Mr. Birch used 
 to find on his pillow, were really too moving." 
 
 Prince Alfred early expressed his wish to be a sailor, 
 and he was sent from home at twelve years of age to pursue 
 his studies in a separate establishment, at the Royal Lodge, 
 Windsor Park, under the care of Lieutenant Cowell, a young 
 officer of engineers, afterwards Sir John Cowell, K.C.B., Master 
 of Her Majesty's Household ; later on, the sailor-Prince 
 had an establishment at Alverbank, near Portsmouth, for the 
 greater convenience of his naval studies. Prince Arthur 
 decided to be a soldier, and began his training when nine 
 years of age, under Captain Elphinstone, of the Engineers, 
 afterwards Sir Howard Elphinstone. Thus the education of 
 the three elder Princes was settled. 
 
 Great grief was felt by the Queen and Prince Albert 
 when, in 1851, Lady Lyttelton retired from the post of 
 governess to the royal children. She was succeeded by Lady 
 Caroline Barrington, sister of Earl Grey, who held the im- 
 portant position for twenty-four years, and was greatly beloved 
 by the young Princesses. The Princess Royal became very 
 remarkable as a girl as she had been clever as a child, and 
 the constant companionship of her scholarly father developed 
 her natural intellect to an astonishing degree. She was more 
 of a woman at fifteen than most girls are at twenty. Princess 
 Alice inherited her mother's affectionate nature and musical 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 181 
 
 voice, and we find on festive occasions in the royal house- 
 hold that " Alice " did the recitations and speechifying. 
 
 A girl of such strong personality as the Princess Royal 
 needed the curb occasionally, and how promptly the royal 
 mother applied it is illustrated by the following story. 
 When about thirteen years old the Princess accompanied 
 her mother to a military review, and seemed disposed, as she 
 sat in the carriage, to be a little coquettish with some of 
 the young officers of the escort. The Queen gave her some 
 warning looks without avail, and presently the young Princess 
 dangled her handkerchief over the side of the carriage 
 and dropped it — evidently for the purpose. There was an 
 immediate rush of young officers to pick it up ; but the royal 
 mother bid the gentlemen desist from their gallant intention, 
 and turning to poor unfortunate " Vicky," said in a stern 
 voice, " Now, my daughter, pick up your handkerchief your- 
 self." There was no help for it ; the footman let down the 
 steps, and the young Princess did her mother's bidding, with 
 flaming cheeks and a saucy toss of the head, though. Another 
 time it was " Princey " who received a wholesome lesson. 
 He was riding in company with his father, and for once forgot 
 his usual politeness, and neglected to acknowledge the salute 
 of a passer-by. Prince Albert observing it said, " Now, my son, 
 go back and return that man's bow," which he accordingly 
 did. One might go on multiplying these stories, but suffi- 
 cient has been said to show that the Queen's children were 
 taught respectful obedience to their parents and elders in a 
 manner not common to-day. 
 
 It always seems to have been the fate of English queens 
 to have one important war. Queen Elizabeth fought the 
 
1 82 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Spaniard and vanquished the Armada, Mary had her disastrous 
 war with the French and lost Calais, Queen Anne's reign ' was 
 famous foi the victories of Marlborough, and Victoria had 
 the Crimean war. It was on the 28th of February, 1854, tnat 
 Her Majesty signed a formal declaration of war with Russia. 
 In doing so si e acted from the strongest sense of duty. The 
 nation had male up its mind that Russian aggressions in the 
 East must be checked, and the war-cry in the country was too 
 strong to be disregarded. It is quite evident that the Queen 
 and Prince Consort would have avoided the contest if they 
 could have found an honourable means of doing so. In reply 
 to the King of Prussia, who wrote at the eleventh hour urging 
 peace, the Queen sent a letter full of patriotic spirit, and ending 
 with the famous quotation : 
 
 " Beware of entrance to a quarrel ; but being in, 
 Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee." 
 
 For the next two years her life was passed in consuming 
 anxiety regarding this campaign. First she bid God-speed to 
 her gallant troops as they started for the seat of war ; then 
 came the farewell to the magnificent war fleet as it sailed for 
 the Baltic under command of Sir Charles Napier, and the 
 launching and christening of the Royal Albert, a monster iron- 
 clad sent to the Crimea with reinforcements after the battle 
 of Inkermann. With throbbing heart the Queen received the 
 tidings of the battles of Alva, Inkermann, Balaclava, and the 
 Charge of the Light Brigade ; and as the cry of the widow 
 and orphan began to be heard in the land, she and the 
 Prince felt that something must be done to aid the dis- 
 tressed. In October, 1854, the Patriotic Fund, headed by 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA i8$ 
 
 THE WOUNDID SOLDIER TOASTING THE QUEEN. 
 
 Prince Consort, was started. Subscriptions poured in from 
 every part of the empire, and all over England concerts, 
 theatricals, and entertainments were held to aid the good 
 work. By March, 1855, the Fund had reached the sum of 
 one million. The royal children drew and painted pictures, 
 which were exhibited at Burlington House, and sold in aid of 
 the Fund. The " Battle Field," painted by the clever Princess 
 Royal, brought 250 guineas ; " Bertie's" production realised only 
 55 guineas — rather trying for a boy to be so far behind his 
 sister — while the drawings of the younger children brought 
 
1 84 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 30 guineas apiece. The Queen and her ladies spent much of 
 their time in knitting and sewing garments for the soldiers 
 and preparing bandages, while " Vicky " and " Alice," with all 
 the enthusiasm of young girls, longed and even planned to 
 go out and join Florence Nightingale and her noble band of 
 nurses at Scutari. In fact, the sympathy and enthusiasm of 
 the royal children were stirred to the highest pitch, and we 
 find one of the young Princes saying to Lord Cardigan, when 
 he returned to Windsor to visit Her Majesty, " Do hurry back 
 and take Sebastopol, or else it will kill mamma." 
 
 Frequent letters were written by the Queen to the seat of 
 war, expressing concern at the gross mismanagement of the 
 commissariat in the early part of the campaign, and vehemently 
 urging that every effort should be made to save the brave 
 men from privation. During a war debate in Parliament in 
 January, 1855, Mr. Augustus Stafford thrilled his hearers by 
 telling them that he had seen a wounded man in the hospital, 
 after hearing one of the Queen's sympathetic letters read, 
 propose her health in a glass of bark and quinine. " It is a 
 bitter cup for a loyal toast," said Mr. Stafford, to which the 
 man replied, " Yes ; and but for the words of the Queen I 
 could not have got it down." In opening Parliament during 
 this period of national sorrow, for the first time the Queen's 
 silvery accents failed her, and the speech from the throne was 
 read by her in broken accents and with tears streaming down 
 her face. " It was a sight never to be forgotten," says one 
 who was present, " for the whole assembly was convulsed with 
 grief; there was scarcely one present who had not the loss of 
 a dear one to mourn." When the melancholy contingents of 
 wounded began to return home, the Queen constantly visited 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 185 
 
 L -' ■ 
 
 THE QUEEN DISTRIBUTING THE CRIMEAN MEDALS. 
 
 the sufferers in the military hospitals ; and it having occurred 
 to her that the men would value a token of regard from her 
 own hands, a most pathetic and interesting ceremony took 
 place on the 18th of May, 1855, at the Horse Guards, when she 
 presented war medals to the officers and men disabled or home 
 on sick leave. Sad-eyed indeed was the Queen as they filed 
 
1 86 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 past her with gaunt forms, pallid faces, and maimed and disabled 
 bodies ; but it was beautiful to see how the faces of the men 
 brightened as she spoke kind and grateful words to them. 
 An amusing story is told by the Earl of Malmesbury of the 
 " density " of the Minister for War, Lord Panmure, on this 
 occasion. " Was the Queen touched ? " asked a lady of him, 
 referring to the pathetic spectacle. " Bless my soul, no ! " was 
 the reply ; " she had a brass railing before her, and no one 
 could touch her." " Was she moved, I mean ? " persisted the 
 lady. " Moved ! " answered Lord Panmure ; " she had no 
 occasion to move." The sequel to this lack of intelligence 
 on the part of the Minister of War may be found in the fact 
 that the Queen's quick eyes had detected many flaws in the 
 management of the military hospitals during her visits, and 
 she had addressed remonstrances to Lord Panmure on the 
 subject. It was owing to the Queen's efforts that, after the 
 war, the beautiful military hospital at Netley was built. 
 
 In connection with the distribution of the Crimean war 
 medals, a story is told of an old lady who kept the Swiss 
 Cottage on the Duke of Bedford's estate at Endsleigh. When 
 Her Majesty was paying a visit to the Cottage, the old lady 
 thought, " Now's my chance," and plucking up heart she said, 
 " Please, your Majesty, ma'am, I had a son, a faithful subject 
 of your Majesty, and he was killed in your wars out in the 
 Crimea, and I wants his medal." " And you shall have it," 
 replied the Queen, with a soft voice and melting eye, as she 
 took the old woman's hand. 
 
 The friendly alliance entered into between France and 
 England during the Crimean war was the occasion of an 
 interchange of visits between the sovereigns. The Emperor 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 1S7 
 
 Napoleon, with his lovely young Empress Eugenie, visited 
 Windsor in April, 1855, and a few months later the Queen 
 and Prince Albert returned the visit, taking the Prince of 
 Wales and the Princess Royal along with them. A series of 
 brilliant entertainments took place in Paris, and the friendship 
 between the Queen and the amiable and lovely Eugenie, 
 which has lasted until the present time, was begun. Often 
 one fancies that the two royal widows must sadly talk together 
 of those bright, happy times. The two children enjoyed their 
 visit to Paris immensely, and the Prince of Wales conceived 
 the brilliant idea that he and his sister might remain behind 
 and continue the festivities after the departure of their 
 parents. The Empress made the usual reply which hostesses 
 give to importunate juveniles — that their " papa and mamma 
 would not be able to spare them," to which " Bertie " replied, 
 " Oh, they can do without us ; there are six more at home." 
 
 Shortly after the return of the Queen from France, the joy 
 bells rang through the land that at length Sebastopol had 
 fallen, and the war was practically at an end. 
 
 The years 1856-57 were spent largely by the Queen amongst 
 the returning warriors. It was a season of military reviews 
 and decorations, and the enthusiasm of the troops at Aldershot, 
 as Her Majesty rode down the lines on her chestnut charger 
 in the uniform of a field marshal, draped below the waist 
 with a dark blue skirt, was unbounded ; and when on another 
 occasion she delivered a stirring speech to the soldiers from 
 her carriage, the scene of excitement beggars description— 
 " bearskins and shakos were thrown into the air, dragoons 
 waved their sabres, and shouts rang all down the lines." The 
 Queen showed her appreciation of Miss Nightingale's noble 
 
1 88 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 work by inviting her to Balmoral immediately after she had 
 settled in the newly built castle. On the 26th of June, 1857, 
 came the crowning act of the Queen in the Crimean period, 
 when she distributed the Victoria Crosses, a badge for valour 
 specially struck at this time, in Hyde Park to those who had 
 performed special acts of bravery during the war. It was at 
 this time of wide distribution of honours that Her Majesty 
 conferred upon her noble husband the title of Prince Consort. 
 , Her Majesty's ninth, and youngest, child, the Princess 
 Beatrice, was born on the 14th of April, 1857, and no sooner 
 does one cease to record this, the last birth in the royal 
 household, than it becomes the pleasing duty to start with the 
 weddings. One of the first acts of the Queen, when she 
 had recovered from her confinement, was to announce to 
 Parliament the formal betrothal of her daughter, the Princess 
 Royal, to Prince Frederick William of Prussia, eldest son of 
 the Prince and Princess of Prussia, and direct heir to the 
 throne. Prince Fritz had visited Windsor during the Great 
 Exhibition in 1851, and had greatly admired the young 
 Princess at that time. When he returned in 1855, he found 
 her "woman grown," though only fifteen years of age, and as 
 they rode together one day among the hills of Balmoral, he 
 declared his love by presenting the " Rose of England " with 
 a spray of white heather. The Queen and Prince Albert gave 
 their consent to the betrothal on condition that it was regarded, 
 for the present, as a private family matter, the extreme youth 
 of the Princess rendering anything more public undesirable, 
 and the Queen felt that the marriage should not take place 
 until her daughter had attained her seventeenth year. The 
 two years which intervened before the Princess's marriage 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 189 
 
 S^ 
 
 4 
 
 THE PRINCESS ROYAL IN 1857. 
 
 were clouded by the terrible incidents of the Indian Mutiny, 
 which were a cause of continual anxiety to the Queen, and 
 led to a "little skirmish" with Lord Palmerston. In June, 
 1857, the Queen was not satisfied that the Government were 
 making sufficiently vigorous efforts to meet the crisis, and 
 told Palmerston what she would have done had she been in 
 the House of Commons, to which Lord Palmerston replied : 
 " It is fortunate for those from whose opinion your Majesty 
 differs that your Majesty is not in the House of Commons, 
 for they would have had to encounter a formidable antagonist 
 in argument." We find Palmerston frequently speaking at 
 this period of the Queen's "sagacity." A few days before 
 
i go THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the marriage of her daughter the Queen addressed a beautiful 
 letter to Sir Colin Campbell, the hero of Lucknow, and a 
 pathetic picture of the " Relief of Lucknow " was one of the 
 last pieces of work done by the Princess Royal before her 
 marriage. 
 
 This, the first wedding in the Queen's family, was attended 
 with all the little home touches which makes Her Majesty's 
 life so charming. She and the Prince themselves arranged 
 the bride's presents to be viewed by their friends. The 
 details of the marriage ceremony were identical with those 
 of the Queen's own wedding. She calls it the " second most 
 eventful day " in her life, and said that she felt as if she 
 were " being married over again herself." The very youthful 
 bride looked charming in her white silk and orange blossoms, 
 with the famous myrtle in her bouquet, a shoot of which, 
 planted at Osborne, has grown into a tree which supplies the 
 royal brides of the present time. The marriage was cele- 
 brated, like the Queen's, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's 
 Palace, and took place on the 25th of January, 1858. A pretty 
 little scene was enacted when, as the bride advanced to the 
 altar, the bridegroom knelt to kiss her hand. Unlike her 
 royal mother, the young Princess had to leave home and 
 kindred for a foreign land, and the parting, after the brief 
 honeymoon at Windsor, was a heart-breaking one for all. 
 The Princess had said to her mother, " I think it will kill 
 me to say good-bye to papa " ; and when the time came for 
 her to sail for Germany, the poor young bride — clever, wilful, 
 independent " Vicky " of the old days — was quite broken 
 down. The Queen did not trust herself to see her daughter 
 off, and those who saw the Prince Consort's white, rigid face 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 191 
 
 MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL. 
 
 as he took his last look at the departing vessel have told 
 the present writer that they can never forget its look of 
 sadness. When the Princess was saying good-bye to the old 
 people about Balmoral, one old " body " up and spoke her 
 mind to the Queen, and expressed her opinion that the 
 Princess Royal was as sorry to leave as they were to part 
 with her ; then suddenly recollecting herself, she apologised, 
 
i 9 2 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTOR J A 
 
 saying, " I mean no harm, but I always say just what I 
 think, not what is fut" (fit). The Queen's comment on the 
 incident was : " Dear old lady, she is such a pleasant person." 
 Her Majesty dislikes, above everything, cringing servility, and 
 delights in those honest, candid people who say what they 
 think, not what is fut. 
 
 In the following August the Queen and Prince Consort 
 visited their daughter in her new home, and the Queen was 
 rejoiced to find her " quite the old Vicky still " ; but in taking 
 leave of her after a pleasant stay in Germany, the royal 
 mother felt sad that it was impossible for her to return again 
 to the young Princess at that critical time when " every 
 other mother goes to her child." On the 27th of January, 
 1859, the Princess Frederick William was confined of a son, 
 the present Emperor William, and Her Majesty found herself 
 at thirty-nine with the ancient dignity of " grandmamma " 
 conferred upon her. In the September of i860 the Queen 
 and Prince spent some time in Coburg, and were visited by 
 " Vicky " and " Fritz " and the wonderful " baby William," 
 who was duly brought to grandmamma's room every morning, 
 and was pronounced " such a darling." 
 
 But the time has come when the shadow of death encom- 
 passed the life of our beloved Queen. Her mother, the 
 Duchess of Kent, had been for some time in declining health, 
 and in March of 1861 the Queen was summoned to Frog- 
 more, and found her in a dying condition. She passed 
 peacefully away, solaced by the daughter whom she had 
 reared with unsurpassed love and care, and to whom her 
 death came as the first great grief in life. "What a blessed 
 end ! " the Queen writes in her diary ; " her gentle spirit at 
 
LATER MARRIED LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 193 
 
 OPENING OF PARLIAMI 
 
 HE QUEEN IN i860. 
 
 rest, her sufferings over ! But I — I, wretched child — who had 
 lost the mother I so tenderly loved, from whom for these 
 forty-one years I had never been parted except for a few 
 weeks — what was my case ? My childhood — everything seemed 
 to crowd upon me at once. I seemed to have lived through 
 a life, to have become old ! " The Queen was much depressed 
 in the months which followed, despite the loving sympathy 
 of her husband and children ; and indeed she had not 
 recovered her spirits when ten months later came a loss 
 which made all others seem trivial. For the last ten years 
 the health of the Prince Consort had been unsatisfactory ; the 
 
 13 
 
194 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 great mental strain which he underwent in organising the 
 Exhibition of 1851, followed by the hard work and con- 
 stant anxiety attendant on the Crimean war and the Indian 
 Mutiny, had weakened his constitution, and when in December 
 of 1 86 1 he was seized with an attack of typhoid fever, he 
 had no strength to resist the disease. The agonised suspense 
 of his wife during the fortnight which followed his seizure 
 was in proportion to the absorbing and passionate love she had 
 borne him throughout the twenty-one years of their wedded 
 life. When hope was abandoned, and the doctors could no 
 longer conceal their fears from her, the Queen writes : " I 
 went to my room, and felt as if my heart must break."' 
 Then came a change in the Prince's condition, and the wife's 
 heart beat fast with hope ; but it was only for a few hours. 
 As the day advanced it became evident that the Prince was 
 sinking. Bending over him the Queen whispered, "'Tis your 
 own little wife," and he turned his head and kissed her. 
 After ten o'clock, on the fatal 14th of December, came the 
 end, and the great and good Prince, who had worn, through 
 good report and ill, " the white flower of a blameless life,"' 
 passed to his reward, and the Crown was left indeed a, 
 " lonely splendour." 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 '95 
 
VII 
 
 THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA kneeling at the death-bed of her 
 " dear lord and master," as she ever called the Prince 
 Consort, will remain one of the most pathetic scenes in 
 the history of this country. Queen she remained to the end, in 
 spite of her woman's anguish. When the last sigh was 
 heaved, and the spirit of her beloved had fled, she gently 
 loosed the hand which she had held as he passed through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, saw the lids closed over 
 the eyes which to the last had turned their love-light upon 
 her, rose from the bedside, thanked the physicians for their 
 skill and attention, spoke some soothing words to her orphaned 
 children sobbing around the bed, and, walking from the room 
 calm and erect, sought the solitude of her chamber, and 
 went through her Gethsemane alone. 
 
 Away in the city the great bell of St. Paul's tolled the 
 sad tidings through the midnight air, and next morning — 
 Sunday — it seemed that a pall had fallen over the land, and 
 there was scarce a dry eye in the churches when the Prince 
 Consort's name was significantly omitted from the Litany, 
 and the ministers impressively paused in the prayer for "the 
 fatherless children and widows, and all that are desolate and 
 
 197 
 
1 98 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 oppressed." To many, indeed, this was the first intimation 
 of the great loss which the monarch and the country had 
 sustained. As the awestruck worshippers dispersed they 
 gathered in little knots, and spoke in whispers of the grief- 
 stricken wife at Royal Windsor, recalled her joy-days, when, 
 gay as a lark, she had entered the Abbey on her coronation 
 day, or walked from the altar a proud and happy bride, and 
 again had hung with a mother's love over the cradle of her 
 little ones ; and now, in the heyday of life and happiness 
 she was a widowed Queen, more desolate by reason of her 
 exalted position than any woman in the land, similarly 
 bereft. That angel of comfort, Princess Alice, whose lovely 
 character all the world reveres, was the support of her mother 
 in this time of sorrow. She was aided in her ministrations 
 by Lady Augusta Bruce (afterwards the wife of Dean Stanley), 
 who had been the beloved friend and attendant of the 
 Duchess of Kent in her last years; and by that other dear 
 friend of the Queen, the Duchess of Sutherland, herself but 
 lately a widow, who was specially summoned by her 
 royal mistress to stay with her at this time of bereavement. 
 Anxious days and nights were passed by these devoted ladies 
 in the Queen's room, for the reaction from the enforced 
 restraint had been so great that Her Majesty was completely 
 prostrated, and her pulse became so weak at one time that 
 death appeared imminent. It is scarcely realised to-day how 
 near the country was to a double tragedy, and when the 
 tidings were flashed through the land that at last the Queen 
 had obtained some hours' sleep it seemed like the joy-bells 
 succeeding the funeral peal. The feelings of the people were 
 beautifully expressed by Mrs. Crosland in her poem : 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 199 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA, 1 86 1. 
 
 "Sleep, for the night is round thee spread, 
 Thou daughter of a line of kings ; 
 Sleep, widowed Queen, while angels' wings 
 Make canopy above thy head ! 
 
 Sleep, while a million prayers rise up 
 
 To Him who knew all earthly sorrow, 
 
 That day by day each soft to-morrow 
 May melt the bitter from thy cup." 
 
 When the first agony of her grief was over, the Queen 
 summoned her children around her, and told them that, 
 though she felt crushed by her loss, she knew what her 
 position demanded, and asked them to help her in fulfilling 
 her duty to the country and to them. Little Prince Leopold, 
 
200 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the delicate one of the Queen's bairns, who was at this time 
 at Cannes for his health, when told that his father was dead, 
 cried piteously, " Do take me to my mamma " ; and that old- 
 fashioned little tot, Baby Beatrice, would climb on her mother's 
 knee to look at " mamma's sad cap." Fearing the worst 
 consequences should Her Majesty have another relapse, the 
 physicians were urgent that she should leave Windsor before 
 the funeral took place ; but the Queen cried bitterly at the 
 suggestion, saying that her subjects never left their homes 
 or the remains of their dear ones at such times, and why 
 should she. It was only when Princess Alice represented to 
 her that the younger children might suffer if they remained in 
 the fever-tainted Castle that she consented to go with them 
 to Osborne. Before leaving she drove to Frogmore, where 
 only ten months before she had laid to rest her devoted 
 mother, and walking round the gardens on the arm of Princess 
 Alice, chose a bright sunny spot to bury her dead. The 
 same feeling which led the Queen to create homes of her 
 own, apart from the royal palaces, prompted her to have 
 a family burying-place. With a truly democratic spirit, Her 
 Majesty preserves her own individuality, and declines to be 
 considered a mere royalty, whose affairs are to be regulated 
 by the State, and whose body must lie in a cold and dreary 
 royal vault, along with kings and queens for whom she cares 
 nothing at all. When the sad time comes, our greatest 
 monarch will probably lie with her mother and husband in 
 the beautiful God's acre of her own choosing. The funeral 
 of the Prince Consort took place, with the honours befitting 
 so great and good a Prince, on the 23rd of December, 1861, 
 the coffin being temporarily placed at the entrance to St. 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 .TERIOR OF MAUSOLEUM AT FROG- 
 MORE, SHOWING RECUMBENT 
 FIGURE OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. 
 
 George's Chapel, Windsor, until the beautiful mausoleum had 
 been built at Frogmore ; upon the lid were laid wreaths of 
 
.v.. ' .'. .v\i».\ :: .. ' ()/•' Qi . ■■ x I (CTORIA 
 sMoon moss and violets, nude by the Queen and Princess 
 
 \.u\- rhe unmistakable reality of the sorrow at the funeral 
 vvas verj striking, and was manifested, not only by the heart* 
 broken sobs of the young Princes, but by the tears of veteran 
 and ambassadors mingling with those who were oi 
 royal kin. Though there can be no doubt that the Prince had 
 won fa .; place in the hearts of those present, one 
 
 that the tears Rowed as much in sympathy for her who 
 sorrowed as tor him who was gone, in reading the letters 
 and memoirs of courtiers of this period, it is evident that 
 they felt that the Queen had well-nigh received her death- 
 bk>\t . all speak of her calm, pathetic sorrow being heart- 
 . ig to witness. Amongst others, Lord Shaftesbury writes 
 at this time " l*he desolation of the Queen's heart and life, 
 the death-blow to her happiness on earth! Goo. in His 
 mercy sustain and comfort ' on of don 
 
 existence, unprecedented in royal history, the painful with- 
 
 val of a counsellor, a friend in 
 all pub! c and private the sorrows she has, the troubles 
 
 that await hei all rend my heart as though the suffering 
 were nq o 
 
 ;!c. Y.nvstv spent the first three months of her widow- 
 
 etirement at Osborne, where she was 
 
 ted by hei beloved half-sister, the Princess 
 
 ehe. who h.ad hastened from Germany to her side. 
 
 ":-c (icess told Dean Stanley that the Queen found "her 
 
 o \ comfort in the . d's spirit was close 
 
 beside hei aw set w I should be so M ; 
 
 related that the Queen would go each morn- 
 
 .; to n sit the cows on ce's model f&hn, because 
 
////: WJ/jOW/'Jj MONARCH 
 
 
 
 : fancied the gentle creatures would 
 bim. Kir esty's 
 
 had been that lowed 
 
 at this time ; but ever. 
 ain reserve and etiquette had 
 to be can understand the 
 
 bitterness of her cry, " There Is no one left to call me 
 'Victoria' i /.her and husband had both been 
 
 within a year, and t: ,e elderly aunts 
 
 and uncles massing 
 
 by one into at land The Prince of Wales was 
 
 .:' an age to take any responsible - 
 after hi- father's death set out, in accordance with the Prince 
 
204 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VIC10RIA 
 
 Consort's plans, which the Queen would not have put on 
 one side, for a prolonged tour in the East, accompanied by 
 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (Dean of Westminster). The Queen's 
 eldest daughter was bound by the ties of her German home, 
 and it was therefore upon Princess Alice that everything 
 devolved during those first terrible weeks. The nation has 
 never forgotten the tact and judgment in dealing with 
 Ministers and officials, in the Queen's place, shown by this 
 young girl of eighteen, and her remarkable conduct called 
 forth a special article in the Times. 
 
 The advocates of modern funeral reform might complain 
 that Her Majesty was too punctilious in her outward signs 
 of mourning ; but, as she once playfully said to Lord 
 Melbourne in her young days, " What is the use of being 
 a queen if you cannot do as you like ? " It is said that she 
 refused to sign a Commission because the paper was not 
 bordered with black ; and we know that for at least eight 
 years after the Prince Consort's death the royal servants wore 
 a band of crape upon the left arm, while in her own attire 
 Her Majesty has never, throughout the succeeding years of her 
 widowhood, worn any but mourning colours. So complete 
 was her isolation during her retirement at Osborne that she 
 dined alone save for one of the royal children, who took it 
 in turns to be with her, the other members of the family 
 and the visitors, even her uncle Leopold, dining separately. 
 At her command the late Prince's apartments at Windsor, 
 Osborne, and Balmoral were closed, and remain to-day exactly 
 as they were at his death. His favourite horse, Guy 
 Mannering, was turned out to a life of ease in Bushey Park, 
 the saddle never again being placed upon his back ; while the 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 205 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S SITTING-ROOM AT BALMORAL. 
 
 memory of his favourite dog, Eos, which predeceased him, was 
 preserved on the Prince's tomb, where the faithful greyhound 
 is sculptured at his master's feet. This dog accompanied the 
 Prince when he came to be married ; and his brother, Duke 
 Ernest, tells the story that as he and Prince Albert passed 
 through a little German town on their way to England in 1839, 
 the country people came out to see them, and Prince Albert for 
 a " lark " put his little black greyhound up at the carriage 
 window for the people to stare at, while he and his brother, 
 convulsed with laughter, crouched down in the bottom of the 
 carriage out of sight. Not only were the Prince's rooms 
 preserved in the state in which he left them — a custom which 
 the Queen follows with all her nearest departed relatives — but 
 her own boudoir at Windsor Castle is kept in the same state 
 to-day as it was when the Prince Consort died. On the door 
 is inscribed, " Every article in this room my lamented husband 
 selected for me in the twenty-fourth year of my reign." In 
 
206 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 this room the Queen's bridal wreath and the first bouquet 
 which the Prince presented to her lie withered in a glass case. 
 
 She wasted no time in idle tears, and a simple little incident 
 occurred at the time which showed that some of Her Majesty's 
 old interest in life was returning. When out driving in the 
 neighbourhood of Windsor one afternoon, she was attracted 
 by a poor Italian vendor of images, and ordering the carriage 
 to be stopped, astonished the man by buying up a large portion 
 of his stock-in-trade ; but still greater must have been his 
 surprise when it transpired that neither the Queen nor her 
 suite had sufficient cash to pay for the purchases. However, 
 matters were eventually arranged to the perfect satisfaction of 
 the man with the images, who doubtless ever afterwards dubbed 
 himself, " By Appointment." 
 
 Nowhere has the Queen such a sense of quiet and home- 
 liness as at Balmoral, where, amongst her faithful Highlanders, 
 she lives on terms of mutual aid and sympathy which recall 
 the Scottish laird among his clansmen, and it would seem 
 that, like Sir Walter Scott, she cannot live a year without a 
 sight of the heather. Up to the time of her bereavement she 
 had only stayed there in the autumn, when the Prince was 
 deer-stalking ; but the year after his death she began the custom, 
 since continued, of spending her own birthday in May, and 
 that of the Prince in August, in the Highland home endeared 
 to her by so many memories of the dead. The first visit paid 
 by the Queen when she went there in the spring of 1862 was 
 to an old cottager, who like herself had lately lost her husband, 
 and the two widows, so differently placed in life, mingled their 
 tears together. The old woman apologised for indulging her 
 grief; but the Queen told her that she "was so thankful to 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 2QJ 
 
 DR. NORMAN MACLEOD READING TO HER MAJESTY AS SHE SPINS. 
 
 cry with some one who knew exactly how she felt." Her 
 Majesty is always a Scotchwoman when she is at her Highland 
 home, and during this time of sorrow, in characteristic Scotch 
 fashion, the first thing she did was to send for the minister. 
 It was to the Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod that she appealed 
 for religious guidance, and deeply grateful was she for his 
 faithful counsel. When he pointed out to her the duty of 
 resignation to the divine Will, she received his admonitions 
 very sweetly, and sent him a touching letter of thanks. Dr. 
 Macleod afterwards wrote : " I am never tempted to conceal 
 any conviction from the Queen, for I feel she sympathises with 
 what is true, and likes the speaker to utter the truth exactly 
 as he believes it." Her Majesty was first attracted by Dr. 
 M.acleod's preaching in 1854, when he was officiating at Crathic 
 
208 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Church, and the references in his prayer to herself and her 
 children gave her, as she says, a " lump in her throat." Later 
 in the day Her Majesty and Prince Albert were taking their 
 usual evening stroll, when they encountered the minister sitting 
 on a block of granite in quiet meditation. The Queen at once 
 advanced towards him and thanked him for his sermon, and 
 the conversation which followed was the beginning of a friend- 
 ship which ended only with Dr. Macleod's death. He was 
 constantly at Balmoral during the Queen's early widowhood ; 
 in fact, it would seem that Her Majesty could hardly get on 
 without him. She asked not only his spiritual guidance, but 
 made him her confidant in matters relating to the training of 
 her children, as she perpetually felt the responsibility of being 
 a widow with a large family. " No one," she said, " ever 
 reassured and comforted me about my children like Dr. Mac- 
 leod." At times he turned entertainer for Her Majesty, and 
 would read Burns and Scott to her as she sat spinning. In 
 this homely occupation the Queen is proficient, having taken 
 her first lessons from an old woman at Balmoral, who for 
 many years had in her possession flax spun by Her Majesty, 
 until it was begged away thread by thread by enterprising 
 tourists. The Queen has an interesting collection of spinning- 
 wheels, and has sent specimens of her work to exhibitions. 
 It is interesting to find from Dr. Macleod that her favourite 
 poem from Burns was, " A man's a man for a' that." This, 
 however, is but further evidence of Her Majesty's democratic 
 sentiments, which are very evident, notwithstanding her imperial 
 spirit, which brooks no encroachment upon her authority as a 
 constitutional sovereign. 
 
 In the course of his talks with the Queen, Dr Macleod 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 209 
 
 PRIVATE WEDDING OF PRINCESS ALICE AT OSBORNE, JULY, 1 862. 
 
 told her of an old Scotchwoman, who had lost her husband 
 and several children, and had had many sorrows, but when 
 asked how she could bear them said : " When he was taen, 
 it made sic a hole in my heart that a' other sorrows gang 
 lichtly through." " So will it ever be with me," was the Queen's 
 remark when she heard the story. One imagines that there 
 was something of the feeling that one loss more could make 
 her loneliness little greater, in the Queen's consenting to part 
 with her beloved daughter Princess Alice, who had been 
 betrothed to Prince Louis of Hesse before her father's death, 
 and whose marriage and removal to Germany took place in 
 the July following. Painful indeed is the contrast between 
 the marriages of the Queen's two eldest daughters : the one 
 a joyous repetition of the gay ceremonies which attended her 
 own bridal, and the second performed privately at Osborne 
 
 14 
 
210 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 in a scene of partial mourning, when everybody cried, even to 
 the Archbishop. The sweet young Princess, whom her father 
 called " the beauty of the family," looked pathetically lovely 
 in her dress of crystalline silk, trimmed with Honiton flounces 
 made from a design chosen by the Prince Consort. She was 
 given away by her paternal uncle, Duke Ernest of Coburg, 
 the Queen sitting in deep mourning in the background of the 
 bridal party. There was no wedding breakfast, but after the 
 ceremony the young couple lunched privately with the Queen 
 and " Baby," as Princess Beatrice was yet called. This was 
 indeed the " sad marriage " in the royal family. 
 
 The following month Her Majesty was again at Balmoral, 
 where she erected the Cairn to the Prince Consort on the 
 Craig Lowrigan. "I and my poor six orphans," she writes, 
 "all placed stones on it, and our initials, as well as those of 
 the three absent ones." Below the inscription is the beautiful 
 motto from the Apocrypha chosen by the Princess Royal : 
 
 " He being made perfect in a short time fulfilled a long time ; 
 For his soul pleased the Lord. 
 Therefore hastened He to take him away from among the wicked." 
 
 During the first years of her widowhood the Queen could not 
 bear to listen to music, still less to take part in its performance,, 
 which had hitherto been such a delight to her ; neither did 
 she feel able to amuse herself with her favourite pastime of 
 sketching. Mr. Leitch, the artist, who was drawing-master 
 to the Queen and royal family for twenty-two years, describes 
 in a letter to his mother the sadly altered life at Balmoral 
 at this period. He writes : " The Queen is still the kind, 
 good, gracious lady that she always was ; but I need hardly 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 THE SHIEL OF ALT-NA GUITHASACH, NEAR BALMORAL, FROM A SKETCH 
 BY THE QUEEN. 
 
 tell you that there is a change. Indeed the whole place is 
 changed. Everything very quiet and still. How different from 
 my first visit here — the joyous bustle in the morning when 
 the Prince went out ; the Highland ponies and the dogs ; the 
 gillies and the pipers coming home ; the Queen and her ladies 
 going out to meet them ; and the merry time afterwards ; the 
 torchlight sword dances on the green, and the servants' ball 
 closing." In the following autumn Her Majesty was persuaded 
 to resume sketching, and Mr. Leitch gives a graphic account of 
 an outdoor drawing-party. The Queen set out on her High- 
 land pony led by John Brown, Lady Jane Churchill, one 
 of the ladies-in-waiting to whom the Queen was specially 
 attached during this period of loneliness, walking alongside 
 the pony, the Princess Louise and Mr. Leitch trudging along 
 
2i2 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the road together after them. When the place selected for 
 sketching was reached, the Queen seated herself in the_ middle 
 of the country road, with a rough stone from the Dee as 
 a rest for her paint-box, Lady Churchill holding an umbrella 
 to shade the Queen's eyes. Princess Louise sat on a stone 
 a little farther away, while Mr. Leitch attended the party 
 as instructor, and John Brown looked after the pony. The 
 country folk stared in astonishment as they passed by, and 
 Her Majesty heartily enjoyed the fun, and seemed to revive 
 a little of her lost animation. She sketched for two hours, 
 and then remarked how quickly time passed when she was 
 drawing, and expressed her determination to do more of it. 
 So in her second loneliness the Queen found consolation in 
 the use of pencil and brush, as she had done in her rather 
 dull and monotonous childhood. 
 
 At the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Princess 
 Alexandra of Denmark in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on 
 the ioth of March, 1863, the Queen sat apart in her grief, 
 unable to mingle in the gay festivity. It was after the birth 
 of a son to the young couple in January, 1864, that she gave 
 the first sign of returning interest in public life, and com- 
 manded that in honour of the event her birthday in the 
 succeeding May should be celebrated in London with the 
 trooping of the colours and general festivities, which had been 
 suspended since the death of the Prince Consort. The people 
 were, however, disappointed in the hope that Her Majesty 
 was going to resume her old place in society, and indeed 
 the charming manner in which her son's wife was taking her 
 place seemed to render it unnecessary, especially when the 
 Queen was already overburdened with governmental work, the 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 213 
 
 HER MAJESTY IN 1S63, WITH PRINCESS BEATRICE. 
 
 care of her younger children, and the management of her vast 
 estates. From glimpses one gets into Her Majesty's home 
 life of this period, it would seem that " Baby " Beatrice was 
 a very amusing little person. She was fond of experiment- 
 ing in the cooking line, and having manufactured some con- 
 fectionery, which appears to have been so fearfully and 
 
2i 4 T HE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 wonderfully made that her friends declined to taste it, 
 she said philosophically, " Never mind ; I will give it to 
 the donkey, as Dean Stanley is not here," the little 
 Princess being aware that the Dean had neither taste nor 
 smell, and was therefore an undiscriminating person regarding 
 pasties. The Princess Louise had the reputation of being 
 the best cook among the royal children, and we find her 
 coming to the rescue on one of the Queen's Highland 
 expeditions, when the luggage had broken down on the way, 
 and making her mother some delicious coffee. The story 
 comes from Balmoral that Princesses Helena and Louise 
 called one day, as was customary for them, to ask one of the 
 cottage children to come and play with them ; the mother 
 replied that her daughter must finish baking some oatcakes 
 first. " Oh, we'll help," volunteered the Princess Louise, and 
 not being able to lay her hands on the cutter, she seized 
 the teapot lid in her anxiety to get the business over, and 
 succeeded in getting the unfortunate cakes into such a sticky, 
 misshapen mess that the guid wife promptly despatched 
 her daughter with her over-officious visitors and finished the 
 baking herself. 
 
 An amusing incident is told of the Queen's third son, 
 Prince Arthur, when he was at the Ranger's Lodge, Blackheath, 
 pursuing his military studies. His sister's former governess, 
 Miss Hillyard, was staying for her health in the neighbour- 
 hood, and each morning he was in the habit of walking to 
 her house to inquire how she was, and in doing so passed 
 by the apple-stall of an old Irishwoman, named Kitty, who 
 from his cadet's dress took him for a private in the artillery. 
 One day she asked a policeman if he could tell her who 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 215 
 
 'guy mannering," the prince consort's favourite horse. 
 
 " that 'tillery chap " was that passed by every day, adding, "He 
 looks such a graceful, nice young man, that I'm sorry in my 
 heart to see him as he is, for I'm shure he comes of dacent 
 people, he looks so genteel, and I be always thinking, shure, 
 if his people is anyway well off, isn't it a wonder they don't 
 buy him out." One can imagine old Kitty's eloquence when 
 she was informed that he was the Queen's son. 
 
 In February, 1866, Her Majesty emerged from her long 
 seclusion to open Parliament in person, and the occasion was 
 one of great splendour and interest, remarkable for the 
 numerous assemblage of ladies present in the House of Lords ; 
 in fact, the array of peeresses filling the back rows of seats 
 behind the peers, as well as the side galleries and the great 
 gallery, might have led a stranger to suppose that women 
 
216 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 had at length been admitted to Parliament. At noon the 
 streets recalled the palmy days of the Queen's wedded life ; 
 crowds of spectators lined the route to Westminster, and a 
 long line of carriages filled with ladies in full-dress stretched 
 from Pall Mall to the Peers' entrance. Before the appearance 
 of Her Majesty, the Princess of Wales, looking lovely in a 
 white tulle dress trimmed with black lace, was conducted to 
 a seat on the woolsack, facing the throne, whereon was spread 
 the State robes which the Queen had no heart to wear. It 
 was a moment of thrilling and pathetic interest when Her 
 Majesty entered, dressed in a robe of deep violet velvet, 
 trimmed with ermine, and wearing a white lace cap, a la 
 Marie Stuart, with a gauze veil flowing behind ; her dress, 
 indeed, gave her a remarkable likeness to the unfortunate 
 Queen of Scots. She was accompanied by the Princesses 
 Helena and Louise, dressed in half-mourning costumes, and 
 escorted to her seat by the Prince of Wales. She sat with 
 downcast eyes, looking very grave and sad, while the speech 
 from the throne, which in happier days had been delivered 
 by her with such rare elocutionary power, was read by the 
 Lord Chamberlain. One feels that the occasion was a little 
 trying for Princess Helena, as the formal announcement was 
 made of her approaching marriage with Prince Christian of 
 Schleswig-Holstein. 
 
 In the March following the Queen reviewed the troops 
 at Aldershot, and both this and the opening of Parliament by 
 her gave the greatest pleasure, not only to the nation, but to 
 the Queen's own family, and Princess Alice wrote to tell her 
 mother how happy she was that she had made " the great 
 effort." " How trying," she says, " the visit to Aldershot must 
 
THE WIDOWED MONARCH 
 
 217 
 
 LOOTY, HER MAJESTY S PET DOG. 
 
 have been ; but it is so wise and kind of you to go. I cannot 
 think of it without tears in my eyes. Formerly that was one 
 of the greatest pleasures of my girlhood, and you and darling 
 papa looked so handsome together." During the same year 
 the Queen attended two weddings, that of the Princess Mary 
 of Cambridge and the Duke of Teck, which took place at 
 Kew on the 12th of June, 1866, and that of the Princess Helena 
 and Prince Christian, which was celebrated at Windsor on the 
 following 5th of July, the Queen giving away the bride. At 
 the close of this year the growing discontent of the people 
 that Her Majesty showed no disposition to resume her old 
 place in Court functions was made the occasion of public 
 demonstration at a meeting at St. James's Hall, in support 
 
->i 8 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of the enfranchisement of the working classes, when Mr. 
 Ayrton, M.P., condemned the Queen's retirement in strong 
 terms. This brought John Bright to his feet, who warmly 
 vindicated Her Majesty from Mr. Ayrton's charge that she 
 had neglected her duty to society. " I am not accustomed," 
 said Mr. Bright, "to stand up in defence of those who are the 
 possessors of crowns, but I feel that there has been a great 
 injustice done to the Queen, and I venture to say this, that 
 a woman — be she the queen of a great realm or the wife of 
 one of your labouring men — who can keep alive in her heart 
 a great sorrow for the lost object of her life and affection, is 
 not at all likely to be wanting in a great and generous 
 sympathy with you." As the great orator ceased, a remark- 
 able ovation took place, the entire audience rising and singing 
 " God Save the Queen " with every demonstration of love and 
 loyalty. When two years later the name of John Bright was 
 submitted to Her Majesty for a seat in Mr. Gladstone's Cabinet, 
 she expressed her pleasure, saying that she was under the 
 greatest obligation to him for the many kind words he had 
 spoken of her, and despatched a special messenger to tell 
 Mr. Bright that if it was more agreeable to his feelings as a 
 Quaker to omit the ceremony of kneeling and kissing hands, 
 he was at liberty to do so, of which permission Mr. Bright 
 availed himself. The Princess Royal was present during his 
 reception at Windsor, and told him that both herself and all 
 the members of the royal family were greatly indebted to 
 him for the way in which he had spoken of their mother. 
 Mr. Bright has recorded his estimate of the Queen's character 
 to the effect that she was the " most absolutely straightforward 
 and truthful person " he had ever known. 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 219 
 
VIII 
 
 VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 FAR away in sunny India was enacted, on the ist of 
 January, 1877, a scene the most brilliant and unique 
 of any connected with the glorious reign of Victoria. At the 
 Imperial Camp, outside the walls of Delhi, where the Mutiny 
 had raged the fiercest, Her Majesty was proclaimed Empress 
 of India. On a throne of Oriental splendour, above which was 
 the portrait of the Empress, sat Lord Lytton, her Viceroy ; 
 the Governors, Lieutenants, State officials and the Maharajahs, 
 Rajahs, Nabobs, and Princes, with their glittering retinues 
 grouped around him. Behind rose the vast amphitheatre, filled 
 with foreign ambassadors and notables, around was the concourse 
 of spectators and a brilliant array of fifteen thousand troops, 
 while to complete the gorgeous scene the whole assemblage was 
 surrounded by an unbroken chain of elephants decked with 
 gay trappings. After the Proclamation had been made with all 
 the pomp of heraldry, the Viceroy presented to each of the 
 feudatory Princes the Empress's gift, a magnificent standard, 
 made by Messrs. Elkington, after a design chosen by Her 
 Majesty. The standards were oramented with the sacred 
 water lily of India, spreading palms of the East, and the rose 
 of England, it being the desire of the Empress to indicate 
 
THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 that as the rose and lily intertwined beneath the spreading 
 palm, so was the welfare of India to become one with that 
 of her older dominions ; and the motto, " Heaven's light our 
 guide," illustrated the spirit in which she desired to govern 
 the enormous empire of which she ever fondly speaks as "a 
 bright jewel in her crown." Most noticeable in the brilliant 
 gathering was the Begum of Bhopal, a lady Knight of the 
 Most Noble Order of Queen Victoria. There was nothing 
 to be seen of the lady save a bundle of floating azure silk, 
 which indicated that she was inside, and upon the place where 
 the left shoulder was supposed to be was emblazoned the 
 shield of the Star of India. Much cheap wit was expended 
 after Her Majesty's accession on the rise of the "royal sex," 
 and it was said that the young Queen intended to establish 
 an Order of Female Knighthood. The prophecy of the scoffer 
 seemed to have been more than fulfilled in the figure of this 
 Hindoo lady wearing the Order of the Star of India. Though 
 she was not valiant enough to show her face, yet her presence 
 was a good omen for that emancipation of the women of her 
 country from the seclusion of the Zenana which is fittingly 
 distinguishing the reign of the British Empress. On the day 
 of the Proclamation at Delhi, the Queen conferred the Grand 
 Cross of India upon the Duke of Connaught, and when in 1879 
 she became a great-grandmother, by the birth of a daughter 
 to the Princess of Saxe-Meiningen (Princess Charlotte of 
 Prussia), she celebrated her ancient dignity by investing twelve 
 noble ladies of her Court with the Imperial Order of the Crown 
 of India. 
 
 The keenest interest has always been shown by the Queen 
 in the condition of Hindoo women. It was with heartfelt 
 
Tilt OUEEN OPENING PARI I 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 225 
 
 thankfulness that she saw the barbarous suttee abolished, and 
 it was her influence which inspired the rapid spread of Zenana 
 work. In July, 1881, she received at Windsor Miss Beilby, a 
 medical missionary from India ; and after listening to her 
 account of the sufferings of Hindoo women, in time of illness, 
 for need of doctors, the Queen turned to her ladies and said, 
 " We had no idea that things were as bad as this." Miss Beilby 
 then took from a locket which she wore round her neck a 
 folded piece of paper containing a message to Her Majesty 
 from the Maharanee of Poonah. " The women of India suffer 
 when they are sick," was the burden of the dark-eyed Queen's 
 appeal. The Empress returned her a message of sympathy and 
 help, and to the women of our own land the Queen said, 
 " We desire it to be generally known that we sympathise 
 with every effort made to relieve the suffering state of the 
 women of India"; and when Lord Dufferin went out as 
 Governor-General, she commissioned Lady Dufferin to establish 
 a permanent fund for providing qualified women doctors for 
 work in India. Her Majesty continues to take the greatest 
 interest in this work, and is in constant communication with 
 the Viceroy's wife regarding its further organisation and 
 extension. 
 
 No opportunity is lost by Her Majesty to show her 
 interest in her Indian Empire, and doubtless had the Prince 
 Consort been spared she would have made a progress through 
 the country. This was done in her stead by the Prince of Wales 
 in 1875-6, and it was while he was making the tour that Lord 
 Beaconsfield introduced the Royal Titles Bill into Parliament, 
 conferring upon the Queen the title of Empress of India, a 
 distinction regarded by John Bull as superfluous to a Crown 
 
 '5 
 
226 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 the most distinguished in the world ; but Her Majesty 
 personally desired it, not, as gossip affirmed, because of the 
 advent at Court of her second son's imperial bride, but as a 
 means of binding her Indian subjects to her in a closer 
 manner. It is said that she showed more interest in the 
 Indian Court of the Colonial Exhibition, 1886, than in any 
 other, and at each of her visits chatted freely with the native 
 workmen. When the Indian delegates to the Exhibition first 
 saw their Empress, a homely-looking lady in a black silk 
 gown, they expressed disappointment, having expected to see 
 her decked out in the pomp and circumstance of a mighty 
 potentate. " But, after all," said they, " what a great power 
 the Queen must wield when she can command such an array 
 of illustrious personages to attend upon her, while she appears 
 as the most simple of all the Court." Of late years Her 
 Majesty has had Indian servants in native dress as personal 
 attendants ; she is also an assiduous student of Hindustani, 
 being able to speak and write in that language ; and her 
 favourite State jewel is the priceless Koh-i-noor, about which 
 hangs a tale. When it came into the possession of the East 
 India Company, in 1850, it was handed at a Board meeting 
 to John Lawrence (afterwards Lord Lawrence, the Viceroy) 
 for safe keeping. The precious diamond was laid amongst 
 folds of linen in a small box, and Lord Lawrence slipped 
 it into his waistcoat pocket, and forgot all about it until 
 some days later it was suggested that he should forward it 
 to the Queen. One can imagine his consternation when he 
 rushed to his house to see if it was to be found. " Have 
 you seen a small box in one of my waistcoat pockets ? " he 
 asked breathlessly of his servant. " Yes, sahib," was the reply. 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 227 
 
 THE QUEEN S VISIT TO LORD 
 BEACONSFIELD AT HUGHENDEN 
 
 " I found it, and put it in one of your boxes." " Bring it 
 here and open it, and see what it contains," said his master. 
 " There is nothing in it, sahib, but a bit of glass," the man 
 replied in wonderment. The " bit of glass " was in due 
 course despatched to the Queen, whose crown it was to adorn ; 
 but she has preferred to wear it on occasions as a magnificent 
 brooch in the centre of her bodice. The cutting of the 
 diamond was personally superintended by the Prince Consort. 
 
228 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 It is always kept at Windsor, a facsimile being in the royal 
 crown at the Tower. 
 
 An interesting event in the Queen's family circle took 
 place in February, 1871, when at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, 
 she gave away her clever, handsome daughter Princess Louise 
 to the heir of the Argyles. The Queen has constantly testified 
 her regard for the old Scottish nobility by visiting their 
 castles. She stayed for the first time as the guest of the 
 Duke of Argyle at Inverary in 1847, and this interesting note 
 about her future son-in-law occurs in her " Journal " : " The 
 pipers walked before the carriage, and the Highlanders on 
 cither side as we approached the house. Outside stood the 
 Marquis of Lome, just two years old, a dear, white, fat little 
 fellow with reddish hair, but very delicate features, like both 
 his father and mother; he is such a merry, independent little 
 child." In the years which followed, Her Majesty had other 
 opportunities for observing Lord Lome ; but before she con- 
 sented to the betrothal of her daughter she consulted " the 
 minister," and was assured by Dr. Macleod that he had a high 
 opinion of the young Marquis. A gentleman who saw the 
 festivities at the home-coming of the newly wedded pair to 
 Inverary has told the present writer that the bride's dancing 
 at the Tenants' Ball made quite a sensation — she " footed it " 
 in the reels and strathspeys in a way which did credit to the 
 wife of a Highland chief. Three years later came the marriage 
 of Prince Alfred to the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, at 
 St. Petersburg, which was the first and only wedding in her 
 family at which the Queen was not present ; but she com- 
 missioned her dear friends Dean Stanley and his wife, Lady 
 Augusta, to convey her maternal greetings and little private 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 229 
 
 gifts to the bride, and was most anxious that her Russian 
 daughter-in-law should wear myrtle in her bridal attire. Myrtle 
 is the German marriage emblem, and Her Majesty is most 
 particular that all the royal brides shall wear it along with 
 their orange blossoms. 
 
 During this period the hand of death was laid on many 
 of the Queen's loved ones. Her uncle Leopold, good old Baron 
 Stockmar, and her beloved half-sister the Princess Hohenlohc, 
 had all passed away, and the life of her eldest son had hung 
 by a thread in December, 1871, but the greatest loss of all 
 came with the death of Princess Alice. The pathetic story 
 of the Princess's devoted nursing of her husband and little 
 ones when they were attacked with diphtheria at Darmstadt 
 is well remembered, and when she succumbed to the disease 
 herself it was felt than she would never rally. Princess 
 Christian says that her sister Alice had never really recovered 
 from the fearful shock she received in 1873, when her little 
 boy Fritz fell from a top window, and was dashed to the 
 ground before the eyes of his agonised mother. Visits to the 
 Queen at Osborne or Balmoral would revive her spirits and 
 bring back the roses to her cheeks, but only for a time. The 
 end came on the anniversary of her father's death, the fatal 
 14th of December, 1878. Almost the last thing she did was 
 to read a letter from her mother, which Sir William Jenner, 
 who had been despatched by the Queen, had brought. It 
 seemed as though her spirit had been lingering for this message 
 from home, and laying it beside her she said, " Now I will fall 
 asleep " ; but it was the sleep of death upon which she entered. 
 Her last request to her husband was that the dear old English 
 flag might be placed upon her coffin, and she hoped that the 
 
230 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 people of her adopted country would not mind. The life of 
 Princess Alice had been singularly beautiful, and like that 
 of her elder sister, the Empress Frederick, full of high 
 endeavour on behalf of her sex. It was a consolation to the 
 Queen to gather the motherless children from Darmstadt 
 around her at Osborne, where they completed their con- 
 valescence, and in the early spring she took one of those 
 Continental trips from which she always receives much benefit. 
 This year she travelled incognita as the Countess of Balmoral, 
 and spent a month at the Villa Clara, charmingly situated 
 at Baveno, near Lake Maggiore, where she made informal 
 excursions in the district, accompanied by Princess Beatrice. 
 
 The Egyptian campaign of 1882 was a period of great 
 anxiety to the Queen, and recalled the days of the Crimean 
 war. She received the news of the victory of Tcl-el-Kcbir 
 when at Balmoral, and ordered a bonfire to be lighted on 
 Craig Gowan, as had been done at the fall of Sebastopol 
 twenty-one years before. In the earlier war she regretted 
 she had not a son old enough for service ; but now with the 
 tidings of Tel-el-Kcbir came Sir Garnet Wolscley's telegram 
 that her soldier-son, the Duke of Connaught, had " behaved 
 admirably, leading his brigade to the attack." His young wife, 
 Princess Louise of Prussia, to whom he had been married 
 in March, 1879, was staying at Balmoral at the time; and 
 the Queen, with characteristic impulse, hastened with the 
 telegram to her daughter-in-law's room, and, embracing her, 
 wept together with her for joy that their beloved one was 
 safe and so much praised. On the same auspicious day Her 
 Majesty welcomed home her youngest son, the Duke of 
 Albany, with his bride, Princess Helen of Waldeck ; and the 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 231 
 
 '■.-'-.: 
 
 MR. GLADSTONE CONSULTING THE QUEEN ON A CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS. 
 
 rejoicings at Balmoral in honour of the double events were 
 exceptionally hearty. 
 
 In time of war the Queen's first thought is for the sick 
 and wounded, and now she took an eaily opportunity to 
 visit Netley Hospital, an institution which owes its existence 
 to her initiative, and which she has always watched over with 
 maternal care. It was the first public place which she 
 
2j2 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 visited after her husband's death, and she was greatly touched 
 by a dying soldier lifting his eyes to her and saying, " I 
 thank God that He has allowed me to live long enough to 
 see your Majesty with my own eyes." During another visit 
 she talked with a man who had been shot through the lungs 
 at Lucknow. It was the Queen's custom after going the 
 round of the wards to visit the married quarters for the 
 accommodation of the wives and children of the patients in 
 the hospital, and the women received an agreeable surprise 
 when the Queen looked in upon them in the midst of their 
 household occupations. After the Egyptian campaign she 
 delighted the inmates by the gift of five knitted quilts, one 
 being entirely her own work, and it bore the royal crown and 
 the initials " V. R." in the corner ; another was knitted by 
 Princess Beatrice, and marked with her initials ; while the 
 remaining three were worked by ladies of the Court, a border 
 being added to each by the Queen's own hands. We fancy 
 there must have been some difficulty at Netley in deciding 
 who was to have the honour of sleeping under the Queen's 
 quilt. At this time Her Majesty testified her regard for the 
 noble band of nurses by establishing the Order of the Red 
 Cross for Ladies. The installation took place at Windsor, 
 when the Princess of Wales and Princess Beatrice were the 
 first names enrolled, and ten lady nurses received the honour 
 for their services in the Zulu and Egyptian campaigns. 
 
 We cannot pass away from this period of the Queen's life 
 without a reference to her literary activities and the delight she 
 took in the society of men of letters, as evinced by the fact 
 that her most frequent visitors were Dean Stanley, Sir Arthur 
 Helps, and Sir Theodore Martin. Sir Arthur Helps edited 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 233 
 
 THE QUEEN AND PRINCESS BEATRICE WORKING COVERLETS FOR NETLEY HOSPITAL. 
 
 her "Journal in the Highlands"; Sir Theodore Martin was 
 for seven years engaged upon the " Life of the Prince Consort," 
 under the Queen's direction ; and Dean Stanley was frequently 
 the vade mecum for enabling her 'to informally meet literary 
 celebrities. Carlyle, in a letter to his sister, the late Mrs. 
 Aitken, of Dumfries, thus describes his meeting the Queen at 
 Dean Stanley's in 1869: "The Stanleys and we were all in 
 a flow of talk, and some flunkeys had done setting coffee-pots 
 and tea-cups of a sublime pattern, when Her Majesty, punctual 
 to the minute, glided in, escorted by her dame-in-waiting 
 (a Duchess of Athol) and by the Princess Louise, decidedly 
 
234 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTOR I A 
 
 a very pretty young lady, and clever too, as I found out in 
 talking to her afterwards. The Queen came softly forward, 
 a kindly smile on her face, gently shook hands with all the 
 three women, gently acknowledged with a nod the silent 
 bows of us male monsters ; and directly in her presence every 
 one was at ease again. She is a comely little lady, with a piir 
 of kind, clear, and intelligent grey eyes ; still looks almost 
 young (in 'spite of one broad wrinkle which shows on each 
 cheek occasionally) ; is still plump ; has a fine, low voice, soft ; 
 indeed, her whole manner is melodiously perfect. It is 
 impossible to imagine a politer little woman ; nothing the least 
 imperious ; all gentle, all sincere, looking uncmbarrassing — 
 rather attractive, even ; makes you feel, too (if you have any 
 sense in you), that she is Queen." On this occasion Robert 
 Browning, Sir Charles Lycll, and Grote the historian were 
 present ; and with each the Queen had her little say, and made 
 inquiries as to the work upon which they were engaged. A 
 year later Dickens was commanded to Windsor, and he was 
 most struck by the simple naivete" of the Queen's manner and 
 her acquaintance with literature. The works of George Eliot 
 were a constant source of pleasure to her ; and it need hardly 
 be said that she admired the author of " Idylls of the King," 
 the dedication of which remains the most beautiful tribute to 
 her husband's memory. She paid a visit to Tennyson at 
 Freshwater, as she did to Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden, 
 although she appreciated the latter more as a statesman 
 than as a litterateur. She sent her three sons to attend his 
 funeral, and a wreath of primroses was laid upon the coffin 
 with the inscription, " His favourite flowers, from Osborne ; a 
 tribute of affection from Queen Victoria." In short, Her 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 235 
 
 Majesty prides herself upon having personally known most 
 of the famous authors of her reign, from Wordsworth to 
 Tennyson, and she is not without appreciation for the rising 
 school. 
 
 Simple confidence in her readers is shown in her High- 
 land Journals, in which the little incidents of her family life 
 in Scotland are so frankly told. Apart from the interest 
 attaching to the royal author, the books are of value for the 
 graphic sketches which they contain of Highland life and 
 scenery. Whether it be a christening, a wedding, a burial, or 
 a sheep-clipping, the celebration of the Sacrament at Crathic 
 Church, a torchlight dance, or the festival of Hallowe'en, it 
 is described as it passed before the writer's eyes, and leaves 
 upon the reader an impression lasting and vivid. Specially 
 interesting is the author's description of Scott's country and 
 Abbotsford, where she had tea in the room in which the 
 novelist died, and lingered about the study where he wrote. 
 When requested that she should inscribe her name in his 
 journal, she replied that " it would be a presumption for her 
 to do so," but finally yielded to the wish of those present. 
 Equally entertaining is her account of Prince Charlie's 
 country, through which, curiously enough, she was conducted 
 by Cameron of Lochiel, whose great-grand-uncle was the real 
 moving cause of the rebellion of '45 to dethrone Her 
 Majesty's great-great-grandfather. " Yes," she writes, " I feel 
 a sort of reverence in going over these scenes in this most 
 beautiful country, which I am proud to call my own, where 
 there was such devoted loyalty to the family of my ancestors 
 — for Stuart blood is in my veins, and I am now their repre- 
 sentative, and the people are as devoted and loyal to me as 
 
236 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 they were to that unhappy race." The demand for the 
 Queen's " Highland Journal " was enormous. It is said that 
 the circulating libraries ordered it by the ton, and the press 
 swarmed with reviews, which the royal author read with 
 great interest, although we fancy the spice of the experience 
 was lost by the previous overlooking of the reviews by the 
 ladies-in-waiting. The proceeds of the sales were devoted to 
 establishing bursaries, male and female, in the parish school 
 of Crathie and the Queen's Schools at Girnock. The dedica- 
 tion of the second volume, " More Leaves," by the Queen to 
 her " Loyal Highlanders, and especially to her devoted 
 personal attendant and faithful friend, John Brown," was the 
 cause of much comment. This instance of a mighty queen 
 and empress dedicating her book to a servant is unique in 
 literature ; but Her Majesty regards a faithful servant as an 
 honoured friend, and one of the most beautiful traits in her 
 character is that she never forgets those who serve her. 
 Honest John was as plain-spoken as he was faithful, and the 
 story is told in Deeside that one day, when the Queen was 
 out, she desired to sketch, and asked for a table to be 
 borrowed from a neighbouring cottage. There was great 
 difficulty in finding one of the right height ; table after table 
 was returned, and the eager people were in despair at not being 
 able to suit the royal requirements. At length John Brown 
 seized hold of the most likely one of the discarded tables, and 
 setting it down before his royal mistress, said with irresistible 
 logic, " They canna mak' one on purpose for you," at which 
 the Queen laughed, and settled down to her sketching. Brown 
 had his eye, too, on his mistress's appearance, and did she 
 come out in a warm comfortable garment a little antiquated 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 237 
 
 JOHN BROWN LEADING THE QUEEN'S PONY IN THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 in cut, he would remark, "What's that you've got on the 
 day ? " Despite his brusqueness, the faithful fellow would 
 have stood between the Queen and a bullet any day, and 
 indeed anxiety for her safety caused his death. During the 
 years 1881-2 attempts had been made upon the Queen's life 
 on two occasions, and she was feeling nervous with regard 
 to the Fenian outrages, when a great scare was created in 
 Windsor by Lady Florence Dixie declaring that she had 
 been attacked by Fenians in the grounds of her house, not 
 far from the Castle. So anxious was Her Majesty that she 
 sent John Brown to explore the shrubberies of Lady Florence 
 Dixie's house, and in doing so he took a chill, which resulted in 
 his death, on the 27th of March, 1883, after three days' illness. 
 
238 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 His royal mistress gave orders that his body should be con- 
 veyed to his native Highlands for burial, The grave can be 
 soon by the visitor to Crathie churchyard, along with that of 
 Francie Clark, who succeeded Brown as Her Majesty's personal 
 attendant, and died a short time ago. Inside the church a 
 monument was erected to his memory by " his grateful and 
 affectionate sovereign and friend, Victoria R.I.," with the 
 inscription, " Kings love him that spcaketh right." Apropos 
 of the Queen's kindness to her servants, a story was lately 
 told the writer by a gentleman acquainted with the girl to 
 whom it relates. She was one of the housemaids at Balmoral, 
 and the Queen, chancing to meet her on the staircase one 
 day, saw that she had been crying, and asked the reason of 
 her grief. Seeing that the girl was reluctant to speak, Her 
 Majesty commanded her to come to her private sitting-room, 
 and there tell her what was the matter. The girl reluctantly 
 explained that she had received notice to leave because she 
 objected to attending the Established Kirk along with the 
 iest of the Balmoral servants. Upon hearing this, the Queen 
 sent for the head of her household, and desired that the 
 housemaid in question should have her notice withdrawn, 
 and that in future no one in her service should be persecuted 
 on account oi~ their religious views. 
 
 The death of John Brown came at a time when the Queen 
 was suffering severely from a fall on one of the staircases at 
 Windsor Castle, which sprained her knees and crippled her 
 for several weeks ; and in the following year, before she had 
 recovered her health and spirits, she was smitten by a still 
 heavier blow in the death of her youngest son, Prince Leopold, 
 suddenly at Cannes, whither he had gone for a change. 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 •■Y) 
 
 HAM Clli;i" H. 
 
 Delicate health had inclined him to cultured, scholarly studies, 
 and he was more like the Prince Consort than any of the 
 Queen's sons, and to him she was beginning to look as the 
 one fitted to perform the delicate duty of private secretary 
 in the place of him whom she had lost. The sad news was 
 broken to her at Osborne by the late Sir Henry Ponsonby, 
 and, though quite prostrated by it, she was, as ever, thoughtful 
 of others, and desired Princess Beatrice to leave her side 
 
2$o THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 and hasten to comfort the young widow at Claremont, whose 
 delicate condition rendered the shock of the tidings more 
 serious. The Empress Eugdnie, who was staying near Osborne, 
 came to the Queen to offer consolation, and after spending 
 some hours with her was able to report that Her Majesty was 
 greatly relieved by being able to talk over her loss with one 
 who knew what bereavement was. Some years before the 
 positions had been reversed, and it was the Queen who had 
 comforted the Empress, first, after the death of the exiled 
 Emperor, and again when her only son met such a terrible 
 death in the Zulu war of 1879. Prince Leopold, like his 
 father, had premonitions of death. " He would talk to me 
 about death," writes one who was with him a few days before 
 he died, " and said he would like a military funeral." I asked, 
 "Why, sir, do you talk in this melancholy manner?" As he 
 was about to answer he was called away, and said, " I'll tell 
 you later." I never saw him again, but he finished his answer 
 to me, to another lady, and said : " For two nights now 
 Princess Alice has appeared to me in my dreams, and says 
 she is quite happy, and that she wants me to come and 
 join her." The body of the Prince was brought from Cannes 
 and interred at St. George's, Windsor. 
 
 In 1885, the year following Prince Leopold's death, came 
 the last marriage in the Queen's family, that of " Baby " 
 Beatrice, who had now for fourteen years been her mother's 
 devoted attendant, to the late Prince Henry of Battenberg. 
 Princess Beatrice, having been so much with grown-up people 
 when a child, was a little quaint in her ways, and several 
 stories are told of her funny little speeches. When a little lady 
 of six she found it very difficult to get proper respect shown 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 241 
 
 THE QUEEN EMBRACING HER CHILDREN AFTER THE JUBILEE SERVICE. 
 
 her by her nephew and niece of Germany, and taking Dr 
 Macleod into her confidence, she said : " What do you think, 
 Dr. Macleod ? I am an aunt, and yet my nephew William 
 the present Emperor) won't do what I bid him. Both he 
 and Elizabeth refused to shut the door! Is that not naughty?" 
 The wedding of the Queen's youngest daughter took place 
 
 16 
 
242 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VLCT0R1A 
 
 from Osborne at the little ivy-clad village church of Whipping- 
 ham. Only semi-State was observed. The bride wore her 
 mother's Honiton lace and veil, and was attended by her ten 
 young nieces in white tulle frocks. Little children strewed 
 flowers and decked the wayside with homely tributes of 
 affection, and the whole scene was an ideally perfect village 
 wedding. It was arranged that the bride should continue to 
 live with her mother as Princess in waiting. The marriage 
 proved one of great happiness, and in her new son-in-law 
 Her Majesty found one who joined with his wife in unselfish 
 ministrations to her comfort. His untimely death was a real 
 personal loss, as well as grief to the Queen. 
 
 Although it had long been apparent that Her Majesty 
 would never again resume her old place in society, she had 
 during the past ten years officiated at a number of public 
 ceremonials, and had held occasional drawing-rooms, as well 
 as now and again rc-opening Parliament, and in May of 1886 
 she opened the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South 
 Kensington. This notable ceremony, which vividly recalled 
 to her the Exhibition of '51, seemed like a gathering together 
 of the representatives from all parts of her mighty empire as 
 a prelude to the celebration of her jubilee in the following 
 year. In the May preceding Jubilee Day, the Queen visited 
 the East End to open the People's Palace. The route, seven 
 miles long, was decorated in gay and characteristic style by 
 the East Enders, and it was noticed that the Queen eyed 
 the quaint, humorous devices with great pleasure, and at the 
 opening ceremony at the Palace bowed and smiled at the 
 references made to herself, in the speeches, in a delightfully 
 informal manner. On the way back she visited the Lord 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 243 
 
 THE QUEEN PRESENTING FLORENCE DUNN WITH A JUBILEE MUG. 
 
 Mayor at the Mansion House, and partook of tea and 
 strawberries ; this was the first time she had been at the 
 Mansion House since she was the young Princess Victoria, 
 and visited it with her mother. A boy in the crowd, when 
 he found that the Queen had suddenly disappeared, asked 
 eagerly, "Where is she gone?" "Gone?" replied an old 
 basket woman. " Why, into the Lord Mayor's, to have a bite 
 and a sup, poor thing, and I'll be bound as she needs it." The 
 Queen has always shown a sympathetic interest in the East 
 End, and one of her chaplains relates that after he had 
 preached for the first time at Windsor he was summoned to 
 her private apartment, and Her Majesty asked him a number 
 
244 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 of questions about East London and the state of labour at 
 the docks, and then told him how she dealt with her cottagers 
 at Balmoral, and about the schools she had established. " I 
 could hardly realise," added this gentleman, " that I was 
 talking with the Queen ; she dismissed me filled with a vivid 
 perception of her fine, royal courtesy, as well as her personal 
 knowledge of and concern for the needy in her realm." In 
 times of special distress in East London, the Queen has 
 privately forwarded money for distribution. Another clergyman 
 relates that when he was a boy in the Isle of Wight he saw 
 the Queen coming out of a cottage where she had been to 
 visit a sick person, and heard one workman say to another, " I 
 like the Queen, Bill. I like having somebody to look up to " ; 
 and his companion replied, " Yes, and she is so good too." 
 
 There have been three royal jubilees in the history of this 
 country, but not one in any way comparable to the jubilee 
 of the 21st of June, 1887, when the whole land, together with 
 the distant colonies and every quarter of the globe where 
 the British flag waves, rang with the voice of jubilation that 
 the great woman who had ennobled the crown was spared 
 in health and strength to celebrate the fiftieth year of her 
 reign. It was a thrilling moment when, in the blaze of the 
 glorious June sunshine, the Queen drove out through the gates 
 of Buckingham Palace on her way to Westminster Abbey, 
 just as she had done fifty years before on her coronation day. 
 But the bright young girl was now a grey-haired woman who 
 had seen much sorrow and battled with many difficulties. 
 Still, there was a gleam of triumph in her face, for were there 
 not sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren 
 rising up to call her blessed, while the shouts of the multitudes 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 245 
 
 which rent the air testified that throughout these fifty years 
 she had retained the love and loyalty of her people? The 
 scene in the Abbey was brilliant, as had been that earlier 
 scene ; but there was a hush of reverence over the assembly, 
 for the monarch had come to publicly give thanks to Almighty 
 God that she had been spared to see that day. At the end 
 of the service the numerous members of her family were to 
 personally offer their congratulations. The Lord Chamberlain 
 had arranged it in correct style, but the Queen waived cere- 
 mony, and drawing each one in turn for a motherly embrace, 
 turned the grand pageant into a happy family reunion. Fitting 
 close, next day, to the festivities which had reigned everywhere 
 throughout the country, was the monster school treat in Hyde 
 Park, where thirty thousand school children of London were 
 entertained. In the cool of the summer evening the Queen 
 drove down the ranks and viewed the little ones ; then the 
 Prince of Wales brought to her carriage Florence Dunn, who 
 had not missed an attendance at school for six years, and the 
 Queen smiled down at the little champion, and, handing her 
 the jubilee mug, said, " I am pleased to give you this memorial 
 of my jubilee, dear child " ; and this characteristic act closed 
 the great celebration. It was an interesting coincidence that 
 the minister of a country parish who had preached a sermon on 
 the Queen's coronation also preached one on her jubilee ; and 
 still more wonderful was the case of an old lady in the town 
 of Chipping Sodbury who had been present at George III.'s 
 jubilee, and came out hale and hearty to help in the local 
 celebration of Queen Victoria's, wearing the same bonnet, 
 a Leghorn of coal-scuttle shape, which she had worn at the 
 former jubilee. 
 
246 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 After a few days' rest at Windsor, Her Majesty came to 
 town again, and on the 30th of June opened the Holloway 
 College for Women, thus testifying her interest in the advance 
 of that higher education amongst women which, along with 
 their improved legal and social status, has fittingly marked 
 her reign. In the spring succeeding her jubilee, the Queen 
 spent some weeks in Florence, always a favourite resort 
 with her, as it had been with the Prince Consort. She was 
 to be seen each morning, in the park adjacent to her villa, 
 taking an airing in her donkey chair, and later in the day 
 driving through the country districts, visiting the churches, 
 and interesting herself in the life of the people. For one 
 brief day she dropped her incognita and drove in public with 
 her suite, and it seemed as though all Florence swarmed 
 into the streets to greet her. The Queen did this to show 
 her gratitude to the people for respecting her desire for 
 privacy. She was fond of chatting with the country folk 
 and one morning seeing two little girls gathering violets ii 
 a field near her villa, entered into conversation with them, 
 and presented each of them with a jubilee sovereign, at 
 which they rushed home to tell their mothers that the 
 " Regina d'Inghilterra had given them a gilt medal with her 
 likeness on it." On her way back from Florence the Queen 
 visited her dying son-in-law, the Emperor Frederick, at 
 Charlottcnburg, a visit inexpressibly sad ; but Her Majesty 
 was not only able to comfort her daughter and cheer the 
 dying Emperor— she acted as a peacemaker in the friction at 
 Court caused by the Empress Frederick favouring the marriage 
 of her daughter, Princess Victoria, with Prince Alexander 
 of Battenberg. The Queen persuaded her daughter to drop 
 
VICTORIA, QUEEN AND EMPRESS 
 
 247 
 
 STATUE OF THE PRINCE CONSORT AT WINDSOR CASTLE. 
 " HE POINTS TO HEAVEN AND LEADS THE WAY." 
 
 the match, and by her tact brought about such a good 
 understanding all round that Prince Bismarck, with whom 
 she had a long interview, declared that " Her Majesty was 
 gifted with a statesman-like wisdom of the highest order"; 
 and indeed most political leaders who have come into 
 personal contact with the Queen testify to her remarkable 
 insight and sagacity. 
 
248 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Of late years her life has flowed on in the same steady, 
 even course, with little jaunts to the Continent, visits to the 
 Highlands, Christmas spent in good old English style at 
 Osborne, and the discharge of occasional public Court 
 functions in London ; but wherever she may be her hand is 
 at the helm, and telegraph and telephone messengers and 
 despatch-boxes keep her hourly informed of everything 
 which transpires even in the remotest part of her vast 
 dominions. Her naturally robust constitution is preserved by 
 the simplicity of her mode of life, spent largely in the open 
 air, and her mind is kept bright and fresh by the interest 
 she takes in the doings of the younger members of her 
 extensive family circle. One hears much of Grand Old Men 
 in these days ; but who amongst them can say that he has 
 been at his present post for sixty long years without one 
 single day "off"? In all love and loyalty we would say 
 that the Grand Old Woman upon the throne has "beaten 
 the record." Her day is not done yet, therefore the time for 
 a resume of her glorious reign has not arrived ; but when 
 the tale comes to be fully told, we know that there does not 
 exist in the annals of this or any land a period so fraught 
 with moral and material greatness as the reign of VICTORIA, 
 Queen and Empress. 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 249 
 
IX 
 
 PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 WHEN the women of Great Britain were subscribing 
 their Jubilee gift to the Queen, a colony of Japanese 
 women at Knightsbridge added their contributions with this 
 characteristic wish : " Truly she must be a great ' Lady King ' ; 
 may she live on an unshaken throne yet another fifty years, 
 and after that the perpetual bliss ! " Nearly ten years have 
 rolled by since that memorable year of loyal enthusiasm, and 
 our " Lady King " is with us still, venerated and beloved by 
 all sections of the community at home and throughout her 
 vast colonial dominions, as well as among the swarthy 
 millions of India, who, though they have never seen her face, 
 yet regard her as their Empress-Mother. She is honoured 
 in the Courts of Europe as no English monarch has been 
 before. It seems, indeed, that the Continent is rapidly coming 
 under the sphere of British influence through the alliances 
 made by the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren 
 of Queen Victoria. When Russian ministers propose any 
 course of procedure likely to upset the peace of Europe and 
 bring England into the fray, the young Czar and Czarina 
 promptly reply, " It must not be ; we cannot have Grand- 
 mamma worried." The autocrat of all the Germans is not 
 
 2SI 
 
2 5 2 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 quite so considerate, perhaps ; but if there is any one who 
 can curb his impetuosity, and put the drag upon his ambition, 
 it also is Grandmamma of England. 
 
 In America, where royalty is at a discount, and friction 
 still shows itself in relations with the mother country, the 
 influence of our " Lady King " is not unfelt American citizens 
 still remember the hearty greetings which Queen Victoria 
 sent to President Buchanan, forty years ago, along the lines 
 of the newly laid Atlantic cable ; such felicitations, however, 
 were enough to make her grandfather, His Majesty King 
 George III., turn in his grave. Neither can America forget 
 the words of womanly sympathy and feeling which the Queen 
 addressed to the wife of its murdered President, James Garfield. 
 Upon that American citizen, the great philanthropist, George 
 Peabody, she would gladly have conferred the Grand Cross 
 of the Order of the Bath, but he declined all such honours. 
 When asked what he would accept, he replied, " A letter from 
 the Queen of England, which I may carry across the Atlantic 
 and deposit as a memorial of one of her most faithful sons." 
 It should be a bond of union between the two countries that 
 in the Peabody Institute in the United States the miniature 
 of Queen Victoria, which she sent to Mr. Peabody along 
 with her letter, is deposited in a vault of famous relics side 
 by side with a cane which belonged to Benjamin Franklin. 
 It was owing to the tact of the Queen and Prince Consort 
 in the wording of that famous despatch on the Trent affair, 
 at the outbreak of the Civil War in America, that peace was 
 preserved between England and the United States. Her 
 Majesty has ever been more ready to try the power of moral 
 suasion than of force, and only within the last year we have 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 2 53 
 
 THE QUEEN VISITING HIGHLAND TENANTS. 
 
 had an example of this in the autograph letters which the 
 Queen addressed to the Sultan of Turkey regarding the 
 atrocities in Armenia, and to her grandson of Germany upon 
 
254 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 his attitude to England over the rebellion and raid in the 
 Transvaal. 
 
 Her Majesty has now sat upon the throne of this country 
 for a longer period than any of her predecessors. The glories 
 of the sixty years of her reign, and the unexampled prosperity 
 which the country has enjoyed under her beneficent rule, arc 
 for the historian to tell ; but when one pauses to study the 
 personal character of the Queen, and the attributes which have 
 made her beloved at home and revered abroad, they are to 
 be summed up in one simple phrase — she is a good woman. 
 Not faultless, certainly ; the charming wilfulness of the child 
 has a survival in maturer age. Strong and passionate in 
 her attachments, the Queen could be, in her young days, 
 quick and hasty even with those whom she loved best ; but 
 shallowness is no part of her nature, neither docs she harbour 
 resentment. Absolute truthfulness and sincerity arc the 
 qualities which dominate her character, and also gratitude 
 towards those who have served her faithfully, be they great 
 Ministers of State or humble servants. It is a part of the 
 nobleness of her disposition that she docs not assume that 
 she has a right to special attention because of her high position. 
 One frequently meets in her diaries with expressions of pleasure 
 at kindness shown to her when visiting at the houses of her 
 subjects, as though it were something unmerited. Among; 
 the man}- touching incidents of her gratitude to those who 
 had been her faithful friends was the visit paid by her to 
 Sir John Biddulph when he lay dying at Abergcldie Mains. 
 " You have been very kind to me, your Majesty," said the 
 dying man. " No," replied the Queen, as she pressed his 
 hand, " it is you who have been very kind to me" 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 255 
 
 An utter detestation of shams is another of Her Majesty's 
 characteristics, shown by the fact that those who have obtained 
 her greatest confidence have been honest, even to bluntness. 
 She likes to get at the root and reality of things, and the time- 
 server stands no chance before her keen scrutiny. Her fondness 
 for her faithful Highlanders has become almost a proverb, and 
 she is never so happy as when talking with the old folks at 
 Balmoral without form or ceremony, and much of her love 
 for her Scottish home may be attributed to the fact that there 
 she can throw off the restraints of royalty more thoroughly than 
 in any other place. She is an exemplary landowner, and has 
 erected schools, model cottages, established a free library, and 
 provided a trained sick nurse for the tenants at Balmoral. To 
 her cottagers at Osborne she is also ever the friend in time of 
 need ; and when she erected alms-houses on her estate for the 
 use of poor old women, she retained one tiny room for herself, 
 thus, as it were, becoming an alms-woman herself and keeping 
 her poorer neighbours company. In matters of religion the 
 Queen has shown herself singularly free from prejudice. At 
 Balmoral she has always worshipped according to the simple 
 style of the Scottish Church and partaken of its rites in 
 communion, while she chose for her chief spiritual guides 
 Dr. Norman Maclcod and Principal Tulloch. In England the 
 service in her private chapels is the simplest form of the 
 Episcopalian Church, and her close friendship with Dean 
 Stanley would point to the fact that she inclines to the broader 
 school of thought, and thinks more of deeds than of creeds. 
 She has ever set a good example in Sabbath observance ; and 
 many years ago, when it came to her knowledge that trades- 
 people were employed to bring provisions to Buckingham 
 
256 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Palace on Sunday morning, she at once ordered that no eatables 
 were to be brought into the Palace on Sunday. 
 
 The Queen is fond of quoting the saying of Schopenhauer, 
 "If it were not for the honest faces of dogs, we should forget 
 the very existence of sincerity " ; and from her childhood to the 
 present time she has always had dogs about her. Her earliest 
 favourite, " Dash," a black-and-tan spaniel, was her constant 
 companion when, as the Princess Victoria, she took her morning 
 walk in Kensington Gardens, and his joyous bark was the first 
 welcome she received on her return to Buckingham Palace from 
 her coronation. " Looty," a lovely silken, long-haired dog 
 brought by a British officer from China, was a later favourite. 
 When the Summer Palace at Pekin was burning, this little dog 
 was discovered curled up amongst soft shawls and rugs in one 
 of the wardrobes, and the officer who rescued him and brought 
 him to England as a present to the Queen gave him the 
 significant name of " Looty." A picture of him by Mr. F. W 
 Reyl was exhibited in the Royal Academy many years ago. 
 Her Majesty has a special fondness for collies, and among these 
 faithful animals " Noble " and " Sharp " were for many years 
 chief favourites, and always travelled with her to and from 
 Balmoral. " ' Noble,' " she writes in her diary, " is the most 
 biddable dog I ever saw. He will hold a piece of cake in his 
 mouth without eating it, until he may. If he thinks we are not 
 pleased with him, he puts out his paws and begs in such an 
 affectionate way." A beautiful collie named " Darnley II." has 
 been for many years Her Majesty's chief pet. He has a special 
 " cottage " of his own, apart from the kennels of the other dogs. 
 In their beautiful homes in the grounds of Windsor Castle are 
 to be seen skyes, collies, pugs, and dachs, in great variety ; but 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 257 
 
 SHAKP, THE QUEEN S COLLIE. 
 
 the Queen's particular pride are her Italian " Spitzes," a breed of 
 beautiful buff-coloured dogs which she was the first to introduce 
 into this country. " Marco," with his lovely white coat and 
 almost human intelligence, is another chief favourite with his 
 royal mistress. It would be a mistake to suppose that these 
 pets are unduly pampered, for the Queen believes that plain 
 living induces high thinking in dogs as well as in human 
 beings. 
 
 Her Majesty has been one of the most accomplished horse- 
 women of her time, and her ponies have an almost equal share 
 of attention with her dogs. There is "Jessie," which was her 
 favourite riding mare for twenty-five years, and carried her 
 through many a Highland expedition ; then there are her two 
 Shetland ponies, and " Flora " and " Alma," presented by King 
 Victor Emmanuel, and a grey Arab, a present from the Thakore 
 of Morvi. The royal mews at Windsor cover an extent of four 
 
 ■7 
 
2 5 8 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 acres, and have accommodation for one hundred horses. The 
 harness-horses are nearly all of them grey, and those for the 
 broughams are dark chestnut. But specially proud is the 
 Queen of her twelve cream-coloured horses, which I have been 
 privileged to see in the mews at Buckingham Palace, looking 
 very beautiful indeed with their long, silky tails nearly touching 
 the ground. Their ancestors took the girl Queen, nearly sixty 
 years ago, to her coronation, and the stock is always kept up for 
 Her Majesty's use on State occasions. 
 
 An amusing little favourite of the Queen was " Picco," which 
 she used to drive in a pony-carriage some years ago. He was a 
 Sardinian pony, presented by the King of that country, and 
 was only forty-four inches high. That charming naturalist 
 Frank Buckland has given an amusing account of his attempts 
 to sketch this fussy, nervous little fellow, who was highly 
 indignant at having his measurements taken. The Queen was 
 greatly diverted by the account of her pet's behaviour, for she 
 is fond of studying the characters of the animals about her, and 
 likes them to have their pictures taken. Bushey Park is used 
 as a kind of home of rest for the pet horses who are no longer 
 fit for active service. There " Picco " was sent to end his days, 
 and, as a useful lesson in humility, he had " Alderney," a 
 costermonger's rescued victim, given him for a companion. 
 One day, when the Queen was driving in the Isle of Wight, 
 she saw a costermonger savagely beating a beautiful white 
 pony, and, stopping her carriage, she offered to buy the ill-used 
 animal, in order to save him from his life of misery. She 
 gave him the name of " Alderney," and promoted him to a 
 life of ease in Bushey Park, where he doubtless entertained 
 his aristocratic friend " Picco " with the doings of costerland. 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARA CI ERISTICS 
 
 ■359 
 
 EQUESTRIAN TORTRAIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 To-day the Queen's chief favourite is " Jacquot," the strong, 
 handsome donkey with the white nose and knotted tail, which 
 draws her chair in the gardens of Frogmore or through the 
 
2bo THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 shady glades at Osborne, and has accompanied Her Majesty 
 to the Highlands and to Florence and the Riviera. 
 
 The Queen's love for the brute creation does not limit itself 
 to those animals who have the good fortune to be her pets. 
 She has been a warm supporter of those societies which labour 
 to ameliorate the sufferings of animals, and views the modern 
 thirst for scientific discovery by means of vivisection with 
 apprehension. In a letter sent at her command by Sir Thomas 
 Biddulph, in 1872, to Lord Harrowby, then President of the 
 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, this passage 
 occurs : " The Queen hears and reads with horror of the 
 sufferings which the brute creation often undergo from the 
 thoughtlessness of the ignorant, and, she fears, also, sometimes 
 from experiments in the pursuit of science. For the removal of 
 the former the Queen trusts much to the progress of education, 
 and, in regard to the pursuit of science, she hopes that the 
 entire advantage of those anaesthetic discoveries from which 
 man has derived so much benefit himself in the alleviation of 
 suffering may be freely extended to the lower animals." Her 
 Majesty is a great sympathiser with that branch of the Society's 
 work which aims at educating the children in the board schools 
 to a sense of kindness to dumb animals by means of prizes 
 given for essays upon the subject. 
 
 The Queen's anxiety to protect lambs from what she con- 
 ceived to be premature killing resulted in rather an amusing 
 fiasco some years ago. She had been reading gloomy articles in 
 the newspapers about the decrease of English sheep, and she 
 immediately attributed it to the excessive slaughter of very 
 young lambs, and gave orders that no lamb was to be used in 
 the royal household. The price of the meat at once fell to 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 261 
 
 fourpencc a pound, and it became necessary to explain to the 
 Queen that the consumption of lamb was not the cause of the 
 trouble, it was a question of breeding, and she then withdrew 
 her mandate. This little incident is but one of many which 
 serve to show her anxiety to promote the public good by her 
 example. Many years ago, before county councils existed 
 for the supervision of public amusements, the Queen made her 
 influence felt in Birmingham. At a fete in Aston Park a 
 woman who had been forced to walk on a rotten tight-rope was 
 dashed to pieces in a shocking manner. Such was the callous- 
 ness of the committee that they permitted the festivities to 
 proceed in spite of the dreadful occurrence. A few days later 
 the Mayor of Birmingham was the astonished recipient of a 
 letter from the Queen's Secretary, to this effect : " Her Majesty 
 cannot refrain from making known her personal feelings of 
 horror that one of her subjects — a female — should have been 
 sacrificed to the gratification of the demoralising taste, unfortu- 
 nately prevalent, for exhibitions attended with the greatest 
 danger to the performers. If any proof were wanting that 
 such exhibitions are demoralising, it would be found in the 
 decision arrived at to continue the festivities, the hilarity, and 
 the sports of the occasion after an event so melancholy. The 
 Queen trusts that the Mayor, in common with the townspeople 
 of Birmingham, will use his influence to prevent in future the 
 degradation by such exhibitions of the park which she and the 
 beloved Prince Consort opened for the rational recreation of 
 the people." 
 
 In the early days ot railway travelling the Queen, who, with 
 characteristic fearlessness, had been one of the first to trust 
 to the " steam demon," was very active in bringing pressure 
 
262 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 to bear upon the railway companies to induce them to take 
 greater precaution for the protection of passengers. It was she 
 who, in conjunction with the Prince Consort, put an end in this 
 country to the barbarous custom of duelling. Recently, when 
 standing on Wimbledon Common looking at the spot where the 
 last duel in this country was fought, an old man came up to me 
 who had himself been a witness of the scene, and he described 
 it in quaint and graphic language. " I shall never forget," he 
 said, " my feelings as a lad when I saw the man who had been 
 shot lying with his dead, upturned face upon the turf, and Lord 
 Cardigan, who had shot him, hurrying away with his friends. 
 Ah, well ! the Queen put an end to that sort of thing ; she's done 
 a few good things in the course of her time." 
 
 To-day, now that legislation has become so much more 
 humanitarian in its scope than it was forty or fifty years ago, 
 one is apt to lose sight of the immense influence of royal 
 example. In the good old days the chief restraint on social 
 customs was fashion. As was the Court, so were the people. 
 Probably no English monarch has done more for the purification 
 of society and for the elevation of a simple domestic life than 
 Victoria. If great ladies to-day prefer to spend their leisure 
 hours in the support of pet philanthropies instead of the excite- 
 ment of lotteries, was it not the Queen who set the vogue by 
 associating her great name with schemes of beneficence ? She 
 was a visitor in the wards of our great hospitals long before 
 ladies of birth and social position took up such work to any 
 extent. That philanthropy is to-day fashionable is due to a 
 wave of influence coming from the throne and permeating all 
 classes of society. All the Queen's daughters, and indeed 
 daughters-in-law also, are women who delight in good works ; 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 263 
 
 THE QUEEN S INDIAN Al 
 
 and although they owe much of their impetus in that direction 
 to the Prince Consort, it was the Queen who gave her children 
 such an admirable father. Her Majesty chose her husband for 
 his good qualities, and nothing but her sanction and support 
 made it possible for him to carry through his schemes. The 
 nation was at one time barely respectful to him, and did not 
 awaken to a full appreciation of his merits until it was too late. 
 But for the Queen, Prince Albert might have occupied no better 
 
264 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 a position in the country than did the insignificant husband of 
 Qaeen Anne. 
 
 Another of Her Majesty's character/ sties which has in- 
 fluenced the national life of her own sex is the Queen's love of 
 fresh air and outdoor exercise. There is a connection between 
 our venerated sovereign taking her breakfast in a tent on the 
 lawn and spending many hours of each day driving, whatever 
 the weather may be, and the fine, healthy, well-developed 
 girl of the period swinging her tennis racket, playing hockey, 
 and boating and cycling. When the Queen was young such 
 things were not, and the mammas of that time were probably 
 shocked when they first heard, fifty and more years ago, 
 of Her Majesty going deer-stalking with her husband for 
 nine hours at a stretch, undertaking perilous mountain 
 expeditions, and walking about in the wilds of Balmoral 
 with a hood drawn over her bonnet to protect her face from 
 the rain. She was fond, too, of taking an early walk before 
 breakfast ; and on one occasion, when paying a visit to Blair 
 Athole, she set out alone early one morning before any one 
 was about, and wandered so far — beguiled by the fresh 
 autumn air — that she lost her way, and was obliged to 
 appeal to some reapers whom she saw working in a field 
 to show her the way back. She always encouraged her 
 daughters to take plenty of outdoor exercise, and they 
 were expert skaters at a time when the pastime was an 
 uncommon one for ladies. Princess Alice was a particularly 
 graceful skater, and after her marriage found that she was 
 nearly the only lady in Darmstadt who could skate. 
 
 The Queen gave her countenance to ladies riding the 
 tricycle at a very early stage of the introduction of that 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 265 
 
 THE QUEEN AND THE REAPERS. 
 
 machine. It was while taking her favourite drive along the 
 Newport Road in the Isle of Wight that she for the first 
 time saw a lady riding a tricycle, and she was so much pleased 
 that she ordered two machines to be sent to Osborne for 
 some of her ladies to learn to ride upon. When the more 
 expeditious bicycle came into use, Her Majesty looked 
 askance for a time at ladies using it ; but now she takes 
 the greatest delight in watching the merry cycling parties 
 of princesses which start daily from Balmoral in the 
 autumn, and she has enjoyed many of her hearty laughs 
 
266 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 at those who were in the learner's stage, and had not 
 mastered the mystery of maintaining the balance. That 
 latest innovation in the way of vehicles — the motor-car — is 
 regarded by the Queen with special interest, for when she 
 was a girl there was an effort made to introduce coaches 
 run by steam on to the roads, but the public did not take 
 to the idea of these horseless carriages, and so they dropped 
 out of existence, and " Jarvey " won the day. On at least 
 one occasion Her Majesty rode in one : it was when she 
 was about twelve years of age. With her mother, the 
 Duchess of Kent, she had been to visit His Majesty King 
 George IV. at the Royal Lodge, and they made the return 
 journey from Windsor to London in a steam coach. There 
 is an old man still living at Windsor who is not a little 
 proud that he can recall the occasion. 
 
 In her attitude to modern inventions the Queen has 
 hitherto shown herself ready to accept new ideas, but it is 
 said that she does not take to the electric light, and will not 
 have it introduced into the royal palaces. At Balmoral she 
 has the rooms lighted by candles, and burns wood fires, as 
 she finds this old-fashioned style cosier, and it reminds her 
 of her young days. The Queen first adopted gas in 1854, 
 when it was used to light the new ball-room at Buckingham 
 Palace on the occasion of the first visit of Napoleon and 
 the Empress Eugenie to this country. The ceiling of the 
 room was decorated in various colours to enable Her Majesty 
 to form an idea of the effect of the new illuminant. She 
 and the Prince Consort were so pleased with it that they 
 shortly afterwards introduced it into Windsor Castle. 
 Probably the Queen thinks that to have witnessed one 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 267 
 entire revolution in the way of domestic lighting is enough 
 in a lifetime, and she will leave the adoption of the electric 
 light to younger people. 
 
 The early British cus- 
 tom of erecting cairns, 
 or heaps of stones, to 
 commemorate events is 
 one greatly in favour with 
 
 GARDENS AT FROGMORE. 
 
 the Queen. The first royal cairn was erected when she 
 took possession of Balmoral, and the estate is now quite 
 rich in these unique memorials, there being one to com- 
 memorate the Prince Consort's death and the marriages 
 
268 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEJST VICTORIA 
 
 of each of her children. One might say that Her Majesty 
 has a passion for having memorials of her domestic joys 
 and sorrows, and she is most punctilious in the observance 
 of anniversaries. She keeps her own birthday, and has a 
 birthday cake like other people, and is keenly appreciative of 
 the presents which are sent to her by every member of her 
 family, even to the youngest branches. The Prince Consort's 
 birthday is also observed, and his health drunk in silence. 
 
 Since her great bereavement her mind has naturally dwelt 
 much on death observances, and she has herself drawn up a 
 complete code of directions for the arrangement of royal 
 funerals and layings out. Different shrouds are directed to 
 be used for the male and female members of the family, 
 also for the married and unmarried ; and female members 
 of the royal family abroad are to be represented by one 
 of their own sex. When the Duchess of Cambridge died 
 in 1889, the Queen insisted that the funeral should be in 
 semi-State, although the aged Duchess had herself desired 
 to be buried quite privately. She was one of the few left 
 who had known the Queen in the heyday of her youth and 
 had really loved and cared for her, and Her Majesty was 
 determined that her much-revered aunt should be buried 
 with the observances due to her high birth as well as to 
 her excellent character. The apartments used by deceased 
 royalties in the Queen's palaces and houses are kept locked 
 up. Those of Princess Charlotte at Claremont have been 
 preserved as she left them for more than seventy years. 
 Prince Albert's private rooms at Windsor, Osborne, and 
 Balmoral, and the Duchess of Kent's at Frogmore, also 
 remain undisturbed, and the Queen has testified her special 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 269 
 
 CAIRNS AND OTHER MEMORIALS. 
 
 esteem for John Brown by directing that the rooms which he 
 used at Windsor Castle are to be kept sacred to his memory. 
 Her Majesty has a great objection to embalming, and has 
 prohibited it with regard to royal persons, unless the circum- 
 stances are very exceptional. After the sad death of the 
 
270 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Prince Imperial at the hands of the Zulus, and the im- 
 possibility there was of preserving his body for the Empress 
 to take a last look at it, the Queen so far relaxed her regu- 
 lations as to permit the various accessories for embalming 
 being taken out when one of the royal family undertook 
 foreign service. The wisdom of this arrangement has been 
 sadly seen in the case of Prince Henry of Battenberg. 
 
 Her Majesty is a little behind the spirit of the times 
 in regard to regulations for mourning. She advocates 
 absolute retirement for a time in the case of bereaved 
 people, and the most lugubrious signs of outward mourning. 
 It would seem, also, that she does not favour the re-marriage 
 of widows, judging from the significant fact that not one 
 of the royal widows, be she young or be she middle-aged, 
 has been provided with a second husband. In the case 
 of widowers Her Majesty's strictures are not so severe. 
 
 She has instituted several changes with regard to royal 
 weddings. She herself set the example of being married 
 in the morning, royal marriages having formerly been 
 celebrated in an evening. It was not customary in former 
 reigns for royalties to retire for a honeymoon ; His Majesty 
 King George III. remained at St. James's and held levees 
 immediately after his marriage. The Queen and Prince 
 Albert had a brief honeymoon of two days at Windsor ; 
 then the Duchess of Kent and all the Court came flocking 
 down to escort the royal pair back to a round of functions 
 and festivities in London. Even that very young bride 
 the Princess Royal had, like her mother, only two days 
 of absolute retirement. Since that the royal honeymoons 
 have been gradually increasing in length, and the latest 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 271 
 
 THE QUEEN SKETCHING IN THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 bride, Princess Maud, has had a whole week of seclusion, 
 and then it was only broken in upon by a visit from her 
 mother and sister. The custom of brides mingling myrtle 
 with their orange blossoms is, as we all know, a fashion 
 introduced by the Queen. 
 
 In matters of Court etiquette Her Majesty is punctilious 
 to a degree, and her memory for pedigrees, as for faces, is 
 unrivalled. A story is told by a Court lady that a question 
 arose at the royal table between herself and Lord Beaconsfield 
 as to the genealogy of some obscure Italian duke who had 
 suddenly come into notice. No one could tell who he was. 
 " There is one person who could give the information," said 
 
2 ; 2 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 Lord Beaccnsfield, " and that is the Queen." He took the 
 
 first opportunity of asking the question. " The Duca di ? " 
 
 replied Her Majesty. "Oh yes, I remember perfectly," and 
 she forthwith gave a full history of his family. Prime 
 Ministers of modern times have sometimes found the Queen's 
 remarkable memory a little embarrassing, as in discussion on 
 political questions she will confront them with the views of 
 Peel or Palmerston, or with the advice given her by Lord 
 Melbourne in the first year of her reign ; and it is reported that 
 Lord Salisbury was once driven to delicately hint that there 
 was a difference between the state of affairs in '^7 and 'Sy. 
 
 Her Majesty has always been very strict with regard to 
 regulations for Court dress. All ladies, of whatever age, are 
 required to appear in bodices with low necks and short sleeves. 
 Plumes must always be worn standing erect from the back of 
 the head ; no modification is permitted. When a lady who 
 formerly reigned as a society beauty and is now a theatrical star 
 was to be presented, she arranged her Court head-dress in quite 
 an artistic manner, pinning down the feathers upon her lovely 
 hair in a most becoming manner. All went well until she 
 passed before the Court functionary preparatory to making 
 the entree ; then she was ordered to remove the pins, as no 
 lady was permitted to enter the Presence except with her 
 plumes erect. 
 
 It had always been the practice to forbid the attendance 
 at drawing-rooms of ladies divorced, even though it was for no 
 fault of their own ; but the Queen, with her admirable sense of 
 justice, came to the conclusion that this was scarcely fair, and 
 decided that a lady of blameless life ought not to be excluded 
 from Court by reason of her husband's misdeeds. The matter 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 273 
 
 OLD CKATHIE CHUKCH. 
 
 was brought before the Cabinet some years ago, but allowed to 
 drop without its being decided. The question was revived in 
 1889, and it was arranged that ladies debarred by divorce may 
 make special application for admission to Court to the Queen 
 herself, who decides on the merit of each case, after having had 
 the report of the trial laid before her. There is, I believe, a 
 record of one lady who had obtained divorces from two 
 husbands in succession gaining the Queen's permission to be 
 presented on her third marriage. 
 
 18 
 
274 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 To one so fond of outdoor life and the beauties of nature as 
 Her Majesty, flowers are naturally a special delight, and she 
 prefers to see them growing rather than when used for indoor 
 decoration. In the grounds at Osborne there is a flower-bed 
 specially planted for the Queen's pleasure with pinks and 
 carnations, as she is very fond of these old-fashioned flowers, 
 and frequently takes tea on a spot near to the bed. During her 
 drives from Osborne to Newport she had noticed the lovely 
 gardens and houses belonging to Mr. Nunn, the famous manu- 
 facturer of the lace called by his name, and one day expressed a 
 wish to see over them. Ever afterwards a basket of Mr. Nunn's 
 choicest blooms was sent daily to the Queen when she was at 
 Osborne, and the gift gave her the greatest pleasure. At the 
 time of the Jubilee a loyal gentleman suggested the wearing of 
 the Queen's favourite flower as a badge, and wrote to Sir Henry 
 Ponsonby to inquire what it was. Her Majesty replied that in 
 summer she perferred the rose to any other flower. Probably it 
 is the sweet and delicate odour of the national flower as well as 
 its beauty which pleases the Queen, as she greatly dislikes 
 strong perfumes. 
 
 Speaking of scents, one is reminded that Her Majesty had 
 such a dislike to the smell of cigars and tobacco that smoking 
 was for many years prohibited in Windsor Castle, a restriction 
 in which the Prince Consort fully concurred. Cards requesting 
 that gentlemen would not smoke were neatly framed and hung 
 in the rooms of the lords-in-waiting and equerries of the royal 
 suite, and the servants and workpeople were forbidden to smoke 
 inside the Castle. No such rigid restriction exists to-day, which 
 is attributed to the influence of John Brown, who liked his pipe, 
 and, being as canny as he was faithful, persuaded the Queen 
 
PERSONAL TASTES AND CHARACTERISTICS 275 
 
 that a little tobacco smoke was " no a bad thing to have about 
 a hoose." 
 
 Previous to the death of the Prince Consort the Queen was 
 devoted to music, and spent a great deal of time both in singing 
 and playing. They were both most anxious to see music more 
 universal in the homes of the people, and strongly advocated 
 its being taught in the public schools — a fact which may be 
 interesting to those engaged in controversy to-day regarding 
 the use of pianos in the board schools. Since the death of the 
 Prince she has scarcely played at all, but she remains to the 
 present time one of the kindest patrons of singers and musicians, 
 who count a command to perform before the Queen a personal 
 pleasure, as she is so appreciative, and will talk with them of 
 the great " stars " whom she has listened to in the days gone by 
 Sketching was the Queen's favourite recreation as a child, and 
 so it remains to-day. She is particularly proud of her art 
 collection at Windsor, and, when there, docs not let many weeks 
 go by without taking a look round the Royal Library, which 
 contains one of the finest collections of engravings and speci- 
 mens of old masters, both English and foreign. But her 
 unrivalled collection of miniatures is her particular pride, and 
 she boasts sometimes that she had but one rival in the 
 country, and that was his Scottish majesty, the late Duke 
 of Buccleuch. 
 
 The Queen will live in history as the most enlightened and 
 consistent of constitutional monarchs, as well as being revered 
 as a great and noble woman. Those who have been privileged 
 to enjoy her friendship all speak of the beautiful blending of 
 naivett? and kindness with great personal dignity which render 
 her so charming in private life. As a ruler she is wise, judicious 
 
276 THE PERSONAL LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
 and sagacious, and above everything distinguished by a high 
 sense of duty. Reverence deep and lasting lives for her in 
 the hearts of the people, and in concluding this story of her 
 personal life one can but echo those beautiful lines of Mrs. 
 Crosland : 
 
 "Victoria! writ large in lines of light, 
 
 The name through coming ages will remain 
 In foremost rank with those great few that blight 
 Ne'er tarnished, shining on without a stain." 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, cS 3 Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 
THE PERSONAL LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 
 
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 "A very delightful book. The book should be read straight through, and then picked up at 
 intervals and opened anywhere. Wherever it is opened it will please."— Speaker. 
 
 AULD LICHT IDYLLS. Tenth Edition. Crown 8vo, buck- 
 ram, gilt top, 6s. 
 
 "Racy, humorous, and altogether delightful."— Truth. 
 
 " At once the most successful, the most truly literary, and the most realistic attempt that 
 has bee-n made for years— if not for generations— to reproduce humble Scottish life."— 
 Spectator. 
 
 An Edition de Luxe of 
 
 AULD LICHT IDYLLS. With Eighteen Etchings by William 
 Hole, R.S.A. Handsomely printed by Messrs. R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh, on 
 English hand-made paper. Large post 4to, 31s. 6d. 
 
 *„.* A few Copies at £3 3s., signed by Author and Artist, with Etchings 
 printed on Japanese Paper. 
 
 WHEN A MAN'S SINGLE. A Tale of Literary Life. 
 
 Ninth Edition. Crown 8vo, buckram, gilt top, 6s. 
 
 "The best one volume novel of the year."— Daily News. 
 
 " Mr. Barrie is a man with a style. From one end to the other the story is bright, 
 cheerful, amusing."— Saturday Review. 
 
 AN EDINBURGH REVIEW. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 
 Sewed, is.; cloth, is. 6d. 
 
 " The whole of these sketches are capital reading, and some of them, like that of Lord 
 Rosebery, are interspersed with much racy anecdote." — Public Opinion. 
 
 "There is not a dull page in his book, which is packed full of good stories."— A berdeen 
 Journal. 
 
 " Gavin Ogilvy has an admirable journalistic style, he is a keen observer of men and things, 
 writes crisply and vigorously, and relates personal observations and judgments. Very 
 readable and entertaining." — Bristol Mercury. 
 
 London: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row. 
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