Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz (5 page)

Theatricals and
tableaux vivants
were regularly staged by Queen Victoria’s children, partly for the amusement of their parents, household and invited guests, and partly as an extension of their lessons, particularly in French and German. Prince Albert generally supervised their efforts, while the French governess Madame Rolande took an active role as
metteur-en-scène
. As the eldest child Vicky was always given one of the leading parts. One of their favourite plays was Racine’s
Athalie
, in which she was cast as the murderous Queen, and their first performance was staged at Windsor on 10 February 1852, the Queen and Albert’s twelfth wedding anniversary. Vicky, her mother wrote, ‘looked very well and spoke and acted her long and difficult part . . . really admirably, with immense expression and dignity and with the true French emphasis’.
³⁴
It was such a success that the children staged three more performances in January 1853 with Vicky ‘very grand and tragic’ in her role, especially at ‘the scene of fury, where she rushes out in a rage, extremely well’ at the dress rehearsal and first performance. However the last night was not such a success, with ‘divers mishaps’, especially when she ‘entirely forgot her part.’
³⁵

By this time there was a threat to the Anglo-Prussian unity so carefully nurtured by both royal families. It had long been a maxim of European diplomacy that peace would be maintained throughout Europe as long as the four powers, England, France, Austria and Prussia, were broadly united in their foreign policy. But when England and France fell out with Russia over the Turkish question and the Crimean war broke out in March 1854, Prussia stood aloof. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were extremely disappointed, and the Queen sent Augusta a copy of the formal declaration, a gesture which the Prince of Prussia found rather tactless as he thought it should have been sent to him, adding that ‘We had hoped to proceed hand in hand’.
³⁶
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, inclined to bow towards the demands and views of his more forceful brotherin-law, Tsar Nicholas of Russia, considered the Anglo-French alliance ‘shameful’, and in April he concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with Austria. Henceforth Prussia’s policy during the conflict was to be one of ‘ostentatious neutrality’.
³⁷
Wilhelm supported the Anglo-French alliance, believing that if Prussia was to side with both nations, Russia would be more amenable to reason.
³⁸
He protested to his brother that ministers and ambassadors sympathetic to both powers were being ostracized and dismissed without consultation, and for his pains he was temporarily relieved of his duties at Berlin and banished to Koblenz.

Queen Victoria had faith that Anglo-Prussian relations would soon mend, while Albert knew that the ‘Prussian marriage’ had to be kept in mind. Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, they believed, would soon ascend the throne, and therefore be in an excellent position to help save the continent of Europe from the twin evils of French intrigue and Russian reaction. Moreover this handsome, intelligent young man would surely be sought by some other European state’s unmarried princesses if they delayed too long.

In the spring of 1855 Napoleon III and Eugenie, Emperor and Empress of the French, came to Windsor for a state visit, largely as a demonstration of solidarity between both countries during the Crimean war. Vicky was very shy of the Emperor on their first meeting, and the Queen noted in her journal, the fourteen-year-old girl ‘with very alarmed eyes making very low curtsies’.
³⁹
At a ball later that week she ‘danced with the Emperor, which frightened her very much’,
⁴⁰
but the Empress went out of her way to make friends with her and soon put her at her ease.

A reciprocal visit was paid to Paris four months later, and Vicky and Bertie Prince of Wales, her eldest brother, were allowed to accompany their parents to the Palace of St Cloud. For Vicky it was the height of luxury; at home she had to share a bedroom with her sister Alice, but for a few days in Paris she had her own, amidst pictures and furniture that were the epitome of elegance and sophistication. She was dressed in style as well, for the Emperor knew that beside Empress Eugenie the dowdy Queen and her daughter might make a poor impression. Having found out that the Princess Royal had a lifesize doll, he obtained the measurements and had a number of dresses made and sent to London, addressed to Her Royal Highness’s doll. The subterfuge was seen through and gratefully accepted, and Vicky easily outshone her mother on their arrival in the French capital.

At first the Queen was reluctant to let her attend the great ball in the Palace des Tuileries, but at the Empress’s request the children were allowed to join their hosts at supper. Vicky was equally flattered and embarrassed when the Emperor walked up to her after the meal, bowed, and asked her for a dance. Blushing deeply, she allowed him to escort her through the Salle des Glaces. It was a rite of passage which she would always remember with pleasure if a touch of embarrassment as well.

She was spared a meeting with the Prussian ambassador to Paris, Otto von Bismarck, who was presented to her parents. Queen Victoria greeted him with civility if coldness, while Prince Albert, Bismarck later recalled, gave him the impression of ‘a certain illdisposed curiosity’ when they spoke together. It was the only time both men, who figured so strongly in the ultimate destiny of Vicky’s life, ever came face to face. Albert was well aware of the ambassador’s pro-Russian stance and anti-western Europe influence on the indecisive King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, and must have found it hard to conceal his displeasure.

As Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their two eldest children returned from Paris to Osborne in the last days of August 1855, the parents reflected on how their eldest child was maturing fast. As they made plans for their journey north to Balmoral, they also considered the next, and most crucial, stage of her future. Within a month, they knew, she would probably have made the most important decision of her life.

*
The picture unfolds beneath my feet.

TWO

‘Two young, innocent things’

Q
ueen Victoria, Prince Albert and the family arrived at Balmoral on 7 September. A week later a rather nervous Fritz joined them, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, General Helmuth von Moltke. The latter was impressed at once by the homely atmosphere of the British court. It was hard to believe, he wrote to his wife, that the woman whom he called the most powerful monarch in the world could leave court life so much behind; ‘it is just plain family life here. . . . Nobody would guess that the Court of one of the most powerful estates resides here, and that from these mountains the fate of the world is decided.’ When introduced to the Queen, her husband, and their ladies and gentlemen in attendance, he could ‘well imagine that life here, proper family life, must be exceedingly agreeable and I regret having to depart tomorrow.’
¹

To Fritz, the change in the Princess Royal since their first meeting was nothing short of amazing. At the age of fourteen, it was evident that Vicky was maturing into a beautiful woman. The combination of her childish roundness, awakening beauty, mercifully free of her mother’s plain looks at the same age, and unforced charm was irresistible. She and Fritz sat next to each other at dinner that first evening, chatting in French and German. It was impossible for her to keep her eyes off this handsome young suitor, still the same gentle unaffected friend she remembered from the first time. Albert and the Queen had already agreed that, had the two young people not given any sign of being attracted to each other, they would do nothing to force the issue. They tried not to look too interested, but they were secretly overjoyed that matters appeared to be turning out as planned.

The next day Albert took Fritz out deer-stalking, got soaked to the skin, and took to his bed with an attack of rheumatism. Fritz was still tense at the thought of what was expected of him, but Vicky had a feeling that he was becoming besotted with her. When they found themselves momentarily alone, she took his hand and squeezed it, and he needed no further signals. After a sleepless night, following breakfast the next day he plucked up courage to ask the Queen and Albert for a quiet word; in the Queen’s words, he wanted ‘
to belong to our
Family; that this had long been his wish, that he had the entire concurrence and
approval
not only of his parents but of the King – and that finding Vicky
so allierliebst
, he could delay
no longer
in making this proposal’.
²

She agreed at once, on the understanding that Vicky was to know nothing about it until after her confirmation at Easter the next year; he ought to attend the ceremony if possible and propose immediately afterwards. In strict confidence Albert notified the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, and his Foreign Secretary, Lord Clarendon. He also wrote to Baron Stockmar that Fritz had ‘laid his proposal before us with the permission of his parents, and of the King; we accepted it for ourselves, but requested him to hold it in suspense as regards the other party till after her Confirmation.’ It was expected that he would not propose until the following spring, maybe on a visit to Britain with his parents and sister, and the ‘seventeenth birthday is to have elapsed before the actual marriage is thought of’.
³

Yet having taken the first step along the road to betrothal Fritz was unable to wait any longer, and on 25 September he asked the Queen for permission to give Vicky a bracelet. The Queen granted it, adding with a smile that ‘something had to be told her and he had better tell her himself’.
⁴
In a matter-of fact manner which betrayed nothing of her true emotions, she noted in her journal that day that ‘we were uncertain, on account of her extreme youth, whether he should speak to her himself, or wait till he came back again. However, we felt it was better he should do so’.
⁵

Four days later the family went for a ride up the heather-covered slopes of Craig-na-Ban. Fritz and Vicky lagged behind and he picked her a sprig of white heather, an emblem of good luck, telling her that he hoped she would come to stay with him in Prussia, always. When they reached the carriage where everyone else was waiting, he gave the Queen a meaningful nod to imply that all was well. Back at the castle an agitated, half-remorseful Vicky threw herself into her parents’ arms, weeping tears of joy as she told them everything.

Two days later, amid more tears and affectionate embraces from all, Fritz returned to Prussia. Vicky admitted to her parents that she had never been so happy as she was at the moment when he gave her that first kiss. Albert wrote to Fritz that ‘From the moment you declared your love and embraced her, the child in her vanished.’
⁶

‘The description of the rapid development of my dear Vicky’s character, in consequence of our mutual declaration, is an extremely joyful piece of news for me’, Fritz wrote the next week to Albert. ‘I can vividly imagine how the dear child has suddenly moved closer to her parents, and on both sides this development is a very beneficial, amazing one; but it would not be easy for me to say any more, for because I just feel so drawn towards her and discovered so much depth of mind and feeling in her, I really cannot put into words what it was that so specially attracted me.’
⁷

Early next month
The Times
remarked acidly on Prince Friedrich Wilhelm’s recent arrival at Balmoral, for the sole purpose of ‘improving his acquaintance with the Princess Royal’. Emphasizing King Frederick William’s tacit pro-Russian attitude during the Crimean war at what had been a critical juncture, it concluded that an alliance with Prussia would be tantamount to one with Russia. If the prince was called up to join the Russian army, his wife would be placed in a situation where loyalty to her husband would be treason to her country; and if Prussia lapsed into the status of a petty power, she would be sent back to England as an exile. ‘For our part, we wish for the daughter of our Royal House some better fate.’
⁸
The criticisms deeply wounded Albert who knew that there was some truth in this view, despite his snort of derision that the newspaper, ‘our sulky grandmother [was] deeply offended that its permission was not first asked’.
⁹
The future, he was sure, belonged to Fritz, who must be destined for a long reign, though he was still only second in line to the throne.

To Augusta, the Queen wrote enthusiastically that, ‘now that the bond is tied, nothing can really mar [Fritz’s] happiness; he must be fortified by the thought that Vicky truly loves him and that we parents have given them our blessing.’ Vicky, she added, ‘is still half a child and has to develop herself both physically and morally before their marriage takes place in two years’ time’.
¹⁰
As part of this development from childhood to adult status, from that time onwards mother, father and daughter dined together
à trois
in the evenings. ‘We must look upon her already as a woman, the child is gone forever!’
¹¹
the Queen wrote in her journal on her daughter’s fifteenth birthday.

Back at Bonn Fritz called upon Dr Perry, his former tutor, to whom he had already confided his hopes. ‘It was not politics, it was not ambition,’ he told him, ‘it was my heart.’
¹²
There were two reasons for rejoicing in the family home when he returned, as during his absence Louise, now seventeen, had become betrothed to Friedrich, Prince Regent of Baden.

Whatever may have been his initial doubts about an Anglo-Prussian marriage alliance, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV defended it without hesitation. When Gerlach showed him a copy of the right-wing
Kölnische Zeitung
and complained of the absurd reports that his nephew had gone to England merely to propose to Queen Victoria’s daughter, the monarch admitted they were true. Though she had never really liked her brother-in-law, Augusta was keen to give credit where it was due, and thanked the King for his ready support of a family engagement which he had known would not be popular.