Queen Victoria (3 page)

This friendship with the Duchess of Clarence was real and lasting. It helped materially to soften the sorrows of the early days of the Duchess’s widowhood, when, for the sake of her child, she resolved to remain permanently in the land of her adoption. After she lost her second Princess, the future Queen Adelaide wrote to the Duchess of Kent: “My children are dead; but yours lives, and she is mine too,” and throughout the remainder of her life she treated her niece with an affection which was truly maternal. In addition to her other troubles, the royal widow was left in very straitened circumstances, and though for some time helped by the generosity of her brother, it was many years before any adequate provision was made for her maintenance.

Particular attention has been drawn in the previous chapter to the female members of the ancestry of the Queen in the male line. Here it is equally important to mention the great influence which the Queen’s grandmother in the female line had upon her character and her life. She was, as is mentioned above, a Princess of the ancient house of Reuss-Ebersdorf. Her mother was of the house of Erbach-Schoenberg, which family has again, in recent years, been allied to the royal family of Great Britain by the marriage of the Count of Erbach-Schoenberg with the sister of the lamented Prince Henry of Battenberg. The Duchess of Coburg is described by her third and favourite son, the King of the Belgians, as being in every way “a most distinguished person,” and the Queen, speaking of her many years later, thus records her recollections: “The Queen remembers her dear grandmother perfectly well. She was a most remarkable woman, with a most powerful, energetic, almost masculine mind, accompanied with great tenderness of heart and extreme love for nature. The Prince (Consort) told the Queen that she had wished earnestly that he should marry the Queen, and as she died when her grandchildren (the Prince and Queen) were only twelve years old, she could have little guessed what a blessing she was preparing, not only for this country but for the world at large. She was adored by her children, particularly by her sons; King Leopold being her great favourite. She had fine and most expressive blue eyes, with the marked features and long nose inherited by most of her children and grandchildren.” This note by the Queen, with several letters of this gifted lady, is printed in General Grey’s “Early Years of the Prince Consort.” The Dowager Duchess of Coburg died in 1831. The Queen believes that whatever powers of mind and talents she may possess are principally inherited from her maternal grandmother, of whom a characteristic portrait, from a miniature, is given opposite page 14.

The sisters of the Duchess of Kent, and aunts to the Queen, were Sophia, Antoinette, and Julie. Sophia, the eldest, after refusing many eligible proposals of marriage from suitors of her own rank, married in 1804 Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, whose acquaintance she had made when visiting her sister, Antoinette, at Fantaisie, near Baireuth, at that time the resort of many Bavarian families, as well as of French emigrants. The second daughter of the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, Antoinette, married in 1798 Duke Alexander of Wurtemberg, whose sister, the Empress of Russia, was mother to the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas. The Duke Alexander held a very influential position in that country, where he resided many years. His wife is described by her brother, King

Leopold, as clever, amiable, and possessed of a great
esprit
de
conduite
. They had two sons, both of whom served with distinction in the Russian Army; the elder married Princess Marie of Orleans, daughter of Louis Philippe, and their son, Duke Philip, is heir-presumptive to the throne of Wurtemberg. The third sister, Julie, was married at fifteen to the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia. The marriage was not happy, and in 1802 she left Russia, fixing her residence finally at Elfenau, near Berne in Switzerland, where she was visited in 1837 by her nephew, Prince Albert, a visit repeated on more than one occasion afterwards.

Conformably with the custom of the Church of England, the infant daughter of the Duke and Duchess had, as soon as possible after her birth, been baptised at Kensington Palace; the rite being administered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was assisted by the Bishop of London. The Prince Regent stood as sponsor, with the Duke of York who represented the Emperor of Russia. The godmothers were the Duchess Dowager of Coburg, the maternal grandmother of the Princess, represented by the Duchess of Gloucester; and the Queen of Wurtemberg, Princess Royal of England, who was represented by her sister, the Princess Augusta. The names given were Alexandrina Victoria, the first after the Emperor of Russia, the second after her mother. For a short time the pet name “Drina” was used, but later it was superseded by the universally honoured name of Victoria. One of the Queen’s earliest signatures, in capital letters and in pencil, written by her when four years old, and using this name only, is in the British Museum.

Immediately after her father’s death she was brought back, with her widowed mother, by Prince Leopold, from Sidmouth to Kensington, which was to be her future home till, by the death of her uncle, William IV, she succeeded to the throne. The Duchess of Kent in after years, in reply to an address of congratulation on the attainment of her majority by her daughter, has thus described the motives of her conduct in her new position: “I pass over the earlier part of my connection with this country. I will merely briefly observe, that my late regretted consort’s circumstances and my duties obliged us to reside in Germany; but the Duke of Kent, at much inconvenience, and I, at great personal risk, returned to England, that our child should be ‘born and bred a Briton.’ In a few months afterwards my infant and myself were awfully deprived of father and husband. 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. I was supported in the execution of my duties by the country. It placed its trust in me, and the Regency Bill gave me its last act of confidence. I have, in times of great difficulty, avoided all connection with any party in the State; but, if I have done so, I have never ceased to impress on my daughter her duties, so as to gain, by her conduct, the respect and affection of the people. This, I have taught her, should be her first earthly duty as a Constitutional Sovereign.” No words could better convey a sense of the principles which guided the mother in the education of her child, and of the manner in which, not always without opposition, she fulfilled the task she had set before herself to perform.

For the first few years of her life at Kensington, then really a suburb - for London itself ended at Tyburn Gate and at Hyde Park Corner - the Duchess watched most carefully over the health and physical development of her daughter. Whenever the weather permitted the Princess was to be seen in the gardens, generally accompanied by her half-sister, the Princess Feodore, and in charge of her nurse, Mrs. Brock, whom she called her “dear, dear Bobby.”

Many stories are related of the manner in which the child would recognise any ladies of the neighbourhood who happened to meet the royal party; but most of these, if they ever had any small foundation in fact, have been overlaid with exaggeration and the most improbable details. One instance of the manner in which what must have been a very trifling incident has grown in the telling, is the story related by an old soldier named Maloney, who claimed the honour of having saved his sovereign’s life in her infancy. The pony drawing the chair in which the Princess took her morning ride, frightened by a dog, swerved, and overturned the chair on the edge of the pathway. The child would have fallen under the vehicle, when Maloney seized her in her fall, and was able to restore her unhurt to the lady attendant. The following day he received from the Duchess her thanks, with a guinea. The Queen has no recollection of this incident, and is sure she never was upset, or in any danger of being thrown out. In 1878 the circumstance was brought up again, and some assistance was given to the old man, who was in distress, though no proof of his claim could be discovered. The Queen’s earliest recollection is that of crawling on the floor on an old yellow carpet at Kensington Palace, and playing with the badge of the Garter belonging to Bishop Fisher, who, as Bishop of Salisbury, was then Chancellor of the Order, and, having been tutor to her father, took a deep and affectionate interest in the welfare of the Duke’s only child. Mr. Wilberforce, who was then living at Kensington Gore, describes to Hannah More a visit which he paid to the Duchess in July, 1820: “In consequence of a very civil letter from the Duchess of Kent, I waited on her this morning. She received me, with her fine animated child on the floor by her side, with its playthings, of which I soon became one. She was very civil, but as she did not sit down, I did not think it right to stay above a quarter of an hour.”

During these early years, and before a regular course of studies had been attempted, the family life at the Palace was simple and regular. Breakfast was served in summer at eight o’clock, the Princess Victoria having her bread and milk and fruit on a little table by her mother’s side. After breakfast the Princess Feodore studied with her governess, Miss Lehzen, and the Princess Victoria went out for a walk or drive. It has been repeatedly said that at this time she was instructed by her mother; but this is not the case, as the Duchess never gave her daughter any lessons. At two there was a plain dinner, when the Duchess had her luncheon. In the afternoon was the usual walk or drive. At the time of her mother’s dinner the Princess had her supper laid at her side. At nine she was accustomed to retire to her bed, which was placed close to her mother’s.

It has been said that on the Princess’s fourth birthday her uncle, King George, presented her with a splendid gift of a miniature of himself set in diamonds. This is not the fact; at the Royal Lodge in Windsor Park, in 1827, the King presented the Princess with a badge, worn by the Royal Family, which is still preserved. Another tradition belonging to the same period runs that the King issued invitations for a State dinner, and signified his wish that her infant daughter should accompany the Duchess, and that the Princess accordingly was presented to the assembly before the banquet. This took place at Carlton House, but the Princess was present only for a moment to see the King and the Royal Family.

It was not till the Princess had entered her fifth year, that she began to receive any regular instruction. On the recommendation of the Rev. Thomas Russell, Vicar of Kensington, the Rev. George Davys was engaged to give elementary lessons. In this determination not to force her daughter’s mind, the Duchess of Kent acted on the counsel of her mother, who had advised her “not to tease her little puss with learning while she was so young.” The advice was justified by results, for the Princess made rapid progress. In this year, 1824, the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg came over to England to visit her son, Prince Leopold, and the united family spent that autumn at Claremont. Then and for years afterwards, these visits to her loved uncle were some of the brightest remembrances of the Queen, who has written, “These were the happiest days of the Queen’s childhood.” Years afterwards, in 1842, when staying at Claremont with her husband and eldest child, the Queen wrote to her uncle Leopold at Brussels: “This place brings back recollections of the happiest days of my otherwise dull childhood - days when I experienced such kindness from you, dearest uncle; Victoria plays with my old bricks, and I see her running and jumping in the flower garden, as old (though I feel still
little
) Victoria of former days used to do.”

About the same time, Miss Lehzen, the daughter of a Hanoverian clergyman, who had come over to England in charge of the Princess Feodore, was appointed governess to the Princess. She was her constant guide and companion and devotedly attached to her young charge, by whom the feeling was cordially returned. Pier great influence was exercised with tact and judgment, and the bond of union between teacher and pupil was only severed by death. In recognition of her distinguished merit, Miss Lehzen was created a Baroness of Hanover by George IV. After the accession of her pupil to the throne, the Baroness remained with the Queen till her marriage. Two years later, she retired to Germany, and died, much regretted, in 1870.

In 1826, when the Princess was seven years old, she received, for the first time, an invitation from the King to accompany the Duchess of Kent on a visit to him at Windsor. His Majesty was then living in the Royal Lodge in the Park. As there was no accommodation for visitors in the Lodge, the Duchess and the Princess stayed at Cumberland Lodge, close at hand, where they remained for three days. The King was much pleased with his niece, and with the affection she exhibited towards himself. Before she left, he gave her the badge worn by members of the Royal Family and promised an early renewal of her visit to him - a promise afterwards fulfilled. The Princess thus for the first time had the opportunity of seeing the stately castle, which then, after a century’s neglect, was being restored as a fitting abode for the Sovereign, and has for sixty years been her chief home of state.

One day, during her first visit to the Royal Lodge, the King entered the drawing-room, holding his niece by the hand. The band was playing in the adjoining conservatory. “Now, Victoria,” said His Majesty, “the band is in the next room, and shall play any tune you please. What shall it be?” “Oh, Uncle King,” quickly replied the Princess, “I should like ‘God save the King.’” Another time, His Majesty asked her what she had enjoyed most during her stay in Windsor. “The drive I took with you, Uncle King,” was the answer, the King having himself driven her in his pony phaeton, in company with the Duchess of Gloucester.

The Earl of Albemarle, who was in attendance on the Duke of Sussex at Kensington, thus describes in his recollections the appearance of the Princess at this time. “One of my occupations on a morning, while waiting for the Duke, was to watch from the window the movements of a bright, pretty little girl, seven years of age. She was in the habit of watering the plants immediately under the window. It was amusing to see how impartially she divided the contents of the watering-pot between the flowers and her own little feet. Her simple but becoming dress contrasted favourably with the gorgeous apparel now worn by the little damsels of the rising generation - a large straw hat and a suit of white cotton; a coloured
fichu
round the neck was the only ornament she wore.”