Queen Victoria (9 page)

It has been recorded, that after this tiring ceremony, the Queen gave a banquet at the Palace to a hundred guests; but this is hardly accurate, as no one was at dinner except those in the house, among whom were Her Majesty’s half-brother and sister, and her future father-in-law, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. The crowd was too great, indeed, for anyone to have come, had they been invited. The Ministers gave official State dinners, and the Duke of Wellington a grand ball, to which 2,000 guests were invited; and a fair was held in Hyde Park, which lasted four days; the theatres were thrown open, and the whole of London was illuminated; the conduct of the crowds being excellent.

Of the routine of the Court after its return to Windsor in this year, Greville gives a full account: - “The life which the Queen leads is this: She gets up soon after eight o’clock, breakfasts in her own room, and is employed the whole morning in transacting business; she reads all the dispatches, and has every matter of interest and importance in every department laid before her. At eleven or twelve Melbourne comes to her, and stays an hour, more or less, according to the business he may have to transact. At two she rides with a large suite (and she likes to have it numerous); Melbourne always rides on her left hand, and the equerry-in-waiting generally on her right; after riding she amuses herself for the rest of the afternoon with music and singing, playing, romping with children, if there are any in the Castle (and she is so fond of them that she generally contrives to have some there), or in any other way she fancies. The hour of dinner is nominally halfpast seven o’clock, soon after which time the guests assemble; but she seldom appears till near eight. When the guests are all assembled, the Queen comes in, preceded by the gentlemen of her household, and followed by the Duchess of Kent and all her ladies. She remains at table the usual time, but does not suffer the men to sit long after her, and we were summoned to coffee in less than a quarter of an hour. In the drawingroom she never sits down till the men make their appearance. Coffee is then served to them in the adjoining room, and then they go into the drawingroom, when she goes round and says a few words to each. When this little ceremony is over, the Duchess of Kent’s whist table is arranged. At about halfpast eleven Her Majesty goes to bed. This is the whole history of her day; she orders and regulates every detail herself; she knows where everybody is lodged in the Castle, settles about the riding or driving, and enters into every particular with minute attention.” This regularity in allotment of time, and careful attention to every point of detail, both in her own household and the discharge of public duty, has been one of the marked characteristics of Her Majesty’s life throughout the whole of her long reign. Even in its earliest days, she would refuse to sign a document declared to be of paramount importance without having mastered its contents; but the story, which has gained extensive currency, that once she replied to Lord Melbourne, who was urging the
expediency
of a measure, “I have been taught to judge between right and wrong, but expediency is a word I neither wish to hear nor to understand,” is quite a myth. The last matter of importance before the great change in her life, to be told in the next chapter, was the fall and restoration of the Melbourne administration, when, on the question of the retirement with the Government of the Ladies of the Household, the firmness of the young Queen resulted in her retaining them in her service, and the Ministry remained practically unchanged.

On the 26th of August, 1819, almost exactly three months after the birth of the Princess Victoria of Kent, was born the second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and of his wife, Louise, daughter of Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Alten-burg. He was born at Rosenau, a favourite summer residence of his father, and received the names of Francis Albert Charles Augustus Emmanuel. At his baptism an address was pronounced by the Superintendent Genzler, who had officiated the year before at the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Kent at Coburg. In it occur two passages which are singularly prophetic of the after life of the infant Prince. “The good wishes,” said the preacher, “with which we welcome this infant as a Christian, as one destined to be great on earth, and as a future heir to everlasting life, are the more earnest when we consider the high position in life in which he may one day be placed, and the sphere of action to which the will of God may call him, in order to contribute more or less to the promotion of truth and virtue, and to the extension of the Kingdom of God… The thoughts and supplications of the loving mother are; that her beloved son may one day enter into the Kingdom of God, as pure and innocent after the trials of this life as he is at this moment (the joy and hope of his parents) received into the Communion of this Christian Church, whose vocation it is to bring up and form upon earth a God-fearing race.” These words, spoken at his baptism, could not have been more descriptive of the Prince had they been used after his premature death.

The child received his first name of Francis from the Emperor of Austria. But he was always called by his second name, Albert, given him after a Duke of Saxe Teschen, an ancestor whose branch of the family subsequently became extinct. Duke Ernest, the father of Prince Albert, succeeded his father, Francis Anthony of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, in 1806, and afterwards, in 1826, by a redivision of the family titles and estates, became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Duke’s second brother, Ferdinand George, married the heiress of the Prince of Kohary, in Hungary, and their son became King Consort of Portugal by his marriage with Queen Donna Maria II of that kingdom. The third brother was Leopold, King of the Belgians. Of the four daughters of Duke Francis, mention has been made in a preceding chapter.

As has been before stated, the union of the Prince with his cousin Victoria was the cherished hope of their common grandmother, who died when her grandchildren were only twelve years old; but their uncle, King Leopold, steadily pursued this plan, afterwards crowned with such conspicuous success. The first meeting of the cousins has already been mentioned, and the strong affection entertained by the Queen for the Prince is shown by her letter to her uncle at the close of the visit to Kensington. The probability of the union was no secret at the time, though King William IV preferred the idea of an alliance with Prince Alexander of the Netherlands. But after the Queen’s accession to the throne, rumours of her contemplated marriage with Prince Albert became general. It was in order to quiet these reports that, in the autumn of 1837, by the advice of the King of the Belgians, the Prince, with his brother Prince Ernest, went for a tour in Switzerland.

The Queen, alluding in 1864 to this tour, relates that the Prince sent her a small book of sketches. “The whole of these were placed in a small album, with the dates at which each place was visited in the Prince’s handwriting; and this album the Queen now considers one of her greatest treasures, and never goes anywhere without it. Nothing had at this time passed between the Queen and the Prince; but this gift shows that the latter, in the midst of his travels, often thought of his young cousin.”

In the early part of the next year, the Prince paid a visit to his uncle Leopold at Brussels, when the King spoke to him fully about his future prospects. The King had already mentioned to the Queen the idea of the marriage, and the proposal must have been favourably entertained, for, in writing to Baron Stockmar, he alludes to the manner in which Prince Albert had received the communication which, of course with the Queen’s consent, he had made to him. In his letters he expresses the very high opinion which he had formed of his nephew’s character. “He looks at the question from its most elevated and honourable point of view; he considers that troubles are inseparable from all human positions, and that, therefore, if one must be subject to plagues and annoyances, it is better to be so for some great or worthy object, than for trifles and miseries. I have told him that his great youth would make it necessary to postpone the marriage for a few years.”

The interval of postponement was not long. On the 8th of October, 1839, the Princes Ernest and Albert left Brussels on the expedition which decided the fate of the younger brother. At Windsor, two days later, they were most cordially and affectionately received by the Queen. Four days were spent in the usual manner, riding in the afternoon with dinner parties and sometimes dances in the evening, and on the 14th the Queen, in an interview with Lord Melbourne, told him that she had made up her mind to the marriage. He expressed great satisfaction at the decision, and said to her, as Her Majesty records in her Journal, “‘I think it will be very well received; for I hear that there is an anxiety now that it should be, and I am very glad of it;’ adding, in quite a paternal tone, ‘You will be much more comfortable; for a woman cannot stand alone for any time, in whatever position she may be.’” Can we wonder that the Queen, recalling these circumstances, should exclaim, “Alas! alas! the poor Queen now stands in that painful position!” An intimation was conveyed to the Prince that the Queen wished to speak to him next day, and, accordingly, soon after noon he obeyed the summons to her room, where he found her alone. After a few moments’ conversation the Queen told him why she had sent for him.

His old friend, Baron Stockmar, is thus informed by the Prince of his engagement, “I write to you on one of the happiest days of my life to give you the most welcome news possible.” “Victoria is so good and kind to me, that I am often puzzled to believe that I should be the object of so much affection. I know the interest you take in my happiness, and therefore pour out my heart to you… More, or more seriously, I cannot write, I am at this moment too much bewildered to do so -

‘‘Heaven opens on the ravish’d eye,

The heart is all entranced in bliss.’”

These lines are thus translated from Schiller’s
Song
of
the
Bell
, by Sir Theodore Martin, in his Life of the Prince Consort, where more correspondence between the different members of the family, at this interesting time, is given at length.

It had been originally intended to communicate the approaching event to Parliament, when it assembled, in the ordinary course, at the beginning of the coming year. This intention was, however, subsequently abandoned. Writing to the King of the Belgians on the 29th of October, 1839, the Queen says: “Before I proceed further, I wish just to mention one or two alterations in the plan of announcing the event. As Parliament has nothing whatever to say respecting the marriage - can neither approve nor disapprove it (I mean in a manner which might affect it) - it is now proposed that, as soon as my cousins are gone (which they now intend to do on the 14th of November, as time presses), I should assemble all the Privy Council, and announce my intention to them.”

Writing from Windsor at this time to Baron Stockmar, Prince Albert strikes, as it were, the keynote of his future career: “I have laid to heart your friendly and kind-hearted advice as to the true foundation on which my future happiness must rest, and it agrees entirely with the principles of action which I had already privately framed for myself. An individuality, a character, which shall win the respect, the love, and the confidence of the Queen and of the nation, must be the groundwork of my position. This individuality gives security for the disposition which prompts the actions; and even should mistakes occur, they will be more easily pardoned on account of that personal character; while even the most noble and beautiful undertakings fail in procuring support to a man who is not capable of inspiring that confidence. If, therefore, I prove a ‘noble’ Prince, in the true sense of the word, as you call upon me to be, wise and prudent conduct will become easier to me, and its results more rich in blessings. I will not let my courage fail. With firm resolution and true zeal on my part, I cannot fail to continue ‘noble, manly, and princely’ in all things. In what I may do, good advice is the first thing necessary; and that you can give better than anyone, if you can only make up your mind to sacrifice your time to me for the first year of my existence here.”

In the same strain of thought, the devotion of all his own individual powers for the good and happiness of millions, he writes to his stepmother: “With the exception of my relations towards her (the Queen), my future position will have its dark sides, and the sky will not always be blue and unclouded. But life has its thorns in every position, and the consciousness of having used one’s powers and endeavours for an object so great as that of promoting the good of so many, will surely be sufficient to support me.”

Of the character of the Prince at this time, perhaps the best analysis is to be found in a letter addressed by Baron Stockmar to the Baroness Lehzen. It was important to give a proper estimate of him to the members of the Royal Household, and to show that, though so young, he was deserving of their admiration and respect. The letter is dated 15th of December, 1839. “.With sincere pleasure I assure you the more I see of the Prince the better I esteem and love him. His intellect is so sound and clear, his nature so unspoiled, so childlike, so predisposed to goodness as well as truth, that only two external elements will be required to make of him a truly distinguished Prince. The first of these will be opportunity to acquire a proper knowledge of men and of the world; the second will be intercourse with Englishmen of experience, culture, and integrity, by whom he may be made thoroughly conversant with their Nation and Constitution… As regards his future relation to the Queen, I have a confident hope that they will make each other happy by mutual love, confidence, and esteem. As I have known the Queen, she was always quick and acute in her perceptions, straightforward moreover, of singular purity of heart, without a trace of vanity or pretension. She will consequently do full justice to the Prince’s hand and heart; and if this be so, and the Prince be really loved by the Queen, and recognised for what he is, then his position will be right in the main, especially if he manage at the same time to secure the goodwill of the Nation. Of course he will have storms to encounter, and disagreeables, like other people, especially those of exalted rank. But if he really possesses the love of the Queen and the respect of the Nation, I will answer for it that after every storm he will come safely into port. You will therefore have my entire approval, if you think the best course is to leave him to his clear head, his sound feeling and excellent disposition.”