The Captive of Kensington Palace (15 page)

‘But, Mamma, suppose I
am
old enough before Uncle William dies.’

‘Victoria, you say the most surprising things.’

‘Is it surprising? People do live longer than is often thought. There was Uncle George. His death was expected long before it came.’

The Duchess looked pained. Victoria was beginning to be too self-assertive. ‘When William dies,’ she insisted, ‘I shall be Regent.’

Victoria felt a little indignant. The idea of the Duchess as Regent was not very pleasant to her. As a daughter she had had to do exactly as Mamma said; how disconcerting if, as Queen, she should find herself in the same dilemma!

But once she was eighteen she would be of age. That day was a long way ahead. Seven years. She secretly hoped that Uncle William would not die before that time.

The Duchess dismissed her. She gave herself the airs of a Regent already.

Victoria wept when she said good-bye to Baroness Späth.

‘Darling Späth. I shall miss you so.’

Poor Späth dabbed at her eyes and embraced the Princess.

‘It breaks my heart to leave you.’

‘But you will be with dearest Feodora,’ said Victoria, because she felt that heartbroken as she was she must at all costs comfort poor Späth.

‘Ah, yes, but my heart will be with you.’

‘You’ll love the little babies. Imagine Feodora with two babies now. I know she loves them dearly; she shows it in her
dear
letters. Little Charles is
such
a handful now and you will be so useful to her.’

‘I daresay she is surrounded by useful people.’

‘But she always had a special feeling for you; besides she will be able to talk to you of me, which I am sure is what she will very much enjoy.’

‘My dearest Princess, make sure that the Baroness Lehzen is not sent away.’

‘Lehzen!’ cried Victoria in horror.

‘It may be that those who decided to be rid of me may wish to see her out of the way, too.’

At the thought of losing Lehzen Victoria felt sick with horror. Dear Späth was bad enough, but the old Baroness was a bit of a fool though a dear one. But Lehzen was as close to Victoria as her own mother – oh much closer than that if the truth must be known. Lehzen was second only to Uncle Leopold.

She said firmly: ‘You may be sure that I should make such a storm that they would not dare send her away.’

Späth took her last farewell and set out on her sad journey, back to her native land, and to try to find some solace for the loss of Victoria in Feodora and her babies.

Uncle Leopold called at Kensington to take his farewell, he said, of his beloved niece.

Victoria had found it hard to believe when she had heard that he was going to leave England. He came to tell her himself that fate had cruelly decided to separate them.

He embraced her and laid his cheek against hers; she was too deeply moved for tears. She looked into his beautiful face with the utmost love and admiration.

‘You see,’ he explained, ‘the people of Belgium have separated from Holland. They need a King; and they believe that no one will fill that role but me.’

‘But it means your living in Belgium, Uncle Leopold!’

‘Alas, exactly so. I could not be the King of a country and not live in it.’

She saw that; she saw too the gleam in Uncle Leopold’s eyes at the prospect of kingship, and she knew at once how much more
suitable
it would be for Uncle Leopold to be a King rather than the Prince Consort of a wife who though she would have been Queen had she lived was long since dead.

Oh yes, she must accept this sorrow. Uncle Leopold could not forgo his crown even for her.

‘I shall always be with you … in spirit,’ he told her. ‘I shall write to you very very often. I have told your mother that I shall be constantly in touch. Your affairs will continue to be those nearest my heart. Nothing … no one could ever supplant you.’

She wept; she embraced him and told him she loved him; then she said good-bye.

‘But it is not good-bye,’ said Uncle Leopold. ‘We are too close, my darling, ever to say good-bye. You will be with me in my thoughts; and I shall follow everything you do.’

‘No,’ said Victoria sturdily, ‘it is not good-bye. It could not be because if it were I would be too unhappy to bear my sorrow.’

Sir John was elated. The Baroness Späth had been removed through her own folly and his ingeniousness; even better, benevolent fate had removed Leopold. The new King of the Belgians would of course continue to direct affairs but how different to do so from Brussels than from Claremont. There would be no more Wednesday afternoons when he pried too closely into the Duchess’s affairs for the comfort of Sir John Conroy. The field was clear now for Sir John – as far as the Duchess was concerned.

They must not ignore Victoria, of course; and she was too much under the spell of her German governess. Lehzen gave herself too many airs. Stupid old woman continually munching her caraway seeds and, he was sure, antagonising Victoria against him.

He came unceremoniously into the Duchess’s drawing-room, where she was sitting at her table frowning over some papers.

‘My dear Duchess, you are bothered.’

‘Oh these tiresome papers! Why do they send them?’

‘You must allow me to deal with them. They are not important enough for you to bother your head over.’

He looked very handsome with his finely chiselled features and that amused expression which was so often in his eyes. So tall, such a commanding figure. Dear Sir John!

‘I wanted to talk to you about something of far greater moment.’

‘Come and sit near me.’

He drew up a chair and leaning an elbow elegantly on the table, smiled admiringly into her face.

‘I am disturbed about the Baroness Lehzen.’

‘Indeed.’

‘She has become too self-important since the departure of her crony.’

‘I fear so.’

‘And I believe she is influencing Victoria far too much.’

‘Victoria has always had a great affection for her.’

‘All very well when she was a child. But now she is nearly twelve. She has her newly appointed governess. What need of Lehzen?’

‘The Duchess of Northumberland is her nominal governess only. She will not perform Lehzen’s old tasks.’

‘That’s so. Lehzen is a very good governess … for the nursery. I am sure the Princess Feodora would find her most useful in the bringing up of her children.’

The Duchess looked surprised. ‘You mean that we should send Lehzen away?’

‘I mean that certain changes should be made in Victoria’s household. We want the world to realise that she is no longer a child, and the best way in which we can do this is by removing her nursery governess.’

‘Lehzen would not like to hear herself so described.’

‘I fear there is a great deal that Lehzen does not like about the household. She does not relish these changes. In fact she is trying to poison the Princess’s mind against
us
.’

‘Can that be so?’

‘You have noticed the difference in the Princess’s attitude lately.’

The Duchess admitted that she had.

‘And who do you think is responsible?’

‘You really think it is Lehzen?’

‘I know it, my dear Duchess.’

‘Then,’ said the Duchess, ‘Lehzen must go.’

Lehzen said: ‘They are trying to part us.’ She corrected herself: ‘That man is trying to part us.’

Victoria’s blue eyes were blazing. ‘They never shall.’

‘
He
has sent poor Späth away.’

Victoria threw her arms about Lehzen. ‘They shall never send you away,’ she declared.

Lehzen noticed the use of the word ‘they’. So Victoria included her mother in the conspiracy. What, wondered Lehzen, did Victoria know of the relationship between her mother and the Comptroller of the Household? Perhaps a great deal, for her dislike of the man grew greater every day; and sometimes Lehzen felt the Princess included her mother in her dislike.

‘Don’t worry, dear Lehzen,’ she went on. ‘They shall never part us.’

‘I should be terrified if they did.’

‘Never fear. They shall not.’

Victoria looked defiantly from her mother to Sir John Conroy.

‘I know what you are trying to say,’ she told them coolly. ‘You want to tell me that it would be advisable for the Baroness Lehzen to leave us and go back to Germany to join Feodora and poor Späth. I must make it clear that that is something I do not wish.’

‘
You
do not wish?’ said her mother.

‘That is what I said.
I
do not wish it.’

For all the world, said the Duchess afterwards to Sir John as though she were the Queen already.

They were so struck by her defiance that they were momentarily speechless; and that gave Victoria her chance.

‘If the Baroness Lehzen received orders to leave my household,’ went on Victoria, ‘I should not let her go. I should go to the Queen and beg her to tell the King exactly what I felt. I know she would do so; and I know that His Majesty would grant my wish. The Queen has told me that she understands
exactly
how I feel about losing dear Späth and she was most sorry for me.’

‘The King does not control Kensington Palace,’ said the Duchess, her colour rising.