The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Wednesday 21 July 2004

The Young Victoria

In her childhood, the character of Queen Victoria was far different to that which we’ve come to know of the legendary monarch.  Her childhood, particularly her adolescence, was not as happy as one might imagine; she never really knew her father, her mother was ostracised from the Court and she almost never mixed with other children.  At times, she must have been terribly lonely, and later stifled, by the solitary life she led at Kensington Palace. 

Victoria was never meant to be Queen.  Her cousin, Princess Charlotte was heir to the throne. Charlotte had married Prince Leopold (later made King of the Belgians) but died tragically, as a result of a prolonged labour.  Victoria was born in what can only be called a mad scramble to produce an heir, her father dying suddenly the following year.  Her mother, the German born Duchess of Kent brought Victoria up at Kensington Palace.  Unfortunately, the Duchess was something of an impressionable woman and soon became influenced by an unscrupulous Irishman, Sir John Conroy. 

The Duchess, far from being wealthy, depended heavily on Sir John, her Comptroller to organise what little money she had in order to run her house.  Sir John’s agenda, while to some degree effective financially, was anything but heroic.  It seems that he thought by making himself indispensable to the Duchess, that he would be able to influence the throne, should Victoria ascend it before coming of age.  It was an imprudent move, as he later found out.  While Victoria, at this time, was nothing like Queen Empress she was to become, she was not an idiot.  Even girls who lived sheltered lives behind palace walls, who like nothing more than to play with their pets, to sing and to talk, know when they are being mistreated.  Fixing Sir John, was one of her first actions when the momentous day she had long awaited, arrived. 

Even by her eighteenth birthday on 24^th May 1837, Victoria was not the self-confident young woman one might imagine.  She was unsure of herself, modest and, if anything, self-depreciating “Today is my 18^th birthday!  How old! And yet how far am I from being what I should be.  I shall from this day take the firm resolution to study with renewed assiduity, to keep my attention always well fixed on whatever I am about, and to strive to become every day less trifling and more fit for what, if Heaven wills it, I’m some day to be!”   That night, there was a ball to mark the event.  “The Courtyard and the streets were crammed when we went to the Ball, and the anxiety of the people to see poor stupid me was very great, and I must say I am quite touched by it, and feel proud which I always have done of my country and of the English Nation.”  Less than a month later, she became Queen. 

Victoria was mindful of the duty that would one day be hers.  Like all of us at that age, she was keen to start her adult life.  No doubt, given the strict regime which she lived under, still sharing a room with her mother, she was also ready for some independence and control of her own destiny.  She found out that she was Queen at 6 o’clock in the morning on the 20^th June 1937.  While she could have had no idea of the Queen she would become, or the years her reign would span, she was full of energy and conviction to do her very best.  “Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country; I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced, but I am sure, that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have.” 

The young Queen revelled in her new position.  She complained of, “an immense deal of business”, but was obviously glad to be of use, “I delight in this work”.  Her first Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, treated her as a daughter.  While Victoria had much to learn, Lord Melbourne pushed her lightly, rather than overwhelming her. He was no doubt aware of much that went on in her life as a princess and was careful to build her confidence and, if needed, corrected her in the gentlest tones.  

She spent a great deal of time with him and happily flirted and teased him, while he, in a subtle way, tutored her on being a good sovereign.  In later years, an older Queen would reflect more favourably on the capabilities of other Prime Ministers, like her beloved Disraeli, but Lord Melbourne was what Victoria needed at the time.  With no constant father figure, and Uncle Leopold now in Belgium, Lord Melbourne became something of a surrogate father figure in her life. 

He was particularly helpful to her when it came to the dealings between Victoria and her mother.  The Duchess had now moved into Buckingham Palace, which anything but delighted the Queen, and had began tormenting her daughter with a barrage of complaints; her rooms were too small, her purse too light, her daughter ate far too much…  To her credit, Victoria did what she could and understandably, given the rocky times she had endured courtesy of both Sir John and her mother before becoming Queen, felt enough was enough.  “Got such a letter from Mama, oh! oh! such a letter”. 

Of course, as were the times, it was not long before Victoria faced pressure to marry.  She said herself that it was “a shocking alternative” to living with her mother.  The question of whom was just as repellent.  No matter where her husband was from, people somewhere else would be unhappy with her decision.  Even Lord Melbourne faced a challenge from her.  “I said I dreaded the thought of marrying; that I was so accustomed to have my own way, that I thought it was 10 to 1 that I shouldn’t agree with anybody.  Lord M. said, ‘Oh! but you would have it still’ (my own way)”. 

Devoid of any desire of wanting to marry, the prospective list of potential husbands was nevertheless whittled down to Prince Albert.  The Queen had met him years before and while, at the time, she did recall liking him,  she still had “no great wish to see Albert, as the whole subject was an odious one…”.  She was particularly concerned that should she invite Albert and his brother to England, that no one should assume that a marriage was forthcoming.  Even if she liked him, she insisted that, “any such event could not take place till two or three years hence.”  

Albert and his brother Ernest arrived in England in October 1839. Victoria, by now, was curious herself about Albert if, not exactly, ready to marry him.  Perhaps, since July when the marriage was discussed, she had gradually warmed to the meeting.  Whatever the reason, it is obviously that for Victoria, it was more or less love at first sight.  She could not keep her eyes off him.  Whether this was because of the man himself or due to an infatuation cultivated subliminally by osmosis from the cajoling of those around her, it is hard to know but, only one day after her cousins’ arrival, the young Queen was smitten.  There was not much that she didn’t notice about him: “Albert really is quite charming, and so excessively handsome, such beautiful blue eyes, an exquisite nose, and such a pretty mouth with delicate moustachios and slight but very slight whiskers; a beautiful figure, broad in the shoulders and a fine waist; my heart is quite going….It is quite a pleasure to look at Albert when he gallops and valses, he does it so beautifully, holds himself so well with that beautiful figure of his.” 

For someone resolute in her conviction not to marry, Victoria very quickly changed her view.  As she admitted herself, “…seeing them had a good deal changed my opinion (as to marrying)”.  Perhaps it would be fun sharing life with someone after all.  But, unlike other women, it was Victoria who had to ask the man she loved to marry her.  As nerve-wracking as it is for most men to ‘pop the question’, it must have been particularly hard for a woman, especially one of those times, with no anecdotes or advice from friends who had done the same. However, Victoria was not like other women.  Five days after Albert arrived, she met with him and proposed.  Not only the start of a great love story, it was the “…happiest, brightest moment in my life, which made up for all I had suffered and endured.  Oh!  how I adore and love him, I cannot say!! How I will strive to make him feel as little as possible the great sacrifice he has made;  I told him it was a great sacrifice, - which he wouldn’t allow…I feel the happiest of human beings.”. 

Although Victoria would believe differently, the marriage was, titles aside, much like any other, with its moments of great joy, respect, friendship, love and an occasional dose of mutual irritation.  They were very different people; Victoria was headstrong, passionate and emotional while Albert was quiet and rather serious, a humanitarian and a man with foresight.  He would often find her exasperating, as she would find him a nag (something she was not beyond being herself) and too concerned with business.  He would ground her flightiness and her impulsiveness and she would lighten his sometimes-sober demeanour.   Together they made a great team and would go on to restructure of the face of modern constitutional monarchy.

- Gioffredo

Extracts taken from ‘Queen Victoria in her Letters and Journals’.  A selection by Christopher Hibbert. Penguin Books 1985.

Coming soon: Victoria and Albert’s Family Life

Reconstructing Fergie

In my last column, as pointed out to me by a reader, M.J. Haubrich, I left out a very important part of Sarah, Duchess of York’s rise from the ashes.  The American public played an integral role in offering Fergie the opportunity to rediscover her self-esteem. Americans gave her the space she needed, out of the line of attack from British tabloids, to reinvent herself - something I believe she has said and something that I do apologise for omitting.