The Widow of Windsor Read online

  * * *

  They should have been happy days for Alix, although she was not allowed to see much of her son who was too fragile to lead the life of an ordinary newly born baby. He was small and delicate naturally but he was beautifully and perfectly formed; the doctors said it would only be a matter of time before he caught up on those two months by which he had made his premature appearance. The Queen told her that Vicky wanted to know if he had any hair and nails and what ministers were present at the birth.

  ‘I could happily tell her,’ the Queen confided to Alix, ‘that he is an adorable little fellow with such beautiful features and pretty ears and hands and that Lord Granville was present.’

  Alix felt triumphant. She was not very fond of Vicky, whom she regarded as an enemy; her country was fighting against Denmark and Alix was afraid to ask what was happening for fear it should be too depressing. In any case the Queen had given orders that no one was to mention that dreadful war to Alix while she was lying in.

  ‘I don’t really care for Mrs Innocent,’ said the Queen, referring to one of the nurses. ‘Dear Lady Macclesfield tells me she is becoming a continual nuisance with her high and mighty airs and seems to think that she should run the nursery. If she continues to behave badly she shall be sent away. But Mrs Clark is good, I believe.’

  Alix surveyed her with tears in her eyes. ‘You are so good,’ she told her. ‘I know that you do not like little babies and everything that concerns their being born. But you are here …’

  Tears always affected the Queen deeply. They were a sign of feeling.

  ‘Dear sweet Alix,’ she said at once, ‘how glad I am that you came to us. It was a very happy day for Bertie and for me.’

  Then she bent over and kissed the dear girl who looked so pretty.

  When she was gone Alix lay still with her eyes closed thinking about the Queen who still mourned for the husband she had clearly adored. She wondered whether she would ever learn to feel the same way about Bertie. She loved her husband; he was charming and kind; she wondered whether he was faithful to her. There were often suggestions that he was not. Albert would always have been faithful to Victoria of course; but Bertie and his father were as different as two husbands could be.

  She had learned quite a lot about the Prince Consort; one could not be long in the Queen’s company without doing so; and sometimes she thought he seemed intolerable. On the whole perhaps she was better off with a man like Bertie. In time, she thought, he will change. He just feels that he has so much to make up for after being under the sway of his stern father.

  While she was brooding letters were brought to her. How good to hear from home!

  There was one from her father. She read it through and let it flutter on to the quilt. Her fingers seemed too limp to hold it.

  ‘For God’s sake, Alix,’ was the message, ‘England must help us. We are going down before the might of the Prussians. You are English now. Help us, Alix.’

  What could she do?

  When Bertie came to see her he found her sunk deep in depression.

  ‘What’s wrong, Alix?’ Bertie wanted to know; and she showed him her father’s appeal.

  ‘Something will have to be done,’ said Bertie. ‘England will go in and stand by the Danes. They’re waiting for the right moment. Old Pam loves to sweep in with dramatic effect. Don’t worry. We shall be there … beside the Danes.’

  She allowed herself to be convinced.

  ‘Why, Bertie,’ she said, ‘if England did not help my poor country I should be so ashamed. They’d think I had failed them in some way.’

  ‘You’re not going to fail them,’ said Bertie, and she thought how kind he was until he started to tell her about the races he had visited that day and she saw then that he didn’t really care very much about the great tragedy overhanging her family.

  * * *

  The news grew worse. The Prussians were invading Schleswig-Holstein. Vicky’s husband had left Berlin to join the forces which were fighting against Alix’s father.

  News came that Holstein, the pro-German of the two Duchies, was in the hands of German troops and that the Danish authorities had evacuated it. Bismarck demanded that the position of Schleswig-Holstein and the Danish constitution should be investigated, and when King Christian refused to consider this German troops began to march on Schleswig.

  The Prime Minister and Lord Russell came to see the Queen.

  ‘The Austrians and Prussians are power crazy,’ said Palmerston. ‘They won’t stop at Schleswig-Holstein; they’ll march on and crush Denmark. This is what Bismarck means with his blood and iron.’

  ‘The fleet should be sent to Copenhagen,’ said Russell.

  The Queen stared at him in dismay. ‘I should never consent. It would be tantamount to declaring war on Germany.’

  ‘Which might do that rather blown-up country some good,’ said Palmerston.

  Oh, how she disliked those old men! Albert had always believed in neutrality.

  ‘Prince Albert would never have agreed to make war on Germans.’

  ‘We have to consider what is best for England, M’am,’ Palmerston reminded her.

  ‘War is never good for any country,’ retorted the Queen.

  The two ministers exchanged glances. When it was considered the moment to act, Palmerston would do so; at the moment it was better perhaps to prevaricate; and the attitude of the Queen gave him an opportunity of doing so.

  Alix was growing frantic. Her country was in danger and England was doing nothing to help. She fretted and grew pale and thin. Bertie declared it was a shameful thing that England did not go to the rescue of Denmark. He was far from discreet and at every opportunity declared his contempt for the shilly-shallying government and the wicked Prussians.

  Palmerston, while deciding it was better for the Prussians, Austrians and Danes to work this matter out for themselves kept an anxious eye on the Baltic ports. He took an opportunity of warning the Austrian ambassador in London that if their fleet appeared in the Baltic they would find the British Navy there too.

  The Queen was horrified; she could visualise the country’s being dragged into war. She declared that she would not give her consent, and refused to sign the speech from the throne, which the government had prepared for the opening of Parliament. She herself had not attended an opening since the death of Albert.

  Throughout the country sympathy ran high for Denmark. Everywhere they went Alix and Bertie were cheered. The people wanted to go to the aid of ‘Little Denmark’ because the Press had given the impression that if Prussia marched on that country Britain would be Denmark’s staunch ally. Moreover, the Danish Princess of Wales had appealed to them; she was young, pretty, and had already given birth to the heir in rather dramatic circumstances. Good old Bertie was a gay dog, often at loggerheads with stern Mama, who in any case had offended the public by shutting herself away.

  Alix was cheered by public sympathy, but what good was that while Denmark was being hopelessly beaten by the Prussian and Austrian hordes?

  She raved to Bertie. Had not Lord Palmerston promised help to Denmark? Hadn’t he said: ‘I am convinced – we are convinced – that if any violent attempt were made to overthrow the rights and interfere with the independence of Denmark, those who made the attempt would find in the result that it would not be Denmark alone with which they would have to contend.’

  Alix remembered it word for word; and what was he doing now … nothing. Denmark wanted more than sympathy.

  Some members of Parliament flung those words in Palmerston’s face; but he was too wily for them. His sympathies were with Denmark because he could see the dangers to Europe of a strong Prussia; but he was not going to drag England into a war unless it was going to be very much to England’s advantage. He had made that remark, he had said, yes, he admitted it. But he had meant that he believed that some European country would come to the aid of Denmark; he had not meant England. It was more important to countries which were geographically near
er for instance, such as France, to preserve the peace of Europe, but the Emperor was remaining aloof. If the Emperor had intervened … but that was another story.

  ‘It’s perfidious,’ cried Alix in despair. ‘My country relied on England.’

  Bertie was furious and ashamed, he said. So were the people. But many knew that Palmerston, though perhaps not morally right, was doing England the greater service by keeping her out of war.

  By April the war was over – disastrously for Denmark. They had lost Schleswig-Holstein.

  Chapter IX

  JOHN BROWN COMES SOUTH

  The Queen was scarcely ever in London and the people were getting restive. Surely it was the duty of the Sovereign to show herself now and then? The Queen retorted, when her ministers reproached her, that she worked unceasingly for the good of the country and she could not see how her parading in public did her subjects any good.

  But even she was taken aback when several notices were stuck on the walls of Buckingham Palace announcing:

  These premises to be let or sold in consequence of the late occupants declining business.’

  Lord Palmerston laughed when he heard of it; but the Queen, who was at Osborne, was angry.

  If people thought they were going to bring her out of retirement they were very much mistaken. She was a widow, and she was going on mourning for her husband; and during periods of mourning widows did not appear in public dressed in elaborate garments and sparkling with jewels.

  Lord Palmerston shrugged his shoulders. ‘We have to continue to be grateful to the Prince and Princess of Wales,’ he said, ‘who have taken over so many of Your Majesty’s duties.’

  ‘Duties!’ she snapped. ‘Racing? Gambling? Mixing in questionable society?’

  ‘Oh, the people don’t hold that against the Prince,’ was Palmerston’s comment.

  The Queen summoned her physician, Dr Jenner. The people must be made to understand that she was in no fit condition to parade in public. They must be made to have some understanding of a widow’s grief.

  Dr Jenner gently suggested that it was more than two years since the Prince Consort’s death. Perhaps if she tried to emerge a little she would feel better for it.

  She turned on him furiously. ‘Do you imagine that I shall ever feel better about my loss?’

  Dr Jenner was silent, but he did think that if the Queen would try to get out more, ride more often, perhaps sit out of doors sketching, as she used to, it would be beneficial to her health.

  ‘Everything reminds me too much of him,’ she said.

  A notice appeared in The Times to the effect that she would, as she always had done, perform her duty towards the State. More than that the Queen could not do.

  But the people were not satisfied. What was the use of a Queen who was never seen? Rumours began to be circulated. Had she gone mad? Wasn’t there madness in the family? Was that why it was necessary for her to remain in seclusion?

  It is not good, repeated Lord Palmerston warningly, for a Sovereign to hide himself – or herself – from the people.

  Uncle Leopold, ageing though he was and finding it very difficult to totter about his palace because his rheumatism, so long imagined, had now become a reality, his cheeks painted to a healthy pink, a wig of luxuriously made curls on his head, could not resist adding his warning.

  It seemed to him, he said, that the Prince of Wales was already King. He heard that wherever he and the Princess went they were cheered wildly.

  This so incensed the Queen that she did agree to come to London and ride through the streets in an open carriage. It was amazing how many people came out to see her pass. There she sat bowing to them, acknowledging their greetings, which were vociferous, but wearing her black robes and widow’s cap to remind them that she was still in mourning for the wonderful man whom they no less than herself had lost.

  ‘I am sure,’ she said with satisfaction to Lord Palmerston, ‘that the Prince and Princess of Wales have never had a reception like that.’

  Palmerston bowed. ‘Your Majesty will, I have no doubt, give your subjects more opportunities of displaying their loyalty.’

  But soon she was back at Osborne, reading her diaries and going over every little detail in the house he had planned and looking forward to the time when she would go up to dear Balmoral where there were even more memories of him.

  * * *

  Alix was agitating to go to Denmark to see her family. She explained it to Bertie who was wonderfully sympathetic. She wanted to show her parents little Eddy, which was the name by which the new baby was known. Victor seeming strange somehow and he couldn’t be Bertie because of his father, and to call him plain Albert might seem like sacrilege; Christian was too foreign for the English and Edward was too solemn for such a scrap, so Eddy was the answer. Not only did she wish them to see the baby but she also wanted to explain to them that she had done her best for them, that it was not her fault that England had been so perfidious and left them to the mercy of the Prussians and the Austrians.

  ‘Go to Denmark!’ cried the Queen. ‘That would be most unwise.’

  Alix could be very stubborn. ‘She doesn’t understand, Bertie. They are my family. And I love them … dearly. You can’t understand what it was like to have a kind good father and a mother who loved you tenderly. I must see them now. Imagine how they will be suffering.’

  Bertie understood. He said he would stand firm and insist. After all he was of age. He was not going to allow his mother to treat him as a boy in the nursery even though she was the Queen.

  On this occasion Bertie did rouse himself; he was rather worried about Alix, who had grown very thin and was clearly not the carefree girl he had married. He was genuinely fond of her and made up his mind to do his best for her, and so insistent was he that the Queen, with some reluctance, agreed to the trip.

  She confided to her acting secretary, General Grey, that Bertie was inclined to be indiscreet and General Knollys, who had been appointed his governor after General Bruce had died, did not always appear to have the necessary control over him. There had been the affair of Garibaldi whom Bertie had met when he had come to England in April. Bertie did not seem to understand his position and the fact that he made a point of meeting the Italian leader could be construed as British approval of his methods. Bertie was indeed very rash and had defended Garibaldi as a patriot who was not in the least like a revolutionary. How foolish Bertie could be! He had to learn the rule of Royalty; they stood together and this was particularly important in a world which had so recently been shaken by revolution.

  Now he wanted to go to Denmark at such a difficult time. And of course if it were known that Alix wished to visit her family to introduce her father to his new grandson and that the Queen had refused to allow this, there would be an outcry. People never understood; they confused family relationships with those of the State.

  She sent for Bertie. She would agree to the visit. But there must be conditions. For instance what would their German relations think if he went to Denmark, the enemy with whom they were so recently at war? He must remember that little Eddy was an heir to the throne and he must therefore not be out of the country for more than three weeks. He must not forget also to visit his German relations; he must make it perfectly clear that he was not only the son-in-law of the King of Denmark but also the son of Albert and Victoria.

  ‘That is something I am not likely to forget, Mama,’ said Bertie with a twinkle in his eye which was disturbing because he could smile when he mentioned his father’s name.

  So in September Bertie and Alix set off in the royal yacht Osborne with their baby and a very small party which included Lord and Lady Spencer, Sir William Knollys and two doctors, for little Eddy was still very frail.

  The Queen had taken the precaution of commanding General Grey to write to Sir Augustus Paget, the British ambassador in Denmark, to keep an eye on the Prince of Wales, lest he be guilty of indiscretion. She wished the ambassador to know that this was the wors
t possible time for such a visit and she deplored it but she had forced herself to understand the natural desire of a daughter to see her parents, particularly after she had recently given birth to their grandchild.

  Bertie was prepared to have a good time in Denmark and it did not occur to him that he might not be welcome. He was soon made to realise that although he was Alix’s husband he was also the Prince of Wales, the future King of a country which Denmark considered had deserted it in its hour of need; he was regarded with suspicion and the cheers were all for Alix. But Bertie’s greatest gift was his convivial spirit; after his lack of popularity with his parents he had been astonished when he had first discovered public response to his temperament; now he had come to regard it as a matter of course. It did not occur to him that the people should not like him; and very soon they saw his point of view, for it was indeed impossible not to like this young man. He was undistinguished in appearance but seemed the more lovable for that, because really with his rather weak chin and not very tall stature he was charming, and his attention to his wife was gallant and pleasant to behold.

  It was not very long before the people of Denmark were cheering the Princess and the Prince of Wales.

  They had landed at Elsinore where the King and Queen of Denmark were waiting to meet them. Alix flew into her father’s arms and for some moments would not look at him. Dearest Papa, who had never wanted to be King of Denmark anyway. How he must have suffered! When at last she looked into his face, she saw how he had changed. Anxiety had marked his handsome face. And Mama? Queen Louise had changed less. What a support she must have been through all the tribulations, but she had grown very deaf and could scarcely hear what was said, And there were Fredy and Dagmar – quite a young woman now and good-looking – and Thyra and Valdemar, the whole dear family, except Willy who had become King George of Greece.