The Queen and Lord M Read online

  ‘That is something we shall never know.’

  ‘I remember dear Feodora’s wedding. She is very happy now with her darling children. What fun it would be, Lehzen, if they could come and visit us. I’m sure they would love it.’

  ‘You have only to ask them.’

  ‘I shall, Lehzen, I shall. Oh dear, I am going to miss dear Kensington.’

  ‘Buckingham Palace, as Lord Melbourne said, is far more suitable.’

  So of course if Lord Melbourne said it, it must be so, and there should be no more regrets.

  * * *

  It was, naturally, more grand than Kensington. Her Uncle George IV had applied his considerable artistic talents to making it so, but when Uncle William and Aunt Adelaide had moved in and Adelaide had chosen some of the décor it had been voted decidedly vulgar.

  With satisfaction Victoria examined her room; it was lofty, stately, and she would be alone, for she had made sure that the Duchess should have a quite separate set of apartments as far removed from her own as possible.

  Standing at her window looking out across the gardens, she admitted that this was indeed a royal palace, although she still regretted Kensington for it was so hard to forget one’s birthplace and the scene of one’s childhood, girlhood and accession.

  And when in bed that first night and the quiet of the Palace closed in on her she thought of the cosiness of Kensington and all the terrors of darkness descended on her. She had craved to be alone, but now the loneliness frightened her. She thought of the little Princes in the Tower – one of them the King of England. Stealthy footsteps in the night; a pillow pressed over the face. There had been scares in her childhood when a rumour had been in circulation that her uncle Cumberland had wanted the throne and was determined to get her out of the way. Uncle Cumberland was a man with an evil reputation. It was believed that he had committed one murder at least, and his wife had been married twice before and there was a certain mystery surrounding both her husbands’ deaths. That was why Mamma had said she was never to be alone; and even when she had gone down the little twisting staircase she had had to be accompanied.

  Now she was the Queen. ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,’ said Shakespeare, and he was a very wise man.

  It was so very quiet in the room that one might be in the heart of the country, and although many people were sleeping in the Palace, tonight they seemed far away.

  Oh, yes, Lehzen was in the next room but a wall separated them and Buckingham Palace was so different from dear cosy Kensington.

  Dash was sleeping in his basket. If anyone came in he would start to bark furiously. Dear, dear Dashy!

  Tomorrow, she thought, I will have a door made in the wall so that Lehzen’s room can communicate directly with mine. If it was desired, that door could be left open.

  On that comforting thought she went to sleep.

  When Lord Melbourne asked her how she liked Buckingham Palace she told him that she liked it; it was, as he said, so much more suitable for a royal residence; and Dashy loved the gardens.

  * * *

  The Duchess was far from pleased with her apartments. They were too cramped, she declared. But what really angered her was that Victoria had ordered that they should be separate and some distance from her own.

  It was an insult! declared the Duchess.

  Sir John, who was anxious about his future, suggested that it would be unwise to make too much fuss. They had to act with tact for Victoria had shown very clearly that she had forgotten all they had done for her during her childhood and she was completely under the spell of her Prime Minister.

  Sir John was sure though that his demands would be met. After all it was a delicate situation and the new Queen would be made to understand that the less talk there was about the man who was reputed to be her mother’s lover the better. The worldly wise Prime Minister would realise that; and as that same gentleman was noted for a somewhat easy-going attitude towards difficult problems Sir John felt that he was right to be optimistic.

  Meanwhile Victoria was finding life agreeable, and was very eager to forget Sir John Conroy.

  She had taken the Duchess of Sutherland into her household and was greatly attracted to her. Harriet Leveson Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, was at the time in her early thirties, admired for her beauty, respected for her intellect, and being a Whig she had seemed an ideal choice for Mistress of the Robes. Such a good feeling person, Victoria confided to the Baroness; and indeed dear Harriet was constantly telling her about the evils in the country that she was sometimes quite depressed about it. Harriet believed that it was everyone’s duty to improve the lot of the poor and needy and Victoria was horrified to hear of the terrible things that were happening in her realm.

  She was so upset that she spoke of this to Lord Melbourne, but he was as comforting as ever.

  ‘Little children are being dragged from their beds at three in the morning to go to the mines and on all fours drag the carts of coal through underground passages in the coal mines!’

  ‘Whoever told you such stories?’

  ‘Harriet did. She knows a great deal about such things. She is very concerned with them.’

  ‘I think it better not to concern oneself with such matters.’

  ‘Oh, but do you, Lord Melbourne? Surely my subjects’ welfare is my concern?’

  ‘It is, indeed it is. But this subject does not like to see his Queen distressed.’

  ‘Dear Lord Melbourne, but is it not my duty … ?’

  ‘Your duty is to smile for the people, to let them see how happy you are to be their Queen.’

  ‘Oh, I am, but the thought of those poor children … little children, no older than dear Lord John Russell’s babies … dragging carriages through the mines … it is terrible.’

  ‘They enjoy it. It is a game to them.’

  ‘Can it really be?’

  ‘You can depend upon it.’

  And of course one had to depend upon Lord Melbourne.

  ‘Harriet is also worried about the way lunatics are treated in our asylums, and the people working in mills and factories. Her great friend, the Earl of Shaftesbury, is determined to do something about it. He cares so much for the poor.’

  ‘Shaftesbury. He is not so fond of his own family. What a pity he doesn’t concern himself with making life easier for them!’

  ‘But dear Lord Melbourne, I feel that I should know about these things.’

  ‘They are things which are best left alone. Change often makes things a thousand times worse.’

  Then Lord Melbourne started to tell her a funny story about Grandfather George III who visiting a cottage found a woman baking dumplings and could not understand how an apple got into a dumpling.

  She rocked with laughter. Lord Melbourne could be so amusing.

  She was also very fond of Lord John Russell – ‘Little Johnny’ as he was called. Lord Melbourne told her in a very humorous manner how Johnny was so small that when he stood up to speak in Parliament he could scarcely be seen above the boxes on the table. He was the Leader of the House of Commons and Victoria, although not as delighted with him as she was with her Prime Minister (that would have been impossible), found him delightful. She liked Lady John and one of the reasons she saw a great deal of the Russell family was because of the children. Little Johnny had married quite late in life, Lord Melbourne had told her, for now she and her Prime Minister discussed not only State matters but as Lord Melbourne put it, ‘everything under the sun’, which meant quite racy stories about some of his fellow members of Parliament. Not that there was anything racy about Little Johnny, who had married a widow at the age of forty-three. She already had four children by her first husband and now she and Lord John had a little girl of their own. ‘Five young children! How very happy you must be,’ cried Victoria to Lady John; and realised that one of the things she wanted most was to have children. Whenever Lady John was due to call, Victoria asked: ‘Please bring the babies.’ And what fun she had with them,
racing up and down the corridors of the Palace.

  ‘Really,’ said Lehzen indulgently, ‘is this the Queen of England?’

  And laughingly Victoria pointed out that one of the pleasures of being Queen of England was that in matters that did not interfere with State policy, a queen could do exactly as she wished.

  The first little difference with Lord Melbourne came over the matter of the review of her troops in Hyde Park.

  ‘I will do so on horseback,’ she told her Prime Minister.

  ‘I think it would be better to do the review in a carriage,’ said Lord Melbourne.

  ‘My dear Lord Melbourne, I shall certainly not ride to review my troops in a carriage!’

  ‘I should tremble for your safety if you rode on horseback. It’s some time since you rode. It would be most unsafe.’

  ‘Then it is certainly time I showed you that I know how to manage a horse.’

  For once her mother and Melbourne were in agreement.

  ‘It would be most improper,’ said the Duchess.

  ‘It would be most undignified for the Queen to ride in a carriage,’ retorted Victoria.

  ‘I’m afraid I cannot advise you to ride on horseback,’ replied Lord Melbourne firmly.

  ‘This is not a matter of State,’ she answered.

  ‘Begging Your Majesty’s pardon I consider it to be,’ said the Prime Minister.

  She had held her head high and the colour was hot on her cheeks. ‘I refuse to ride in a carriage,’ she declared. ‘And if there is to be no horse for me there will be no review.’

  Lord Melbourne thought it best to cancel the review; the news leaked out; the papers took up the story and there were rhymes about the stubborn little Queen’s disagreement with her Prime Minister; but they liked her for it. She might be tiny but she had a high spirit.

  ‘As for Lord Melbourne,’ Victoria commented to Lehzen, ‘he was concerned for my safety which proves once more what a good, kind, feeling man he is.’

  * * *

  Now that she had been proclaimed Queen and had seen her Ministers there was no reason why she should stay in London. Lord Melbourne suggested that the Court should move to Windsor, which would give Her Majesty an opportunity of enjoying the country and taking rides in the forest. A sly allusion to the review contretemps which had amused them both.

  How she loved Windsor! What a fine old place and here again she must thank Uncle George IV.

  ‘In the days of your grandfather, the third George,’ Lord Melbourne told her, ‘it was the most uncomfortable place on earth. They used to say there was enough draught in the corridors to sail a battleship; and in the winter only your grandfather was hardy enough to go to the Chapel. It was like being in the Arctic circle.’

  She so much enjoyed hearing stories of the family and what a wonderful raconteur Lord Melbourne was.

  Every day he was closeted with her while they discussed State business, which was enlivened by these pleasant little anecdotes.

  ‘You should know these details about your family,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘It’s history.’

  She enjoyed the mornings because then she had him all to herself; it was so cosy, so friendly, so stimulating and interesting; and what more proper than that the Queen should discuss business with her Prime Minister? Nobody could explain the tiresome details of politics as lucidly as Lord M. It seemed so much more friendly to think of him by this abbreviated form of his name. He made everything so easy to understand and would never let her worry about anything.

  ‘It’s a mistake to worry,’ he said. ‘Worry never cured anything. Let events take their course.’

  That was his motto; he was lazy, easy-going and nothing seemed so vital that one must have the smallest anxiety about it, and so many things were amusing that one could laugh at them. So much of the morning was spent in laughing. But of course she was learning all the time. She learned to love the Whigs and hate the Tories; but alas, said Lord Melbourne, the Whigs were not as strong in the House of Commons as they would like to be, but now that people were beginning to realise how friendly the Queen felt towards the Whigs, the next election would doubtless change that.

  His sayings were so original. He never carried a watch, she discovered. ‘But, dear Lord M, how do you know the time?’ she asked.

  ‘I always ask a servant and he tells me what he likes.’

  She roared with laughter. Perhaps it was the droll way Lord Melbourne made these observations which seemed so funny or perhaps she laughed so much because she was happy. She was constantly telling herself how fortunate she was to have come to the throne when Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister, for it might so easily have been grim old Lord Grey (how dreary!) or the old Duke of Wellington (how terrifying!). But it was neither of these. It was the kindest, best, most wonderful feeling man in the world.

  Every afternoon they went riding in the forest, she and Lord M leading the cavalcade. The Prime Minister looked magnificent, in Victoria’s opinion, on a very fine black mare which he had had sent down from London. Behind came other members of her Government who happened to be staying at Windsor, with some of her household and guests. She herself usually rode the spirited Barbara who was a little frisky, and she was glad of this because she was eager to show Lord Melbourne that he need have no qualms about her riding. The Baroness Lehzen was sometimes of the party, following the riders in a little pony cart.

  Those afternoon rides were the best part of the day … No, that was the morning, or perhaps in the evening when she would sit with Lord Melbourne beside her and they would chat and laugh in the happiest manner.

  After the ride they would return to the Castle and there was a little time to be filled in before dinner. Sometimes she played games – not with Lord Melbourne this time, but with some of the younger members of the Court. One could hardly expect the Prime Minister to indulge in a game of battledore or shuttlecock. If the John Russells were there she would play with their children for a while – or any other young people who were in the Palace; and after that dinner.

  Sometimes important guests would be at the Castle and she must devote a certain amount of time to them; but if a distinguished visitor must sit on her right hand it was always Lord Melbourne who sat on her left. That had come to be regarded as his special place.

  The Duchess was at Windsor, of course, and while Victoria always showed affection towards her in public, there it stopped. They rarely saw each other in private.

  The disappointed Duchess would sit nodding drowsily until the whist started. It was said that only the game kept her awake.

  They were wonderful days; Victoria had never been so happy in the whole of her life.

  * * *

  What a triumphant day it was when she reviewed the troops at Windsor on horseback! There was a little tussle with Lord Melbourne about this. He said that her favourite Barbara was too frisky; she declared that she loved to ride Barbara best of all.

  ‘Leopold would be much safer,’ commented Lord Melbourne.

  ‘Then I shall ride Barbara to show you that I am not such a poor horsewoman as you appear to imagine.’

  Lord Melbourne replied that he knew she was a superb horsewoman; their riding together had convinced him of that; but he was a fussy old man and he simply would not have a moment’s peace until the review was over if the Queen rode Barbara.

  Since he put it in such a way what could she do but ride Leopold? Secretly she had to admit that once again Lord Melbourne was right for the review had lasted over two hours and she knew that frisky Barbara would have objected most strongly to that while Leopold had come through, his docility unimpaired.

  Afterwards, taking a ride on Barbara with Lord Melbourne beside her, she had demanded: ‘And now, Lord M, have you such a poor opinion of my performance on horseback?’

  ‘My opinion is, as it always was, that Your Majesty performs all her duties to perfection. And when she listens to an old man who in his devotion cannot suppress his fears, unfounded as they are I am sure, t
hen she adds understanding to her other talents and that is a rare quality.’

  Trust Lord M to say exactly what one most liked to hear.

  As though to make everything perfect in this very happy time, Uncle Leopold decided it was time he paid a visit, so he and Aunt Louise arrived in England.

  Victoria was excited; she told Lord Melbourne of another occasion when she and Mamma had gone to Ramsgate to meet her uncle and aunt and how the people had cheered.

  ‘Uncle Leopold is so popular in England. I think everyone was very attached to him because of the terrible tragedy of my cousin Charlotte’s death.’

  ‘That was a long time ago,’ said Lord Melbourne, and she was not sure whether he was referring to Princess Charlotte’s death or Uncle Leopold’s popularity, and before she could ask he went on: ‘You cannot expect the people to go on mourning for an event which gave them their present most beloved Queen.’

  ‘Charlotte would have been a good Queen I am sure with Uncle Leopold to help her.’

  ‘I believe he is very eager to help Your Majesty … as others are.’

  ‘Oh, I am so lucky.’

  This conversation had taken place in the blue closet, the spot she had chosen for her meetings with the Prime Minister, and therefore her favourite room. It had been even more cosy since Dash had attended the meetings.

  ‘Do you mind Dashy being here, Lord M?’ she had asked.

  ‘I am secretly delighted to see him. We share our greatest enthusiasm – devotion to Your Majesty.’

  ‘He is devoted. No one would think he started by being Mamma’s dog. And that horrid Sir John gave him to her. What is happening about his affairs?’

  ‘The gift of Dash was indeed a satisfactory act on his part but I doubt whether Your Majesty’s Government would think it worthy of a baronetcy, the income he demands, plus the Grand Order of the Bath.’

  Victoria began to giggle. Trust Lord M to introduce a humorous note into the conversation!