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In 1817, a great calamity befell
the British Royal Family. The heir to the throne, Princess
Charlotte, was dead after giving birth to a stillborn child. The
daughter of the infamous Prinny, soon to be George IV, Charlotte
was the hope of the nation. She was married to a handsome prince,
Leopold of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld (later King Leopold I of Belgium),
and she was extremely well-liked. This kind of popularity was a
major accomplishment for the Royal Family, and, unfortunately, the
same could not be said for Prinny's eleven other brothers and
sisters. More importantly none of these siblings, including seven
brothers, had had legitimate issue to succeed to the throne after
the death of Charlotte.
The race was on. George's
middle-aged brothers scrambled to make legitimate alliances, and
thence, to produce - mostly so that Parliament would pay their
overwhelming debts. Two years later, the race was just barely won
by Edward, Duke of Kent, who, married to Victoria of Saxe Coburg
Saalfeld (the sister of Leopold), finally give the nation the much
desired heir -- little Alexandrina Victoria, in 1819.
Drina, as she was known, grew up
in a fatherless household, (Edward died before she was two.) where
she was smothered and bullied by her mother, the duchess, but
brought up lovingly by Baroness Lenhzen, her nanny/governess.
In 1820, George III (The Madness
of King George) finally died after a long and tumultuous reign.
His son, George succeeded him. Very little marks George's tenure.
He was far more interesting when he was the Prince Regent. He is
best known for his mistresses, his social life, and his
tremendously disastrous marriage (which produced Charlotte) rather
than for his governance. The nation actually drew a sigh of relief
when George died in 1830.
George was succeeded by his
brother, William. William IV was an ignorant, tactless, but good
natured man, who had spent most of his life in the navy and had
the tattoos and vocabulary to prove it. He also had a mistress,
Mrs. Dorothy Jordan (the Mrs. was honorary), and with her, ten
little Fitzclarences. In the race to produce an heir, Mrs. Jordan
was summarily jettisoned, and William was able to convince
Adelaide of Saxe Meiningin, to marry him. Considering the thirty
year age difference, the illegitimate children falling out of the
bushes, and William's recorded unattractiveness, Adelaide must
have been someone more imbued with a sense of royal duty than,
even, Queen Mary. Be that as it may, Adelaide tried desperately to
have living children - all those Fitzclarences seemed to be a
living reproach to her. She never succeeded.
Adelaide was a good aunt to Drina.
She thought her a nice little girl, and would have loved to see
more of her. The Duchess of Kent, however, would have none of
this. She was determined to keep sweet little Drina away from the
dissolute Hanoverians . . . .
William, whose reign began with
great promise (any reign after George's could start with nothing
but), ended ignominiously, and without fanfare. He died in 1837,
with the country, again, relieved. It was now over and the sons
and daughters of King George III, would no longer be the primary
worry of the nation.
Little Drina, now Victoria, became
Queen, and celebrated this milestone by taking her bed out of her
mother's room, and announcing that from now on she would sleep
alone. She did, when awakened and told of the death of her Uncle,
say , "I will be good", but most historians don't think
she was speaking about eating her vegetables or getting to bed on
time. Rather, they believe she was speaking about the basic fact
that she was determined to be a good ruler. A marked contrast,
then, to her Uncles and Grandfather.
And so she was. Queen Victoria
reigned from 1837 to 1901, the longest reign by a British Monarch.
She was also probably one of the most beloved of them, a true
symbol of the nation. She had only just reached her majority when
she became queen, and was, naturally, seeking advice outisde the
confines of her smothering "handlers". That advice came
in the form of Victoria's first romantic attachment, Lord
Melbourne. Lord M., the unhappy husband of Lady Caroline Lamb, was
Victoria's first prime minister. Almost from the beginning, dear
Lord M. took the job of molding the young Queen, and it was, for
him, a labor of love. Many compare it to the role that Winston
Churchill played for the young Queen Elizabeth II. Lord M.,
however, was more attached, and stepped back regretfully when dear
Albert came on the scene. She married her beloved Albert (also of
Saxe Coburg Saalfeld, and who was her first cousin) in 1840.
Unlike her predecessors, Victoria had no problem producing the
heir and many spares. She and Albert had nine children and more
than forty-four grandchildren.
The Queen's first child was the
Princess Royal, Victoria (1840-1901). She was an incredibly
brilliant child, the apple of her father's eye, who far outshone
her brothers and sisters. She was given a liberal education under
the benign care of her father and excelled in all her lessons. A
difficult act for the rest of the children to follow. She married
Prince Frederick of Prussia in 1858 and had eight children of her
own - the most significant of which was William II), the infamous
Kaiser Wilhelm who led his country and the world into the Great
War of 1914. Vicky, as she was known, eventually became Empress,
herself, in 1888 - for three months. After Fritz's death, Vicky
was continually badgered by Willy, who had a love-hate
relationship with his mother. She eventually died the same year as
her mother, from cancer of the spine.
The second child was the wished
for heir, Albert Edward (1841-1910). Bertie, later Edward VII, was
not as brilliant as his sister. Although bright enough, he was a
continual disappointment to his father. His mother worried
constantly that he was a throw-back to his Hanoverian Uncles. It
seemed a self-fulfilling prophecy, and Bertie lived, if not a
dissolute life, a highly social one, full of mistresses, parties,
and very little statecraft. (This last was not entirely his fault
since Victoria would never consent to let him see state papers,
nor would she give him any useful job.) He married the beautiful
Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and they had five children, two
boys and three girls. The first son, Prince Albert Edward, known
as Eddy, died as a young man - to the relief of the nation. Not
only was Eddy slow (his tutors said he seemed to barely know the
meaning of the word "read"), but he was involved in
several homosexual scandals that were immediately hushed up. He
was, poor man, even suspected as the serial murderer, Jack the
Ripper. Frankly, he was much too stupid to have committed these
crimes.
The second son was George - a
nice, healthy young man, who took over the succession when his
brother died, and also his brother's fiancee - Princess Mary of
Teck, later Queen Mary.
The next child in the Wettin
family, (this was actually Albert's family name) was a girl -
Alice (1843-1878). A bright child, she would have shone in any
family who didn't have the brilliant Vicky as a sibling. She was
married to the heir to the Grand Duchy of Hesse, Louis, and had
five children that grew to adulthood. The princesses of Hesse,
Victoria, Elizabeth and Irene, were renowned for their beauty and
called "the Three Graces". A much younger fourth sister
was also an incredible beauty - the future doomed Empress
Alexandra of Russia. The oldest sister, Victoria, is significant
as the mother of Lord Mountbatten and grandmother of the present
Duke of Edinburgh. Alice, a tireless social reformer and follower
of Florence Nightingale, had the sad distinction of the being the
first of Queen Victoria's children to die at the age of 35.
Following Alice, came Alfred
("Affie") (1844-1900), later Duke of Edinburgh and
Saxe-Coburg Gotha. Affie married the only daughter of Emperor
Alexander II of Russia, the Grand Duchess Marie, the richest
princess in the world. They had four daughters and one son. One of
their daughters, Marie ("Missy"), eventually became
Queen of Romania. She thought herself the most beautiful queen in
Europe, and she was probably right. She also wrote perhaps the
most entertaining and best written set of royal memoirs. Her
sister, Victoria Melita ("Ducky"), became the Grand
Duchess Kyril of Russia, and it is her great-grandson that is one
of the foremost contenders to the Romanov throne.
Helena was born in 1846 and died
in 1923. She had four children, none of which produced any
legitimate issue. She was married to the much older and very bald
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Her life was spent
alternating with her younger sister, as companion to her mother,
the Queen.
Louise followed in 1848. She had
the distinction of marrying a commoner - John Campbell, the Duke
of Argyll. The marriage, unfortunately, was not a success. It is
implied in many sources that the Duke was homosexual, and there
was no issue to the marriage. Louise was probably the prettiest of
Queen Victoria's daughters and wasn't above making mischief in the
family. She died in 1939.
Queen Victoria's favorite son,
Arthur was born in 1850 and died in 1942. He was married to
Princess Louise of Prussia producing two daughters and a son. His
daughters, like the Hesses and the Edinburghs, were quite
beautiful. Princess Margaret ("Daisy") went on to become
Crown Princess of Sweden, while Princess Patricia
("Pat") married a commoner, Sir Alexander Ramsay and
enjoyed a long and happy marriage.
Leopold (1853-1884) was the
Queen's last son. It was here that the infamous strain of
hemophilia appeared. There are many theories as to how and where
the gene originated, none of them conclusive. The Queen, for one,
insisted that no one in her family was responsible. Others
suggested that it may have come from somewhere in the Prince's
family. Many today, however, hypothecate that somehow the gene
mutated in the Queen and was then passed on to her son Leopold,
and to the progeny of three of her daughters. Alice of Hesse
passed it on to at least two of her daughters - Alexandra, of
course, and Irene, who had three boys, two of whom had the
disease. Beatrice, the youngest of the queen's children, also
passed it on to two of her three sons. Vicky was said to be a
carrier, but neither of her living sons had the disease. Leopold,
living a very quiet life, was, perhaps, the most intellectual of
the Queen's sons, the most cultured and artistic, and more
important, a favorite to all. Leopold married Helen of
Waldeck-Pyrmont, and had two children, Alice, who was the last
grandchild to die in 1981, and Charles Edward, who eventually
succeeded to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg Gotha - inherited from his
Uncle Affie and his grandfather, Albert. Leopold died at the age
of 31 after falling down the stairs.
Lastly, (and the Queen must have
breathed a sigh of relief - she absolutely hated being pregnant
and giving birth - she thought it so animalistic), there was
Beatrice (1857-1947). This last child was petted and spoiled and
expected to stay home with mama as her lifelong companion.
Victoria saw no need for Beatrice to marry, and every need for her
to share her eternal mourning of dear Albert, who died in 1861.
(If you understand that Victoria kept herself in mourning for
forty years, and that her grandson patterned himself after her,
rather than his father, you may understand the demeanor of today's
Windsors better.) Beatrice, however, defied her mother. When she
and Prince Henry of Battenburg met, it was easy to understand.
Henry ("Liko") was one of the handsomest princes in
Europe - by any standard. It always seems that when a prince or
princess is called handsome or beautiful, one can expect them to
be passably or even mildly good-looking. However, in the case of
the Battenburg Princes, no such dissembling was necessary. They
were called the most handsome princes in Europe - and there were
four of them (count 'em). One married one of the beautiful Hessian
Princesses, Victoria, and was the grandfather of Prince Philip,
and Henry was given permission to marry Beatrice, after promising
to live with the Queen at Windsor.
The Queen was thrilled with this
last son-in-law. He was so good-looking, and the Queen loved
good-looking men. In some ways, he took the place of her beloved
John Brown, who had died in 1883. She was, therefore, as
devastated as her daughter when he died in 1896. (Henry had
finally managed to get away from Windsor, going on an expedition
to the Gold Coast - he caught malaria and died . . . and was sent
home in a barrel of rum.)
Here, perhaps, a few words about
the somewhat infamous Brown would be in order. After Albert's
death in 1861, Victoria went into deep Victorian mourning. Looking
into mourning of the time, you can only imagine how deep that was.
In the Queen's case, some feared for her sanity. Then, in 1864,
she brought the gillie, John Brown, down from Balmoral, to be her
personal attendant (a gillie is a male attendant on a Highland
Chieftain - today it's mostly an attendant on sportsman).
Initially, he was summoned because dear Albert liked him, however,
later, he began to play an extremely positive role in slowly
pulling the Queen out of seclusion. During Brown's tenure, there
were many rumors of romance and marraige. One need only look at
the Queen's character more than cursorily to know that this was
nonsense. Nevertheless, the aristocracy of the time, bored with no
glittering court to attend (except Bertie's Marlborough House
Set), maliciously ate up the gossip. It was true that Brown was
powerful in the Queen's household and that he spoke to the Queen
and members of her family any way he wished. It was also true that
Victoria considered him a close personal friend, as she did her
dresser, Annie Macdonald. At his death, she asked Tennyson to
immortalize him in verse, and had to be tactfully restrained from
publishing her own personal memories of John Brown.
After the longest reign in British
history, Queen Victoria died in January of 1901, several months
shy of her eighty-second birthday. Her contributions to both the
public life of Britain and the private lives of the royal families
of Europe were immense.
To the Empire, she brought a
dignity, style, and most important, a validation of the monarchy
that had not been witnessed since, perhaps, Elizabeth I. She
wisely used her powerless position to unite the purposes of much
of the political strife that went on during the 19th century - her
style of working with her prime ministers, especially Disraeli and
Melbourne, and took the Royal Family and put it on the level of
the Middle Class. They had the distince impression that she was
like them, and her family was, too. One has only to look at the
lithographs of the 1840's and '50s to see this "typical"
middle class family, imparting and symbolizing middle class values
for Britain, although, of course, nothing could be further than
the truth.
Today it is her great-great
granddaughter that rules the United Kingdom, and Elizabeth's
consort, Philip, is Victoria's great-great grandson. Whether or
not the "normalcy" of Victoria's reign, which was
brilliantly illuminated by the late Princess Diana, will ever
return to the monarchy, perhaps in the person of Prince William,
is debatable, but many in England are hopeful.
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