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It amazes
me how even today a vast majority of people are fascinated by the British
Monarchy. Magazines make a lot of money publishing pictures and anecdotes of
members of the Royal Family, be they British or otherwise. I, personally, am a
monarchist. Arguments go on here in Australia about whether or not we should
become a Republic. http://www.republic.org.au/ If it isn’t broken don’t fix it is my motto. I admire and respect Queen
Elizabeth, who has done a marvelous job throughout her long reign, and I do hope
she can continue until the day she passes on. Just my humble opinion.
One of my
brothers met Queen Elizabeth at Portsmouth when she visited one of her Royal
Navy minesweepers that he served on after WW11. His only comment I can recall
was that she was tiny and had lovely skin. My eldest sister, Doris, also met
Her Majesty here in Australia on one of the Queen’s early visits. I seem to
recall my sister was more worried about one of the other waitresses who had the
audacity to be showing an inch of her under slip. That just didn’t do in front of the
Queen. Doris was introduced to the Queen, which gave her something
to talk about for years.
Another
monarch who has fascinated me over the years is Queen Victoria who ruled the
United Kingdom of Gt Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901. Many authors are
also intrigued by the Victorian Era, as shown by the books set in that period.
Mind you, it is not so much Victoria who holds my interest as her large family.
And being a romantic at heart I pictured this idyllic love affair between her
and her beloved Prince Albert, and their perfect life surrounded by their many
children conceived through that love.
Alas, my
previous opinions concerning Queen Victoria were completely shattered recently
when a programme aired on BBC TV; Queen Victoria’s Children. What a fascinating
insight into that royal family.
And what an
eye-opener. Far from being this devoted family, wholly content within their
blissful cocoon, they were what today might be considered dysfunctional to say
the least.
My heartfelt thanks to historian Jane
Ridley for some of the following facts, mainly taken from her book Bertie: A Life of Edward V11, published
by Chatto & Windus:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/14/bertie-life-edward-vii-jane-ridley-review
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/14/bertie-life-edward-vii-jane-ridley-review
Victoria
and Albert’s marriage was a love match of course, but in time their picture of
perfect domesticity was proved a lie. The four sons and five daughters were
born due to Victoria’s insatiable infatuation for her prince. The façade shown
to the world proved to be so different to the actual facts.
Because, in
the 17 years of their marriage, Victoria was pregnant a lot of the time, the
Prince ably took on her heavy workload. This annoyed hell out of her and they
were caught in this power struggle, which caused endless rows, some shaking the
walls of the palace as she stormed about slamming doors. This makes her more
human to me, as my husband and I had many a door-slamming argument even though
we dearly loved each other. Poor Victoria, although she loved her prince she
must have been madly jealous when he made such a good job of the tasks he took
on. Albert became terrified of these temper outbursts of hers and doubtless
considered at times that she might have inherited the madness of George 111.
Truth was,
Victoria detested being pregnant, even though she enjoyed the initial act of
conceiving the babies. And over time she hated almost every one of her
offspring. She brought in a wet nurse as she considered breast feeding
‘disgusting’. Her breasts were more for Albert’s pleasure than to satisfy her
baby’s hunger. In her documented letters to several of her children and friends
she admitted her dislike for her children. To be honest, she was a battle-axe
of a mother, domineering and unlikable, never caring or soft. It seems most of
them couldn’t wait to get married and away from her.
Bertie, the eldest, who later ruled
as Edward V11 (and by all accounts made a not too bad job of it) was disliked,
and even bullied, by both parents for his philandering ways. They both
considered him a half-wit. Imagine! The story of his “fall from grace” when,
while training with the army in Ireland, he smuggled a prostitute into his bed,
is well known. Victoria and Albert must have been beside themselves with
chagrin.
Victoria blamed Bertie for Alfred’s
premature death because, after her husband visited his son at Cambridge where
they took a long walk in the rain, Albert took sick. He died three weeks later,
but it is probable the rain soaking had nothing to do with it. The cause of
death was likely typhoid. Victoria could not bear to have Bertie near her and
for the next 40 years of her life wore black as she mourned her Prince. The
public saw her as a pathetic grief-stricken widow. We now know the story is
very different.
In fact her pathological need to
exact control of her large family caused her to send informers and spies out to
report back to her on all of her offspring. I found it inconceivable to hear that
after Bertie married Princess Alexandra, Victoria went so far as to get the
doctor to report back on everything, even Alexandra’s menstrual cycle.
Victoria once remarked that Bertie
was like her. Obviously she was right, for Bertie was highly sexed, and had a bad temper. His saving grace was that he was charming. At least he has been praised
for the way, in later years, he modernized the British monarchy.
Victoria’s other sons didn’t fare
much better with their mother. Dear Leopold, a hemophiliac, was described by
Victoria as "a very common-looking child". What kind of mother can’t
stand the looks of her son? She did her best to wrap him in a cocoon as if he
was an invalid, appointing a bully of a servant to look after him. Leopold won
the chance to study at Oxford after a long battle with her. He was only 30 when
he died. What a miserable existence he must have endured.
The only son who was anything like
his father was Arthur, later the Duke of Connaught. He was her favorite,
simply because he obeyed her.
As for the girls, Vicky, the eldest
daughter, couldn’t escape her mother’s interference even after she married
Fritz, the heir to the throne of Prussia. Victoria wrote to her daughter almost
every day, trying to manipulate their lives in Germany. And when Vicky became
pregnant what did her mother say? The “horrid” news upset her dreadfully.
Thank goodness Vicky, and her sister
Alice, also married to a German prince, decided to defy their mother and
secretly breastfed their babies. Of course Victoria found out and was furious.
I imagine all the children were scared of their mother at any given time.
Because she was also their sovereign they were compelled in some way to obey
her.
The youngest child Beatrice (known as
Baby) was kept at home. Baby was terrified of her mother. Victoria refused to
speak to her for 6 months after Beatrice told her that she had become engaged to be married to her
own German Prince. Thank goodness there was one daughter with the courage to
rebel. Feisty Louise refused to marry her mother’s choice, and chose Lord
Lorne, the son of the Duke of Argyll instead. Sadly this proved a bad choice as it was
a disastrous, unhappy marriage.
Perhaps I should not be so harsh on
Victoria, for she herself was brought up by an overbearing mother who designed “The
Kensington System”.
This consisted of a strict set of
rules concerning the upbringing of the future Queen. Victoria grew to hate her mother,
who was strict to the point of being brutal. Victoria also hated her mother’s
lady-in-waiting Lady Flora Hastings. Doubtless
Victoria felt released from her mother’s clutches when she married her handsome
Prince Albert. But then all these babies began to come along, putting a curb on
her own pleasures, presumably fostering her resentment. They often say a bully
breeds a bully. Hopefully this trait wasn’t passed on to her offspring. I can't help but wonder just why she didn't look more kindly on her children considering her own miserable childhood.
Queen Victoria’s letters are available in some form from most online book sellers.
Find her scrapbook here: http://www.queen-victorias-scrapbook.org/contents/3-3.html
Queen Victoria’s letters are available in some form from most online book sellers.
Find her scrapbook here: http://www.queen-victorias-scrapbook.org/contents/3-3.html
