The Queen and Lord M (10 page)

There was some comfort in reviling the Baroness and the Duchess felt a little better.

Meanwhile Sir John was reviewing his own position. There was not much left to him. He and the Duchess had had a joint plan which had been formulated in Victoria’s childhood. There was to be a Regency of which the Duchess was to be the titular head; and he, through her, would rule the country, although she and the rest of the world would believe that he was merely advising her.

It was not a sudden shock – this repudiation by Victoria. He had seen it coming for a very long time and so had his dear Duchess, so she need not pretend – at least to him – to be so surprised by it.

Victoria had made it clear that she was not going to be guided – by them at least. She was obstinate and so incapable of deceit that she made no secret of her dislike for him. She had told him firmly some time ago that she could not accept him as her secretary and that meant he would have no place in her household. Well, if he were to have no place in her household he had better make other plans and quickly.

I have given years of my life in the Duchess’s service, he told himself with a smirk. I have therefore looked after the Queen’s affairs. I deserve a reward which will make my retirement worth while.

There was no point in under-estimating himself and as soon as possible he should make his wishes known.

He would have liked to make them to the Queen but she would most certainly refuse to see him, or at best delay doing so. Melbourne? Melbourne was wily; he did not think he wanted to approach the Prime Minister direct. Baron Stockmar was the man. The Baron was the born intermediary and he would know how to couch Sir John’s request in diplomatic terms.

He went at once to see Stockmar. Sir John sniggered inwardly. We are allies in misfortune in a way, he thought. The Baron had also aspired to the secretaryship and been declined – more politely in his case but nevertheless he was refused the post, so it came to the same thing in the end.

‘Baron,’ he said, ‘I have reached the conclusion that the time for my retirement has come.’ He smiled deprecatingly. ‘I have reason to believe that there are some in the royal household who will not greatly regret my departure – in other words they may well be glad to see me go, and inclined to reward me for doing so. Therefore I will not beat about the bush. I am ready to go in exchange for the following considerations: a peerage, naturally; a pension of three thousand pounds a year; a seat on the Privy Council and the Grand Cross of the Bath.’

‘You must be joking,’ said Stockmar.

‘I never joke on a serious subject.’

‘My dear Sir John, do you really think these requests will be granted?’

‘I have every confidence, Baron.’

‘There is no harm in being confident,’ replied the Baron.

‘Certainly no harm … only good. So you will place my terms before Lord Melbourne?’

His terms! thought the Baron. It was as though this were some disreputable bargain. Was it? There had been a certain amount of scandal concerning Sir John and the Duchess. Could it possibly be that this man was suggesting it would be necessary for the Queen to meet these demands because of her mother’s relationship with him?

It was certainly a matter to lay before the Prime Minister.

‘You may be assured,’ said the Baron, ‘that I shall lose no time in giving your suggestions to Lord Melbourne.’

‘Good God!’ cried the Prime Minister. ‘Have you ever heard of such demands? The insolence! Why a Cabinet Minister would not expect so much.’

The Baron lifted his shoulders. ‘Conroy was in a very special position in the Duchess’s household.’

‘Good God,’ said the Prime Minister again. ‘It’s a form of blackmail.’

‘One might call it that.’

‘The fellow’s a rogue.’

‘I fear you may be right.’

‘The Queen will not have him near her.’ He smiled tenderly. ‘She is very shrewd, which is quite miraculous in one so young.’

‘She has always disliked him.’

‘And rightly so. The blackguard. A seat on the Privy Council! I never heard anything like it.’

‘You will know how to deal with the matter, Prime Minister.’

Melbourne hesitated. ‘In view of the rather delicate situation it will need some devilish clever handling.’

‘I thought you would see it that way.’

‘I’ll consider it. Leave the matter with me.’

In spite of her youth she was the Queen and Melbourne could not conceal from Victoria the fact that Conroy had made his demands.

Victoria flushed with indignation when she heard. ‘I always hated him. He told me once that I resembled Queen Charlotte and the Duke of Gloucester.’

Lord Melbourne burst out laughing. Victoria looked astonished but when Lord Melbourne laughed she always wanted to, so she laughed with him.

‘Odious creature!’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘And an obvious liar. How could you possibly look like Queen Charlotte and the Duke of Gloucester?’

‘You knew them both. What were they like?’

‘As unlike Your Majesty as it is possible to be.’

More laughter. How happy he made her feel even at this time.

‘What should be done about this man?’ she asked.

‘Nothing in a hurry,’ replied her Prime Minister.

‘I was hoping you would say dismiss him from Court.’

‘That is what I should like to say, but the desire does not always coincide with the necessity.’

‘I wish I need never see him again.’

‘We might arrange that.’

‘Then you will have arranged something very much to my liking.’

‘We shall have to
consider
his demands in view of … er … his position in your mother’s household.’

She blushed rather charmingly as she said: ‘I know I can talk to you frankly, Lord Melbourne.’

‘I trust Your Majesty is able to do that because it is very necessary to our relationship that we should be entirely frank with each other at all times.’

‘A certain amount of scandal has been whispered about Mamma.’

‘Ah! Scandal,’ murmured Lord Melbourne, and she thought of his own very colourful life in which so many scandals had existed. Yet, she thought, he is the most perfect gentleman. But she was sorry she had mentioned the word if it brought back unhappy memories to dear Lord Melbourne.

‘There are some people,’ she said loyally, ‘whom scandal cannot touch. But that is, of course, if they are
innocent
.’

Grasping the implication Lord Melbourne gave her a grateful look. How well we understand each other! she thought blissfully.

‘But to return to this odious man,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘He has been in the household of the Duchess of Kent for many years. I suppose a certain reward should be given him. Besides, it would be worthwhile to rid ourselves of him, would it not?’

‘I should be delighted to be rid of him.’

‘All Your Majesty need do is refuse to see him in any circumstances. But
I
would like to exile him to the country.’

She nodded.

‘In the meantime,’ said Lord Melbourne, ‘we will shelve the matter by considering it. It is always better to let these things simmer and avoid rash actions.’

She was sure he was right. He always was right in any case.

When Lord Melbourne left, a messenger came to tell her that her mother the Duchess of Kent wished to see her.

She knew what this meant. Mamma was going to ask her to agree to Sir John’s terms. Having no desire to be embroiled in one of her mother’s scenes, remembered with such distaste from the days when she was, as she now began to consider herself, ‘Mamma’s prisoner’, she sent back a message to say that she was too busy to grant the interview.

Then she sat down to think about Sir John and what a menace he had been in her childhood. If Mamma had not allowed that odious man to dominate her household, how different everything might have been and how glad she was that she now had Lord Melbourne to deal with this most disagreeable affair.

The Duchess’s fury was turning to despair. To receive a note from her daughter saying she was too busy to see her own mother was the last straw, she declared to Sir John.

‘She is dominated by Melbourne,’ he told her. ‘You can depend upon it. He is the one who is responsible for this high-handed behaviour.’

‘Who does he think he is … the King?’

Conroy grinned. ‘Well, he might well be aspiring to that position.’

‘You are not suggesting that she would marry the man!’

‘Oh, no, even I wouldn’t go as far as that. There’s forty years difference in their ages and the Queen can’t marry a commoner.’

‘I should think not. The sooner she is married to one of her Coburg cousins the better.’

‘Your brother Leopold will see to that, and I gather he still has some influence though he may well be ousted by Melbourne.’

‘It shall be Ernest or Albert. She shall have the choice. And the sooner the better, I believe.’

‘She is surrounded by our enemies, that is the trouble.’

‘And she is so easy to lead.’

‘We did not find it easy to lead her,’ Sir John reminded her.

‘By some people,’ amended the Duchess. ‘Melbourne … Lehzen …’

‘Ah, Lehzen,’ sighed Sir John a little reproachfully. ‘What a pity you cannot get someone more sympathetic to us into her household.’

‘I will beg her to take in Flora.’

‘That’s a good notion.’

‘And I shall ask her to see you sometimes. Her not doing so, in such a pointed way, makes it a little embarrassing for me.’

Sir John nodded. He knew that people were already whispering that the Queen’s aversion to Sir John was due to her mother’s relationship with him.

‘I will write to her since she is too busy to see her own mother.’

‘Write calmly,’ said Sir John.

‘You may trust me.’

She sat down at her desk and feathers quivering with emotion she wrote to her daughter. She hoped that she was not letting Melbourne know how much she disliked her mother’s Comptroller of the Household. In fact was she confiding too much in Lord Melbourne? Did she not think it might be wiser to see a little less of her Prime Minister?

‘Take care,’ she wrote, ‘that Lord Melbourne is not
King
.’

When Victoria received the letter she blushed hotly.