The Queen and Lord M (12 page)

‘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, then 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!

Dash came up to sniff Lord Melbourne’s boots and when the Prime Minister patted him he licked his hands.

‘All dogs like me,’ said Lord Melbourne.

‘They are noted for their sagacity,’ replied the Queen.

And there they were laughing again. Oh, the meetings in the blue closet were such fun!