The Queen and Lord M (17 page)

The letter to Uncle Leopold appeared to have the desired effect. He wrote back to his dearest and most beloved Victoria to say that he was moved by her expressions of affection. He had not actually thought she had forgotten him, but it did occur to him that he had been put aside as one does a piece of furniture that is no longer wanted. He pointed out, though, how chagrined he had been by Lord Palmerston’s declaration and naturally so, for the Prussians had become very imperious afterwards.

‘… I am happy to say, I was never as yet in the position to ask for any act of kindness from you, so that whatever little service I may have rendered you, remained on a basis of perfect disinterestedness. That the first diplomatic step in our affairs should seem by your Government to be directed against me, created therefore all over the Continent a considerable sensation. I shall never ask any favours of you or anything that could in the least be considered as incompatible with the interests of England; but you will comprehend that there is a great difference in claiming favours and being treated as an enemy …’

Uncle Leopold understood. She could not intervene in State matters for his sake.

He finished his letter declaring that she was never in greater favour with him and that he loved her dearly.

Dear Uncle Leopold! It was sad to think that she could ever regard him as a piece of furniture which was no longer of use! She remembered that when she was a child she had sometimes hoped that some dramatic opportunity would arise so that she could show him how much she loved him. Perhaps she might risk her life for him, perhaps even die for him. And now she could not allow him to interfere with her country’s politics!

It was a new phase. But this was not the first time she had suspected that the closer she came to Lord Melbourne the farther she must draw away from Uncle Leopold.

Leopold declined the invitation to Victoria’s Coronation. He thought that a king at the Coronation would be rather out of place.

There was no time to feel sad about his absence or to ask herself whether he was very offended.

‘At a Coronation,’ said Lord Melbourne, ‘there is so much to do.’

Chapter VI

CORONATION

L
ondon was preparing for the Coronation.

This was going to be a coronation to make all others seem insignificant in comparison; the last two such occasions had been concerned with ageing and not very attractive old men and there was no Monarch so appealing at such a time as a fresh young girl.

From every part of the country people were arriving in London for the event and scaffolding was being erected along the route which the procession would take; houses fortunate enough to be situated there were being let at high rents and shopkeepers and traders looked forward to booming business. A fair had been set up in Hyde Park for the amusement of the visitors and to add to the general rejoicing. Patriotism, the gaiety of the occasion, and the summer weather made that a June to remember.

When Victoria rode out in her carriage she was often held up while the people expressed their enthusiasm. The roads were jammed with the carriages of visitors and, near the Park, all the coming and goings of the fairground people; there was noise, bustle and excitement everywhere and the general subject of conversation among rich and poor alike, was the Coronation.

‘I feel quite
shy
to contemplate that all this is for me,’ Victoria told Lord Melbourne.

‘Shyness,’ replied Lord Melbourne, ‘shows a sensitive temperament – a great asset in a queen.’

‘All the same,’ she temporised, ‘I should like to feel more assured than I do.’

‘When you are in the Abbey you will enjoy it,’ he said lightly.

‘I feel very vague about it. I am not at all sure what I am supposed to do.’

Lord Melbourne waved an elegant hand. ‘The Archbishop will explain everything, but it is all very simple.’

Lord Melbourne always made everything so easy.

‘In the meantime,’ she told him, ‘there is such a fuss about the trainbearers. The Duchess of Richmond is arranging what they shall wear. Did you approve of the ladies I chose?’

‘Your choice is mine – and I must say that you showed admirable perspicacity in the choosing.’

‘I thought I
must
have Lady Mary Talbot as the daughter of the oldest Earl in the Kingdom and a Roman Catholic. I should not want people to think I am biased on religious grounds.’

‘How wise!’

‘And Lady Anne Fitzwilliam I chose because Lord Fitzwilliam has been so kind to me.’

Lord Melbourne nodded. ‘Yes, yes,’ he said. ‘They and the other six are admirable.’

‘I believe you regard the Coronation as a kind of puppet show,’ she accused him.

‘Not
your
Coronation,’ he replied which she told him was a typical Lord Melbourne answer.

She went on laughingly to tell him about the fuss the Duchess of Richmond was in over the costumes.

‘Really, I think she is not very competent. And a little arrogant. She has a very high opinion of her own judgement which is not confirmed by others.’

‘Like almost everyone I know,’ replied Lord Melbourne, and added, regarding her fondly: ‘With one or two notable exceptions, of course.’

She smiled at him affectionately. ‘They are wearing their hair in plaits over the ears.’

‘A charming fashion,’ said Lord Melbourne, because that was how Victoria wore hers.

‘And can you guess what she wanted to do?’ she demanded indignantly. ‘She wanted them to be pale. She said they looked too robust which was not in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion. So she thought the leeches might be applied to draw off some of their healthy colour.’

Lord Melbourne laughed and Victoria’s indignation vanished as she joined in. But she added firmly: ‘Of course I would not allow that!’

‘She must have thought your attendants should look like ghosts?’

‘What a gruesome idea! She thought it would make them look
interesting
.’

‘Wraiths risen from their tombs would certainly create great interest.’

‘Lord M, you are joking about a very serious subject.’

‘Serious subjects are the very ones to make jokes about because funny ones are a joke in themselves.’

‘You are very profound, but this is
my
Coronation and the Duchess of Richmond has stated that she refuses to have the young ladies’ Mammas interfering. They are to have no say in the matter whatsoever. Now she has decreed that they shall wear little flower caps as well as their silver wreaths and these
do
look rather odd. I should like your opinion on them.’

‘As your Majesty’s Prime Minister it is my duty to give it,’ said Lord Melbourne with one of his most appealing grimaces that made her burst into laughter again.

However, she declared
she
was serious and sent a servant to request the Duchess to send in one of the young ladies to her wearing the head-dress, as she was anxious for the Prime Minister’s opinion.

Lord Melbourne studied the head-dress very gravely and said it was pretty. But when they were alone he pulled one of his most comical faces and added that he thought it somewhat
curious
.

Oh, it was such fun to be with Lord Melbourne and she was so gratified because although they laughed and joked about such trivial matters, in the midst of the gaiety he would bring out some important official document such as a letter she must write to the King of Portugal about the suppression of the slave trade or an account of how she must receive members of the Clergy and what she must say to them.

‘I am learning to be a queen,’ she told him, ‘in the most amusing and lighthearted way … thanks to you.’ And in the midst of a discussion on the slave trade they would talk of people’s noses (she was sensitive about hers which was too large for such a small person). ‘People with small noses never made much mark in the world,’ comforted Lord M.

Later they would have to talk about Canada, he added, a slightly worried frown appearing on his fine brow; but for the moment they would devote themselves to the Coronation.

The weather was gloriously hot and foreign visitors were everywhere. The Queen’s half sister, Feodora Princess Hohenlohe, and her husband had come, so had Victoria’s half brother Charles, Prince of Leiningen. The Duchess was happy to have the children of her first marriage with her. They were a great comfort, she told Flora Hastings, when she considered her ungrateful younger child.

Lord Melbourne said there should be an entertainment to welcome them all, and what better than a ball since the Queen enjoyed dancing so much?

‘What a splendid idea!’ cried the Queen. ‘We will dance until four in the morning and this time I hope my Prime Minister will be present.’

‘Only a crisis or ill health will keep him away.’

The ball was fixed for the 18th June which, said Lord Melbourne, was a good date as it was ten days before Coronation day. He had completely forgotten that it was the date of the battle of Waterloo until it was too late to cancel the ball. The French visitors were offended. They referred to it as ‘Le bal de Waterloo’, and there were caustic comments in Paris.

Lord Melbourne shrugged this aside. It would soon be forgotten, he said in his easy-going manner.

At four o’clock Victoria was awakened by the guns in the Park. It was no use trying to sleep again; she was too excited. She prayed that she would go through this day as a Queen should, but she did feel rather nervous.

What a noise there was in the streets! People were already assembling and it was only four o’clock. Some of them she knew had spent the whole of the night in the streets.

She lay thinking of all this day meant and assuring herself that she must never forget that her first duty throughout her life would be to her country.

She was not quite sure what she had to do. The Archbishop of Canterbury was a bit of a bumbler (said Lord M), but the thing to do was to sail through boldly and she couldn’t fail. He had told her of many amusing incidents from other coronations when the most odd things had happened. They had laughed a good deal, until she had said: ‘But they were not funny at the time. It is only fair after that one would be able to laugh at them.’ To which Lord Melbourne replied that the ‘time’ she referred to was brief and the aftermath long so that the short discomfiture was really well worth while. She did wonder though whether the people who had suffered the indignity ever really laughed as heartily as others. Well, said Lord Melbourne, they served their country by amusing it and there was nothing people liked better than to laugh.

‘I’m a little apprehensive,’ she had admitted.

‘Oh, you’ll like it when you’re there,’ he assured her.

It was not a matter of liking or disliking it. It was a dedication and she meant her people to know that this was how she felt about it.

‘I want to dedicate my life to my people,’ she told Lord Melbourne.

‘A very proper sentiment,’ was his reply.

The time was passing and at seven Baroness Lehzen came in through the communicating door.

‘How does Your Majesty feel?’ she asked anxiously.

‘Well and strong.’

‘Now you must try to eat.’

‘That doesn’t usually need a lot of effort, dear Lehzen.’

She was able to prove this with ease.

‘The robes will be rather heavy,’ she commented later to Lehzen. ‘I do hope the trainbearers will manage the train.’

‘They have their own trains to bother them,’ said Lehzen. ‘It was foolish of the Duchess of Richmond to give them trains. I told her so but she was so stubborn.’

‘Well,’ said the Queen philosophically, quoting Lord Melbourne, ‘if anyone trips up or does something absurd we shall no doubt laugh at it afterwards.’

‘Trip up! Be absurd! At your Coronation!’

‘Dear, precious Lehzen, it could happen,’ said Victoria. ‘And I am rather hungry. I did have rather a
little
breakfast, didn’t I?’

Lehzen hurried off to get a further bite to eat and Victoria ate with relish and was ready to get into the State coach when it arrived, there to sit with the Duchess of Sutherland and Lord Albemarle. How exhilarating it was to ride through those streets with people everywhere, waving flags and cheering. She wanted to weep and laugh at the same time. Her dear,
dear
people. Oh how proud she was to be Queen of such a nation!