Виктория Холт - The Queen and Lord M

‘What a wicked scandal!’

‘It is, but we have to reckon with wicked scandals. A sovereign is in the arena to be shot at. A sovereign has to make sure that he – or she – gives no opportunities to people to cast slurs. You understand what I mean. Marriage is what you need, my precious angel. And soon.’

She was a little shaken but adamant. The fiery temper showed itself in her eyes though her voice was tender as always for dear Uncle Leopold.

‘Dearest Uncle,’ she said, ‘I should never allow unworthy gossip to drive me into a situation which was abhorrent to me.’

‘Abhorrent!’ cried Uncle Leopold in horror.

‘I was speaking generally, dear Uncle. Of course Albert is not abhorrent to me. I love all my cousins. Dear Alexander was delightful. So were Augustus and Leopold. I am wretched at the thought of parting with them. And I am sure Albert and Ernest are equally pleasant. I merely mean that I will not allow malicious people to dictate my actions.’

Nor even beloved uncles, she was implying.

Oh, she had indeed changed; and it was necessary to get Albert to England as soon as possible.

* * *

Uncle Leopold could stay no longer. He and Aunt Louise were due to start very early in the morning to catch the tide. Victoria, who had determined to say goodbye once more before they left although they had already said their farewells the previous night, arose at a quarter past four and went to their apartments. They were sitting in their travelling clothes ready for departure, eating their breakfast by the light of several candles. Sad as she was, Victoria’s mouth watered at the sight of thin bread and butter and eggs and she could not resist joining them in their breakfast.

This was not the time, even Uncle Leopold realised, to indulge in further persuasion so he contented himself with a tender farewell; and from her bedroom window the Queen tearfully watched them leave.

How very sad it was, to say goodbye to dear relations; but her sorrow was tinged with apprehension. Very soon Cousin Albert would be arriving and then she would have to make her decision.

* * *

She was touchy and irritable with Lord Melbourne.

‘I believe you are pleased to see my cousins depart,’ she accused him peevishly.

‘They were rather noisy,’ he answered.

‘And of course they spoke in German which you do not understand. That must have been very tiresome for you.’

‘Not at all,’ said Lord Melbourne blandly, ‘for I do not believe I missed a great deal.’

‘I enjoyed their company very much.’

‘Which was evident and made their visit worthwhile.’

‘Poor Lord Melbourne! I believe their noise interrupted your little naps.’

‘That is exactly the case,’ agreed Lord Melbourne.

She burst out laughing. ‘I am young after all. I don’t think I see enough young people.’

‘You certainly did during the visit.’

‘A young person like myself must sometimes have young people to laugh with.’

‘You lead rather an unnatural life for a young person,’ admitted Lord Melbourne. ‘It’s the life of a man.’

‘I do feel that is so sometimes. But the excitement did me good.’

‘You may suffer for it afterwards. You must always take care of your health. You have complained of a certain listlessness. It would be dreadful if you were to take a dislike to your official duties.’

‘You need have no fear, Lord Melbourne, that I shall ever fail in my duty,’ she said coldly.

* * *

She was tense; she was apprehensive. The thought of marriage frightened her. Oh, why, she demanded of Lehzen, did everything have to change? She kept harking back to that happy, happy summer when everything was so pleasant and the people loved her.

‘Nothing stands still,’ Lehzen reminded her.

‘I know that,’ she snapped. ‘I am not a child, although I am well aware that you sometimes think I am.’

Her ladies whispered together that she had changed. Once she had been so considerate to them; now nothing they could do seemed right for her.

Even Lord Melbourne displeased her. Understanding her better than anyone else and realising that it was fear of marriage that made her so irritable and bad tempered he sought to soothe her. He wanted her to realise that there was absolutely no need to consider marriage a necessity at this stage; he wanted to lull her into a peaceful frame of mind. All she had to do was inspect her cousins and if she did not like them she could send them packing.

She was aware of this and was afraid of marriage; yet she wanted to marry. She loved Lord Melbourne, and she had never analysed her feelings for him. If he had been young and royal how easy that would have been! Lord Melbourne understood their relationship far better than she did and he was saddened because he knew that it had reached its peak and must now inevitably decline. Her present state of mind affected him deeply. He could not bear to see her unhappy. If she could marry now and make a success of her marriage and her life, his work had been well done. He knew – and had known all through – that his place could only be on the edge of that life, and he must now be ready to stand aside.

He tried to see less of her. This called forth abuse from her.

She was soon writing to him:‘The Queen was a good deal vexed at Lord Melbourne’s not coming …’

This was to one of her dinner parties to which he had not received a formal invitation but it was regarded as the accepted thing that he should be present and he always had been in the past. She was miserable without Lord Melbourne to sit beside her and make his amusing comments and go to sleep and snore if he wished to. This last habit might displease her and sometimes embarrass her, but she wanted him there.‘The Queen thinks it is important that Lord Melbourne should be here at large dinners. She insists upon his coming to dinner tomorrow, and begs him to do so on Wednesday also, her last two nights in town, as she will probably not see him for two days.’

When Lord Normanby changed places with Lord John Russell as Home Secretary, Melbourne, who had felt it wiser to avoid her company for a while, omitted to tell her and she learned of the change through Lord Normanby.

She was incensed … and against Lord Melbourne.‘Lord Melbourne never told the Queen that this was definitely settled. This has happened before.’

Then remembering that he had looked a little tired at their last meeting and the old tenderness returning she added:‘The Queen has such unlimited confidence in Lord Melbourne that she knows all that he does is right but she cannot help being a little vexed at not being told things.’

When he came to her in the blue closet he could see from her expression that her mood was stormy and it was not his good friend who stood before him, but the Queen. So cold and regal was she – and nobody knew how to convey this manner better than herself – that he did not sit down in his usual easy manner but remained standing until she gave him permission to do so.

She withheld this and sitting herself, talked to him as he stood.

Realising suddenly how tired he looked she was filled with remorse and insisted at once that he sit down when she began upbraiding him for not taking enough care of his health. He was always talking about hers. She commanded that he be more careful.

She saw the tears in his eyes and then everything seemed just as it had been. She was foolish to worry about Albert’s coming when she had this dear good friend to advise her.

The next day she sent him a little present.‘The Queen sends this little charm which she hopes may keep Lord Melbourne from all evil, and it will make her very happy if he will put it with his keys …’

She wanted him to understand that although she was going through a difficult stage, and although she appeared bad-tempered and nervous sometimes, her feelings for him could not change.

Sometimes she was quite herself and they talked in the blue closet.

‘I feel very much against marrying,’ she admitted.

‘It’s a very serious matter,’ agreed Lord Melbourne, ‘concerning as it does both the State and your personal happiness. To get the ideal man we should have to make one.’

That was typical Lord Melbourne and she was soon laughing while he conjured up a picture of the perfect man he would make to share the throne with Victoria.

‘He must not be in the least stupid.’

‘Of course not. Do you think I want a stupid husband?’

‘Nor cunning.’

‘Do you think he would get the better of me?’

‘He would never do that.’

That made her laugh again and almost restored her old merriment.

‘He would have to be equable in temperament.’

‘And not have a quick temper?’

‘One of those is enough in any family – royal or otherwise,’ said Lord Melbourne.

He was so amusing.

‘I have no great wish to see Albert.’

‘You might change your mind when he comes.’

‘I hate to have to decide.’

‘Decisions which are so final can often be disagreeable,’ said Lord Melbourne.

‘Do you think I might decide never to marry?’

‘I need notice of that question,’ said the incorrigible Lord Melbourne.

She felt so much better talking to him.

‘How I wish Albert were not coming,’ she said.

But when Albert wrote to her and told her – without adequate reason – that he would be arriving three days late, her temper flared up.

‘He does not seem very eager to get here,’ she commented to Lord Melbourne. ‘That seems to me very odd. After all who is he but quite an obscure prince?’

‘And a German,’ said Lord Melbourne.

‘And I am the Queen.’

‘Of England,’ added Lord Melbourne.

She was angered by Albert’s apparent indifference which, said Lord Melbourne, was a little odd seeing that she was not in the least eager for him to come.

Francis Charles Augustus Albert Emmanuel, otherwise known as Prince Albert, the second son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was not feeling very happy as the carriage carried him and his elder brother Ernest towards the dock where he was to take ship to England.

In fact only the company of his brother, to whom all his life he had been devoted, and that of his pet greyhound Eös comforted him.

Albert was reserved by nature and he hated all the preparation and fuss which had gone into making him a suitable husband for the Queen of England. He would have been glad if Ernest had been the chosen one except that he was too fond of his brother to want him to be submitted to what he had had to endure. He had been faintly surprised when he heard that he was the bridegroom elect. It had happened after that visit to England three years ago when he had first met his cousin Victoria, a very self-possessed young person of sixteen. Surely he had thought she would have preferred Ernest – besides Ernest was the elder. But no, it seemed her choice had fallen on him!

His Uncle Leopold, who ran the family affairs, was determined on this match. He had already succeeded in marrying other members of the family into the royal houses of Europe, but nothing, he had said, was as important to him as to see his niece and nephew united and ruling England together.

That was all very well, Albert reasoned to himself, but Victoria was the Queen and he could only be her consort, which he did not feel to be a very dignified position.

He had discussed it with Ernest who had retorted, ‘Oh, yes, but you will have to see that Victoria obeys you.’ When he remembered that rather regal girl of sixteen he wondered whether this could be achieved; and nothing else would suit him, of course.

Then he knew that Uncle Leopold had been trying to bring about a definite betrothal for more than a year and that Cousin Victoria had said that she did not wish to be definitely betrothed.

‘It is somewhat humiliating,’ said Albert to Ernest.

Ernest was less serious and more intent on enjoying life, whereas Albert wanted to do what was right and honourable and be respected.

‘And if,’ went on Albert, ‘there is any delay I shall simply release myself from any understanding.’

‘My dear Albert,’ replied his brother, ‘she will only have to take one look at your manly beauty and she’ll succumb.’