“But romantic,” added Harriet, and secretly I agreed with her. Everything about Lord Melbourne seemed romantic.

“He must have been very handsome when he was young,” went on Harriet.

“He is still very handsome,” I replied firmly.

“Indeed yes. Men like that are attractive from the cradle to the grave. What is so fascinating about him is that he does not seem to care …I mean he is never striving for anything. He just takes everything that comes as his right, as it were. He seems unhurried. I don't mean about people. His manners are beautiful. I mean about what happens to him. He is always so unruffled, so unperturbed.”

“I think that is because he is so much a man of the world,” I said.

She agreed.

“He is a man of the world. He goes everywhere. He was very friendly with George IV… especially when he was Regent. He was at Carlton House, Holland House and of course the Bessboroughs' place at Roehampton. That was where he met Lady Caroline Ponsonby—Lord Bessborough's youngest daughter. They say she was very attractive. They called her Ariel…Sprite and the Fairy Queen.”

“She must have been lovely,” I said, “and I daresay you are going to tell me that he fell in love with her.”

“Unfortunately for him … he did.”

“Why unfortunately?”

“At first her family did not think he was worthy of her.”

“Lord Melbourne… not worthy!” I cried indignantly.

“He wasn't Lord Melbourne then, only plain William Lamb. But then his brother died and Lord Melbourne was the heir, of course, and they changed their minds. At first the married pair were happy, and then she became … wild.”

“Wild? In what way?”

“Doing unconventional things.”

“Poor Lord Melbourne!”

“They said he endured it by developing that aloofness, that indifference. It was his only way of coping with that strange wife of his. And there was a child…a little boy who was never quite like other boys.”

“You mean he was mentally deficient?”

“Yes, I mean that.”

“My poor, poor Lord Melbourne. How wonderful he is! He is so merry… always.”

“But do you find him a little cynical?”

“I would say that he is laughing at the world…finding it amusing. He is very clever, I am sure of that.”

“He just shuts himself away with his books.”

“He is so well read.”

“Oh yes, he is certainly that.”

“And what happened about Lady Melbourne?”

“The great scandal was due to Lord Byron.”

“The poet?”

“Yes. She conceived a passion for him, and of course Your Majesty will have heard of his reputation.”

“Most scandalous.”

“She pursued him. He was very cruel to women. He took them up and discarded them. He took up Caroline Lamb, after she had made a shameful exhibition of herself, chasing him everywhere. He lived for a while at Melbourne Hall… about nine months, rumor has it. But of course he tired of her as he did of all women, and then, in the normal way, he discarded her.”

“And what happened then?”

“She was wild with jealousy and that meant that she behaved more outrageously than ever. She wrote a novel. I found an old copy and read it. It was called Glenarvon. The heroine, Lady Avondale, was of course Caroline herself. Lord Avondale was Lord Melbourne and the wicked Glenarvon was Byron. It had a big circulation. The whole of society was reading it. Poor Lord Melbourne separated from her, and then went back to her, and they lived in the same home but led separate lives, I believe.”

“How could Lord Melbourne endure such a life?” I asked.

“I have heard it said that his nature helped him. He cultivated that quality of aloofness which he has now. He was able to get outside events and view them from the edge. He did not allow himself to get involved. He devoted himself to his books. They say that he never fails to read every publication even now. It was his books which were so important to him. They enabled him to shut himself away from everyday life. He was just indifferent. Of course that maddened Caroline. She would have liked him to be frantically jealous of all her love affairs; but he would not be. He just smiled at them and let them pass over his head. Perhaps that is the only way to survive in such a situation.”

“He is a wonderful man. And what happened to her? She died, I know.”

“The end came when Byron died. She discovered this by accident and it was a terrible shock to her. She became really mad then and had to be shut away. She went down to Brocket, one of the Melbourne residences, and she died there.”

“That must have been a happy release for poor Lord Melbourne.”

“Indeed it must have been. He was already a Member of Parliament and he became Chief Secretary for Ireland in Canning's government. He went to Ireland and there he got caught up in another scandal. There was a certain Lady Brandon there with whom he became friendly and Lord Brandon accused him of improper intimacy with his wife, and sued him.”

“I daresay he was just being friendly with her. He is a very friendly man.”

“The Lord Chief Justice who tried the case pointed out to the jury that nobody could give a word of proof against Lord Melbourne who firmly denied the accusation, as did Lady Brandon. The case was dismissed.”

“I am sure that was the right verdict.”

“Then later there was the case of Caroline Norton.”

“I have heard of her. Was she not the playwright Sheridan's granddaughter?”

“She was. A very attractive woman, Your Majesty, and married to a rather insignificant man who was several years older than she was. He was a Member of Parliament but when the Reform Bill was passed and several boroughs were absorbed into others, he lost his seat. Caroline Norton asked Lord Melbourne's help to find a post for her husband. Lord Melbourne did help to find him something.”

“He is always so kind.”

“There was a friendship between Lord Melbourne and Caroline Norton, for she was a very intelligent woman and liked good conversation. She quarreled with her husband and he said he would divorce her and cite Lord Melbourne as co-respondent.”

“So that was the second divorce case in which he was involved.”

“There was a great deal of noise about that as you can imagine, he being Prime Minister; and of course the Tories thought this would be of great use to them and they decided to make the best use of it they could. The Norton servants gave evidence, and it was proved that they had been bribed, and many of them were far from reputable characters. The verdict in due course, much to the chagrin of the Tories, was in Lord Melbourne's favor.”

“I am sure it was the right one.”

“Your uncle, the King, was delighted, but he did say that Melbourne was lucky to have gotten away with it, and his friends induced him to be more careful in future. He was really very lucky both in the Brandon and Norton cases. He did offer to resign.”

“He would, of course. He would feel it was the honorable thing to do.”

“The Duke of Wellington would not accept his resignation. I believe he was of the opinion that Lord Melbourne was too good a politician to have his career ruined because of what might have been a run of bad fortune.”

“How right he was!” I shivered. Suppose Lord Melbourne had resigned. Someone else would have been Prime Minister. I could not imagine that there could be anyone who would please me as Lord Melbourne did. I was indeed glad that he had not resigned.

“And that son of his?”

“He died.”

“Oh dear. What terrible sadness he has had in his life!”

“In a way he was lucky. Lady Caroline would have been no wife for a Prime Minister. Imagine the scandal she would have created. He is better without her. As for his son…he would have been a grief to him. Imagine a man as erudite as Lord Melbourne with a son who could not read.”

“Oh yes, indeed. But he has had a sad, sad life.”

“He is really very resilient.”

“He is a wonderful man, and, of course, there are always those who are ready to pull down those who tower above them.”

“Your Majesty is right, but his lordship did get involved on these occasions, and he does seem a little unfortunate with the women with whom he became involved.”

“I have always found his conduct just what it should have been. I am sure he has been the prey of unscrupulous people.”

The Duchess looked at me intently and said, “I see that Lord Melbourne has made a favorable impression on Your Majesty.”

“I find him honest and straightforward; and I am sure he will not fail to be truthful to me.”

I was glad I knew something of his past. A man who had come through so much would naturally be very worldly and sophisticated. I admired him more than ever. I liked that easy nonchalance; and most of all, I think, I liked his manner, which was so delightfully protective. He gave me courage, which was what I needed at that time; he made me feel that I was entirely capable of performing my duty, and I was confident that, with such a man to guide me, I could not fail.


* * *

AFTER I HAD learned about Lord Melbourne's adventurous past I felt closer to him than ever. I had the greatest admiration for a man who could go through so much and appear unscathed by it. It was the right attitude to life, I decided. I must try to emulate it.

I told him once how I never ceased to be grateful that I had come to the throne when he was Prime Minister. “For,” I added, “it could so easily have been someone else.”

“You would have found whoever was there was just as able to advise Your Majesty.”

“This is the first time I have had to disagree with you, Lord Melbourne.”

“It is true, Your Majesty.”

“Lord Melbourne, I must ask you not to contradict the Queen.”

Then we burst into laughter. He stood up and bowed very solemnly. “A thousand pardons, Ma'am,” he said. “You are right, and to be honest, in my heart, I am in complete agreement with you.”

There was nothing solemn about him. He made everything a matter for amusement. He was so consoling.

I told him about my dear friend Harriet, of whom I grew fonder every day.

“Your Majesty is of a most affectionate nature.”

“Anyone would be fond of Harriet. She is so handsome…so tall. I do wish I were not so short. Everyone else seems to grow …except me. I always have to look up to people.”

“No, Ma'am, it is everyone who must look up to you.”

“I mean in inches.”

“We have so many instances in public life of people who are less than average height in stature rising to great heights in achievement. Think of Lord Nelson. He was a little man. Napoleon…”

“I would not wish to be as he was.”

He put his hand inside his jacket and struck a Napoleonic pose, which made me laugh.

“I think there is very little danger of that happening, Ma'am,” he said. “Oh, there are instances everywhere. Personally I think giantesses and Amazons a most unappealing brand of female.”

“You make me feel better, Lord Melbourne, as always.”

“Shall I tell you a secret?”

“Oh yes, please do.”

“You remember the first Council meeting when you came in looking so young…so tiny…so regal…? There was not a dry eye in the place. You conquered all by your… slightness. You looked so young, so appealing that there was not a man there who would not have died for you. I doubt they would have felt the same emotion if confronted by a monumental figure of a Queen.”

He looked at me with tears in his eyes and I thought: Yes, he is right. They did like me. I could sense their feeling for me. So perhaps it is not so bad to be small.

“Of course,” I went on, “I am a little plump.”

“We do not want a skeleton to rule us, Ma'am.”

And I was laughing again.

“It is because the Duchess is so beautiful …” I tried to explain. “I love to look at her face. She is so animated … almost always. She has a delicate nose, so beautifully shaped. Mine is rather big. You must admit it.”

“I will only admit to its being exactly the right shape and size to fit. In fact, did you know that people with little noses rarely achieve greatness?”

“Is that so?”

“Undeniable.”

I laughed and said, “This is a strange conversation for a queen to have with her prime minister. We ought to be talking of serious matters. Harriet is very serious.”

“She seems to possess all the virtues.”