The British Monarchy Miscellany

by Alex David

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  Notable Royal Artists

  Over the centuries many members of the Royal Family received instructions in artistic disciplines, particularly painting and music. The following Royal Family members distinguished themselves in particular arts, or by

  producing some artistic work of renown.

  Henry VIII

  (1491-1547)

  Musician, Composer

  A monarch of many talents, Henry VIII’s greatest artistic gift was music. He played the lute, virginals, recorder and organ, sang with a fine voice, and composed both secular and sacred music. A manuscript kept in the British Library records 33 compositions to his name including the

  popular tunes Pasttime With Good Company, Green Groweth the Holly, and Oh, My Heart! .

  Mary Queen of Scots

  (1542-1587)

  Needlework artist

  Mary learned the art of embroidery as a young child at the French court and kept practicing it all her life. Her 659

  most famous works were embroidered whilst she was

  imprisoned in England between 1569-1587 and include pictures of animals, flowers and emblems, some of them set in elaborate compositions. Some of her work can be admired today at the Victoria and Albert Museum in

  London, and at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk.

  Anne of Denmark

  (1574-1619)

  Actress, Musician

  James I’s wife commissioned and starred in elaborate court plays called ‘masques’, which were famed for their magnificent sets and lavish costumes. Between 1604 and 1611 she is known to have acted in six masques—four of them written by Ben Jonson—on one occasion famously performing when six months pregnant. Anne was also a skilled musician, playing the lute, virginals and the lyra viol.

  Prince Rupert of the Rhine

  (1619-1682)

  Draughtsman, Printmaker

  Charles I’s nephew was one of the first people in England to experiment with mezzotint, a printing technique to reproduce artwork that improves the quality of dark and light tones. Some scholars actually credit him with being one of the inventors of this technique. His most famous 660

  mezzotint work, The Great Executioner, was partly inspired by the execution of his uncle Charles I.

  George III

  (1738-1820)

  Draughtsman, Amateur Architect, Musician

  George was particularly fond of architecture and from his youth produced many drawings of classical buildings, architectural vistas and landscapes. Forty-five such drawings survive in the Royal Collection today, as well as over 100 architectural plans made by the king for study or pleasure. George was also a competent musician

  playing the harpsichord and the flute, and was

  particularly fond of playing Handel music.

  Princess Elizabeth

  (1770-1840)

  Draughtsman, Painter, Decorator

  All six of George III’s daughters received training in drawing and painting but the most talented was Princess Elizabeth, George’s third daughter. Elizabeth was a skilled draughtswoman who produced individual paintings,

  miniatures and prints, all of which are kept in the Royal Collection. She also painted fans and porcelain, and decorated some rooms at Frogmore House with images

  of flowers and Chinoiserie.

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  Queen Victoria

  (1819-1901)

  Draughtsman, Painter

  Victoria was taught how to draw as a child and later learned how to paint watercolours. She became a very competent artist and was particularly good at capturing people, especially children. She could paint from life as well as from memory though she preferred real subjects instead of works of imagination. Her sketchbooks, kept in the Royal Collection, contain hundreds of drawings, paintings and watercolours. They include portraits of her family and courtiers, landscapes from Scotland,

  seascapes from the Isle of Wight, and views from the places she visited.

  Prince Albert

  (1819-1861)

  Composer, Designer, Painter, Architect

  Victoria’s Prince Consort was probably the most multitalented person to ever be part of the British Royal Family. Besides being able to draw and paint, he designed jewellery and furniture, drew architectural plans for both Osborne House and Balmoral, sang and played the piano.

  He also composed music. There are over 40 musical

  compositions to his name including songs, hymns, and a Te Deum that was played at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Service in St Paul’s Cathedral in 1887.

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  Princess Louise

  (1848-1939)

  Sculptor, Painter

  Victoria and Albert’s fourth daughter inherited her parents’ talents for drawing and produced striking

  portraits of Queen Victoria kept today in the Royal Collection. Her greatest talent however was sculpting which she learned at the National Art Training School in Kensington, London, and in the studio of sculptor Joseph Edgar Boehm. Her most famous work is the statue of her mother that still stands before Kensington Palace,

  London, which she sculpted in 1890-1893. Other works include beautiful busts of some of her siblings, and a soldiers’ memorial in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

  Queen Mary

  (1867-1953)

  Painter, Needlework Artist

  George V’s Queen Consort could draw and paint in

  watercolours, but her real talent was in needlework and weaving. Her greatest work was a large carpet she wove between 1941 and 1950 when she was in her seventies.

  The carpet is made up of 12 panels filled with floral designs, each panel signed ‘Mary R’, and contains over 1

  million stitches. Mary donated it to charity in 1950 to raise money for Britain after the Second World War, and today it is one of the exhibits at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

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  Prince Charles

  (1948- )

  Painter

  Prince Charles received initial training in painting during the 1970s and 1980s from several artists including

  Edward Seago. Over the years he has become a skilled watercolourist and his work is often shown in exhibitions under the name of Arthur G. Carrick (Arthur and George are two of his four Christian names, while Earl of Carrick is one of his official titles). His work focuses on landscapes, especially from royal estates in Scotland and Norfolk, and also views from his travels. Prints and lithographs of his works are regularly sold to raise money for charities, however the paintings themselves are never sold.

  Sarah Armstrong-Jones

  (1964- )

  Painter

  Princess Margaret’s daughter studied painting at the Camberwell School of Art, and later also at the Royal Academy School where she won two prizes in 1988 and 1990. Following her studies she became the first modern royal to take up art as a professional career and her artwork is currently being handled by the Redfern

  Gallery, a private art gallery for contemporary artists in London. She specializes in still lifes and landscapes, mostly abstract.

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  Royal Writers

  Most monarchs and members of the Royal Family have

  left written records in the form of letters, journals and government papers. A select few however have

  distinguished themselves with their writing skills by becoming published authors. Listed below are royal

  family members who are known to have written books

  throughout the centuries. At the end of the list a special mention is made about Queen Victoria’s voluminous

  writing output besides her two published books.

  Alfred the Great

  (849-899)

  One of the first English kings who could read and write, Alfred initiated a program to educate the English people which included making classical books available in the common English tongue. He himself translated works by Gregory the Great, Boethius and St Augustine from Latin into English, wrote dedicated
prologues for each work, and in many cases edited the books to make sure the works would have relevance to his subjects’ lives.

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  Henry VIII

  (1491-1547)

  Before his break with Rome in the 1530s Henry had

  written a book, in Latin, against the Protestant heresies of Martin Luther called Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (A Defence of the Seven Sacraments). Published in 1521, it went through several editions and was even translated into German. Although it is thought the King had

  considerable help from theologians who prepared the bulk of the book in advance, Henry added his own

  material and certainly edited the finished work.

  Catherine Parr

  (c.1512-1548)

  Henry VIII’s sixth wife was an erudite woman who

  published three religious works during her lifetime. Her first book, Psalms and Prayers (1544) was merely an anonymous English translation from Latin of a work by John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. Her second work,

  Prayers and Meditations, was a collection of original prayers published in 1545 and is credited with being the first book published by an English Queen under her own name. Catherine’s third book, The Lamentation of a Sinner (1547), was a highly praised Protestant theological work describing the search for salvation through faith alone.

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  James I

  (1566-1625)

  A well-trained scholar in politics, theology and language, James I produced the most intellectual works ever

  written by a British monarch. His most famous books explored royal political theory: The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598) carefully laid down the theory of the divine right of kings, while Basilikon Doron (1599) described the duties and responsibilities a of successful monarch. Other books included Essays of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie (1585), a book on poetry; A Counterblaste to Tobacco (1604), a prescient treatise on the bad effects of smoking on one’s health; and

  Demonologie (1597), a Socratic dialogue on witchcraft and demonic possession.

  Queen Victoria

  (1819-1901)

  Besides putting more words to paper than any other

  British royal in history (see below), Victoria published two books during her lifetime, both about her experience of life in Scotland. Leaves from the Journal of Our Lives in the Highlands, adapted from her personal diaries, was published in 1868 to enormous success, and was

  followed 16 years later by More Leaves from a Journal of a Life in the Highlands. Victoria also wrote a memoir of John Brown which she planned to publish privately,

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  however she was dissuaded from doing so by her private secretary and the manuscript was eventually destroyed.

  John Campbell, Duke of Argyll

  (1845-1914)

  The Duke of Argyll—Princess Louise’s husband and

  Queen Victoria’s son-in-law—was a prolific author who wrote travelogues, biographies, novels and tracts

  between 1867 and 1910. His books included A Trip to the Tropics and Home to America (1867), Canadian Pictures Drawn with Pen and Pencil (1885), and a popular biography of Queen Victoria published after her death in 1901 entitled V.R.I: Her Life and Empire. He also published a biography of Lord Palmerston and a two-volume autobiography.

  Queen Marie of Romania

  (1875-1938)

  Marie was a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of

  Edinburgh, a granddaughter to Queen Victoria, who

  married the heir to the throne of Romania and later became Queen of that country. During and after her time as Queen she wrote over 30 books and tracts including fairytales, patriotic works about Romania, and a highly acclaimed three-volume autobiography, The Story of My Life (1934).

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  Princess Marie Louise

  (1872-1956)

  Shortly before her death in 1956 Princess Marie Louise, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, published a memoir entitled My Memories of Six Reigns in which she recalled her ‘rich experience’ during the reigns of Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II. Her candid recollections included an account of her unhappy marriage to a German prince, and Victoria’s confession to Marie Louise that she never actually uttered the phrase

  “We are not amused.”

  Princess Alice of Albany

  (1883-1981)

  Like her cousin Marie Louise, Alice, Queen Victoria’s last surviving granddaughter, also wrote a volume of

  memoirs, published in 1966 under the title For My Grandchildren. Her recollections ranged from her memories of Queen Victoria to the coronation of

  Elizabeth II. They included her experiences whilst serving as Viceregal Consort in South Africa and Canada, and frank impressions on many famous people of her time like WE Gladstone, Kaiser Wilhem II and Winston

  Churchill.

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  Princess Michael of Kent

  (1945- )

  Prince Michael of Kent’s wife has authored half a dozen books since 1986. Four of them are non-fiction works on royal history, including a book on famous royal brides, Crowned in a Far Country (1986), and one on famous royal mistresses, Cupid and the King (1991). Two of her books have been novels based on the lives of two famous 15th century French women, Yolande of Aragon and

  Agnes Sorel.

  Charles, Prince of Wales

  (1948- )

  The Prince of Wales’ writing skills first came to the fore in 1980 when he published a children’s book called The Old Man of Lochganar, a story set on the Royal estate of Balmoral in Scotland. Since then he has also published A Vision of Britain: A Personal View of Architecture (1989), and Watercolours (1991). He also co-authored a number of books on the Highgrove Estate and about sustainable living, and has written a number of lectures on art, history and the environment.

  Sarah, Duchess of York

  (1959- )

  Prince Andrew’s former wife has been the author of

  numerous books since 1989. The majority have been

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  children’s stories, including a series of books on Budgie the Little Helicopter, and one on a nursery doll called Little Red. She also co-wrote two books on Queen

  Victoria, two memoirs, and a series of self-help books for Weight Watchers, one of which was inventively titled Dining with The Duchess.

  Empress of Words:

  A Short Assessment of

  Queen Victoria’s Writing Output

  Queen Victoria’s writing output throughout her life belies belief. If one were to add all the words contained in the Bible, the entire works of William Shakespeare, the Lord of the Rings and the entire Harry Potter book series, the total would be equivalent to less than half the words Victoria put to paper throughout her life. It has been estimated that, between her journals and letters, Victoria wrote down between 1,000 and 2,000 words every few

  days, adding up to over 10 million words by the time she died in 1901.

  Her daily writing practice began in 1832, when at the age of 13 she was given a diary by her mother to record her impressions during a trip to Wales. From that moment forward she never stopped writing and continued

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  keeping a diary for her entire life, the last entry dictated to her daughter Princess Beatrice on 13 January 1901, nine days before her death at the age of 81. Her collected diaries today run to 141 volumes, numbering over 43,000

  pages, however this is still less than half the words Victoria originally wrote down in them. On her death she left instructions to her daughter Princess Beatrice to edit the diaries for anything controversial, a task that Beatrice carried out with ruthless efficiency and that, to the great consternation of scholars and other members of the

  Royal Family, included destroying most of the original diaries written in Victoria’s hand.

  Besides her diaries, Victoria was also one of the most prolific letter-writers of the 19th century, an era when letter-writing was already a daily routine for many.
After her eldest daughter Vicky married into the German

  imperial family and left England in 1858 Victoria kept up correspondence with her for over 40 years, totalling over 3,700 letters. She similarly kept regular correspondence with all her children and grandchildren after they moved away from home, and also with other heads of state in Europe. When publishers began to search the Royal

  Archives for her letters in 1904 they were faced with 460

  volumes of correspondence to choose from. To these

  must also be added all the letters that were kept by the original recipients and are now scattered between state archives and private collections, making an official tally of 672

  all the letters Queen Victoria wrote in her lifetime virtually impossible to accomplish.

  Her journals however—or rather what was left of them after editing—have been carefully organised over the years and have recently been made available to everyone through an official British Monarchy website,

  queenvictoriasjournals.org. The website shows photos of every page of the journals, typed transcriptions for every page, as well as some recovered original excerpts from the diaries that escaped Princess Beatrice’s destruction.