The Queen's Husband

by Jean Plaidy

  ‘Lord Melbourne, I am in absolute agreement with you.’

  ‘Her Majesty is at this moment grateful to you. She is ready to lean on you. Perhaps this is the moment to tell her that the governess should go.’

  Albert was thoughtful. Then he shook his head.

  ‘She would never agree. She would become excited and when she does so her temper is violent. To attempt to win her consent to the Baroness’s dismissal now would be dangerous. I confess I am alarmed – considering her condition – when she flies into these tempers. I shall wait.’

  ‘But it will be your ultimate object?’ asked the Prime Minister.

  ‘You can be assured of that, Lord Melbourne.’

  The political crisis reached its head. The government had been defeated on the budget and as it did not resign a vote of confidence was taken, the result of which was 312 in favour of the Opposition, 311 for the government. Lord Melbourne’s Ministry was defeated by one vote, and there would now be an election.

  The Queen was distressed but at least Albert had arranged matters so that she could not be humiliated over her bedchamber ladies.

  Albert was delighted because he had been offered an honorary degree and must go to Oxford to accept it.

  ‘You will of course accompany me?’ he asked.

  ‘But of course, Albert, I am so proud of you and nothing pleases me more than when other people realise your worth. I see it is to be on the fourteenth. That is very soon. I will tell Lehzen to make preparations for our departure immediately.’

  ‘Victoria.’

  ‘Yes, Albert?’

  He hesitated. ‘Do we need Lehzen?’

  ‘Need Lehzen? Why, Albert, Lehzen and I have never been separated.’

  ‘This would be a very short separation.’

  ‘Nevertheless we should be apart and that hasn’t happened before.’

  ‘It is different now you are married.’

  ‘In a way, Albert, yes, but being married is no reason why I should change towards my dear friend.’

  Albert said: ‘I thought she was invaluable in looking after little Vicky.’

  ‘But of course she is.’

  ‘You did not propose taking a baby of a few months on a trip to Oxford?’

  ‘But of course not, Albert.’

  ‘The Baroness is in charge of the nurseries, is she not?’

  ‘She is, you know, Albert.’

  (Yes, I know it, thought Albert, and regret it, and it will not be for long.)

  ‘Then she must be there to take charge of the baby. Vicky cannot be trusted to the nurses.’

  Victoria saw the point of this. Lehzen would have to stay behind.

  It was only a half victory. He hated the thought of Lehzen’s being in charge of his children. Judged by his meticulous standards the woman was quite incompetent – but at least on this occasion he had arranged it so that they could escape from the Baroness for the while.

  The Oxford journey was quite a success although Victoria did miss Lehzen.

  ‘Do you realise, Albert,’ she said, ‘that I have never before been parted from the Baroness since I was five years old.’

  ‘It is a very long time,’ said Albert, thinking, far too long.

  When they returned to Buckingham Palace Lehzen greeted her as though their separation had lasted years.

  ‘I have been so anxious,’ she said. ‘I thought that you might be feeling a bit low and I shouldn’t be there to look after you.’

  ‘My lowness was only due to being parted from you, dearest Daisy,’ said the Queen.

  The Duchess of Kent, who was taking a tour of the Continent, wrote from Amorbach where she was staying in the house of her son and Victoria’s half brother, the Prince of Leiningen:

  It is like a dream writing to you from this place. My heart is full. I am so occupied with you and Albert and the precious little creature …

  She showed the letter to Albert, who was moved by it. Mama would not have been writing like that a year ago. This change in their relationship was largely due to Albert and she must realise that it was far better to be on affectionate terms with one’s own mother than to harbour animosity.

  ‘Mama has changed so,’ she said to Albert.

  ‘Perhaps you have too a little, my love,’ he said.

  She did not think so, She had always been ready to be on friendly terms. It was Mama and that dreadful John Conroy who made it impossible.

  Lehzen sniffed over the Duchess’s letter when Victoria showed it to her.

  ‘It remains to be seen how long this mood will last,’ she commented.

  ‘Albert is delighted and in fact has really done everything to bring this change about.’

  Lehzen was silent, but after a while she said that she was glad the Queen was not of a temper to be led by people who might not have a real understanding of the true state of affairs.

  The elections would soon be taking place and there was an air of excitement in London. The Queen thought that it might be rather pleasant to go into the country for a while, paying a round of visits. There were several Whig houses who would be honoured at the prospect. Secretly she thought it was a good way of showing her people which side she supported – as if they did not know this! There had been enough talk about her and Lord Melbourne.

  The trip to Oxford had been interesting and she would enjoy taking Albert into some of her subjects’ stately homes.

  ‘Let us travel as we did before,’ said Albert. ‘It was most enjoyable … It gave us an opportunity of being together more often.’

  She was delighted at the prospect until she realised he meant that the Baroness should stay behind.

  ‘Travel without Lehzen! Impossible!’ she cried.

  ‘It was not impossible before.’

  ‘Oh, but that was such a short time.’

  The Prince was in despair. He feared he would never rid the household of the woman and he was coming more and more to the conclusion that she was a mischief maker, at the heart of the trouble, and that life would never run smoothly for him and Victoria while she was there.

  The Princess Royal was refusing to eat; she lay whimpering in her cot and the Queen was quite anxious.

  ‘She is such a cross child,’ she said to Lehzen. ‘She never seems to smile nowadays.’

  ‘It’s her teeth,’ comforted Lehzen. ‘She’s bound to be fretful.’

  Albert was continually in the nursery questioning the nurses as to what the baby had to eat. Lehzen would stand, lips pursed, listening, and the looks she gave him were venomous.

  I must get rid of her, he thought.

  He approached Lord Melbourne again.

  ‘That woman must go,’ he said. ‘She is constantly interfering between me and Victoria. Could you not advise the Queen that we should be better without her?’

  Lord Melbourne appeared to consider this. He knew full well how devoted the Queen was to the Baroness, and while he believed the royal household would be better without the latter, he did not intend to jeopardise his friendship with the Queen by showing open animosity to the Baroness. No, that was for Albert. All the time the Queen and Lord Melbourne had been friends Lehzen had not been a menace to their relationship. She was, therefore, the Prince’s affair; he must be the one to get rid of her.

  Albert went on: ‘If you could bring about her removal before you leave office that would be a good thing. It would be easier coming from you. She will never accept it from Peel.’

  ‘Your Highness, Her Majesty would tell me that the Baroness’s position in the household is not a state matter and therefore no concern of the Prime Minister. And rightly so. This is a domestic matter. The Queen would therefore resent my interference. It is for Your Highness to remove this woman and now is perhaps the time.’

  ‘I couldn’t do it – not with the new baby so soon to arrive.’

  Lord Melbourne advised his usual policy: Put it off.

  ‘After the child is born is the time,’ he said. ‘Particularly if it is a
boy. There will be great rejoicing and the Queen will be very happy. Yes, put it off until then.’

  Albert sighed; he longed to tell the Queen exactly what he felt, but he dared not. He feared storms, which could be so bad for her in her condition.

  But Lehzen did not accompany them on their tour.

  The excuse was that Pussy was not as well as they would have hoped and therefore Lehzen must remain behind to superintend the nursery.

  It was a delightful tour. They visited Panshanger, the home of Earl Cowper, Woburn Abbey, the Duke of Bedford’s place, and finally – and most happily as far as the Queen was concerned – they were entertained by Lord Melbourne at his country house, Brocket Hall.

  ‘There!’ said Albert. ‘Did you not enjoy your round of visits?’

  ‘Completely,’ replied the Queen. ‘And I’ll tell you what pleases me most. It is to see how people are beginning to appreciate you, Albert.’

  ‘You make me so happy,’ said the Prince.

  ‘Dearest Albert. Everything would have been perfect if we had had dear Pussy and Lehzen here.’

  The Prince felt a little deflated; but the fact was she had enjoyed the visit, separated from Lehzen as she had been and with the prospect of Lord Melbourne’s imminent departure from the premiership. He was becoming the most important one in her life.

  Very soon after their return the results of the election were known. It was, as had been expected, a decisive victory for the Tories; Sir Robert Peel’s representatives in the house would number 368, Lord Melbourne’s 292.

  The Queen shut herself into the blue closet to brood alone for a short while, thinking what this meant.

  There could be no way out of this. Sir Robert Peel would be her new Prime Minister – and she must say goodbye to her beloved Lord Melbourne, but only she assured herself as Prime Minister. He would remain her dear friend.

  On that hot August day she waited in the blue closet, the scene of so many happy meetings. She had thought of it as their particular sanctum and had always refused if possible to see anyone else there. And now he was coming for the last time as her Prime Minister and she felt very sad.

  He came and stood before her; she looked for the tears in his eyes and was certain that she would find them.

  She held out her hands; he took them both and kissed them.

  ‘So it has come,’ she said.

  ‘It was inevitable. Only Your Majesty has kept it at bay for these last two years.’

  ‘At least I did that.’

  He smiled tenderly. ‘And now, there is the Prince to stand beside you. It will be easier now than then. That is something I remind myself of continually.’

  ‘I shall never forget,’ she said.

  ‘Nor I. But this is not the end, you know.’

  ‘I am determined that it shall not be.’

  ‘May I give Your Majesty one piece of advice?’

  ‘You must go on giving me advice for years to come.’

  ‘Since Your Majesty is so kind I will not hesitate to do so now. I beg of you send for Peel without delay. If you did not it might be construed as a slight. It is my earnest desire to see you on good terms with your new government.’

  ‘I shall never like Peel. He fidgets. He is nervous and that makes me uneasy.’

  ‘You will put him at his ease. There is already an understanding between him and the Prince.’

  ‘Oh, yes, Albert is quite fond of the fellow.’

  ‘As you will be … in time.’

  She shook her head. ‘I shall never forgive him for taking you from me.’

  ‘I am here still. Perhaps Your Majesty will continue to write to me. I think the loss of those letters would be something I could not bear.’

  ‘I shall write to you as before and you shall advise me, and I shall always think of you as my dear … dear friend.’

  ‘And you will lean on the Prince. You will find him strong and shrewd.’

  ‘I have the best husband in the world, I know.’

  ‘He will be a great comfort to you and may I say it is a comfort to me to leave you in such good hands.’

  She was too emotional to speak and he went on to say that he should not stay. She had not yet sent for Peel. People would know how long he had been with her. They must not be unwise.

  She clung to his hands for a moment; then he bowed and left her.

  She went to her room and blinded by tears she collected some of her drawings together – her favourite ones. Some of them he had seen before and admired. They should be his – her last gift to him as Prime Minister. He would understand that by giving him her own work she meant him to have the best that she could offer.

  As soon as he received the drawings he wrote to thank her for them.

  Lord Melbourne will ever treasure them as remembrances of Your Majesty’s kindness and regard, which he prizes beyond measure.

  They will, as Your Majesty says, certainly recall to recollection a melancholy day, but still Lord Melbourne hopes and trusts that with the divine blessing it will hereafter be looked back upon with less grief and bitterness of feeling, than it must be regarded at the present.

  She wept over the letter. She remembered so much from the past: the first day when she had become Queen and he came to cheer and comfort her with his dear presence; she remembered their conversations, his witty, often inconsequential remarks which had amused her so much; she remembered her jealousy when he had spent too much time at Holland House. Then she had been a young girl – a queen it was true – but carefree, as far as a queen could be. She remembered the first summer of her reign. She had never really spent such a joyous summer. Then she had not realised that cares and anxieties went with the pomp, ceremonies, gaiety and the freedom of being Queen.

  But that was past; now she was a wife, the mother of one child and soon to have another; and she knew that she had to be wise and strong; and now that she had lost her dear Prime Minister she must try to come to terms with the one she was sure she was going to dislike.

  Almost immediately it was necessary to see Sir Robert Peel. The interview was brief, lasting only twenty minutes but Sir Robert was less ill at ease than he had been on that disastrous occasion two years ago; and very anxious for the Queen to know that he wanted their relationship to be smooth and easy. He was as respectful as she could wish. He said he would give her a list of the members of his cabinet for her approval. There was no hurry over this matter, said the Queen, and she would prefer to study the list at her leisure. Sir Robert left and the Queen sighed with relief.

  Victoria immediately sat down to write to Lord Melbourne and tell him exactly what had happened. She ended by writing:

  What the Queen felt when she parted from her dear kind friend Lord Melbourne is better imagined than described; she was dreadfully affected for some time after, but is calm now. It is very, very sad and she cannot quite believe it yet. The Prince felt it very much too, and really the Queen cannot say how kind and affectionate he is to her, and how anxious to do everything to lighten this heavy trial; he was quite affected at this sad parting. We do, and shall, miss you so dreadfully; Lord Melbourne will easily understand what a change it is, after these four years when she has had the happiness of having Lord Melbourne always about her. But it will not be so long till we meet again. Happier and brighter times will come again. We anxiously hope Lord Melbourne is well and safe. The Queen trusts he will take care of his valuable health, now more than ever.

  She was weeping over the letter when Albert came in.

  ‘Read it,’ she said. ‘Oh, Albert, I shall have to learn to be without him now.’

  Albert took her hands and looked steadily into her face.

  ‘You will have to put your trust in me now, Victoria.’

  ‘I do, Albert.’

  ‘All your trust,’ he answered.

  She nodded; but he was thinking of the Baroness who still remained as the shadow between them.

  The Queen was now getting so heavy that her thoughts were
largely taken up with her approaching confinement. Lord Melbourne wrote almost as frequently as he had in the past; he called often and so she did not miss him as she had feared she would. Albert admired the new Prime Minister and it was wonderful how he was able to ease the situation between Peel and the Queen. (‘Although,’ she often said, ‘I shall never like him; and as for his ever taking the place of dear Lord Melbourne that is quite impossible.’) Lehzen fussed a good deal and was always insisting that she rest and should not be disturbed. She even tried to get Albert out of the bedroom, but Albert would not accept this.

  Victoria was less irritable and not nearly so nervous as she had been before the birth of the Princess Royal. That young lady was however giving them cause for anxiety. Pussy would not eat; and she was always crying. Sir James Clark had said she could not take rich foods and put her on ass’s milk and chicken broth. Albert said he thought this was not enough for the child and Lehzen insisted that if these were the doctor’s orders they must be followed.

  ‘Certainly they must,’ said the Queen. It was, as Lehzen had said, Pussy’s teeth which were coming through which made her peevish. It was the same with all children.

  And on the 9th of November the Queen’s labour began; she had arranged with Albert that ministers and dignitaries should not be told until the birth was imminent. She was not going through what she did last time with people gathered in the next room listening to her cries of agony.

  The child was born. She lay back exhausted and triumphant.

  Albert, beside her, beaming with pride and joy, had given her the good news.

  ‘My dear love, we have a Prince of Wales.’

  Chapter XI

  NOT THE QUEEN, BUT ALBERT’S WIFE

  There was great rejoicing throughout the country. All the dreary prognostications of the Queen’s going the same way as her cousin Charlotte were forgotten. Only two years married and she had two children and the second was a healthy boy.