Alice, The Enigma - A Biography of Queen Victoria's Daughter

by Christina Croft

  Meanwhile, however, Prince Albert had broached the subject of the Hessian princes with his mentor, Stockmar, whose son provided further photographs and the assurance that the young men were of excellent character. Although not entirely convinced, the Queen became more optimistic and decided that a meeting was in order but several anxious months were to pass before she could contrive to bring the young people together.

  In the meantime, stories of Louis’s feelings for Maroussy resurfaced and no sooner had Fritz warned the Queen about the rumours than Louis and Henry announced their intention of visiting England for the Ascot races. Once again, as with the arrival of the Prince of Orange, Queen Victoria was thrown into a panic. If the rumours about Maroussy were true, there could be no possibility of Louis marrying Alice but the visit might well attract speculation which would deter other suitors.

  The brothers’ arrival at Buckingham Palace on 1st June 1860 did little to dispel Queen Victoria’s anxieties. While she found them ‘gentleman-like, natural and pleasing’, she was desperate to uncover the truth about Louis and Maroussy, without revealing her hopes for a match with Alice. In the days that followed, her admiration for the Hessians increased to the point where she described them as ‘the nicest young men I have seen for very long’, but so too did her anxiety as she observed that Louis and Alice were thoroughly enjoying one another’s company, and feared that this might lead to disappointment.

  “You will imagine my agitation not to do too much and yet not to neglect anything,”[74] she wrote to Vicky; and, a couple of days later, her agitation became more intense when her Aunt Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, broached the subject of Maroussy directly.

  While driving back from the races, the Duchess asked Louis whether the Leuchtenberg princess was truly as beautiful as she had been led to believe.

  “Yes,” he replied, leaving the fretful Queen with no alternative but to heed Prince Albert’s advice to simply sit back and wait to see how events would unfold.

  “…but I own with the best intentions,” she told Vicky, “it is impossible for me to help thinking of it constantly, first thing of a morning and the last at night….I put my trust in Providence to order all for the best but the uncertainty is trying.”[75]

  Alice, meanwhile, oblivious of her mother’s distress, was quietly enchanted by the ‘manly’ prince who was paying her a good deal of attention. While she couldn’t fail to realise that any visiting prince might be viewed as a potential husband, her parents had told her nothing of their inquiries and had spoken of him only in general terms to avoid placing her under pressure. Moreover, since his visit coincided with that of the King of the Belgians and several other royalties who had come to attend the races, Louis could be seen as just another guest rather than someone with whom she was expected to fall in love. In such a relaxed atmosphere, Alice and Louis were perfectly comfortable in each other’s company, and, though onlookers were keenly observing them for any sign of a blossoming romance, unruffled Alice’s composure and grace not only impressed her mother, but also won Louis’ heart.

  Interestingly, Leeds, the town in which Alice had made her first official public appearance, would play a part in another major event in her life. Her first evening with Louis was spent at a concert performed in Buckingham Palace by the recently-formed Yorkshire Choral Union, conducted by its founder, Robert Senior Burton, organist at Leeds Parish Church[k].

  Throughout the week that followed, as the Hessians dined at the palace and accompanied the Royal Family to the races, the incessant rain dampened everyone else’s enjoyment of Ascot but it made little difference to Alice and Louis, whose mutual attraction was becoming strikingly obvious. Unsurprisingly, after so short a time, no specific plans came of their meeting but Louis gave Alice his photograph and asked for one of her in return – a sure sign of his deepening affection.

  “There is no doubt that…Louis and Alice have formed a mutual liking,” Prince Albert wrote to Stockmar, “and although the visit fortunately has passed over without any declaration, I have no doubt that it will lead to further advances from the young gentleman’s family. We should not be averse to such an alliance as the family is good and estimable, and the young man is unexceptional in morals, manly, and in both body and mind distinguished by a youthful vigour…The Queen and I look on as passive observers, which is undoubtedly our best course as matters stand.”[76]

  Prince Albert might have been content to remain a passive observer but the Queen was far less patient when it came to her daughter’s future. While acknowledging the wisdom of Albert’s attitude and agreeing that it would be unseemly for Alice to appear desperate for Louis to propose, she was exasperated by Louis’ inaction and, on hearing that Prince Albert had not pressed him to speak of his intentions but had casually invited him to return in the autumn, she petulantly accused him of ‘not caring what happens to our children.’[77]

  To add to her troubles, no sooner had Louis departed than Prince William of Baden arrived in England, hurling her into her habitual agitation at the thought that he might propose to Alice while the situation with Louis remained unresolved.

  If Prince Albert remained unperturbed and refused to intervene, the Queen would not allow Vicky to rest until the situation was resolved. Having urged her to discover exactly what Louis thought of his recent holiday, the Queen was gratified to hear that he had thoroughly enjoyed the visit, and, what was more, Vicky had made contact with his mother, Princess Elizabeth, who was still eagerly hoping for a match. By the middle of July, Princess Elizabeth was able to inform Vicky that her son was filled with admiration for Alice and trusted that his suit would not be ‘met with indifference’. The same day, Louis himself wrote directly to Prince Albert, requesting permission to approach Alice directly when he returned to England in the autumn. Deeply impressed by his courteous behaviour, the Queen and Prince Albert rejoiced at this development and now needed only to ensure that this was precisely what Alice wanted.

  By happy chance, Louis’ letter coincided with a telegram from Prussia, announcing that Vicky had given birth to a little girl. In celebration of the event, Alice and her sisters prepared a meal for their parents in the Swiss Cottage, after which Prince Albert took Alice aside to tell her that Louis intended to propose.

  “To dear Alice,” wrote the Queen, “it was a very eventful day, as Papa told her all, and…you will hear how joyfully these news were received by the dear child.”[78]

  Suddenly Alice’s reluctance to leave home and her fears about marriage and childbirth were forgotten. Although their meeting had been brief, Louis had captured her heart, and, on that summer’s day, amid the salty sea air and the scent of magnolia, the future seemed even more thrilling than the past. Now she could look forward to Louis’ return and eagerly anticipate life as a married woman.

  Even the Queen, reluctant as she was to part with another daughter, could barely contain her excitement as she wrote to the King of the Belgians:

  “…I venture now to confide a secret to you – the details of which you shall hear verbally from us when we have the happiness of seeing you in October. It is that our surmises respecting Louis of Hesse have turned out to be true, and that we have reason to hope that this affair will be in due time realised. The feelings are very reciprocal on both sides, though nothing definitive will be settled till the young people meet again, probably later this Autumn (but not in Germany). Please do not say anything about it to anyone. Your very great kindness and affection for our children has induced me to mention this to you, who moreover saw the first dawning of these prospects.”[79]

  Chapter 8 –

  A Very Dear Good Fellow

  The cold, wet summer of 1860 flew by through the annual migration from the Isle of Wight to Scotland, where the Royal Family paused en route to Balmoral to review a magnificent display of over twenty thousand Scottish Volunteers at Holyrood House in Edinburgh. On a rare sunny day in the middle of such a dull year, Alice, seated in a carriage with her mother and grandmother, d
rove past crowds of over two hundred thousand people, not one of them yet aware of the reason for the radiance of her smile.

  Alice’s cheerfulness lightened the dismal days at Balmoral where, as Prince Albert complained, there was such an ‘utter absence of any summer’ that it was necessary to have fires lit in the house ‘and if you go out you get frightfully wet’. Her joy helped to ease, too, her grandmother’s distress over the news of the recent death of her elder sister, ‘Great Aunt Julia’.

  Returning to the Isle of Wight in September, the Royal Family spent only three days at Osborne before travelling to Gravesend to embark on a long-awaited trip to Prince Albert’s native Coburg. The prospect of the holiday was filled with excitement – not only would Alice have the pleasure of seeing her father’s relations in his childhood home, but there would also be a happy reunion with Vicky and the opportunity to meet her new baby daughter, Charlotte. To add to the cheeriness of the occasion, the people of Gravesend had gone to great lengths to give the royal party and wonderful send-off. Every street from the railway station to the pier was festooned with flowers, bunting and banners, and every window was crowded with smiling faces, cheering loudly as the carriage passed by. A decorative arch, emblazoned with the Royal Crest, had been constructed at the entrance the pier, along which over a thousand guests sat at either side of a red carpet.

  As the Queen boarded the Victoria & Albert, the royal standard was raised and a flotilla of brightly-decorated boats escorted the yacht from the harbour. Following a serene sea-crossing, the royal party made its way through Belgium in an atmosphere of joyous anticipation when suddenly a message was brought to the train which would change the mood dramatically: Prince Albert’s stepmother was gravely ill and it would therefore be advisable to postpone the visit for at least a few days. ‘We hoped that this was merely a temporary alarm,’ wrote the Queen, and, since the train was already en route to Coburg, postponement was impossible.

  At Verviers, a second telegram arrived announcing that the Dowager Duchess had died at five o’clock that morning. Prince Albert was devastated. Only a few days earlier, he had received a letter from his stepmother, describing her excitement at the prospect of seeing him again, but now, as bright summer clothes gave way to the black crepe of mourning, her death cast a shadow over what was to be his final visit to Coburg.

  The gloom was lightened a little by the arrival of Vicky and her children, but observant Alice couldn’t fail to notice that Prince Albert’s melancholy deepened as he revisited the scenes of his childhood. Several times, he seemed to be on the point of tears as though a premonition were telling him that this was the last time he would ever see his home.

  On the afternoon of October 1st, a further ominous event occurred. While Prince Albert was attending to family business, Alice had spent the day with Vicky and their mother, sketching the beautiful scenery in the golden light of early autumn, before strolling back towards the road where they expected to be overtaken by the Prince Consort’s carriage. Instead, they were met by Prince Albert’s equerry, Colonel Ponsonby, who informed them that the Prince’s carriage had been involved in an accident. There was no cause for alarm, Ponsonby said, as the Prince had escaped unharmed but, as he recounted the details of what had happened, the extent of the danger became frighteningly apparent. While approaching a level-crossing, the sound of a train had startled the horses and caused them to bolt, leaving Prince Albert no option but to leap from the fast-moving carriage.

  At once, the Queen and her daughters hurried to the scene only to be warned to avert their eyes to avoid the dreadful sight of the overturned carriage, a seriously injured coachman, and the remains of one of the horses which had run directly into the path of the train.

  Hearing that Prince Albert had been taken to the home of Baron Stockmar, the Queen and Princesses hurried to see him and were greatly relieved to hear him making light of his injuries.

  “He was quite cheerful and talking,” the Queen recorded, “and giving an account of this fearful accident, and, as it proved merciful and Providential escape.”[80]

  The doctor assured the family that the Prince’s wounds were not serious and would leave no lasting scar, but, though no one, least of all the Queen, was prepared to believe it, Prince Albert was already sinking into a decline which would have far more devastating consequences than anyone could have realised. At the time, though, Queen Victoria was so grateful for his ‘providential escape’ that she founded a charity to assist young men and women in apprenticeships and to enable them to set up their own businesses.

  After the shock of the accident and her father’s obvious sorrow at leaving Coburg, the long homeward journey was brightened for Alice by further news from Louis. In cold, rainy weather, the royal party broke the journey in Mayence, where they spent the night in a dull hotel on the edge of a railway line. At eleven o’clock the following morning, Louis parents arrived, having made the long trip specifically to speak with Alice’s parents.

  “[His mother] was most friendly and kind;” wrote the Queen. “[His father] very civil and amiable but painfully shy.”[81]

  Arrangements were made for Louis forthcoming visit to England, and Prince Albert agreed to approach the Prussian Prince Regent to obtain permission for him to be granted a leave of absence from his military duties for the duration of his stay.

  This brief meeting proved to be the only highlight in an otherwise difficult journey, for, no sooner had Prince Albert recovered from his accident, than the Queen fell ill with a sore throat and fever, which was undoubtedly a delayed reaction to the shock of the Prince Consort’s accident, and which left her confined to bed for several days, leading to a brief postponement of the last stage of the journey home.

  Eventually, the family reached England and, as October faded and November dawned, the difficulties of the holiday gave way to excitement at the prospect of Louis’ return. While Alice could think only of his forthcoming proposal, the Queen fluctuated through her usual gamut of emotions: first eager expectancy and the hope he would ‘brush up his English’ before the visit, then alarm and anxiety as she recalled her sorrow at Vicky’s engagement, and agitation at the thought of having to ‘take a stranger into the family.’

  Vicky was equally pessimistic, describing the two years of her own engagement as a most awkward and trying time.

  “By showing one loves one’s ‘future’ with all one’s heart and longs (as one must do if one loves him) that the day of the wedding were nearer, one is afraid of showing ingratitude to one’s parents and one’s home, and one feels so shy and wretched and always between two fires.”[82]

  She could only take comfort from the thought that, since Alice was older than she had been at the time of her engagement, and their parents had been through the situation before, everything would be far less stressful for Alice than it had been for her.

  Louis, accompanied by his brother, Henry, arrived at Windsor in time for luncheon on 24th November. At once the Queen observed that he was far more nervous than he had been during his previous visit, and despite his best efforts to speak English, his mastery of the language had not greatly improved. More disconcertingly for Queen Victoria, days passed and, though Alice was bright and happy in his company, he had not yet summoned the courage to propose. At length, with mounting impatience, the Queen urged Prince Albert to broach the subject with Louis, who responded with such nervous agitation that Prince Albert offered to arrange a time when the young couple could speak privately together. Louis gratefully accepted the offer but, in the end, it turned out to be unnecessary when, a day earlier than expected, he finally spurred himself into action.

  During the course of dinner on the evening of 30th November, Louis, even more nervous than usual, was clearly steeling himself to act. As the company left the table, he spotted Alice standing alone by a chimney piece and took his chance to speak with her. The ever-vigilant Queen had not failed to notice their whispered conversation but, with uncharacteristic tact, she passed by and spen
t the evening dispelling her tension by crocheting until at last:

  “…Alice came to our room, much agitated and we told Papa. We then sent for dear Louis to Papa’s room, where we went in with Alice and here the confirmation of what had occurred took place, and which was very moving as poor Louis was so completely overcome with his feelings as to be unable to say a word; he seemed quite overpowered. Dear Alice was a good deal upset too – but very quiet and sensible and reasonable.”[83]

  From that moment, the Queen received Louis into the family with great affection and, typically, her appreciation of his appearance increased in proportion to her appreciation of his qualities. The previous year she had described him as ‘not handsome’ but now, as she repeatedly wrote of his good looks, she could hardly find sufficient adjectives to praise him. ‘Dear Louis’, she said, was ‘quick’, ‘intelligent’, ‘unaffected’, ‘natural’ and ‘taking an interest in everything’; and he and Alice were ‘not at all sentimental but like two happy children – adoring one another and all full of fun and play.’

  This childlike quality also appealed to Prince Albert, who delightedly wrote to Vicky of the ‘great Alician event’ and informed Stockmar that:

  “We like [Louis] better every day, because of his unaffectedly genial and cordial temper, his great modesty, and a very childlike nature, united with strict morality and a genuine goodness and dignity.”[84]

  Sadly, Louis’ childlike innocence, which was at the time so endearing, would later become a source of great irritation to Alice and cause a good deal of friction in their marriage.

  For now, though, life was filled with wonder and excitement as she and Louis were, in her father’s words, ‘as happy as mortals can be.’ The wedding was planned for 9th June the following year, and congratulatory telegrams and letters poured in from around the world – the only sour note coming from Vicky’s mother-in-law, whose own dissatisfaction led her to resent happiness in others. Callously remarking that she disliked both Louis and his mother, she claimed that she could not understand what all the excitement was about. It would not be the last time that the Prussian Crown Princess would find reason to snipe at Alice, but her words were of little consequence at a time when she and Louis were absorbed in the first thrilling flush of love.