Queen Victoria's Matchmaking

by Deborah Cadbury

31 Röhl (1993), p. 20.

  32 Fulford (1968), p. 204, Vicky to QV, 28 April 1863.

  33 Fulford (1981), p. 51, QV to Vicky, 20 August 1879.

  34 Ibid., p. 57, 7 November 1879.

  35 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/80/29, Wilhelm to QV, 23 May 1879.

  36 Fulford (1981), p. 85, Vicky to QV, 5 August 1880.

  37 Ibid., p. 88, QV to Vicky, 21 August 1880.

  38 Richard Hough (ed.), Advice to a Granddaughter: Letters from Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria of Hesse, Newton Abbot, Readers Union Ltd (1976), p. 88.

  39 Röhl (1993), p. 343.

  40 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1880: 14 March.

  41 Fulford (1981), p. 70, QV to Vicky, 22 March 1880.

  42 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/500/1, Wilhelm to QV, 28 December 1886.

  43 Röhl (1993), p. 525.

  44 John van der Kiste, Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germany’s Last Emperor, Stroud, Sutton Publishing (1999, rev. edn 2014), p. 20.

  45 Fulford (1981), p. 183, QV to Vicky, 13 February 1885.

  46 Ibid., p. 183, QV to Vicky, 18 February 1885.

  47 Corti (1957), p. 256.

  48 RA VIC MAIN/Z/82/119, QV to Wilhelm, 13 December 1887.

  49 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/83/6, Wilhelm to QV, 30 December 1887.

  50 Corti (1957), p. 284.

  51 Ibid., p. 259.

  52 Ramm (1990), p. 64, QV to Vicky, 10 March 1888.

  53 Corti (1957), p. 267.

  54 Bolitho (1938), p. 266.

  55 RA/VIC/ MAIN/ Z/68/34, Sir Arthur Ellis to Henry Ponsonby, 16 March 1888.

  56 Corti (1957), p. 268.

  57 Ramm (1990), p. 70, Vicky to QV, 12 May 1888.

  58 RA VIC/MAIN/A/66/107, Salisbury to QV, 21 April 1888.

  59 Röhl (1993), p. 807.

  60 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 24 April.

  61 Ibid.

  62 Ramm (1990), p. 67, QV to Vicky, 27 April 1888.

  63 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/500/2, Memorandum H. M., 25 April 1888.

  64 Daily Telegraph, 15 June 1888.

  65 The Times, 16 June 1888.

  66 Ibid.

  67 RA VIC/ADDU/173/143, QV to V of Hesse, 4 July 1888.

  68 Corti (1957), p. 302.

  69 Röhl (1993), p. 36.

  70 Corti (1957), p. 303.

  71 Bolitho (1938), pp. 259, 269, 273.

  72 Röhl (1993), p. 813.

  73 Ibid., p. 811.

  74 Michael Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times, New York, Norton & Co (1972), p. 119.

  75 Röhl (1993), p. 804.

  76 Ramm (1990), p. 88, Vicky to QV, 30 May 1889.

  77 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/68/191, QV to Vicky, 5 September 1888.

  78 Ramm (1990), p. 77, QV to Vicky, 4 September 1888.

  79 RA VIC/ADDU/173/143, QV to Victoria of Battenberg, 4 July 1888.

  80 Van der Kiste (2014), p. 40.

  81 Röhl (1993), pp. 813 and xviii.

  CHAPTER THREE ELLA AND SERGEI

  1 RA VIC/ADDU/173/133, QV to V of Hesse, 2 March 1887.

  2 Marie, Queen of Romania, The Story of My Life, London, Cassell & Co (1934), vol. 1, pp. 74–5.

  3 Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, London, Longmans, Green & Co (1928), p. 15.

  4 Ibid., p. 12.

  5 Ibid., p. 11.

  6 RA VIC/ADDU/173/32, QV to V of Hesse, 5 July 1880.

  7 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/86/53, Alix to QV, 6 June 1879.

  8 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/87/43, Alix to QV, 18 July 1881.

  9 MB 21/1/Vol. 1, Recollections of Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven, pp. 48 and 22.

  10 Ibid., p. 17.

  11 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/86/93, Alix to QV, 20 December 1879.

  12 MB 21/1/Vol. 1, Recollections, p. 30.

  13 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/87/42, V of Hesse to QV, 15 July 1881.

  14 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/87/2, V of Hesse to QV, 30 October 1880.

  15 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/89/63, Alix to QV, 8 June 1889.

  16 MB 21/1/Vol. 1, Recollections, p. 39.

  17 Buxhoeveden (1928), pp. 7–8.

  18 RA VIC/ADDU/173/142, QV to V of Hesse, 14 June 1888.

  19 RA VIC/ADDU/173/40, QV to V of Hesse, 8 December 1880.

  20 Röhl (1993), p. 326.

  21 Marie, Queen of Romania (1934), vol. 1, pp. 8 and 95.

  22 Fulford (1981), p. 73, QV to Vicky, 5 April 1880.

  23 E. M. Almedingen, An Unbroken Unity: A Memoir of Grand-Duchess Serge of Russia, London, Bodley Head (1964), p. 17.

  24 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/86/62, Ella to QV, 28 July 1879.

  25 Röhl (1993), p. 328.

  26 Ibid., p. 333.

  27 Fulford (1981), p. 73, QV to Vicky, 5 April 1880.

  28 RA VIC/ADDU/173/69, QV to V of Hesse, 7 March 1880.

  29 RA VIC/ADDU/173/24, QV to V of Hesse, 23 September 1879.

  30 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/86/77, V of Hesse to QV, 3 October 1879.

  31 RA VIC/ADDU/173/87, QV to V of Hesse, 21 October 1883.

  32 ‘Russia and Turkey; or, Which is the Gobbler?’, Harper’s Weekly, 22 October 1870.

  33 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1854: 26 March.

  34 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1854: 12 March and 28 October.

  35 George Earle Buckle (ed.), The Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection from her Majesty’s Correspondence, 1862–1878, London, John Murray (1926), vol. 2, p. 488.

  36 Hannah Pakula, The Last Romantic: The Life of the Legendary Marie, Queen of Romania, New York, Simon & Schuster (1984), p. 34.

  37 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1876: 17 March.

  38 Buckle (1926), p. 493.

  39 Edvard Radzinsky, Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar, New York, Free Press (2005), p. 210.

  40 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/87/30, Ella to QV, 23 March 1881.

  41 RA VIC/MAIN/H/43/121, The Earl of Dufferin to QV, 31 March 1881.

  42 RA VIC/MAIN/H/43/93, The Earl of Dufferin to Lord Granville, 25 March 1881.

  43 RA VIC/MAIN/H/43/116, Sir Henry Eliot to QV, 15 April 1881.

  44 RA VIC/MAIN/H/43/40 and 22, The Earl of Dufferin to FO, 15 and 16 March 1881.

  45 RA VIC/MAIN/H/43/22, The Earl of Dufferin, 15 March 1881.

  46 RA VIC/ADDU/173/69, QV to V of Hesse, 7 March 1883.

  47 RA VIC/ADDU/173/66, QV to V of Hesse, 1 January 1883.

  48 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/87/130, V of Hesse to QV, 9 January 1883.

  49 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1883: 22 May.

  50 Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria, London, Penguin, 1971, p. 217.

  51 RA VIC/ADDU/173/74, QV to V of Hesse, 23 May 1883.

  52 Fulford (1981), p. 178, QV to Vicky, 7 January 1885.

  53 RA VIC/ADDU/173/75, QV to V of Hesse, 19 June 1883.

  54 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1883: 23 June.

  55 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1883: 16 August.

  56 RA VIC/ADDU/173/80, QV to V of Hesse, 28 August 1883.

  57 RA VIC/ADDU/173/81, QV to V of Hesse, 30 August 1883.

  58 RA VIC/ADDU/173/82, QV to V of Hesse, 4 September 1883.

  59 RA VIC/ADDU/173/83, QV to V of Hesse, 8 September 1883.

  60 RA VIC/ADDU/173/84, QV to V of Hesse, 11 September 1883.

  61 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88/38, Ella to QV, 15 March 1884.

  62 RA VIC/ADDU/173/85, QV to V of Hesse, 21 September 1883.

  63 RA VIC/ADDU/173/87, QV to V of Hesse, 21 October 1883.

  64 Ibid.

  65 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88/25, V of Hesse to QV, 23 December 1883.

  66 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88/36, Irene of Hesse to QV, 1 March 1884.

  67 RA VIC/ADDU/173/91, QV to V of Hesse, 11 January 1884.

  68 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88/39, Ella to QV, 3 May 1884.

  69 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1884: 17 April.

  70 RA VIC/ADDU/173/98, QV to V of Hesse, 26 April 1884.

  71 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88/47, Ella to QV, 31 May 1884.

  72 Christopher Warwick, Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr, Chichester, John Wiley (2006), p. 73.

  73 Robert K. Massie, The Romanovs: The Final Chapter, London, Random House (1995), p. 9.

  74 Buxhoeveden (1928), p. 18.

  75 MB 21/1/Vol. 1, Recollections of Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Hav
en, p. 82.

  76 Almedingen (1964), p. 23.

  77 MB 21/1/Vol. 1, Recollections, p. 83.

  78 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88/57, Irene to QV, 2 July 1884.

  79 Marie, Queen of Romania (1934), vol. 1, p. 93.

  80 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/90/2, Ella to QV, 22 May 1890.

  81 Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko (eds), A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas & Alexandra, Their Own Story, London, Phoenix (1997), pp. 6–7.

  82 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/88, Alix to QV, 18 June 1884.

  83 Maylunas and Mironenko (1997), pp. 5, 6 and 7.

  84 Warwick (2006), p. 132.

  85 Marie, Queen of Romania (1934), vol. 1, p. 94.

  86 MB1/T95 (F1), Ella to L of Battenberg, 3 November [OS]/15 November 1886.

  87 RA VIC/ADDU/173/132, QV to V of Hesse, 15 February 1887.

  88 RA VIC/ADDU/173/133, QV to V of Hesse, 2 March 1887.

  89 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/89/28, Ella to QV, 22 September [OS]/4 October 1887.

  90 RA VIC/ADDU/173/131, QV to V of Hesse, 2 February 1887.

  91 RA VIC/ADDU/173/133, QV to V of Hesse, 2 March 1887.

  92 MB1/T77 (F2), PAV to L of Battenberg, 7 October 1888.

  CHAPTER FOUR ALIX AND EDDY

  1 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 31 July.

  2 Marie, Queen of Romania, The Story of My Life, London, Cassell & Co (1934), vol. 1, pp. 74–5 and 19–20.

  3 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 6 and 21 September.

  4 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 23 July and 29 September.

  5 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 7 September.

  6 RA VIC/ADDU/173/144, QV to V of Battenberg, 8 September 1888.

  7 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 10 September.

  8 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/51, PAV to George, 12 October 1888.

  9 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 25 September.

  10 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 6 October.

  11 MB1/T77 (F2) PAV to L of Battenberg, 7 October 1888.

  12 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1888: 10 October.

  13 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/89/53, Alix to QV, 11 October 1888.

  14 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/51, PAV to George, 12 October 1888.

  15 MB1/T77 (F2) PAV to L of Battenberg, 6 September 1889.

  16 E. M. Almedingen, An Unbroken Unity: A Memoir of Grand-Duchess Serge of Russia, London, Bodley Head (1964), pp. 33–4.

  17 Christopher Warwick, Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr, Chichester, John Wiley (2006), p. 148.

  18 MB1/T95 (F1), Ella to L of Battenberg, 16 September [OS]/28 September 1889, and undated letter.

  19 MB1/T95 (F1), Ella to L of Battenberg, 22 May [OS]/3 June 1890, and undated letter.

  20 Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko (eds), A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas & Alexandra, Their Own Story, London, Phoenix (1997), p. 10.

  21 Buxhoeveden, p. 22.

  22 Maylunas and Mironenko (1997), p. 15.

  23 Ibid., p. 11.

  24 Ibid., pp. 12–13.

  25 MB11/2/1 and MB11/2/2.

  26 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/89/59, Ernie to QV, Tuesday, February 1889.

  27 RA VIC/ADDU/173/150, QV to V of Battenberg, 31 March 1889.

  28 MB1/T77 (F2), PAV to L of Battenberg, 6 September 1889.

  29 L. Chester, D. Leitch and C. Simpson, The Cleveland Street Affair, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976, pp. 15–17.

  30 Ibid., pp. 7 and 23.

  31 Andrew Roberts, Salisbury: Victorian Titan, London, Phoenix (2000), p. 841.

  32 Theo Aronson, Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld, London, John Murray, 1994, p. 34.

  33 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/89/60 and 63, Alix to QV, 16 April and 8 June 1889.

  34 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1889: 27 August.

  35 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1889: 19 and 23 August.

  36 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1889: 9 September.

  37 MB1/T77 (F2), PAV to L of Battenberg, 7 October 1889.

  38 Ibid.

  39 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1889: 11 September.

  40 MB1/T77 (F1), George to L of Battenberg, 15 September 1889.

  41 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/89/65, Alix to QV, 4 October 1889.

  42 MB1/T77 (F2), PAV to L of Battenberg, 7 October 1889.

  43 RA VIC/ADDU/173/156, QV to V of Battenberg, 30 October 1889.

  44 Ridley (2012), p. 273.

  45 Andrew Cook, Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had, Stroud, The History Press (2008), p. 182.

  46 Ridley (2012), pp. 116–17.

  47 Chester, Leitch and Simpson, The Cleveland Street Affair, pp. 130 and 132.

  48 New York Times, 10 November 1889.

  49 Cardiff Times, 7 December 1889.

  50 Cook (2008), p. 286.

  51 Sir Philip Magnus, King Edward the Seventh, London, John Murray (1964), p. 219; Georgina Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, London, Constable (1969), p. 185; and James Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, 1867–1953, London, George Allen & Unwin (1959), p. 192.

  52 Battiscombe (1969), p. 185.

  53 Aronson (1994), p. 120.

  54 MB1/T77 (F2), PAV to L of Battenberg, 7 October 1889.

  55 Maylunas and Mironenko (1997), p. 14.

  56 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/75 and 76, PAV to QV, 29 November 1889 and 19 January 1890.

  57 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/77, PAV to QV, 2 April 1890.

  58 Count Egon Caesar Corti, The English Empress: A Study in the Relations between Queen Victoria and her Eldest Daughter, Empress Frederick of Germany, London, Cassell & Co (1957), p. 333.

  59 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1890: 23 April.

  60 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1890: 25 and 26 April.

  61 Agatha Ramm (ed.), Beloved and Darling Child: Last Letters between Queen Victoria and her Eldest Daughter, 1886–1901, Stroud, Sutton Publishing (1990), p. 108, QV to Vicky, 7 May 1890.

  62 RA VIC/ADDU/173/160, QV to V of Battenberg, 15 July 1890.

  CHAPTER FIVE EDDY AND HÉLÈNE

  1 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/475/3, QV to PAV, 19 May 1890.

  2 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/83/60 and 64, Margaret to QV, 18 January and 28 June 1888.

  3 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/84/52, Margaret to QV, 21 May 1891.

  4 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/475/3, QV to PAV, 19 May 1890.

  5 Ibid.

  6 RA GV/PRIV/AA31/1, Princess A to George, 17 October 1888.

  7 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1848: 25 February.

  8 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1848: 4 March.

  9 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1871: 8 April.

  10 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1871: 30 April.

  11 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  12 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/475/3, QV to PAV, 19 May 1890.

  13 Ibid.

  14 Prince Michael of Greece, Eddy and Hélène: An Impossible Match, Falköping, Sweden, Rosvall Royal Books (2013), pp. 9–10.

  15 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  16 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/475/3, QV to PAV, 19 May 1890.

  17 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  18 Prince Michael of Greece (2013), pp. 11–12.

  19 Ibid., pp. 13, 14 and 15.

  20 RA VIC/ADDU/173/160, QV to V of Battenberg, 15 July 1890.

  21 MB 21/1/Vol. 1, Recollections of Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven, p. 130.

  22 Ibid., p. 131.

  23 Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, London, Longmans, Green & Co (1928), p. 27.

  24 RA VIC/ADDU/173/163, QV to V of Battenberg, 29 December 1890.

  25 Ibid.

  26 Louis Fischer, The Life of Lenin, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson (1964), p. 10.

  27 London Evening Standard, 3 October 1887, and Hampshire Advertiser, 31 October 1887.

  28 John van der Kiste, Kaiser Wilhelm II: Germany’s Last Emperor, Stroud, Sutton Publishing (1999, rev. edn 2014), p. 47.

  29 John C. G. Röhl, Wilhelm II, The Kaiser’s Personal Monarchy, 1888–1900, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (2001), p. 342.

  30 Prince Michael of Greece (2013), p. 65.

  31 Aronson (1994), p. 199.

  32 Cecil Roberts, Alfred Fripp, London, Hutchinson (1932), pp. 32–3.

  33 Aberdeen Evening Express, 15 September 1890.

  34 Roberts (1932), pp. 34
–5.

  35 Yorkshire Post, 28 August 1890.

  36 Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 28 August, and Huddersfield Chronicle, 15 September 1890.

  37 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  38 Ibid.

  39 Ibid.

  40 RA GV/PRIV/AA31/13, Princess A to George, 30 August 1890.

  41 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ/1890: 26 August.

  42 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  43 Robin Harcourt Williams (ed.), Salisbury-Balfour Correspondence, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire Record Society (1988), pp. 319–20, QV to Balfour, 29 August 1890.

  44 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  45 Williams (1988), p. 319, QV to Balfour, 29 August 1890.

  46 Ibid., p. 322, Balfour to PM, 30 August 1890.

  47 Ibid., pp. 321 and 318, Balfour to PM, 30 August 1890.

  48 Ibid., pp. 321–2, Balfour to PM, 30 August 1890.

  49 RA VIC/MAIN/L/3/27A, 30A, 36A, 36B, QV to Bertie, 7, 9, 19 and 20 September 1890.

  50 Roberts (1932), pp. 58–9.

  51 Patricia Cornwell, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper – Case Closed, London, Time Warner (2002), p. 135.

  52 Andrew Cook, Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had, Stroud, The History Press (2008), p. 297.

  53 Prince Michael of Greece (2013), p. 18.

  54 Ibid., pp. 21–2.

  55 Ibid., pp. 18–19.

  56 Ibid., pp. 19–20.

  57 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/62, PAV to George, 13 September 1890.

  58 Prince Michael of Greece (2013), pp. 20 and 23.

  59 Ibid., pp. 23–4.

  60 Roberts (1932), pp. 46–7.

  61 Prince Michael of Greece (2013), p. 37.

  62 Ibid., p. 40.

  63 Ibid., p. 67.

  64 RA VIC/MAIN/L/3/41, Knollys to Ponsonby, 19 October 1890.

  65 RA VIC/MAIN/L/3/45, Knollys to Ponsonby, 8 December 1890.

  66 RA GV/PRIV/AA39/64, PAV to George, 10 February 1891.

  67 Prince Michael of Greece (2013), p. 60.

  68 Ibid., pp. 64 and 62.

  69 Ibid., p. 68.

  CHAPTER SIX EDDY AND MAY

  1 MB1/T77 (F1), George to L of Battenberg, 15 March 1884.

  2 RA GV/PRIV/AA10/19, QV to George, 2 June 1885.

  3 MB1/T77 (F1), George to L of Battenberg, 20 May 1884 and 8 April 1885.

  4 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/45, George to QV, 5 June 1896.

  5 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/83, George to QV, 8 December 1890.

  6 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/78, George to QV, 21 May 1890.

  7 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/47, George to QV, 28 September 1886.

  8 RA VIC/MAIN/Z/92/64 and 72, George to QV, 22 May 1888 and 6 April 1889.

  9 MB1/T77 (F1), George to L of Battenberg, 13 June 1889.