Queen Victoria

by Bartley, Paula;

  One of the first diplomatic incidents that the Queen and Palmerston faced was over the question of Belgium. Victoria, largely because of her relationship with her Uncle Leopold, was personally anxious about a crisis in Belgium, a country originally ruled by the Netherlands. In August 1830, the Belgians had risen up against their Dutch masters and declared their independence. A conference of major European powers, including Britain, France and Prussia, recognised Belgian independence, established the borders of the new state and decided on Leopold, Victoria’s uncle, as Belgium’s first monarch. The Dutch were unhappy about this and in August 1831 invaded Belgium, only to be repelled by the French army. Seven years later, in 1838, the newly created Belgium remained in danger of again being annexed by the Netherlands. Leopold asked his niece to put pressure on her ministers to protect Belgian interests; he had no scruples in using his kinship with Victoria to further the cause of his newly created kingdom. Queen Victoria found herself placed in a difficult situation, trying to balance family loyalty and national duty. Acting with due constitutional propriety, she showed Leopold’s letters to Melbourne who drafted her response. ‘My Ministers’ she wrote to Leopold ‘should, as far as it may not conflict with the interests or engagements of this country, do everything in their power to promote the prosperity and welfare of your Kingdom.’72 Victoria couched her letters in diplomatic language, interspersing formality with affectionate phrases such as ‘dear Uncle’, and ‘I love you tenderly’. At the same time, Victoria warned her uncle that in future she would not touch upon political matters in her letters, as she did not want to ‘change our present delightful and familiar correspondence into a formal and stiff discussion upon political matters’. 73 Leopold had been warned. Nonetheless, Victoria put pressure on her government to protect Belgium. She told a senior royal naval officer, Lord Seymour,74 who wanted to blockade Belgium that it ‘would be so awkward for me to do; and that Uncle would never forgive me for it. Talked of the Inconvenience of Sovereigns being related.’75

  In 1839, a Treaty of London, mainly instigated by Palmerston, settled the conflict when all the European powers, including the Netherlands, recognised Belgium as an independent country and guaranteed Belgian neutrality. In the early twentieth century, this treaty would have momentous significance, far greater than ever expected by those who signed it. In 1914 when the German army invaded Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany because it had violated Belgium neutrality. Germany was surprised. Its Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg could not understand why this ‘mere scrap of paper’ signed so long ago had precipitated Britain’s entry into the Great War.

  Queen Victoria and Palmerston were equally concerned about the Turkish Ottoman Empire but for different reasons. Victoria feared the breakdown of family relationships whereas Palmerston feared the breakup of that empire. The Ottoman Empire was a multinational, multireligious empire that ruled over much of southeast Europe, western Asia, the Middle East, Egypt and other parts of north Africa. It also controlled the Caucasus, which today consists of parts of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ossetia and parts of Russia. By the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was in decline, weakened by internal dissension and demands for independence by the subjugated countries. The Russian tsar dubbed it the ‘sick man of Europe’. In 1839, the Egyptians, led by Mehmet Ali, challenged Ottoman authority and war broke out between the two. The Egyptian army made very rapid progress and soon threatened the existence of the Ottoman Empire by invading Syria. Palmerston, fearing that the breakup of the empire would threaten the whole region and lead to land grabbing by Russia and France, persuaded the great powers, that is, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria, to sign a treaty pledging to maintain the integrity of the Ottomans. However, when conflict seemed likely, France refused to be involved in any coercive action against Egypt. In the end, Palmerston excluded France from the negotiations and signed a secret treaty with Austria, Russia and Prussia guaranteeing hereditary rule in Egypt in return for its withdrawal from the occupied countries. France was furious at Britain’s secret diplomacy and immediately threatened war while Egypt, counting on France’s support, refused to evacuate its captured territories.

  It was a complicated situation. Victoria’s uncle Leopold was married to a French princess, so the Queen was as much worried about family ramifications as she was about the stability of the Ottoman Empire. She became especially anxious when the British and the other powers intervened with force, bombarded Beirut and Acre and deposed the Egyptian Mehmet Ali. The French, furious both at Britain’s secret diplomacy and at Egypt’s humiliation, became so belligerent that a European war seemed likely. The French prime minister called up reserves, strengthened the French fleet, fortified Paris and threatened war.76 Victoria confessed that she was ‘in a great state of nervousness and alarm, on account of Leopold; terrified at Palmerston’s audacity, amazed at his confidence, and trembling lest her uncle should be exposed to all the dangers and difficulties in which he would be placed by a war between his niece and his father-in-law’, the King of France.77 The Queen urged a reluctant Palmerston to compromise with the French ‘for she hears constantly from Leopold, who is mad with fright, and who imparts all his fears to her’. 78 In 1841, the powers reached an agreement – the Convention of London – and Mehmet Ali was re-instated. Nonetheless, the British and French relationship remained strained. Victoria helped ease the tensions by inviting the French ambassador, Guizot, to the Palace: she was beginning to learn the art of diplomacy. Guizot was placed next to the Queen at dinner, a significant honour, and Victoria used the opportunity to tell him ‘that I hoped he knew how much I had “á cour” to see matters put right with France and that I hoped he would do all in his power to bring this about’.79 Fortunately, possibly helped by the Queen’s diplomacy, Britain and France renewed their friendship.

  Queen Victoria was particularly interested in Canadian politics. Her late father, Prince Edward, had spent nearly ten years in Quebec as an officer in the British army. He had arrived in 1791 to witness the country divided into a British Upper and a French Lower Canada, each with its own governor, council and House of Representatives, but all ruled by Britain. In 1837, just as Victoria ascended the throne, both Upper and Lower Canada rebelled against the British colonial government: in Lower Canada, the rebellion was an expression of French Canadian nationalism against British rule; in Upper Canada, the rebellion was largely led by republicans of American heritage who objected to the oligarchic rule of the British. Strong measures were taken for the repression of the insurrection. ‘This is joyous news indeed!’ wrote the Queen in her journal when the insurrection was put down.80 However, the underlying problem remained. Queen Victoria made it clear that she favoured a united Canada; in 1814 her father had proposed a similar scheme. In 1840, the Act of Union was passed and in 1841 the United Province of Canada came into being. Today in Canada, Queen Victoria is linked to the birth of the united nation. She is called the ‘Mother of Confederation’ and has more streets, parks and other places named after her than any other individual.

  At this time, too, the Queen and Palmerston were dealing with the First Opium War (1839–42) between Britain and China, and largely because no relative was involved, Victoria was more dispassionate. In the early nineteenth century, the technologically advanced and militarily superior Britain forced China to trade on unequal terms. In return for selling silver, silk and other goods, the Chinese received opium as payment. Victoria knew about ‘the danger of this opium-smoking which produces a delightful intoxication at first, and dreadful suffering afterwards’81 but she never asked that the trade be stopped. The Chinese Emperor, exasperated by the trade imbalance and the fact that his people were becoming addicted to the drug, ordered the seizure of opium and forbade the trade. Victoria knew also that ‘opium is prohibited to be imported into China. . . and our people smuggle it in, in quantities, which the people buy’ yet again raised no objection.82 In order to settle the question, Palmerston sent warships to China, the Chinese were forc
ed to accept the opium trade and Hong Kong came under British rule. Victoria’s government had put another notch in its imperial belt.

  Queen Victoria came to the throne full of youthful optimism, determined to be a monarch who would do her utmost for her country. A number of defining characteristics were beginning to take shape: throughout her life Victoria’s responses would tend to be emotional rather than rational and would often be based on the perceived needs of friends and family rather than objective realities. In particular, Victoria’s family relationships often shaped her views of European politics, which led to a partisanship that made disagreements with her ministers predictable. At first, the British cherished their young sovereign. The Queen’s hard work, high moral standards and charming naivety were welcomed after the lifestyles of the two most recent sovereigns. However, the Queen soon learned that royal popularity can be ephemeral. The Queen’s unreflective behaviour over the Flora Hastings affair and her role in the bedchamber crisis damaged her status, especially among Tories whose fealty to the monarchy was usually beyond doubt. Politically, the sovereign had a lot to learn.

  Notes

  1 Caledonian Mercury, July 1st 1837, p. 5.

  2 Victoria to the Princess Royal, March 15th 1858, quoted in Fulford, Dearest Child, p. 76.

  3 Strachey, Queen Victoria, p. 26.

  4 Sir Sidney Lee, quoted in Frank Prochaska, The Republic of Britain, 1760 to 2000, 2000, Allen Lane, p. 65.

  5 Caledonian Mercury, July 1st 1837, p. 5.

  6 Greville, Greville Memoirs, June 29th, 1838.

  7 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) June 28th 1838 (Princess Beatrice’s copies).

  8 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) ‘Queen Victoria’s Coronation’ by Sir Roy Strong (essay).

  9 The London Dispatch and People’s Political and Social Reformer, July 1st 1838.

  10 Ipswich Journal, Saturday April 14th 1838, p. 5.

  11 Harriet Martineau, quoted in Sarah Tyler, Life of Her Gracious Majesty, Virtue & Co., 1901, p. 1488.

  12 Greville, Greville Memoirs, June 29th 1838.

  13 The Morning Post, June 29th 1838, p. 8.

  14 Ibid.

  15 The Bristol Mercury, June 30th 1838.

  16 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), June 28th 1838.

  17 The Essex Standard, and Colchester, Chelmsford, Maldon, Harwich, and General County Advertiser, June 23rd 1837, p. 5.

  18 This laid down limits on the power of the Crown and set out the rights of parliament, including the requirement to hold regular elections.

  19 This Act secured the Protestant succession by prohibiting Roman Catholics, or anyone who married a Catholic, from being crowned. It further limited the power of the monarch in respect to parliament and established judicial independence.

  20 The 1832 Act extended the male franchise from about 366,000 to 650,000, eliminated rotten and pocket boroughs, created new constituencies (e.g. Manchester), and instituted voter registration.

  21 Robert Blake, The Prime Ministers, George Allen and Unwin, 1975, p. 13.

  22 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) September 6th 1844.

  23 Ibid. June 24th 1837.

  24 Ibid. July 1st 1837.

  25 Ibid. June 27th 1837.

  26 Ibid. July 19th 1837.

  27 Ibid. July 2nd 1837.

  28 Ibid. February 4th 1838.

  29 Leopold to Victoria, June 7th 1837.

  30 Ibid. June 15th 1837.

  31 Ibid. June 27th 1837.

  32 Ibid. June 30th 1837.

  33 Victoria to Leopold June 25th 1837.

  34 Greville, Greville Memoirs, August 30th 1837, p. 584.

  35 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) December 26th 1837.

  36 Ibid. May 20th 1838.

  37 Ibid. May 23rd 1838.

  38 Ibid. March 10th 1839.

  39 Ibid. September 10th 1837.

  40 Ibid. February 26th 1838.

  41 Ibid. February 26th 1838.

  42 Ibid. July 2nd 1837.

  43 Greville, Greville Memoirs, September 12th 1838.

  44 Ibid. December 15th 1838.

  45 Ibid. August 15th 1839.

  46 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) August 3rd 1839.

  47 Ibid. December 9th 1839.

  48 Ibid. August 20th 1838.

  49 Ibid. March 13th 1838.

  50 Ibid. May 24th 1839.

  51 Ibid. February 2nd 1839.

  52 Ibid. April 16th 1839.

  53 Strachey, Queen Victoria, p. 40.

  54 Rhodes James, Albert, Prince Consort, p. 72.

  55 Victoria to Albert, January 21st 1840.

  56 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) May 7th 1839.

  57 Ibid. March 22nd 1839.

  58 Ibid. March 22nd 1839.

  59 Melbourne to Victoria, May 8th 1839.

  60 Victoria to Melbourne, May 8th 1839.

  61 The mistress of the robes is the senior lady of the royal household, responsible for the queen’s clothes and jewelry and who attends the queen at all state ceremonies: they were all, and still are today, duchesses.

  62 Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria, p. 173.

  63 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) May 9th 1839.

  64 Melbourne to Victoria, May 10th 1839.

  65 The Leeds Mercury, May 14th 1839.

  66 The Morning Chronicle, May 18th 1839.

  67 Greville, Greville Memoirs, September 5th 1839.

  68 Ibid. November 8th 1839.

  69 The Times, May 11th 1839, p. 4.

  70 Greville, Greville Memoirs, May 12th 1839.

  71 Ibid. May 12th 1839.

  72 Victoria to Leopold, June 10th 1838.

  73 Ibid. December 5th 1838.

  74 In 1841, Seymour was appointed Third Naval Lord and in 1866 became Admiral of the Fleet.

  75 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) February 1st 1839.

  76 William L. Langer, Political and Social Upheaval, 1832–1852, Harper Torchbooks, 1969, p. 303.

  77 Greville, Greville Memoirs, September 26th 1840.

  78 Ibid. October 17th 1840.

  79 RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) October 22nd 1840.

  80 Ibid. December 8th 1838.

  81 Ibid. September 24th 1839.

  82 Ibid. October 23rd 1839.

  3 Leisure, love and family: 1837–1844

  On Friday 28 April 1837, Queen Victoria attended the opening of the National Gallery, a museum that today houses some of the finest European painting. She enjoyed the ‘exquisite Landseers, and many other fine ones which I shall enumerate when we go again’.1 British art was flourishing: heroic paintings such as J. M. W. Turner’s painting of HMS Temeraire (this ship had fought in the Battle of Trafalgar; in 2005 the painting was voted Britain’s favourite) were later exhibited. Novels with a social purpose such as Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist and Disraeli’s Coninsby were published, and poetry such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Seraphim and Other Poems and Tennyson’s ‘Morte D’Arthur ’ was printed. New leisure activities, now considered part of the British establishment, emerged: the London Hippodrome opened; the first Grand National run at Aintree and the Henley Regatta boat race began. Philanthropy increased: the Sisters of Mercy established the first Roman Catholic convent since the Reformation; England’s first public park, the Derby Arboretum, was financed by a rich factory owner, Joseph Strutt, and Britain’s first polytechnic opened in Regent Street. And fresh flavours were created: Lea and Perrin’s English sauce was first made – in Worcester. The years between 1837 and 1844 also marked a time of notable British innovations. The railway and shipping age was launched and with it the age of mass communication: Euston Station opened and the new line from London to Birmingham ran its first train; the first transatlantic steam passenger ship made its maiden voyage; the world’s first electric telegraph was sent and the world’s first postage stamp was issued.

  Amusing Victoria

  Queen Victoria generally conformed to middle-class conventions: hosting dinners or visiting the theatre and opera. Lord Melbourne spent large parts of the day and most evenings with the Queen. This urbane, cultured and erudite man, used to attending some of the dazz
ling salons of the great Whig hostesses, must have been exceedingly bored. Evenings at the Palace were tedious by the entertainment standards of the day. It was traditional for men to withdraw to another room after dinner, smoke a few cigarettes and drink considerable amounts of alcohol but the young Queen would not allow her gentlemen – and particularly Melbourne – to remain in another room for long. Soon the court frowned on drunkenness and sober men became less fun. Etiquette was formal and stuffy. One guest, remarked that ‘when we went into the drawing-room, and huddled about the door in the sort of half-shy, half-awkward way people do, the queen advanced to meet us, and spoke to everybody in succession. . . . Nobody expects from her any clever, amusing or interesting talk . . . The whole thing seemed to be dull.’2 The Queen was perceived as natural, good-humoured and cheerful, but she was still Queen, ‘and by her must the social habits and the tone of conversation be regulated, and for this she is too young and inexperienced. . . . such conversation as can be found . . . really is, very up-hill work’.3 Guests did not, and still do not, initiate conversation with the Crown; they depend on the monarch to ask the right sort of questions, or introduce topics of interest. Victoria, still a teenager and unschooled in courtly manners, did not have the sophistication, the education or the skill to make the Palace a stimulating environment.

  Instead, Victoria enjoyed playing games of German tactics, ecarte, draughts and chess. She boasted that ‘after dinner I played two games of chess with Lord Conyngham and beat him both times, without any assistance of which I am very proud’,4 a typical youthful brag which suggests the dullness of court life. Queen Victoria loved to dance, yet etiquette forbade her to dance intimate or lively dances such as waltzes and gallops: men were forbidden to touch the royal waist. She was allowed to dance the quadrille if she danced with nobility. As with many young women, the young queen loved ballet, often commenting on performances in her journal. Victoria spoke of one dancer who ‘did some wonderful things on her toes, and is certainly a fine dancer, but has no grace, and does pirouette so dreadfully; her gigantic sister flings those two long legs of hers dreadfully about’.5 In January 1838, Victoria read Walter Scott’s Bride of Lammermoor, a story based in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland which perhaps awakened Victoria’s love for the country.