Queen Victoria

by Bartley, Paula;

  Infant mortality was high in the nineteenth century and naturally the Queen fretted about her own offspring when they fell ill. The children suffered from many childhood complaints, including teething pains. Teething not only caused red, swollen and tender gums but also led to disturbed sleep, loss of appetite, irritability and high temperature. Vicky suffered terribly from troublesome teething attacks and ‘poor little Alice had got such a rash, from teething, that she could not appear’.29 In June 1853 ‘Bertie has got the measles!’ wrote the Queen. This was followed by Alfred, Albert, Vicky, Alice, Helen and Louise. Victoria stayed with those who had caught the measles, sent the two uninfected ones away, and caught the illness herself.

  Victoria promoted unpopular and controversial medical practice. In 1842 the young Prince Albert Edward – later known as Bertie – and his parents were vaccinated against smallpox from the arm of the same child. Smallpox epidemics had swept across Europe since the sixteenth century, affecting rich and poor alike: a fresh epidemic between 1837 and 1840 had led to approximately 36,000 deaths, the vast majority among infants and small children. There was no cure for it. Those who survived were often left deaf, blind, brain damaged or crippled. Its marks did not go away and people’s faces and bodies were badly disfigured with pock marks. In 1796 Edward Jenner, developing a technique that had first been used by Lady Mary Montagu, started to use the cowpox virus to prevent smallpox – he called it vaccination from the Latin word vacca meaning cow – but many people were opposed to it believing that it interfered with God’s will; some even thought they might turn into a cow! A young child who was infected with cowpox was brought into the Palace and used to infect each child. When ‘poor Princess Alice was vaccinated from a “magnificent” baby’, the Queen remarked on the ‘duet of shrieks the two kept up’.30

  Victoria fussed most about her youngest son, Leopold, worried that he was thin, under-weight and cried a lot more than her other children. As an infant, he was diagnosed as suffering from a rare, serious, and in the nineteenth century, mysterious illness: haemophilia, an inherited blood disorder which reduces the blood’s ability to clot. Leopold’s arms and legs were frequently covered with bruises, his urine was pink, and there were often other signs of internal bleeding. Even natural childhood physical developments such as teething were especially uncomfortable and painful for the little boy and he screamed incessantly. Haemophilia mostly affected boys but it was generally handed on through the genes of a seemingly unaffected female. Queen Victoria, herself a physically healthy woman, passed the genes on to Leopold who was the only victim in her immediate family. Two of her daughters, Alice and Beatrice, conveyed the disease to other European royal families; Alice’s daughter Alexandra transmitted haemophilia to the heir of the Russian throne with devastating consequences for the Tsarist autocracy.

  Victoria was naturally more concerned about Leopold than the other children, especially after an onset of bleeding. She was sometimes forced to leave him behind at Balmoral or Osborne when she and Albert returned to London but ‘felt it almost wrong that we should have to leave him behind. . . but Albert has a great deal to do. . . . should there be any change for the worse, . . . we could at once come down’.31 The anxious Queen kept in contact by telegram with the doctors about her son and was once ‘greatly alarmed by a telegram from Dr Jenner about poor dear Leopold. There had been frequent bad nose bleeding, he was weak and restless and some measle spots had shown themselves on his face. . . However at 11 there came another telegram, which greatly relieved us, saying the dear Boy had had some refreshing sleep, his pulse was good.’32 On medical advice, Leopold went to the south of France for the winter. But the Queen was not a sentimental mother and wrote about Leopold’s physical appearance without sentimentality, writing that ‘he walks shockingly – and is dreadfully awkward – holds himself as badly as ever and his manners are despairing, as well as his speech – which is quite dreadful’.33

  Educating the children

  Queen Victoria wanted a ‘good, moral, religious, but not bigoted or narrow-minded education’ for her children.34 Victoria and Albert, guided by Baron Stockmar, aimed to tailor the children’s education to fit their future situation in life: Bertie to be king of England, Alfred to join the navy and hopefully inherit the Coburg dukedom, Arthur to have a career in the army, Leopold merely to survive and the girls to marry into continental royalty. The younger children of the British aristocracy were generally educated at home by a governess or tutor; in this case Lady Lyttelton acted as first royal governess. When upper-class boys reached 13, they were sometimes bundled off to public schools such as Eton or Harrow, then studied at the universities of Oxford or Cambridge; girls were tutored at home. Victoria sometimes instructed her children in religion, taught history to her eldest daughter and instilled the fact that Albert was the head of the family into all her children. All were brought up to be trilingual and spoke English, German and French fluently, possibly because their parents had an eye on marriages to the various rulers of Europe. The children were severely punished if they were disobedient. The maxim ‘spare the rod, and spoil the child’, though reprehensible to modern eyes, was a cherished belief of nineteenth-century parents. During this period, children were regularly subjected to harsh discipline, verging on cruelty, at home and at school. Prince Albert in particular, thought physical chastisement should be applied routinely: even his daughters were whipped35 and had their hands tied together. Poor little Alice, at the age of four, was whipped for telling a lie.

  In 1847 Victoria and Albert divided the children into two classes: the first class for the children up to the age of six under the charge of Lady Lyttelton; the second under a new, more intellectually challenging, governess. Victoria and Albert agreed that Bertie should be educated to be a constitutional monarch.36 In 1849, now aged seven, Bertie embarked on a rigorous educational programme devised by Albert. He was given his own tutor who taught him maths, geography and English while others were engaged to teach him languages, religion, handwriting, drawing and music. Lessons took place between 8am and 6pm seven days a week with a daily progress report sent to his parents. Bertie was also taught riding, gymnastics, dancing, skating, swimming and croquet. Victoria, who believed that her eldest son was a copy of herself, warned Bertie’s tutor about his ‘nervous and unmanageable temper’. She was therefore pleased when, on a walk with her eldest son, Bertie began to understand his own position in the royal hierarchy:

  He generally lets out to me, when he walks with me, something or other, that is occupying his mind. This time it was how I came to the throne. . . He said he had always believed Vicky would succeed me, but now he knows that in default of him, Affie, little Arthur and ‘another brother, if perhaps we have one’ would come before Vicky.37

  He understood the laws of primogeniture – yet Victoria was still anxious about his academic progress. ‘Dear Bertie’s 13th birthday, which seems a dream. I wish it were only his 10th as he has so much to learn, and it is rather a difficulty for him.’38 Bertie wanted an army career; Victoria was concerned. ‘Bertie, to whom learning is always a great difficulty, should be told that if he could fit himself to pass the exam: all young Gentlemen, who intend entering the Army must pass, and did it well, he might get a Commission, or at least be allowed to wear the uniform of one of the Regts of the Guards.’39 In the end, Victoria vetoed an active military career, so Bertie only enjoyed an honorary rank – but with no need to take an exam. In 1859 Bertie spent the summer studying at the University of Edinburgh, then went to Oxford and lastly to Cambridge.

  Victoria and Albert’s second son, Alfred (Affie), was more academically able and his parents delighted in his desire to learn. Albert thought it better for Alfred, now nearly 12 years old, to be sent away to study with his own tutor and away from what the parents thought as Bertie’s bad influence – the two had been caught smoking together. On 3 June 1856 Alfred ‘came to take leave, sobbing bitterly and indeed I was much upset at this 1st separation in our family, for
it is the 1st child who leaves the paternal roof, and such an amiable, dear child, still, however hard, it is necessary, and for his good.’40 Alfred’s lessons focused on mathematics, geometry, seamanship and navigation in order to prepare him for a sailor’s life. When Alfred returned home for his twelfth birthday, the Queen felt ‘as if he were no longer quite my own, from having been away from home’.41 In 1858 Alfred passed his naval entrance exams, and was appointed to join HMS Euryalus, a ship in the Mediterranean fleet as a midshipman. He would sleep in a hammock just like the other sailors, and share naval quarters. He was 14 years old.

  Victoria missed Alfred’s ‘dear face which shed sunshine over the whole house’. She wrote to her daughter, comparing him to Bertie ‘Dear Child, I feel so proud of the hardship he has endured – the way he has worked and when I think of –! The very best there is wretched mediocrity. The joy of having Affie in the house is so great and alas! with – it is such a contrary feeling.’42 ‘Affie is going on admirably . . . and oh! When I see him and Arthur and look at – (you know what I mean!) I am in utter despair! The systematic idleness, laziness – disregard of everything is enough to break one’s heart and fills me with indignation.’43

  Victoria’s daughters were brought up to marry into European royalty, and in common with the daughters of the upper class, learned how to play the piano, to paint in watercolour and to embroider. They were also expected to do charitable works: Vicky and Alice, for instance, accompanied their mother when she visited army hospitals.

  Fun and games

  Victoria and Albert’s children worked hard but their lives were not confined to endless swotting. Their parents provided fun activities for them. Unlike her own lonely experience, the Queen’s children had each other to play with in the nursery and in their parents’ room. Children are naturally boisterous and Victoria and Albert’s were no exception: ‘we had the Children playing in our room, and they were very noisy’.44 Her journals show a mother who appears more tolerant of high-spirited youngsters than one expects. Victoria regularly spoke of how ‘Bertie and Vicky romped about in my room, in the wildest way possible’;45 ‘had the Children with us, and the 3 eldest were very wild, running about, and having great fun together’.46 Affie, she noted ‘is beginning to get very determined and fights with Alice in the drollest way, which makes one nearly die of laughter’.47 Albert often played in the nursery with the children, with the often-pregnant and somewhat incapacitated Victoria looking on and commenting that she ‘never saw a kinder father, or one more ready to play with his children, in every way. He had been blowing soap bubbles with them before we went out.’48 The royal family also had friends over to play with them, leading the Queen to comment wistfully that Bertie had ‘play fellows almost every day’ unlike herself at that age.

  Victoria watched proudly as her children performed in plays and concerts put on at home. When a little French comedy was performed in French by Vicky, Bertie, Alice, Affie and Lenchen, the Queen thought that ‘Vicky acted admirably, Alice very nicely, also Bertie. Affie knew his part perfectly. . . dear little Lenchen could hardly be got to say her part, without Mme Rollande prompting her very loud.’49

  Birthdays, of parents and children, were celebrated extravagantly. The children were all dressed prettily, often given new outfits for the occasion, and each held a small bouquet of flowers to present to the birthday child. All their presents were arranged on a table before the birthday boy or girl came in. Victoria was delighted that ‘dear little Alice . . . was very happy with all her toys, and Albert sat down on the floor with her to play with some bricks’.50 The children had birthday parties, including conjurors, dancing puppets and Hungarian singers. On her second birthday, Beatrice had a party with four other little two-year-old girls who ran around after supper and had ‘great fun together. . . . the merriment of dear, innocent little Children is very cheering’.51 The parents were thoughtfully affectionate with their presents: a dog for Bertie, a sailor suit for Affie, numerous military toys for Arthur and once a pet lamb ‘decked out with ribbons’ for Alice.52 Christmas too was celebrated splendidly with Christmas trees, individual tables laid with ‘toys of every possible kind’, many of which had been chosen by their parents, and with lots of squeals and running around by the excited children. Victoria took delight in her children’s happiness and even spoke tolerantly of ‘what a great noise the children made when taking down their Christmas tree on Jan 6th!’, so one can imagine the din made by nine overexcited youngsters on the day itself.

  Victoria wanted her sons and daughters to have the youthful fun she had missed as a child. All the children were taken regularly to the zoo, the pantomime and the circus. As a young girl, Victoria had disliked pantomimes, finding them ‘vulgar and noisy’,53 but she unselfishly took her children to see shows such as Aladdin and the Lamp because she thought they would enjoy them. Six of them even visited Madame Tussaud’s waxworks and maybe saw the Chamber of Horrors where the grisly victims of the French Revolution were on show. On one occasion, when Victoria and Albert took five of their children to the zoo, the children were largely delighted but ‘Lenchen took a strong dislike to anything ugly or with an unpleasant smell, and did not much like the lions and tigers, still less the birds of prey, repeating “I don’t like it.”’54

  It was clear that Victoria was developing a taste for ‘low-brow’ entertainments. She delighted in taking her children to see the Red Indian show with its two war chiefs

  wrapped in buffalo hides, with leggings and sleeves of the same and wore various kinds of beads and ornaments and a head dress of feathers . . . their faces are so thickly painted with black and red stripes, that no features are discernible. The men then went out to prepare themselves for dancing. . . When the men returned, the spokesman carried a little drum. . . singing or rather more yelling a very extraordinary kind of song, the others dancing round and screaming, and whenever they stopped, giving a most horrid whoop, which quite startled one.55

  Despite Victoria’s obvious enjoyment of such unsophisticated programmes, she wanted her children to experience high culture too. At one time, Victoria took seven of her children to see the paintings at the Royal Academy. In February 1850 a performance of Julius Caesar was held in Windsor Castle for the children to watch. Queen Victoria considered the play

  such a finely written Tragedy, full of beautiful and celebrated speeches. The part of Julius Caesar was very fairly acted by Mr C Fisher. . . the 2 principal characters of Brutus and Marcus Antonius were performed by Macready and C Kean. . . Kean’s acting was quite perfection, and he gave the celebrated speech in the Forum, admirably. Poor Mac-ready, I thought not good, ranting too much, and being so affected in manner, – his voice cracking and gulping, and having an unpleasant way of stopping between every word.56

  The children also listened to classical music and learned to play the piano. Victoria adored Mendelssohn’s music and invited him to play at Buckingham Palace; in 1858 Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding March’ was played at her eldest’s wedding.

  Victoria, Albert and their children read books by George Sand, Alexander Dumas, Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens. She found Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin

  a most interesting book, but too painful, – really terrible. To what can human nature descend! It makes one’s blood curdle to think of the inhuman feelings given way to and the treatment practiced on these wretched creatures by the Slave Traders. Many of the slaves are Quadroons, as white as ourselves and the description of wives torn from their husbands and little children, some, infants, from their mothers is too horrid! It quite haunts me!57

  Holiday homes: Osborne House and Balmoral

  Aristocratic families often owned a country estate as well as a house in London. The Queen inherited the Brighton Royal Pavilion but both she and Albert disliked its style, its association with her profligate uncle and ‘the tiresome people running so after us’.58 In 1850 it was sold for £50,000 to Brighton town. In 1844 Victoria and Albert bought Osborne
House on the Isle of Wight for £26,000, demolished it and built a new large modern house, with plumbing and sanitation, on its site. It was an ideal holiday home, especially for children, and the Queen was delighted with her purchase largely because ‘the grounds are so extensive, and the woods would be lovely anywhere, but going down to the edge of the sea, as they do, makes it quite a Paradise’.59 The two furnished it together, with Albert designing lamps and Victoria choosing Aubusson carpets. Both chose the works of art: statues of naked men and paintings of nude women are plentiful at Osborne. These were not secreted away. A huge fresco of Neptune Resigning the Empire of the Seas to Britannia, which depicts a naked Neptune and various other naked people, was placed at the top of the main staircase for all the family and visitors to see. Victorian prudery, with its discreet placing of fig leaves on certain parts of the anatomy, was not in evidence at Osborne House.

  Whenever the weather was fine, the royal family would board the big grand yacht, Victoria and Albert, or the smaller Fairy, and sail around the island. The first time that Bertie went on the yacht he ‘was quite delighted with everything, – the salutes, the ships, etc, and ran wildly about the deck’.60 Or they walked on the seashore, picking up shells, and sometimes bathing in the sea. In July 1845 Victoria ‘went into the bathing machines, where I undressed and bathed in the sea (for the 1st time in my life) a very nice bathing woman attending me. I thought it delightful till I put my head under water, when I thought I should be stifled.’61