Queen Victoria

by Bartley, Paula;

  Moreover, Queen Victoria often tried, sometimes successfully, to prevent Cabinet ministers being appointed: in 1880 she prevented Gladstone from appointing Charles Dilke; in 1885 she stopped Salisbury appointing Colonel Stanley. She influenced, or tried to influence, the choice of colonial governors – she was successful in the appointment of Ellenborough in 1842 but failed to persuade Gladstone to appoint Carrington in 1892. On occasions foreign diplomats were unable to take up their posts because of the Queen’s disapproval: in 1848, for example, the Queen refused to receive the French Ambassador.

  Ideally, the monarch was supposed to represent the nation, the whole of the nation, and not just one particular party, group or sectional interest. Queen Victoria may have shared this belief, but she still blatantly and without embarrassment voiced her opinions. In her speech, the Queen professed Whig sympathies; in practice she much preferred the Conservatives and Conservative policies. Indeed, the Queen detested Gladstone’s political inclinations and tried regularly to thwart his reforms. For example, the messy circumstances of the 1884 Reform Bill could have been avoided if the Queen had not made her opposition to it well known. When Queen Victoria took sides or tried to influence political events, any notion of her as an impartial sovereign who identifies with the nation as a whole was seriously challenged.

  Gradually throughout her reign, Queen Victoria lost her authority as the advance of democracy, electoral majorities and a stronger party system led to the dominance of the House of Commons. No longer were there shifting alliances between groups of MPs centred on their allegiances to individuals – a fluid system in which the monarch’s influence and patronage could be decisive – but political parties with (more or less) clear-cut agendas. However, when parties were disunited internally, Queen Victoria was able to influence events. In 1886, encouraged by the behind-the scenes scheming of Queen Victoria, the Liberal Unionists broke away from the Liberals thus allowing the Conservatives to enjoy decades in power.

  Queen Victoria never considered herself merely a figurehead. She wanted to rule, not just reign, and often acted like a despot, fighting hard against the control of the politicians who sought to curb her authority. The Queen had very fixed ideas, pressurised her ministers to accept them and frequently endeavoured to engineer their dismissal if they disagreed. When governments held a strong majority and particularly when a prime minister and his Cabinet were united, Queen Victoria’s opinions were disregarded. Yet she never stopped trying. For example, she made several attempts to dismiss Lord Palmerston because she disapproved of his progressive Liberalism and his advocacy of revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow autocratic monarchs. At first, Queen Victoria was unable to oust her foreign minister because he was too powerful in the Cabinet and in the country. In 1851 she eventually succeeded when Palmerston pronounced his support for Louis Napoleon’s coup d’état without clearing it in Cabinet. Queen Victoria seized this opportunity to pressurise Lord Russell to get rid of his foreign secretary. She was not, and never would be, a model of constitutional propriety. On the contrary, Queen Victoria was determined to dam the crashing waves of reform which brought the flotsam and jetsam of democracy in its backwash, a tidal surge that threatened to drown the monarchy.

  Victoria was all the more engaged when her family interests were at stake, in which case ministers found they had to deal with a very strong-minded woman. Victoria’s Germanic background and German relations, for example, shaped her attitudes towards foreign policy, most notably over the Schleswig-Holstein affair in the 1860s. Here the Queen’s views diverged from her government when she backed Prussian claims to the Danish-held territory. In retrospect it is impossible to estimate how much Queen Victoria was responsible for British neutrality but the behind-the-scenes pressure she exerted on her ministers to maintain peace meant that Denmark was left isolated.

  Moreover, the authority of the Queen was omnipresent and it was felt in a number of ways. In the highly deferential age of the nineteenth century, Victoria was treated with a respect that was not bestowed upon people outside the royal family; her views were listened to and acted upon. She was, after all, a Queen. The tricky situation over the 1884 Reform Act was both hindered and helped by the various, and somewhat contradictory, interventions of the Crown. The longer the Queen lived and reigned, and in spite of an increase in democracy, the more pervasive her personal influence became. She was at the centre of political life and over time her accumulated knowledge of affairs gave her opportunities to influence policy – especially when the Conservatives enjoyed power. Benjamin Disraeli, under considerable pressure from the Queen, conferred the title Victoria Empress of India on his sovereign and shepherded the Public Worship Bill through parliament at the Queen’s insistence. Certainly, Queen Victoria’s bellicose missives to Disraeli during the 1876–8 Eastern crisis went beyond Bagehot’s constitutional advice of ‘the right to warn’ and ‘the right to encourage’.

  By the time she reached old age, Victoria had become the revered symbol of Victorian respectability, diligence and success. Her popularity was buttressed by a fortuitous set of circumstances: the expansion of the British Empire. Each year, from 1837 to 1901, the British army was engaged in constant battles to conquer other lands or consolidate its position in the world. Continual warfare, somewhere in the world, resulted in the British Empire becoming the largest empire the world has ever known, so big that it was said that the sun never set on it. It was an A–Z of empire spanning an alphabet of countries known today as Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, Burundi, Canada, Caribbean islands (such as Bermuda, Jamaica and Trinidad), Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, the Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Queen Victoria was the living symbol of imperial unity. She played a crucial part in its expansion, and there is no doubt that she was deeply committed to maintaining and expanding the British Empire, to make Great Britain, and its reputation, Great. In 1876 she reached the summit of her aspirations when she was crowned Empress of India. In the last few years of Victoria’s reign, the British Empire was at the height of its power, ruling over 450 million people, one-quarter of the world’s population and one-quarter of the entire world.

  The modern monarchy

  In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II, as head of state, continues to have the right to reign: in reality, the Queen takes little part in government. Unlike Queen Victoria, Elizabeth governs in accordance with accepted constitutional practice rather than according to her own will. Every week she has a private and unrecorded meeting with her prime minister alone at which, in confidence, she discusses the political issues of the day. The Queen remains, and is expected to remain, politically neutral. Even when the Scottish population was discussing the possibility of Scotland becoming an independent country, Buckingham Palace made it clear that the Queen had no wish to influence the Scottish referendum, saying it was ‘a matter for the people of Scotland’.14 Queen Elizabeth’s role as a constitutional monarch is limited to nonpartisan functions, functions which she takes very seriously. The sovereign, according to the royal website, ‘acts as a focus of national identity, unity and pride’ and ‘provides stability, continuity and a national focus, as the Head of State remains the same even as governments change’. Royal advisors, if not Queen Elizabeth herself, have read their Bagehot.

  Elizabeth II appears more comfortable than her great-great-grandmother in the ceremonial aspect of her role. Each year, as one of her royal prerogatives, the Queen attends the State Opening of Parliament. Since her coronation in 1951, the Queen has opened every parliamentary session except in 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant first with Andrew and then Edward. The State Opening of Parliament is ritualistically and symbolically significant and the ceremonial role of the Queen governs the way in which the event is organised. Queen Elizabeth arrives at the Palace of Westminster in a horse-drawn gilded coach; sh
e wears full evening dress, full regalia of diamonds and a crown very visibly displayed. Once inside, the Queen puts on the Parliament Robe of State, consisting of an ermine cape and a long crimson velvet train decorated with gold lace, and the Imperial State Crown, consisting of 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies. She then proceeds to the House of Lords to read the Queen’s speech in which she outlines the government’s agenda for the coming session. The government, not the sovereign, writes the speech and the Queen ensures that this is understood by continuing to repeat ‘My Government’ when reading the text, always in a neutral and formal tone.

  Queen Elizabeth retains other royal prerogatives: she has the power to appoint ministers, to declare war, to negotiate treaties and international agreements and to issue passports. She remains commander-in-chief of the armed forces, accredits British ambassadors and receives diplomats from foreign countries. The legal system in Britain takes its authority directly from the monarch. Criminal prosecutions are brought on the sovereign’s behalf and all courts derive their authority from the Queen not from the government. Moreover, the Queen has the ‘prerogative of mercy’ whereby she can pardon convicted criminals. In addition, the Queen creates all peerages, knighthoods and other honours. This long list of royal prerogatives is held in theory; in practice, the Queen acts on the advice of her ministers. She takes her role to be consulted, to advise and to warn very seriously indeed; there is no evidence to suggest that she interferes in the way Queen Victoria tried to do.

  Queen Elizabeth represents Britain all over the world. In 2014 she was sovereign of 15 former British colonies and head of the Commonwealth, a voluntary body of 54 independent countries, created after the dissolution of the British Empire. The Queen receives foreign ambassadors and high commissioners, entertains visiting heads of state and currently makes one or two overseas state visits each year to other countries in order to strengthen diplomatic bonds and to promote British interests.

  Above all, unlike Queen Victoria, Elizabeth recognises the need to be visible. In 2014 she carried out approximately 430 engagements, including visits to schools, factories, hospitals, military units, art galleries, local communities and the 600 charities of which she is patron. Events and buildings are opened, commemorative plaques unveiled and speeches are made. Garden parties, of about 8,000 guests, are hosted at Buckingham Palace for people from all walks of life who have made some sort of contribution to society. In 1997 the Queen and Prince Philip hosted a garden party for couples whose golden wedding anniversary fell on the same day as their own. Unlike Victoria, Elizabeth is seen; not heard.

  Notes

  1 The BEF consisted of four infantry battalions (an infantry battalion is 1,007 men) and one cavalry (549 men). I am grateful to Professor Maggie Andrews for this insight.

  2 Longford, Victoria, p. 21.

  3 Arnstein, Queen Victoria, p. 12.

  4 Kuhn, ‘Victoria’s Civil List’.

  5 Kuhn, Democratic Royalism.

  6 Victor Bogdanor, ‘The Monarchy and the Constitution’, Parliamentary Affairs, 49(3), 1996, p. 410.

  7 The Queen opened parliament in 1866, 1867, 1871, 1876, 1877, 1880 and 1886. The Lord Chancellor usually read her speech.

  8 Quoted in Norbert Gossman, ‘Republicanism in Nineteenth-Century England’, International Review of Social History, 1, 1962, p. 51.

  9 Penny Illustrated Paper, December 2nd 1871 p. 339.

  10 Daily News, December 2nd 1871, p. 5.

  11 The Blackburn Standard, February 28th 1872, p. 3.

  12 The Blackburn Standard, February 28th 1872, p. 3.

  13 Kuhn, Democratic Royalism, p. 10.

  14 BBC news, September 11th 2014.

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