Edward VII_The Last Victorian King

by Christopher Hibbert

Carrington reported to his mother: ‘8 wild elephants tied by the leg at each end. 18 pairs of naked wrestlers. About a hundred naked spearmen yelling and dancing about and bolting through holes in the walls when the brutes got too close.… Then 2 rhinoceros fought, then two bison — one broke the other’s horn straight off and he got through the bars and escaped. An elephant being driven out seized a chain in his trunk and let drive right and left.… Then a tiger led by ropes appeared, rams fought, and carriages drawn by black bucks and stags galloped about — you can’t imagine such fun. Just like a nightmare.’

  p. 138 Prince commended by Lord Salisbury: Salisbury Papers, 13 May 1876. pp. 140–142 Aylesford–Blandford scandal: Papers quoted in companion volume to Randolph S. Churchill’s Winston S. Churchill: Young Statesman.

  p. 144 Expedition to St Pancras: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  p. 145 Prince and Wolseley: Devonshire MSS. (340.1528). The Prince wrote to Lord Hartington, at that time Secretary for War, on 17 September 1884:

  ‘When I gave you the memorandum last week about the Adjutant General of the Indian Army I knew nothing could be done in the matter but only wished you to have some proof how the “Wolseyites”

  get everything. I am quite aware that the present Adjutant-General did not fulfil the prescribed conditions but why should Sir T[homas] Baker simply because he is a “Wolseyite” have the same advantage. The whole matter resolves itself into this — however competent or able an officer may be, unless he belongs to the so called mutual admiration society, he has no chance of getting the “good things” in his profession.’ Despite the Prince’s protests, Sir Thomas Baker was nominated Adjutant-General on 10 October.

  p. 149 Prince not kept informed: Knollys Papers. The situation did not improve. In 1899 the Prince was ‘much incensed with Mr Chamberlain for not having kept him informed’ on the Transvaal question (Salisbury Papers, 9 September 1899).

  p. 150 Prince and Foreign Office Dispatches: Crewe Papers (C/30). ‘My dear Rosebery,’ the Prince was obliged to write soon after he had received the key (Rosebery MSS., 31 January 1893), ‘I am sorry to say that my Cabinet Key has come to grief and I send you its remnants! Can you let me have another? I only hope the Cabinet is not as ricketty as the Key!’

  p. 152 Everyone afraid of Queen Victoria: ‘I was presented to Queen Victoria at Balmoral after dinner,’ Lord Carrington wrote in his journal on 31 August 1866. ‘As we were driving home [to Abergeldie] the Prince of Wales asked me, “Were you frightened?” I answered, “Well no, but I pretended to be as I thought the Queen would like it.”’

  p. 153 Princess Alexandra and Queen Victoria: Downe Papers (2DS/W/97), 8 April 1901.

  p. 153 Princess Alexandra and Prince: Downe Papers (2DS/W/101), 10

  August 1871.

  p. 159 ‘I asked him to tea’ and ‘she had cooled off and become reasonable’:

  Pearson’s Magazine, October 1916, quoted by Margaret Blunden, p. 67.

  pp. 160–161 Prince’s protest about Adjutant-General to Duke of Cambridge: FitzGeorge Papers, quoted by Giles St Aubyn, pp. 289–90.

  p. 161 Lord Hartington’s advice about Tranby Croft: Devonshire MSS. (340.2385), 4 May 1891.

  p. 162 Gordon Cumming sympathizers: Gordon Cumming Papers (National Library of Scotland, Box 172/2).

  p. 163 Lord Salisbury’s letter: Devonshire MSS. (2387), 16 June 1891.

  p. 163 Francis Knollys and the Archbishop: Devonshire MSS. (2389), 20

  June 1891.

  p. 164 Gordon Cumming’s daughter: Information given to Anita Leslie’s family.

  p. 164 Lord Charles Beresford’s letter: Salisbury Papers, 12 July 1891. All the correspondence between the Beresfords and the Prince, as well as the letter from Lord Marcus Beresford, comes from the Salisbury Papers.

  p. 167 Prince’s letters to Lady Brooke are quoted by Theo Lang.

  p. 168 Lady Warwick to Frank Harris: Pearson’s Magazine, quoted by Margaret Blunden, p. 91.

  p. 169 Cleveland Street affair: Papers in Public Record Office (DPP 1/95/

  1–7). The Prince’s emissaries were Sir Francis Knollys and Sir Dighton Probyn. The Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions reported to the Director on 16 September 1889 that Lord Arthur Somerset’s solicitor was boasting that ‘if we go on a very distinguished person will be involved (P.A.V.)’ — Prince Albert Victor. ‘I don’t mean to say that I for one instant credit it,’ the Deputy Director added, ‘but in such a case as this one never knows what may be said, be concocted or be true.’ This is the only reference to Prince Eddy in the whole of the huge file on the case, and in the opinion of the Director (17

  September 1889) the solicitor concerned was ‘a dangerous man’ who was quite likely to make ‘utterly false accusations against others’. Prince Eddy was certainly not a regular client at 19 Cleveland Street, as the police were watching the brothel over a long period of time, during which Lord Arthur Somerset was seen, shadowed and identified.

  p. 169 Prince considers Somerset’s involvement ‘inconceivable’: Lincolnshire Papers, 20 October 1889.

  p. 169 Prince’s verdict on Somerset: Salisbury Papers, 25 October 1889.

  p. 172 Mrs Keppel ‘much toadied’ to: Lincolnshire Papers, MS., 1120. Lord Carrington attributed Princess Alexandra’s dislike of Sir Ernest Cassel to Mrs Keppel’s close friendship with him.

  p. 172 Count Mensdorff diaries are quoted by Gordon Brook-Shepherd.

  pp. 172–173 Mrs Keppel and the Archbishop of Canterbury: Private information from the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres.

  p. 174 Prince and Jaraczewski in Paris: Dossier du Roi Edouard VII, Bureau des Archives, Préfecture de Police, 150100, A.I.

  pp. 175–176 Cassel and G.C.B.: Asquith Papers, 18 December 1908.

  p. 177 Marlborough House dinner for actors: Lincolnshire Papers.

  p. 178 The Asquith, Sandars, Hardinge, Devonshire and Rosebery Papers all contain several requests from the Prince for favours and appointments for his friends. The requests on behalf of Ferdinand Rothschild and Canon Dalton are in the Salisbury Papers; that on behalf of Cassel in the Crewe Papers (C/58, 27 April 1901).

  p. 179 Prince’s plea to Rosebery to accept Foreign Office: Rosebery Papers, 14 August 1892. ‘Let me therefore implore you to accept office (if Mr Gladstone will give you a free hand in Foreign Affairs and not wish you to agree with him in all his Home measures) for the Queen’s sake and for that of our great Empire!’

  p. 179 Letter from Revd H.W. Bellairs: BM Add. MSS. 44468, ff. 149–51.

  p. 181 The Duke of Fife in Paris: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  p. 182 Princess Victoria and Rosebery: Rosebery Papers. Knollys’s correspondence with Rosebery is full of references to Princess Victoria. Lord Carrington was once asked at the French Embassy in London if it were true that the Princess was to marry the Marquis de Soveral (Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal).

  p. 182 Dalton’s reports on Prince Eddy: Royal Archives, quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 169.

  p. 184 Queen Victoria’s good opinion of Prince Eddy: Downe Papers (2DS/ W/68–71), pp. 91–104.

  p. 185 Prince Eddy at Aldershot: Lady Geraldine Somerset’s diary, Royal Archives, quoted by Giles St Aubyn, p. 299.

  p. 187 Prince Eddy’s treatment and last illness: Downe Papers (2DS/W/

  68–71).

  p. 187 Prince at son’s funeral: Lincolnshire Papers.

  p. 192 Munshi’s letters from Queen Victoria: Minto MSS., 20 October 1909. p. 193 Carrington on Esher: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal. p. 193 Installation of Carrington as K.G.: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  pp. 193–197 King’s clothes: Henry Poole & Co.’s records. After Henry Poole’s death in 1876 the firm received few further orders from Marlborough House. Messrs Huntsman and Son, who received a royal warrant in 1865, became the favourite tailors.

  p. 198 Queen Alexandra motoring: Londonderry Papers, Durham County Record Office (D/LO/F. 1127).<
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  p. 199 King on motor-racing: Chilston MSS., Kent County Record Office (U564. C9., 4 February 1903).

  p. 200 King wins Derby for third time: Seth-Smith, pp. 261–64. Minoru was not owned by the King but had been leased to his Majesty with five other yearlings in 1907 by Colonel Hill Walker, later Lord Wavertree.

  p. 201 Moneylenders outside French hotels: Préfecture de Police, Dossier 150100, A.I. The police reports contain many references to the Prince’s alleged attempts to borrow money in France. One report (4 November 1885) asserts that he has been lent five million francs by the Duc d’Aumfile in exchange for a promise that one of his daughters will marry a prince of the House of Orléans on his coming to the throne. Another report (16 February 1889) refers to persistent rumours that the Prince is urgently in need of 200,000 francs, which he has tried to raise with the help of Mme Goblet, an antique dealer.

  p. 202 Queen late for luncheon: The chef was Gabriel Tschumi — his memoirs, pp. 105–6.

  p. 203 Felix Semon’s memoirs are quoted by Sir Sidney Lee.

  p. 203 Lord Allington’s daughter (Winifred Sturt) at Sandringham: Hardinge Papers, quoted by Magnus, p. 222.

  p. 204 Evenings at Sandringham: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  pp. 206–207 King’s slip in speech in Italy: Hardinge Papers, 30 April to 5 May 1909. p. 207 King and Beresford: Lincolnshire Papers. In 1909 the King told Carrington that Beresford was ‘one mass of vanity’ and was ‘not straight.’ He seemed ‘delighted’ at Beresford’s being ‘snuffed out’.

  p. 209 King’s complaint about papers: Asquith Papers, 25 October 1908, 24 July 1909. Lloyd George was a particular offender. The King strongly objected to his writing ‘Mr Lloyd George presents his humble duty …’ instead of the more formal and customary ‘The Chancellor of the Exchequer presents…’

  p. 210 Balfour’s rebuff: Haldane Papers, National Library of Scotland (MSS., 5907–8/41–3), 15 July 1908.

  p. 210 Campbell-Bannerman’s ‘bad taste’: Chilston MSS., Kent County Record Office (U564. C9, 3 March 1905).

  p. 211 Winston Churchill talks ‘simple nonsense’: Ibid.

  p. 211 Knollys’s dislike of Churchill: Rosebery Papers, 20 January 1908.

  Knollys to Rosebery: ‘Winston Churchill is to be asked to Windsor for a couple of nights. Personally I don’t admire or care for him, but I think the King is quite right to take some notice of him.’

  p. 211 Haldane ‘always acceptable’: Rosebery Papers, 14 December 1908.

  p. 213 Band of Coldstream Guards in Germany: Haldane Papers, 8 October 1907. Haldane to Grey: ‘The King feels that, though the German Embassy may be satisfied with the explanation given them by the Foreign Office, when the German Emperor hears of what has taken place, as he probably will, it will sound extraordinary to him that the Sovereign of this Country … cannot even send a military band abroad without the approval of the Foreign Office.’

  p. 213 King’s letter about Sinha: Minto MSS., 21 May 1909 (National Library of Scotland, 4E. 346).

  pp. 214–215 Balfour’s letter about Shah: Royal Archives, quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 305.

  p. 218 Princess Alexandra’s memorandum on Heligoland: Devonshire MSS., 340. 2236. In sending the memorandum the Princess refers to it as having been written by herself.

  p. 218 Queen Alexandra and Greece: Clarendon Papers, 1 May 1870.

  pp. 218–219 Prince George’s reliance on father: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  pp. 218–219 Prince George’s fondness of father: Lloyd George: Family Letters, 1885–1936 (9 May 1910): ‘The King [George V] exceedingly nice. Talked a good deal about his father, of whom he was evidently very fond. His eyes, suffused with tears.’

  p. 229 The King’s friend at the Paris Exhibition was Mrs Paget — letter quoted by Sewell, p. 81.

  p. 231 ‘Poor old Buller!’: ‘Felix Semon’s Memoirs’. In Lord Carrington’s journal the difficult guest is not a bishop but the aged Lord Salisbury.

  p. 231 Duke of Devonshire’s letter: Devonshire MSS., 4.171, 15 November 1872.

  pp. 232–233 King’s entourage and his visit to Alnwick: Duke of Northumberland’s archives.

  p. 233 King’s visit to Mount Stewart: Londonderry Papers, D/LO/F.1127.

  pp. 234–235 Entertaining royalty: Lincolnshire Papers. The King’s hosts were sometimes rewarded with a K.C.V.O. Lord Iveagh received a G.C.V.O. with which he was ‘hugely delighted’ (7 January 1910).

  pp. 237–238 King in France: Préfecture de Police, Dossier 150100, A.I. The King usually stayed at the Hôtel de Provence at Cannes. In February 1887, after he had attended the carnival at Nice dressed as Domino and masked, the police reported, ‘Il s’amuse comme un jeune homme, rit de toutes les scènes grotesques et, de retour, prend grand plaisir ? raconter les èpisodes de la journée.’ Detectives often followed the King to the casino at Monte Carlo. He was usually unlucky, although a rumour that he lost 200,000 francs in April 1890 was described as ‘inexact’. He was once overheard by a detective remarking cheerfully to one of his companions, ‘If you want to win, play with me. I always lose.’

  p. 239 King in Denmark: Rosebery Papers, MS., 10016/66. Francis Knollys dreaded having to accompany the King, although the Queen thought that he enjoyed the visits. Knollys commented to Rosebery, ‘How little she knows human nature!’

  p. 247 ‘A cloud of bluebottle flies’: The British visitor was Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. The quotations from the Campbell-Bannerman Papers on this and the following page are from John Wilson’s biography, pp. 143–45.

  p. 247 Sophie Hall Walker at Marienbad: Information from Anita Leslie.

  p. 250 ‘Pawn in the game’: Eyre Crowe’s comment is quoted by Lord Vansittart, p. 46.

  pp. 251–255 King’s visit to Pope: Rampolla’s, Sandars’s, Balfour’s and Bertie’s letters and telegrams are in the Sandars Papers, Balfour–Edward VII Correspondence, 23 March 1903 to 29 April 1903. The other letters and Hardinge’s reports are from the Hardinge Papers. Hardinge’s description of his interview with Rampolla is in the Sandars Papers, 29

  April 1903. Knollys remained persistently opposed to the visit. On 23

  April he wrote to Hardinge from the Imperial Hotel, Exmouth: ‘I shall be very sorry if it takes place.… The argument that the King when he was Prince of Wales called on the Pope is hardly to the point now, as an heir apparent can do many things which it is not advisable a Sovereign should.’

  pp. 255–256 Marquis de Soveral’s letters are quoted by Gordon Brook-Shepherd. pp. 256–257 King’s attitude towards republicans: Préfecture de Police, Dossier 150100, A.I. (11 February 1874).

  pp. 258–260 King in Paris: Préfecture de Police, Dossier 150100, A.I., 1–8

  May 1903.

  p. 261 The Prince’s reception in Cork in 1885: The equerry was Arthur Ellis.

  His description is quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 189.

  p. 264 Letter from Knollys to Asquith: Asquith Papers, 5 June 1908.

  p. 267 Bismarck ‘hated the Prince of Wales’: Rosebery Papers, 24 March 1889.

  p. 268 Sir Augustus Paget’s letter to Prince: Royal Archives, quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 209.

  p. 271 Kaiser at Sandringham: Rosebery Papers, 26 November 1899.

  p. 274 King on ‘public men in Germany’: Rosebery Papers, 19 February 1900. pp. 275–276 Hardinge’s reports to Grey (July 1916): ‘Secret Cabinet Paper recording conversations which Lord (then Sir Charles) Hardinge had when Edward VII visited German Emperor and Emperors of Austria and Russia in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1909’. Copy in Hardinge Papers.

  p. 277 Kaiser’s conversation with King in Berlin: Grosse Politik der Europaischen Kabinette, 28, No. 10260, quoted by Brook-Shepherd, p. 345.

  p. 282 King consults gypsy: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal. p. 283 King and Arthur Ponsonby: Elibank Papers, National Library of Scotland. ‘The King resents that Ponsonby, with his name, with his having been in the Diplomatic Service, and after having been Sir He
nry Campbell-Bannerman’s private secretary, should have voted as he did’ (18 June 1908). The King ultimately relented, however, and gave instructions for Ponsonby ‘to be invited to the Court Ball’ on 10 July 1908 (Asquith Papers).

  p. 284 King on suffragettes: Asquith Papers, 3 June 1908.

  p. 284 Florence Nightingale and O.M.: Sandars Papers, 6 November 1903. p. 284 Women on Divorce Commission: Asquith Papers, 5 September 1909.

  pp. 284–285 Whitehall procession: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  pp. 285–286 King’s complaint about Asquith’s colleagues: Asquith Papers, 19

  July 1909.

  p. 297 Carrington at deathbed: Lincolnshire Papers, Carrington’s journal.

  As Lord Great Chamberlain, Carrington supervised the arrangements of the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall: ‘17 May 1910. I dressed and went into Westminster Hall. Everything in perfect order.… Then Big Ben began to toll, the Dead Match was heard and the procession filed into Palace Yard.… The sight was most impressive. He lay there in the presence of the royal family, high officials and the two Houses of the Lords and Commons. The widowed Queen stood next to her son dressed in the simplest way … no trimmings or ornaments of any kind. She scarcely looked forty, so slim and upright and trim. The new King wore naval uniform and the Garter. When the service was over [his mother] knelt a few moments in prayer, and then he took her by the hand and led her away.… Poor Princess Victoria looked hopelessly miserable. Princess Christian, Princess Louise and Princess Beatrice, all old women now … and my oldest and best friend stiff and cold in his coffin.… The Hall looked magnificent, a silence that could be felt; and the officers standing immovable at their posts.… It was a wet night but the crowds stood patiently through the dark hours — a forest of umbrellas and people shivering and stamping their feet to keep warm.… Quite 25,000 were unable to obtain admission when the gates were shut at 10 p.m. Yet all day [the procession past the coffin] had gone on.… New carpets have been put down as they were completely worn out.… At eleven the King of Portugal came with Soveral [who was] terribly pale and upset. He held my hand for quite two minutes saying over and over again, “This is too awful.” He then knelt and prayed before the coffin.… He feels the King’s death terribly.…