Edward VII: The Last Victorian King

by Christopher Hibbert

  Lord Fisher would have agreed with her. He wrote:

  The eulogies in the newspapers did not mention the sins, which struck Wilfrid Scawen Blunt as ‘very absurd, considering what the poor King was’. ‘He might have been a Solon and a Francis of Assisi combined if the characters drawn of him were true. In no print has there been the smallest allusion to any of his pleasant little wickednesses.’ Yet it was these venial sins that had helped to make him the well-liked figure that he undoubtedly was and which largely accounted for the nation’s ‘sense of personal loss’, a loss, so Lord Morley thought, that was ‘in a way deeper and keener than when Queen Victoria died’.

  King Edward was, in fact, a popular monarch because he was so obviously a human one. Lord Granville said that he had ‘all the faults of which the Englishman is accused’. But it would have been more accurate to say that he had all the faults of which Englishmen would like to be accused. Also, he had many virtues which they are traditionally supposed to lack. He was not in the least hypocritical; he never attempted to disguise an unashamed zest for luxury and sensual pleasure. Yet, as Edward Grey put it, his ‘capacity for enjoying life’ was ‘combined with a positive and strong desire that everyone else should enjoy life too’.

  Mrs Keppel said much the same thing. She was prostrated by the King’s death. Her daughter Sonia described how, ‘at a few minutes’ notice’, the family moved from Portman Square to the Arthur Jameses’ in Grafton Street where the blinds were drawn, the lights were dimmed and black clothes appeared, even for the little girl, with black ribbons threaded through her underclothes. Sonia could not understand why all this had to be so. She went to the room where her mother lay in bed. But Mrs James barred her way; and her mother looked at her blankly, ‘without recognition, almost resentfully’. Sonia ran, frightened, to her father and burst into tears. ‘Why does it matter so much, Kingy dying?’ she asked him, sobbing on his shirtfront.

  ‘Poor little girl,’ he said. ‘It must have been very frightening for you. And for all of us for that matter. Nothing will ever be quite the same again. Because Kingy was such a wonderful man.’

  Colonel Keppel, like all those others who had grown fond of the King, felt conscious of the loss of a remarkable and irreplaceable character. It was difficult to become accustomed to his absence, to enter rooms where he had formerly been seen or to smell the pungent smoke of a Henry Clay cigar, to catch sight of a rakishly tilted Tyrolean hat, or a perky fox terrier, without remembering him.

  Writing from Rufford Abbey where he was staying for Doncaster Races after the King’s death, Lord Crewe remarked upon ‘the sense of strangeness’ that had come over all those places where his deep though penetrating voice and his gruff laugh were heard no longer in the corridors, where his ‘intense and commanding personality’ was felt no more.

  Reference Notes

  I am deeply indebted to the various owners of copyright material who have been kind enough to grant permission for extracts to be reproduced in this book. I am also most grateful to the authors and publishers of the following books, in which several of the royal letters and documents have already been printed: Philip Magnus, King Edward the Seventh (John Murray); Georgina Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra (Constable & Co.); Roger Fulford, Dearest Child and Dearest Mama (Evans Brothers); Cecil Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times (Hamish Hamilton); Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.1. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson); Giles St Aubyn, The Royal George (Constable & Co.); Mary Howard McClintock, The Queen Thanks Sir Howard (John Murray); and Theo Lang, My Darling Daisy (Michael Joseph).

  Quotations from the diaries of Arthur J. Munby, the letters of Henry Ponsonby, the recollections of Frederick Ponsonby and the papers of Sir Edward Marsh are taken, with gratitude, from Derek Hudson’s Munby: Man of Two Worlds (John Murray), Arthur Ponsonby’s Henry Ponsonby: Queen Victoria’s Private Secretary (Macmillan & Co.), Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s Recollections of Three Reigns (edited by Colin Welch; Eyre & Spottiswoode), and Christopher Hassall’s Edward Marsh (Longmans).

  For extracts from the Macclesfield Papers I am indebted to Georgina Battiscombe and Messrs Constable & Co.; from the Campbell-Bannerman Papers to John Wilson and Messrs Constable & Co.; from the Soveral and Mensdorff Papers to Gordon Brook-Shepherd and Messrs Collins; and from the Edward Hamilton Papers to Dudley W.R. Bahlman and the Clarendon Press, Oxford.

  p. 10 Sir George Combe’s reports: National Library of Scotland (MSS. 7437).

  By June 1852 Combe had examined ‘all the four Royal Children’ and had found each one ‘characterized by the organs of Self-Esteem, Love of Approbation, Firmness and Conscientiousness … greatly beyond the average of the general English brain. The same remark also applies to Concentrativeness; but above all Conscientiousness is largely developed.… This renders words spoken, or actions done to them greatly more felt than is the case with ordinary children.’

  p. 11 Birch and Prince Albert: Londonderry Papers. Disraeli wrote to Lady Londonderry on 10 October 1851: ‘You know or have heard of Mr Birch, the model tutor of the Prince of Wales and hitherto at the Chateau a prime favourite. It seems that Albert who has imbibed the ultra Lutheran (alias Infidel) doctrines and holds that all churches (reformed) are alike, etc., and that ecclesiastical formulares of all kinds ought to be discouraged, signified to Birch the other day that he did not approve of the Prince of Wales being taught the catechism, his Royal Highness not approving of creeds and all that. Conceive the astonishment and horror of Birch, a very orthodox if not very High Churchman, at this virtual abnegation of all priestly authority! He at once informed His Royal Highness that he must then resign his post. This could not on the instant be agreed to, as the Queen was devoted to Birch and Albert himself had hitherto greatly approved of him. After this there were scenes for a week, some very violent; it ended by Birch, who was unflinching, consenting to remain, the Prince of Wales being taught the Church catechism and the utmost efforts being made to suppress the whole esclandre which, if it were known, would, coupled with the connection and patronage of the National Exposition, complete, it is supposed, the Prince’s popularity. He is already more than suspected by the Church [of] making the Queen, when in Scotland, attend the Kirk and not the episcopal church, to which he sends a lord-in-waiting, or a maid of honor, every Sunday, instead of the sacred presence.’

  p. 11 Birch’s reports: Extracts on these and preceding pages are from Gibbs Papers; Philip Magnus, p. 7; also Cecil Woodham-Smith, pp. 335–36. pp. 12–13 Gibbs’s diary entries: Cornhill Magazine, p. 986, Spring 1951.

  pp. 13–14 Becker’s and Voisin’s reports in Gibbs Papers, quoted by Philip Magnus, pp. 10–11.

  p. 15 Wynn-Carrington on Prince Albert: Lincolnshire Papers (Bodleian MSS. Film 1120–21).

  p. 16 Prince’s essay: Gibbs’s report in Royal Archives quoted by Elizabeth Longford, p. 275.

  p. 21 Lindsay’s report: Royal Archives, quoted by Cecil Woodham-Smith, pp. 403–4.

  p. 22 Gladstone on Prince of Wales: Hawarden MSS., quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 27.

  p. 29 Prince of Wales’s lack of skill at tennis: Joseph Romilly’s MS. Diaries, 28 January 1841 (Cambridge University Library, 6804–42).

  p. 32 New York Herald reports: Press cuttings in the Royal Archives quoted by Woodham-Smith. Later quotations from New York Daily Tribune and New York Times are from Kinley Roby.

  pp. 36–37 Madingley Hall arrangements: King Papers, 12 June 1860 to 8 December 1861 (Cambridge County Record Office).

  pp. 37–38 Prince at Cambridge: Acland Papers; Joseph Romilly’s Diaries, 18 January 1861 to 21 May 1861. Romilly went to dinner with the Prince at Madingley on 24 January and afterwards recorded: ‘The Prince did not wear a star or ribbon and we were all (as instructed) in an ordinary evening dress without gowns.… Whewell [William Whewell, Master of Trinity College] said Grace. The dessert was on the table at first: no viands on table: everything handed round. Wine was twice poured out for everybody without asking: seemed to be Sherry and Champagne. With the cheese Por
twine was offered & cherry brandy. After dinner nothing but Sherry and Claret offered: no wine put on table. I think nobody tasted any part of the dessert except some little cakes which were handed round.… The ice after dinner was delicious.’

  p. 38 Kingsley on the Prince: Desborough Papers, 5 May 1861 (County of Buckingham Record Office, D/86/32/40).

  p. 47 Prince Albert at Madingley: Lincolnshire Papers, 25 November 1861.

  pp. 47–48 Prince at father’s deathbed: King Papers, The Hon. Sir Charles Phipps to Lady King, 27 December 1861.

  p. 50 Prince’s letter to Wynn-Carrington: Lincolnshire Papers, 23 January 1862.

  p. 51 Stanley and Prince in Middle East: Acland Papers, as well as Prothero and Bradley.

  p. 57 Prince’s opinion of William Knollys: Knollys Papers (Kent County Record Office, U1186 C/47, undated [June 1883]).

  p. 57 Queen Victoria’s letter about William Knollys: Knollys Papers, 9 July 1862 (Kent County Record Office, U1186 C6/2). ‘I know of no other person so fitted as General Knollys,’ Queen Victoria added, ‘for he possessed beloved Papa’s great esteem and confidence, he is very amiable, particularly pleasant and agreeable and has great experience of the world.… He is besides very fond of young people.’

  p. 59 William Knollys on Prince’s happiness: Knollys Papers (U1186 C1/2, undated).

  p. 61 Queen Victoria’s horror of Princess Alexandra’s mother’s family: Paget Papers, quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 61.

  p. 63 The ugly bridesmaids: Lady Geraldine Somerset’s diary in the Royal Archives. This and other extracts quoted by Georgina Battiscombe.

  p. 63 Prince’s height: Archives of Messrs Henry Poole & Co. In 1860 the Prince’s waist measured 39? in. and his seat 45 in. In 1905 his waist had expanded to 47 in. and his seat to 46? in.

  p. 64 Princess late for wedding: Lincolnshire Papers, 13 March 1863.

  p. 67 Prince’s contribution to Frogmore mausoleum: Knollys Papers (U1186

  C38). Sir Charles Phipps wrote to Knollys on 3 May 1863: ‘I think that the Prince of Wales can hardly realize all the expences that have fallen upon the Queen by the sad events of the last three years.… The Queen’s expences have far outgrown Her income and were it not for a fund which I have with great care collected and set by she could not get on. This in the STRICTEST CONFIDENCE.… I hope that the expence of the Mausoleum will be spread over many years. I endeavour upon all occasions to advocate a very slow progress. I should be very sorry to pretend to interfere in any way in the financial arrangements of the Prince of Wales but I may hint to you that His Royal Highness has a very large capital still … which might be made available for this purpose. I have not hinted any of this to the Queen and I should earnestly hope it may not come to her knowledge for this is the point upon which she would be most tender.’

  p. 68 Increase in Prince’s income: Knollys Papers (U1186 C1/6). On 23

  March 1865 General Knollys asked Phipps if there would be any objection to the Prince’s going to see Gladstone ‘on the subject of an increase to the £40,000 annuity.… It appears that several members of both Houses have told H.R.H. that there would be no difficulty now in getting his income increased, and that it would be better to ask for it while this feeling was warm.’ Nothing came of the Prince’s approach.

  p. 69 Lady Macclesfield on Sandringham: Macclesfield Papers. This and other extracts quoted by Georgina Battiscombe.

  pp. 70–71 Gladstone at Sandringham: Edward Hamilton’s diaries, B.M. Add.

  MSS. 48, pp. 630–83. These have now been edited by Dudley W.R. Bahlman. This and all subsequent quotations from the diaries are taken from this edition. In May 1886 Queen Victoria made ‘a devil of a row’ about Gladstone and John Morley being asked to Sandringham (Rosebery Papers, 3 May 1886).

  p. 71 The Bishop of Peterborough at Sandringham was William Connor Magee. The quotation is from Macdonnel’s Life.

  p. 77 Prince’s request for information about ‘present political crisis’: Devonshire MSS. (340.527), 12 March 1873.

  p. 84 General Knollys’s excuses: Knollys Papers (U1186 C1/2), 17 October 1864. ‘The parting at Copenhagen which took place on board the Osborne was painful to witness,’ Knollys added, ‘the King [of Denmark] particularly showing much distress.’

  p. 90 Knollys on sailors’ rude song: Royal Archives, quoted by Georgina Battiscombe, p. 89.

  p. 93 Lady Carrington’s complaints: Carrington MSS., 17 December 1865, 22 December 1865, 13 August 1866 (County of Buckingham Record Office, D/CN C5).

  p. 93 Parties at Wynn-Carrington’s: Lincolnshire Papers, 20 February 1868. pp. 93–94 Prince and racing: The Queen’s letters to Prince Arthur’s governor, Sir Howard Elphinstone, are replete with warnings about the dangers of horse-racing: ‘It is deeply regretted by all that Ascot should be visited THIS year [1872] by the Prince of Wales, and the Queen has done ALL she can to prevent it, but in vain.… It is not because the Queen thinks (and the Prince [Consort] still more) races the dullest things in the world, that she is so anxious that the Prince of Wales, and if he won’t, that Prince Arthur should discountenance them as much as possible but on account of the horrible gambling, the ruin to hundreds of families and the heart-breaking of Parents caused thereby which lowers the higher classes frightfully.’ (McClintock, p. 148.) Towards the end of her life the Queen’s attitude softened, and for Christmas 1895 she gave the Prince of Wales two models of jockeys (Rosebery Papers, National Library of Scotland, MSS. 10016).

  p. 94 Prince’s letters to Filmer: Filmer MSS., Kent County Record Office (U120 C77). Energetic as the Prince was, even he was sometimes exhausted by his guests at Sandringham. ‘The Bishop arrived here today and is in great force,’ he once reported to Dean Wellesley; ‘he played four rubbers of whist after dinner — then American Bowles with Dr Farre — and it is now 2 in the morning & he has just commenced a game at billiards with that eminent Physician’ (Wellington MSS., 13 April 1871).

  p. 96 Farmer’s description of Sandringham shoot: ‘The Lady Farmer,’

  Eighteen Years on the Sandringham Estate (Temple Co., 1887).

  p. 99 Foundation of Marlborough Club: Lincolnshire Papers. ‘In 1917,’ Lincolnshire added, ‘the Marlborough Club was on its last legs. Sir Ernest Cassel (a German Jew) offered to finance it; but the members would not stand that; and King George V saved the club by producing £7,000.’

  p. 100 Lord Carrington’s advice to his son: Carrington Papers, 2 March 1863. p. 101 Royal Buckhounds at Paddington: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

  p. 101 Queen Victoria’s criticism of Prince at time of Phipps’s death: Knollys Papers (U1186 C6/4), 26 February 1866.

  p. 105 Princess Alexandra on happiness of her marriage: Downe Papers, 18

  May 1869 (North Yorkshire Record Office, ZDS/W, 100).

  pp. 108–109 Disturbance at Olympic Theatre: Lincolnshire Papers, 2 March 1870. p. 110 Prince at House of Lords: ‘The Prince performed capitally yesterday in the House of Lords,’ Lord Carrington told his son on 6 February 1863, ‘not nervous and very dignified and well received’ (Carrington Papers, D/CN C1/9).

  pp. 111–112 Mrs Francis Stonor on Prince in tears: Royal Archives, quoted by Georgina Battiscombe, p. 112.

  p. 123 Appointment of Francis Knollys: Knollys Papers (U1186 C25/8).

  Queen Victoria was justified in her fears that, as a young man, Francis Knollys’s morals were not above reproach. In April 1873 he accompanied the Prince to Vienna, where, ‘before hearing that almost all the ladies of the town were reported to be poxed’, he went with ‘about as low a woman’ as he had ever come across and afterwards confessed to his friend, Rosebery, that he was ‘in a horrible fright’ (Rosebery Papers, MS. 10016, 29 April 1873).

  p. 123 Prince and Scots Fusiliers: Knollys Papers (U1186 C18/1), 13

  September 1870.

  p. 123 Lord Granville on Prince: Henry Ponsonby’s Papers, quoted by Arthur Ponsonby, p. 102.

  pp. 129–130 Princess Alexandra and India: Downe Papers, 21 March 1877. A l
etter from Lady Downe, written in India, made Princess Alexandra ‘regret ten times more’ that she was not allowed to ‘have a glimpse at least of that glorious East’ which she feared she would never see (Downe Papers, 2DS/W/102).

  p. 130 Queen Victoria’s instructions about Indian visit: Salisbury Papers, 5 June 1875.

  p. 132 Albert Grey’s letters to his mother and his journal, quoted throughout this chapter, are in the Earl Grey Papers, Department of Palaeography and Diplomatic, University of Durham, MSS. pp. 216–17.

  p. 132 Lord Carrington’s comments on the tour are extracted from the Lincolnshire Papers, MS. 1120.

  p. 135 Prince in Delhi: Grey Papers. A private soldier in the Eighth Regiment who formed part of the Prince’s guard thought that his reception in Delhi was very subdued (MS. Letters of Private John Whitworth, Merseyside County Museum, Liverpool). ‘Any notion the natives may have entertained of the pomp and grandeur they were about to witness must have been quickly dissipated, as, riding with a lot of staff officers, the Prince was in no way conspicuous and was not I believe recognised by the majority of the natives. Slowly the procession wound its way thro the line of troops — the Prince conversing now with one now with another of the officers around him. Whether the natives testify their loyalty in a manner different to us or whether they were disappointed at the lack of show I know not. But certain it is that very few cheers greeted his advent. One “Champagne Charley” style of European tried by the force of example to call forth a hurrah from his black neighbours, but the effort was in vain. The attempt was, however, acknowledged by a graceful inclination of his Royal H’s head.… The procession pursued its course, the Prince occasionally being called on to acknowledge the waving of handkerchiefs by European ladies. The whole affair did not last two hours, and the tameness of the reception was certainly the most noticeable feature in it.’

  p. 137 Fights between wild animals: Lincolnshire Papers, MS. 1120.