The Young Victoria
Of the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Kent was born
Victoria, the most popular of English
Queens.
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Young
Victoria at the Age of 18: Engraved by
John
Cochran after
Sir George
Hayter.
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PART I: THE LITTLE PRINCESS
In the
year 1819 the royal family of England was not in a happy or
prosperous state. Seldom before or since has there been less
comfort in the prospects of the house of Hanover. King
George III was in seclusion, bowed down with an incurable
disease; and of all his large family, fifteen sons and
daughters, most of whom were still living, not one had a
successor to come after him or her as a legitimate heir to
the crown. For twenty years the sole hope of the royal house
had been the Princess Charlotte, the only child of a most
unhappy marriage, but in herself a sweet and promising young
woman, with many claims upon the tenderness and sympathy of
the nation. So long as she lived, all national requirements
were satisfied on the point of heir-ship. She married wisely
and happily, not only making an admirable choice for
herself, but bringing forward out of the obscurity of
princely life in Germany, a family which has held a greater
place since in the affairs of Christendom than perhaps any
other— the family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. |
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Prince
Leopold, the chosen husband of Princess Charlotte, showed
the family faculty of combining the quietest and most
unostentatious private life with great devotion to public
affairs, and that political level-headedness which makes a
statesman. Everything bade fair for the happiest royal life
that England perhaps had ever known. As Victoria and Albert
were a generation later, so were Charlotte and Leopold in
1817 — good, true, honest, and noble-minded, setting up a
pure household, a high standard of life within the midst of
the careless England of those days. |
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 But in
that very year Princess Charlotte died, and the royal house
found itself childless. Within a few months of her death,
however, several marriages took place in the royal family,
the most important of which was that of the Duke of Kent,
the fourth son of George III, who married a sister of Prince
Leopold, the Princess of Leiningen, a young widow with two
children, in May 1818. The Duchess of Kent (1786-1861),
Victoria Mary Louisa, was a daughter of Francis, Duke of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was the widow of Emich Charles,
Prince of Leiningen, whom she had married in 1803, and who
had died in 1814, leaving a son and a daughter by her. Of
the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Kent was born
Victoria, the happiest and most popular of English Queens.
Alexandrina Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland
and Empress of India, was born on Monday, 24th May 1819, at
Kensington Palace. Her father, Edward, Duke of Kent and
Strathearn (1767-1820), the fourth son of George III, was a
man of decided character, kindly, pious, punctual, with a
strict sense of duty and enlightened ideas. He was a devoted
soldier, and, as Queen Victoria once said, "was proud of his
profession, and I was always taught to consider myself a
soldier's child." |
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Young Princess
Victoria
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Through her mother, the young Victoria was closely allied to
the principal reigning families of Europe. The Duchess of
Kent's eldest brother, Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, was the
father of Albert, Prince Consort. Her sister was the wife of
Alexander, Duke of Würtemberg. The Duchess of Kent's nephew,
Ferdinand (son of Ferdinand, the Duchess's brother), married
Maria da Gloria, Queen of Portugal, and was father of Pedro
V and Luis, both subsequently Kings of Portugal. The
Duchess's third brother, Leopold (afterwards King of the
Belgians), married first the Princess Charlotte, daughter of
George IV, and afterwards the Princess Louise Marie, eldest
daughter of King Louis Philippe. Prince Augustus (son of
Ferdinand, the Duchess of Kent's brother) married another
daughter of Louis Philippe, the Princess Clémentine, while
Prince Augustus's sister, Victoria, married the Duc de
Nemours, a son of Louis Philippe. Another nephew, Duke
Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander, son of the Duchess of
Würtemberg, married the Princess Marie, another daughter of
Louis Philippe. Thus Queen Victoria was closely allied with
the royal families of France, Portugal, Belgium,
Saxe-Coburg, and Würtemberg. |
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When she
was only a few months old, Victoria’s father died, closely
followed by his father, poor old King George. A paper
preserved in the Windsor archives gives a touching account
of the Duke's last hours. The Regent, on the 22nd of
January, sent to him a message of solicitude and affection,
expressing an anxious wish for his recovery. The Duke roused
himself to enquire how the Prince was in health, and said,
"If I could now shake hands with him, I should die in
peace." A few hours before the end, one who stood by the
curtain of his bed heard the Duke say with deep emotion,
"May the Almighty protect my wife and child, and forgive all
the sins I have committed." His last words — addressed to
his wife — were, "Do not forget me." Before this, it is
recorded that “the Regent was not kind to his brother,” and
when the Duke of Kent died, it was found that “the poor Duke
had left his family deprived of all means of existence.”
Thus the position of the mother of the future sovereign, a
young German princess, was soon left alone in this strange
and not always very genial country. |
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The
Duchess of Kent’s brother, Prince Leopold, hastened to her
in her distress, and stood by his sister in all her future
difficulties. Few women have had a severer piece of work to
undertake. Though the mother of the future Queen, the
Duchess of Kent was friendless in a home where she had as
yet but little time to get acquainted. She was a foreigner,
accustomed to different ways of living, and had not even the
easy temperament of youth which accustoms itself to
anything, for she was already over thirty when she married
the Duke. While occupying so great a position, she was
comparatively poor and could not withdraw with her child to
her own country, to bring the little Princess up among her
own people, cheaply and kindly, far away from the criticisms
and extravagances, the late hours and bustle of English
life. |
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But the
Duchess of Kent had the temperate Coburg blood in her veins,
and shared the sound sense and judgment of her race. She
never forgot that her eight-month-old baby was the first
Princess of the blood; English above all things, and
imperatively requiring an English education. She wrote, “. .
. by the death of her revered father when she was but eight
months old, her [Victoria’s] sole care and charge devolved
to me. Stranger as I then was, I became deeply impressed
with the absolute necessity of bringing her up entirely in
this country, that every feeling should be that of Her
native land, and proving thereby my devotion to duty by
rejecting all those feelings of home and kindred that
divided my heart. . . . When the Princess approached her
fifth year I considered it the proper time to begin in a
moderate way her education — an education that was to fit
Her to be either the Sovereign of these realms, or to fill a
junior station in the Royal Family, until the Will of
Providence should show at a later period what Her destiny
was to be.” The Duchess of Kent was an affectionate,
impulsive woman, with more emotional sympathy than practical
wisdom in worldly matters; but her claim on the gratitude of
the British nation is that she brought up her illustrious
daughter in habits of simplicity, self-sacrifice, and
obedience. |
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The Duchess
of Kent and the young Victoria remained in England though
far from her friends and everything that was most dear to
her. The little family, bereaved, returned to the old palace
at Kensington where the child had been born, and there the
early days of the Princess were chiefly spent. The Princess
was brought up with exemplary simplicity at Kensington
Palace, where her mother had a set of apartments. She was
often at Claremont, which belonged to her uncle, Prince
Leopold; holidays were spent at Ramsgate, Tunbridge Wells,
Broadstairs, and elsewhere. It may be held to have been one
of the chief blessings of Queen Victoria's girlhood that she
was brought closely under the influence of an enlightened
and large-minded Prince Leopold, her maternal uncle,
afterwards King of the Belgians. He was born in 1790, being
the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,
and his youth was spent in the Russian military service. He
had shown talent and courage in the field, and had commanded
a battalion at Lützen and Leipsic. He had married, in 1816,
the Princess Charlotte, only child of George IV. For many
years his home was at Claremont, where the Princess
Charlotte had died; there the Princess Victoria spent many
happy holidays, and grew to regard her uncle with the most
devoted affection, almost, indeed, in the light of a father. |
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Young
Victoria
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In
1872, Queen Victoria wrote, "My earliest recollections are
connected with Kensington Palace, where I can remember
crawling on a yellow carpet spread out for that purpose--and
being told that if I cried and was naughty my 'Uncle Sussex'
would hear me and punish me, for which reason I always
screamed when I saw him! I had a great horror of Bishops on
account of their wigs and aprons, but recollect this being
partially got over in the case of the then Bishop of
Salisbury (Dr Fisher, great-uncle to Mr. Fisher, Private
Secretary to the Prince of Wales), by his kneeling down and
letting me play with his badge of Chancellor of the Order of
the Garter. With another Bishop, however, the persuasion of
showing him my 'pretty shoes' was of no use.” |
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Happier
than most children in her position, the little heiress of
England had the society of an elder sister in a
well-regulated household and was unconscious of her own
greatness. This sister, Princess Feodora, afterward Princess
Hohenlohe, was the kindest of friends and companions to the
Queen during her whole life. They were brought up together
in quiet old Kensington. They were there in the summer of
1824 when the little Princess was but five years old. Queen
Victoria wrote, “Claremont remains as the brightest epoch of
my otherwise rather melancholy childhood — where to be under
the roof of that beloved Uncle — to listen to some music in
the Hall when there were dinner-parties — and to go and see
dear old Louis! — the former faithful and devoted Dresser
and friend of Princess Charlotte — beloved and respected by
all who knew her — and who doted on the little Princess who
was too much an idol in the House. This dear old lady was
visited by every one — and was the only really devoted
Attendant of the poor Princess, whose governesses paid
little real attention to her — and who never left her, and
was with her when she died. I used to ride a donkey given me
by my Uncle, the Duke of York, who was very kind to me. I
remember him well — tall, rather large, very kind but
extremely shy. He always gave me beautiful presents. The
last time I saw him was at Mr. Greenwood's house, where D.
Carlos lived at one time — when he was already very ill —
and he had Punch and Judy in the garden for me.” |
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Young
Victoria
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The most
careful education was given to the young Princess as Prince
Leopold watched over this training with all the interests of
a statesman, and all the tenderness of a father. A practical
proof of his interest in his niece may be found in the fact
that for years he contributed between three and four
thousand a year to the expenses of her education, and for
necessary holidays by the sea, at a time when the Duchess of
Kent's Parliamentary Grant was unequal to the increasing
expenses of her household. Queen Victoria further
reminisced, "I remember going to Carlton House, when George
IV lived there, as quite a little child before a dinner the
King gave. The Duchess of Cambridge and my 2 cousins, George
and Augusta, were there. My Aunt, the Queen of Würtemberg
(Princess Royal), came over, in the year '26, I think, and I
recollect perfectly well seeing her drive through the Park
in the King's carriage with red liveries and 4 horses, in a
cap and evening dress — my Aunt, her sister Princess
Augusta, sitting opposite to her, also in evening attire,
having dined early with the Duke of Sussex at Kensington.
She had adopted all the German fashions and spoke broken
English--and had not been in England for many many years.
She was very kind and good-humoured but very large and
unwieldy. She lived at St James's and had a number of
Germans with her. In the year '26 (I think) George IV asked
my Mother, my Sister and me down to Windsor for the first
time; he had been on bad terms with my poor father when he
died — and took hardly any notice of the poor widow and
little fatherless girl, who were so poor at the time of his
(the Duke of Kent's) death, that they could not have
traveled back to Kensington Palace had it not been for the
kind assistance of my dear Uncle, Prince Leopold. We went to
Cumberland Lodge, the King living at the Royal Lodge. Aunt
Gloucester was there at the same time. When we arrived at
the Royal Lodge the King took me by the hand, saying: 'Give
me your little paw.' He was large and gouty but with a
wonderful dignity and charm of manner. He wore the wig which
was so much worn in those days. Then he said he would give
me something for me to wear, and that was his picture set in
diamonds, which was worn by the Princesses as an order to a
blue ribbon on the left shoulder. I was very proud of this —
and Lady Conyngham pinned it on my shoulder.” The strictness
of the régime under which the young Victoria was brought up
was significant; and it is possible that her later zest for
simple social pleasures was partly accounted for by the
somber routine of her early days. |
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Already,
too, other visions of the future were dawning before the
far-seeing eyes of Prince Leopold who, with the sincerest
desire for the welfare of England, also at the same time had
a natural wish to advance his own family. Another child,
Albert, had been born just after Princess Victoria in the
little ducal court at Saxe-Coburg. While the children were
still in their cradles the families were in constant
communication, the young mothers exchanging those pleasant
experiences and bits of nursery news as mothers do. All the
happenings of “the little May-flower,” as the young Victoria
was called by the kind German kinsfolk, were recorded with
fond simplicity for the pleasure of the old grandmother at
home. Albert “he had great blue eyes, dimples on each cheek,
three teeth, and at eight months old was already beginning
to walk. |
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The young
Victoria was brought up with the strictest economy and
regularity, as children of much lower position rarely are,
and was taught at an early age to restrain her expenditure
within the limits of her income, even when that income was
but a child’s pocket-money. Miss Martineau gives us, in her
sketch of the Duchess of Kent, a story which illustrates the
carefulness of the training better than it does the abstract
statement which precedes it, that the Princess “was reared
in as much honesty and care about money matters as any
citizen’s child.” Very few citizens’ children, we believe,
ever were or could be so rigidly guarded from the extra
shilling of expenditure. “It became known at Tunbridge Wells
that the Princess had been unable to buy a box at the bazaar
because she had spent her money. At this bazaar she had
bought presents for almost all her relations, and had laid
out her last shilling, when she remembered one cousin more,
and saw a box priced half a crown which would suit him. The
shop people of course placed the box with the other
purchases, but the little lady’s governess admonished them
by saying, ‘No; you see the Princess has not got the money;
therefore, of course, she can not buy the box.’ This being
perceived, the next offer was to lay by the box till it
could be purchased; and the answer was, ‘Oh, well, if you
will be so good as to do that.’ On quarter-day, before seven
in the morning, the Princess appeared on her donkey to claim
her purchase.” |
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When the
Princess was nine years old, Sir Walter Scott records in his
diary that he had dined with the Duchess of Kent, and had
been presented by Prince Leopold “to the little Princess
Victoria— the heir-apparent to the house, as things now
stand. This little lady, is educated with much care, and
watched so closely that no busy maid has a moment to
whisper, ‘You are heir of England!’ I suspect, if we could
dissect the little heart, we should find that some pigeon or
other bird of the air had carried the matter. She is fair,
like the royal family.” Sir Walter’s idea, however, had no
foundation. The little Princess neither at that time nor for
years after knew anything of her preeminence. Another story
gives a description of the way in which her future rank was
revealed to her. No one had been allowed, as is mentioned
above, to breathe a word of this in the child’s ear. But
events now began to happen which changed her position to a
certain extent. King George IV died, which brought the
Princess a step nearer to the throne, and there was no
longer any reasonable prospect that King William could have
children to succeed him. Thus the child of Kensington Palace
became beyond all doubt the next in succession. Because the
young Victoria was only twelve, a bill was brought into
Parliament to make the Duchess of Kent Regent in case her
daughter should be called upon to ascend the throne before
she came of age. When these public precautions were taken,
it was thought necessary to inform the little girl herself
of her true position that she was not merely one of a band
of Princes and Princesses, but the first among them, the
future head of the race. She was in the midst of her daily
lessons somewhat surprised, it would seem, at the grave work
required from her, which was not expected from the other
Princesses — when this great intimation was made to her. The
story is told in a letter from her governess, the Baroness
Selwyn, to the Queen, written in 1854, and apparently
recalling to her the incidents of her youth: |
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“I ask
your Majesty’s leave to cite some remarkable words of your
Majesty’s when only twelve years old, while the Regency Bill
was in progress. I then said to the Duchess of Kent that
now, for the first time, your Majesty ought to know your
place in the succession. Her Royal Highness agreed with me,
and I put the genealogical table into the historical book.
When Mr. Davys [the Queens instructor, after the Bishop of
Peterborough] was gone, the Princess Victoria opened the
book again as usual, and seeing the additional paper, said,
‘I never saw that before.’ ‘It was not thought necessary you
should, Princess,’ I answered. ‘I see I am nearer the throne
than I thought.’ ‘So it is, madam,’ I said. After some
moments the Princess resumed: ‘Now many a child would boast,
but they don’t know the difficulty. There is much splendor,
but there is much responsibility.’ The Princess, having
lifted up the forefinger of her right hand while she spoke,
gave me that little hand, saying, ‘I will be good. I
understand now why you urged me so much to learn even Latin.
My cousins Augusta and Mary never did, but you told me Latin
is the foundation of English grammar, and of all the elegant
expressions, and I learned it as you wished it, but I
understand all better now; and the little Princess gave me
her hand, repeating, ‘I will be good.’” |
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[Continue to
PART II: THE YOUNG QUEEN] |
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