Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria Page 15

  We were in the drawing room when he returned and he came straight there. His eyes were bulging and his face was crimson. There was no doubt of his anger.

  I approached him and curtsied and he softened slightly, but as I kissed him and he returned my kiss I could sense that he was quivering with rage; and I knew that it was against Mama. Even so I was unprepared.

  Mama was close behind me. She always resented my being greeted before her. The King did not ignore her. He bowed almost imperceptibly and his eyes blazed at her.

  He then said in a voice that could be distinctly heard all over the drawing room, “A great liberty has been taken with one of my palaces. I have just left Kensington Palace where, against my express command, apartments have been taken. I cannot understand such conduct. Nor will I endure it. It is quite disrespectful toward the King.”

  Mama stood there, pale, but with her head held high, regarding the King haughtily. I was so ashamed, I could have wept. I should have known. How dared she! And I had so enjoyed those lovely rooms at the Palace. If I had known that we had no right to them I should have hated them. I should have forced her to vacate them. Yes, that was what I should have done. I should not have allowed Mama to behave as she had. I should let her know that her importance came through her relationship to me.

  I wanted to leave Windsor. I could not look at all these people. I saw in their faces that amused excitement that people have when there is trouble for others. I wanted to run away and hide.

  The Queen said, “The King is very tired. It has been a long day for him and the journey from Westminster to Windsor can be exhausting.”

  She went out with him. Mama and I followed them. I could not bear to look at Mama. I was seething with anger against her and I knew I should show it.

  Part of me did not care. And yet I held myself in check. Perhaps the time was not yet ripe. But it was coming.

  WORSE WAS TO follow.

  I spent a restless night though Mama, in the same room, seemed to sleep peacefully. I could not understand how she could reconcile herself to such behavior. If anyone had flouted her authority or attempted to rob her of one iota of the dignity she thought due to her, she would have been incensed; yet she continually defied the King, which was actually defying the Crown.

  When I was eighteen, when I took on responsibility, she must never be allowed to dictate to me.

  I was longing to leave Windsor for I grew so apprehensive when Mama and the King were under the same roof, and I had rarely seen him so angry as he had been on the previous day. I thought he was going to have a fit—and if he had it would have been Mama's fault.

  Perhaps tomorrow we could leave.

  So it was with great trepidation that I went down to dinner that night. My fears were on a firm foundation although the King was charming to me, but I noticed Aunt Adelaide was watching him in that uneasy way she had when she feared there might be trouble. The King behaved as though Mama were not present, looking right through her as though she were invisible; but when he turned to me he was very friendly and kept patting my hand. He said my eighteenth birthday would be in the coming May… another nine months. Then I should be of age. He stressed that once or twice, and although he did not look at Mama, I think he wanted her to hear it.

  There were a hundred guests because it was his birthday, and it was naturally a very grand occasion. When the meal was over the Queen proposed the King's health, and he got up to reply.

  We were all relaxed and even the Queen seemed to be lulled into a sense of security. The evening was almost over and it had passed without any unpleasantness.

  And then it happened.

  The King rose to reply to the toast. We all expected him to ramble on as he invariably did at such times, but soon we were all roused from our complacency.

  “Thank you all for your wishes for my continued health,” he said. “I trust to God that my life may be spared for nine months longer, after which period, in the event of my death, no Regency will take place.” He looked at me. “I should then have the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority to the personal exercise of that young lady—” He pointed a finger at me and I shrank into my seat. I dared not look at Mama. “—the heiress presumptive to the throne, and not in the hands of a person now near to me who is surrounded by evil advisers and herself incompetent to act with propriety in the station in which she would be placed. I have been insulted—grossly and continually—by that person, and I am determined to endure no longer a course of behavior so disrespectful to me. Among many other things I have particularly to complain of the manner in which that young lady has been kept away from my Court; she has been repeatedly kept from my Drawing Rooms, at which she ought to have been present, but I am fully resolved that this shall not happen again. I would have her know that I am the King, and I am determined to make my authority respected, and for the future I shall insist and command that the Princess on all occasions appear at my Court, as it is her duty to do.”

  As I listened I felt the tears gushing to my eyes. He was more than angry; he had been deeply wounded; and he was a kind old gentleman although I knew he could not be considered a good king; he was more like a bluff country squire. He blundered and rumbled on and was often incoherent, but he was kind and meant well, and what more can one ask of people than that?

  Mine were tears of humiliation. I was ashamed of Mama, who sat there as though stunned, for once speechless and bewildered as though, in spite of the King's outburst only the night before, she could not believe her ears.

  The Queen as usual came to the rescue. As the King sat down she rose; and that was the signal for the ladies to follow her from the dining room.

  When we were in the drawing room Mama's fury burst out.

  “I…I have never been so insulted in my life,” she cried. “We are leaving at once. I shall order the carriage immediately.”

  “No, Mama,” I protested. “We cannot do that. Please, Mama, listen to me.”

  Mama was too distraught to notice the firmness of my tone.

  The Queen said gently, “You cannot leave tonight. It is too late. Wait until the morning.”

  I suppose Mama realized how impossible it would be to leave at that hour for Claremont, so tightening her lips and clenching her fists, she agreed to stay for the night.

  “But not a moment longer,” she cried. “The first thing in the morning we leave. To be so insulted…in front of all those people—”

  I felt a coldness enter my heart. It was true she had been chastised publicly. But, Mama, I thought, you deserved it. You deserved every bit of it.

  AFTER THAT THE rift between myself and my mother was apparent to everyone. I could not sympathize with her. I could not forgive her for taking possession of those rooms at the Palace when the King had refused them to her. They were his rooms; it was his Palace; and to take them was, in a way, stealing.

  Mama would not learn lessons and there was another unfortunate incident.

  The King had appointed his daughter by Dorothy Jordan, who had become Lady de I'Isle and Dudley, custodian of Kensington Palace, which meant that she had apartments there.

  Mama was outraged. The Palace should be for the convenience of members of the royal family, she said, and she did not count an actress's bastards in that category. But the King evidently did…I had always heard that he was very fond of the FitzClarences and that from the moment she came to England Aunt Adelaide had treated them all as her step-children.

  I did not care for them—not because of their birth, but because I found some of them decidedly arrogant. This did not apply to Lady de I'Isle and Dudley, however, whom I quite liked. She was heavily pregnant when she came and while she was at the Palace she was confined. Mama was furious at all the fuss. The King sent his doctors, and the condition of Lady de I'Isle and Dudley was said to be very grave.

  Mama had arranged a dinner party and I said to her, “Mama, you must cancel the party. We cannot have it while the King's daughter is in this condition so
near us.”

  Mama cried angrily, “What has the King's bastard to do with me? Why should I not receive my guests because of that creature?”

  “Mama,” I said, “she lives here. They are all very anxious about her.”

  Mama shrugged her shoulders and went on with her preparations. The party took place and while it was in progress Lady de I'Isle and Dudley died.

  I was horrified for I hated to be associated with such conduct. I went to Lehzen. She agreed with me, of course. It seemed to me that she was the only one in the household to whom I could reveal my feelings.

  After that I became more aloof. I found it increasingly difficult to cloak my attitude and a definite coldness crept into my relationship with Mama.

  My brother Charles tried to reason with me, and I made it clear to him that he was interfering in matters that were no concern of his. I was sorry for I did not want to be on bad terms with my family, but Charles heard only Mama's side and he tried to tell me that I was incapable of acting without her.

  “No,” I said firmly, “I shall be incapable of acting with her.”

  I needed Sir John Conroy to be my secretary, he said. I had no idea what burdens of state would be mine. How could a young girl without experience rule on her own?

  I said, “I shall have my ministers to help me.”

  They were the people I wanted. Not Mama. Not Sir John Conroy. Not my brother Charles.

  Charles left soon after and went to see Uncle Leopold.

  As a result of that visit Baron Stockmar arrived.

  I knew that he had been very close to Albert; he had also been with Uncle Leopold at the time of Charlotte's death. He was three years older than Uncle Leopold and very wise, so I had always heard from my uncle and, of course, I believed every word he said. Uncle Leopold had brought him to England as his physician when he had married Charlotte, and as my uncle himself was plagued by many ailments, he had great need of Dr.Christian Friedrich Stockmar. He had had such confidence in Stockmar that he had sent him to assist in Albert's upbringing, which clearly showed his regard for him.

  I greeted Baron Stockmar warmly, so did my mother. He was close to Uncle Leopold and that made me pleased to see him; but I soon realized that he too had my mother's side of the story, and he began by urging me to take Sir John Conroy as my secretary.

  I was most emphatic about that. I had grown very much stronger in the last few months. It may have been because of Mama's activities, which made me see her in an increasingly unflattering light; or it may simply have been that I was growing up.

  My brother Charles joined with Stockmar in trying to weaken my resolve. I was young, so young, they kept reiterating until I could have boxed their ears. I was so inexperienced, they said.

  I pointed out that they, being new to the country, were more lacking in experience of it than I.

  They were amazed, but I made it perfectly clear that I would not be forced into making decisions I might regret afterward.

  Later Lord Liverpool came to Kensington. He saw Sir John who, I knew, was fighting desperately for his political position. If I had had any say in that it would have been defunct long ago. I guessed he was telling Lord Liverpool that I was unfit to rule, that I needed guidance, that I was young for my years. For he had said these things and often implied them to me.

  I managed to see Lord Liverpool alone.

  He said, “Since you will not have Sir John Conroy for your private secretary, in the event of your becoming Queen, would you put yourself in the hands of the Prime Minister?”

  I had seen Lord Melbourne once or twice and he had made a very favorable impression on me. I replied at once that I considered that most suitable. Perhaps Sir John Conroy could take the post of Keeper of the Privy Purse, suggested Lord Liverpool.

  “No,” I said. “Never. Sir John Conroy will have no post in my household.”

  I begged Lord Liverpool to try to understand the position into which I had been forced.

  He looked at me very steadily and then he said, “I understand.”

  I felt much better because I believed that if I could rid myself of my bète noir, John Conroy, and could escape from my mother's rule and take the advice of a man of the world like the Prime Minister—who after all was in charge of the country's affairs—I could face the tasks ahead of me with some confidence.

  THE KING WAS as good as his word in insisting on my attending his next Drawing Room. My mother must have been shaken by that outburst of his, and although she laughed at him and called him an old buffoon, she did realize that when the summons came, it must be obeyed.

  She seemed impervious to his insults and declared that he injured himself more than he did her—with which I did not agree. But I had for some time given up agreeing with my mother.

  My eighteenth birthday was a short time ahead. Somehow I believed that when I reached that age a great deal of the petty irritation that I had to endure would pass away.

  My mother talked of the King as though he were dying. Indeed, I knew he was getting more and more feeble; she was very resentful toward fate, which was allowing me to creep slowly up to my eighteenth birthday while the King still lived. Sometimes it seemed like a race between me and Uncle William. Would he die before I was eighteen? He saw it in that way, too, and I was sure he was determined not to die until I had come of age. He hated my mother as strongly as she hated him—more so perhaps, because he knew she was longing for him to die.

  I was dismayed to find the Queen absent. Nothing went smoothly when she was not there. The King told me she was unwell and he had insisted on her resting.

  I showed my concern and that pleased him. He said, “She will be about again soon. She does too much, you know.”

  “I know how we all miss her when she is absent,” I said.

  He nodded and at that moment caught sight of Sir John Conroy, whom my mother had insisted should come in our party.

  The King called to the Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Conyngham came hastily to his side.

  The King pointed to Sir John. He said, “I won't have that fellow in my drawing room. Throw him out.”

  Conyngham looked bewildered. The King growled, “You heard me. Out! Out! I'll not have him here.”

  Anyone but Sir John would have been overcome with shame. I had never seen anyone before turned out of the King's Drawing Room.

  Sir John smiled insolently at Lord Conyngham and there was a nonchalant smile on his face as he was escorted out of the room.

  I was pleased. At least the King shared my opinion, even if others were trying to convince me of the advisability of making him a member of my household.

  I WAS GETTING letters full of advice from Uncle Leopold. Not that there was anything unusual about that. He had always advised me and he was getting more and more concerned. I wondered what Mama was writing to him and what my brother Charles had said to him when he went over to Belgium in such haste.

  The eighteenth birthday was approaching fast. They all knew that once I reached it, I would no longer be the child whom they had taken such pains to direct in the way they wanted her to go.

  Uncle Leopold was very happy that year because Aunt Louise had given birth to another son and for a while his letters were full of that happy event. I rejoiced with him and secretly would rather hear news of the babies than quite so many injunctions to do this or not do that— which sometimes seemed contradictory to me.

  The new baby was named Philippe and Uncle Leopold told me that little Leopold was very interested in his brother, but not at all impressed by his appearance. After putting his head on one side and regarding the newly born infant for some moments he said, “Pas beau frère.”

  “He now thinks better of him,” wrote Uncle Leopold, “but he makes an odd little face when he sees him. Later on they will have titles and I think young Leopold will be the Duke of Brabant and Philippe Count of Flanders.”

  I smiled to think of those two children with such grand titles; and how happy I was because Uncle L
eopold had found happiness at last, after all he had suffered in his marriage to Charlotte.

  Now, all too rarely, he wrote of his family. There were constant injunctions on how I was to choose my household, how I was to act with my ministers… when the time came. I was beginning to be apprehensive and hoping that the time would not come just yet.

  Uncle Leopold wrote, “My object is that you should be no one's tool.”

  That phrase stayed with me for long after I had read his letter, and a rather disloyal thought came into my mind. No one's tool…No. Not even yours, dear Uncle.

  A few days before my birthday Lord Conyngham called at the Palace. A message was sent to me asking me to go to the drawing room. When I arrived there I knew something important had happened. Mama looked very angry and Sir John was certainly put out.

  Lord Conyngham bowed to me and said, “I have a letter from His Majesty who has commanded me to put it into no hands but yours.”

  “Thank you,” I said, taking the letter.

  Mama would have taken it from me and I guessed that she and Sir John had tried to get their hands on it before I arrived; but Lord Conyngham had had express orders from the King to give it to no one but me.

  I felt very important.

  Mama said, “Well, open it, my love.”

  I was aware of Sir John's snake-like eyes upon me and I replied, “I will open it in my sitting room.”

  I was very confident of myself. Only a few more days to go before I reached my eighteenth birthday. It would be too late now for Mama to interfere with me. Her hopes of becoming Regent of England were over. It was time for her to realize I was grown up and would brook no interference.

  I walked out of the room and when I opened the letter I read that the King was offering me ten thousand pounds a year and an establishment of my own—apart from that of my mother.

  My joy was intense. I felt like a person who has been in prison and at last sees freedom ahead.