‘Oh, just making her unpleasant remarks.’

‘About you?’

‘Sly hints at us both and of course Lord Melbourne.’

‘How dare she! And who are the Hastings? Lord M says they haven’t an ounce of brains between them. They are Tories, too.’

‘Scotty is very friendly with John Conroy.’

‘Which makes her even more odious.’

‘I’ve heard rumours that they are more than friendly.’

‘I really think he is a very wicked man.’

‘He looks at all the letters you write to the Duchess and all her replies to you are seen by him … perhaps even written by him.’

‘I always hated him. Do you remember how he came to my bedroom when I was so ill and tried to trick me into promising to make him my secretary?’

‘I remember a great deal about him and nothing good. I think it is unwise of you to put anything in writing to the Duchess. If you gave all our answers verbally he could not be so sure of what you had said.’

‘She would tell him.’

‘It wouldn’t be so satisfactory to him because he knows the Duchess’s tendency to inaccuracy.’

‘How I wish he would go.’

‘He won’t until his demands are met.’

‘Lord Melbourne says they are blackmail.’

‘Lord Melbourne is right.’

‘Lord Melbourne is always right,’ said Victoria smiling. ‘I will ask him what he thinks of your idea, Daisy. I have made her understand that she is not to enter without permission. I was obliged though to remind her that I am the Queen.’

‘There are some people who need constantly reminding of that important fact,’ commented Lehzen grimly.

Later Lord Melbourne told the Queen that he thought it an excellent idea to reply to the Duchess only by word of mouth.


* * *

Lehzen discovered by, as she said, keeping her ear to the ground that the Duchess was in debt to the sum of £70,000, a loan had been arranged for her at one of the banks, and that if this had not been done her affairs would have been in dire straits.

‘Of course,’ said the Queen, ‘it is That Man again. He is supposed to be managing her affairs.’

‘Mismanaging,’ said Lehzen.

And the Queen agreed.

The ladies of both parties whispered together.

‘The Duchess’s financial difficulties are due to the fact that since she has had her increased allowance she has been paying off her husband’s debts,’ said Lady Flora’s faction.

‘So she should,’ retorted the Queen. ‘It is her duty to do so.’

The Duchess’s ladies felt that since the debtor was the Queen’s father it was the Queen’s duty to settle the debts.

The gossip was brought to Lehzen who took it to the Queen.

‘It’s That Man again,’ cried Victoria indignantly. ‘He is putting this about. And it’s monstrous because I am paying my father’s debts.’

‘It should be made known that you are doing this. I shall see that it is.’

‘Oh, no, please Lehzen, don’t say anything. It would seem as though I was saying how good I am. I shouldn’t like that.’

‘But the villainy of that man should be revealed.’

‘It will in time, Daisy dear. For the moment let it rest.’

And so the Palace war continued.


* * *

There was great astonishment throughout the Palace because one of the footmen who had descended to those regions below stairs where the silver and gold plate were kept, to be brought out on state occasions, had discovered a boy.

He was young, about eight or nine, decidedly grubby, inarticulate and unlawfully in the Palace.

Everyone was talking about him. His name, he said, was Jones. He had come in … he couldn’t say how or even why, except that he wanted to see where the Queen lived. He did admit, though, that he had been in the Palace for a week.

It was incredible. The Queen discussed it with the Baroness – who wondered whether it was some trick of the Duchess’s faction; Lady Flora suggested that it might be one of the Baroness’s relations who had come to look for her, which her friends thought very amusing. Lord Melbourne said that it showed security was not what it should be at the Palace and there was an enquiry.

The boy seemed not to care what became of him; he had achieved his purpose and had seen wonders which he could never have imagined. He had trodden the State rooms with their thick piled carpets; he had touched the heavy brocade curtains and pulled their gold tassels; he had sat on a sofa on which the Queen had sat; he had seen the throne room (and sat on the throne); he had walked down the grand staircase. If he had lived in the Palace for a week he must have fed himself so he would have made many journeys below stairs to the vast kitchens where he would have seen crystal cups ornamented with diamonds and rubies and Cellini vases; but no doubt the quantities of food would have been more exciting.

What could be done with such a boy? The press was full of the story and he was referred to as ‘In I go Jones’.

Lehzen agreed with Lord Melbourne that this incident betrayed how easy it would be for people to get into the Palace. And suppose, she added, someone wishing to harm the Queen had got in!

‘Nonsense, Daisy,’ replied Victoria. ‘A boy could slip in whereas a grown person couldn’t.’

Lehzen said she would be very watchful in future. She was like a mother with a child, she said. The slightest sound, which might mean harm to her darling, would awaken her.


* * *

Victoria had always been on good terms with Lord John Russell and his family and his wife Adelaide had even become rather a special friend. Victoria was constantly inviting them to the Palace because she loved the children. And now Adelaide was expecting another.

It was delightful when the children came to the Palace. Victoria loved to listen to their chatter and enjoyed showing them the Great Drawing Room and the Throne Room. She would sit on the throne when they asked her to and they would gaze at her with awe and then one of them would want to play at being Queen.

‘What fun to have children,’ cried the Queen. ‘I should love to have ten. But then I think I should never want them to grow up.’

Adelaide begged that if the new child should be a girl she might name her after the Queen.

‘That would please me very much,’ replied Victoria.

She said afterwards to Lord Melbourne that it was a joy to see them together. Lord John was so devoted to Adelaide and she was such a good mother. Lord John was her idea of a good husband too.

‘He waited a long time before he took on the role,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘So he gave himself plenty of time to learn how to play it.’

Victoria looked at him sadly. Poor Lord M who had had such an extraordinary married life. And what a good husband he would have been with the right kind of wife. She would have so much liked to talk to him of his past, but he never mentioned it so she could not. He would talk about his boyhood and his wonderful mother (although she was a little scandalous) and he would talk about his life as a widower but that very important section was always left out.

‘I think Little Johnny was perhaps right,’ said the Queen. ‘It is never good to rush into marriage.’

‘And to choose a widow! That is probably wise. Experto crede. Trust one who has had experience.’

‘Well, it certainly was right in their case. And if the child is a girl she is going to be called Victoria.’

‘A great honour for her.’

‘Oh, I am delighted. I can’t wait for the infant to be born and of course I hope it’s a girl.’

She looked at him quickly. Anyone else but Lord Melbourne would have been saddened by this talk of babies because surely he must be remembering his own son who had been an epileptic and had had the mind of a child all his life. What a blow to dear Lord M Such a brilliant man must have longed for a son as clever as himself. But he gave no sign of the sadness this must have caused. He discussed Lord John’s family lightly and pleasantly as though it had never occurred to him to envy them.

She was filled with tenderness towards him. How I wish he would confide in me! she thought wistfully. Such a feeling man must have suffered greatly and still does; but he hides it all under that careless exterior. Oh what a wonderful man Lord Melbourne was!


* * *

Lady John gave birth to a little girl in late October.

Victoria received the message while she was having her breakfast.

‘Daisy!’ she cried. ‘Adelaide Russell has her baby. It’s a little girl, so she will be named after me. I shall go along to see her.’

But before Victoria could do this news was brought to the Palace that the Lady John was very weak and her life was in danger. Almost immediately after this message had been received, there came another.

Lady John was dead.

Victoria wept bitterly. ‘Oh, Daisy,’ she said, ‘it is so sad. They were so happy, and this happens. If she had not had the child she would be alive today. Child-bearing is cruel.’

‘It’s natural,’ said Lehzen.

‘But to die! She was too young to die … and all because of that.’

‘It is, alas, an everyday occurrence.’

The Queen nodded sadly: ‘An everyday occurrence,’ she said. ‘And now,’ she added briskly, ‘we must try and comfort Little Johnny.’

For days she could think of nothing but the death of Lady John. The ordeal of childbirth obsessed her. It was something she herself would have to face in due course – and that time perhaps not very far distant. They would bring her cousins over and she would be allowed to choose either Albert or Ernest, though she believed there were some people who would like to see her take her cousin, George Cambridge. Which I shall not do, she told herself vehemently. She had taken a great dislike to his mother, the Duchess, who had become over-friendly with her own mother recently. So the Cambridges had really taken sides in the Palace feud and the side they had taken was not the Queen’s. No, it would have to be Ernest or Albert, she supposed. That was what Uncle Leopold wanted; but of course Uncle Leopold could not dictate policy to her. Yet she would have to marry.