* * *

The Duke of Wellington was always eager to give advice. His fighting days were over; his popularity had waned (because he had stood against the Reform Bill); he was now a considerable politician but Parliament could never take the place of the battlefield. He was fast becoming a kind of father figure to the country and it was a custom to call him in for consultation at any time of difficulty.

He was delighted therefore to advise the impetuous young Marquis.

‘It was a shocking affair,’ he conceded, ‘and therefore best forgotten. There has been a great deal of comment about it already. It is much wiser therefore to let sleeping dogs lie.’

‘This,’ said the Marquis, ‘is exactly what I don’t intend to do. Sleeping scandal, you mean! Yes, sleeping! Just waiting until someone comes along and prods it to life. Then we shall have the old accusations again. No, I intend to bring it out into the open and kill it stone dead.’

He left Wellington and wrote at once to Melbourne. He could get no satisfaction from the Duke, he said; and he was determined to have satisfaction. Therefore he asked Lord Melbourne to arrange for him an interview with Her Majesty the Queen.


* * *

Impatiently he waited for a reply. None came. Furiously he sat down and wrote again telling Lord Melbourne that his patience was exhausted. As Lord Melbourne had told him that the Court ladies were responsible for the treatment of Lady Flora he was determined to ask the Queen for an explanation. He did not believe it was due to the deliberate actions of Her Majesty but put it down to baneful influences which were about the throne and which poisoned human feelings. He was addressing himself to the Prime Minister as the organ through which all things were now carried out at Court.

When Melbourne received this missive he realised that it would be dangerous to ignore the young man. Hastings was in a fighting mood and the matter needed the most delicate of handling.

He wrote back at once saying that he had been away and he would submit the request to the Queen, and at once went to Victoria.

‘It is this distressing matter of Flora Hastings again, I fear.’

‘Oh, surely not!’

‘I think it will be necessary for you to see this young man.’

‘I? But what have I to do with it?’

‘He blames your ladies and seems to think that you are behind them in this.’

‘What nonsense! Naturally I wanted to know the truth. If Lady Flora was an immoral woman I didn’t want her at my Court. I have seen her and expressed my sympathy. I have sent to ask how she is progressing. Surely that is enough?’

‘Oh,’ said Lord Melbourne comfortably, ‘if you will just see the young man he’ll be soothed. You will know how to charm him.’

‘I don’t care to be forced into this interview.’

‘There is no question of forcing. Who would attempt to force the Queen? I will just give you one of my pieces of advice. You have never been averse to listening to them at less stormy times. You may reject it of course but I am going to be my bold and uncompromising self and say that you are much too clever not to listen to an old man who has seen a great deal of the world.’

‘Dear Lord M, why cannot everyone be as kind and understanding as you are?’

‘I might ask why everyone cannot be as reasonable as Your Majesty.’

‘So you are absolutely certain that I should see him?’

‘I think so. Be noncommittal. Tell him you regret what happened and that you have nothing but respect for his dear sister and she will be treated with honour, etc., at Court. That will satisfy him.’

‘So it is really a matter of placating this young man?’

‘No, it’s not as simple as that. It’s a matter of placating the people. This affair – alas – has been widely reported in the press and of course wildly exaggerated. The people take sides in these matters and they are invariably on the side of the oppressed – the wretched Lady Flora – devil take her – in this instance.’

Victoria could not help smiling at Lord Melbourne’s quaint expressions.

‘I will see what I can do with the trying young man,’ she said.


* * *

In her most regal and dignified manner she received Lord Hastings as she had said she would. She told him that she greatly regretted that such a matter should have occurred at her Court and that it was most distasteful to her. She realised that Lady Flora was blameless, so she should be allowed to remain at Court while she wished to do so and would be treated there with the utmost respect. As far as she could see that ended the matter.

Lord Hastings found it difficult to argue with the Queen, so he came away dissatisfied; but even though the Queen had intimated that she wished the matter to be closed, he soon realised that this could not be so. The press brought out the story again and worried it like a dog with a favourite bone trying to get a little more meat off it. People were taking sides. The majority of them were with Lady Flora but an unpleasant rumour was started that she was actually pregnant, that this was not the first time, and that she had recently left the Court to give birth to an illegitimate child.

‘I will not allow this,’ cried Lord Hastings. ‘I don’t care for anyone … not even the Queen. I am determined to make sure that no one is going to question the honour of our house.’

He wrote to Lord Tavistock demanding that he ask the truth of his wife; he also wrote to Lord Portman. Acrimonious letters passed between them. Lord Hastings believed he knew who was at the centre of the plot against his sister and it came from the foreign influences which existed at Court. This was an accusation against the Baroness Lehzen.

Lady Hastings, Flora’s mother, took up the fight and wrote to the Queen, reminding Victoria that she was a mother defending her much maligned daughter and she wanted an explanation of the ‘atrocious calumnies and unblushing falsehoods against her daughter’s reputation’. She wanted to know who had betrayed the Queen into following a course of action which had attempted to degrade the victim of their persecution. People looked for sympathy to a female sovereign, she added. This was not a matter to be hushed up.

The letter was sent to the Prime Minister with a request that he should deliver it to the Queen.

He took it to her himself.

‘Is there no end to this tiresome business?’ demanded Victoria petulantly.

‘There is an end to everything but time and space,’ said Lord Melbourne lightly.

‘I hear that when the injured lady took a drive this morning she was loudly cheered in the streets.’

‘Unfortunate,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘And also an indication. But I think we should handle Mamma Hastings with tact.’

‘Of course she is a mother and she writes as though she is very upset.’

‘But the matter is done with and I should have thought she would have known better than to address Your Majesty in this way. It’s a breach of etiquette. Will you trust me to reply?’

‘Please do. But tell her that I am sorry it all happened and let her know I understand her feelings.’

Lord Melbourne gave her one of his tender looks and sat down to write the letter immediately so that she could approve it.

Her Majesty’s allowances for the feelings of a mother diminished her surprise that Lady Hastings should address her thus. Her Majesty bade her Prime Minister convey to Lady Hastings her deep concern for the unfortunate occurrence and was anxious to do everything to soothe the feelings of Lady Flora’s relations.

‘That should settle the old lady,’ said Lord Melbourne.

But it did not. In a short time Lady Hastings was writing once more – this time to Melbourne. She now demanded the dismissal of Sir James Clark.

This, said Lord Melbourne, was insolence; and he wrote to Lady Hastings telling her that her demand was ‘unprecedented and objectionable’ and that although she was a lady and the head of a respected family he would do no more than acknowledge that he had received such a letter.

‘They will give us no satisfaction,’ said Lord Hastings, ‘and there is only one thing to do, unless we are to slink off with our tails between our legs. We will publish the correspondence.’

The press was delighted; so were the people. Here was a mighty scandal. The Morning Post had a scoop and it intended to make the most of it. The whole story was revived. The Tories were trying to make it a political issue. Some declared that Lord Melbourne should apologise to Lady Hastings for his discourtesy towards her. In the clubs, in the streets, in the taverns, the Flora Hastings affair was discussed and the three principal actors in the piece were said to be Lady Flora, the Queen and Lord Melbourne.

‘It will die down,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘These things always do.’

The Queen read the papers every day and was hurt and amazed to read criticisms of herself.

When she rode out in the streets the people were silent. They no longer cheered her; yet Flora Hastings’s carriage was held up by people who applauded her and wanted to tell her that they were on her side.

It was astonishing. Victoria could not believe it. She was no longer their little duck, their dear little Queen; she was a wicked woman who had cruelly slandered an innocent one.

‘Who would have thought such a little thing could change them towards me,’ she cried.

‘It is often the little things in life which are the most important,’ said Lord Melbourne.

She was depressed.