‘Oh, settling into a new country as the Queen’s husband is a ticklish business. I can see it will have to be handled with care. Anson can serve us both, and that will prevent a great deal of misunderstanding.’

‘I’ll write to Albert and tell him not to worry his head about these matters and that we will settle them for him.’

When Albert received the Queen’s letter he was both hurt and angry. It was clear that the Queen and her Prime Minister were going to make a puppet of him. He wrote to Leopold and told him that he was rather uneasy because he felt that he was going to be of no account whatever in his new life.

He must write to Victoria and tell her that he did not wish the Prime Minister’s secretary to be his too. How could he have any independence if he were going to share the Prime Minister’s secretary? He would refuse to accept this. He and Victoria must come to some understanding about his position before the marriage. Delightful, affectionate and charming as she was, she was demanding too big a sacrifice of a man by asking him to jettison his freedom of thought and his independence for the price of marriage.

He was secretly aghast at what he thought of as the licence of the Court. A certain amount of scandal was whispered. The affair of Flora Hastings was disgraceful. It was true that Flora was not pregnant but in a moral Court – as Albert saw it – the subject of pregnancy should never have been mentioned. He had seen some of the truly disgusting lampoons and items of gossip in the press. And for the Queen to have been involved, shocked his Lutheran soul to the core. Then there was the Bedchamber Affair. It was most undignified and it showed him clearly that Victoria’s advisers were at fault to allow her to become involved in such a matter.

And this man Anson. He might be a good secretary but Albert had heard that he stayed up half the night dancing. He did not think he wished for a secretary who was noted for his dancing. The Queen, he knew, loved to dance. She would stay up half the night performing what seemed to Albert a somewhat pointless exercise. Albert liked to retire early to bed and rise at dawn. That was the best time for work for he grew very drowsy after ten o’clock. He could wean Victoria from her dancing – and other things – he had believed; but if she were going to behave all the time as though he were a humble subject and she was the Queen, how could he hope to do this?

He wrote to the Queen. He would like to appoint his own secretary and he thought that in their household a balance of Whigs and Tories would be a happy combination. He would like to appoint a man for the very important post of secretary who was of the highest moral standards.

The Queen received his letter at the same time as one from Leopold, in which were veiled criticisms of her treatment of Albert and advice on how to conduct their relationship. He and Princess Charlotte, he wrote, if ever there was a difference between them, never let the sun go down on their anger. It was a good rule and one of the most important for a happy marriage. He thought she should remember this in her relationship with Albert. He was surprised that he heard so little from her on the subject. She knew how dear both she and Albert were to him and he hinted as he knew them both so well and had been as a father to them, it was to him he expected them to turn for advice.

How distressing! She did not feel angry with Albert. That would have been impossible. The darling only had to learn. But Uncle Leopold was being rather tiresome.

She wrote to Albert:‘Regarding your wishes about your gentlemen, my dear Albert, I must explain to you quite frankly that it will not do. You may rely upon me absolutely to see that the people who will be about you will be pleasant people of high standing and good character …I have today received an ungracious letter from Uncle Leopold. He appears to be disgruntled because I no longer ask for his advice, but dear Uncle is inclined to believe that he must be in command everywhere …’

When he received this letter Albert’s melancholy increased.


* * *

There were further difficulties. Victoria was eager that dear Albert should receive the Order of the Garter without delay; she had written to him on the subject of Anson. Her letters to Albert were written half in English and half in German. To write in German was to show her devotion to him for although she spoke that language fluently it was naturally not so easy to express herself in it as it was in English. Thus she tried to explain the Anson controversy. She fully understood his feelings but it was absolutely imperative that he had an Englishman at the head of his affairs; and therefore although she would not force Anson upon him, she asked him whether it was not better to take a man whom the Queen could personally recommend than a stranger of whom she knew nothing.

Albert, realising that he must concede, accepted Anson (perhaps temporarily, he promised himself) but he did write and complain of the manner in which the Garter had been sent to him.

Surely his position as the Queen’s future husband warranted a little more respect? He had to tell his dear and splendid Victoria that she should have sent a worthy envoy and that his father was anxious – and Albert understood this anxiety perfectly – because he feared people – especially in Berlin – would think he was being slighted.

The Queen was all contrition. Of course dear Albert was right. She could only blame those people who were handling the affair. She had no idea that anything had been done to hurt Albert and his father and the last thing in the world she would allow was that her dear Albert should be slighted.

That was a little better, thought Albert. Perhaps a firm hand was needed. His dear little wife-to-be was in the hands of her Ministers. That was something he would have to change. She was of course far too friendly with Lord Melbourne; there had been unpleasant rumours of which the two people concerned were no doubt unaware. They were without foundation of course but very unpleasant. Melbourne should never have been given apartments in the Palace. Albert could see that there was much work waiting for him; he would have to teach his dear little Victoria to be the docile wife that all good women should be – were they queens or commoners. When he had achieved this he was sure that great good would come of their marriage, to her, to him and to England.


* * *

But that was not the end of trouble. It seemed that whichever way they turned there was a difference of opinion.

Albert thought it very necessary that a more moral tone should be brought into the Court and that he and Victoria must in future set an example. Victoria had sent him a list of the bridesmaids chosen by her and Lord Melbourne, and was astonished when Albert wrote that he did not think them all suitable. For instance one was the daughter of Lady Jersey and that woman’s reputation was notorious. Not only the bridesmaids themselves but their parents must be without reproach.

When Victoria received this comment she sent for Lord Melbourne without delay.

‘The latest from Albert,’ said Lord Melbourne, scanning his comment. ‘But this is astonishing.’

‘Dear Albert, he is so good himself, that he expects everyone else to be the same.’

‘A notable characteristic of the good,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘Now the bad rarely proselytise in the same way. They are perfectly content to enjoy their wickedness while others tread the path of virtue; the good wish others to suffer their self denials.’

The Queen tapped her fingers on the table impatiently; Lord Melbourne was a little odd nowadays, and if it were not for the fact that she used to delight so much in his company, and being not quite so enraptured by it now felt a little sorry for him, she would often have been much more short with him than she was.

‘Of course,’ went on Lord Melbourne, coming back to the business in hand, ‘your bridesmaids will be chosen according to their rank.’

‘I shall have to explain to Albert.’

‘One should only take note of the characters of the lower classes,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘You cannot do it with people of rank.’

‘So then,’ said the Queen, ‘there is one law for the rich and one for the poor.’

‘Certainly there is one law for the monarchy and one for commoners. Consider if we began to judge the Sovereigns of the past on their morals.’

Victoria agreed there were very few who would pass the test of morality.

Lord Melbourne looked at her earnest young face and his sentimental emotions gushed forth. She intended to be good. As for Albert, he was a puritan. But one could never be sure of what went on in puritanical minds in private.

He speculated on the future. Victoria would keep Albert in order – and how would Albert succeed in imposing his will on this rather pleasure-loving girl?

‘I shall write to Albert to explain,’ said the Queen rather sadly. ‘Oh dear, it is rather sad constantly having to write and say No.’

Another rap over the knuckles for poor Albert, thought Lord Melbourne.

Chapter XV

VICTORIA AND ALBERT

February had come – the wedding month.

Albert was travelling across Europe full, as he had told Uncle Leopold, of misgivings. He could not visualise the future very clearly at all and the last few months had convinced him that his position might bring with it certain humiliations which he would find intolerable. The prospect of a wintry Channel crossing lay before him – and after that, what?