The Education of a Royal Princess.
Volume 11, 1900, pgs. 109-116
[We have long wished to present our readers with some memorial of the early days of our beloved Queen, feeling that every mother would read between the lines, and learn something from the "Education" of this "Princess." A quaint little volume bound in green watered silk, published at the date of the Accession, has come into our hands, which appears to answer our purpose. It is called Victoria; An Anecdotal Memoir of Her Majesty.--Ed.] [Google dates this from 1838; an author's name has not been found.--Proofreader.]
(Continued from pg. 41.)
II.
Perserverance Instilled
"In the hay-making season the Princess was on the grass every afternoon with her little rake, fork, and cart, industriously employed in collecting the hay, which she would carry to a little distance, and returning, fill her cart again. An anecdote has been related with reference to this amusement which proves that even in pursuing her recreations care was taken to turn every little incident to the benefit of her future character. She had one day completely fatigued herself with filling and refilling her cart, and at length threw down her rake when it was but half loaded; her governess immediately desired her to resume it, and to finish filling her cart; she replied she was too tired. 'But Princess you should have thought of that before you began the last load, for you know we never leave anything unfinished;' and her Royal Highness was most judiciously persuaded to complete the work she had begun.
"Again--riding one day across the garden in her little carriage, a violent storm of wind suddenly arose, and the uncourtly element, little regarding the exalted dignity of the infant heiress of England, very unceremoniously blew her bonnet off her head; the Princess looked surprised and amused, but very handily replaced it; again it nearly flew away; her Royal Highness then appealed to her nurse, saying, 'It wont stay on;'--'Then hold it tight, Princess,' was the reply, and her Royal Highness did so with both her hands, laughing heartily all the way home.
Charitable Dispositions
"It was pleasing to observe that amongst all the enjoyments her daily recreations afforded, none seemed more truly to gratify the little Princess than the indulgence of her benevolent and compassionate dispositions. A poor man or woman would frequently follow her carriage into the Palace Court entreating charity, and the dear babe, long before she could speak plain, would lisp her command to the footman to give sixpence or a shilling to the beggar, which was always done according to her directions. This spontaneous desire to contribute to the welfare of her less fortunate fellow-creatures increased in large proportion to her advancing years. Her Royal Mother gave ample encouragement to the development of these amiable feelings both by precept and example; and it is well known that, not only have our public institutions of every description derived the greatest benefit from the generosity and kindness of the Duchess and her Royal Daughter, but that their private charities have been even more liberal and extensive. Kensington and its neighbourhood have long found cause to bless the hand which has been stretched out to raise the wretched, and alleviate the sorrows of the afflicted; and wherever the Duchess and the Princess have taken up their temporary abode, there have the same results been visible. Even in the most distant parts of the country has the name of our Princess been associated with acts of goodness and charity which have endeared it to every heart, and less perhaps for the intrinsic value of those acts, than for the condescension, sweetness, and grace, with which they have invariably been performed.
The Favourite Donkey
"The King, George the Fourth, presented the Princess Victoria on her fourth birthday, with a superb token of remembrance, a miniature portrait of himself most richly set in diamonds; and very shortly afterwards his Majesty issued cards of invitation for a state dinner party, signifying to the Duchess of Kent his wish that her infant daughter should accompany her, and be presented to the assembled guests in the drawing-room before they adjourned to the royal banquet.
"The Princess was full of joyful anticipation on the morning of this memorable visit, 'I am going,' said she, 'to see the King!' and, turning to her Royal Parent, she naively asked, 'Oh Mamma! shall I go upon my donkey?' Her donkey, be it remembered, was the present of her beloved Uncle, the Duke of York, and the greatest treasure she then possessed in the world: the King had never seen it, and with infantine simplicity she believed that she could not pay her Royal Uncle a greater compliment than to visit him on her favourite 'Dickey.'
Education Commenced
"Shortly after the Princess had completed her fourth year, her Royal Mother considering it necessary that some reverend gentleman of the Church of England should be appointed to superintend her present English and future classical and religious studies, took great pains to engage one in every way suitable and competent to this responsible and honourable office; at the recommendation of the Rev. Thomas Rennell, the late highly gifted vicar of Kensington, the Rev. George Davys, now Dean of Chester, was appointed Preceptor to her Royal Highness, and has continued from that time to the period of her accession to perform his important duties to the high satisfaction of their late Majesties, and of the Duchess of Kent. Mr. Davys found his royal pupil well grounded in all the requirements suited to her age; quick, intelligent, and generally very docile, though not, at this early age, much given to application.
"About two years afterwards, in the year 1825, an addition of £6000 per annum was unanimously voted by Parliament to the hitherto circumscribed income of her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, for the honourable support and education of her royal daughter; and accordingly the Princess, having now reached an age at which she was capable of benefiting by the instructions of professors in various branches of study, her establishment was immediately placed upon a considerably enlarged scale; and the public were pleased to observe, from the new official appointments, that native talent chiefly was put in requisition for the education of the infant heiress.
"The Princess Feodore having nearly completed her eighteenth year, resigned her beloved governess, Miss Lehzen, whose valuable services were rewarded by an appointment to the same responsible situation about the person of the British Princess; and the nation is greatly indebted to this most estimable lady for the talent and judgment displayed in the early tuition of her Royal Pupil. In consideration of her distinguished merits in this capacity, King George the Fourth conferred upon her, shortly before his death, the title of Baroness in the Kingdom of Hanover.
"The Rev. Mr. Davys still superintended the general rudiments of learning, but devoted his attention especially to her religious studies, her pious mother being determined to erect the fair fabric of her education upon the broad and firm basis of Christianity; Mr. Steward, the writing-master of Westminster school, was engaged to teach her writing and arithmetic; Madame Bourdin, dancing; and Mr. J. B. Sale, at the particular desire of the King, was appointed her music master; in the latter department her Royal Highness already exhibited the taste and talent hereditary in her family: she sang 'God save the King,' most sweetly, for the gratification of her royal relatives assembled at Marlborough House in her honour, on the day that she completed her sixth year.
Correct Pronunciation
"The very striking manner in which the Queen has delivered all public addresses since her accession to the throne, and particularly the correct and beautiful elocution of her speeches to her Parliament, naturally induces an observation upon the distinctness and propriety of her pronunciation of her native language, for which has been remarkable from her earliest infancy, and upon which subject a curious anecdote occurred when she was about four years old. A little girl of her own age was one day indulged by a walk in Kensington Gardens for the purpose of seeing the little Princess, of whom she had heard much and enthusiastically fond. She met the Princess on her donkey; her Royal Highness, always attracted by children, stooped down to speak to little Margaret, and the child proudly presented her future Queen with a pretty nosegay of fresh flowers, which was graciously accepted. The next morning, breakfasting with her papa, and relating all the pleasures of the preceding day, her father asked her if the Princess was pleased with her flowers, and whether she said 'thank ye' for them. 'No, Papa,' replied the observant little girl, 'the Princess did not say thank ye, she said 'Thank you.'
"At this age her Royal Highness also understood French perfectly, and could read and speak German as well as English.
Ramsgate and Turnbridge Wells
"For several ensuing summers, during the early childhood of the Princess, these two agreeable watering places were alternately chosen by the Duchess of Kent for the temporary residence of her family; and the inhabitants were equally gratified by the substantial benefits derived from these royal visits, and by the opportunity they afforded of becoming intimately acquainted with the person, manners and disposition of the heiress presumptive to the British throne, who speedily became quite the delight of both places. When the weather was favourable she was constantly to be seen twice a day upon the sands at Ramsgate, in the morning on her donkey, and in the afternoon on foot, always attended by her governess, and one or two men-servants, and sometimes accompanied by her mother and sister. She frequently amused herself in the afternoon by digging on the sands with a spade, and throwing the stones into the sea with her hands, which she would afterwards rub together to clean. When tired, she would seat herself upon a camp stool opposite the sea, and after a short rest return again to her labours so intently as not to observe anything that was passing round her, and in no way discomposed by the spectators, who would assemble in large groups to witness her recreations. She would sometimes run up to her ankles in the sea, wearing thick shoes over her boots. Her Royal Highness was occasionally permitted to play with the children of the gentry, whom she met upon the beach; but if she attempted to take unfair advantage of her exalted rank, the ladies in attendance always interfered to set her right.
Acute Observation
"The young Princess was remarkable for the habit of fixing her large blue eyes on the face of any persons who attracted her attention, and looking at them steadily, or as some people have expressed it, staring at them, as if desirous of impressing their features upon her memory; and she was observed to possess the faculty peculiar to her family of recollecting everybody she had once seen; but the names belonging to the faces of her acquaintances would sometimes escape her recollection; and she one day walked up to a strange gentleman, the father of a little girl whose name she had accidentally heard, and looking up in his face, said in the most engaging tone, "Will you be so good, sir, as to tell me the name of that little girl, for I have quite forgotten it?"
"Walking, on another occasion, with her Royal Mother, whose hand she held, she inquired with earnestness, "Mamma, why do all the gentlemen take off their hats to me, they do not to sister Feodore?"
"Running once very fast upon the sands, her foot slipped and she fell; a gentleman, who was close at the moment, assisted her to rise: the Princess thanked him in the most graceful and engaging manner, and on his expressing a hope that she was not hurt, gaily exclaimed, "Oh, no! I am not hurt, but Mamma will say the Princess of England should not be so giddy."
Affection for Her Mother.
"An anecdote was current at this period which is deserving of record here as affording an interesting proof of the remarkably amiable and affectionate disposition of the little Princess, and particularly of the strong attachment to her mother which has always formed a striking feature in her character. The royal party one day honoured Sir William Garrow with a visit at her residence at Pegwell Bay, and were conducted by the host over his house and grounds; amongst other curiosities was a fine marble bath, which the young Princess, in her eagerness to examine, approached so close that losing her balance she fell in; she of course cried loudly, but was no sooner extricated from her unpleasant situation, and found herself once more above ground, than her tears and sobs were interrupted to inquire, "Does mamma know that I am not hurt?"
Visits to Windsor
"When the Princess Victoria was seven years old, she received an invitation, for the first time, from the King, to accompany her mother to the Royal Lodge in Windsor Park, and great indeed was the illustrious child's enjoyment during the three days to which this fascinating visit extended. The King was, in his turn, so much pleased and flattered by his little niece's engaging and lively manner, and by the artless affection she expressed for him, that he presented her, on taking leave, with a beautiful pair of diamond bracelets, and promised an early renewal of the pleasure she had now enjoyed. Accordingly, during the ensuing years of King George's reign, the Princess generally passed some days of the summer revelling in all the luxury of the stately castle, to which the court very shortly removed, surrounded by regal pomp, magnificence, and flattery, and permitted every indulgence which could dazzle the youthful imagination, or lend rapidity to the wings of time; whilst her Uncle King, for by this familiar title she was accustomed to address his majesty, absolutely forbad any contradiction of her inclinations during her visits to him. The judicious mother, however, always shortened these seducing visits as much as in propriety she could; and the country may perhaps have ample reason to rejoice that the fair Maid of Kent was in her earliest years so far removed from the direct succession, as to permit of her education on those principles of self-denial, and in that absence of court intrigue and falsehood, which are so essential to forming the infant mind for the dignified and blameless performance of the important duties imposed by that high destiny to which she was heir. Even in more recent times, when the royal maiden stood on the very step of the throne, her mother, still the sole guardian of her person, has cautiously abstained from permitting her unlimited association with the courtly circle, feeling, doubtless, and perhaps even experiencing from these temporary visits, how pernicious would be its effects upon the ductile heart of youth.
Quickness of Repartee
"One day, during her first visit at the Royal Lodge, the King entered the drawing-room leading his little niece by the hand; the band was stationed as usual in the adjoining conservatory; "Now, Victoria," said his Majesty, "the band is in the next room, and shall play any tune you please, what shall it be?" "Oh! Uncle King," replied her Royal Highness with quickness, "I should like God save the King better than any other tune."
Another time his Majesty asked the Princess which she had most enjoyed of all the amusements she had partaken of during her stay at Windsor, "The ride I took with you Uncle King,' was the ready reply; his Majesty had once indulged her with a short téte-a-téte airing in his pony phaeton which he had driven himself.
Behnes's Bust
"It was shortly after this that the young Princess sat, by the King's desire, to Mr. Behnes for that masterly bust which attracted such general admiration at the exhibition of the Royal Academy. This exquisite model of loveliness and innocence now adorns the corridor of Windsor Castle, where it will probably remain for many ages, a proud monument of the dignity and beauty which distinguished the infant years of England's most cherished Queen; in it is strikingly portrayed that peculiarity of carriage which characterized even the childhood of the Princess, and is thus alluded to in a poetical address upon her ninth birthday: --
'The say e'en now thou has a Queenly look;
And walk'st thy Palace with majestic gait,
As though each pace thy Royal footsteps took
Were conscious that it moved a thing of state:
Thy hand as if it knew a Sceptre's weight
They say doth wave;--thy brow as if it bore
A regal diadem doth look sedate;
Yet, though of dignity thou hast such store
Of sweetness infantine thou still possessest more.'
(To be continued.)
Proofread by LNL, Jul. 2011