The Education of a Royal Princess.
Volume 12, 1901, pgs. 298-304
From a Memoir published at the date of the Coronation
Possibly taken from the book, Anecdotes, Personal Traits, and Character Sketches of Victoria the First, by "A Lady"
(Continued from Volume 11 pg. 168.)
Accession
"Scarcely had the strain of congratulation which hailed the majority of the heiress presumptive ceased to resound throughout the country, than it was revived, although in a chastened note, to greet the accession of a Maiden Queen. At five o'clock in the morning of the 20th of June, 1837, the Archbishop of Canterbury arrived at Kensington Palace, to announce to the youthful Monarch the melancholy intelligence of the decease of her Royal Uncle and predecessor, and was immediately admitted to an interview with the Queen and the Duchess of Kent, which lasted a considerable time. After his Grace's departure, the first act of the new Sovereign was to write an affectionate letter of condolence to her widowed Aunt; which, forgetting in the sympathizing emotions of her warm heart her own newly-acquired dignity, she directed to 'Her Majesty the Queen.' On placing her letter in the hands of one of her household officers, it was respectfully represented to her Majesty, that the Queen of yesterday was the Dowager of to-day, and that it would be more accordant with etiquette were the letter so addressed; for one moment her Majesty considered of the proffered advice, but the next the native delicacy of her mind was predominant, 'No,' said she, with a mild firmness of the brightest promise, 'I wish you to transmit it as it is.'
The First Council
"At eleven o'clock, the privy counsellors having assembled in the grand saloon at Kensington Palace, the new Sovereign entered the apartment, accompanied only by the Duke of Sussex; and, seated at the head of the council board, the only female present, took the usual oaths respecting the government of the Kingdom and the Church of Scotland; and afterwards made the following interesting declaration in a firm, clear, musical voice, and with impressive emphasis:--
" 'The severe and afflicting loss which the nation has sustained by the death of his Majesty, my beloved uncle, has devolved upon me the duty of administering the government of this empire. This awful responsibility is imposed upon me so suddenly, and at so early a period of my life, that I should feel myself utterly oppressed by the burden, were I not sustained by the hope that Divine Providence, which has called me to this work, will give me strength for the performance of it, and that I shall find, in the purity of my intentions, and in my zeal for the public welfare, that support and those resources which usually belong to a more mature age, and to longer experience.
" 'I place my firm reliance upon the wisdom of Parliament, and upon the loyalty and affection of my people. I esteem it also a peculiar advantage that I succeed to a Sovereign whose constant regard for the rights and liberties of his subjects, and whose desire to promote the amlioration of the laws and institutions of the country, have rendered his name the object of general attachment and veneration.
" 'Educated in England under the tender and enlightened care of a most affectionate mother, I have learned from my infancy to respect and love the constitution of my native country.
" 'It will be my unceasing study to maintain the reformed religion as by law established, securing at the same time to all the full enjoyment of religious liberty; and I shall steadily protect the rights, and promote to the utmost of my power the happiness and welfare of all classes of my subjects.'
"This address, though most probably written by the Minister, deserved great credit for its simple and earnest beauty. State addresses are generally so unmeaning that it is refreshing to meet with an exception.
"The whole demeanour of our youthful and lovely Queen on this very striking occasion riveted the attention and excited the astonishment of every one present; and we have the concurring testimony of at least half-a-dozen distinguished members of the council, publicly given, to the grace, the dignity, the modesty and tenderness for the memory of her departed uncle and for her beloved mother, which marked her every word and action, and modulated her voice during this trying and exciting scene.
First Regal Request
"Her Majesty, having thus admirably dispatched her first essay in state business, returned to the society of her mother, and throwing herself into a chair, ruminated for some minutes on the vast change which the mournful event of the morning had made in her situation and present destination. At length, addressing herself to the Duchess, she said, 'I can scarcely believe, mamma, that I am Queen of England, but I suppose I really am so, am I not?' 'You know, my love, you are; you have just left a scene which must have assured you of it.' 'And in time,' replied her Majesty, 'I shall become accustomed to my change of character; meanwhile, since it is really so, and you see in your little daughter the sovereign of this great country, will you grant her the first request she has had occasion in her regal capacity to put to you? I wish, my dear mamma, to be left for two hours alone.' The Duchess, of course, complied with this wish, so earnestly expressed by her august daughter and sovereign; but it is an extraordinary fact, that the day of her accession was the first on which maternal solicitude had ever suffered its interesting object to be left, even for a minute, alone; since that day, however, scarcely one has passed without the young Queen taking refuge for some time, occasionally for hours, in the privacy of her boudoir, alone, and with the key turned against intruders.
The Proclamation
"On the 21st of June, which by a curious coincidence was also the anniversary of the Battle of Vitoria, her Majesty Alexandrina-Victoria was publicly proclaimed in the metropolis, Queen of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith. Preparations having been made for the ceremony early in the morning, the Queen accompanied in her own carriage by her royal mother, and preceded by her suite in two others, arrived a little before ten o'clock at St. James's Palace; as the cavalcade passed along the whole road, the most affectionate demonstrations of attachment and loyalty were offered to her Majesty by the assembled crowds; and, as it approached St. James's, the multitude poured fourth a continuous cry of 'Long live the Queen--God bless our youthful Queen, long may she live.' Although her Majesty looked tolerably well, her cheeks were not tinted with their usual bloom, and her countenance presented as expression of anxiety and grief, without, however, bearing the slightest evidence of that excitement which might naturally have been expected. Precisely at ten o'clock the band struck up the national anthem; the Park and Tower guns fired a double royal salute, and the Queen, led by the Marquis of Lansdowne, president of the council, came forward to an opened window, looking upon the great court of the palace. Her Majesty, completely overcome by her affecting situation, in conjunction with the eventful occurrences of the preceding day, the instant the first fervent shout of gratulation from her assembled subjects pressed upon her ear, burst into tears; and notwithstanding her earnest endeavours to restrain them, they continued to flow in torrents down her now pallid cheeks until she retired from the window; her Majesty nevertheless curtsied many times in acknowledgement of her grateful sense of the devotion of her people. She was dressed in deep mourning, with a small black bonnet which did not the least impede the view of her countenance beneath it. The Duchess of Kent was also deeply affected, and watched every movement of her illustrious daughter with intense anxiety and interest.
The Duchess of Northumberland's Audiences
"Her Majesty, who cherished a fond attachment for her noble governess, was naturally desirous to see her immediately after her accession; and accordingly appointed the very next day for her Grace's audience. It was represented to the Queen by the state attendants, that so great a change having taken place between the relative positions of the Sovereign and her noblest subjects, her Majesty should receive the Duchess seated, and with the dignity becoming the Queen of this great empire, in bestowing a mark of especial favour upon a lady of her court. Her Majesty reluctantly assented, and seated herself in due form in the chair of state, but no sooner was the door thrown open, and the Duchess of Northumberland announced, than all recollection of the regal dignity was lost in the overflowing affections of her heart; and spontaneously rising, she ran to meet the Duchess, threw her arms round her neck, and kissed her with all the frankness and warmth which her amiable nature prompted.
"On a more recent occasion, when the Duchess returned last winter from her annual residence at Alnwick Castle, the Queen desired that if her Grace called to leave her card announcing her arrival in town, she should be requested to alight, as her Majesty wished to see her. The Duchess did call just as the royal party were about to mount their horses for their accustomed airing, and it was particularly requested by those around the Queen, that she would not suffer her Grace's presence to interfere with her salutary exercise; her Majesty gave no heed to these intreaties, but desired that her horses might be dismissed, and the Duchess immediately ushered in. The Queen received her with her usual hearty embrace, and then turning to the attendants present, said, 'You may all retire; and recollect I must not be interrupted until I summon you;' her Majesty thus enjoyed a delightful private chat with her beloved friend for upwards of two hours.
Punctuality
"On one occasion, shortly after her Majesty's accession, she commanded her ladies in waiting to attend upon her at Buckingham Palace at a certain hour, in order to accompany her to the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Her Majesty was, as usual, ready at the appointed time, but one lady of the suite did not arrive until ten minutes afterwards. The Queen, taking out her watch, calmly remarked, 'I have been waiting my dear lady, ten minutes for your arrival, I trust such a circumstance will not occur again, as punctuality is of the utmost importance to me, and must be a ruling principle in my palace.' The lady, somewhat confused by her unintentional negligence and its natural consequence, could not in the agitation of the moment arrange her shawl to her satisfaction, which her Majesty observing, she kindly placed it upon her shoulder, saying, with one of her sweetest smiles, 'We shall all understand our duties better by and bye.'
The Premier and Expediency
"Her Majesty, though young and inexperienced, makes up for these defects, which every day must tend to diminish, by natural acuteness and an anxious desire to perform the great functions of the state for the benefit of the people. The Prime Minister, who is kept closely to his official duties, is said occasionally to declare that he would rather have ten Kings to manage than one Queen, for that he cannot place a single document in her Majesty's hand for signature, but she first asks an infinite variety of questions respecting it; and not unfrequently ends her interrogatories by declining to put her name to the paper in question, at least until she has taken time to consider of its merits.
"His lordship on one occasion having submitted some act of government for her Majesty's approval, was proceeding to urge the expediency of the measure, when he was stopped short by the Queen, who observed with firmness, 'I have been taught, my Lord, to judge between what is right and what is wrong, but 'expediency' is a word I neither wish to hear nor to understand.'
Economy of Time
"The Queen is an early riser, and is generally occupied for a couple hours before breakfast in looking over state papers, or in other affairs relating to the government of the country, having first fortified her mind by prayer, and by the attentive and devout perusal of a portion of Scripture, which she invariably reads every morning in the privacy of her dressing-room. At ten, the breakfast hour, one of the attendants is desired to request the company of her dear mamma, who, be it observed, makes it a rule never to enter the royal presence without an especial summons. Then comes, perhaps, the most agreeable portion of the day, the social breakfast; almost the only opportunity her Majesty now enjoys of unrestrained intercourse with her beloved parent; the conversation always turns on some topic interesting alike to mother and child, on politics--never; sometimes the Queen is benefited by the Duchess's judicious remarks on the literary productions of the day, for her Royal Highness reads much, and with great discrimination. At about twelve o'clock the ministers are admitted to audiences, and her Majesty is now for many hours involved in a vortex of state business, sufficient of itself to turn so young a brain, were it not that she happily possesses a firmness of temperament and clearness of intellect, by which she is enabled to smooth many difficulties that might otherwise overwhelm her. In the afternoon she takes an airing either in an open carriage or on horseback, whenever the weather is favourable and her indispensable engagements will in any way permit; but it is the subject of general remark, how very little time is allotted by the Queen for those light and graceful occupations so suited for her years, and so agreeable to her tastes. Yet her Majesty is observed to make use of every minute of the day, and to turn the briefest period of leisure to good account. Hers is not a mind to be for an instant idle. The moment a series of state duties have been dispatched, the book or the drawing is resorted to; or perhaps there is only time, that is to say, a very few minutes, which are always sufficient to prepare for a ride or a walk, as a few more invariably suffice for the demands of the toilette on the return to dinner; and even during the short time that her hair is dressing, she employs one of her ladies in reading to her, whilst she takes advantage of the opportunity to shut her eyes, thus giving them a little respite from their continual fatigue. In the evening her Majesty's recreation is complete; it is generally spent, whether at the theatres or at home, in the society of her mother and the enjoyment of music, of which she is enthusiastically fond; but with a maidenly modesty highly commendable, her Majesty never sings when any gentlemen, other than those of the immediate household, are present.
Attention to the Queen Dowager.
"An instance of her Majesty's affectionate attention to Queen Adelaide, and of the amiability of her disposition, occurred a short time since. The Queen Dowager is passionately fond of flowers, and last year, during her residence at Windsor, she planted some violets of a particular kind in those beautiful gardens near the Castle, called the slopes. It was during Queen Victoria's visit to Windsor in the Easter week, that the violets bloomed for the first time; and as soon as her Majesty was informed of it, she gathered a handful, and sent them off by express to Marlborough House, requesting Queen Adelaide to receive the first offering of the flowers which she herself had planted.
(To be continued.)
Proofread by LNL, May 2011