Victoria - 1840 - Early Years
The birth of the princess royal, on 21 November 1840, removing the unpopular King Ernest of Hanover from the position of heir-presumptive to the British crown, was a subject of loud congratulations to the people. A curious scare was occasioned at Buckingham Palace, when the little princess was a fortnight old, by the discovery of a boy named Jones concealed under a bed in the nursery. Jones had a mania for palace-breaking. Three times he effected a clandestine entry into the queen's residence, and twice he managed to spend several days there. By day he concealed himself in cupboards or under furniture, and by night he made his way into the royal kitchen to eat whatever he could find. After his third capture, in March 1841, he coolly boasted that he had lain under a sofa, and listened to a private conversation between the queen and Prince Albert. This third time he was not punished, but sent to sea, and turned out very well.
The incident strengthened Prince Albert's hands in trying to carry out sundry domestic reforms which were being hotly resisted by vested interests. The royal residences and grounds used to be under the control of four different officials — the lord chamberlain, the lord steward, the master of the horse and the commissioners of woods and forests. Baron Slockmar, the confusion fostered by this state of things, said— "The lord steward finds the fuel and lays the fire: the lord chamberlain lights it. The lord chamberlain provides the lamps; the lord steward must clean, trim and light them. The inside cleaning of windows belongs to the lord chamberlain's department, but the outer parts must be attended to by the office of woods and forests, so that windows remain dirty unless the two departments can come to an understanding." It took Prince Albert four years of firmness and diplomacy before in 1845 he was able to bring the queen's home under the efficient control of a master of the household.
At the general election of 1841 the Whigs returned in a minority of seventy-sue, and Lord Melbourne was defeated and resigned. The queen was affected to tears at parting with him; but the crisis had been fully expected and prepared for by confidential communications between Mr Anson and Sir Robert Peel, who now became prime minister (see Letters of Queen Victoria, i. 341 ct seq.). The old difficulty as to the appointments to the royal household was tactfully removed, and Tory appointments were made, which were agreeable both to the queen and to Peel. The only temporary embarrassment was the queen's continued private correspondence with Lord Melbourne, which led Stockmar to remonstrate with him; but Melbourne used his influence sensibly; moreover, he gradually dropped out of politics, and the queen got used to his not being indispensable.
On Prince Albert's position the change had a marked effect, for in the absence of Melbourne the queen relied more particularly on his advice, and Peel himself at once discovered and recognized the prince's unusual charm and capacity. One of the Tory premier's first acts was to propose that a royal commission should be appointed to consider the best means for promoting art and science in the kingdom, and he nominated Prince Albert as president. The International Exhibition of 1851, the creation of the Museum and Science and Art Department at South Kensington, the founding of art schools and picture galleries all over the country, the spread of musical taste and the fostering of technical education may be attributed, more or less directly, to the commission of distinguished men which began its labors under Prince Albert's auspices.
The queen's second child, the prince of Wales (later Edward VII), was born on 09 November 1841; and this event "filled the measure of the queen's domestic happiness," as she said in her speech from the throne at the opening of the session of 1842.
At this time there was much political unrest at home, and serious difficulties abroad. As regards internal politics, it may be remarked that the queen and Prince Albert were much relieved when Peel, who had come in as the leader of the Protectionist party, adopted Free Trade and repealed the Corn Laws, for it closed a dangerous agitation which gave them much anxiety. When the country was in distress, the queen felt a repugnance for festivities; and yet it was undesirable that the court should incur the reproach of living meanly to save money. There was a conversation between the queen and Sir Robert Peel on this subject in the early days of the Tory administration, and the queen talked of reducing her establishment in order that she might give away larger sums in charities. "I am afraid the people would only say that your majesty was returning them change for their pounds in halfpence," answered Peel. "Your majesty is not perhaps aware that the most unpopular person in the parish is the relieving officer, and if the queen were to constitute herself a relieving officer for all the parishes in the kingdom she would find her money go a very little way, and she would provoke more grumbling than thanks." Peel added that a sovereign must do all things in order, not seeking praise for doing one particular thing well, but striving to be an example in all respects, even in dinner-giving.
Meanwhile the year 1841 was ushered in by splendid fetes in honor of the king of Prussia, who held the prince of Wales at the font. In the spring there was a fancy-dress ball at Buckingham Palace, which remained memorable owing to the offer which it gave in France. Prince Albert was costumed as Edward III, the queen as Queen Philippa, and all the gentlemen of the court as knights of Poitiers. The French chose to view this as an unfriendly demonstration, and there was some talk of getting up a counter-ball in Paris, the duke of Orleans to figure as William the Conqueror.
In June the queen took her first railway journey, traveling from Windsor to Paddington on the Great Western line. The master of the horse, whose business it was to provide for the queen's ordinary journeys by road, was much put out by this innovation. He marched into the station several hours before the start to inspect the engine, as he would have examined a steed; but greater merriment was occasioned by the queen's coachman, who insisted that, as a matter of form, he ought to make-believe to drive the engine. After some dispute, he was told that he might climb on to the pilot engine which was to precede the royal train; but his scarlet livery, white gloves and wig suffered so much from soot and sparks that he made no more fuss about his rights in after trips. The motion of the train was found to be so pleasant that the queen readily trusted herself to the railway for a longer journey a few weeks later, when she paid her first visit to Scotland.
A report by Sir James Clark led to the queen's visiting Balmoral in 1848, and to the purchase of the Balmoral estate in 1852, and the queen's diary of her journeys in Scotland shows what constant enjoyment she derived from her Highland home. Seven years before this the estate of Osborne had been purchased in the Isle of Wight, in order that the queen might have a home of her own. Windsor she considered too stately, and the Pavilion at Brighton too uncomfortable. The first stone of Osborne House was laid in 1845, and the royal family entered into possession in September 1846.
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