Victoria - 1861 - The Death of Albert
The year 1861 was the saddest in the queen's life. On 16 March, her mother, the duchess of Kent, died, and on 14 December, while the dispute with America about the "Trent" affair was yet unsettled, the prince consort breathed his last at Windsor. His death left a void in the queen's life which nothing could ever fill. She built at Frogmore a magnificent mausoleum where she might be buried with him. Never again during her reign did the queen live in London, and Buckingham Palace was only used for occasional visits of a few days. At the time of the prince consort's death the prince of Wales was in his twenty-first year. He had spent several terms at each of the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and he had already traveled much, having visited most of Europe, Egypt and the United Slates. His marriage was solemnized at Windsor on 10 March 1863. The queen witnessed the wedding from the private pew or box of St George's Chapel, Windsor, but she wore the deep mourning which she was never wholly to put 08 to the end of her life, and she took no part in the festivities of the wedding.
In foreign imperial affairs, and in the adjustment of serious parliamentary difficulties, the queen's dynastic influence abroad and her position as above party at home, together with the respect due to her character, good sense and experience, still remained a powerful element in the British polity, as was shown on more than one occasion. In 1866 the Austro-Prussian War broke out, and many short-sighted people were tempted to side with France when, in 1867, Napoleon III sought to obtain a "moral compensation" by laying a claim to the duchy of Luxemburg. A conference met in London, and the difficulty was settled by neutralizing the duchy and ordering the evacuation of the Prussian troops who kept garrison there. But this solution, which averted an imminent war, was only arrived at through Queen Victoria's personal intercession.
In the words of a French writer— "The queen wrote both to the, king of Prussia and to the emperor Napoleon. Her letter to the emperor, pervaded with the religious and almost mystic sentiments which predominate in the queen's mind, particularly since the death of Prince Albert, seems to have made a impression on the sovereign who, amid the struggles of politics, had never completely repudiated the philanthropic theories of his youth, and who, on the battlefield of Solferino, covered with the dead and wounded, was seized with an unspeakable horror of war."
Moreover, Disraeli's two premiership (1868, 1874-80) did a good deal to give new encouragement to a right idea of the Disraeli constitutional function of the crown. Disraeli thought that the queen ought to be a power in the state. His notion of duty — at once a loyal and chivalrous one — was that he was obliged to give the queen the best of his advice, but that the final decision in any course lay with her, and that once she had decided, he was bound, whatever might be his own opinion, to stand up for her decision in public. The queen, not unnaturally, came to trust Disraeli implicitly, and she frequently showed her friendship for him. At his death she paid an exceptional tribute to his "dear and honored memory" from his "grateful and affectionate sovereign and friend."
To something like this position Lord Salisbury after 1886 succeeded. A somewhat different conception of the sovereign's functions was that of Disraeli's great rival, Gladstone, who, though his respect for the person and office of the sovereign was unbounded, not only expected all people, the queen included, to agree with him when he changed his mind, but to become suddenly enthusiastic about his new ideas. The queen consequently never felt safe with him. Nor did she like his manner — he spoke to her (she is believed to have said) as if she were a public meeting. The queen was opposed to the Disestablishment of the Irish Church (1869) — the question which brought Gladstone to be premier — and though she yielded with good grace, Gladstone was fretful and astonished because she would not pretend to give a hearty assent to the measure. Through her secretary, General Grey, the queen pointed out that she had not concealed from Gladstone "how deeply she deplored" his having felt himself under the necessity of raising the question, and how apprehensive she was of the possible consequences of the measure;. but, when a general election had pronounced on the principle, when the bill had been carried through the House of Commons by unvarying majorities, she did not see what good could be gained by rejecting it in the Lords.
Later, when through the skilful diplomacy of the primate the Lords had passed the second reading by a small but sufficient majority (179 to 146), and after amendments had been adopted, the queen herself wrote — "The queen ... is very sensible of the prudence and, at the same time, the anxiety for the welfare of the Irish Establishment which the archbishop has manifested during the course of the debates, and she will be very glad if the amendments which have been adopted at his suggestion lead to a settlement of the question, but to effect this, concessions, the queen believe?, will have to be made on both sides. The queen must say that she cannot view without alarm possible consequences of another year of agitation on the Irish Church, and she would ask the archbishop seriously to consider, in case the concessions to which the government may agree should not go so far as he may himself wish, whether the postponement of the settlement for another year may not be likely to result in worse rather than in better terms for the Church. The queen trusts, therefore, that the archbishop will himself consider, and, as far as he can, endeavor to induce the others to consider, any concessions that may lie offered by the House of Commons in the most conciliatory spirit."
The correspondence of which this letter forms a part is one of the few published witnesses to the queen's careful and active interest in home politics during the latter half of her reign; but it is enough to prove how wise, bow moderate and how steeped in the spirit of the Constitution she was. Another instance is that of the County Franchise and Redistribution Bills of 1884-85. There, again, a conflict between the two houses was imminent, and the queen's wish for a settlement had considerable weight in bringing about the curious but effective conference of the two parties, of which the first suggestion, it is believed, was due to Lord Randolph Churchill.
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