Christopher Hibbert - Edward VII - The Last Victorian King

‘Poor little girl,’ he said. ‘It must have been very frightening for you. And for all of us for that matter. Nothing will ever be quite the same again. Because Kingy was such a wonderful man.’

Colonel Keppel, like all those others who had grown fond of the King, felt conscious of the loss of a remarkable and irreplaceable character. It was difficult to become accustomed to his absence, to enter rooms where he had formerly been seen or to smell the pungent smoke of a Henry Clay cigar, to catch sight of a rakishly tilted Tyrolean hat, or a perky fox terrier, without remembering him.

Writing from Rufford Abbey where he was staying for Doncaster Races after the King’s death, Lord Crewe remarked upon ‘the sense of strangeness’ that had come over all those places where his deep though penetrating voice and his gruff laugh were heard no longer in the corridors, where his ‘intense and commanding personality’ was felt no more.

I am deeply indebted to the various owners of copyright material who have been kind enough to grant permission for extracts to be reproduced in this book. I am also most grateful to the authors and publishers of the following books, in which several of the royal letters and documents have already been printed: Philip Magnus, King Edward the Seventh (John Murray); Georgina Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra (Constable & Co.); Roger Fulford, Dearest Child and Dearest Mama (Evans Brothers); Cecil Woodham-Smith, Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times (Hamish Hamilton); Elizabeth Longford, Victoria R.1. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson); Giles St Aubyn, The Royal George (Constable & Co.); Mary Howard McClintock, The Queen Thanks Sir Howard (John Murray); and Theo Lang, My Darling Daisy (Michael Joseph).

Quotations from the diaries of Arthur J. Munby, the letters of Henry Ponsonby, the recollections of Frederick Ponsonby and the papers of Sir Edward Marsh are taken, with gratitude, from Derek Hudson’s Munby: Man of Two Worlds (John Murray), Arthur Ponsonby’s Henry Ponsonby: Queen Victoria’s Private Secretary (Macmillan & Co.), Sir Frederick Ponsonby’s Recollections of Three Reigns (edited by Colin Welch; Eyre & Spottiswoode), and Christopher Hassall’s Edward Marsh (Longmans).

For extracts from the Macclesfield Papers I am indebted to Georgina Battiscombe and Messrs Constable & Co.; from the Campbell-Bannerman Papers to John Wilson and Messrs Constable & Co.; from the Soveral and Mensdorff Papers to Gordon Brook-Shepherd and Messrs Collins; and from the Edward Hamilton Papers to Dudley W.R. Bahlman and the Clarendon Press, Oxford.

p. 10 Sir George Combe’s reports: National Library of Scotland (MSS. 7437).

By June 1852 Combe had examined ‘all the four Royal Children’ and had found each one ‘characterized by the organs of Self-Esteem, Love of Approbation, Firmness and Conscientiousness … greatly beyond the average of the general English brain. The same remark also applies to Concentrativeness; but above all Conscientiousness is largely developed.… This renders words spoken, or actions done to them greatly more felt than is the case with ordinary children.’

p. 11 Birch and Prince Albert: Londonderry Papers. Disraeli wrote to Lady Londonderry on 10 October 1851: ‘You know or have heard of Mr Birch, the model tutor of the Prince of Wales and hitherto at the Chateau a prime favourite. It seems that Albert who has imbibed the ultra Lutheran (alias Infidel) doctrines and holds that all churches (reformed) are alike, etc., and that ecclesiastical formulares of all kinds ought to be discouraged, signified to Birch the other day that he did not approve of the Prince of Wales being taught the catechism, his Royal Highness not approving of creeds and all that. Conceive the astonishment and horror of Birch, a very orthodox if not very High Churchman, at this virtual abnegation of all priestly authority! He at once informed His Royal Highness that he must then resign his post. This could not on the instant be agreed to, as the Queen was devoted to Birch and Albert himself had hitherto greatly approved of him. After this there were scenes for a week, some very violent; it ended by Birch, who was unflinching, consenting to remain, the Prince of Wales being taught the Church catechism and the utmost efforts being made to suppress the whole esclandre which, if it were known, would, coupled with the connection and patronage of the National Exposition, complete, it is supposed, the Prince’s popularity. He is already more than suspected by the Church [of] making the Queen, when in Scotland, attend the Kirk and not the episcopal church, to which he sends a lord-in-waiting, or a maid of honor, every Sunday, instead of the sacred presence.’

p. 11 Birch’s reports: Extracts on these and preceding pages are from Gibbs Papers; Philip Magnus, p. 7; also Cecil Woodham-Smith, pp. 335–36. pp. 12–13 Gibbs’s diary entries: Cornhill Magazine, p. 986, Spring 1951.

pp. 13–14 Becker’s and Voisin’s reports in Gibbs Papers, quoted by Philip Magnus, pp. 10–11.

p. 15 Wynn-Carrington on Prince Albert: Lincolnshire Papers (Bodleian MSS. Film 1120–21).

p. 16 Prince’s essay: Gibbs’s report in Royal Archives quoted by Elizabeth Longford, p. 275.

p. 21 Lindsay’s report: Royal Archives, quoted by Cecil Woodham-Smith, pp. 403–4.

p. 22 Gladstone on Prince of Wales: Hawarden MSS., quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 27.

p. 29 Prince of Wales’s lack of skill at tennis: Joseph Romilly’s MS. Diaries, 28 January 1841 (Cambridge University Library, 6804–42).

p. 32 New York Herald reports: Press cuttings in the Royal Archives quoted by Woodham-Smith. Later quotations from New York Daily Tribune and New York Times are from Kinley Roby.

pp. 36–37 Madingley Hall arrangements: King Papers, 12 June 1860 to 8 December 1861 (Cambridge County Record Office).

pp. 37–38 Prince at Cambridge: Acland Papers; Joseph Romilly’s Diaries, 18 January 1861 to 21 May 1861. Romilly went to dinner with the Prince at Madingley on 24 January and afterwards recorded: ‘The Prince did not wear a star or ribbon and we were all (as instructed) in an ordinary evening dress without gowns.… Whewell [William Whewell, Master of Trinity College] said Grace. The dessert was on the table at first: no viands on table: everything handed round. Wine was twice poured out for everybody without asking: seemed to be Sherry and Champagne. With the cheese Portwine was offered & cherry brandy. After dinner nothing but Sherry and Claret offered: no wine put on table. I think nobody tasted any part of the dessert except some little cakes which were handed round.… The ice after dinner was delicious.’

p. 38 Kingsley on the Prince: Desborough Papers, 5 May 1861 (County of Buckingham Record Office, D/86/32/40).

p. 47 Prince Albert at Madingley: Lincolnshire Papers, 25 November 1861.

pp. 47–48 Prince at father’s deathbed: King Papers, The Hon. Sir Charles Phipps to Lady King, 27 December 1861.

p. 50 Prince’s letter to Wynn-Carrington: Lincolnshire Papers, 23 January 1862.

p. 51 Stanley and Prince in Middle East: Acland Papers, as well as Prothero and Bradley.

p. 57 Prince’s opinion of William Knollys: Knollys Papers (Kent County Record Office, U1186 C/47, undated [June 1883]).

p. 57 Queen Victoria’s letter about William Knollys: Knollys Papers, 9 July 1862 (Kent County Record Office, U1186 C6/2). ‘I know of no other person so fitted as General Knollys,’ Queen Victoria added, ‘for he possessed beloved Papa’s great esteem and confidence, he is very amiable, particularly pleasant and agreeable and has great experience of the world.… He is besides very fond of young people.’

p. 59 William Knollys on Prince’s happiness: Knollys Papers (U1186 C1/2, undated).

p. 61 Queen Victoria’s horror of Princess Alexandra’s mother’s family: Paget Papers, quoted by Philip Magnus, p. 61.