Christopher Hibbert - Edward VII - The Last Victorian King

p. 63 The ugly bridesmaids: Lady Geraldine Somerset’s diary in the Royal Archives. This and other extracts quoted by Georgina Battiscombe.

p. 63 Prince’s height: Archives of Messrs Henry Poole & Co. In 1860 the Prince’s waist measured 39? in. and his seat 45 in. In 1905 his waist had expanded to 47 in. and his seat to 46? in.

p. 64 Princess late for wedding: Lincolnshire Papers, 13 March 1863.

p. 67 Prince’s contribution to Frogmore mausoleum: Knollys Papers (U1186

C38). Sir Charles Phipps wrote to Knollys on 3 May 1863: ‘I think that the Prince of Wales can hardly realize all the expences that have fallen upon the Queen by the sad events of the last three years.… The Queen’s expences have far outgrown Her income and were it not for a fund which I have with great care collected and set by she could not get on. This in the STRICTEST CONFIDENCE.… I hope that the expence of the Mausoleum will be spread over many years. I endeavour upon all occasions to advocate a very slow progress. I should be very sorry to pretend to interfere in any way in the financial arrangements of the Prince of Wales but I may hint to you that His Royal Highness has a very large capital still … which might be made available for this purpose. I have not hinted any of this to the Queen and I should earnestly hope it may not come to her knowledge for this is the point upon which she would be most tender.’

p. 68 Increase in Prince’s income: Knollys Papers (U1186 C1/6). On 23

March 1865 General Knollys asked Phipps if there would be any objection to the Prince’s going to see Gladstone ‘on the subject of an increase to the £40,000 annuity.… It appears that several members of both Houses have told H.R.H. that there would be no difficulty now in getting his income increased, and that it would be better to ask for it while this feeling was warm.’ Nothing came of the Prince’s approach.

p. 69 Lady Macclesfield on Sandringham: Macclesfield Papers. This and other extracts quoted by Georgina Battiscombe.

pp. 70–71 Gladstone at Sandringham: Edward Hamilton’s diaries, B.M. Add.

MSS. 48, pp. 630–83. These have now been edited by Dudley W.R. Bahlman. This and all subsequent quotations from the diaries are taken from this edition. In May 1886 Queen Victoria made ‘a devil of a row’ about Gladstone and John Morley being asked to Sandringham (Rosebery Papers, 3 May 1886).

p. 71 The Bishop of Peterborough at Sandringham was William Connor Magee. The quotation is from Macdonnel’s Life.

p. 77 Prince’s request for information about ‘present political crisis’: Devonshire MSS. (340.527), 12 March 1873.

p. 84 General Knollys’s excuses: Knollys Papers (U1186 C1/2), 17 October 1864. ‘The parting at Copenhagen which took place on board the Osborne was painful to witness,’ Knollys added, ‘the King [of Denmark] particularly showing much distress.’

p. 90 Knollys on sailors’ rude song: Royal Archives, quoted by Georgina Battiscombe, p. 89.

p. 93 Lady Carrington’s complaints: Carrington MSS., 17 December 1865, 22 December 1865, 13 August 1866 (County of Buckingham Record Office, D/CN C5).

p. 93 Parties at Wynn-Carrington’s: Lincolnshire Papers, 20 February 1868. pp. 93–94 Prince and racing: The Queen’s letters to Prince Arthur’s governor, Sir Howard Elphinstone, are replete with warnings about the dangers of horse-racing: ‘It is deeply regretted by all that Ascot should be visited THIS year [1872] by the Prince of Wales, and the Queen has done ALL she can to prevent it, but in vain.… It is not because the Queen thinks (and the Prince [Consort] still more) races the dullest things in the world, that she is so anxious that the Prince of Wales, and if he won’t, that Prince Arthur should discountenance them as much as possible but on account of the horrible gambling, the ruin to hundreds of families and the heart-breaking of Parents caused thereby which lowers the higher classes frightfully.’ (McClintock, p. 148.) Towards the end of her life the Queen’s attitude softened, and for Christmas 1895 she gave the Prince of Wales two models of jockeys (Rosebery Papers, National Library of Scotland, MSS. 10016).

p. 94 Prince’s letters to Filmer: Filmer MSS., Kent County Record Office (U120 C77). Energetic as the Prince was, even he was sometimes exhausted by his guests at Sandringham. ‘The Bishop arrived here today and is in great force,’ he once reported to Dean Wellesley; ‘he played four rubbers of whist after dinner — then American Bowles with Dr Farre — and it is now 2 in the morning & he has just commenced a game at billiards with that eminent Physician’ (Wellington MSS., 13 April 1871).

p. 96 Farmer’s description of Sandringham shoot: ‘The Lady Farmer,’

Eighteen Years on the Sandringham Estate (Temple Co., 1887).

p. 99 Foundation of Marlborough Club: Lincolnshire Papers. ‘In 1917,’ Lincolnshire added, ‘the Marlborough Club was on its last legs. Sir Ernest Cassel (a German Jew) offered to finance it; but the members would not stand that; and King George V saved the club by producing £7,000.’

p. 100 Lord Carrington’s advice to his son: Carrington Papers, 2 March 1863. p. 101 Royal Buckhounds at Paddington: Lincolnshire Papers, Lord Carrington’s journal.

p. 101 Queen Victoria’s criticism of Prince at time of Phipps’s death: Knollys Papers (U1186 C6/4), 26 February 1866.

p. 105 Princess Alexandra on happiness of her marriage: Downe Papers, 18

May 1869 (North Yorkshire Record Office, ZDS/W, 100).

pp. 108–109 Disturbance at Olympic Theatre: Lincolnshire Papers, 2 March 1870. p. 110 Prince at House of Lords: ‘The Prince performed capitally yesterday in the House of Lords,’ Lord Carrington told his son on 6 February 1863, ‘not nervous and very dignified and well received’ (Carrington Papers, D/CN C1/9).

pp. 111–112 Mrs Francis Stonor on Prince in tears: Royal Archives, quoted by Georgina Battiscombe, p. 112.

p. 123 Appointment of Francis Knollys: Knollys Papers (U1186 C25/8).

Queen Victoria was justified in her fears that, as a young man, Francis Knollys’s morals were not above reproach. In April 1873 he accompanied the Prince to Vienna, where, ‘before hearing that almost all the ladies of the town were reported to be poxed’, he went with ‘about as low a woman’ as he had ever come across and afterwards confessed to his friend, Rosebery, that he was ‘in a horrible fright’ (Rosebery Papers, MS. 10016, 29 April 1873).

p. 123 Prince and Scots Fusiliers: Knollys Papers (U1186 C18/1), 13

September 1870.

p. 123 Lord Granville on Prince: Henry Ponsonby’s Papers, quoted by Arthur Ponsonby, p. 102.

pp. 129–130 Princess Alexandra and India: Downe Papers, 21 March 1877. A letter from Lady Downe, written in India, made Princess Alexandra ‘regret ten times more’ that she was not allowed to ‘have a glimpse at least of that glorious East’ which she feared she would never see (Downe Papers, 2DS/W/102).

p. 130 Queen Victoria’s instructions about Indian visit: Salisbury Papers, 5 June 1875.

p. 132 Albert Grey’s letters to his mother and his journal, quoted throughout this chapter, are in the Earl Grey Papers, Department of Palaeography and Diplomatic, University of Durham, MSS. pp. 216–17.

p. 132 Lord Carrington’s comments on the tour are extracted from the Lincolnshire Papers, MS. 1120.

p. 135 Prince in Delhi: Grey Papers. A private soldier in the Eighth Regiment who formed part of the Prince’s guard thought that his reception in Delhi was very subdued (MS. Letters of Private John Whitworth, Merseyside County Museum, Liverpool). ‘Any notion the natives may have entertained of the pomp and grandeur they were about to witness must have been quickly dissipated, as, riding with a lot of staff officers, the Prince was in no way conspicuous and was not I believe recognised by the majority of the natives. Slowly the procession wound its way thro the line of troops — the Prince conversing now with one now with another of the officers around him. Whether the natives testify their loyalty in a manner different to us or whether they were disappointed at the lack of show I know not. But certain it is that very few cheers greeted his advent. One “Champagne Charley” style of European tried by the force of example to call forth a hurrah from his black neighbours, but the effort was in vain. The attempt was, however, acknowledged by a graceful inclination of his Royal H’s head.… The procession pursued its course, the Prince occasionally being called on to acknowledge the waving of handkerchiefs by European ladies. The whole affair did not last two hours, and the tameness of the reception was certainly the most noticeable feature in it.’