How Queen Victoria Lives On Through Her Journals | Absolute History

in 1897 Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations were the expression of supreme confidence she was queen of Great Britain she was Empress of India her empire in fact stretched all over the world what made the events so remarkably wasn't just the fact that the streets of London were thronged with thousands of people singing god save the queen as that the 78 year old monarch was prepared to be seen in public at all the widow of windsor as she was known struggled with public appearances because she was shy but also because she was still ostensibly in mourning for 36 years she'd been the embodiment of grief but appearances are deceptive behind this well-known image of Victoria lies another story to that of the heartbroken Widow it was only part of the truths about Victoria whose marriage had been a source of constraint as well as deep love the loss of her beloved husband and of her mother was a terrible blow but it also initiated a process of liberation for a woman who'd spent her entire life under the shadow of domineering men Victoria had been a pawn in a political game as a child and young Queen her angel Prince Albert had used her pregnancies as a way to gain power and punished her for resenting it but in her widowhood Victoria although bereft and deranged was free to embark on a way of life and on loves that were to make her last for decades her most productive and exciting and luckily for us she committed all her feelings to paper she wrote more than 50 million words some were judged so shocking by her children that when she died they were destroyed I've spent the last five years reading Queen Victoria's journals and unpublished letters and I've come to feel something almost approaching or for her behind that stout old lady in black sitting at her writing table was a passionate human being and taunted what is so often said she was frequently and easily amused [Music] 1861 was Queen Victoria's annus horribilis the deaths of her mother and her husband left her distraught she fled London it was presumed that her absence from the capital meant she was doing nothing left inept by grief in her journal she be wails the loss of her lover her friend a crutch he did everything everywhere nothing did I do without him from the greatest of the smallest my first word was I must ask Albert in her delirium she turned the man she'd often resented and fought with into a demigod what Victoria didn't realize at 42 years old was that marriage had infantilized her marriage dozen fancy lies people she'd come to rely on our but for absolutely everything she don't see him first thing in the morning and say what dress should I put on in politics and in personal life he had restrained her and controlled and now his life was over but her life wasn't it little by little she would flap her wings and become free and her first small steps to freedom were taken here in Cobourg in modern-day Germany her homeland in the birthplace of Albert and her mother she confessed her enduring love affair with Germany in her journal if I were not who I am my real home would be here [Music] Victoria was 3/4 German she idolized the land and the people the very air smelled like Albert and she breathed it in when she started coming back to Cobourg her brethren or Ernst Albers brother expected her to stay with him in his grandpa rock palace in the middle of town schloss Arenberg but she preferred to be here in floss Rosa now beautiful hunting lodge about five miles out of town where Albert was born it's a place full of his childhood memories surrounded by quietness are the hills and the forests inconsolably bereaved she certainly was and you can see here a page from the visitors book she wrote in 1862 Victoria Regina the desolate we do of my beloved Albert [Music] a direct descendent of Prince Albert keeps the line alive today in the nearby Josh kallenberg pubertus is the hereditary Prince of saxe-coburg and Gotha so let's enter a treasure house one of the rooms here please you're wonderful thank you very much use the great-great-great-grandson yes sir that is correct this is where we showed the family relationships between the sexes kava-kava family and the British look there's a marvelous winter house Prince Albert effects and gopher so that's after he's arrived in Britain yeah yeah it wasn't literally says it's important yes look at this beautiful painting she didn't dress very well but she had stupendous jewels that's what the French notice didn't know when she went to Paris yes after she was withered she became even more attached to Germany even more conscious of her German roots didn't enter but was a particularly pleased Queen Victoria's roots are indeed very German she was definitely fluent in the German language and even after the too early death of Prince Albert she still was was very much in love with Germany and and especially cowork and she came back to oak monument for Albert here in 1865 on the marketplace there was also one of the very few public appearances apparently that she did after his death oh yes Victoria had always loved melodrama since her days as a young Queen and now in her morning she made her loss blindingly clear to see ever dressed in black she desired everyone to enter into her grief dr. Kareena or buck an expert in anglo-german relations sheds light on Victoria's behavior after Albert's death she's such a bad psychologist because Albert told her don't overdo it please when I'm gone and she does exactly the opposite she puts him on his pedestal she drags her children into the room once a year the room he died and she keeps preaching him all the time how wonderful he was and it is absolutely ridiculous because the children of course hate it after a while and resent everything about this idealized father so it achieves the absolute opposite she went back again and again and again to turbo yes I think she would have loved to live just in the little cottage in in Germany was Albert that was her idea and it was home it was the home it wasn't yes she feels relaxed because when when she talks German she can be a different person in her English identity she has to be the cream in Germany she's just decline of how as a bird calls her grief-stricken Victoria may have been but inept she certainly wasn't she was about to demonstrate her political astuteness in Germany then not a unified country as we know it today Germany was merely an issue the question was would the various small German Dutchess and city-states come together in a peaceful Federation or will they allow themselves to be bullied by the Northern Kingdom of Prussia into becoming a modern militaristic nation that was the central political drama of Victoria's times and in that drama trees stood plumb center stage in the summer of 1863 the Queen came here to schloss Ehrenburg while she was here she thrust herself between the twin camps of Prussia and Austria before any of her diplomats it was her first major activities since she was widowed I felt so nervous all being in state and I alone I have no longer my beloved Albert to guide cheer advise and pilot me through the great difficulty here in the Hall of giants where Victoria's parents were married we meet Victoria the diplomat meeting with no less a person than the Emperor of Austria and together they drank a toast to the unity of Germany so early in her widowhood we find Victoria alone but nonetheless an independent woman negotiating not particularly on behalf of England was on behalf of a peaceful Europe Victoria had found the inner strength to exert her power and carry out Albert's political work on her own in this instance she's a sort of arbiter she wants to bring together these two German today's Emperor of Austria and then William of Prussia and and she thinks that there should be some push more some understanding between the two she she still hopes for a peaceful solution of the German question I mean during that period if you'd asked many English newspaper editors whilst the Queen doing native said she's drawn to sleep she's drawn into hiding she's not doing it as a matter of fact she was deeply politically engaged in Germany yes I think that's when one underestimates her because she's hiding in black and then one doesn't understand that she had her back channels and she was very much into this back channel work and she saw herself because of Albert as well a diplomat in many ways it's interesting at this time that we see the British Queen becoming partly through her own marriage and the marriages of her children so intimately involved in European politics at this time the British politicians complained that their monarch was too weepy to reclusive not doing her work not interested in the main political questions but Victoria was looking at the future of Europe itself that seems to me far less parochial far less narrow than the things that many of her cabinet ministers wanted and her role in all this was pivotal the future of Germany was quite literally being fought out between members of her own family with her eldest daughter Vicky married to the Crown Prince of Prussia and Bertie married to the princess of Denmark Victoria was caught in the middle of the war between these neighboring states Oh [Music] Bertie's wife was only a good German and not a Dane not as regards the influence of the politics but as regards the peace and harmony of the family it is terrible to have the poor boy on the wrong side the personal was the political for Victoria intensely German she nonetheless felt as all mothers would grief that her family stood on opposing sides of the political divide while Victoria showed her fortitude on the world stage involving herself in European Wars of global significance she was also finding freedom at home in her personal life as a young woman she had always sought father figures from the flirtatious about Melbourne to her angel Albert now she had another man by her side I feel I have here and always in the house a good devoted soul whose only object and interest is my service and God knows how much I want so to be taken care of these are the words the 45 year old Victoria wrote about Albert's Highland servant a mr. John Brown who was brought down from Balmoral to attend Victoria at Osman in 1864 [Music] I honestly think that if it hadn't been for the Highlands of Scotland and the friendship of John Brown in those ten years after Prince Albert died the Queen Victoria would have gone stark staring mad she'd always loved it here in Scotland since her early visits with Albert and the uneffective character of the Highlanders made such a refreshing change after the stuffiness of Windsor and Buckingham Palace and so it was that the bearded and kilted John Brown 7 years her junior became Victoria's next male dependency as closests companion and best friend [Music] Raymond lament Brown is the Highland servants official biographer she spent far more time with Sean brown than with any other person yet he was certain borne any member of her family yes that's true he would attend off whenever she needed him he understood her fairly well I think something that her family and her ministers didn't understand that although she was surrounded by people all the time she was very lonely and John Brown said to her quite openly I think you're just a lonely wee been that needs to be brought out of herself and that's exactly what he did he sort of pulled her out of her depression he became a walking encyclopedia of Queen Victoria's likes and dislikes neuroses and so on he devoted his life to her he never went on holiday and he was always there for her in some ways it was an even greater commitment than Albert made himself in his marriage vows which was it was a one of absolute service yes yes Albert of course had had his own agenda of the things if he did but for John Brown from dawn to dusk his agenda was Queen Victoria alongside Browns devotion to the Queen came an abruptness and complete disregard for taught etiquette something which Brown could see that Victoria translator her steely appearance rather enjoyed whilst these qualities of bronze enraged the household they were precisely the things that made him the ideal companion for Victoria great man that Albert had been he'd always been sickly and fussy he didn't share his wife's love of jostling and drinking whereas browned loved his whiskey he was often tipsy he liked pouring whiskey into the twins milk can sing don't stay so stiff Victoria wouldn't credit what I'm about to say but Brown released her from Albert he released her in a capacity for hedonism and fun and she reveled in it cheerio [Music] Victoria found freedom in her friendship with this most unlikely of characters out riding laughing in the grounds at Osmond with brown where she had been suppressed in her childhood whether cruel workings of Sir John Conroy and had struggled with an overbearing and scheming husband she loved brands openness and dedication to her and her alone it is a real comfort for Brown is devoted to me so simple so intelligent and so unlike an ordinary servant no one could talk to Victoria as John Brown did he held her in check there was once an occasion when a footman came into the room carrying a tray and the poor boy dropped the Queen erupted was rage said he should be dismissed to the kitchens but John Brown intervened immediately woman what are he doing do that pull daddy oh you needed anything yourself the footman was reinstated the straight-talking Scotsman had bought the Queen of England in her place and she enjoyed it but it wasn't just Brown's frankness she relished he also filled a deep emotional need in Victoria on the fourth anniversary of Albert's death she completely defied convention by bringing Braun to pay his respects but Albert's mother Liam her writings that day showed just how significant Browns response was for Victoria when he came to my room later he was so much affected he said in his simple expressive way with such a tender look of pity while the tears rolled down his cheeks I didn't like to see you at Frogmore this morning I felt for you but what could I do for you I could die for you I don't think anybody could ever have replaced Prince Albert but she needs some kind of a male crutch and John Brown supplied that what came next showed the contradictory nature of Victoria's character the woman who shied away from the public decided to share her thoughts with everyone we tend to think that Diana Princess of Wales invented the concept of feel my pain but Queen Victoria dropped there before her with her decision to publish extracts of her private Diaries leaves from the Journal of our life in the highlands they came out in 1868 and was an instant bestseller no monarch had ever published a book before this one was wholly at odds with Victoria the weeping Widow [Music] [Applause] [Music] the journals Chronicle her life of outdoor frivolity she felt truly elated out in the open Highland landscape but local dances and at the annual Highland Games the games began about three o'clock she writes one throwing the hammer two tossing the caber three putting the stone a pretty wild sight but the men looked very cold there's nothing that their shirts and kilts on they ran beautifully the journals are pretty mild stuff the remarkable thing about them is that they were published at all they're nice books are bound in green Boston gold and pretty soon they'd sold over a hundred thousand copies there is one person however that might be named as the hero of the book and that of course is John Brown a children hardly does a look in and weren't best pleased but it seemed that Victoria was unaware instead she wrote to her eldest Vicki asking for validation of the book you have never said one word about my poor little Highland burg my only book I had hoped that you and Fritz would have liked it the reason Vicki might have been avoiding the subject was that her mother's shameless adoration of brown was crossing a scandal a scurrilous pamphlet entitled John Brown's legs appeared in New York it's dedicated to those extraordinary legs pork bruised and scratched darlings here's the Queen looking at a damaged knee good heavens what a knee we're sticking out from the kilt of John Brown once they're hilarious about this is that while the American was penning this pamphlet the Queen herself was writing a third volume of leaves from our life in the highlands in effect biography of John Brown the cause and the politicians were absolutely horrified and somebody has to be delegated to tell her that the book was entirely inappropriate they chose the poor young Dean of Windsor and he went in and told the Queen that it really wasn't very good idea to be writing these memoirs of her life was brown it would be misconstrued she erupted with rage however she took the young man's advice and the matter was never mentioned again I wonder if it still survives somewhere in Windsor in those archives or whether Princess Beatrice the Reta destroyed it thanks to Victoria's youngest daughter Beatrice no trace remains of the Queen's life with John Brown in her voluminous journals were left with silence as her children were intent on deleting Brown and anything else deemed unsuitable from history it's poignant is sad that so arid a scribbler and recorder of her times as Queen Victoria should have had her words suppressed and of course the suppression has the precisely opposite effect upon this that it was intended to do instead of making us forget about John Brown and Victoria it makes us obsessed by the subject what we do know is that in favoring Brown Victoria showed herself to be a woman desperate for companionship irrespective of the social cost she comes such a long way from her days as the submissive wife of Albert with brown she was free to do as she pleased of course people suspected him of sleeping with Victoria there's a bit of a feminist issue here if she'd been a male monarch going to bed with a parlor maid no one would have batted an eyelid it's the idea of a woman crossing the class barrier that really appalled them especially as the rumors mounted to that of a secret marriage even a lovechild between the Queen and her Highlands servant a man who was probably one of the very few people in the world who ever knew the full truth about her relationship with brown was her last doctor Sir James Reid oh goodness Michela lady Reid is married to his grandson he kept a diary well he forty little tiny Diaries here see his writing was minuscule read a lot you really require a magnifying glass yes this is one from March this is the Queen Anne brown I think yes she has a fool they were going up and down the stairs Brown and the Queen was Brown of course carried her read wasn't blood so much as to touch well he was allowed to offer his arm good I mean he wasn't allowed to examine me and certainly wouldn't be allowed to care yes yes and they were laughing about it all and thought it was great fun and then the next day it says the Queen walked a little in the room Brown lifts his kilt and says is it there and she lifts her skirt laughing and says no it's here she was moving his big man yes yes yes I think she's pointing yes yes they were obviously very intimate is there a feeling in the Reed family that dr. Reed knew little nature of the relationship there is a feeling and we used to tease granny as we call her his widow about John Brown and the relationship and she would always shush true clammed up if she just laughed and dismissed it what do you think I don't think they were marriage I didn't think they even had an immoral affair I think that they expressed their fee so much in public have they been having an affair they would have been more circumspect Partridge there's also the trying to physical detail that we now navigators have dr. Reid examining her body after she died isn't there yes she had a prolapsed uterus which would have made any form of intercourse extremely painful probably impossible so I don't think it was that sort of relationship and I certainly don't think that she would have had a child but she was no that's preposterous preposterous switched it has been said how does it happen when anybody knows that I'm writing about Queen Victoria they've always been asked me the same question what was the relationship between John Brown and the tree where they loved us well I'm afraid to say this on that question I'm a complete agnostic it's plainly not a relationship like that between her and Albert she was so open about loving Brown about wanting Ron to hold her and carry about in public and laugh with her but I sure there was no kind of secret covered relationship darion I think the likeliest thing if you actually wanted to force me to make up my mind is that they had a tactile loving relationship which involved lots of hugging but that they weren't lovers in the true sense of the word Victoria was never one for convention despite giving her name to an era of propriety and prudishness Victoria was anything but where she loved the openness of brown she couldn't stand those who were reserved around her so when it came to her buttoned up Liberal prime minister EE we destined she had no tolerance at all mr. Gladstone is a very dangerous man and so very arrogant tyrannical and obstinate with no knowledge of the world or human nature Victoria was not one to mince her words she used every weapon in her armoury her psychological illnesses physical illnesses to combat what she believed were assaults by the Liberals on the monarchy itself her undisguised losing of this humorless intellectual statesman showed how very self asserted Queen Victoria could be Gladstone was awkward with the Queen and like his hero Prime Minister Robert Peel he didn't have the best way with women thirty years after her run-in with peel Victoria showed herself to be just as belligerent with Gladstone as she had been in her youth one such occasion occurred in the summer of 1869 and Gladstone asked her to open the new black trousers bridge the Queen is determined to wriggle out of it and the drama went on and on through the summer and autumn was Gladstone bearing the brunt of most of the Queen's emotional outbursts she thought she had clearly expressed that it was impossible for her to open Blackfriars Bridge but as mr. Gladstone seemed still in doubt she will repeat her sincere regret that it is quite out of the question of her to do anything of the kind in the heat of the summer the Republicans the press but also the keen monarchies were all asking themselves the same question if the country functioned perfectly well with the head of state spending most of her year either up in Balmoral all done on the Isle of Wight why did we need a monic at all and it was to silence that question that the Prime Minister mr. garrison was determined to parade the little woman on this bridge and she was equally determined not to be bullied and not to be put under pressure as to lie war on the Queen dug in her heels the Queen is much surprised being again teased and tormented about this bridge having three weeks ago nearly been asked by mr. blanston and she refused to open it saying the fatigue of the whole thing being much debate was a day to mincing in the heat ever'one for mood swings but when it came to the event Victoria decided she could open the bridge but what a pallava she had caused in doing so frequently caught in the crossfire between Gladstone and his queen was her private secretary Colonel Henry punts and me his great granddaughter Laura Ponsonby is the keeper of many a letter penned by Victoria's idiosyncratic hand the Queen's handwriting credibly difficult to read I think I'm getting worse the Queen's writing desk every 10 minutes my feeling is it found Queen Victoria almost impossible to deal with whereas Henry Ponsonby was far better at dealing with it any thoughts of me knew what he was doing I think in a way he did all he could to try and make the Queen more reasonable was about son but she was very very critical never about him Henry found some a knew that it was no good contradicting her it was a famous story about him but he says when I say two and two make four Queen Victoria says no they make five and then he said the game no I think they're doing four and she says no wrong then he said I leave it I let it drop and then we go back to it and then it's okay she knew if he said no Queen Victoria would immediately dig her heels right in you know Henry answer me with Marta she could be absolutely impossible of course but he managed to sort of cope with it and of course he had a great sense of I think that was the saving thing wasn't hatred see how very funny she was that's right then he got them all laughing at the dinner table he said he looks round at Queen Victoria and she's absolutely you know giggly away she's known as fool Rhea mad laughs for real and that you start laughing and then tears come to your eyes you shake and all this sort of laughter comes up she had a lot of food didn't she yes she had a lot of Korea it was always have individuals yes dad some wasn't particularly humorous yeah I think not it was the weird mix of Victoria's humor and hysteria that the politicians couldn't come to terms with so much so they feared for her sanity and we couldn't see why the establishment were worried when you look at the tourist bundles between the Queen and mrs. Langston when Gladys went to stay in Balmoral he was awkward and couldn't speak to the Queen she often refused to speak to him so they would correspond well it was both living in the same house sometimes as often the six times a day the letters are particularly commish I think really loves them his letters beautifully written a little pompous absolutely rational and she crawls friended me back it's as if someone is streaming through paper here's one which was written in the afternoon just an outburst really it is not to Tahiti but to Honolulu with the complaints relative to Prince Alfred refer what that was about who knows history doesn't relate but you do see what mr. Gladstone was up against Victoria capriciously showed her Prime Minister time and time again that she was queen and he couldn't bully her into doing something she didn't want to do [Music] Victoria maintained her hostel as it had glanced into his dying day the grand old man clung to office long after he became physically incapable on and off he was Prime Minister for 26 years I think the most disgraceful thing about Queen Victoria is the way she behaved at lanceton at the time of his resignation he devoted his entire life to the service of his country and she offered him not one word of thanks she trusts he will be able to enjoy peace and quiet with his excellent and devoted wife in health and happiness and that his eyesight may improve the Queen would gladly have conferred a peerage on mr. Gladstone but she knows he would not accept Gladstone's decline and death had little effect on the queen years ago she had unashamedly fallen for his political opponent benjamin disraeli who's one nation Toryism was her kind of politics besides he knew how to make her laugh at Israelis private home in the heart of became sure curator Robert bandy is the proud keeper of the numerous gifts Victoria lavished on Disraeli this is the diamond we have no thought of portraits in the house to guess from the Queen all of them have a crown on the top to us exactly here they came from okay in case it could be in any doubt exactly an unconventional visit - hundun in 1877 showed Disraeli as political skill and charm when Disraeli collected the Queen from Wickham station he took two carriages with him one was that fast horses so he could welcome the Queen for the first time on the platform Asli great statesman showman lots of bowing and dipping know anything actually can vary greatly at Racal people and Wickham loved it he popped him for the first carriage with the quicker horses got back to hidden before Queens he could welcome her in exactly the same way but for a second time well actually got the front door the manor well it's delicious and he was my unfortunate slightly short lady and heard the bottom two inches of her dining so often so there her feet flat on the floor where she said she'd sat on a normal chair up towards her feet would have been dangling in the air and he didn't think that was particularly becoming this is another present from her two selected speeches of Albert this is very remarkable which was at first few us a little bit she disliked him entirely and when he was just a member of the House but he useful to her because whereas she complained the graston referred to her as though she were public meeting Disraeli gave her the opposite of the spectrum he gave her the tittle-tattle and gossip and he would write fearful notes data from Parliament and after all she had a very marked sense of humor and that she liked the fact that he made the counts of Parliament and cabinets that's so amusing she laughed over his letters who have we here on the chimney-piece we've got em John Brown given by the Queen to Disraeli - relative Outsiders Disraeli most unlikely Victorian Prime Minister and brown completely out of normal social sphere for the Queen there's drawn him closest to her very much sir both Brown and Disraeli gave Victoria the loyalty she always longed for and she lapped up disease endless attention and flattery he is so full of poetry romance and chivalry when he knelt down to kiss my hand which he took in both of his he said in loving loyalty and faith Disraeli not only amused and flirted with Victoria he understood her emotional struggles in life professor Jane Ridley has written biographies of both Disraeli and Queen Victoria Disraeli didn't treat her as a stupid woman Disraeli treated her as a sort of exotic and wonderful Queen he also treated her as an equal he made her feel by writing her these wonderful sort of confidential letters that he was telling her everything and that he was her minister and together they were ruling the country so he made her feel feel good she wasn't you know before she'd had his awful generation of those dreadful old men she called them who talked down to her and and didn't sort of flatter her in this way Disraeli gets on his knees flattering her right from day one and she loves it people smiled at Victoria's crush on Disraeli and at his shameless camp manipulation of it he dubbed her the fairy or the fairy queen he was genuinely fond of her but he was prepared to exploit the friendship for political ends Britain was moving to a position where eventually every male adult would have the vote and many politicians feared this would mean an inevitable lurch to the left Disraeli had his finger on the pulse he knew there were thousands and thousands of lower middle-class and working-class men who are natural Tories Victoria became the perfect figurehead that Israelis one nation conservatism his plans involve Victoria as a symbol of British power not just at home but stretching far across the world to the Empire showing both political astuteness and glorious creativity Disraeli announced Victoria was the Empress of India On January the 1st 1877 she was delighted with the new title my thoughts much taken up with the great event of Delhi today and in India generally where I am being proclaimed Empress of India I have for the first time today signed myself as V R and I Empress of India it's a title you might think more appropriate for a railway engine or possibly even a page but it made Britain an imperial power India in all its exotic expense now tame under the Royal Dominion of the fairy of course sophisticated people flinched at the title but Victoria and Israeli knew that the vast proportion of the British people thought the Empire made Britain rich and for the next 80 years the Empire was the pride of Britain's Conservatives and the envy of many beyond its borders as she'd instinctively used her diplomatic skills in Germany in the years following Albert's death Victoria leapt at the chance to stand at the helm of Disraeli --zz political ideals to galvanize Britain's classes under a powerful monitor there's a glorious romance about being Victoria our eye rather than simply Victoria Regina it was a real publicity coup in India Victoria is extraordinary popular they see her as always a goddess figure even though she never went there in her life you know she has this extraordinary common sense about sort of predicting what's going happened and about politics and about the Empress of India thing she was absolutely right it was a real astute politically was wasn't it yes but the pair's political romance couldn't last forever Disraeli fought on in politics to his dying day Victoria showered attention on him right to the end bestowing on him a peerage as Lord Beaconsfield at his death she was distraught I cannot write in a third person at this terrible moment when I can scarcely see for my fast falling tears Victoria made the most extraordinary confession to her friend lady water park I know you will feel for me in my great and irreplaceable loss I have lost so many but none whose loss will be more heavily felt than this of dear Lord Beaconsfield they are remarkable words when you consider how recently she'd lost her beloved daughter Alice and how intensely she'd mourned the Prince transfert they show how close Victoria had become both in politics and in her heart too dizzy Gladstone was the dictatorial Prime Minister Disraeli was the true and trusted friend as if the death of Disraeli wasn't enough for Victoria to trip with just two years later came the death of the man who may have been the love of her life John Brown the Queen was devastated the fatherless Widow was alone again the extent of victoria's brief on paper is only known in part these words escaped the ruthless winds our censorship I am terribly upset by this loss which removed one who was so diverted and attached to my service who did so much my personal comfort it is the loss not only of a servant and of a real friend through love and loss time and time again Victoria had the remarkable fortitude to carry on in the midst of grief far from her widowhood constraining her she had the strength to reinvent herself and was visibly a new woman aged 68 celebrating her golden jubilee the crowds from the palace gates up to the Abbey were enormous this never-to-be-forgotten day will always leave the most gratifying and heart-stirring memories behind the celebrations didn't end in London they extended far across the reaches of the Empire in India [Music] am I in India no I'm on the Isle of Wight I'm in the durbar room victoria added this fantastic way to prince albert's italian at villa and was a symbol of her liberation from the Albertine past her dominion her imaginative grasp of her empire and of the world itself had expanded so much in her life it's utterly fantastic Victoria had never been to India but she always had a great affection for its people's she'd far rather here exotic stories of India then talked to her boring oxford-educated politicians and so it was decided in her Jubilee year as the taste of India would be sent to her in England in the form of two Indian servants from Agra one of those servants would turn out to be her last great attachment the man in question was 24 year old Abdul Karim hired as little more than a footman he was to become the new subject of Victoria's male affections Abdul Karim much lighter tall and with a fine serious countenance Victoria loved the company of Abdul Kareem and now down the corridors of Osman house the wafted the delicious aromas of the spices he'd brought with him from Agra cinnamon cloves tumeric cumin nutmeg drowning up the pong of over boiled cabbage and mutton and there he is Abdul Kareem brought with him India in all its color and splendour which Victoria welcomed pill heartedly into her court shravani Basu is the author of the best-selling book on Abdul Kareem and Queen Victoria young light-brown he was a married man as a married man and his wife came to the court is well mrs. Kareem as she was called she was veiled and it was a good Indian family he not only got his mother he got his mother-in-law as well so there were several this Burkart Laird Muslim ladies around the throne as it were the Queen was so excited um she said it's the first part of the ladies in court if Victoria liked a servant she didn't hold back Abdul was soon promoted to the position of the Munchie the Queen's Indian teacher she wanted to learn about the ordinary people of India and this was really important to her she wants to learn the language and he gives her the everyday phrases and she shows off she loves showing off she has his Indian princess coming what better than casually use a Hindustani phrase what were the useful everyday phrases that he taught her well they were the standard things like girl you know tea is too hot or the egg is not boiled enough but they were also intriguing faces like I will miss the moon she very much and hold me tight where did that come from she did hold him tight it was a relationship and so many levels you know it was mother son grandmother son it was closest friend and at the same time Queen Victoria liked a strong man next to her if you see the pattern from John Brown he was six feet tall a strong man somebody who cared for her and the same Abdul Karim six feet too standing next to her looking after her definitely the physical the sensual element was very much part of it I think that's very revealing none of Victoria's English courtiers like the moon she they thought he was John Brown in the turban but Victoria seemed not to notice or perhaps chose to ignore their snobbish and racist feelings towards him writing to Vickie Victoria's words were all praise he is so good and gentle and understanding all I want and is a real comfort to me such a good influence with the others anything Abdul Karim wants it he would get if he wants a nice room he is given the room he's given John Brown's old room and that is noticed she gives him his own carriage still ride around he goes around Balmoral he goes to India on holiday can you tell us about what the attitude of the courtiers was towards Abdul as soon as he started getting all the favours the resentment started as well and the Queen accuses them all the time of racism and she insists that they behave courteously to him which they don't I mean the one she invites it because he is a bit arrogant in a food bit full of himself he does strut around he does rule over a lot over the other Indian servants but that's the position he's been given although unrest at court was mounting Victoria didn't seem to care she was simply not going to give up her fondness for her new best friend and a shameless display of favoritism in June 1819 further incensed her household the Queen lost her brooch while she was clambering into her carriage one of the footmen said that he'd seen Abdul Koreans brother-in-law vomit Ali hovering about at the time somebody told mrs. touch the Queen's dress that Ali had pinched the brooch and sold it to the jewelers in Windsor then they got a note from the jeweler to prove it but Queen was furious not with the thief but with mrs. touch she claimed that in India it was perfectly normal to pick things out which didn't belong to and it wasn't considered dishonesty at all and then she rounded on mrs. touch this is what your English called justice you English coming from the Queen who'd escaped to Germany when times had dropped tough and although she'd spent the previous 50 years on the throne evidently never really felt at home in Britain itself as with other members of the court dr. Reid wasn't keen on how much time the Queen devoted to the Munchie especially as he was so often unwell he had to look after the moon she and he sometimes was kept up to midnight who knew and he was at his wits end the Queen went several times to see him in his room and stroked his hand taking Hindustani lessons stroking his neck and smoothing his pillows one doesn't want to be too intelligent but what was the matter with the poor lungi ooh well first of all he'd had scabies but that was a bit better but this was a big boil on his neck how did reason the mother she goes along oh just like the moon she hugely thought he was a bad egg he was horrible to his fellow Indians and felt his sense of superiority over all the others can you see what she saw in the moon she was clearly reads wouldn't really know I think what she he was exotic and he was a symbol of India Victoria oblivious to convention turned a blind eye to the unhappy members of her court but things came to a head when she insisted the Munchie join her on her annual trip to the sunny Riviera [Music] Victoria had always loved coming to France as a place of escape traveling around in the years after Albert's death under the name of the Countess of Balmoral France represented freedom for Victoria and in 1897 a royal trip to see me a was planned staying at the swanky new Excelsior Hotel with superb views of the Mediterranean drove through the town along the fine promenade des anglais close to the sea which looked so lovely in a wonderful deep blue color the holiday plans for going awry and Almighty rau is about to break out in the household precipitated by dr. Reid who most improperly told the others but the poor Munchie had yet again gone down with the dose of the clap gonorrhea they seized on this is the perfect excuse to say if the Munchie went too nice they weren't coming they were going to be on strike this precipitated the mother of all tensions mrs. Phipps is chosen to go tell the Queen that if the moon she goes we are not going to go we are going to collectively resign this is revolts and the Queen hears this and she gets into her for a screaming rage she gets up she throws everything down from the tables are all these letters pots ink pens crashing down mrs. Phipps leaves the room in tears and she goes back and tells them what's happened so at the end of the day they don't resign and then when she travels as he always does with the Queen so you know it's a victory for the moon shape and it was victory for the Queen too but when Victoria paraded with the monkey on nice his famous promenade is only one of the local newspapers describe the monkey as a mere servant the Queen was infuriated and insisted that the newspaper print a retraction stating that the Moon she was a learning man far from being her servant he was her indian secretary a preceptor in the Hindustani town and moreover one of the most important personage or cradle ahem the Queen was always insisted she be respected remember he is my Indian secretary and considered as a gentleman in my suite in Victoria's eyes a gentleman wasn't a wealthy landowner it was someone who had AB Miraval qualities no matter their class or race I find it one of Victoria's most lovable qualities had complete lack of snobbishness and had disregard for social constraint this was the woman had been supposedly crippled by the death of her husband at the age of 42 but had become so much more than the widow in black Victoria spent the last 40 years of her life after Albert finding freedom in the most unlikely of relationships and despite living life shying away from the public she emerged as an icon of the era a picture of British power just four years before her death the streets of London were lined with her public celebrating her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 no one ever I believe has met with such an ovation as was given to me passing through those six miles of streets the cheering was quite deafening and every face seemed to be filled with joy Victoria died in January 1901 after a remarkable 63 years on the throne and more than a century after her death her words still command our attention Victoria had written instructions which she gave to her dresser mrs. tuck and to the doctor dr. Reid and they told what she wanted to be put in her coffin with her when she died she was to have the Prince Consort dressing her she was to have various photographs of favorite grandchildren old servants and she was to have locks of their hair perhaps most significant she was to be holding a framed photograph of John Brown and on her finger was the ring which he'd given her his mother's wedding as one walks past that mausoleum at Frogmore which is nearly always closed it's a strange thought to think of her lying there surrounded by all her mementos the image is emblematic of a queen who likes drama in life and now in death but sadly the image isn't one her children could tolerate all traces of the Queen's and conventional attachments were raised the month she was deported her children tried to edit their mother's life destroying statues of John Brown censoring her journals burning her letters but many of her words survived and they provide a fascinating insight into this extraordinary human being Victoria had overcome her pressurized childhood in a controlling political system and had fought through the power struggles of her marriage to a man who had restrained in the midst of grief she emerged as a woman free to move in the world of politics and make deep friendships without constraint and in all this she revealed herself a woman who was anything but Victorian far from being prim and proper she loved life in all its richness she was blind to class and color and country to what we think had a great sense of humor when you look at this statue she seems so stiff so formal that Queen Empress but here her words and Victoria lived [Music]

Channel: Absolute History

Views: 85,150

Keywords: history history documentary funny history fun history school, timeline, full length documentaries, documentary history, queen victoria, absolute history, history documentary, documentary movies - topic, queen victoria documentary, queen victoria documentary bbc, history victorian age, absolute history victorian, victorian documentaries, victorian documentary bbc, victorian documentary youtube, a.n. wilson, anna chancellor

Id: drO2x4SN2Uw

Length: 58min 52sec (3532 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 12 2019