Queen Victoria: Biggest Royal Scandal In Her Own Words - British Royal Documentary

[Music] victoria the royal who invented the modern monarchy queen who made britain an empire victorious britain is ruining the waves ruling the world but who was the real woman beneath the crown in this series we discovered victoria as we've never seen her before a sensuous young queen he clasped me in his arms and we kissed each other again and again a reluctant mother of nine victoria daphne didn't like babies almost grosses her out to see her own children a devastated widow she was suicidal absolutely she was inconsolable and a passionate wife it's not victoria the virgin it's the victoria the hot mama using remarkable archived treasures and through her own words in journals and diaries we tell the story of a complex very human queen those tiny seconds of moving film they completely change how we see this monarch this is really exciting new evidence about victoria we think we know everything but we don't this time victoria is left a widow after the death of her beloved albert she simply didn't want to be sovereign she wanted to be alone she runs away from public life and leaves britain without a queen mps are openly saying it's time to to wind the monarchy up but victoria fights back to wind power and the love of her people there's a sense in which the empire comes home and it puts on an amazing show she suddenly realized that what she'd missed was huge crowds of people there for her and her alone this is the private life of queen victoria [Music] after 60 years on the throne a regal queen victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee victoria was now the ruler of an empire that spanned the globe she was probably the most famous person on the planet [Applause] a mother to seven grown-up children many married into europe's leading royal dynasties [Music] the 78 year old monarch loved by her people waves of the cheering crowds on this summer day of 1897. she's smiling at people and she's laughing and she's she enjoys so much that connection with her public monarch and matriarch she defined an era she was the only the vast majority of people have ever known on the throne so i suppose it's a little bit like queen elizabeth today who among us can envisage a time when there isn't a queen elizabeth victoria was in a very real sense britain all vied with one another to give me a heartfelt loyal and affectionate welcome i was deeply touched and gratified the jubilee had been a moment of triumph but after the death of her husband albert 36 years earlier it had seemed unlikely a day like this would ever come the death of albert on the 14th of december 1861 sent shockwaves through the country in london the bells of saint paul's rang out [Music] signaling a national crisis britain was in mournings for the prince it was an absolute shock the man was only 42. it's a little bit like princess diana's funeral a sense that there's an absolute sea change that something important has happened and while the nation mourned victoria was tortured by grief she had lost the love of her life she'd lost her partner her friend in her diary she wrote to lose one's partner in life is like losing half of one's body and soul it's like death in life she was suicidal she was inconsolable she couldn't use her legs she stopped eating the funeral at some george's chapel in windsor was to be attended by dignitaries from around the world kings lords and politicians were there paying their respects [Music] but unbelievably queen victoria herself wouldn't be there women didn't go to funerals because there's a sense in which it's too upsetting for them they do morning work if you like but they do it at home and as a beautiful wife victoria followed convention victoria was a woman and she was expected to adhere to the norms of society women were seen as more hysterical they were seen as more emotional they were seen as much less rational so despite being ruler of the british empire doctors told victoria to stay away from the funeral and go home she traveled back to osborne house on the isle of wight 60 miles away from windsor and the prying eyes of the public like it was business as usual for the monarchy it was considered essential to national morale so this is from the dundee advertiser friday 20th of december 1861 but the shock has not seriously affected the queen's health will rejoice the heart of all her loving subjects indeed so favorable is the state of her health considered to be that no further bulletins are to be issued so basically what this is saying is don't panic britain the queen is absolutely fine except we know she really really wasn't while she mourned on the isle of wight the state funeral to bury her husband began at the chapel in windsor desperate to be close to the great love of her life victoria had placed a last memento with his body she had it done for albert and it was always his favorite portrait of her i don't think there's any other way to put it it's an incredibly erotic uh picture of victoria she's got her beautiful hair is hanging right the way down to bust it's not victoria the virgin it's victoria the hot mama when the time finally came to bury albert victoria confessed to her oldest daughter vicky how pointless her life now felt [Music] it is one o'clock and all all is over but oh only to have feelings of utter brokenheartedness utter despair of the life i am to lead after albert's death victoria stopped writing in the diary she'd kept since a child now nearly three weeks later she began writing again but only to say how desperate she felt i have been unable to write my journal since the day my beloved one left us and with what a heavy broken heart i enter on a new year without him victoria hadn't only lost her soulmate but her great support and now she'd have to manage alone a widow queen without albert by her side she kept his room exactly as it was when he died right down to the little glass that he'd used to take his medicine from that remained in the room the servants would come in every morning to lay out fresh towels fresh clothes and the hot water for him to shave with the children were not expected to be merry and to do the sorts of things that children did occupying her victoria and her family began an established phase of mourning a new widow she'd follow an elaborate set of social rituals there are prescribed periods of time for people to mourn for widows it's two years if you have a lesser relation then it's six months a year everything becomes very very set down funeral rights become a kind of performance for this period of morning widow women were expected to only leave the house when they absolutely had to and stay out of kind of social events so the the dress had to be black but also accessories the handkerchief the lace the stockings shoes belt buckles everything had to be black victoria's morning wear became her signature look like a uniform for facing her public without albert victoria although she initially announced she would wear morning for at least two years very quickly decided that she was going to wear deepest morning for albert for the rest of her life she didn't want to surrender her grief because her grief became an expression of her love for albert it's how she defined herself grieving for albert was now all victoria cared about despite her public duties but his death meant that she was now left alone to rule when albert was around she was eclipsed in terms of the position that she held because he took over much of the direction of the monarchy she'd effectively been indoctrinated and so suddenly to be without this man who had persuaded her that she needed him it was actually terrifying for victoria the amount of work which comes upon me is more than i can bear i who always hated business have now nothing but that public and private it falls upon me soon the pressure to be monarch and widow was too much victoria fled from buckingham palace and the scrutiny of public life to the remote scottish highlands her special place to rest and retreat but by doing it she left britain without a queen [Music] overwhelmed by the death of her beloved husband albert victoria had abandoned her duties as queen to grieve in private she escaped to her highland retreat balmoral the castle they built together it's a big statement of withdrawal to go so far away from london you know this is a long whale she simply didn't want to be sovereign she wanted to be [Music] [Music] alone balmoral gave victoria the privacy she wanted but it came at a cost it was filled with memories of albert everything even down to the smallest detail is somehow associated with him and his memory she kept the rooms everything as it had been when albert was there like she did in other palaces and so every time she went into one she would see us hunting the gout she would see his cat it was a very sad place for her eventually the castle became too much and she built a private cottage just for her and called it her widow's house she really could use that as a way of retreating from balmoral which was a self-retreat from london life reach the glass out shield at half past six it looks so cheerful and comfortable all lit up and the little rooms are so cozy and nice you would go with very select groups so one lady maybe just a couple of servants and one chef and there they would eat very very simply she would for example go fishing and then they would eat their catch by the side of the river victoria began to console herself with local food and drinks she liked the porridge she also liked finn and hadi which is smoked haddock and she used to get that for breakfast she loved whiskey and whiskey was now something that was absolutely set she also relished the level of cream and dairy products that she found in in scotland and victoria started eating a lot we know that she loved her food all through her life and her appetite came back very quickly after albert's death and as queen she could pretty much eat what she liked what she didn't like was spending too long eating so victoria liked a meal time to take 30 minutes so very very quick but she could eat an awful lot of food in that half an hour she ate fast [Music] victoria also found comfort in nearby blair castle home to ann marie the duchess of athol rarely seen correspondence between the two women reveals an intimate friendship that was vital to victoria's recovery this is 50 years of letters between um queen victoria to duchess anne so they're quite an undiscovered treasure trove this book was given to the duchess by victoria to commemorate a year after albert's death along with that um was sent this amazing and adored husband december 14 1861 i'll open up and still inside is a lock of albert's hair not something i would send to my friend but i think it highlights how close they were victoria kept an elaborate shrine of albert for the rest of her life she always carried a portrait of him and the lock of his hair with her she even had a cast of his hand made a new trend for morning merchandise fascinated the victorians in the 1860s necklaces brooches gifts and even glasses were popular ways for people to remember their dead they often included artifacts from the person who had passed teeth hair you know weird clippings of things so there is this real culture of keeping the dead close victoria stayed in the highlands well beyond her official two-year period of mourning returning only occasionally to osborne house or windsor to see the family the magic of the highlands and the escape from her public life and duty suited the queen our beloved balmoral with its glorious scenery and in the air its solitude and absence of all contact with the mere miserable frivolities and worldliness of this wicked world but after more than 20 years of marriage victoria felt increasingly alone and she began to crave male companionship [Music] i am alas not old and my feelings are strong and warm my love is ardent there's a desire for a strong manly presence who will look after her as if she is the delicate creature that she feels herself to be and one man was spending an increasing amount of time with the queen he was a balmoral servant called john brown [Music] he was tall cuddly blonde hair and good-looking broad shoulders and that victoria was a sucker for someone that looked a bit like that little highlander john brown took victoria fishing and riding he even carried her to and from her horse and as they grew closer and closer she decided to promote him i have now appointed that excellent highland servant of mine to attend the always and everywhere out of doors but not everyone shared victoria's enthusiasm for her scottish servant john brown is not a likeable man but as far as everybody else was concerned he was a drunken boar [Music] it was very much based on class i mean let's face it if an outsider comes in and starts to get the queen's ear i mean goodness me victoria ignored the gossip of the tittle tattle and stuck by john brown he is so devoted and attached and clever and so wonderfully able to interpret one's wishes he is a real treasure to me now [Music] they would go out sitting on hillsides in the rain drinking whiskey together they would also have an awful lot of private time together um you know the little cottage that she built for herself whiskey toddy was brought round for everyone and brown begged i would drink to the fire kindling i mean john brown clearly feels that he has a license to say anything to the queen at one point he tells her that she's putting on too much weight and instead of being completely offended she takes that on board he gave her something nobody else was giving her which was an honest view i think he sort of shocked her out of herself in some ways she could be who she wanted to be with him albert's death had left a huge hole in her life and john brown filled it often i told him no one loved him more than i did or had a better friend than me and he answered nor you than me no one loves you more [Music] but questions persisted about the close nature of their relationship the rumor mill went into overdrive and there was only one thing on everyone's mind when people talk about the john brown thing the thing they always fixate on is is sex [Music] they really feel that she is probably shacked up with john brown having delicious highland sex i mean people's fantasies run riot [Music] we thought she was in mourning we thought she did nothing but weep over prince albert it turns out that she's been having a very nice life thank you very much in secret victoria's retreat from public view lasted for much longer than the two years people were expecting and her constant refusal to take part in public ceremonies was causing concern as if to reassure the nation that she was a dutiful queen she commissioned sir edward lancia to paint a portrait of her as a widow but the painting didn't have the desired effect in fact it backfired and when it was shown her popularity took another dive so this painting failed because it's trying to save so much but it isn't answering the question that's being asked she's her abandonment of duty she tries to signal her continuing work in a series of ways in this painting she's working on matters of state she has her letter in her hand she has stopped to deal with this rather urgent matter mid pony rides because it's so important the work that she is getting on with she also suggests that she's keeping up with her motherly work we have an image of two of her daughters very content in the background but the public didn't want a painting they wanted to see their queen in person by the mid-1860s ministers and even her own family were becoming frantic about her absence and people started to ask was she even fit to rule the death of prince albert devastated victoria consumed by grief she locked herself away in balmoral far away from her subjects and her royal engagements but after five years of mourning the country had had enough basically what's happening here is that victoria is doing what she wants to do and she's using her grief as a weapon uh because when people say you ought to spend more time in london and you ought to be seen she says i can't possibly do it uh you know my nerves are so awful it's something that she could put up as a defense when she doesn't want to do something and it's difficult to challenge a widow isn't it really the good will that she and albert had built up was fading fast and her demand for isolation was making her seem out of touch or even worse as if she didn't care about the nation and her people there was increasing criticism of victoria it became very apparent that it was victoria who didn't want to fulfill the public role of sovereign victoria was the first female monarch in over a hundred years but increasingly in the 19th century work among the middle and especially the upper classes became the province of men women were expected to stay at home people felt unsure about victoria's ability to be a woman a mother and a queen all at the same time it reanimates i think all those anxieties from the beginning of the reign which is this is what happens when you have a queen rather than a king if you have a king he will have certain constitutional duties and he will feel obliged to do them he may do them badly but he will feel obliged the queen will somehow invoke her right to be a private woman to be a morning widow to be just not able to cope at the moment will uh be allowed to be a woman at home and there's a real sense in which no duties was helping to fuel a new and energized clamour to get rid of the monarch there are radical politicians mps in parliament who are openly saying that perhaps it's time to to wind the monarchy up yet victoria remained hidden away in balmoral dressed in her black dresses stubbornly refusing to carry out the duties of state victoria very much ignored the problem she didn't want to be told that her conduct was causing her unpopularity a rare diary kept in the royal college of physicians in london reveals how the queen's inner circle felt about her behavior the journal belongs to sir james clark the queen's doctor and confidante and it shows how concerned he was about her this is what sir james clark wrote in his memoir in december 1865. he's talking here about prince albert um and he says by his premature death the prospects of the monarchy are bad indeed no one knows the character of the queen and the heir apparent can look forward to the future without seeing troubles in that quarter before us the james clark here is giving an incredibly pessimistic prediction for the future of the monarchy he's anticipating political criticism of the monarchy possibly that she is not giving the taxpayer any value for money and the fact that this man is making comments that are not entirely loyal or at least that are not supportive i think knows really how serious the situation had become after almost six years trying to avoid the public and her official duties the queen relented and agreed to open parliament in 1867 and the weather that day seemed to reflect her mood it poured and the poor people of whom there were great members out must have got very wet but when she came face to face with her people she didn't get the reception she'd hoped for she probably expected that the crowds would be glad to see her but she was very very shocked that she was hissed by the crowds she'd never had that before altogether i regret i went there were many nasty faces and i felt it painfully at such times the sovereign should not be there the incident made victoria realize that the relationship with the public was broken and that she had to find a way to reconnect with her subjects she decided against giving a speech or organizing a public event ins leaves from the journal of our lives in the highlands it was a series of extracts from her diaries covering the time she spent hidden away in scotland the idea was that this would explain her absence give the public the chance to understand why she needed to get away and hopefully encourage them to forgive her it's so extraordinary i mean if you think about this is the first time a moniker's written a book about their life i mean we tend to think that this all started with princess diana and writing those books in which we got an insight into what was going on in her marriage but no queen victoria actually writes a book about it's extraordinary it is very gratifying to see how people appreciate what is simple and right and how especially my truest friends the people feel it [Music] victoria was really proud of her book and wanted to show it off to those she admired particularly her favorite writer charles dickens he agrees to meet her and she very coily gives him a copy of her book and says something along the lines of mr dickens i know i'm really patched on you but you know please accept this and he has to do a sort of smirk through gritted teeth but he thinks the book is he calls it preposterous although dickens was not a fan of the book the public snapped it up and it sold more than 18 000 copies the letters flow in saying how much more than ever i shall be loved neither time understood her book had achieved its objective victoria was back and she intended to seize this new goodwill and run with it but in 1871 just as she was getting back on her feet she received devastating news her son and heir to the throne bertie had fallen seriously ill with typhoid and was clinging to life typhoid was a waterborne disease and was common in victorian britain it claimed thousands of lives each year it hit working classes the hardest those with poor access to clean water but it didn't spare the royal family when she heard the news about bertie victoria rushed to her son's bedside at his home in sandringham we know from the story that she was there with him most days watching him he's not always lucid and she was very concerned about his health kissing and stroking his arm he turned round and looked wildly at me saying who are you and then it's mama dear child i replied to make things even harder for victoria but his illness coincided with the anniversary of albert's death it looks as though edward may die on the very day that albert died it's exactly ten years it starts to feel something very very mythic about it as though this is how the gods are going to play out this game petrified all victoria could do was wait as the deadly disease ran its course outside the palace the nation was also waiting and watching desperate for news of the future air and as they waited what they saw was their queen as a caring mother tending to the needs of her sick child by looking after bertie she was looking after both her son and her ear and and that was the work of both the queen and the mother and so this was a her being sort of constantly there it really touched a lot of people finally on the anniversary of albert's death victoria received some good news it seemed hardly possible to realize the day and to feel that on this very day our dear bertie is getting better instead of worse victoria seized the opportunity to share the news of his miraculous recovery and her joy as both a mother and a monarch it seemed like a message from albert that this was her moment and she took it a couple of months later victoria traveled in an open carriage to st paul's cathedral with a fully recovered bertie by her side an estimated crowd of 13 000 people were waiting for them to help them celebrate a grand thanksgiving ceremony for bertie's recovery after 10 years of near absence from public life the queen was finally ready for her big comeback though still in morning dress her outfit for the occasion didn't go unnoticed a corded black silk dress trimmed with white fur and a jacket to match on her head she wore a bonnet with black and white feathers and white flowers she was dressed to impress victoria took a central role she entered saint paul's cathedral and it must have been such a big deal for her the last time that she really appeared in public she'd been hissed by the crowds she was anxious about being seen she changed a lot in the 10 years but [Music] i saw the tear in bertie's eyes and took and pressed his hand it was a most affecting day and many a time i repressed my tears she is not a woman that goes in for much physical affection you know she's not a hugger and a patter and she takes his hand it's extraordinary she's clearly very very moved in that moment things are more or less put right between the monarch and the british people because they've put themselves on display [Applause] this time as victoria and bertie drove back to buckingham palace the streets were packed with cheering supporters by now victoria was 52 and had been on the throne for over 34 years but it was at this point of her reign that she felt truly united with her country and they with her i still hear the ringing cheers and never can i forget the enthusiasm it had taken her decades to come out of her shell but she was really bucked up by the crowds and it clearly had a huge effect on her morale and her confidence that perhaps actually she could do this perhaps she could rule by herself victoria was now ready to start a new chapter in her life and just in time as she was about to become the most powerful woman on earth after a decade of self-imposed isolation mourning for her lost husband queen victoria was back and reunited with her people to celebrate her return she wanted to make a statement on a grand scale so she decided to take over a project already started by albert the redevelopment of west london victoria transformed this part of london but gave birth to some of britain's biggest cultural institutions the natural history museum the victoria and albert museum the royal albert hall and her most important and personal monument the albert memorial [Music] after the dreadful calamity of december the 14th i desired that dearest albert statue should surmount it victoria inaugurated the albert memorial in 1872 and its design was her husband as she remembered him the memorial is really magnificent the bronze figures and mosaics are all beautifully executed you see him here looking incredibly just masculine he's got these gigantic thighs and then the kind of thick muscular shins you see him kind of casually leaning with his legs spread sat under the shelter of this rather large phallic structure the memorial commemorated her great love but it was time for her to move on by this point in her reign victoria had been queen without albert for almost as long as she ruled with him the support of her people now gave her the confidence to shape her own destiny and by placing the continents around the memorial she was making the point that she was a powerful global ruler so this is the british imperial moment this is the moment where britain goes from being a northern european country to being this vast global power during victoria's stretching from canada to australia and africa it was said that the sun never set on the british empire and victoria was at its head the 1870s are really a time where england and london are becoming really confident in their power and their success and their cultural influence so it's a time of great fashion it's a time of great music and excitement and arts and culture and so there's this real belief that the empire is doing an awful lot of good for the people at home there was one country in the empire that was having a particularly strong influence on victoria india i saw lady napier who talked very pleasantly of india of the climate of the natives their intelligence and faithfulness etc for victoria india was this far-off exotic place she would never visit india but she was fascinated by the clothing by the culture by the art by the people you see that slowly slowly throughout her journals then from that period onwards that she talks about our indian empire our indian territories my subjects in india so she's already internalized this idea that this is her domain victoria had overcome the death of albert she was now queen of the world's largest empire but that wasn't enough she wanted more vicky her daughter has become empress of prussia and there's something about that empress that really sticks in victoria's cross she thinks emphasis that sounds a bit grander than being queen i think i should be empress luckily for victoria there was a new leader in number 10 one who would help her realize her ambition prime minister benjamin israeli he loves victoria and he knows exactly how to play victoria he's a bit of a flirt he almost gives the impression of being a little bit in love with her and i think there's a bit of victoria that still likes the idea of men being in love with her i think the present man will do very well and will be particularly loyal and anxious to please me in every way with the help of the israeli victoria achieved what she wanted she was officially proclaimed empress of india on the 1st of may 1876 an event widely celebrated there my thoughts much to taken up with the great event at delhi today and in india generally where i am being proclaimed empress of india the empress title meant a lot to her because empresses trump queens which meant that she now had the same status as her daughter in fact arguably greater status because empress such is depressed to make her recover that joy she felt when she first became queen so it's a way of sort of reigniting that spark that flame in your monarch a new reign [Music] re-energized as empress of india victoria embraced a new confident style and image she still insisted on wearing morning dress but added a touch more glamour to it in the earliest widow's wear she wears these very plain very harsh dresses completely black down to the details and very little ornaments and there's something so heavy whereas later when she starts wearing dresses like this one it's quite a dramatic change you can see we have a quite loose cuff here which is playing to the fashions at the time but really elevate her morning wear to be a very queenly very luxurious very empress-like uh image and uh in doing so she really kind of comes into her own this pumpkin uh is one designed for one of victoria's morning dresses and consequently is in her proportions and it really shows you um just how small she was in a certain way you know she's i'm not tall and here i am towering over her victoria was now an older lady a little stout and just four foot 11 inches tall but she wore her little black dress with all the confidence of the ruler of the world's largest empire at the age of 68 the queen was about to celebrate her 50th anniversary on the throne this marks the moment when victoria becomes a brand literally the whole industry sprung up making certain that victoria's image was on tins of mustard on coffee pots you could have her on your tea towel i mean she now becomes one of the first big global brands instantly recognizable [Music] but while the whole world was getting excited about the jubilee preparations victoria wasn't in the mood to celebrate the day has come and i am alone i am writing after a very fatiguing day in the garden at buckingham palace where i used to sit so often in former happy days victoria's devoted and dear servant john brown had died i miss my faithful kind friend and constant companion victoria agreed to go ahead with the jubilee despite her grief but only on her own be wearing a crown she had always disliked wearing crowns they were just heavy and really uncomfortable i mean if you look at it it's solid metal they weigh a lot if you try one on you it's really hard to keep your neck up the paths that be at westminster they want to make the jubilee thing to show off to the world and they tell her that the empire cannot be represented by a bonnet you have to wear a crown so the compromise ended up that she commissioned a kind of imperial crown that was much smaller and weighed much less and she could kind of combine her morning dress with her imperial empress crown and then she had her wedding lace and in doing so she was the wife and the widow and the queen and the empress all in that one outfit as people flocked from all over the empire to cheer their empress london was transformed for the first time britain's get a sense of what empire looks like what it means it's not just a question of having goods coming in and goods going out there are people out there there are extraordinary people people who look different from britain have different skin color different facial features there's a sense in which the empire comes home and it puts on an amazing show and to that moment you get a sense of the sheer scale of what britain has managed to achieve [Music] and the queen's earlier reluctance about the event soon disappeared the crowds from the palace gates up to the abbey were enormous and there was such an extraordinary outburst of enthusiasm it's typical of victoria that she thinks she doesn't want public adoration and actually the one thing she really does want his public exploration so when the crowds came out she suddenly realized that what she'd missed was huge crowds of people there for her and her alone the decorations along piccadilly were quite beautiful and there were most touching inscriptions victoria's always a sucker for love that says of they like me no they love me was absolutely intoxicating to her this never to be forgotten day will always lead the most gratifying and heart-stirring memories the queen had fought back once again she had power and popularity but a new friendship was about to threaten her crown following the glorious golden jubilee celebrations in the summer of 1887 queen victoria was now a powerful queen to celebrate her new empress title she was overwhelmed with gifts from all over the world and something unexpected came from india two young men to serve at her majesty's pleasure they are dressed to the nines have these grand turbans and their sole purpose is to stand behind her and sort of represent the indian empire [Music] the two new servants before they serve they come and they kiss her feet and abdul kareem he's been told that you have to walk backwards you must not look at the queen and of course what do you do when you're told don't look up he looks up the one mohammed baksh very dark with a very smiling expression has been a servant before and the other much younger called abdul karim much lighter tall and with a fine serious countenance she dismisses bakshi in one sentence and writes a lot more about kareem so we know right from the start he's got her eye by the time abdul karim came on the scene victoria was almost 70 but despite her age she was longing for someone to love when abdul karim comes into victoria's life she's experiencing quite a dramatic loss from john brown and the loss of an intimate confidant and friend quite quickly as he and victoria began to communicate and she she sees that he is somebody who's clever and educated and talented and skilled um but also becomes quite attracted to his personality it looked as if abdul could become the latest in line of victoria's male companions to keep him close to her she decided to take urdu lessons from him and she promoted him to be her personal secretary or munchie in urdu i particularly wish to retain his services as he helps me in studying hindustani which interests me very much and he's very intelligent and useful she took great pleasure in learning and writing this new language from her ever expanding empire learning to say things like the tea is always bad at osborne house the egg is not boiled enough she got off on the fact that she could learn something new even a relatively advanced age and he was someone who thrilled her with his exoticism with his words with his personality [Music] he tells her about you know the heat and dust the color the festivals the spices suddenly she's transported into a different world she lets abdul have more and more influence over her following abdul's advice she built a grand entertainment room at osborne house in the style of the indian emperors known as the derba room a sort of mini india on the isle of wight this room reflects this exuberance she was feeling her spirits had really revived and i think this really invited guests she showed off her mini india to the world [Music] so every detail from here was actually planned in india every object in this room the lamps the curtains the carpet they were all brought from india [Music] the room looked very fine with the chimney piece finished and surrounded by a beautiful peacock with a spread tail victoria used the room to entertain guests from all over the world and remind them of her status as empress of india [Music] so this beautiful book is the ledger of all the menus of the lunches that were done in osborne house so let's open it up a bit there we go wow it's heavy so this is the lunch menu from sunday the 13th of february and it's got lots of items listed on it some are in french but here we have the very special item that was one of queen victoria's favorites and it's indian chicken curry and this was served nearly every day the other favorite was dal which was also served so she was the original curry fan does show her interest in food her adventurousness and her open-mindedness as well when it came both to food and to cultures which were not her own victoria loved her food and her new fondness for curry became a natural obsession we do see that real curries that real taste real spice how to cook them starts to make its way from victoria's court out into the general public and people like eliza acton who publishes a very famous cookbook for housewives especially for middle class housewives starts to include recipes for how to make your own curry while victoria was enjoying eating curries and spending time with abdul friendship didn't go down well with the rest of the court it crosses so many taboos he's much younger than her he's very lowly born and of course he's of a different ethnic background i mean that is so shocking to people he was hated by the court both because of racism but also because of classism he was seen as having undue influence on the queen in many ways these were all the arguments that had been rehearsed with john brown but now added into that was this real nasty element of racism as well once again victoria's personal life threatened her position as queen soon even her own children joined the conspiracy and turned against her bertie in particular [Music] she's treating abdul as the sun and the real sun is sort of being sidelined and there is this letter who will be courteous to the munchie you will do this you will do that and at the end of it it's cece the munchie so he's copied in on this letter bertie's so furious with their relationship he does something incredible he sends a letter to the queen's doctor and asks him to write a report suggesting that she should step down on grounds of insanity [Music] queen victoria is queen victoria she is not going to be bullied by her doctor or her son or the households so she gives it right back to them victoria was ahead of her time when it came to racial justice in anger she wrote a cutting letter to the court accusing them of snobbery and racism the queen would wish to observe that to make out the poor good munchie is so low is really outrageous and in a country like england quite out of place victoria even in her old age is a feisty woman i think she is enjoying this you know this clash she's having with her son with the household it's giving her a lot of energy victoria won the fight and kept abdul by her side for the rest of her life to her family and her nation the feisty queen seemed tireless and eternal but her energy couldn't last forever at the turn of the 20th century queen victoria became the longest-serving monarch britain had ever seen as she celebrated over 60 years on the throne now approaching 80 she had an astonishing 42 grandchildren she was fully embracing the image of grandmother to her family and her nation [Music] and was enjoying unprecedented popularity no one ever i believe has met with such an ovation as was given to me [Applause] finally she was successfully combining her roles as monik and matriarch there's a new way of being queen she's freer now as an elderly woman there's nothing is expected of her uh all the early battles are won and there's a sense in which all she has to do now is relax and kind of claim that popularity some remarkable footage taken during a visit to dublin what we have here is truly amazing she's an old woman but she's still engaging with the crowd she's seen so many crowds during her lifetime but their love continues to please her i can never forget the really wild enthusiasm and affectionate loyalty displayed by all those tiny seconds of moving film they completely change how we see this moment she's not dull and boring and a woman trapped in grief who has no joy in life she is someone who loves the people that are around her and connects to them in a very human way by this point in victoria's life she has already defined an era she has spanned a century almost even by this stage people know it as the victorian era he's an icon victoria is so fascinating because her life was so long and so much happened within it it was a very influential era the victorian era i mean we went from essentially an agrarian economy with limited industrialization to something very much more akin to the modern world we see today britain found it impossible to imagine a world without victoria because she had always been there [Music] so in a sense it's not just that she becomes part of the furniture she kind of is the world but the world was about to crumble as the winter of 1900 approached only a few months after her dublin visit victoria started to feel ill i have not been feeling very well these last days and can eat very little she was starting to lose her appetite and that was a really big sign even she recognized that something was wrong this was a queen who had always eaten and eaten well the sitting through meals unable to eat anything is most trying the queen was exhausted she left windsor and went to rest at osborne house she continued keeping her diary until she physically couldn't on the 13th of january 1901 after 69 years of almost uninterrupted journaling a diminished victoria diary entry to her daughter had a fair night but was a little wakeful got up earlier and had some milk at 5 30 went down to the drawing room where a short service was held a week later on the 22nd of january 1901 victoria was lying in bed she couldn't believe the end was coming i don't want to die yet there are several things i want to arrange she died a lot and kept coming back to life so in the morning they thought they were going to lose her as she slipped slowly to what looked like a final coma but no she fought her way back again she even signed some letters and had something to eat you really do get a sense of the queen who still sees that there is life to be lived and isn't willing to stop living it yet but that same day at 6 30 p.m victoria whispered her final words interestingly her last words are supposed to be bertie we don't know if that was said in sorrow anger i think it's very very telling because she knows now this young man now actually 59 is the way forward [Music] there were reporters hanging around outside the gates of osborne's house shouting that the queen is dead the news of the queen's death shook the world [Music] i think people feel that something of their own lives has gone there's a sense in which they have lost a family member [Music] the nation isn't sure that it can cope without its grandmother the nation is asking itself what will become of us [Music] it was a great break in history people were aware of it just as they were aware when 9 11 took place this was i think visible in the tributes that were paid to her everybody wearing black even the prostitutes were black the world was in mourning just as queen victoria had been for half of her life [Music] victoria was the queen who defined herself by her widowhood when we think about victoria or the british empire or the country that she ruled over we're thinking about this period in her life when we picture victoria we're thinking about the widowed victoria ruling alone the birth of this new victoria was a difficult birth it took her a decade from prince albert's death to understand that she could separate the queen from the woman but after that she didn't really but victoria's own words revealed she was always more than just a queen she was a princess a wife a mother and a widow a ruler and an empress one of the most iconic monarchs britain has ever seen [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] didn't want to be sovereign she wanted to be alone she runs away from public life and leaves britain without a queen mps are openly saying it's time to wind the monarchy up but victoria fights back to win power and the love of her people there's a sense in which the empire comes home and it puts on an amazing show she suddenly realized that what she'd missed was huge crowds of people there for her and her alone this is the private life of queen victoria [Music] after 60 years on the throne a regal queen victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee victoria was now the ruler of an empire that spanned the globe she was probably the most famous person on the planet [Applause] a mother to seven grown-up children many married into europe's leading royal dynasties [Music] the 78 year old monarch loved by her people waves of the cheering crowds on this summer day of 1897. she's smiling at people and she's laughing and she's she enjoys so much that connect

Channel: British Documentary 2

Views: 1,021

Keywords:

Id: M7nwqa7hpPU

Length: 64min 37sec (3877 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 23 2021