[238]Daughter of Lieut.-General Francis Grant and widow of Lord George Murray, Bishop of St. David’s and second son of the second Duke of Atholl.
[239]The mutiny and riots in Portugal were, it was contended, the outcome of the appointment of Prince Ferdinand as Commander-in-Chief. This appointment had been made on the advice of the Duc de Terceira, the Prime Minister. Seeante, p. 144.
[240]Seeante, p. 137.
[241]Madame Malibran (1808–36), daughter of Manuel Garcia. She was a distinguished singer and a woman of considerable talent. Her first husband was a French merchant, M. Malibran. At the time of her death she was married to M. de Bériot.
[242]He was translated to Durham in 1856. In 1860 he became Archbishop of York and in 1862 Primate of All England.
[243]Charlotte, daughter of the fifth Duke of Northumberland, widow of the third Earl of Ashburnham.
[244]Afterwards wife of the Rev. Algernon Wodehouse.
[245]Granville George (1786–1857), second Lord Radstock, Vice-Admiral of the Red.
[246]Charles Noel (1781–1866) had succeeded in his father’s lifetime to his mother’s barony of Barham. He was created Earl of Gainsborough in 1841. In 1833 he married his fourth wife, Frances, daughter of the third Earl of Roden, afterwards a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria.
[247]Hon. Edward Stopford, second son of third Earl of Courtown.
[248]Afterwards Napoleon III.
[249]The Queen had been led to believe that a counter-revolution would be popular, but the movement was a failure.
[250]The Rt. Hon. John Wilson Croker (1780–1857), M.P. for Downpatrick and Secretary to the Admiralty. Immortalised inConingsbyas “Mr. Rigby,” he has remained the type of malignant and meddling politician that Disraeli desired to expose. His title to respect is that he was one of the earliest contributors toThe Quarterly Review, which was founded by John Murray in 1809.
[251]William Wemyss, afterwards Lieut.-General and Equerry to Queen Victoria.
[252]Second son of fifth Viscount Torrington, sometime a Commissioner in the Colonial Audit Office.
[253]A gipsy encampment.
[254]One of the gipsies.
[255]Sir John Malcolm’sLife of Clive, a biography now unreadable, but made famous by Macaulay, who took it as a peg upon which to hang his Essay.
[256]Richard James Lane (1800–72) had in 1829 made a well-known portrait of the Princess at ten years old. He was afterwards distinguished for his skill in lithography, reproducing many works of well-known artists. The portrait he was painting at this time now hangs in the Corridor at Windsor.
[257]Lady Blessington (1789–1849) was at the zenith of her career, editing Books of Beauty, writing novels, and entertaining celebrities at Gore House, Kensington. She was married when young and beautiful to Lord Blessington, an elderly and easy-going Peer, whose daughter by his first wife was the wife of Count d’Orsay. This unfortunate young woman was eclipsed in the affections of d’Orsay by her stepmother. After Lord Blessington’s death, d’Orsay and Lady Blessington presided over a brilliant salon at Kensington Gore, principally attended by the male sex. Lady Blessington recorded in several volumes her conversations with Byron. Disraeli, as a young man, flaunted his most elaborate waistcoats at Gore House.
[258]Seeante, p. 99.
[259]Eldest daughter of third Earl of Courtown.
[260]Philip Henry, fourth Earl, and Lucy Catherine, daughter of Robert Low Carrington. Lady Wilhelmina married in 1843 Lord Dalmeny, by whom she had a son (the present Lord Rosebery) and three other children. After Lord Dalmeny’s death in 1851, she married in 1854 the fourth Duke of Cleveland. She was one of the Queen’s train-bearers at her Coronation. She died in May 1901.
[261]Daughter of the fifth Earl Cowper, and niece to Lord Melbourne. She afterwards married Lord Jocelyn. She was a great favourite with Queen Victoria. After the Queen’s marriage and her own marriage she became one of the Queen’s Ladies of the Bedchamber, and held that post till shortly before her (Lady Jocelyn’s) death.
[262]Third daughter of the first Earl of Verulam, and afterwards wife of the fourth Earl of Radnor. The three young ladies mentioned here were afterwards train-bearers elsewhere to Queen Victoria at her coronation.
[263]Daughter of Vice-Admiral Josceline Percy, and afterwards wife of Colonel Charles Bagot.
[264]Marie, Countess of Blebelsberg, born 1806, married Prince Charles of Leiningen (see p. 95). She died 1880.
[265]Colonel Sibthorp, the eccentric member for Lincoln, whose personal appearance was much satirised inPunch.
[266]Afterwards Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton and Lord Lytton of Knebworth. He was distinguished as a writer of novels that enjoyed a great vogue, and as a genuine man of letters. His abilities were of a far higher order than his writing. His ability was his own, but he wrote for the public. He earned a considerable fortune by his pen. For a time he chose to be a politician, and was Secretary for the Colonies in Lord Derby’s Government. His marriage was famous for its failure. His son Robert was Viceroy of India, Ambassador in Paris, and a poet of more than average merit.
[267]Grandson of the twelfth Duke of Norfolk who died in 1842. He succeeded as fourteenth Duke and died in 1860.
[268]Son of Prince Paul Esterhazy, Austrian Ambassador. See p. 77.
[269]Charles (1815–88), afterwards sixth Duke of Rutland, K.G.; he died unmarried. A man of grim manners but not unkindly heart.
[270]Arthur Richard (1807–84), afterwards second Duke of Wellington, K.G. Almost better known by his courtesy title of Lord Douro. Had he not been the son of the Great Duke, his uncommon talents might have earned for him a career of distinction. In appearance he singularly resembled his august father, and late in life he was addicted to a style of costume which led people to say that he wore his father’s old clothes. He, however, possessed a pretty wit.
[271]John William (1811–84), seventh Earl of Sandwich, afterwards Master of the Buckhounds.
[272]Thomas Henry, fourth Lord Foley (1808–69).
[273]Louisa, a daughter of the sixth Duke of Bedford, married James, second Marquess and first Duke of Abercorn. This Duke and his Duchess are generally thought to have been meant by the “Duke” and “Duchess” in Lord Beaconsfield’s novelLothair.
[274]The three remarkable Sheridan sisters (granddaughters of R. B. Sheridan, the dramatist) were Lady Seymour (afterwards Duchess of Somerset and Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament), Lady Dufferin (the Mrs. Blackwood mentioned above), and Mrs. Norton. They possessed in an uncommon degree the gift of beauty inherited from Miss Linley, their grandmother, and gifts of mind inherited from Sheridan. Not only Mrs. Norton, but also Lady Dufferin, wrote verse and prose with distinction.Stuart of Dunleath, a novel by Mrs. Norton, was much and justly admired. She inspired George Meredith with the conception ofDiana of the Crossways.
[275]Baron Stockmar. See p. 196.
[276]Dr. Howley. Seeante, p. 68.
[277]Second Marquess. Seeante, p. 98.
[278]Baron Christian Stockmar (1787–1863), physician to Prince Leopold, and subsequently his confidential agent. He abandoned medicine for statecraft, in which he became an expert. He was entrusted by King Leopold to superintend the education of Prince Albert and guide Queen Victoria, both of which services he performed with consummate tact and integrity. He was their devoted friend and counsellor to the end of his life. Seeante, p. 154.
[279]William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848), was at this time Prime Minister and fifty-eight years old.
[280]Ernest Augustus (1771–1851), fifth son of George III. He was considered unscrupulous, and was certainly most unpopular in this country. He now succeeded William IV. as King of Hanover. Although of autocratic temperament, he granted his subjects a democratic constitution, much to their surprise.
[281]Augustus Frederick (1773–1843), sixth son of George III. His marriage to Lady Augusta Murray was declared void under the Royal Marriages Act. He had by her two children, Sir Augustus d’Este and Mlle. d’Este (afterwards wife of Lord Chancellor Truro). He married, secondly, Lady Cecilia Buggin (néeGore, daughter of the Earl of Arran), and to her was granted the title of Duchess of Inverness.
[282]Henry William Paget, first Marquess of Anglesey (1768–1854). Commanded the Cavalry at Waterloo. When a round shot tore between him and the Duke of Wellington, he turned to the Duke and said, “By God! I have lost my leg,” and the Duke replied, “By God! I believe you have.” This conversation sums up the two men. Lord Anglesey was a Field-Marshal and Viceroy of Ireland, where he displayed a tendency to liberal ideas that were not considered in accordance with his profession or station. There was never a more gallant soldier, and he “had not a fold in his character.”
[283]Chancellor of the Exchequer. An intelligent politician and responsible for the adoption of the penny post. He was anxious for the Speakership, but failed to win the fancy of the House of Commons. He passed to the House of Lords as Lord Monteagle in 1839 and died in 1866.
[284]James, first Lord Wharncliffe. A Yorkshire magnate and Member of Parliament. Created a Peer 1826. Seeante, p. 54.
[285]Alexander Baring, first Lord Ashburton (1774–1848). President of the Board of Trade in Lord Grey’s Administration.
[286]Sir William Draper Best (1767–1845), first Lord Wynford, formerly Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
[287]A distinguished soldier, at this time Lieut.-General and Master of the Ordnance. M.P. for Windsor. Afterwards created Lord Vivian (1841).
[288]Charles Grant, first and only Lord Glenelg (1778–1866), at this time Secretary for the Colonies. Three years before he had been proposed as Governor-General of India, but his nomination was rejected by the Board of Directors.
[289]Afterwards Lord Sydenham (1799–1841). At this time President of the Board of Trade. In 1839 he was appointed Governor-General of Canada. He died there, aged forty-one, from a fall from his horse.
[290]Henry George, afterwards third Earl Grey (1802–94), at this time Secretary-at-War and Colonial Secretary. An honest and fearless statesman, but a difficult colleague.
[291]Gilbert, second Earl of Minto (1782–1859), First Lord of the Admiralty. In 1832 he had been sent on a special mission to Berlin “to mollify the King of Prussia.” This type of mission has always been popular with the Whigs.
[292]Daughter of George III. She lived at Frogmore and at Clarence House. Seeante, p. 61.
[293]Robert Cutlar Ferguson had been counsel for one of the defendants in the trial of Arthur O’Connor and others for treason at Maidstone in 1798. O’Connor was acquitted, but the presence in Court of Bow Street runners to arrest him on a second charge caused a scene of much confusion, one consequence being the prosecution of Cutlar Ferguson, Lord Thanet, and others for an attempted rescue. Ferguson was imprisoned for a year and fined £100. Upon his liberation he went to Calcutta, where he established himself in large and lucrative practice. He died in 1838.
[294]Lord John Russell (1792–1878) was at this time forty-five years old. Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons. He was at the height of his combative powers as a Parliamentarian, and his zeal for Whig doctrine at home and Liberal statesmanship abroad was undiminished.
[295]Private Secretary to William IV.
[296]Lady C. Jenkinson, daughter of the Earl of Liverpool. See p. 46.
[297]Anna Maria, daughter of the third Earl of Harrington.
[298]Louisa Fox-Strangways, daughter of the second Earl of Ilchester.
[299]He had been executor to the Queen’s father. One of her first acts was to discharge the debts contracted by the Duke of Kent, which the Duchess had never been able to pay off. Seeante, p. 69.
[300]Colonel the Hon. H. F. C. Cavendish (1789–1873), son of Lord Burlington. Clerk-Marshal to the Queen. Married as his second wife Frances Susan, sister of Lord Durham.
[301]Queen Adelaide, the Queen Dowager, a Princess of the House of Saxe-Meiningen. Her attitude towards the young Queen was absolutely perfect, in its simple dignity and freedom from every taint of envy.
[302]Georgina Howard, daughter of the sixth Earl of Carlisle.
[303]Anne, wife of Francis William, second Earl of Charlemont.
[304]Second son of the fourth Duke of Grafton.
[305]George Byng, afterwards second Earl of Strafford.
[306]Lord Durham, by his charming manners, had overcome certain prejudice which had been felt in St. Petersburg on his appointment. He was exceedingly popular with the Emperor. He returned to England, it was said, “a greater aristocrat than ever.” Seeante, p. 81.
[307]Lord Mulgrave was created Marquess of Normanby in 1838. A member of Lord Melbourne’s Administration in 1834, he was sent to Ireland as Viceroy, and then returned to the Cabinet as Secretary of State. While the Whigs were in office he was never without a place. He was subsequently Ambassador in Paris, and under Lord Palmerston supported Napoleon III. through the stormy days of thecoup d’état.
[308]Lady Mulgrave was Maria Liddell, eldest daughter of the first Lord Ravensworth. She had married, in 1818, the second Earl of Mulgrave, who was created Marquess of Normanby in 1838. See p. 205.
[309]Sarah, daughter of the second Earl Spencer and widow of the third Lord Lyttelton. Afterwards Lady Superintendent to the Princess Royal and the Prince of Wales and the other Princes and Princesses. A shrewd observer and a woman of fine judgment and high ideals.
[310]There is no record of any previous Sovereign wearing the robes of the Bath on such an occasion. Certainly they have never been worn since. A little later in her reign the Queen was always reluctant to exchange the red ribbon of the Bath for the blue ribbon of the Garter. By the advice of Lord Melbourne, however, she was in the habit of wearing the red ribbon when holding an investiture of the Order.
[311]He had just been created Earl of Yarborough. Lady Charlotte was the wife of Sir Joseph Copley. He died in 1846.
[312]The Queen always retained a strong sentiment for Kensington Palace. Part of the old building had been condemned by the Office of Works to be pulled down, but the Queen refused her sanction. During the last year of her reign the Queen made an arrangement with Lord Salisbury and Sir M. Hicks-Beach that, in consideration of Her Majesty giving up the use of Bushey House and the Ranger’s House at Greenwich, the Government should purchase and place at her disposal Schomberg House, and should restore Kensington Palace. Parliament voted £36,000 for this purpose, on the understanding that the State Rooms should be opened to the public.
[313]Louisa, daughter of the thirteenth Viscount Dillon, afterwards wife of Sir Spencer Ponsonby Fane.
[314]These are the rooms now occupied by Queen Mary. The “audience” room opened out of the sitting-room.
[315]Hon. Harriet Elizabeth Pitt, younger daughter of the third Lord Rivers. She married in 1841 Charles Dashwood Bruce, nephew of the Earl of Elgin.
[316]Mary Alicia Spring Rice, eldest daughter of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. She afterwards married James Garth Marshall of Headingley and Monk Coniston.
[317]President of the Board of Control. He had enjoyed the friendship of Byron, travelled with him, and was one of his executors. He was created Lord Broughton in 1851. HisRecollections of a Long Life, edited by his daughter, Lady Dorchester, throw much light on the political events of his time. He was so strong a partisan that his judgments of statesmen and political events have to be treated with reservations; but he was a type of politician, cultivated, independent, conscientious, and high-minded, that is becoming rarer as constituencies become less fastidious.
[318]The Queen invariably saw her Ministers in an “audience” room and never in her private sitting-room. An exception was made in the case of Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister.
[319]Seeante, p. 53.
[320]George William, sixth Duke of Argyll, son of John fifth Duke, and his wife, one of the beautiful Gunning sisters, Elizabeth, widow of the sixth Duke of Hamilton. This lady was created Baroness Hamilton in her own right, and her husband was also accorded a barony of Great Britain, thus entitling him to a seat in Parliament.
[321]Fourth son of the fourth Duke of Marlborough; a Captain, R.N. Died at Macao in 1840.
[322]Sigismund Thalberg (1812–71) was now in the full flood of success. He wrote many fantasias on operatic themes,e.g.onRobert le Diable,Zampa, etc. In 1845 he married a widow, the daughter of Lablache. As a composer he never succeeded in emulating his success as a pianist. Later in life he abandoned music, and became a professional vine-grower.
[323]Edward Pery Buckley, afterwards General and M.P. See p. 327.
[324]Alexis, Count Orloff, famous both as general and diplomatist. He had fought in the war of 1829 against Turkey, and signed the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829. He had been sent to enlist English sympathies for Holland as against Belgium in 1832. He also was a signatory of the important treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, and represented Russia in the Congress of Paris in 1856.
[325]Lady Salisbury was Frances Mary, daughter and heir of Bamber Gascoyne, grandson of Sir Crisp Gascoyne, Lord Mayor of London 1752. He was the first Lord Mayor who occupied the Mansion House.
[326]Afterwards an intimate counsellor of the Emperor of Austria, Hereditary Great Chamberlain, and President of the Council.
[327]Seeante, p. 192: note on the Sheridan sisters.
[328]Wife of Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, younger brother of Grand Duke Charles Frederick. See p. 125.
[329]At Marlborough House.
[330]Caroline Fanny, daughter of Colonel Cavendish. Maid-of-honour, and Extra Woman of the Bedchamber.
[331]Caroline Margaret, Maid-of-honour, eldest daughter of John, afterwards second Earl Somers. She subsequently married Canon Courtenay, one of the Queen’s chaplains.
[332]Princess Cecile of Sweden, third wife of Grand Duke Augustus of Oldenbourg.
[333]Seeante, p. 69.
[334]Seeante, p. 145.
[335]King William I., who succeeded his father, Frederic, in 1816.
[336]George, seventh Viscount, a Lord-in-waiting.
[337]Wife of M. de Mérode, who was First Minister in Belgium and a faithful friend to King Leopold.
[338]Lord Broughton (Sir John Hobhouse), in his Reminiscences, refers to this game of chess, and to the slight confusion there was between “the two Queens on the board and the two Queens at the table.”
[339]Sir Jeffrey Wyatt (1766–1840), the architect, whose most important work was the transformation of Windsor Castle, including the addition of thirty feet to the height of the Round Tower. The principal feature of this work is the solid and “fortress-like” appearance, which is conspicuous in the Castle. His name had been originally Wyatt, but George IV., after laying the foundation-stone of the new work, sanctioned the curious addition of “ville” to the surname. Although he was an architect of considerable technical skill, his powers of destructiveness were quite remarkable. He hardly left a stone of Windsor Castle unturned.
[340]Equerry to the Queen, son of the first Marquess of Anglesey by his second marriage with Lady Charlotte Cadogan. Sometime M.P. for Lichfield and Clerk-Marshal of the Royal Household. Lord Broughton described him as “a handsome Calmuck-looking young fellow.”
[341]Prince Aloysius Joseph de Lichtenstein succeeded his father, Jean Joseph, in 1836.
[342]George Villiers (1800–70), British Plenipotentiary at Madrid. In 1838 he became fourth Earl of Clarendon, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in critical times, 1847–52, and afterwards, with great distinction, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1853, again in 1865 and in 1868. He was not a statesman of very original mind, or of great initiative, but he was honest and prudent and highly regardful of his country’s interests. His manners were delightful and his conversation varied with anecdotes and punctuated by wit. He was one of the principal attractions in London society during the first half of the nineteenth century.
[343]This picture hangs in the Corridor at Windsor Castle. The likenesses are excellent, but the artist has painted the Queen in a white dress, whereas she wore black. The actual dress worn by the Queen is now exhibited in the London Museum at Kensington.
[344]Matilda Susannah, daughter of Hon. Berkeley Paget, fifth son of the first Earl of Uxbridge. She was a Maid of Honour to the Queen, and died in 1871.
[345]Princess Marie of Orleans, daughter of King Louis Philippe. Seeante, p. 78.
[346]These rooms, partly remodelled and redecorated, are now occupied by Queen Mary. Up to the death of Queen Victoria no material change was made in them. In 1901 they were much altered, although the main features remain as before.
[347]Sir Moses Montefiore (1784–1885), created a baronet in 1846. His life, prolonged for over a hundred years, was one of flawless generosity and personal kindness to the poor and afflicted of his own race, especially in the eastern provinces of Russia and in Turkey. He obtained consideration for poor Jews from the Russian and Turkish Governments, and his seven pilgrimages to Jerusalem were all undertaken with a view to improving the questionable lot of the Chosen People.
[348]Princess Augusta of Cambridge. See Vol. II., p. 150.
[349]Princess Mary, afterwards Duchess of Teck.
[350]Henry, fourth Duke. He had been so strenuous an opponent of the Reform Bill, that, after its rejection, a mob set fire to Nottingham Castle, his property. Mr. Gladstone was M.P. for Newark owing to the Duke’s influence, which was withdrawn in 1845 when Mr. Gladstone supported Peel on the Corn Laws.
[351]Robert Edward, second son of the second Earl of Kingston, born 1773. He was a Lieut.-General and was created Viscount Lorton in the Irish peerage in 1806. He was a Representative Peer.
[352]Seeante, p. 188.
[353]Second daughter of Lord Ilchester, afterwards wife of Sir Edward Clarence Kerrison.
[354]Lady Emily Cowper. She married Lord Ashley, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury. She, her sister Lady Fanny, and her brothers Spencer Cowper and William Cowper (afterwards Cowper-Temple), were children of the fifth Earl Cowper, whose wife, a sister of Lord Melbourne, married, secondly, Lord Palmerston in 1839. Spencer Cowper married the widow of Count d’Orsay, the step-daughter of Lady Blessington.
[355]Edward Sugden (1781–1875). Afterwards Lord St. Leonards, and Lord Chancellor in the Derby Administration of 1852. A dry but efficient lawyer, an excellent interpreter of any man’s Will but his own, which was disputed.
[356]Henry Hunt had been a great agitator, notably in the years 1816–20. He was elected for Preston in 1830.
[357]Lord Brougham, not having been included in the second Administration of Lord Melbourne, was unsparing in his criticisms of his old colleagues. As Lord Melbourne once pointed out in reply to one of Brougham’s brilliant attacks, the reasons for excluding Lord Brougham from any Ministry must have been very grave, if measured by the obvious reasons for including him.