Censoring Queen Victoria (19 page)

She believed Charles to be siding, with indecent enthusiasm, with the revolutionary Frankfort Assembly of 1848, whose more radical members wished to dispossess the minor princes of Germany such as Victoria's brother-in-law, Duke Ernest II of Coburg. She was comparing Charles with Philip Egalité, a relation of Louis XVI who, during the French Revolution, championed (for a time) the cause of the revolutionaries who eventually executed the Bourbon king (Egalité was the father of Louis Philippe, who had just sought refuge in Britain). Why was this comment removed? Charles was Edward VII's uncle; perhaps Esher thought the King would be uncomfortable with such a close relative being described as a revolutionary, even if by Victoria herself.

In seeking to accommodate the idiosyncrasies and potential objections – both known and imagined – of the King, the editors were willing to sacrifice aspects of Victoria's life and personality. These last-minute excisions of material initially approved for publication reveal their anxiety, after waiting so long for royal permission, to have the book published at last.

J
OHN
M
URRAY HAD HOPED
to publish sometime in 1906, but as time wore on and the courtiers prevaricated, publication was delayed several times. By 2 September 1907 all three volumes were ready to print. The books were finally in the hands of booksellers on 16 October 1907, ready to go on sale, at the price of three guineas, the following day. Murray told Benson happily that five thousand copies had been despatched. Thanks to Murray's strenuous efforts, editions were published simultaneously in America and in translation in France and Germany.

The Letters of Queen Victoria
was reviewed widely; Esher collected thirty-seven mostly favourable reviews and had them bound for his archive. Benson recorded a few desultory remarks about the reception in his diary: he was pleased by reviews which praised the editing, but disappointed that among the many letters of congratulations he received, none was from his ‘attached friends of Eton'. Discussions began about reprinting almost immediately and a cheaper edition was produced in 1908, priced at one guinea for all three volumes. This 1908 edition, with its smaller format, cloth cover and thirteen plates (compared to the thirty-nine plates of the first edition),
is the one most widely found in libraries today.

Not long after publication, Benson had a nervous breakdown and was finally admitted to a clinic in Mayfair in November (after checking the proofs of the preface in September, he had told his diary, ‘depression lurks in the background, moving dimly like a figure in a mist'). Esher went on to establish the Royal Archives and to publish extracts of Victoria's girlhood journal in 1912 (Benson, still recovering from his depression, declined to be joint editor and suggested Esher ask Hugh Childers to assist him, which he did).

*

Biographers and historians have drawn on the published letters ever since, treating them as a representative and comprehensive primary source. These letters have shaped our understanding of Victoria's life, and this has led to some serial misrepresentations.

Lytton Strachey's biography of Queen Victoria, which has remained in print since its publication in 1921, is typical. Using Benson and Esher's structure as its template, it describes the young, innocent girl-queen who becomes a wife and mother, with the greatest emphasis placed on the strong men who surrounded her. Six of Strachey's ten chapters focus on these men. His assessment of Victoria's role in the rise and fall of the power of the Crown sums up his depiction of her reign more generally: ‘
Victoria in effect was a mere accessory
.'

The published letters, however, should not be seen simply as ‘primary sources'. The personality and outlook of each editor; the need to observe royal protocols and avoid offending
living relatives; a desire to avoid controversy and yet to sell books – all of these factors helped to shape the published image of Victoria. As Edwardian gentlemen, the editors approached everything they read through a very particular perspective. This is most evident in the priority they gave to the voices of men. Benson and Esher could ‘hear' her male correspondents' voices more clearly and appreciate their importance more readily; Queen Victoria's own words comprise just forty per cent of the published letters, and her many female correspondents appear barely at all. This is not to deny the importance of the men who wrote to Victoria; in omitting her huge correspondence with other women, however, the editors excluded a large part of Victoria's experience.

The image that made most sense to Benson and Esher was that of the elderly teaching the young. They wanted to spin the romantic story of Lord Melbourne and the girl Queen, which, of course, they could readily understand: the senior statesmen, experienced in the world, guiding the youthful Queen with love and wisdom – any flirtatiousness on her part merely confirmed Lord Melbourne's endearing charm upon her. Although the gender is different, it follows that classical Greek model of pedagogy of which they were both enthusiasts.

The completion of this book is the result of assistance and support from all of the people who helped with my PhD, the staff at Black Inc., especially Chris Feik and my very perceptive editor, Denise O'Dea, and John Hirst. Not only was he persistent in convincing me that the thesis should be published but he did the initial abridgement to persuade Chris Feik as well. Without his efforts the book would have remained in the thesis.

I am very grateful to friends for their help, their friendship, hospitality and sustenance, and for sharing the joys of the research: Walter and Charlotte Arnstein, Ingrid Barker, Lady de Bellaigue, Janet Butler, Liz and Richard Coyle, Liz Dimock, Graham Fairhurst, Carole Hamilton-Barwick, Tim Healey, Dr Gustaaf Janssens, Sue Knowles, Robert Lacey, Margaret Lee, Evelyn Maynard, Lee-Ann Monk, John and Virginia Murray, Keith and Joyce Pescod, Ann and Mike Reece, Sue and Bob Sutton, and Monika Wingrove.

To my first teachers: Mum and Dad, Leah and John Ward; and my brothers and sisters, Graeme, Leah, Ian, Rhonda and Steven, their partners and children.

To our two little grandsons, Mason and Hayden, my new teachers.

To my husband, Roy, and our children, Roy, Leah, Phillip and Allison, who all suffered various degrees of deprivation during my PhD. I hope you will all share in the satisfaction of seeing the book published.

This book is drawn directly from my PhD dissertation,
Editing Queen Victoria
:
How Men of Letters Constructed the Young Queen
. The thesis is held by the Borchardt Library at La Trobe University in Bundoora, Australia, and is accessible electronically.

The research drew upon material from many libraries and archives:

Aberdeen Papers, British Library Manuscripts Collection, St Pancras, London, England.

Alexandrine, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, Letters and Papers, Staatsarchiv Coburg, Germany.

Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, Letters, Hessische Staatsarchiv Darmstadt, Germany.

Bedford and Tavistock Family Papers, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, England.

Benson Collection, University of British Columbia Library, Vancouver, Canada.

Benson Correspondence and Papers, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, England.

Benson Correspondence and Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Benson Deposit, Department of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford, England.

Benson Diary, Old Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge, England.

Benson MSS, Special Collection, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

Borchardt Library, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.

Brett Family Autograph Collection, Sydney Jones Library Special Collection, University of Liverpool, England.

British Library Newspaper Collections, Colindale Avenue, London, England.

Buccleuch, Duchess of, Papers and Letters, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, England

College of Arms, London, England.

Davidson Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, Lambeth Palace, London, England.

Dona Maria II, Queen of Portugal, Biblioteca Nacional Ministera da Cultura, Campo Grande, Lisbon, Portugal.

Edinburgh Public Library, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Edward VII Coronation Records, Westminster Abbey Muniments Room, London, England.

Elgar Papers, Elgar Birthplace Museum, Lower Broadheath, Worcestershire, England.

Empress Frederick Letters, Kurhessische Haisstiftung, Schloss Fasanerie, Eichenzell, Germany.

Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, Staatsarchiv Coburg, Germany.

Esher Papers, Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge, England.

Eton College Archives, Eton, Berkshire, England.

Feodore, Princess Ernest of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Letters Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv, Neuenstein, Germany.

Fulford Papers, privately held by Lord Shuttleworth, Leck Hall, Lancashire, England.

Gladstone, Catherine, Diary and Letters, Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden, Wales.

Gosse Papers, Brotherham Library, Leeds University, Leeds, England.

Gulbenkian Foundation Library, Lisbon, Portugal.

Lee Papers, English Miscellaneous Collection, Department of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford, England.

Lees-Milne Papers, Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Leopold I, King of the Belgians, and Queen Louise of the Belgians, Archives of the Royal Palace, Brussels, Belgium.

Liverpool Papers, (including letters of Catherine Vernon Harcourt), British Library Manuscripts Collection, St Pancras, London, England.

Lyttelton, Lady Sarah, Papers and Letters, privately held by Lord Cobham, Hagley Hall, Worcestershire, England.

Murray Papers, Letters of Charles Fairfax Murray, John Rylands Library, Manchester University, Manchester, England.

Murray Papers and Letters, John Murray Archive, now at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Nemours, Duchess of, Letters, Archives Générale du Royaume, Brussels, Belgium.

Northumberland, Duchess of, Letters and Papers, Bryn-Y-Pys Collection, Flintshire Record Office, Hawarden, Wales.

Palmerston Papers, Hartley Library Archives and Manuscripts, Southampton University, Southampton, England.

Portuguese Royal Family Papers, Ajuda Palace Archives, the Biblioteca Da Ajuda, Lisbon, Portugal.

Portuguese Royal Family Papers, Casa Real, Institute dos Arquivos Nacionais, Torre do Tombo, Lisbon, Portugal.

Public Record Office, Kew, England.

Queen Victoria Collection, Coronation Regalia, Kensington Palace, London, England.

Queen Victoria Collection, Costume and Decorative Arts Department, Museum of London.

Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, London, England.

Stanley, Lady Augusta, Papers and Letters, privately held by Lord Elgin, Broom Hall, Dunfermline, Scotland.

Victoria, Queen, Journals and Letters, Royal Archives, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England.

*

I wish to acknowledge here the gracious permission of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to research in, and publish extracts from, the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle.

I am also grateful to the many historians, biographers and other writers whose work has informed, enthused and inspired me in both the thesis and this book. References from specific works are listed below.

‘For over sixty years …'
The beginnings of my research interest in Queen Victoria: Yvonne M. Ward, ‘Biographies of Queen Victoria 1901–1991', honours thesis, La Trobe University, 1993, unpublished; and unbeknownst to me at the time, Mike Fassiotto's entertaining PhD,
‘Finding Victorias/Reading Biographies, (Victoria, Queen, Reading)', PhD, University of Hawaii, 1992, unpublished.

‘the published selections of letters …'
Arthur Christopher Benson and Viscount Esher, editors,
The Letters of Queen Victoria. A Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence between the Years 1837 and 1861
, 3 vols, London, John Murray (1907), 1908.

‘the Queen as a wife and a mother …'
Yvonne M. Ward, ‘The Womanly Garb of Queen Victoria's Early Motherhood: 1840–42',
Women's History Review
, vol. 8, no. 2 (1999), pp. 277–294.

‘The senior editor was Lord Esher …'
I wish to acknowledge my gratitude to Lord Esher, Lionel Brett; Oliver Everett, Assistant Keeper of the Royal Archives; and the Master and Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge, for access to the Esher Papers, and for permission to read and quote from them.

‘his colleague was Arthur Benson …'
I am grateful to the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College for access to the Benson Diary, and for the assistance I have been given by Dr Ronald Hyam and Mrs Aude Fitsimons.

‘and his prodigious girth …'
Roger Fulford,
Royal Dukes: Queen Victoria's Father and Her ‘Wicked Uncles
', London, Pan Books, 1933, p. 24.

‘As the Secretary of the Privy Council, Charles Greville …'
Philip Whitwell Wilson, ed.,
The Greville Diary Including Passages Hitherto Withheld from Publication
, 2 vols, London, Heinemann, 1927, vol. I, p. 526.

‘whereby sprigs of holly were pinned to the neckline …'
Elizabeth Longford,
Victoria R.I
., London (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1964), Abacus, 2000, p. 31.

‘as his biographer James Lees-Milne described …'
James Lees-Milne,
The Enigmatic Edwardian: The Life of Reginald, 2nd Viscount Esher
, London, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1986.