0:00:02 > 0:00:07In 1897, Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations
0:00:07 > 0:00:10were the expression of supreme confidence.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13She was Queen of Great Britain, she was Empress of India.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18Her Empire, in fact, stretched all over the world.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20What made the event so remarkable
0:00:20 > 0:00:23wasn't just the fact that the streets of London
0:00:23 > 0:00:25were thronged with thousands of people
0:00:25 > 0:00:27singing God Save The Queen.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30It was that the 78-year-old monarch
0:00:30 > 0:00:33was prepared to be seen in public at all.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36The Widow of Windsor, as she was known,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39struggled with public appearances, because she was shy,
0:00:39 > 0:00:44but also because she was still ostensibly in mourning.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48For 36 years, she had been the embodiment of grief.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51But appearances are deceptive.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53Behind this well-known image of Victoria
0:00:53 > 0:00:56lies another story to that of the heart-broken widow.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01It was only part of the truth about Victoria,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05whose marriage had been a source of constraint as well as deep love.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09The loss of her beloved husband
0:01:09 > 0:01:10and of her mother
0:01:10 > 0:01:12was a terrible blow,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16but it also initiated a process of liberation
0:01:16 > 0:01:19for a woman who'd spent her entire life
0:01:19 > 0:01:22under the shadow of domineering men.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26Victoria had been a pawn in a political game
0:01:26 > 0:01:27as a child and young Queen.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Her angel, Prince Albert, had used her pregnancies
0:01:31 > 0:01:33as a way to gain power,
0:01:33 > 0:01:35and punished her for resenting it.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40But in her widowhood, Victoria - although bereft and deranged -
0:01:40 > 0:01:43was free to embark on a way of life and on loves
0:01:43 > 0:01:46that were to make her last four decades
0:01:46 > 0:01:48her most productive and exciting.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54And, luckily for us, she committed all her feelings to paper.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57She wrote more than 50 million words.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Some were judged so shocking by her children
0:02:00 > 0:02:02that when she died, they were destroyed.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06I've spent the last five years reading Queen Victoria's journals
0:02:06 > 0:02:09and unpublished letters
0:02:09 > 0:02:13and I've come to feel something almost approaching awe for her.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Behind that stout old lady in black sitting at her writing table
0:02:16 > 0:02:18was a passionate human being
0:02:18 > 0:02:21and, contrary to what is so often said,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24she was frequently and easily amused.
0:02:41 > 0:02:461861 was Queen Victoria's annus horribilis.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50The deaths of her mother and her husband left her distraught.
0:02:50 > 0:02:51She fled London.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It was presumed that her absence from the capital
0:02:54 > 0:02:57meant she was doing nothing, left inept by grief.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03In her journal, she bewailed the loss of her lover, her friend, her crutch.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07"He did everything - everywhere!
0:03:07 > 0:03:11"Nothing did I do without him, from the greatest to the smallest...
0:03:11 > 0:03:13"my first word was, 'I must ask Albert.'"
0:03:16 > 0:03:19In her delirium, she turned the man she'd often resented
0:03:19 > 0:03:22and fought with into a demi-god.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27What Victoria didn't realise at 42 years old,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30was that marriage had infantilised her.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33Marriage does infantilise people.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36She had come to rely on Albert for absolutely everything.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38She'd go and see him first thing in the morning
0:03:38 > 0:03:39and say, "What dress she I put on?"
0:03:39 > 0:03:42In politics and in personal life,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45he had restrained her and controlled her.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49And now his life was over, but her life wasn't over.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Little by little, she would flap her wings and become free.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00And her first small steps to freedom
0:04:00 > 0:04:03were taken here in Coburg
0:04:03 > 0:04:04in modern day Germany -
0:04:04 > 0:04:08her homeland and the birthplace of Albert and her mother.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13She confessed her ongoing love-affair with Germany in her journal:
0:04:13 > 0:04:17"If I were not who I am, my real home would be here."
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Victoria was three-quarters German.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27She idolised the land and the people.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29The very air smelled like Albert,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31and she breathed it in.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34When she started coming back to Coburg,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37her brother-in-law Ernst, Albert's brother,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40expected her to stay with him in his grand baroque palace
0:04:40 > 0:04:43in the middle of town, Schloss Ehrenberg.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46But she preferred to be here, Schloss Rosenau,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49a beautiful hunting lodge about five miles out of town,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51where Albert was born.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54It's a place full of his childhood memories
0:04:54 > 0:04:56surrounded by quietness,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58the hills and the forests.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Inconsolably bereaved she certainly was,
0:05:03 > 0:05:08and you can see here a page from the visitors' book she wrote in 1862,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13"Victoria Regina, the desolate widow of my beloved Albert".
0:05:21 > 0:05:25A direct descendant of Prince Albert keeps the line alive today
0:05:25 > 0:05:27in the nearby Schloss Callenberg.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Hubertus is the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36- So, let's enter... - the treasure house.
0:05:36 > 0:05:37..one of the rooms here, please.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Oh, wonderful. Thank you very much.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45You, sir, are the great-great- great-grandson of Prince Albert.
0:05:45 > 0:05:46Yes, that is correct.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49This is where we show the family relationships
0:05:49 > 0:05:53between the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family and the British.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Oh, look, there's a marvellous Winterhalter!
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Yes. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02So, that's after he's arrived in Britain?
0:06:02 > 0:06:04Yeah. It was in the early 1840s.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06He's still got his hair before he went bald!
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Oh, and look at this beautiful painting.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12She didn't very dress well, but she had stupendous jewels.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16- That's what the French noticed when she went to Paris.- Yes.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20After she was widowed, she became even more attached to Germany,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22even more conscious of her German roots,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25and Coburg was a particularly special place.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Well, Queen Victoria's roots are, indeed, very German
0:06:28 > 0:06:31she was definitely fluent in the German language.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Even after the too early death of her husband Prince Albert,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40she was still very much in love with Germany and especially Coburg.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45She came back to open up a monument for Albert here
0:06:45 > 0:06:47in 1865 in the market place.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51That was also one of the very few public appearances, apparently,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54- that she did after his death. - Oh, yes.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Victoria had always loved melodrama,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01since her days as a young queen.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Now, in her mourning, she made her loss blindingly clear to see.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Ever dressed in black,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11she desired everyone to enter into her grief.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Dr Karina Urbach, an expert in Anglo-German relations,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21sheds light on Victoria's behaviour after Albert's death.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26She's such a bad psychologist, as Albert told her "don't overdo it
0:07:26 > 0:07:30"when I'm gone," but she does exactly the opposite.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33She puts him on a pedestal and drags her children
0:07:33 > 0:07:35into the room once a year -
0:07:35 > 0:07:39the room he died in - and keeps preaching all the time
0:07:39 > 0:07:42how wonderful he was and it's absolutely ridiculous,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44because the children hate it after a while
0:07:44 > 0:07:48and resent everything about this idealised father.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50It achieves the absolute opposite.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54She went back again and again and again to Coburg.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Yes. I think she would have loved to just live in a little cottage
0:07:57 > 0:08:00in Germany with Albert. That was her ideal.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03- And it was home. It was the heimat, wasn't it?- Yes. She feels relaxed,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06because when she talks German she can be a different person.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09In her English identity, she has to be the Queen,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12but in Germany, she is just a "kleine Frau", as Albert calls her.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19Grief-stricken Victoria may have been, but inept she certainly wasn't.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23She was about to demonstrate her political astuteness in Germany,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27then not a unified country as we know it is today.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Germany was merely a notion.
0:08:30 > 0:08:36The question was - would the various small German duchies and city states
0:08:36 > 0:08:39come together in a peaceful federation?
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Or would they allow themselves to be bullied
0:08:41 > 0:08:44by the northern kingdom of Prussia
0:08:44 > 0:08:47into becoming a modern militaristic nation?
0:08:47 > 0:08:52That was the central political drama of Victoria's times,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56and in that drama, she stood plum centre stage.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00In the summer of 1863,
0:09:00 > 0:09:04the Queen came here to Schloss Ehrenberg.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08While she was here, she thrust herself between the twin camps
0:09:08 > 0:09:13of Prussia and Austria before any of her diplomats.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16It was her first major activity since she was widowed.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20"Felt so nervous, all being in state and I alone...
0:09:20 > 0:09:25"I have no longer my beloved Albert to guide, cheer, advise and pilot me
0:09:25 > 0:09:27"through the great difficulty."
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Here in the Hall of Giants,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35where Victoria's parents were married,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38we meet Victoria the diplomat,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42meeting with no less a person than the Emperor of Austria,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and together they drank a toast to the unity of Germany.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49So early in her widowhood
0:09:49 > 0:09:51we find Victoria alone,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54but nonetheless an independent woman,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58negotiating not particularly on behalf of England,
0:09:58 > 0:10:00but on behalf of a peaceful Europe.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Victoria had found the inner strength to exert her power
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and carry out Albert's political work on her own.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10In this instance, she's a sort of arbiter.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14She wants to bring together these two German leaders,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Emperor of Austria and William of Prussia,
0:10:17 > 0:10:21and she thinks that there should be some rapprochement,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25some understanding between the two.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29She still hopes for a peaceful solution of the German question.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32During that period, if you'd asked many English newspaper editors,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35"What's the Queen doing?" they'd have said she's gone to sleep,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- she's gone into hiding, she's not doing anything.- Yeah.
0:10:38 > 0:10:39But, as a matter of fact,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41she was deeply politically engaged in Germany.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Yes. I think that's when one underestimates her,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46because she is hiding in black and one doesn't understand
0:10:46 > 0:10:48that she had her back channels
0:10:48 > 0:10:51and she was very much into this back channel work
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and she saw herself, because of Albert,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58as a diplomat in many ways.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03It's interesting at this time that we see the British Queen becoming,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06partly through her own marriage and the marriages of her children,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10so intimately involved in European politics.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15At this time, the British politicians complained that their monarch
0:11:15 > 0:11:18was too weepy, too reclusive, not doing her work,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21not interested in the main political questions.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26But Victoria was looking at the future of Europe itself.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28That seems to me far less parochial,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32far less narrow than the things that many of her cabinet ministers wanted.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37And her role in all this was pivotal.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41The future of Germany was quite literally being fought out
0:11:41 > 0:11:42between members of her own family.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44With her eldest daughter Vicky
0:11:44 > 0:11:46married to the Crown Prince of Prussia,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and Bertie married to the Princess of Denmark,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Victoria was caught in the middle of the war
0:11:51 > 0:11:53between these neighbouring states.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58"Oh, if Bertie's wife was only a good German and not a Dane!
0:11:58 > 0:12:00"Not as regards the influence of the politics
0:12:00 > 0:12:04"but as regards the peace and harmony of the family!
0:12:04 > 0:12:07"It is terrible to have the poor boy on the wrong side."
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The personal was the political for Victoria.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Intensely German, she nonetheless felt as all mothers would,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18grief that her family stood on opposing sides
0:12:18 > 0:12:20of the political divide.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25While Victoria showed her fortitude on the world stage -
0:12:25 > 0:12:29involving herself in European wars of global significance -
0:12:29 > 0:12:33she was also finding freedom at home in her personal life.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37As a young woman, she had always sought father figures,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40from the flirtatious Lord Melbourne
0:12:40 > 0:12:41to her "angel" Albert.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Now she had another man by her side.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52"I feel I have here and always in the house
0:12:52 > 0:12:54"a good devoted soul,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58"whose only object and interest is my service,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02"and God knows how much I want so to be taken care of."
0:13:03 > 0:13:06These are the words the 45-year-old Victoria
0:13:06 > 0:13:10wrote about Albert's Highland servant, a Mr John Brown,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15who was brought down from Balmoral to attend Victoria at Osborne in 1864.
0:13:18 > 0:13:23PIPE BAND PLAYS
0:13:35 > 0:13:39I honestly think that if it hadn't been for the Highlands of Scotland
0:13:39 > 0:13:41and the friendship of John Brown in those 10 years
0:13:41 > 0:13:43after Prince Albert died,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46that Queen Victoria would have gone stark staring mad.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50She'd always loved it here in Scotland,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52since her early visits with Albert,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55and the unaffected character of the Highlanders
0:13:55 > 0:13:59made such a refreshing change after the stuffiness
0:13:59 > 0:14:02of Windsor and Buckingham Palace.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07And so it was that the bearded and kilted John Brown,
0:14:07 > 0:14:12seven years her junior, became Victoria's next male dependency,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15as closest companion and best friend.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20BELL RINGS
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Raymond Lamont Brown is the Highland servant's official biographer.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33She spent far more time with John Brown than with any other person,
0:14:33 > 0:14:37- certainly more than any member of her family.- Yes, that's true.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40He would attend her whenever she needed him.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42He understood her very well.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47I think something that her family and her ministers didn't understand
0:14:47 > 0:14:51was that although she was surrounded by people all the time,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53she was very lonely
0:14:53 > 0:14:56and John Brown said to her, quite openly,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00"I think you're just a lonely wee bairn
0:15:00 > 0:15:02"that needs to be brought out of herself."
0:15:02 > 0:15:05And that's exactly what he did.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08He, sort of, pulled her out of her depression.
0:15:08 > 0:15:14He became a walking encyclopaedia of Queen Victoria's likes and dislikes,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16her neuroses and so on.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19He devoted his life to her.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23He never went on holiday and he was always there for her.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26In some ways, it was an even greater commitment than Albert
0:15:26 > 0:15:31made in his marriage vows, because it was one of absolute service.
0:15:31 > 0:15:37Yes. Albert, of course, had his own agenda of the things that he did,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42but for John Brown, from dawn to dusk, his agenda was Queen Victoria.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Alongside Brown's devotion to the Queen
0:15:48 > 0:15:52came an abruptness and complete disregard for court etiquette,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55something which Brown could see that Victoria,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58contrary to her steely appearance, rather enjoyed.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Whilst these qualities of Brown's enraged the household,
0:16:04 > 0:16:05they were precisely the things
0:16:05 > 0:16:08that made him the ideal companion for Victoria.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Great man that Albert had been,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14he'd always been sickly and fussy.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17He didn't share his wife's love of guzzling and drinking.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Whereas Brown loved his whisky - he was often tipsy.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24He liked pouring whisky into the Queen's milk
0:16:24 > 0:16:25and saying, "Don't stay thirsty".
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Victoria wouldn't credit what I'm about to say,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32but Brown released her from Albert.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37He released her inner capacity for hedonism and fun,
0:16:37 > 0:16:39and she revelled in it.
0:16:39 > 0:16:40Cheerio!
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Victoria found freedom in her friendship
0:16:45 > 0:16:47with this most unlikely of characters,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50out riding and laughing in the grounds at Osborne with Brown.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56Where she had been suppressed in her childhood
0:16:56 > 0:16:58by the cruel workings of Sir John Conroy,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01and had struggled with an overbearing and scheming husband,
0:17:01 > 0:17:06she loved Brown's openness and dedication to her and her alone.
0:17:06 > 0:17:12"It is a real comfort, for Brown is devoted to me.
0:17:12 > 0:17:18"So simple, so intelligent, so unlike an ordinary servant."
0:17:18 > 0:17:21No-one could talk to Victoria as John Brown did.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25He held her in check.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28There was once an occasion when a footman came into the room
0:17:28 > 0:17:30carrying a tray and the poor boy dropped it.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35The Queen erupted with rage, said he should be dismissed to the kitchens.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37But John Brown intervened immediately.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42"Woman, what are ye doin' to that poor laddie?
0:17:42 > 0:17:45"Have ye never dropped anything yersel'?"
0:17:45 > 0:17:47The footman was reinstated.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50The straight-talking Scotsman had put the Queen of England
0:17:50 > 0:17:52in her place...
0:17:52 > 0:17:53and she enjoyed it.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59But it wasn't just Brown's frankness she relished.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03He also filled a deep emotional need in Victoria.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05On the fourth anniversary of Albert's death,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07she completely defied convention
0:18:07 > 0:18:11by bringing Brown to pay his respects at Albert's mausoleum.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Her writings that day show just how significant
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Brown's response was for Victoria.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22"When he came to my room later,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24"he was so much affected.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27"He said in his simple expressive way,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29"with such a tender look of pity
0:18:29 > 0:18:31"while the tears rolled down his cheeks,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35"'I didn't like to see ye at Frogmore this morning.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39"'I felt for ye...but what can I do though for ye?
0:18:39 > 0:18:40"'I could die for ye.'"
0:18:42 > 0:18:45I don't think anybody could ever have replaced Prince Albert,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48but she needed some kind of male crutch,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51and John Brown supplied that.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57What came next showed the contradictory nature
0:18:57 > 0:18:58of Victoria's character.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01The woman who shied away from the public
0:19:01 > 0:19:05decided to share her thoughts with everyone.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08We tend to think that Diana, Princess of Wales
0:19:08 > 0:19:11invented the concept of "feel my pain",
0:19:11 > 0:19:13but Queen Victoria got there before her
0:19:13 > 0:19:16with her decision to publish extracts from her private diaries.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Leaves From The Journal Of Our Life In The Highlands.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25It came out in 1868 and was an instant best seller.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30No monarch had ever published a book before.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33This one was wholly at odds with Victoria the weeping widow.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37VOICE OVER TANNOY AND FAINT APPLAUSE
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Come on! Heels! Heels!
0:19:47 > 0:19:50The journals chronicle her life of outdoor frivolity.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55She felt truly elated out in the open Highland landscape...
0:19:55 > 0:19:57at local dances...
0:19:57 > 0:19:59and at the annual Highland Games.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06"The games began about three o'clock," she writes.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08"1. Throwing the Hammer.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10"2. Tossing the Caber.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11"3. Putting the Stone.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14"A pretty wild sight,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16"but the men looked very cold,
0:20:16 > 0:20:18"with nothing but their shirts and kilts on -
0:20:18 > 0:20:20"they ran beautifully."
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The journals are pretty mild stuff.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27The remarkable thing about them is that they were published at all.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31They're nice books - bound in green, embossed in gold -
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and pretty soon they'd sold over 100,000 copies.
0:20:37 > 0:20:38There is one person, however,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41that might be named as the hero of the book,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43and that, of course, is John Brown.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Her children hardly got a look in and weren't best pleased.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51But it seemed that Victoria was unaware.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Instead, she wrote to her eldest, Vicky,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57asking for validation of the book.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02"You have...never said one word about my poor little Highland book,
0:21:02 > 0:21:03"my only book.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06"I had hoped that you and Fritz would have liked it."
0:21:07 > 0:21:10The reason Vicky might have been avoiding the subject
0:21:10 > 0:21:13was that her mother's shameless adoration of Brown
0:21:13 > 0:21:15was causing a scandal.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18A scurrilous pamphlet
0:21:18 > 0:21:20entitled John Brown's Legs
0:21:20 > 0:21:23appeared in New York.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26It was dedicated to "those extraordinary Legs -
0:21:26 > 0:21:28"poor bruised and scratched darlings."
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Here's the Queen looking at a damaged knee.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36"Good heavens, what a knee!" sticking out from the kilt of John Brown.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40What's so hilarious about this is that while the American
0:21:40 > 0:21:42was penning this pamphlet,
0:21:42 > 0:21:46the Queen herself was writing a third volume
0:21:46 > 0:21:48of Leaves From Our Life In The Highlands,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51in effect a biography of John Brown.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55The Court and the politicians were absolutely horrified
0:21:55 > 0:21:58and somebody had to be delegated to tell her
0:21:58 > 0:22:01that the book was entirely inappropriate.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04They chose the poor young Dean of Windsor,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08who went in and told the Queen that it really wasn't a good idea
0:22:08 > 0:22:10to be writing these memoirs of her life with Brown.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12It would be misconstrued.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14She erupted with rage.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19However, she took the young man's advice,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and the matter was never mentioned again.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26I wonder if it still survives somewhere in Windsor
0:22:26 > 0:22:28in those archives
0:22:28 > 0:22:31or whether Princess Beatrice - the wrecker - destroyed it.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Thanks to Victoria's youngest daughter, Beatrice,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39no trace remains of the Queen's life with John Brown
0:22:39 > 0:22:41in her voluminous journals.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43We are left with silence
0:22:43 > 0:22:46as her children were intent on deleting Brown
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and anything else deemed "unsuitable" from history.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51It is poignantly sad
0:22:51 > 0:22:54that so avid a scribbler and recorder of her times
0:22:54 > 0:22:56as Queen Victoria
0:22:56 > 0:22:58should have had her words suppressed,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02and, of course, the suppression has the precisely opposite effect
0:23:02 > 0:23:04upon us that it was intended to do.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08Instead of making us forget about John Brown and Victoria,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10it makes us obsessed by the subject.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13What we do know is that in favouring Brown,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17Victoria showed herself to be a woman desperate for companionship,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20irrespective of the social cost.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22She had come such a long way from her days
0:23:22 > 0:23:24as the submissive wife of Albert.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27With Brown, she was free to do as she pleased.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Of course people suspected him of sleeping with Victoria.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34There's a bit of a feminist issue here.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38If she'd been a male monarch going to bed with a parlour maid,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40no-one would have batted an eyelid.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43It's the idea of a woman crossing the class barrier
0:23:43 > 0:23:45that really appalled them.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Especially as the rumours mounted to that of a secret marriage,
0:23:50 > 0:23:55even a love child between the Queen and her Highland servant.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56BELL RINGS
0:23:57 > 0:24:00A man who was probably one of the very few people in the world
0:24:00 > 0:24:04who ever knew the full truth about her relationship with Brown
0:24:04 > 0:24:07was her last doctor, Sir James Reid.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10- Oh, goodness.- The whole collection.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Michaela, Lady Reid, is married to his grandson.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15He kept a diary while he worked with her.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20- Yes, and there are 40 little tiny diaries here.- Goodness me.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23See, his writing was minuscule.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Oh, isn't it wonderful!
0:24:25 > 0:24:28If you read a lot, you really require a magnifying glass.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33- And here are some more diaries. - Yes. This is one from March.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37- This is the Queen and Brown, I think.- Yes, she has a fall.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40They were going up and down the stairs, Brown and the Queen.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Brown, of course, carried her.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Reid wasn't allowed so much as to touch her.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46Well, he was allowed to offer his arm.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49- But, I mean, he wasn't allowed to examine her medically?- No, no.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52And certainly wouldn't be allowed to carry her up and down the stairs.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55- Whereas Brown was allowed to enfold her in his arms.- Yes, yes.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59And they were laughing about it all and thought it was great fun.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01And then the next day,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05it says, "the Queen walked a little in the room."
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Brown lifts his kilt and says, "Is it there?"
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and she lifts her skirt, laughing, and says, "No, it's here."
0:25:13 > 0:25:17She was moving his big manly hand from the thigh to her bottom.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19Bottom. Yes. But I think she's pointing,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22lifting her long skirt and pointing to his knee.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24The idea of a woman lifting her skirt in those days was raffish.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28Yes. It was very forward. They were obviously very intimate.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Is there a feeling that in the Reid family,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35that Dr Reid knew the nature of the relationship?
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Yes, there is a feeling.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41And we used to tease Granny - as we called her - his widow,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44about John Brown and the relationship
0:25:44 > 0:25:47and she would always clam up.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50She just laughed and dismissed it.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53- What do you think? - I don't think they were married.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56I don't think they even had an immoral affair.
0:25:56 > 0:25:57I think that...
0:25:58 > 0:26:02..they expressed their feelings so much in public.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Had they been having an affair,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09they would have been more circumspect about it.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11There's also the kind of physical detail that we now know
0:26:11 > 0:26:15because of Dr Reid examining her body after she died, isn't there?
0:26:15 > 0:26:19Yes. She had a prolapsed uterus,
0:26:19 > 0:26:23which would have made any form of intercourse
0:26:23 > 0:26:27extremely painful, probably impossible.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30So, I don't think it was that sort of relationship
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and I certainly don't think that she would have had a child,
0:26:33 > 0:26:35because she was too...
0:26:35 > 0:26:36Oh, no. That's preposterous.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39- Preposterous, which has been said. - Oh, yes. It has.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47When anybody knows that I'm writing about Queen Victoria,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49they've always been asking me the same question,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54"What was the relationship between John Brown and the Queen?"
0:26:54 > 0:26:56"Were they lovers?"
0:26:56 > 0:26:59I'm afraid to say that, on that question, I'm a complete agnostic.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04It's plainly not a relationship like that between her and Albert.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08She was so open about loving Brown, about wanting Brown to hold her
0:27:08 > 0:27:10and carry her about in public and laugh with her,
0:27:10 > 0:27:15that I'm sure there was no kind of secret covet relationship going on.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19I think the likeliest thing, if you forced me to make up my mind,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23is that they had a tactile, loving relationship
0:27:23 > 0:27:24that involved lots of hugging,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27but that they weren't lovers in the true sense of the word.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Victoria was never one for convention.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Despite giving her name to an era of propriety and prudishness,
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Victoria was anything but.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Where she loved the openness of Brown,
0:27:44 > 0:27:47she couldn't stand those who were reserved around her.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50So, when it came to her buttoned-up Liberal Prime Minister,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53W.E. Gladstone, she had no tolerance at all.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57"Mr Gladstone is a very dangerous man...
0:27:57 > 0:28:00"And so very arrogant, tyrannical and obstinate,
0:28:00 > 0:28:02"with no knowledge of the world or human nature."
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Victoria was not one to mince her words.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10She used every weapon in her armoury,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13her psychological illnesses, her physical illnesses
0:28:13 > 0:28:15to combat what she believed
0:28:15 > 0:28:20were assaults by the Liberals on the monarchy itself.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25Her undisguised loathing of this humourless intellectual statesman
0:28:25 > 0:28:28showed how very self-assertive Queen Victoria could be.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32Gladstone was awkward with the Queen
0:28:32 > 0:28:35and like his hero, Prime Minister Robert Peel,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37he didn't have the best way with women.
0:28:38 > 0:28:4130 years after her run-in with Peel,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44Victoria showed herself to be just as belligerent with Gladstone
0:28:44 > 0:28:46as she had been in her youth.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51One such occasion occurred in the summer of 1869,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54when the Lord Mayor of London and Gladstone
0:28:54 > 0:28:58asked her to open the new Blackfriars Bridge.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01The Queen was determined to wriggle out of it
0:29:01 > 0:29:06and the drama went on and on through the summer and autumn,
0:29:06 > 0:29:07with Gladstone bearing the brunt
0:29:07 > 0:29:10of most of the Queen's emotional outbursts.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14"She thought she had clearly expressed
0:29:14 > 0:29:18"that it was impossible for her to open Blackfriars Bridge,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21"but, as Mr Gladstone seems still in doubt,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23"she will repeat her sincere regret
0:29:23 > 0:29:25"that it is quite out of the question for her
0:29:25 > 0:29:27"to do anything of the kind in the heat of the summer."
0:29:29 > 0:29:30The republicans, the press,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32but also the keen monarchists
0:29:32 > 0:29:35were all asking themselves the same question,
0:29:35 > 0:29:38If the country functioned perfectly well
0:29:38 > 0:29:40with the head of state spending most of her year
0:29:40 > 0:29:44either up in Balmoral or down on the Isle of Wight,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47why did we need a monarch at all?
0:29:47 > 0:29:49And it was to silence that question
0:29:49 > 0:29:51that the Prime Minister, Mr Gladstone,
0:29:51 > 0:29:56was determined to parade the little woman on this bridge.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58And she was equally determined
0:29:58 > 0:30:01not to be bullied and not to be put under pressure.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07As July wore on, the Queen dug in her heels.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11"The Queen is much surprised at being again teased and tormented
0:30:11 > 0:30:14"about this bridge, having three weeks ago, nearly,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16"been asked by Mr Gladstone."
0:30:16 > 0:30:19And she refused to open it, saying,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21"The fatigue of the whole thing being much too great
0:30:21 > 0:30:23"with a day commencing in the heat."
0:30:25 > 0:30:29Ever one for mood swings, when it came to the event,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Victoria decided she COULD open the bridge.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35But what a palaver she had caused in doing so.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43Frequently caught in the crossfire between Gladstone and his Queen
0:30:43 > 0:30:46was her private secretary, Colonel Henry Ponsonby.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49His great-granddaughter Laura Ponsonby
0:30:49 > 0:30:53is the keeper of many a letter penned by Victoria's idiosyncratic hand.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59The Queen's handwriting was almost illegible.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Incredibly difficult to read.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04I think I'm getting worse at it.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08- They're rather wonderful, these deep black borders.- Aren't they?
0:31:08 > 0:31:13These little letters were coming out of the Queen's writing desk
0:31:13 > 0:31:15- every 10 minutes.- That's right.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20My feeling is that Gladstone found Queen Victoria
0:31:20 > 0:31:22almost impossible to deal with,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25whereas Henry Ponsonby was far better at dealing with her.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Henry Ponsonby knew what he was doing, in a way.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31He did all he could to try and make the Queen
0:31:31 > 0:31:35more reasonable with Gladstone, but she was very critical about him.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Henry Ponsonby knew that it was no good contradicting her.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41There's a famous story about him, where he says,
0:31:41 > 0:31:45"When I say two and two make four,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49"Queen Victoria says, 'No, they make five.'"
0:31:49 > 0:31:53And then he says again, "No, I think they do make four,"
0:31:53 > 0:31:55and she says, "No, I think you're wrong."
0:31:55 > 0:31:59Then he said, "I leave it. I let it drop.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01"And then we go back to it and then it's OK."
0:32:01 > 0:32:03He knew if he said no,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Queen Victoria would immediately dig her heels right in.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Henry Ponsonby admired her.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11She could be absolutely impossible, of course,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14but he managed to, sort of, cope with it
0:32:14 > 0:32:16and, of course, he had a great sense of humour.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18I think that was the saving thing -
0:32:18 > 0:32:21- he could see how very funny she was.- That's right.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25He got them laughing at the dinner table.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27He said he looks round at Queen Victoria,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30and she's absolutely giggling away,
0:32:30 > 0:32:33which is known as fou rire - mad laugh -
0:32:35 > 0:32:39and that you start laughing and then tears come to your eyes,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43you shake, and all this laughter comes up.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46- She had a lot of fou rire, didn't she?- Yes, she had a lot of fou rire.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48- She was always having the giggles. - Yes.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52- Gladstone wasn't particularly humorous.- No, I think not.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00It was the weird mix of Victoria's humour and hysteria
0:33:00 > 0:33:02that the politicians couldn't come to terms with.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06So much so, they feared for her sanity.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10You can see why the Establishment were worried
0:33:10 > 0:33:14when you look at the correspondence between the Queen and Mr Gladstone.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19When Gladstone went to stay at Balmoral,
0:33:19 > 0:33:21he was awkward and couldn't speak to the Queen.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23She often refused to speak to him,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26so they would correspond whilst they were both living in the same house,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29sometimes as often as six times a day.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33The letters are particularly comic, I think.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Gladstone, his letters beautifully written,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39a little pompous, absolutely rational.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42And she scrawls frenziedly back.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44It's as if somebody is screaming through paper.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Here's one which was written in the afternoon.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Just an outburst, really.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52"It is not to Tahiti but to Honolulu
0:33:52 > 0:33:56"that the complaints relative to Prince Alfred refer."
0:33:56 > 0:33:58What that was about, who knows?
0:33:58 > 0:34:00History doesn't relate.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03But you do see what Mr Gladstone was up against.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Victoria capriciously showed her Prime Minister
0:34:08 > 0:34:09time and time again,
0:34:09 > 0:34:12that she was Queen and he couldn't bully her
0:34:12 > 0:34:14into doing something she didn't want to do.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20Victoria maintained her hostility to Gladstone to his dying day.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22The grand old man clung to office
0:34:22 > 0:34:25long after he became physically incapable.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30On and off, he was Prime Minister for 26 years.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33I think the most disgraceful thing about Queen Victoria
0:34:33 > 0:34:36is the way she behaved to Gladstone at the time of his resignation.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41He'd devoted his entire life to the service of his country,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44and she offered him not one word of thanks.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50"She trusts he will be able to enjoy peace and quiet
0:34:50 > 0:34:53"with his excellent and devoted wife in health and happiness,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56"and that his eyesight may improve.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01"The Queen would gladly have conferred a peerage on Mr Gladstone
0:35:01 > 0:35:04"but she knows he would not accept."
0:35:06 > 0:35:11Gladstone's decline and death had little effect on the Queen.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Years ago, she had unashamedly fallen for his political opponent,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Benjamin Disraeli, whose one-nation Toryism
0:35:19 > 0:35:21was her kind of politics.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Besides, he knew how to make her laugh.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30At Disraeli's private home in the heart of Buckinghamshire,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34curator Robert Bandy is the proud keeper of the numerous gifts
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Victoria lavished on Disraeli.
0:35:37 > 0:35:38This is the dining room.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42We have an awful lot of portraits in the house
0:35:42 > 0:35:43that are gifts from the Queen.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45All have a crown on the top
0:35:45 > 0:35:47to tell us exactly who they came from.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49In case you could be in any doubt.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51In case you could be in any doubt, exactly.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55An unconventional visit to Hughenden in 1877
0:35:55 > 0:35:59showed Disraeli's political skill and charm.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02When Disraeli collected the Queen from Wycombe station,
0:36:02 > 0:36:06he took two carriages with him - one with slightly faster horses,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09so he could welcome the Queen for the first time on the platform.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13Obviously, great statesman, showman, lots of bowing and dipping.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16- Very theatrical. - Very theatrical.
0:36:16 > 0:36:17The people of Wycombe loved it.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20He popped into the first carriage with the quicker horses,
0:36:20 > 0:36:21got back to Hughenden before the Queen
0:36:21 > 0:36:24so he could welcome her in exactly the same way,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27but for a second time, whilst she got to the front door of the manor.
0:36:27 > 0:36:28That's delicious.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32And he was also mindful that she was a slightly short lady
0:36:32 > 0:36:35and had the bottom two inches of her dining chair sawn off
0:36:35 > 0:36:37so that her feet were flat on the floor when she sat.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39If she'd sat on a normal chair,
0:36:39 > 0:36:40her feet would have been dangling in the air.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43And he didn't think that was particularly becoming
0:36:43 > 0:36:44- of the monarch.- That's very funny.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46This is another present from her.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50It's the collected speeches of Albert.
0:36:50 > 0:36:51This is very remarkable
0:36:51 > 0:36:53because at first she was a little bit...
0:36:53 > 0:36:55She disliked him entirely
0:36:55 > 0:36:57when he was just a member of the House,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00but he grew useful to her,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02because where she complained that Gladstone
0:37:02 > 0:37:05treated her like a public meeting,
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Disraeli gave her the opposite end of the spectrum,
0:37:07 > 0:37:09he gave her the tittle tattle and the gossip
0:37:09 > 0:37:12and he would write three or four notes a day to her from Parliament.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14And, of course, she had a very marked sense of humour
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and she liked that he made accounts
0:37:17 > 0:37:19of parliament and cabinets so amusing.
0:37:19 > 0:37:20She laughed over his letters.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23Now, who have we here on the chimney piece?
0:37:23 > 0:37:27We've got John Brown given by the Queen to Disraeli.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29Two relative outsiders -
0:37:29 > 0:37:33Disraeli, the most unlikely Victorian Prime Minister,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36and Brown, completely out of the normal social sphere for the Queen -
0:37:36 > 0:37:38that are drawn in closest to her.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40Very much so.
0:37:41 > 0:37:46Both Brown and Disraeli gave Victoria the loyalty she always longed for
0:37:46 > 0:37:49and she lapped up Dizzy's endless attention and flattery.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54"He is so full of poetry,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56"romance and chivalry.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58"When he knelt down to kiss my hand,
0:37:58 > 0:37:59"which he took in both of his,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03"he said, 'In loving loyalty and faith.'"
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Disraeli not only amused and flirted with Victoria,
0:38:07 > 0:38:10he understood her emotional struggles in life.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Professor Jane Ridley has written biographies
0:38:14 > 0:38:16on both Disraeli and Queen Victoria.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Disraeli didn't treat her as a stupid woman.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Disraeli treated her
0:38:23 > 0:38:29as a sort of exotic and wonderful Queen.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31He also treated her as an equal.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34He made her feel, by writing her these wonderful
0:38:34 > 0:38:36confidential letters,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39that he was telling her everything
0:38:39 > 0:38:41and that he was her minister
0:38:41 > 0:38:44and together they were ruling the country.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46So, he made her feel good.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48Before, she'd had this awful generation
0:38:48 > 0:38:50of those "dreadful old men", as she called them,
0:38:50 > 0:38:52who talked down to her
0:38:52 > 0:38:55and didn't flatter her in this way,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59but Disraeli is on his knees flattering her from day one
0:38:59 > 0:39:01and she loves it.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Who wouldn't?
0:39:03 > 0:39:07People smiled at Victoria's crush on Disraeli,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10and at his shameless camp manipulation of it.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13He dubbed her the faery or the faery queen.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15He was genuinely fond of her,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19but he was prepared to exploit the friendship for political ends.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Britain was moving to a position
0:39:21 > 0:39:25where, eventually, every male adult would have the vote.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28Many politicians feared this would mean an inevitable
0:39:28 > 0:39:29lurch to the left.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31Disraeli had his finger on the pulse.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34He knew there were thousands and thousands of lower middle class
0:39:34 > 0:39:37and working class men who were natural Tories.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Victoria became the perfect figurehead
0:39:40 > 0:39:42for Disraeli's one-nation Conservatism.
0:39:43 > 0:39:48His plans involved Victoria as a symbol of British power,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52not just at home but stretching far across the world to the Empire.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Showing both political astuteness and glorious creativity,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02Disraeli announced Victoria was the Empress of India
0:40:02 > 0:40:03on January the 1st, 1877.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08She was delighted with her new title.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12"My thoughts much taken up with the great event at Delhi today
0:40:12 > 0:40:14"and in India generally,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17"where I am being proclaimed Empress of India...
0:40:17 > 0:40:23"I have for the first time today signed myself as V.R. & I."
0:40:25 > 0:40:26Empress of India.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31It's a title you might think more appropriate for a railway engine
0:40:31 > 0:40:33or possibly even a pig,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36but it made Britain an imperial power.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40India, in all its exotic expanse,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43now came under the royal dominion of the Faery.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48Of course sophisticated people flinched at the title,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51but Victoria and Disraeli knew that the vast proportion
0:40:51 > 0:40:55of the British people thought the Empire made Britain rich.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59And, for the next 80 years, the Empire was the pride
0:40:59 > 0:41:03of Britain's conservatives and the envy of many beyond its borders.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09As she'd instinctively used her diplomatic skills in Germany
0:41:09 > 0:41:13in the years following Albert's death, Victoria leaped at the chance
0:41:13 > 0:41:16to stand at the helm of Disraeli's political ideals
0:41:16 > 0:41:19to galvanise Britain's classes under a powerful monarch.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25There's a glorious romance about being Victoria RI
0:41:25 > 0:41:27rather than being simply Victoria Regina.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30It was a real publicity coup in India.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32Victoria is extraordinarily popular.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34They see her as almost as a goddess figure,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36even though she never went there in her life.
0:41:36 > 0:41:37She has this extraordinary common sense
0:41:37 > 0:41:41about predicting what is going to happen and about politics.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44And, about the Empress of India thing, she was absolutely right.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47- It was a really astute political move.- Yes.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51But the pair's political romance couldn't last for ever.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Disraeli fought on in politics to his dying day.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Victoria showered attention on him right to the end,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01bestowing on him a peerage as Lord Beaconsfield.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05At his death, she was distraught.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11"I cannot write in the third person at this terrible moment
0:42:11 > 0:42:15"when I can scarcely see for my fast falling tears."
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Victoria made the most extraordinary confession
0:42:18 > 0:42:19to her friend Lady Waterpark.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22"I know you will feel for me
0:42:22 > 0:42:25"in my great and irreplaceable loss.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27"I have lost so many,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30"but none whose loss will be more heavily felt
0:42:30 > 0:42:32"than this of dear Lord Beaconsfield."
0:42:33 > 0:42:36They are remarkable words,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40when you consider how recently she'd lost her beloved daughter Alice
0:42:40 > 0:42:44and how intensely she had mourned the Prince Consort.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47They show how close Victoria had become,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51both in politics and in her heart, to Dizzy.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Gladstone was the dictatorial Prime Minister.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Disraeli was the true and trusted friend.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05As if the death of Disraeli wasn't enough for Victoria to cope with,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08just two years later came the death of the man
0:43:08 > 0:43:12who may have been the love of her life, John Brown.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14The Queen was devastated.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17The fatherless widow was alone again.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22The extent of Victoria's grief on paper is only known in part.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27These words escaped the ruthless Windsor censorship.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31"I am terribly upset by this loss,
0:43:31 > 0:43:35"which removed one who was so devoted and attached to my service,
0:43:35 > 0:43:37"who did so much for my personal comfort.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40"It is the loss not only of a servant,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42"but of a real friend."
0:43:45 > 0:43:48Through love and loss time and time again,
0:43:48 > 0:43:50Victoria had the remarkable fortitude
0:43:50 > 0:43:54to carry on in the midst of grief.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56Far from her widowhood constraining her,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59she had the strength to reinvent herself
0:43:59 > 0:44:02and was visibly a new woman aged 68,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04celebrating her golden jubilee.
0:44:06 > 0:44:12"The crowds from the Palace gates up to the Abbey were enormous.
0:44:12 > 0:44:13"This never-to-be-forgotten day
0:44:13 > 0:44:16"will always leave the most gratifying
0:44:16 > 0:44:18"and heart stirring memories behind."
0:44:20 > 0:44:24The celebrations didn't end in London.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27They extended far across the reaches of the Empire.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29In India.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36Am I in India?
0:44:36 > 0:44:38No. I'm on the Isle of Wight.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40I'm in the Durbar room.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44Victoria added this fantastic wing
0:44:44 > 0:44:47to Prince Albert's Italianate Villa.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50And what a symbol of her liberation
0:44:50 > 0:44:52from the Albertian past.
0:44:52 > 0:44:53Her dominion,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57her imaginative grasp of her empire and of the world itself
0:44:57 > 0:45:01had expanded so much in her life.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03It's utterly fantastic!
0:45:08 > 0:45:10Victoria had never been to India,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13but she always had a great affection for its peoples.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17She'd far rather hear exotic stories of India
0:45:17 > 0:45:21than talk to her boring Oxford-educated politicians.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23And so it was decided in her Jubilee Year
0:45:23 > 0:45:26that a taste of India would be sent to her in England
0:45:26 > 0:45:29in the form of two Indian servants from Agra.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35One of those servants would turn out to be her last great attachment.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41The man in question was 24-year-old Abdul Karim.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43Hired as little more than a footman,
0:45:43 > 0:45:48he was to become the new subject of Victoria's male affections.
0:45:48 > 0:45:49"Abdul Karim...
0:45:49 > 0:45:51"Much lighter, tall
0:45:51 > 0:45:55"and with a fine, serious countenance."
0:45:55 > 0:45:59Victoria loved the company of Abdul Karim.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02And now, down the corridors of Osborne House,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05there wafted the delicious aromas of the spices
0:46:05 > 0:46:07he brought with him from Agra.
0:46:07 > 0:46:08Cinnamon...
0:46:08 > 0:46:10cloves...
0:46:10 > 0:46:11turmeric...
0:46:11 > 0:46:12cumin...
0:46:12 > 0:46:15nutmeg...drowning out the pong of over-boiled cabbage and mutton.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18And there he is.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Abdul Karim brought with him
0:46:22 > 0:46:25India in all its colour and splendour,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29which Victoria welcomed whole-heartedly into her court.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Shrabani Basu is the author of the best selling book
0:46:32 > 0:46:34on Abdul Karim and Queen Victoria.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Unlike Brown, he was a married man.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39He was a married man and his wife came to the court, as well.
0:46:39 > 0:46:41Mrs Karim, as she was called.
0:46:41 > 0:46:43She was veiled and it was a good Indian family.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46He not only got his mother, but his mother-in-law, as well.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50So, there were several of these burqa-clad Muslim ladies
0:46:50 > 0:46:53- around the throne, as it were. - Yes. The Queen was so excited.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56She said they were the first purdah ladies in court.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01If Victoria liked a servant, she didn't hold back.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04Abdul was soon promoted to the position of the Munshi,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06The Queen's Indian teacher.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09She wanted to learn about the ordinary people of India
0:47:09 > 0:47:11and this was really important to her.
0:47:11 > 0:47:12She wanted to learn the language
0:47:12 > 0:47:16and he gives her the everyday phrases and she shows off.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18She loves showing off. She has these Indian princes come
0:47:18 > 0:47:21and what better than casually use a Hindustani phrase.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24What were the useful everyday phrases that he taught her?
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Well, there were standard things, like "the tea is too hot"
0:47:28 > 0:47:31or "the egg is not boiled enough."
0:47:31 > 0:47:34But there were also intriguing phrases,
0:47:34 > 0:47:38like "I will miss the Munshi very much" and "hold me tight."
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Where did that come from?
0:47:40 > 0:47:43That's very charming, isn't it? Do you think she did hold him tight?
0:47:43 > 0:47:45I suppose so.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48It was a relationship on so many levels.
0:47:48 > 0:47:53It was mother-son, grandmother-son, it was closest friend.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56And, at the same time, Queen Victoria liked
0:47:56 > 0:47:57a strong man next to her.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00If you see the pattern from John Brown - he was six feet tall,
0:48:00 > 0:48:05a strong man, somebody who cared for her - and the same,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07Abdul Karim six feet two,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10standing next to her, looking after her.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14Definitely, the physical, sensual element was very much part of it.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16I think that's very revealing.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21None of Victoria's English courtiers liked the Munshi.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24They thought he was John Brown in a turban.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26But Victoria seemed not to notice,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30or perhaps chose to ignore their snobbish and racist feelings towards him.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34Writing to Vicky, Victoria's words were all praise.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40"He is so good and gentle and understanding,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44"all I want and is a real comfort to me.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47"Such a good influence with the others."
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Anything Abdul Karim wanted, he would get.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52If he wants a nice room,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55he gets a nice room he gets John Brown's old room
0:48:55 > 0:48:57and that is noticed.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59She gives him his own carriage to ride around,
0:48:59 > 0:49:03so goes around Balmoral, he goes to India on holiday.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06Can you tell us about what the attitude of the courtiers
0:49:06 > 0:49:08was towards Abdul?
0:49:08 > 0:49:10As soon as he started getting all the favours,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12the resentment started, as well.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16And the Queen accuses them all the time of racism
0:49:16 > 0:49:21and she insists that they behave courteously to him,
0:49:21 > 0:49:22which they don't.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25I mean, the Munshi invites it, because he is a bit arrogant
0:49:25 > 0:49:26and a bit full of himself.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30He does strut around, he does lord it over the other Indian servants,
0:49:30 > 0:49:33but that's the position he's been given.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36Although unrest at court was mounting,
0:49:36 > 0:49:38Victoria didn't seem to care.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43She was simply not going to give up her fondness for her new best friend.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46And a shameless display of favouritism in June 1890
0:49:46 > 0:49:49further incensed her household.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53The Queen lost a brooch whilst she was clambering into her carriage.
0:49:53 > 0:49:58One of the footman said that he'd seen Abdul Karim's brother-in-law,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Hourmet Ali, hovering about at the time.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04Somebody told Mrs Tuck, the Queen's dresser,
0:50:04 > 0:50:09that Ali had pinched the brooch and sold it to the jeweller's in Windsor.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12Then they got a note from the jeweller to prove it.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14The Queen was furious.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17Not with the thief, but with Mrs Tuck.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20She claimed that in India it was perfectly normal to pick things up
0:50:20 > 0:50:23which didn't belong to you, and it wasn't considered dishonesty at all.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26And then she rounded on Mrs Tuck,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28"This is what you English call justice."
0:50:30 > 0:50:33"You English", coming from the Queen,
0:50:33 > 0:50:36who'd escaped to Germany when times had got tough
0:50:36 > 0:50:40and, although she'd spent the previous 50 years on the throne,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43evidently never really felt at home in Britain itself.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47As with other members of the court,
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Dr Reid wasn't keen on how much time the Queen devoted to the Munshi,
0:50:51 > 0:50:53especially as he was so often unwell.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57He had to look after the Munshi,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00and he was sometimes kept up to midnight, you know,
0:51:00 > 0:51:02and he was at his wits' end.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06"The Queen went several times to see him in his room
0:51:06 > 0:51:08"and stroked his hand,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11"taking Hindustani lessons,
0:51:11 > 0:51:17"stroking his neck and smoothing his pillows."
0:51:17 > 0:51:18One doesn't want to be too indelicate,
0:51:18 > 0:51:20but what was the matter with the poor Munshi?
0:51:20 > 0:51:25Oh. Well, first of all he'd had scabies, but that was a bit better.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27But, this was a big boil on his neck.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30How did Reid and the Munshi get along?
0:51:30 > 0:51:37Oh... Reid disliked the Munshi hugely and thought he was a bad egg.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39He was horrible to his fellow Indians
0:51:39 > 0:51:43and felt his sense of superiority over all the others.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45Can you see what she saw in the Munshi,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48because clearly Reid couldn't, could he?
0:51:48 > 0:51:54No. He was exotic and he was a symbol of India.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Victoria, oblivious to convention,
0:51:58 > 0:52:02turned a blind eye to the unhappy members of her court.
0:52:02 > 0:52:06But things came to a head when she insisted the Munshi join her
0:52:06 > 0:52:09on her annual trip to the sunny Riviera.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25Victoria had always loved coming to France, as a place of escape,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28travelling around in the years after Albert's death
0:52:28 > 0:52:30under the name of the Countess of Balmoral.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34France represented freedom for Victoria.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37And in 1897, a royal trip to Cimiez was planned,
0:52:39 > 0:52:41staying at the swanky new Excelsior hotel
0:52:41 > 0:52:45with superb views of the Mediterranean.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49"Drove through the town...along the fine Promenade des Anglais,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52"close to the sea, which looked so lovely
0:52:52 > 0:52:54"and a wonderful deep blue colour."
0:52:56 > 0:52:59But the holiday plans were going awry.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03An almighty row was about to break out in the household,
0:53:03 > 0:53:07precipitated by Dr Reid, who most improperly told the others
0:53:07 > 0:53:11that the poor Munshi had yet again gone down with a dose of the clap -
0:53:11 > 0:53:13gonorrhoea.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16They seized on this as the perfect excuse to say
0:53:16 > 0:53:19if the Munshi went to Nice, they weren't coming.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21They were going to be on strike.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25This precipitated the mother of all tantrums.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Mrs Phipps is chosen to go tell the Queen that if the Munshi goes,
0:53:30 > 0:53:31we are not going to go.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34We are going to collectively resign.
0:53:34 > 0:53:35This is revolt.
0:53:35 > 0:53:40The Queen hears this and she gets into a screaming rage.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43She gets up, she throws everything down from the table,
0:53:43 > 0:53:47so all these letters, pots, ink pens crashing down.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Mrs Phipps leaves the room in tears
0:53:50 > 0:53:53and she goes back and tells them what has happened.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56So, at the end of the day, they don't resign
0:53:56 > 0:54:00and the Munshi travels, as he always does, with the Queen.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03So, it's victory for the Munshi.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06And it was victory for the Queen, too.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11But when Victoria paraded with the Munshi
0:54:11 > 0:54:13on Nice's famous Promenade des Anglais,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17one of the local newspapers described the Munshi as a mere "servant".
0:54:18 > 0:54:20The Queen was infuriated
0:54:20 > 0:54:23and insisted that the newspaper print a retraction,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27stating that the Munshi was a learned man.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30Far from being her servant, he was her Indian secretary,
0:54:30 > 0:54:32her preceptor in the Hindustani tongue.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36And, moreover, one of the most important
0:54:36 > 0:54:38"personages aupres de la Reine".
0:54:40 > 0:54:43The Queen was always insistent that the Munshi be respected.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47"Remember, he is my Indian Secretary
0:54:47 > 0:54:49"and considered as a gentleman in my suite."
0:54:51 > 0:54:53In Victoria's eyes,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56a gentleman wasn't a wealthy landowner,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59it was someone who had admirable qualities,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01no matter their class or race.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05I find it one of Victoria's most lovable qualities -
0:55:05 > 0:55:09her complete lack of snobbishness and disregard for social constraint.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12This was the woman who had been supposedly crippled
0:55:12 > 0:55:15by the death of her husband at the age of 42,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18but had become so much more than the widow in black.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22Victoria spent the last 40 years of her life after Albert
0:55:22 > 0:55:25finding freedom in the most unlikely of relationships.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30And despite living life shying away from the public,
0:55:30 > 0:55:33she emerged as an icon of the era,
0:55:33 > 0:55:35a picture of British power.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37Just four years before her death,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40the streets of London were lined with her public
0:55:40 > 0:55:44celebrating her Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
0:55:44 > 0:55:49"No-one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation
0:55:49 > 0:55:53"as was given to me, passing through those six miles of streets...
0:55:53 > 0:55:56"the cheering was quite deafening
0:55:56 > 0:55:59"and every face seemed to be filled with joy."
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Victoria died in January 1901
0:56:04 > 0:56:07after a remarkable 63 years on the throne.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10And more than a century after her death,
0:56:10 > 0:56:12her words still command our attention.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16Victoria had written instructions,
0:56:16 > 0:56:21which she gave to her dresser, Mrs Tuck, and to the doctor, Dr Reid,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25and they told what she wanted to be put in her coffin with her
0:56:25 > 0:56:27when she died.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31She was to have the Prince Consort's dressing gown,
0:56:31 > 0:56:33she was to have various photographs
0:56:33 > 0:56:35of her favourite grandchildren and servants
0:56:35 > 0:56:37and she was to have locks of their hair.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Perhaps most significant,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44she was to be holding a framed photograph
0:56:44 > 0:56:45of John Brown
0:56:45 > 0:56:50and on her finger was the ring which he'd given her -
0:56:50 > 0:56:52his mother's wedding ring.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56As one walks past that mausoleum at Frogmore,
0:56:56 > 0:56:58which is nearly always closed,
0:56:58 > 0:57:02it's a strange thought to think of her lying there
0:57:02 > 0:57:04surrounded by all her mementoes.
0:57:06 > 0:57:11The image is emblematic of a Queen who liked drama in life
0:57:11 > 0:57:12and now in death.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16But, sadly, the image isn't one her children could tolerate.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19All traces of the Queen's unconventional attachments
0:57:19 > 0:57:21were erased.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23The Munshi was deported.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27Her children tried to edit their mother's life,
0:57:27 > 0:57:29destroying the statues of John Brown,
0:57:29 > 0:57:31censoring her journals,
0:57:31 > 0:57:33burning her letters.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36But many of her words survive.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38And they provide a fascinating insight
0:57:38 > 0:57:41into this extraordinary human being.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45Victoria had overcome her pressurised childhood
0:57:45 > 0:57:47in a controlling political system
0:57:47 > 0:57:51and had fought through the power struggles of her marriage
0:57:51 > 0:57:53to a man who had restrained her.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56In the midst of grief, she emerged as a woman
0:57:56 > 0:57:58free to move in the world of politics
0:57:58 > 0:58:01and make deep friendships without constraint.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03And, in all this, she revealed herself a woman
0:58:03 > 0:58:06who was anything but Victorian.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Far from being prim and proper,
0:58:08 > 0:58:10she loved life in all its richness,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13she was blind to class and colour
0:58:13 > 0:58:17and, contrary to what we think, had a great sense of humour.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20When you look at this statue, she seems so stiff,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23so formal, the Queen Empress,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25but hear her words,
0:58:25 > 0:58:27and Victoria lives.