Hughenden Royal Upstairs Downstairs

'What do you have to do when a queen decides to pop in to see you?

'And not just any old queen - Victoria.

'Like a pair of obsessed Victoria groupies, we're pursuing her around the country

'to the posh pads she visited. We'll delve into her personal diaries

'to reveal what went on behind closed doors.'

Today Hughenden Manor, home to Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister,

when Victoria came and visited just before Christmas in 1877.

But it was no ordinary social call. Oh, no. The Queen had urgent political business in mind.

'As someone who's spent a lifetime getting excited by antiques,

'I'll be upstairs exploring the wonderful gifts that Victoria showered on her host.'

He would have felt completely chuffed.

'And as a chef who is passionate about the best British food,

'I'll be making a 19th-century cake with a boozy finish in honour of Victoria's favourite PM.'

That looks wonderful.

'And it packs a real punch for Tim!'

It's really alcopop!

The year is 1877. Queen Victoria is a 58-year-old widow

and has been on the throne for a hefty 40 years.

This was her first ever trip to the home of Benjamin Disraeli,

in his third year as Prime Minister.

Victoria travelled from Windsor to High Wycombe on the Royal train,

a journey that took just 35 minutes.

The Queen arrived at Hughenden accompanied by her youngest daughter, Beatrice.

They got out of the train at High Wycombe station to transfer to a horse and carriage

which swept them through this gateway up to the house.

Benjamin Disraeli's country seat.

And this is on a much lesser scale than the grand estates Victoria was used to

but the grounds were cleverly designed to hide the house from view.

'Just as well because both Victoria and the Prime Minister required a bit of privacy.

'You see, this trip was all a bit serious. At the time, there was an international crisis.

'Russia was at war with Turkey, putting at risk vital trade routes to India

'and Victoria was having none of it. She wanted the Prime Minister to declare war on Russia

'in order to quash the threat. Even with all this going on,

'Disraeli still wanted to put on a good show for the Queen.'

Victoria's visit here to Hughenden would have been seen by Disraeli as an absolute triumph

because he was, after all, the ultimate social climber.

The fact that his sovereign was going to call would have driven him into a complete ecstasy,

even though she only came for lunch.

Now the house may not be as imposing as some, but they did try their very best to make sure

that it would impress the Queen.

I'll find out if they were working as hard to impress below stairs.

And I'm going to find out some more about this intriguing house.

This visit was strictly business,

but in later years Victoria grew incredibly fond of the man nicknamed Dizzy,

a bond that can still be seen today.

As we pass into the inner entrance hall, your eye is drawn by this maquette.

A plaster sculpture which shows some of Queen Victoria's favourites.

-We've got her favourite pony, Flora.

-PONY NEIGHS

We've got her favourite Collie, Sharp.

And her favourite Highlander,

Billy Connolly. No - John Brown!

So in this single object we have something that's very special for Victoria

and it's most appropriate and charming that it's this that she selected

to prevent to Disraeli when he resigned as Prime Minister in 1880.

It kind of encapsulates this special relationship.

Victoria recorded her arrival at Hughenden in her diary,

but she actually gave very, very little away.

She wrote, "He met me at the door and led me into the library,

"which looked onto a pretty little Italian garden.

"We went out at once and Beatrice and I each planted a tree."

How green.

Despite appearances, Disraeli wasn't actually that wealthy.

He didn't have many staff, so he had to take on additional personnel to make sure

the Queen was properly catered for. Victoria was here for lunch.

With Ivan Day I'll be recreating a boozy dessert we know would have tickled the Prime Minister

and his Queen's taste buds. The kitchen's no longer here, so we're in the converted stables.

Well, here we are at Hughenden. What will we be doing today?

I've got a remarkable object to show you. It's a cake mould.

But it's specifically to make a Savoy cake, a giant sponge cake, in this extraordinary form.

We're going to do something with it. After we've baked it, we're going to turn in into a tipsy cake

because we know that Disraeli was very fond of a tipple.

What I've already done is I've greased the mould,

-drained it...

-How interesting.

-And while it's still warm, I've dusted it with sugar and flour.

That stops the cake from sticking.

'To protect the cake from the heat of the oven,

'we wrap some paper around the mould and tie it in place. Now it's time to make the mixture.'

-The most essential ingredient are the eggs. We've separated out ten eggs. We need another two.

-Yes.

Rosemary, could you put the whites in there and the yolks in here? The other ingredients are very basic.

Sugar and flour. If you could start whipping those up. There's a wonderful Victorian whisk there.

-This is amazing! Look at that.

-It's fantastic. Wait 'til you see it perform. It's really good.

'We're whipping up our own cake mixture, but in Victorian times they often used a stale Savoy cake.'

-So this is done.

-We'd better get some into here.

That's brilliant.

We want to keep the air, so we just fold it in a little bit at a time.

I want to introduce you to this wonderful piece of equipment.

-This is a Victorian flour sieve.

-Oh!

-If you put about half of the flour in.

-I'll pour it over...

-That's perfect.

Now if you turn it round, you can sieve it into...

-This is amazing!

-Isn't that great? Wonderful.

-I want one!

-I knew you'd like that.

-I love it.

-Let's get all of that flour in.

-We've got to get that in the mould. Would you be my guest?

-Oh, you're living dangerously!

-There we go.

-Fantastic. I'll put the spoon over here.

-Aim right for the middle.

-No problems. You know me.

-Not too much at a time... Perfect.

Just keep pouring it, Rosemary. We mustn't fill it right up. Just take it to three-quarter level.

Which is about there. OK?

Great, perfect. That is absolutely perfect.

-There's only one thing to do with that.

-Eat it!

-No, we've got to bake it first!

While below stairs the staff were throwing together a spot of lunch,

upstairs Disraeli and Victoria engaged in some pretty heavy issues.

That December day in 1877, Victoria was here on a mission.

She was determined to stiffen Disraeli's political resolve

and provide Royal support at a time of international tension that was about to engulf Asia.

She wrote in her diary, "I went back into the library where he gave me an account of yesterday's Cabinet,

"which had been very stormy."

'And it's in this very room that the discussion took place.

'You know, Her Maj had a history of meddling in policy issues

'that should have been the preserve of Parliament. I have a copy of the telegram Disraeli sent to Victoria

'the day before she arrived here that reveals just how involved she was.'

You can see here, it says, "Foreign Office, 5.50, on December the 14th."

And it says, "Cabinet, two hours. Carnarvon, Salisbury and Derby against.

"But the first two will, I think, assent. Decided on Monday.

"Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary for War and Lord Chancellor excellent.

"And all the rest, on the whole, much pleased." So this just proves

that Disraeli is keeping Victoria involved, literally minute by minute with developments.

All pretty unconstitutional.

Before we find out more about this political fuss, we first need to know more about Dizzy the man

because, by all accounts, he was a bit of a rascal.

I've enlisted Professor Jane Ridley.

There's a huge difference between the young Disraeli, a philanderer and a flatterer and a dandy,

and deeply in debt, and the old Disraeli who is a dedicated statesman, incredibly hard-worked,

a widower, but brilliantly manipulative and very good, particularly, with women,

which is, I think, where we come to Queen Victoria.

Disraeli treated her like not just a queen and a woman,

but he called her the Fairy Queen...

He was extravagant in his gestures. He'd kiss her hand with a flourish,

bow very deeply, significantly deeply,

-which would excite her.

-All this is quite true. She gave him privilege that no other Prime Minister had.

She allowed him to sit down in her presence. Usually, you had to stand.

'So there's a unique bond, possibly partly because Disraeli and Victoria had both been widowed

'by the time of this visit. And that special relationship had a major impact on Victoria.'

He did one terribly important thing.

Queen Victoria, after Albert died, retired into seclusion.

She was hardly seen, always dressed in black and after 10 years of this there was a great deal of criticism.

The monarchy's supposed to be a public institution.

And the person who really managed to charm Victoria out of this was Disraeli.

He was able to sort of persuade her to appear in public, to open Parliament.

He flattered her and told her she was wonderful. In a way, he saved the monarchy.

What he also did was to tell her much more than other Prime Ministers.

He really let her in to the secrets of politics and she was fascinated.

She became more powerful. He used her as a political ally.

-Yes.

-And, you know, she used him to get what she wanted.

She badly wanted to be Empress of India. Disraeli did it for her.

-And she, in return, made him Lord Beaconsfield.

-Absolutely.

It was a mutually reciprocal relationship.

'As a widower, Lord Beaconsfield had to organise all the details of this Royal visit himself.

'Janet Hilderley, who has written about Disraeli and his wife,

'is showing me around the cellar to give me an insight of what went on behind the scenes downstairs.'

Janet, what can you tell me about the visit?

He would have been amazed that she came here. They weren't old money.

They were new, almost nouveau riche.

-They had no background and they lived by their wits.

-But this is what Disraeli enjoyed.

-He enjoyed the high life.

-Indeed he did. And this is partly why he was a million pounds in debt.

-A million pounds in debt?!

-Really. In our money today.

What staff would they have had for the visit?

Altogether, the house had about 30 people.

You'd have had the butler, the housekeeper.

He probably had to hire in a footman, second footman,

various maids, a decent cook. So we're talking about probably 20 people.

-What about the silver? Was it kept in here?

-There wasn't very much.

He probably had to hire the silver when the Queen came.

And this was really important to him because he wanted to impress Victoria so badly!

I can imagine all the things he was thinking of.

What a nightmare! The poor bloke had to sort out the staff and silver

and also the small matter of sorting out the war in Turkey!

Dizzy faced a difficult political dilemma as Professor Ridley explains.

Turkey had been invaded by Russia and it was an axiom of British foreign policy

that you had to protect the route to India and to do that you had to prop up Turkey

and keep the Russians behaving.

What Disraeli wanted to do is to threaten war against Russia

because he thinks the Russians will back down and come to terms.

But there's always the risk that having threatened the war,

the Russians don't back down and you're in it up to your neck.

That was indeed the risk. A lot of the Cabinet thought precisely that,

so Disraeli's other problem is that his Cabinet is split. It's on a knife edge, really,

whether we'll go to war with Russia or whether Disraeli will have to back down with egg on his face.

And the Queen wants to stiffen him. She's determined that these monstrous Russians be taught a lesson.

"Get out of Turkey."

This was a sticky situation for Disraeli.

He had the Queen barking in one ear, his Cabinet howling in the other

and the last thing he wanted was to seem the lapdog of the monarch.

Jane has this revealing copy of Disraeli's memo to the Queen of the dramatic Cabinet meeting.

"Lord Beaconsfield proposed that Your Majesty should be advised to summon Parliament immediately,

"that a considerable increase of Your Majesty's forces be proposed

"and that Your Majesty should commence negotiations as mediator between the belligerents."

This is really hot stuff. He's saying the Queen, meaning the government,

should summon Parliament, send forces into Turkey

and hopefully begin negotiations.

Then Lord Derby spoke at length. "Any active interference in eastern affairs by England

"was to be deprecated." This is a really divided Cabinet. Lord Derby is Foreign Secretary...

-A big gun.

-Indeed, yeah.

'The Cabinet was adjourned after Victoria's visit

'when the matter was to be decided and, not surprisingly, Victoria's backing paid off.'

Disraeli got his way and the Queen was delighted. 7,000 troops were ordered from India to Malta.

And the fleet appeared outside the Dardanelles, the Russians were terrified, they backed down

and agreed to a conference, the Congress of Berlin. Disraeli went off as the British delegate

and he was triumphant. He came back saying, "I have achieved peace with honour." The origin of that phrase.

You've got to hand it to Victoria. What she wants, she gets.

And this visit was worth every minute of her time.

'Let's hope our tipsy cake does the business. It's baked at a moderate heat for 50 minutes,

'and left to stand so it's not too fragile to get out of the mould.'

-It's coming out nicely.

-Perfect.

-OK?

-Yes, I can see.

The best way is to turn it out onto your hand.

It is hot. How's that?

That looks wonderful.

Well, to make this tipsy cake really look good, the tradition was to cover it completely

with an array of sliced almonds, so it looks like a porcupine.

So, very simply, we've just got to make some little knife wounds.

And then select a really good almond. Make sure it's a whole one.

And then just push it in like that.

And I think we'll probably need a few hundred to finish that off.

'We know Victoria liked a slice of cake with her afternoon tea.

'The Victoria sponge was named after her! So the pressure's on to get this just right.

'Victoria was only here at Hughenden for a few hours on that December day

'but her friendship with Disraeli lasted for years, mementoes of which are everywhere.'

Of all the books in the library, there's one we're certain Disraeli had prominently on display

and that's this - what's so special about this book?

Look at the title. Leaves From The Journal Of Our Life In The Highlands.

Which is a book Victoria actually wrote and had published.

And what's special about this one is the inscription on the flyleaf.

Look at that. It says,

"To the Right Honourable B Disraeli

"in recollection of Balmoral, September, 1868."

Disraeli was Prime Minister. He would have gone to the Highlands to visit the Queen

and she presented him with this book and actually signed it, Victoria R.

Ahh.

It seems Disraeli could do no wrong in Victoria's eyes.

When you see some of these presents, you might be forgiven for thinking they were more than good friends.

Most extraordinary of all as a gift, I think, is this wash set.

A Renaissance style jug and basin set. But look at the handle!

-A positively pornographic-looking woman reclining on the top.

-WOLF WHISTLE

It's easy to imagine that with every gift that she gave him,

he felt more and more secure in the heart of the British establishment,

a position he'd craved all his life.

No greater gift, perhaps, than when she made him a peer.

And here, in his peer's robes, he would have felt,

oh, I don't know - completely chuffed. Who wouldn't?

'Well, I have to say I'm pretty chuffed as well.

'Our Victorian dessert is starting to take shape, ready for Lord Wonnacott of Eatalot.

'And now for the bit I've been looking forward to all day - adding the booze.'

I've got some pins here. We're instructed to make lots of holes in the cake

so that the sherry we're going to pour onto it can work its way down to the bottom.

I think it's time to turn it into a tipsy cake,

so a little bit at a time...

-Are you going to trust me?

-Always!

'Today we're using sherry, but in Victorian times, whisky, port, wine or brandy

-'was just as popular.'

-Just keep pouring it. Wonderful.

-Around the sides.

-Perfect. Never mind tipsy. This cake is completely blotto!

-I wouldn't put any more sherry on.

-Right.

-All right, you finish off the tipsy cake

with a very, very simple milk and egg yolk custard.

-Lovely! And you just pour it over?

-I personally feel it's much nicer just around the base.

Just pour it to that level there. Nice and neatly.

-Make a little pool of custard all the way round it.

-Oh, look at the alcohol as well!

You get a little bit more custard in the sauceboat as well.

-I think it looks much nicer.

-There we are.

-Perfect.

-That looks wonderful!

-Some tipsy cake.

-Some tipsy cake.

-Do you think Tim will enjoy that?

I think Tim is going to absolutely love it!

'Well, you know what they say about the proof and the pudding.

'Before our lunch date, I'm heading to the local church, St Michael's and All Angels.

'This is the final resting place of Benjamin Disraeli, who died in 1881,

'four years after this visit.

'Victoria was so devastated that she insisted on creating a memorial inside the church.

'It's another insight into the depth of feeling she had for her PM.'

And this is the stall that Disraeli occupied when he came to church, but, interestingly,

hanging on the wall above him is the regalia relating to his Order of the Garter.

And way up above that, the associated banner. These things were brought and placed here

expressly at the wish of Victoria.

Next door to the regalia is his memorial tablet,

exquisitely carved in Carrara marble and erected

by Victoria in remembrance of him. It's the only memorial tablet erected

by a reigning sovereign in a parish church for a subject anywhere in Britain.

That's quite something.

'Disraeli left instructions in his will for a private, not state funeral, here in his local parish.

'Convention dictates that the monarch can't go to the funeral of a commoner

'and although he'd been made a lord, Disraeli was still a commoner so Victoria couldn't attend.

'But a rumour persists that she came and sat in her carriage in the valley below while he was buried.'

What we do know is that Victoria returned to Hughenden in person

four days after the funeral.

She writes in her diary, "The flowers still remained as at the funeral.

"Then we walked around to the tomb, which had been opened purposefully for me to see it.

"There in a small place is dear Lord Beaconsfield's coffin,

"covered with wreaths and flowers,

"next to his wife's.

"And there are others also of his family buried there.

"Could hardly realise it at all.

"It seemed so sad and cheerless.

"I placed a wreath of China flowers, but now the vault is to be closed

"and not used again."

'Interestingly, Victoria omits to mention another lady buried alongside Disraeli.

'The burial plot thickens.' It says, "In memory of Sarah Bridges Williams."

What is Sarah Bridges Williams doing buried next door to Disraeli and his wife?

Well, she was an extraordinary Jewess from the West Country

who befriended Disraeli and insisted that if he would become her executor

and allow her to be buried next door to him,

then she would give him her entire estate,

which is exactly what came about because when she died in 1863,

she was indeed interred here

and Disraeli, the cunning old fox,

picked up £30,000

from her estate.

'What's even more astonishing is that Disraeli's wife, who was alive at the time, went along with it.

'Who says money can't buy love, eh?

'Foxy or not, Disraeli left a huge hole in Victoria's heart.

'It would seem the most important men in her life were those she sadly lost.

'First, her beloved Albert, 20 years earlier, and now Disraeli.

'After a visit to the church, she came back to the house to pay her final respects.'

The epilogue to Victoria's relationship with Disraeli is really rather sad.

She came in to this, his room, alone to contemplate his life.

This room is one of the least changed at Hughenden,

as evidenced by photographs taken in 1880.

On the desk we've got the dried remains of two posies of primroses,

Disraeli's favourite flower, which the Queen had especially sent from Osborne

on the day of the funeral, together with an affectionate note.

When she was in this room, perhaps Victoria sat in this very chair,

contemplating the desk that Disraeli had used as a schoolboy,

maybe looking at the red despatch box.

So very many memories and so very, very sad.

'Well, I think it's only fitting that we pay homage to this beautiful friendship

'with a treat we know both the Fairy Princess and Dizzy would have loved.

'Time to present our own premiere with our magnificent tipsy cake.'

Well, Rosemary, all this doom and gloom has made me rather peckish. What have you got here?

I'm very glad. I want you to enjoy this. This is called a tipsy cake.

-Ah.

-Now it is a Savoy cake, but with something poured over it.

So what I'd like to do first of all is just give you a taste.

-Oh, yes, please.

-Give me your plate and I'll do it from this side.

-It is very soft.

-Yes.

-Moist. And I'm going to pour a little bit of custard over the top.

-Let's dig in.

-Lovely.

-And see if you like it.

I think it's just as well I'm not driving my car today. It's alcopop, this!

This is SO alcoholic.

-You've got about a pint of sherry in there.

-Have we?

And, I must tell you, it is just amazing. It soaks it up.

-Well, that's marvellous.

-Why don't we toast Benjamin Disraeli and Queen Victoria?

I'm with you. Cheerio.

'Next time on Royal Upstairs Downstairs, we're another 13 years on in Victoria's Royal roadshow.

'The year is 1890 and the Queen has a lunch date at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.

'But it was no ordinary date. This was an extremely rare public appearance

'for a now elderly and reclusive Queen who was about to celebrate her 71st birthday.'

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011

Email [email protected]