In the Days of Queen Victoria

by Eva March Tappan

  CHAPTER V

  THE CORONATION

  When the young Queen awoke on the morning after her accession, she musthave fancied for a moment that she had dreamed all the events of theprevious day. She had gone to bed expecting a quiet morning of study;she had been aroused to hear that she was a queen. Thus far she hadremained in her own home, and had merely received those who had come toher, the Prime Minister, the Councilors, and others; but when she hadbeen Queen for a little more than twenty-four hours, the time had comefor her to go to London and be proclaimed sovereign of England in thepresence of thousands of her subjects.

  Victoria and her mother came out of the palace followed by LordMelbourne. Both ladies were in mourning. The young Queen wore a blackdress with white at the neck and wrists. Her bonnet was black and, incomparison with the great pink one that had so delighted her subjects,it was very small. In front of the royal carriage were the Life Guards,a magnificent body of men, everyone drawing himself up to his fullheight in his pride that it was _his_ company that was to escort theQueen on her first appearance. She bowed to them first, then to thecrowds that thronged about the entrance. She and her mother entered thecarriage. More of the Life Guards followed and a long line of carriagesfilled with lords and ladies.

  The carriages did not go rapidly, for every road and lane and passageway was full of people, who cheered and waved banners and shouted "Godsave the Queen!"

  When they arrived at St. James', the officers of state stood waiting toreceive them, and they were escorted to a window overlooking thequadrangle below, which had long been filled with a great crowd ofenthusiastic people.

  "Make way for his Grace, the Garter King-at-Arms!" cried the heralds,and that officer advanced, escorted by the Earl-Marshal, gave one lookover the assembled people, then waved his scepter for silence, and readthe formal proclamation of Victoria as Queen of Great Britain andIreland. He was glittering in all the insignia of his office, but theeyes of the people were not on him; they were turned toward an upperwindow where against a background of crimson curtains stood the slenderfigure of the Queen, accompanied by her mother and the Prime Minister.The last words of the proclamation were "God save the Queen!" and "Godsave the Queen!" repeated the bands in a great outburst of martialmusic. The trumpets sounded, the cannon in the park roared, and thecannon in the Tower roared in response. The people in the courtcheered, and the people outside the court cheered. They waved theirhandkerchiefs, hats, canes, umbrellas, anything that they could wave.They could not be induced to leave the place, and thousands hung aboutthe entrance to the palace for hours, hoping for just one glimpse oftheir sovereign.

  Not long after this proclamation, the Queen presided over anotherCouncil meeting, and did it, so said one who was present, "as if shehad done nothing else all her life." This was not the end of the day byany means, for now the reception of archbishops, bishops, and judgesfollowed. She met them with the most perfect dignity; but she was amerry young girl as well as a queen, and after she had received thebishops and had withdrawn from the room with a most stately demeanor,they were greatly amused to see her running down the corridor like achild just let out of school. Her Majesty had forgotten that the doorwas made of glass!

  While all this rejoicing was going on, the dead King lay in state atWindsor Palace, shrouded in a crimson pall and under a purple canopy.The crowns of England and of Hanover lay above him. There were bannersand imperial escutcheons. Around him were nobles, admirals, andguardsmen. Nearest stood the feeble old Duke of Sussex in his scarletuniform. The Dead March sounded, and the long line moved slowly on anddown to St. George's Chapel. The last honors were duly paid to the deadKing, but the thoughts of all the land were with the young Queen.

  Before the day had closed, Victoria and her mother were escorted backto Kensington by the Life Guards to spend a short time before the Queenshould take up her abode in Buckingham Palace. "I do not want to gothere," she said to the Duke of Sussex. "I love the old KensingtonGardens, where I can wander about as I please. Buckingham Palace is fartoo big and too grand for me."

  Other people may choose their homes, but sovereigns are less free, andthere was nothing to do but to leave the homelike Kensington, where hergreatest troubles had been an occasional hard lesson, and go toBuckingham, or the New Palace, as it was called, which was to be herLondon residence.

  The New Palace was not yet completed, but men had been working nightand day to prepare it for the Queen. It stood on a desolate sand-flat.There were dirty alleys and mud-puddles and dingy little hovels aroundit, but the coming of the Queen was to make it gorgeous. A splendid newthrone, all dazzling in its crimson and gold, was built for her.

  "Is it as your Majesty would have it?" inquired the builder.

  "It's the most comfortable throne I ever sat on," replied the merryyoung sovereign.

  Buckingham was not lonely by any means. From over the whole countrycame delegations from universities, corporations, and all kinds ofsocieties. One of these delegations was composed of Quakers, whobelieve that to uncover the head is to show to man a reverence thatshould be shown to God alone, and they marched up the stairway withoutremoving their broad-brimmed gray hats. This could not be allowed, butthe delegates could hardly be forbidden to see their Queen. Someone wasquick-witted enough to discover a way out of the dilemma. "The Quakerswon't take off their hats," he whispered, "but it is against theirprinciples to resist violence and they won't object if we do it forthem." Two of the attendants then respectfully raised each man's hat ashe passed between them, and returned it to his head when the audiencehad come to an end.

  At the death of a sovereign, Parliament is always dissolved, and a newelection is held. Victoria had stood by her "Aunt Adelaide's" side andseen the grand procession which marked the prorogation, but now thetime had come for her to take the principal place in the procession.

  "It would be better to remain away and allow your speech to be read foryou," said both her mother and her physician. "Remember how much youhave been through within the past month, and avoid this unnecessaryexcitement."

  The little Queen was wiser than her watchful advisers. She knew wellthat her subjects had thronged every road leading to Buckingham becausethey wanted to see her, and she meant to gratify them and appear in allthe splendor that a prorogation demanded. As to being exhausted bythese ceremonials, she laughed at the idea of such a thing. "I like itall," she said. "I have lived so quietly that it is new to me. It isn'ttiresome, it is amusing."

  Therefore "Victoria Regina" was written in letters of gold about abeautiful new throne in the House of Lords. Mr. Davys, her "good, kindmaster," as she called him, heard her practice her speech; then she wasmade ready for the ceremony. There were no more simple white muslindresses for her. She wore a kirtle of white satin and over it a crimsonvelvet robe with border of ermine. The kirtle flashed with goldembroidery, and the velvet robe was confined by a heavy golden cord andtassels. Diamonds glittered and sparkled in her bracelets and coronetand on her stomacher. A few years before, the young girl had walked tothe milliner's and home again, carrying her new bonnet in her hand; butnow she seated herself in the royal carriage and was drawn by eightcream-colored horses. The Yeomen of the Guard rode before her; and soshe went to the House of Parliament.

  The band played "God Save the Queen," as she entered the House of Lordsand was conducted to the throne on which "Victoria Regina" was written.It was fortunate that she had no farther to walk, for before she seatedherself the lords-in-waiting laid upon her shoulders the heavyparliamentary mantle of purple velvet.

  The brilliant company of peers and bishops remained standing. "Mylords, be seated," said the Queen. The usual forms of business werefollowed, but all interest centered in the speech of the sovereign. Mr.Davys had tutored her well, and when she had finished, Fanny Kemble,the greatest actress of the day, declared, "I never heard any spokenwords more musical in their gentle distinctness." Charles Sumner wrote,"I never heard anything better read in my life;" and the Queen's kindold uncle, the Du
ke of Sussex, could only wipe his eyes and murmur,"Beautiful!"

  It was not long before the court moved to Windsor Palace. The ordinaryroutine of the Queen's day was breakfast with her mother between eightand nine, followed by an hour or two with Lord Melbourne attending tomatters of state. Then came an audience with the Cabinet Ministers,whenever there was business to be transacted. About two o'clock theQueen and some twenty or thirty of the ladies and gentlemen of thecourt took a horseback ride of two hours or longer. After this camemusic or amusement of some kind until the dinner hour. If there wereany children in the palace, the Queen was always ready to spend thistime with them, and their company must have been a great relief afterthe formalities of the day. Dinner was at about half-past seven. Afterdinner came music, games, dancing, and conversation. This was the orderof the day when it was not broken into, but it was almost always brokeninto, for there were balls, receptions, concerts, banquets, and thereception of delegations.

  One visit which was soon paid to the court of England gave the Queenspecial delight. It was that of her uncle, King Leopold, and his Queen.Victoria had never played the hostess before, but there could have beenno one else to whom she would have been so glad to show honor; and nowthere was a merry time, indeed, for the English Queen planned picnics,dinner parties, sailing parties, and all sorts of gayeties.

  Those who looked on from the outside thought of the Queen as alight-hearted young girl enjoying to the full what was almost her firsttaste of gayety and pleasure, but there was quite another side to herlife. More was required of the sovereign of England than to sit on athrone and wear handsome dresses and jewels. There was much hard workfor her to do, and this merry little Queen had no thought of attemptingto escape it. Those morning hours with Lord Melbourne were hours whenshe must give her keenest thought and closest attention. At an age whenmany girls have little more responsibility than to learn a lesson or tochoose a dress, this girl had to read complicated papers, to listen toarguments on difficult subjects, and sometimes to decide whether a manproven guilty of crime should live or die. Of course she might havemade all this much easier for herself by simply writing her namewherever her Ministers advised, but she would not sign any paperwithout reading and understanding it.

  "Your Majesty," said Lord Melbourne one day, "there is no need of yourexamining this paper, as it is of no special importance."

  "But it is of special importance to me," replied the Queen, "whether Isign a paper with which I am not thoroughly satisfied."

  Papers of all sorts were showered upon her. Sometimes after listeningto Lord Melbourne's advice she would come to a decision on the firstreading, but often she would say, "I must think about this before Isign it." Never was a sovereign so overwhelmed with papers, and herfriends began to suspect that some of the officials who wished to havematters go their own way were trying to disgust her with publicbusiness hoping that after a little while she would become so tired ofit that she would sign whatever was sent her. They did not know thatthey were dealing with a Queen who had had to finish her haycocks whenshe was a little girl. Even Lord Melbourne used to say laughingly, "I'drather manage ten kings than one queen."

  There could hardly have been a better man than Lord Melbourne for thedifficult position of adviser to a young woman who was also a queen. Hewas three times her age, and while his manner to her was always one ofmost profound respect, he showed an almost fatherly feeling for thefatherless young girl. He was her Prime Minister and was also hertrusted friend. Before she became Queen, he had won her confidence in aremarkable way, by opposing her desires and those of her mother. In oneof those constantly recurring differences between King and Duchess, hehad stood firmly for the King's wishes, because he was the King'sservant, although he knew that in a few months at most the Princesswould be on the throne. Victoria was wise enough to see that the manwho would be faithful even at the probability of his own loss was theman whom she might safely trust, and she did trust him implicitly.

  Another member of the Queen's household was the honest Baron Stockmar.He had been sent by King Leopold, as soon as his royal niece hadattained her eighteenth birthday, to guard her interests and advise herif it should be necessary. With people in general he was quiet andreserved. At table he "ate nothing and talked less," according to thedescription of one who was at the court; but all felt that the Queenwas especially frank with him, and that he and Lord Melbourne were inperfect agreement. One other duty he had at the English court which wasknown only to himself and King Leopold and that was to prepare the wayfor the marriage that the King hoped would come about between his nieceand his nephew. The two young people were really in training forsovereignty. King Leopold kept Prince Albert with him for nearly a yearafter Victoria's accession He saw to it that the young man shouldacquire a good knowledge of English and of the English constitution.Baron Stockmar was in the meantime teaching the Queen the rightfulposition of the sovereign of England. "The sovereign must belong to noparty," he said. "Whatever party is in power has been put in power bythe nation, and has a right to claim the loyalty of the Queen."

  Of course the devoted Baroness Lehzen had followed her beloved pupil,for one of the first acts of the Queen was to appoint her privatesecretary. The Baroness said: "I copy all her private correspondencejust as I used to do when she was my Princess, and she is as frank withme as when she was a child; but she has never shown me a state documentor said a word to me about any state business. She knows that suchmatters should go to her advisers, and not to me or any other woman."

  Surely the little Queen was not without good friends. There were KingLeopold, the wisest sovereign in Europe; Baron Stockmar, the "onlyhonest man"; Lord Melbourne, who seemed to have no thought but for her,and Baroness Lehzen, who had loved her from her babyhood. The positionof her mother was very peculiar and not agreeable in all respects. Foreighteen years her only aim in life had been to prepare her daughterfor the throne of England. The daughter was now on the throne, and theDuchess felt that her occupation was gone. She realized that matters ofstate must be discussed with the councilors only, and for this she wasprepared; but it was not a pleasant surprise to find that the younggirl who less than a year before her accession had meekly left theballroom for bed at her mother's bidding was now manifesting verydecided opinions of her own. The Duchess had the fullest confidence inone of the executors of her husband's will, and she would have beenglad that he should hold some office in the new government. The Queentreated her mother with the most tender affection, and she willinglygranted the gentleman a generous pension, but she refused to haveanything to do with him.

  Victoria had ascended the throne, but she had never yet worn theEnglish crown, for though a young girl may become a queen in a moment,a coronation is a different matter. "The King is dead, and thereforeVictoria is Queen," declared the Council, and she was Queen; but thepreparations for a coronation require more time than does the writingof an address of loyalty, and it was a whole year before thesepreparations were completed. It was not an easy task to decide justwhat ceremonies should be observed. One matter to be seriouslydeliberated upon was whether the left cheek of the young girl should beforced to endure six hundred kisses of state from the six hundrednobles and bishops. There was not even a crown suited to the occasion,for the old one weighed seven pounds, and the most devoted admirers ofthe ancient usages could not ask that the "little Queen" should carrythat load on her head. After many lengthy consultations, thesemomentous questions were decided. The tradesmen were assured that therewould be enough ceremony to bring about large sales, the peers andbishops were told that they would not be allowed to kiss the pink cheekof the Queen, and the crown jewelers were bidden to set to work on anew crown that should weigh only half as much as the old one.

  The day came at last, June 28, 1838. London evidently meant to make themost of it, and as soon as the eager watchers saw the first glimpse ofdawn, a salute of twenty-one cannon was fired. It was only a littleafter three o'clock, but the earliness of the hour made littledifference to
the thousands that had been up all night. Some had stayedup to be sure of securing a good place to see the procession, somebecause the services of the hairdressers were in such demand that, whena head was once in order, no risk of disarrangement could be venturedupon, and some had been kept awake by pure excitement and nervousness.There was no sleeping after daylight for anyone, for those who were farenough from the Tower to drowse through the firing of cannon werearoused by the ringing of bells which followed, as every church towerrang out its merriest chimes. At five o'clock Westminster Abbey wasopened, and this was none too early, for the people who were fortunateenough and rich enough to obtain tickets had long been thronging theentrance. These people in the Abbey had a long time to wait, for it wasfully ten o'clock before the salute of twenty-one guns from the parkgave the signal that the procession had started from Buckingham Palace.

  Such a procession as it was! First came the trumpeters, then the LifeGuards, bands, foreign ambassadors in most gorgeous carriages, moreLife Guards, the carriage of the Duchess of Kent, the Duke of Sussex,and others of the royal family, the officers of the royal household,and the Yeomen of the Guard. Then all the thousands along the way wereagape, for the eight cream-colored horses were seen drawing the chariotof state, wherein sat the pretty little maiden who was the center andcause of all this magnificence. A circlet of diamonds was on her head.She wore a dress of gold tissue, and a mantle of crimson velvet trimmedwith gold lace and lined with ermine. Pearls and diamonds gleamed andflashed at every motion. With her rode the Mistress of the Robes andthe Master of the Horse. A body of cavalry followed her.

  The procession was nearly an hour and a half in reaching the Abbey, forthe Queen would not go by the shortest way. All that time people wereshouting, and banners were waving, for every house along the line ofmarch was brilliant with as much decoration as its owner could afford.Half a million strangers were in London, and many houses were rented atenormous rates. Five or six thousand dollars was not looked upon as arental at all exorbitant, and some were let at a much higher price.

  At the door of the Abbey, the Queen was met by the chief officers ofstate. She walked slowly up the aisle, but not alone by any means.Heralds, clergy, and officers of state came first; then a noble bearingthe coronet of the Duchess of Cambridge, followed by the Duchessherself, with her long train of purple velvet. Another coronet wasborne on a silken cushion, and after it came the Duchess of Kent. Thencame six nobles, each carrying some piece of the regalia. There weredukes and earls and marquises and generals and field marshals andbishops, all in their most brilliant array. A little whisper, "TheQueen, the Queen!" ran through the long lines of peers and peeressesand ambassadors and judges. It was followed by the waving ofhandkerchiefs and scarfs and such shouts of applause as shook the Abbeyto its foundations, and Victoria advanced, escorted by three bishops.Eight young girls in white silk and silver, with blush roses, carriedher train. Then came members of the royal household, gentlemen-at-arms,lords-in-waiting, and other officials without number.

  All this time the choir were singing "I was glad when they said untome, Let us go into the house of the Lord." Then they sang "God save theQueen!" and the trumpets sounded the accompaniment. A most impressivemoment followed. The trumpets ceased, every voice was hushed, not asound was heard among all the thousands in the vast Abbey. The Queenhad passed through the door looking "like a young girl on herbirthday," but now her face was grave, and she knelt before the altarfor a moment of silent prayer. By an ancient privilege, the Westminsterschoolboys had the right to give the first greeting to the sovereign,and as she rose, the Abbey rang with their shouts, "Victoria! Victoria!Vivat Victoria Regina!"

  The next part of the ceremony is known as the "Recognition"--that is,the recognition of the new sovereign as the lawful sovereign. The Queenand the Archbishop of Canterbury turned to the north, and theArchbishop said:

  "Sirs, I here present unto you Queen Victoria, the undoubted Queen ofthis realm; wherefore, all you who are come this day to do your homageare you willing to do the same?" "God save Queen Victoria!" the peoplecried. The Archbishop and the Queen then turned to the south, to theeast, and to the west, and the same words were repeated with the sameresponse. This signified that the people of the land had formallyaccepted her as their sovereign.

  After this, the Queen, followed by the eight train-bearers, walked tothe altar, and she made an offering of a golden altar cloth and apound's weight of gold. This was only the beginning of the four-hours'ceremony, and next came a long sermon preached by the Bishop of London,followed by the solemn oath of the Queen to be just and governaccording to the law.

  Then came the act of coronation, but for this Victoria was not toappear in jewels and ermine. She was escorted to one of the chapels androbed in a flowing gown of fine white muslin. Over this was thrown arobe of gold brocade worked with the rose, the shamrock, and thethistle emblematic of England, Ireland, and Scotland. In this quaintand ancient costume she knelt before the altar. The Archbishop led herto the famous old chair of St. Edward, wherein was the stone of Scone,and touched her head and hands with the holy oil. The scepter, orb,sword, and other things signifying power and authority in either Churchor state, were handed to her, each with a few words from theArchbishop, exhorting her to use it properly. The ruby ring was placedupon her finger, and the cloth-of-gold mantle upon her shoulders. Thenthe Archbishop slowly lifted the crown, which was blazing withdiamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds, and placed it upon her head.The next moment all the peers and peeresses lifted their coronets andput them on. The whole building flashed and glittered until one mighthave fancied that it was raining diamonds. "God save the Queen!" echoedand re-echoed. The thousands who stood outside the Abbey caught up thecry, the bells of all the churches in London began to ring, and theguns of all the garrison towns were fired.

  The Coronation of Queen Victoria.(_From painting by Sir George Hayter._)]

  The ceremony of homage followed. The Archbishop, the two royal dukes,and many other dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons kneltand, kissing her hand, said: "I do become your liege man of life andlimb, and of earthly worship, and faith and truth I will bear unto you,to live and die against all manner of folk, so help me God!" One of thepeers was so aged and infirm that he tried twice in vain to ascend thesteps. The Queen rose and moved toward him and extended her hand to himas simply and naturally as any other young girl might have done who wasnot sitting on a throne. After the homage, she received the HolySacrament; the "Hallelujah Chorus" was sung; and then the processionre-formed and went slowly over the way to Buckingham Palace.

  When George III. was crowned, he complained of some blunders that weremade, but he could hardly have been much comforted by the reply thatmatters would "go better next time." Even though Victoria was the thirdsovereign crowned since the time of George III., there were still somemistakes. England was accustomed to crowning strong men, but notslender young girls, and the orb was made so heavy that holding it wasvery wearisome, while the ruby ring was made for the little finger andhad to be forced upon the ring finger as best it could be. When thepeers did homage, they were required to touch the crown; and the Queensaid it was fortunate that she had had it made as tight as possible,for many of them knocked it, and one actually clutched it.

  After such a day as this, Victoria must have felt that she was "reallyand truly" a queen; but with all her dignity and her royalty, she wasstill a frank, natural young girl, and the story is told that when sheentered Buckingham Palace and heard the bark of her favorite dog, sheexclaimed, "Oh, there's Dash! I must go and give him his bath."

  The English were proud of their Queen, of her dignity and her royalbearing, but it was these touches of frankness and simplicity that wontheir hearts, and made them feel that with all her jewels, her velvets,and her ermine, she was, after all, one of themselves. It was at thistime that the Duke of Sussex wrote to a friend:

  "The girl Queen is becoming more and more popular. You would simplyidolize her if you saw that bright li
ttle face, with clear blue eyes,winning all hearts and making us all say, 'God save the Queen!'"