The Queen, Her Lover and the Most Notorious Spy in History

by Roland Perry

  ‘I am sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be. I had left him. He could not keep his hands off a cousin of mine in Paris.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘A male cousin.’

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘Yes, “oh”.’

  They sat in silence. Elphinstone didn’t know what to say.There was a veneer of bitterness in her manner that had not been apparent before.

  Elphinstone was kept in touch with British politics via letters and newspapers that travelled to him more quickly than when he had first arrived in Madras.Then the mail had taken sixteen weeks to reach him; now via the overland route it could take just five or six weeks. He was not distressed to be away from the turmoil that was affecting Victoria. Aberdeen resigned as prime minister early in 1855. The queen, now 35 years of age, was finding that candidates tended to be too old for office. She was pleased to hear Disraeli’s remark about Palmerston: ‘He is an old painted pantaloon . . .with false teeth that would fall out of his mouth if he did not hesitate when speaking.’

  Victoria was more than ever opposed to Palmerston, who over the years had become her main political nemesis. She was despondent when another candidate for whom she sent, Lord Derby, declined and then recommended Palmerston. Disraeli could not resist another swipe at him, saying he was 71 years old, deaf, blind and no good at business. This amused Victoria but could not hide the fact that Palmerston was looming as the main option.The press and people wanted him. Still she baulked at the possibility, given his history of disregard for her views, her role and her relatives.Victoria beckoned Lord Lansdowne, a 75-year-old Whig elder statesman. He also rejected her overture. He said he was too old and not well enough. Next up was Lord Russell. He tried to form a government but could not appease a long-term political rival, Lord Clarendon.Victoria was in despair. She had wanted her cousin the Duke of Cambridge to command the military; she may well have dreamed about asking Albert to do that job (Wellington had wanted him to do this) or even be prime minister, if he had been elected to parliament. Even Elphinstone’s suitability as a popular, chivalrous character came into her thinking. He was governing India’s most important city with a huge army at his disposal. All reports she was receiving were saying that he was excelling in the role, where he was showing tact, finesse and goodwill. He was relatively young at 47, but his appointment as prime minister would be out of the question.

  Victoria finally admitted to herself that Palmerston had to be the next prime minister.

  26

  VICTORIA TRUMPS NAPOLEON III

  As Elphinstone’s departure slipped from months into years,Victoria clung to Albert more and more whenever he made time from his busy schedule. She dreaded him making even a fleeting five-day visit to see Emperor Napoleon in France. The prince had to cement relations with the French in their combined bid to defeat the Russians in the Crimean War. The royalty of Europe had been sceptical about Napoleon III.The Queen was pleased that Albert was satisfied with him, apart from his penchant for smoking. King Leopold had always been unkind, thinking his taking of Louis Philippe’s throne ‘as like finding a snake in one’s bed’.The emperor wished to keep on the accepting side of Victoria and wrote her a note about Albert, which no doubt gave Napoleon a smirk when he signed it. He said he had never met anyone with such profound knowledge as the prince, and who ‘imparted it so freely’. Victoria, who always saw her husband’s cup as half-full, even if there were nothing in it, accepted this as a wonderful compliment.

  Her enthusiasm for the fight with the Russians took another turn when it did not all go according to plan. There was the brave but doomed charge of the Light Brigade, which made Victoria proud, yet then she heard about cholera, fever and diarrhoea striking her beloved troops. Victoria’s cousin the Duke of Cambridge, with the army as commander-in-chief, caused her further grief when he had a breakdown at the height of battle. He was forced to take rest leave in Constantinople.

  The duke wrote to close friend Elphinstone in Bombay. ‘You will be surprised to see whence this letter is dated,’ he said, ‘but the fact is that I have just come up to recover from the fatigues of a very protracted and hard campaign . . .I regret to say it is not yet at an end.’

  Elphinstone replied with a concerned letter.The duke wrote again from St James’s Palace saying that he had recovered ‘from the effects of a most hard campaign . . .good news from the Sea of Azofif lead me to the hope that ere long we shall have further great successes, and that the Russians will be driven out of the Crimea, in addition to the fall of Sebastopol.’

  Husna ignored the governor’s invitations to balls, building openings and exhibitions. But to Elphinstone’s pleasure early January 1855, she turned up in a multicoloured sari at the Gymkhana Club during a cricket match between eleven East India Company representatives and a local squad of twenty Indians.

  ‘I thought you had no interest in the game,’ he said, shaking hands in front of the other guests in a marquee beside the ground.

  ‘I hate it,’ she said with a grin, ‘but I was bored and, besides, I was intrigued to see inside this Gymkhana—such a British male bastion. This is a rare event in clubs to which women cannot belong, and especially Indian women.’

  It crossed Elphinstone’s mind that she seemed more like the sensual being he had known in Madras, rather than the cynical, apparently hardened individual he had invited to tea in his first months in Bombay.

  They sat in wicker chairs and watched the game.

  Husna looked around. Men in pith helmets were slumped in chairs, some asleep, others nearly so.

  ‘It would be helpful if someone had a heart attack,’ she said loudly to Elphinstone, who gave a mock frown of disapproval. ‘It would surely liven things up!’

  After a few minutes silence, Elphinstone leaned close to her and asked, ‘Would you like to come to dinner at the residence?’

  ‘No, merci.’

  Elphinstone waited for some explanation. None was forthcoming.

  Palmerston was sworn in as prime minister on 4 February 1855. His timing was good. The next month the old Tsar Nicholas died of a broken heart after the carnage of battles at Inkerman and Balaclava. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander II, who wished to make peace. Palmerston, a consummate politician, thought the peace terms were too soft on the original aggressor, Russia. There was a problem with the harmony between the French and British armies in the conflict. Anti-French sentiment, a hangover from Aberdeen’s attitude, was holding back the harmony between the British and French armies. Vertically challenged Napoleon III, with his squat body, straggly goatee beard, big nose and eyes that seemed in permanent hangover, sought compensation, at least in appearance, from his tall, elegant Spanish wife, Eugénie.They made two visits to England.Victoria, now the pragmatic, more secure monarch, worked in tandem with her unfavoured prime minister, to finesse the pompous yet fragile French emperor. It helped that Napoleon was infatuated with her and she was pleased to learn that he had been a special French constable sent to London to help out the local police during the Chartist rising in 1848. He had been in Green Park to watch her on her way to open parliament for the first time. Napoleon had paid £40 to be at the opera just to lay eyes on her.These ingratiating revelations helped thaw any coolness at this high level of diplomacy.

  A sticking point between their respective armies was Napoleon’s bravado about leading them in the battles against the Russians. Everyone in the country knew that no British soldier would fight under him. He had to be disabused of this fanciful notion.Victoria was in her element and at the peak of her persuasive power since being crowned. First, she worked on Empress Eugenie, having her to lunch at Buckingham Palace. Using her charm as they ate, Victoria talked about everything else except the issue of her husband, but over tea in the garden her demeanour changed to one of concern.

  ‘I would implore you to make him understand how important he is to France,’ Victoria said. ‘The country needs him. If the worst were to happen it would be a disaster for your country a
nd so tragic for you . . .I can only think of how devastated I would be to lose my own husband. But it would so much worse for the emperor to be killed. I fear there would be civil war.’

  Eugénie looked startled. ‘We worry about it, your majesty,’ she said softly.

  ‘You must think too of yourself,as I have under similar circumstances,’ Victoria went on as she sensed the princess’s fear of losing her husband, her country and her head, literally.The guillotine was the nightmare of every member of a royal family.

  ‘I would urge you to find a moment, a moment of intimacy, preferably, to influence him not to make a fatal error by leading his army in battle. It will be wiser and braver for him to show discretion. Remember a living, great emperor is preferable to a monument of one.’

  The next day, Victoria made a point of being at a war council meeting between the British cabinet and Napoleon, despite Palmerston’s ambivalence about her role. If he ever hesitated over her having influence, any traces of doubt evaporated at this meeting. Anticipating that Eugénie had softened up her husband overnight with at least pillow-talk, Victoria addressed Napoleon: ‘I would implore you emperor, please, please do not go to the Crimea. It would be too dangerous for the most important commander in the whole of Europe to risk all.’

  This was supreme flattery and tactical, and yet not surprising, as these two had a history of flirtatious friendship. Victoria had ever been susceptible to his charm that women enjoyed and men could not understand. This was in spite of him being the nephew of England’s former arch-enemy, Bonaparte, and the way he had taken office. In 1848, Napoleon had been elected French president after King Louis-Philippe had been thrown out. He then staged a coup and made himself emperor. His elevation had been at the expense of a monarch, always a fearful event for royalty. And yet Victoria had genuine affection for him, and him for her.

  Now this comment about his military status, in front of a sceptical British government no less, left Napoleon unable to disguise his delight. The cabinet members were silent and in awe of their self-possessed queen as she drew breath and then continued: ‘We are so aware of the excellent French and British generals ready to do their job.’ She paused to glance at her ministers. ‘It is no secret here for me to pass on our concern that if you left Paris our intelligence suggests your uncle Prince Jerome and his cousin Prince Napoleon would make mischief for you.’

  Napoleon grimaced, and with a Gallic pout said: ‘A commander must risk these things, your majesty . . .’

  ‘With respect, emperor, someone as important to France and the stability of Europe as your highness should not risk being killed, for you surely would be a target on any battlefield.’ Napoleon shifted his diminutive frame in his seat. Victoria added: ‘For the sake of peace in France, for your wonderful family and beautiful wife, you should not risk everything!’

  The impassioned plea had all eyes turning to him. At first his facial expressions, then his nodding head and finally more and more Gallic shrugs of agreement led everyone to believe that they knew what his response would be. Chuffed at Victoria’s apparent concern, he picked up on the problems that members of his family might cause by attempted coups.Victoria had presented him with a substantial face-saving excuse.

  ‘I understand your majesty’s ever-so-wise words,’ he replied, ‘and it is very true that members of my family would love me to go abroad to command my army. They may well see it is a chance for a coup.’ He paused, himself heavy on theatrics, ‘I make you this promise, your majesty. I shall consider not going.’

  He returned to Paris. A week later a would-be French assassin tried to shoot him. Victoria noted from her multiple experiences that the attempt was made with ‘a pistol, thank God!—hardly ever seems to succeed’. But the effort capped off her diplomacy. Napoleon decided not to lead the two armies in the Crimea.The French were now onside but without their interfering, quixotic emperor. Palmerston then moved into his form of diplomacy and persuaded Napoleon to walk away from peace negotiations. Palmerston thought that if Sebastopol fell he would be in a tougher negotiating position. He waited. In September, half a year after Russia wished to have a peace agreement, the French captured Malakov just as the British were pushed back from the Redan with many casualties. On 27 February 1856, an armistice was signed. A month later, an agreement was reached at the Congress of Paris. Palmerston called for a demilitarised Black Sea and got it. But the Crimea was under Russian control and he could not push it back to the Turks’ Ottoman Empire. The war and terrible carnage was over. Victoria had to acknowledge Palmerston’s role in April by awarding him the Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry or knighthood. It brought prestige for Palmerston, and was good politics for her. Public sentiment that had waivered over the royal family now peaked in their favour again. Bestowing such an honour on someone she had despised showed a certain magnanimity on Victoria’s behalf. It was also shrewd. Palmerston was very popular in the country. But now he was disposed towards his monarch and would be less likely to upset her.

  27

  IN THE BARREL OF A GUN

  The escalated troubles in India in 1857 were triggered by a gun. Sepoys throughout the country were issued with a new rifle, an Enfield percussion cap musket. It was a far more powerful and accurate weapon than the smoothbore Brown Bess that had been standard issue throughout the British army for more than a century.The more modern weapon had a couple of major innovations, but the loading process remained the same. Soldiers still had to bite the cartridge open and pour its gunpowder into the rifle’s muzzle, then stuff the cartridge case into the musket as wadding before loading it with a ball.The paper cartridge case was coated with grease to make it waterproof. A rumour spread through the sepoy ranks that the new rifle’s standard issue cartridges were greased with lard (pork fat) or tallow (beef fat).

  The controversy even became the subject of discussion between Husna and Elphinstone on a ride one morning to the ancient Buddhist Kanheri Caves deep in a green forest on Bombay’s western outskirts. After continued invitations and rejections, she had agreed to gallop with him as they had in Madras.

  ‘Why are you so concerned?’ he asked.

  ‘You forget again! My family members here are all Muslim. It is a serious issue.They all talk much about it.’

  After a minute, Elphinstone mused:‘Hmm, I can see that in the heat of battle it could be a problem.’

  ‘That’s what I’ve been saying,’ Husna said.‘You have to do something about it.’

  Elphinstone wrote to General George Anson, the commander-in-chief of armed forces in India, explaining the problem with clarity. But Anson was trenchant in his attitude.

  ‘I shall never give in to their [the sepoys’] beastly prejudices!’ he replied.

  ‘Then make way for even beastlier consequences,’ Elphinstone warned him.And he was right.The grease issue was the last in a series of grievances that had been simmering for years.The Indians took up the new weapons and found an acceptable way of breaking the cartridge without making mouth contact with the grease.They then aimed them against British occupation. The British wished to view it as a ‘mutiny’, which had the connotation of an unruly mob rising against ‘authority’. Indians preferred to call it the ‘First War of Indian Independence’ or a ‘freedom fight’.The declining Mughal dynasty rulers of the central state of Oudh had been friends with the British for a century but when it was annexed there was unrest among Muslims. This left central India a tinderbox of discontent.

  The successor to Dalhousie as governor-general was Lord (Charles) Canning, aged 44. His appointment was controversial. Many in England viewed it as naked nepotism. His father was the celebrated statesman and former prime minister (1827) George Canning. Nothing in Charles’s performances as postmaster general in Aberdeen’s ministry (and later under Palmerston) suggested other than that he was a hard-working administrator, without the self-confidence, experience, courage, strength or intellect for the biggest job in the British Empire outside England. Canning was
a nervous type, who also lacked the personal warmth, flair, finesse and character needed for such a monumental challenge. But still he was sent to India in 1856. Canning tried to impress early but his actions caused further discontent. He brought about the Services Enlistment Act ordering all troops of the Bengal Army to be ready for service inside and outside India.

  England’s empire maintenance and world marauding had taxed its resources with wars in the Crimea, Persia and China. More contention arose from the fact that there were five Indians to every British soldier, and the natives were paid less than the rawest European recruit. It was an unequal equation on both counts and encouragement for sepoys to revolt. In January 1857 there were minor outbreaks of arson in cantonment areas. At Barrackpore near Calcutta an Indian soldier shot dead a British officer and was hanged. Indian troops were court-martialled and imprisoned. There was more unrest at Berhampore in Bengal. But that too was repressed and rebels were punished. Canning had a poor first year. He did not have the skills for such a demanding job, which he made tougher by being too heavy-handed and dictatorial.

  For Victoria, giving birth seemed often to coincide with war or a disturbance in some part of her empire. In late March 1857 the mail brought her news of problems in India and on 14 April Beatrice was born. Vicky had been born in October 1840, seventeen years earlier. Victoria was a month off her thirty-eighth birthday and Clark thought it might be wise to make this her last child. Victoria’s reaction was typical. ‘What?’ she said to her long-term physician, ‘no more fun?’ Despite the impressive royal production line, Albert remained sparing, if not stingy, in his sexual affections; so much so that he equated sex with pregnancy, unlike Victoria who saw it for its own sake as pleasure. This led to ‘fun’ being limited to bursts after long intermissions. When she registered ‘pregnant’, Albert continued to withdraw his services. By 1857, he seemed to be becoming weary of every exertion as he worked longer hours and enjoyed life less. He invented and installed a bedside switch to activate mechanical locks on the bedroom door.