‘Of course it’s true that one can never be sure what’s going to happen,’ agreed Albert. ‘You remember when we had whooping-cough.’
‘A trying time,’ said Ernest.
‘And when we were better everything was changed. It was like a dividing line neatly drawn through our lives; all the nurses went and Herr Florschütz came. Our mother went …’
Ernest glanced at his brother and his glance was sober.
‘Let’s tie up here, Albert,’ he said rather solemnly.
They did, and Ernest threw himself down and, plucking a blade of grass, started to chew it.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Albert, stretching out beside his brother.
‘It’s about our mother,’ said Ernest. ‘They didn’t tell you because they thought it would upset you.’
‘What about her?’ asked Albert.
‘She’s dead.’
Albert did not speak. He stared up at the sky through the leaves. He felt the sudden rush of tears to his eyes as he thought of her looking round the nursery door, showing him the pictures in a book, giving him that fierce sweet-scented hug. He had never given up the hope that she would come back; when he had talked of the future he had unconsciously seen her there, for when he was a man and the King he was certain he was going to be, he would have brought her back to be with him. And now Ernest was saying that she was dead.
‘Why did they tell you and not me?’
‘I am the eldest,’ said Ernest.
Albert sprang to his feet in sudden anger and Ernest said quickly: ‘No, I’m teasing. It was because they feared it might upset you. They told me to break it to you gently.’
‘They didn’t … kill her.’
‘Kill her! What a notion! She had been ill for years.’
‘They should have told us.’
‘Of course they shouldn’t.’
‘She was too young to die.’
‘She was thirty-two and she was very ill.’
‘She would have been thinking of us at the end, Ernest.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘But of course she would. We were her sons.’
‘We couldn’t have been important to her or she wouldn’t have left us.’
‘She didn’t want to leave us. I am sure she cried and cried.’
‘Everyone doesn’t turn on the tears like you did, Albert.’
‘She loved us.’
‘You were the favourite.’
‘I know,’ said Albert softly.
‘Well, she’s dead and she was unfaithful to our father. That was very wicked and she had to take her punishment.’
Albert was silent. She had been wicked, he admitted; and because of that, she had left them. What a terrible thing wickedness was! Every time he looked at a woman he would think of the wickedness which had separated him from her and had brought her to her sad and lonely death.
‘She lived in Paris,’ said Ernest, ‘which we all know is a very wicked city.’
Albert shivered, but Ernest had jumped to his feet.
‘Come on,’ he said, his relief obvious because his duty was done.
But Albert could find no pleasure in the forest that day. His thoughts were far away in the past with his beautiful mother; he could not get out of his mind the belief that temptation was lurking everywhere and if succumbed to could ruin lives. He would never forget what had happened to his beloved mother who had become a bad woman. Wickedness had its roots in that subject which Ernest found so interesting but which filled him with abhorrence: the relationship between the sexes.
* * *
Death was in the air that year. Grandmama Saxe-Coburg did not pay her usual visit to Rosenau, nor was she well enough for the boys to visit her. Duke Ernest was called to her bedside one day and the boys stood at the window watching him and his little party ride away. ‘They say she is very sick,’ said Ernest. ‘And she is old.’ Albert shivered. But one did not have to be old to die. He was thinking of his mother as he had last seen her and now when he thought of her he must imagine her lying in a coffin … dead. And the nails which were driven into that coffin were like her sins.
It was impossible to imagine never seeing Grandmama Saxe-Coburg again; Albert kept thinking of how she had looked after him and had meant more and more to him since his mother had gone.
Each day he waited at the window for a sign of the returning party. He would know as soon as he saw them what news they had brought. Ernest would stand silently beside him while they both watched the road.
‘Perhaps Father will bring Grandmama back with him,’ suggested Albert.
‘How could he if she were very ill?’ demanded Ernest.
‘Perhaps she is not so ill. Perhaps she has recovered. If she comes back I will sing my newest song to her and I am sure she will like it.’
Then they began to talk of what they would do to entertain Grandmama Saxe-Coburg when she came to Rosenau to get well.
And one day they saw their father returning and they knew that he came in mourning.
* * *
He sent for Albert and when his son stood before him he laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
‘She was my mother and your grandmother,’ said the Duke, ‘and she has gone from us now. It is a great sorrow for us all. And you perhaps more than any one of us. You were her favourite.’
The tears flowed down Albert’s cheeks; he brought out a handkerchief and dried them.
‘Death is terrible,’ said Albert.
‘That is at least a lesson you have learned, my boy.’
‘Only a little while ago she was well and there was no sign that she was going to leave us.’
‘These things happen, my son. She was not young and she would say that she had lived her life. But I have sent for you because she talked of you particularly at the end.’
‘What did she say of me, Father?’
‘She said she had every confidence in you. She said you had good moral qualities and she believed you would grow into a good man.’
‘It shall be my earnest endeavour to do that, Father. I want to be both good and useful in the world.’
‘She was ambitious for you, Albert. There is not much here for you. You are a second son. A good marriage is what you need. It was her dearest wish that you should marry your cousin. I hope that wish will be fulfilled.’
‘If my cousin is agreeable I shall be.’
The Duke laid his hand on his son’s shoulder again.
‘Always remember that it was the wish of your grandmother – her last wish.’
Albert swore solemnly that he would.
* * *
The brothers were going on a journey and they were very excited because it would be the first time they had left Germany.
After the bustle of preparation and many excited conferences they set out with a very small entourage.
‘It’s all I can afford,’ said the Duke, ‘and my brother Leopold will have to understand that.’
At least Herr Florschütz was with them, for lessons would continue as usual and that very useful gentleman did service as an attendant as well as tutor.
It was very interesting travelling through the little German States and visiting relatives en route. The changing scenery was a constant delight to the brothers and they were able to collect many unusual pieces of rock and stones for their museum; stopping at inns was a great novelty and it was an adventure to mix with ordinary people, particularly when they were sometimes incognito and at others those they met had never heard of the Coburg Princes.
What a pleasure it was to be reunited with Uncle Leopold, whom Albert had never forgotten. Indeed Uncle Leopold had not intended to be forgotten. He wrote frequently to members of his family, especially to those whom he considered to be his protégés and Albert was certainly one of these. Although a younger member of the family he had long placed himself at its head and was already busy arranging possible unions for every marriageable young Coburg.
Uncle Leopold, very go
od-looking, in fact not unlike Albert himself, very careful of his clothes – he liked to consider himself the best-dressed King in Europe – rather vain, wearing three-inch soles on his boots to increase his height, victim of numerous not very clearly defined illnesses, had such an assured high opinion of himself that his nephews felt it must be well deserved. Such was Leopold – warm-hearted it seemed, overflowing with affection, displaying a great dignity and making sure that everyone observed it; the most distinguished member of a family which he had determined was going to straddle Europe. From the moment of the meeting he and Albert were immediately aware of an accord which the less sensitive Ernest could not intrude upon. Albert was Leopold’s boy, and Leopold immediately decided that he was his favourite nephew. There was only one member of his family who could bring a warmer glow to his scheming avuncular heart and that was the little niece now living at Kensington Palace – Alexandrina Victoria.
Uncle Leopold lived in much grander style than they did in Coburg; and in any case Uncle Leopold’s personality would have made the humblest cottage seem grand. He had very recently married and they met Aunt Louise, a charming young woman, completely overawed by Uncle Leopold, which pleased Uncle Leopold who clearly thought that he had done her a great honour by marrying her. She was cultivated, and spoke, as well as her native French, English, Italian and German; as she was the daughter of Louis Philippe, the King of France, they were in very exalted company indeed.
Ernest really preferred Aunt Louise to Uncle Leopold, but then Ernest was beginning to show a tendency to admire pretty women and Aunt Louise was pretty with her fair hair and light blue eyes and small figure. She had rather a large nose – ‘the Bourbon nose’ Uncle Leopold called it affectionately – but that was a good thing to have because it proclaimed her royalty.
Uncle Leopold was anxious to show the boys something of Court life.
‘This is a great kingdom,’ he reminded them, ‘rather different from the little dukedoms of Germany, eh?’
He liked to walk with Albert and leave his wife to entertain Ernest, to Albert’s great relief for he would have hated to have been left to the mercy of a pretty young woman. Uncle Leopold talked at great length about his illnesses, and how his good friend Baron Stockmar had advised him to take this and that remedy. ‘Stockmar is in England just now but one day I want you to meet him. He was my doctor and then my adviser. Stockmar is a very clever man.’
‘Why is he in England now, Uncle?’
‘My dear sister, your aunt, the Duchess of Kent is there, and she needs as many friends as she can find to support and advise her. She is in a rather uneasy position at the moment. I should like to be there but my duty of course is here in the country which I govern. Stockmar tells me what is happening there. I must know this,’ he added roguishly, ‘because my dear niece, your cousin, is a very important little person over there.’
‘Uncle, is she the one I am going to marry?’
‘Yes. But it is a secret so far. A few are in my confidence, but we do not want it to spread too far.’
‘Does she know, Uncle Leopold?’
‘Not yet.’
‘Do you think she will want to marry me?’
‘When I tell her that I want her to, she will.’
‘I would rather she had chosen me without being told.’
‘That would have meant that she was somewhat bold. No, it is well that when she is told of my wishes she will want to obey them. That is her character. It is because she is sweetly docile that I love her. And that, my dearest Albert, is the quality I prize in all my little nieces and nephews.’
That was how the conversation went whenever they were together. Leopold would always bring it round to the little girl of Kensington. Albert wished that he could see her. Uncle Leopold’s description sounded delightful; but when he discussed the matter with Ernest, his rather cynical elder brother remarked that Uncle Leopold could be prejudiced in his descriptions of the young lady of Kensington; he believed that this was a common practice with royalty when marriages were being arranged.
Albert suggested that his brother might be jealous because he, Albert, had been chosen to marry a queen – if she became one. This made Ernest explode into laughter. No, he wanted no queens, thank you. He would make the right sort of marriage but that would not prevent his having ‘friends’ whenever and wherever he wished.
Leopold questioned Herr Florschütz closely about the boys’ studies. He said he would consult Baron Stockmar and plan out a schedule for their education.
‘Will our father agree to that?’ Ernest wondered when the boys were alone together.
‘Agree,’ cried Albert, ‘of course he’ll agree. Uncle Leopold is the most important man in Europe.’
‘He has bewitched you,’ said Ernest.
‘Bewitched! Who’s bewitched? Now you’re thinking of the grandmothers’ fairy stories.’
‘You do seem to think he is the most brilliant, magnificent, clever …’
‘Oh, shut up,’ said Albert. And then: ‘But he is.’
‘There, I told you so. No wonder Uncle Leopold loves you. You flatter him so innocently.’
‘How could one flatter innocently? Flattery in itself suggests something false.’
‘There you go, Herr Florschütz’s model pupil. No wonder Uncle Leopold decided you should have the prize.’
‘What prize?’
‘The Queen of England, idiot.’
* * *
The visit passed all too quickly for Albert. It had been a wonderful experience. The dream uncle of his childhood had taken on flesh and blood and was every bit as godlike as Albert remembered. The Court at Brussels was grand. ‘You should have seen that of my late father-in-law in England,’ Uncle Leopold told the boys. ‘I never liked him but he was considered to be very artistic. Carlton House was absolutely splendid and the Pavilion at Brighton – well, it had to be seen to be believed. Then of course he got to work on Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.’
‘It must have been very grand to be grander than Brussels,’ said Albert.
‘Ah, my boy, you have seen nothing of the world. We’ll change that. We’ve got to get you educated along the right lines. One of these days you must go with Stockmar on the Grand Tour.’
‘We should enjoy it,’ said Albert, underlining the fact that Ernest would be there too. ‘But I don’t think our father would be able to afford it.’
‘There are some things which it is false economy to go without,’ said Uncle Leopold.
So it seemed very likely that when the time came the boys would go on the Grand Tour.
‘Of course,’ said Uncle Leopold, ‘you are young as yet. Thirteen. Boys still. But another six years, eh? Time soon passes. Have no fear, I shall write to your father. It is very important that you should be prepared. Do you speak English, Albert?’
Albert said that English was not included in his studies.
‘An oversight,’ said Uncle Leopold, ‘which shall be remedied.’
How he enjoyed those talks with Uncle Leopold. He avoided Aunt Louise, because he felt embarrassed in her company. She was pretty and when Uncle Leopold was not there, inclined to be gay. His uncle did in fact have to reprove her on one occasion for making a joke.
What a good man Uncle Leopold was! thought Albert. When he grew up he hoped he would be a little like him.
It was an exciting visit and Albert enjoyed it thoroughly, except for the evenings, when Aunt Louise organised entertainments for them and Albert was hard put to it to hide the fact that he was almost asleep.
When at last it was time to say goodbye, Uncle Leopold embraced his younger nephew fondly. There was an understanding between them. Uncle Leopold was going to make sure that he was prepared for his future, which was to be the husband of the little girl in Kensington.
When they reached home it was to find that their father, after having been a widower for more than a year, had married the Princess Mary of Würtemberg.
* * *
Having a step-mother did not inconvenience the Princes in the least. After their return from Brussels they continued with life just as before, and as the Princess Mary of Würtemberg was amiable, more like an older sister, life was very pleasant. It was true that Albert was more aware of what was happening in England than he had been. When he heard that Queen Adelaide had ‘hopes’ he was downcast because he knew Uncle Leopold would be; and when those hopes came to nothing he rejoiced. There were periods when he was completely unconcerned by the future; that was when he was composing a new song, or when he and Ernest went off on one of their expeditions into the forest together; the ‘museum’ was growing and each exhibit held some particular memory for him. It was a pleasant, happy life and he had no desire to grow up. Mornings were spent in study, long afternoons out of doors: riding, fencing, shooting, walking and long nights of sleep. No one, commented Ernest, enjoyed sleep as much as Albert and he didn’t confine this state of somnolence to the night either. ‘I am constantly prodding you to wakefulness,’ complained Ernest.
Ernest laughed at his brother for his increasing solemnity and rather against his will Albert indulged in an occasional practical joke which was the only sort he could see any point in.
Once he and Ernest filled the cloak pockets of one of their father’s guests with soft cheese. This was a lady, which rendered the joke doubly hilarious in Albert’s eyes. They made a point of being in the cloakroom when she was helped into her cloak and had the satisfaction of seeing her plunge her hand into the mess in her pocket. Suspecting them, she had berated them angrily, and, while Albert remained regarding her with big reproachful eyes, Ernest was almost choking with laughter.
That was a period when they played practical jokes whenever they could think them out. Their indulgent step-mother told their father that it was a phase most boys went through and it was in a way a relief to see Albert slightly less of a model boy.
The Queen's Husband Page 4
