A Magnificent Obsession: The Death That Changed the Monarchy

by Helen Rappaport

  further public appearances in 1866

  retreats to Balmoral

  and political crisis over 2nd Reform Bill

  criticisms of her behaviour

  agrees to meet Sultan of Turkey

  growing anti-monarchical sentiment

  remains impervious to criticism

  intends to commemorate Albert’s life in words

  and publication of The Early Years of the Prince Consort

  publication of Leaves from the Journal

  gets on well with Disraeli

  improvement in spirits of

  criticised for going to Balmoral in midst of government crisis

  visits Switzerland

  spends another two months at Balmoral

  and departure of Disraeli and arrival of Gladstone as Prime Minister

  regarded as a malingerer

  opens Blackfriars Bridge and Holborn Viaduct

  and Bertie’s involvement in a scandalous divorce hearing

  and rise in radical opinion in Britain

  Ponsonby becomes new Private Secretary to

  Ponsonby’s experience of working for

  opens Parliament in 1871

  needs to secure dowry for Louise and annuity for Arthur

  and Louise’s wedding

  at official opening of Royal Albert Hall

  children alarmed that she is prejudicing the future of the throne

  illness

  Dilke’s attack on

  and Bertie’s illness

  letter of thanks to the nation

  and service of thanksgiving

  in Regent’s Park

  supposed ‘assassination’ attempt on

  renewed public support for the monarchy

  continuing concerns about Bertie’s character

  refuses to give any power to Bertie

  gradually emerges into her public role

  becomes Empress of India

  celebrates Golden and Diamond Jubilees

  continues to wear widow’s weeds

  and deaths and mourning

  public view of

  and her extended family

  frequent visits to mausoleum

  and Martin’s Life of the Prince Consort

  and the role of the monarch

  difficulties in relationship with Alice

  and Alice’s illness

  and Alice’s death

  journal entry for New Year’s Eve 1878

  Victoria, Princess Royal see Vicky (Victoria), Princess Royal, Crown Princess of Prussia

  Victoria, Princess of Hesse

  Victoria and Albert Museum (South Kensington Museum)

  Victoria Cross

  Victorian Society

  Victory

  Vitzthum, Count

  Wagner, Richard

  Wales

  Walter, John

  Washington

  Watson, Dr Thomas

  Weintraub, Stanley

  Weiss, Sophie

  Wellesley, Gerald, Dean of Windsor

  Wellington, Elizabeth Duchess of

  Wellington, Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of

  Wells, Mrs Sarah (mother of H.G. Wells)

  West End

  West London synagogue

  Westminster Abbey

  Westmorland, Lady

  Weyer, Madame Elizabeth Van De

  Weyer, Sylvain Van De

  Whigs

  Whitby Gazette

  Whitby jet trade

  White House (on Beaumont Estate)

  White House (America)

  Whitley

  Wied, Princess of

  Wilberforce, Samuel, Bishop of Oxford

  Wilhelm, Prince of Prussia, (son of Vicky)

  Wilhelm Friedrich (Frittie), Prince of Hesse

  William I, Emperor of Germany

  William IV, King

  Wills, W.H.

  Windsor (town)

  Windsor, Dean of see Wellesley, Gerald, Dean of Windsor

  Windsor, Mayor of

  Windsor Castle

  honeymoon of V and Albert at

  royal collection of art at

  Christmas 1860 at

  mourning for Duchess of Kent at

  funeral of Duchess of Kent

  V reluctantly returns from Balmoral to

  Bertie’s birthday celebration at

  Albert returns from Sandhurst to

  Albert returns from Madingley to

  Albert’s illness at

  Albert’s death at

  Catling receives confirmation of Albert’s death at

  Phipps sends messages from

  Sala sees flag at half-mast at

  V’s reaction to Albert’s death at

  V prepares to leave

  V’s final actions before leaving

  V’s departure from

  preparations for Albert’s funeral at

  Albert’s funeral at

  letters from heads of state received at

  V returns from Osborne to

  V returns from abroad to

  first anniversary of Albert’s death at

  wedding of Bertie and Alix at

  birth of Alice’s daughter at

  Alix’s parents not accommodated at

  John Brown at

  V returns from Balmoral to

  Louise’s wedding at

  V spends Christmas at

  arrival of messages of condolences after death of Alice

  private service for Alice held at

  brief references

  Windsor Great Park

  Windsor Home Park

  Winterhalter, Franz

  Wolverhampton

  Woolwich

  York, Archbishop of

  Zalkiel’s Almanac

  One of the last official photographs taken of Prince Albert during a sitting conducted by the French photographer Camille Silvy on 3 July 1861.

  This engraving, probably based on one of the photographs taken by Silvy, emphasises how exhausted and puffy-faced Albert looked in the last months of his life.

  Queen Victoria made a major concession for Bertie’s Thanksgiving Service at St Paul’s Cathedral on 27 February 1872 by adding a deep border of ermine to the unrelenting black of her costume.

  The Queen’s youngest daughter, four-year old Beatrice, prettily decked out in baby black mourning, much to her mother’s considerable pride.

  Lady Augusta Bruce (later Stanley) the Queen’s most trusted lady-in-waiting who with Princess Alice was her major carer in the first months after Albert’s death.

  A grief-stricken Bertie, Prince of Wales and his ten-year-old brother Arthur, in Highland costume, were the only two of Albert’s nine children to attend his funeral.

  Popular engravings such as these from the Illustrated London News, show the solemnity of the funeral held at St George’s Chapel Windsor on 23 December 1861.

  The Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore under construction, December 1863. It was not until 38 years later, 2 February 1901, that Victoria’s coffin joined Albert’s there.

  William Jenner, the Queen’s physician-extraordinary; Henry Ponsonby, her long-suffering private secretary; the Queen’s favourite physician, Sir James Clark; Alfred Tennyson, her adored Poet Laureate.

  John Brown, Queen Victoria’s Highland Servant, filled much of the void left by Albert, after he was transferred from Balmoral to Windsor in December 1864. He loyally served the Queen until his death in 1883.

  This popular cartoon, ‘John Brown Exercising the Queen’, highlighted the growing indispensability of Brown, a fact which disturbed many at court and laid the Queen open to ridicule.

  This cartoon from the satirical journal The Tomahawk of 16 November 1867 entitled ‘God Save the Queen – The Past and the Future’ encapsulated popular disquiet about the Queen’s continuing absence from public duties.

  Jay’s London General Mourning Warehouse at the corner of Regent’s Street and Oxford Circus was one of several funeral outfitters that did a roaring trade after Prince
Albert’s death.

  This fashion plate from Jay’s catalogue of 1862 typifies the stylish mourning dresses that were available.

  Anxious crowds gather outside the Mansion House in the City of London to read the latest bulletins on the Prince of Wales’s serious illness, December 1871.

  In November 1869 Queen Victoria was coaxed into a rare public appearance, to open London’s newly constructed Blackfriars Bridge.

  Members of the royal family and household gather on a mournful rainy 15 October 1867 for the unveiling of the statue to Prince Albert at Balmoral.

  Benjamin Disraeli and William Gladstone, the prime ministers who made concerted efforts during the 1870s to coax Queen Victoria out of retirement.

  Prince Albert as Queen Victoria liked to remember him – as a heroic medieval knight, in this painting by Robert Thorburn, given to her by Albert for her 25th birthday on 24 May 1844.

  The East Terrace, Windsor Castle, location of the royal apartments. Victoria never liked the castle very much and after Albert’s death avoided spending much time here.

  The Grand Corridor of Windsor Castle, a place of recreation where the royal children played and members of staff met and chatted but which on the evening of 14 December 1861 was one of grim watching and waiting.

  The Blue Room in which Prince Albert died, by John Simpson 1863. More fanciful popular representations of the size and layout of the room made it look far bigger than it was.

  The one time Windsor Castle came into its own was for happy family Christmases during Albert’s lifetime, such as this one c. 1850, promoting the public image of a happy, domestic royal family.

  Alberto Marochetti’s marble effigy of Prince Albert lying on a trolley waiting to be put into position inside the mausoleum c. December 1863.

  Design for the interior decorations of the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore, inspired by Albert’s favourite painter, Raphael. His marble effigy was not placed in position on top of the granite sarcophagus there until November 1868; the interior was completed in August 1871.

  Prince Albert on his deathbed, a band of linen wound under his chin until rigor mortis had set in, in line with conventional Victorian practice. The photograph was taken in the Blue Room the day after his death by royal photographer William Bambridge.

  A popular, but inaccurate Victorian scrap book cut-out of Prince Albert’s deathbed, depicting Victoria, Alice, Bertie and Arthur. In fact, Arthur had not been present at the death, having said farewell to his father earlier that afternoon. Two of Albert’s other sons were abroad at the time: Alfie at sea and Leopold in Cannes.

  Bertie, Prince of Wales. Kind, sociable and well-meaning but academically under achieving, he failed to live up to the high expectations of both his parents.

  Princess Alice, Victoria and Albert’s second daughter, who took upon herself the devoted nursing of her father during his final illness and was the butt of her mother’s agonising grief in the first six months after it.

  Princess Louise, wearing jet, the only jewellery that the Queen would allow her daughters and her ladies to wear at court for more than twenty years after her husband’s death.

  Commemorative items produced after the death of Prince Albert. (Above) a pot lid based on one of the last photographs of him; (above right) a popular postcard of the widowed queen and her children; (right) a typical memorial card recording the Prince’s death. (Below) A Whitby jet workshop photographed during the heyday of the industry, which boomed after Albert’s death.

  Albert’s brainchild, The Royal Albert Hall, constructed between 1867 and 1871 as an exhibition centre and concert hall for the promotion of British arts, industry and culture.

  The gilded statue of Prince Albert at the newly restored Albert Memorial in Hyde Park. Completed with the statue in position in 1875, the memorial was never popular and came close to being demolished. It was saved and restored during the 1990s, thanks to a concerted campaign by the Victorian Society.

  This equestrian state of Prince Albert was the first public monument to be unveiled by Queen Victoria herself, in Wolverhampton in November 1866.

  Bertie, Prince of Wales’s marriage to Alexandra of Denmark, at St George’s Chapel Windsor, 10 March 1863, with the widowed Queen watching the proceedings from Catherine of Aragon’s closet, top right.

  Bertie and Queen Victoria riding in an open landau to the Thanksgiving Service held at St Paul’s Cathedral on 27 February 1872 for his recovery from typhoid fever. Note the presence on the box of the ubiquitous John Brown.

  A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION. Copyright © 2011 by Helen Rappaport. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  ISBN: 978-1-4299-4092-4

  First published in Great Britain by The Random House Group Limited under the title Magnificent Obsession

  * ‘Here lies the most illustrious and exalted Albert, Prince Consort, Duke of Saxony, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter, the most beloved husband of the most august and potent Queen Victoria, who died 14 December 1861 in his 43rd year.’