Marriage and Civilization: How Monogamy Made Us Human by Tucker William

Author:Tucker, William [Tucker, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
ISBN: 9781621572190
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2014-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

After Albert’s death, Queen Victoria became exceedingly fond of her Scottish manservant, John Brown, seven years her junior. Members of the royal family grew to resent Brown’s influence and rumors of an affair became so common that the queen was surreptitiously referred to as “Mrs. Brown.” (A movie of that title was made in 1997.) Brown died in 1883. Then, after celebrating her Golden Jubilee in 1887, the queen once again became very attached to one of her Muslim Indian waiters, Abdul Karim, who became such a confidant that it was rumored he was influencing her against the Hindu majority in India.

When Victoria finally died in 1901, every crowned head of Europe attended her funeral. (The pageant forms the opening chapter of Barbara Tuchman’s great portrait of nineteenth century Europe, The Proud Tower.) After forty years of mourning, the queen left instructions that she once again be dressed for burial in her white wedding gown. At her side was placed one of Albert’s dressing gowns with a plaster cast of his hand locked in hers. Concealed in her left hand, however, and hidden from family members, was another memento—a picture of John Brown and a lock of his hair.

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