The Young Victoria by Alison Plowden

Author:Alison Plowden
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752467221
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2011-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

In fact, provided she could continue to put up with the undisguised hostility of the Conroy clique, Lehzen’s position was probably secure enough by this time. The King and Queen would certainly have moved to protect her if need be, and so would Leopold. It has to be said that John Conroy was not the only person hoping to profit by his close relationship with the future Queen of England. Leopold had invested a good deal of emotional and financial capital in his little niece and counted his influence over her as a priceless potential asset. He regarded Lehzen as his ally, relying on her for confidential on-the-spot reports on the situation as it developed at Kensington, and would never have stood aside while she was ousted by Conroy. Unfortunately, though, Victoria was so closely supervised, so effectively cut off from any uncensored communication with the outside world, that it was almost impossible for her well-wishers to reassure her without causing the sort of scenes and scandals everyone was most anxious to avoid, and as a result she suffered much unnecessary mental stress.

Early in May there was another short visit to Windsor Castle and a note of defiance creeps into the Journal. ‘I was very much pleased there, as both my Uncle and Aunt are so very kind to me.’ Her sixteenth birthday was now approaching and on 19 May the Duchess of Kent arranged a private concert to be held at Kensington Palace as a special treat. The performers included Luigi Lablache, the finest bass singer of his day, and Victoria’s current heroine, Giulia Grisi, who proved to be ‘quite beautiful off the stage’ and ‘very quiet, ladylike and unaffected in her manners’. The programme consisted of a selection of arias from the Princess’s favourite operas, the artists being accompanied on the piano by Michael Costa, conductor of the orchestra at Covent Garden, and for young Victoria it was an evening of sheer enchantment. She stayed up till twenty minutes past one and was ‘MOST EXCEEDINGLY delighted’.

On Sunday, 24 May, the entry in the Journal begins on a note of slightly self-conscious solemnity. ‘Today is my 16TH birthday! How very old that sounds; but I feel that the two years to come till I attain my 18th are the most important of any almost. I now only begin to appreciate my lessons, and hope from this time on, to make a great progress.’ There was the usual stream of callers and the usual shower of gifts which ranged from an ivory basket of barley-sugar and chocolate from Dashy, the spaniel, to a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings from the King. There was a leather pencil-case and a very pretty print of Marie Taglioni from Lehzen, a handkerchief sachet embroidered in silver from faithful old Späth in Germany and an enamel bracelet with hers and the children’s hair from dearest Feodore. Mamma’s main present, which had shown a rare touch of imagination, had been that delicious concert, but she

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