Fortunately for the Prime Minister the case of the Hon. George Norton v. the Lord Viscount Melbourne for ‘criminal conversation’ had produced a verdict for the defendant and Lord Melbourne had surprisingly emerged to continue as Prime Minister – something which it seemed few men could have accomplished.
The Queen, who was aware of the details of the case, wished to show her absolute trust in Lord Melbourne. Thus when Lady Seymour asked to be allowed to bring her sister, Mrs Norton, to Court, Victoria was willing to receive her.
‘Not to have done so,’ explained the Queen to her husband, ‘would have been a condemnation of dear Lord Melbourne, and that I would never tolerate.’
‘It seems a strange thing that Lord Melbourne should have been involved in two unsavoury affairs,’ commented Albert.
‘Lord Melbourne is a brilliant man and such men have many enemies … wicked enemies. I know Lord Melbourne very well, perhaps better than anyone else, for he has been my constant companion since I mounted the throne and I say he is quite incapable of a dishonest act.’
‘That may be,’ said Albert, ‘but the Queen must be beyond reproach and if she receives people to whom scandal has been attached this could arouse comment.’
‘Then there must be comment,’ cried Victoria, her eyes flashing. ‘I would never condemn the innocent.’
Albert explained patiently that it was not a matter of condemning the innocent, but that no breath of scandal should attach to the Queen.
‘There will always be scandal where there are wicked people to make it; and since to refuse audience to Mrs Norton would be construed as meaning that I suspected Lord Melbourne, I shall certainly receive her.’
And that was the end of the matter. She slipped her arm through Albert’s. ‘Dear, dearest Albert, you are so good yourself that you are inclined to be just a little severe with other people. Leave this to me. You need have no part in it.’
‘As in so many things,’ said Albert sadly. But he was hopeful. There was a change; and Lord Melbourne, on whom the Queen set such store, was not his enemy after all. He was even being very helpful.
He could believe sometimes that he was moving – though very slowly – in the right direction.
Lord Melbourne thanked the Queen for receiving Mrs Norton.
‘Your Majesty’s overflowing kindness is an example to all,’ he said, with the inevitable tears in his eyes.
‘Dear Lord Melbourne, it was the least I could do for a lady who has been so wronged. Albert was against it, but then Albert is so good that he does not always understand how easy it is for some people – who are less conventional in their behaviour – to find themselves in awkward situations. To tell the truth, Lord M, I sometimes wonder how I can live up to Albert’s goodness.’
‘Your Majesty has the kindest heart in the world,’ said Lord Melbourne. ‘And kindness is a much higher quality than moral rectitude.’
‘Oh, Lord M, do you really think so?’
‘I am sure of it. And I am sure the recording angel will agree with me.’
‘Lord M, you say the most shocking things.’
‘If they bring a smile to Your Majesty’s lips I am satisfied.’
It was such good fun to be with Lord Melbourne, though the Opposition was giving them a great deal of trouble over the China policy, he said, and then there was the bill for the union of the two Canadas. He could see that trouble was looming in Afghanistan and he was not sure what would come out of that.
‘That dreadful Sir Robert Peel, I suppose.’
Lord Melbourne raised his beautifully arched eyebrows, which she used to admire so much, and still did, of course. Lord Melbourne was a very handsome man but no one had quite the same breathtaking beauty as Albert.
‘Oh, he’s a good fellow, you know.’
‘He’s a monster.’
‘All men, in a manner of speaking, are monsters who don’t agree with the Queen and her Prime Minister – but apart from that they can be damned good fellows … Your Majesty will forgive my language.’
She bowed her head with a smile; but even then she thought: Albert would be shocked if he had heard the Prime Minister say damned in the presence of the Queen.
Yet how she had always loved Lord M’s racy conversation! And if Albert ever joined them in the blue closet there would have to be a stop to it.
Lord Melbourne then went on to tell her that Lord William Russell’s Swiss valet, Benjamin Courvoisier, had confessed to murdering his master. It was an intriguing story because the valet had come into his master’s bedroom in Norfolk Place, Park Lane, stark naked so that there would be no blood on his clothes. He had borrowed from the Duke of Bedford’s valet a copy of Jack Shepherd by the author Harrison Ainsworth and this had apparently inspired him. His motive was robbery as he wanted to get back to Switzerland.
Lord William always slept with a light by his bedside and someone from the opposite window saw the naked figure in the bedroom from across the road. He didn’t come forward to give evidence because he was a well-known General and was spending the night there with a lady in society.
‘How very shocking!’ said Victoria.
‘Well, that is the way of the world,’ replied Lord Melbourne. ‘Courvoisier has confessed. I doubt you will hear the story of the General and his lady friend, but it is being well circulated and the considered opinion seems to be that there is some substance in it.’
How very, very shocking! she thought. But she was glad to hear of it. Lord Melbourne did bring her all the little titbits of gossip which were so enlivening.
But she could not talk to Albert of them. He certainly would not approve.
They were going to Claremont. It would be good for her, said Albert, to get out into the fresh air more; he was going to be very strict with her, he told her playfully. They were going to rise early and retire to bed early; they would walk in the beautiful gardens; he would teach her something about the plants and birds – of which she was abysmally ignorant; they would sketch together; he would read aloud to her and they would discuss the book afterwards; they would sing duets together and play the piano. It seemed a delightful existence.
‘Dear Albert,’ she said, ‘how careful you are of me.’
‘But of course, my love, it is my duty.’
‘Oh, Albert, is that all?’
‘And my pleasure,’ he added gently.
So to Claremont, but there were too many memories and even Albert could not disperse them.
She told him about dear Louie whom she had met there in her childhood. ‘She had her own special curtsy and she was very much on her dignity until we were in her room alone … just the two of us, and then I was no longer the Princess Victoria, but her visitor. She used to make tea and we would sit drinking it while she talked of the old days, mostly of Princess Charlotte.’
‘Yes. Uncle Leopold has told me so much about Claremont. It is an enchanting place.’
So more walking, playing music, retiring early and rising early; it was all as Albert wished, and Victoria was not sorry for the change. But the place seemed haunted by Charlotte. Here Charlotte had given birth to the still-born child who should have been ruler of England; and Charlotte herself who was first to have been Queen, died also.
Louie was also dead. Sometimes when she went into her old room Victoria would imagine her coming out of the shadows to give that special curtsy to Victoria, the girl who had taken the place of Charlotte in her heart.