‘Oh, I don’t know,’ was his answer, ‘I have always had a great respect for ducks.’
Which made her rock with laughter, and reflect that Uncle Leopold would never have said such a thing.
After the dinner when she returned to the Palace there was a letter awaiting her from her mother. She recognised the handwriting of Sir John, who was still in her mother’s household waiting for his impossible demands to be met.
The Duchess was shocked and deeply wounded. She had, she wrote, been insulted at the Guildhall and it was humiliating for the mother of the Queen to be placed after minor relations. Was she to expect similar treatment at the Coronation? She knew that for a subject to expect audience of the Queen might seem an impertinence but she had yet to learn that the request of a mother to a daughter could be described in those terms, and she wished to see Victoria without delay.
When Baroness Lehzen read the letter, which Victoria passed to her, she was pleased. The Court had divided into two domestic factions – that of the Queen and her ladies, at the head of whom was Baroness Lehzen, and the Duchess with Sir John and hers. Lehzen particularly disliked Lady Flora Hastings who was constantly making sly allusions to her enemy’s origins. It was gratifying, therefore, that the Duchess had to beg for an interview with the Queen when she, the companion or whatever name was attached to her, for she had no official title, was allowed to come to the Queen at all times in the most unceremonious fashion.
‘I suppose I shall have to see her,’ sighed Victoria.
‘You are the Queen,’ said Lehzen significantly.
‘I know, but she’s right. She is my mother and nothing can alter that.’
Which was a pity, thought Lehzen, but knew that Victoria would not wish to hear her say so. The Queen was very much aware of her duties in life and honouring her mother was one of them.
So the Duchess came to her apartments and Victoria was held in a suffocating embrace.
‘My dearest angel!’
‘Dear Mamma.’
‘You are a stranger almost. Let me look at you. I only see you in public nowadays.’
‘Mamma, you have no idea how busy I am kept.’
‘I know I am the perfect ignoramus.’
‘Oh, not that, Mamma, no. But before my accession I had no idea what hundreds of duties there would be. What I should do without the help of Lord Melbourne, I can’t imagine.’
‘He has become very important in the last few months.’
‘Dear Mamma, a Prime Minister is always important.’
‘There could rarely have been such an important Prime Minister as this one.’
‘He takes his duties very seriously.’
‘Much more seriously since we have had a new Sovereign.’
‘Because the good man realises that with an inexperienced girl on the throne his duties are naturally greater.’
‘Yes, my dearest love, you are inexperienced. That is why I must speak to you. Your attitude to me is not liked by the people, you know. I am very popular. People noticed at the Guildhall how I was slighted and they didn’t like it. They didn’t like it at all. You will not impress them by neglecting your mother who did everything for you … yes, everything …’
They were back on a familiar theme and Victoria said regally, ‘I have no time to quarrel, Mamma.’
‘Quarrel! Who is quarrelling, I should like to know?’
‘You are, Mamma. And I have simply no time to indulge in scenes like this. I will speak to Lord Melbourne.’
‘Of course you will. You do little else.’
‘I will ask my Prime Minister to make sure that you are given your rightful place at the Coronation.’
‘And there is one thing else. Do you think it wise to ignore Sir John as you do?’
‘I have no wish to do anything else but ignore him.’
‘People talk because of your attitude. They gossip and ask each other why you will not receive Sir John and are so unkind to me.’
‘If your conscience is clear, Mamma, you have no need to be concerned about gossip.’
‘We all have need to be concerned about gossip if it touches us.’
‘Well, Mamma, I will not receive Sir John. That I have always made clear.’
‘Are you going to help him? Do you forget what he has done for me and for you, too.’
‘I am unsure what he has done for either of us that has been to his credit or our benefit.’
‘You have become hard. Is that Lord Melbourne’s teaching?’
‘I wish you would not continually bring Lord Melbourne’s name into the conversation. And I advise you to be very careful because Parliament will soon be discussing the Civil List which could bring some benefit to you, Mamma.’
‘It is nothing more than I deserve,’ said the Duchess somewhat mollified as she always was at the prospect of money, and Victoria was able to bring the interview to a close on a more peaceful note.
When the Duchess left, the Baroness, who had been waiting in the next room, came out.
‘Oh dear,’ said Victoria. ‘What a scene! It reminded me of the old days at Kensington.’
Leopold had noticed nothing different in Victoria’s attitude towards him during his visit to England and her letter written after his departure confirmed her continued adoration for and devotion to him.
He was determined that England should be Belgium’s ally and at this moment Belgium needed allies. On his return he passed through France and saw the French Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, Count Molé, and in his usual somewhat arrogant way warned him as to the action France would be wise to take towards Spain, Portugal and Greece.
He hoped, he wrote to Victoria, that the English Government would fall into line with the French and he wished her to tell her ministers so. She would understand that the Monarchy was a little uneasy in France. That it had been restored was a matter for rejoicing in all royal houses throughout Europe, and it must be the concern of all royalists to keep it steady. With regard to the Peninsula she would agree that there could be action there which England might take more easily than France and she might agree that it was wise to ask her ministers to decide that it was a necessary action.
When Victoria read this letter she was bewildered. Uncle Leopold, it seemed, was trying to lead English foreign policy. Of course he was only advising her for her own good, but Uncle Leopold did seem to forget that she was not merely a niece to be taught a lesson or two about the world; she was a Queen with her own Government.
The obvious action was to show the letter to Lord Melbourne and this she did at the earliest possible moment.
Lord Melbourne was a little grave and told her that he would discuss Leopold’s letter with Lord Palmerston.
Her Majesty will understand readily enough I know, he pointed out, that it is not policy to discuss a possible foreign policy with the head of another country however close in kinship that head might be with the Sovereign. There were close family ties between many European countries and if they discussed foreign affairs with one another they might as well be conducted in the open and there would be no such thing as diplomacy. He trusted Her Majesty understood and approved.
She did, even though this concerned her dearest Uncle.
‘Perhaps Your Majesty would care to write to the King of the Belgians and tell him that you are placing these political enquiries in the hands of your Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary?’
That is exactly the right thing to do,’ she said with relief.
And this she did, but Leopold did not mean to relinquish his influence with his niece. He continued to write to her pointing out the need for English support in Belgian projects; and at Lord Melbourne’s suggestion she wrote back and told him that it was impossible for her to give her word that England would act in such and such a way, for she could not be sure what her Government might find it necessary to do in an emergency before that emergency arose.