But this was yet another “poor Bertie,” since he suffered from ill health, a stammer, and knock knees, was easily frightened, and apt to cry on the spot. This was understandable, since his father was rather cold and brusque with his children, and his mother could only do so much to give them the necessary attention without raising his ire. At fourteen, Bertie followed in his father’s footsteps, now the Prince of Wales (George V), with enrollment in the Royal Naval College, Osborne, as a cadet. He didn’t shine there either, but was nonetheless propelled to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. By the outbreak of WWI, he was 19 and commissioned as a midshipman, but he did his duty and made his country proud during the Battle of Jutland (1916), where he was mentioned in dispatches for his action as a turret officer aboard HMS Collingwood. His ill health got the best of him again, and he didn’t see action again. Fortunately, he was given important duties with the newly-formed Royal Air Force (RAF), and he was appointed Officer Commanding Number 4 Squadron of the Boys’ Wing at Cranwell.

After the end of the war, Bertie, made His Royal Highness The Duke of York in 1920, took on royal duties, representing his father on tours of the country. His particular focus on coal mining, railways, and earned him the nickname “Industrial Prince”, but despite the shyness born from his stammer, he possessed a genuine interest in working conditions and the poor, and he became President of the Industrial Welfare Society and founded a series of annual summer camps between 1921 and 1939, which brought together boys from different social backgrounds. Around this time he met Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who, despite being a descendant from Robert the Bruce and Henry VII, was considered a commoner! Fearing the burdens of royalty, Lady Elizabeth rejected his proposal twice, but after a long courtship, she finally consented to become his wife. Their wedding in 1923 was the event of the year, and the new Duchess of York inadvertently began a tradition when, she spontaneously laid her bouquet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior on her way into Westminster Abbey.

The rest of the story is, as they say, history–or better yet, gloriously captured in the Academy Award winning drama, The King’s Speech.

La Chabanais was founded in 1878 by the Irish Madame Kelly, and operated near the Louvre at 12 rue Chabanais. Madame Kelly was shrewd, aligning her brothel with the Jockey-Club de Paris and selling shares of the incredibly profitable business to wealthy, but anonymous investors. The interior was lavish, each bedroom styled in its own theme–Hindu, Pompeii, Japanese, Moorish, Louis XVI–at a cost rumored to be 1.7 million francs. Bertie was a frequent visitor during the 1880s and 1890s and was allotted his own chamber, decorated with his coat of arms. The most interesting features of the bed room were the copper tub decorated with a half-swan-half-woman, in which Bertie liked to bathe with a prostitute or two in champagne, and a chair, a siège d’amour (love seat) actually, in which the overweight Prince of Wales could do…well…whatever he wished with the cocotte of his choice.

The photo is of a replica chair located in a sex museum in Prague, but Sean Thomas of The First Post did some investigating, and the original chair used by Bertie himself is apparently still in use.

The gorgeous Emily Blunt portrays Victoria with a potent mix of grace and majesty, and her chemistry with Rupert Friend (best known as Mr Wickham from P&P ’05) as Prince Albert is astounding. Rounding up the supporting cast are Paul Bettany as William Melbourne, Miranda Richardson as Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, Jim Broadbent as Victoria’s uncle, King William IV, Thomas Kretschmann as Victoria’s cousin-in-law/uncle King Leopold of Belgium, and Mark Strong as the Duchess of Kent’s rumored lover, Sir James Conroy.

The Young Victoria is written by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair) and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée (C.R.A.Z.Y.). Producers on the film are Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Tim Headington and Sarah Ferguson.

OFFICIAL TRAILER

QUEEN’S CORONATION

Apart from a brief visit by George IV in 1822, no British monarch had crossed the border since the reign of Charles I. This changed when twenty years later, Queen Victoria, on tour of her realm, went to Scotland and fell deeply in love (dare I say her love of Scotland and all things Scottish rivaled her love of Prince Albert?). She and Albert returned frequently, gladly entertained and protected by her noble Scottish hosts (Marquess of Breadelbane), but an idea percolated in her brain: a castle of her own.

Balmoral was a small castle on Deeside. It was a simple, sturdy building so cramped, that when the gentlemen played billiards, the ladies had to get out of the way. That had to go. In its place, a magnificent castle testifying Victoria and Albert’s love and appreciation for Scotland. However, no one could call the castle comfortable, and the wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-ceiling tartan decorations gave many guests a headache.

Early on, the gatherings at Balmoral were a family affair, but aristocrats followed the Queen up North and saw an opportunity for new sport. And as with all matters important to their male kith and kin–and eligible gentlemen–the general social season fit itself around the Scottish one. Deer-stalking occupied the men, and many cash-poor/land-rich Scottish aristocrats found themselves inundated with rich English peers willing to rent their outlying deer-forests for outrageous sums. Five thousand pounds for ten weeks’ sport was not unusual. This influx revitalized the Scottish Highlands: glens that had lain barren save eagles and rutting stags since the Highland Clearances of the 1780s rang once again with human activity. Carpenters, timbermen, and other artisans found themselves with more work than ever as these English aristocrats needed impressive hunting lodges to go with the vast tracts of land they purchased.

In later autumn, country house parties gathered for partridge shooting followed by hunting, an activity par excellence which brought together local people and those involved in London Society. The high point of the Scottish season was the Hunt Ball. It was a somewhat public function, where tickets were sold, though many were also sent to the best private householders in return for a subscription.

In Scotland, everyone seemed more relaxed, most likely due to the Highland practice of leaving ones doors open to all, and thus an informal and pleasant mode of intercourse sprang up between guests.

Further Reading:

The Best Circles by Leonore Davidoff
The English Country House Party by Phyllida Barstow

A creature of habit, and more so since Prince Albert’s death in 1861, Queen Victoria regularly returned to Osborne to celebrate the holiday. Her schedule rarely varied: she visited the mausoleum at Frogmore on the anniversary of Albert’s death and soon departed for Osborne, arriving a few days before Christmas, and remaining until the middle of February. Once there, the schedule included: afternoon drives in her pony cart despite inclement weather, with a brief stop at nearby Barton Manor, where members of the household, together with Victoria’s grandchildren, would gather to skate on the frozen-over lake. Unlike her other children who regularly joined her there for the holidays, the Prince of Wales preferred to celebrate with his own family at Sandringham, finding Osborne “utterly unattractive.”

Christmas at Osborne was celebrated with all the festive touches of previous royal holidays at Windsor, though the widowed Victoria always regarded the celebrations somewhat wistfully. Footmen and housemaids spent hours decorating the house: chimney-pieces were draped with boughs of holly, yew and ferns, woven with cloves and set with candles to provide a sparkle; garlands of evergreen, dotted with holly and ivy, framed doorways; and poinsettias glowed red against the pastel walls. The florist provided miniature topiaries adorned with shimmering ropes of imitation jewels to grace tables, and large, festive bouquets of  flowers added scent and color.

The celebration called for a dozen trees. Albert popularized the German custom of erecting a Christmas tree, but it was actually introduced to England by Queen Charlotte (consort of George III). The largest tree was placed in a tub at the foot of the grand staircase; others went into the drawing room, Princess Beatrice’s suite, and rooms for the royal household. The household tree was erected in the Durbar Room, and several smaller trees stood on tables covered in white cloth. All were carefully decorated by servants, their branches hung with blown glass and tin ornaments, bundles of cloves and cinnamon sticks, toffees and other small candies, silver tinsel, and red bows. Hundreds of candles, their holders clipped to branches, provided illumination, but the trees were not lit until Christmas Eve.

The afternoon of Christmas Eve found the queen making her appearance at the staff party in the servants’ hall. Members of the domestic staff, employees on the estate, and their wives and children, crowded the room to await her arrival. Tables were filled with pastries, cookies, tea and ale, and presents for the servants (always practical: clothing, bolts of cloth, meat pies, game, joints of meat, shoulders of lamb and crocks containing plum pudding). A footman handed each package to the queen, who took a particular delight in handing out gifts of toys, clothing or books, along with their very own gingerbread man, to the children. Carols were sung, followed by the national anthem, before the queen retired.

After tea, the queen distributed presents to the royal household in the Durbar room, where long tables draped in white cloth, fairly sagged beneath the weight of presents and the miniature trees crafted by the confectionery chef. These presents were of course much more lavish than those given to the domestic staff: gold or silver cigarette cases, dressing gowns, jeweled cuff-links and watches for the men; and dresses, furs, and jewelry for the women. There were also an assortment of expensive, though useful household items, including silver salvers, tea services, silver coffeepots, paintings and books, along with signed photographs of members of the royal family encased in gilded or leather presentation frames. The queen and her family then exchanged gifts–usually paintings, vases, busts, expensive toilette and dressing services, and jewelry–which were then displayed on the tables in the Durbar Room. Each relative had his or her own table, and all of the gifts would be artistically arranged on top to give Queen Victoria the opportunity to be wheeled up and down the room to inspect them.

And finally, Christmas morning. It began with a religious service, followed by luncheon at one, and tea at five o’clock in the queen’s sitting room. The traditional Christmas meal was a late dinner that began at nine. The pink and crimson dining room glowed in the light of the candles set within garlands of evergreens and holly, while bright red poinsettias and tendrils of ivy adorned the white damask tablecloth. To meet the holiday’s culinary needs, a month before the festivities, the chef de cuisine ordered up to 50 turkeys, a 140-pound baron of beef that took ten hours to roast over a spit, hundreds of pounds of lamb, dozens of geese, and crate after crate of vegetables, all shipped by train from Windsor. The confectionery chef and his staff spent days crafting 82 pounds of raisins, 60 pounds of orange and lemon peel, 2 pounds of cinnamon, 330 pounds of sugar, 24 bottles of brandy, and cup after cup of sugar into the Christmas mincemeat. This feast was followed by Christmas entertainment: a specially invited musician or singer who performed for the queen and her family before midnight brought the holiday to an end.

Finding comfort in Osborne, as she did with Balmoral, both monuments of her love and marriage to Prince Albert. to the end of her life, she regarded Osborne as “a clear paradise, which I deeply grieve to leave.”

Christmas card from the Queen, 1897

Further Reading:
Twilight of Splendor: The Court of Queen Victoria During Her Diamond Jubilee Year by Greg King

“Poor Bertie! He vexes us so much!” wrote the Queen to Vicky, her first-born child and Crown Princess of Prussia. “…He is so idle and so weak.” Needless to say, Bertie was a disappointment to his mother, and during his life, his strict father, and neither of them held their tongue voicing it. Victoria recognized Bertie’s winning ways with people, sending him to represent the British Crown on a tour of Canada and the United States, but she lamented his lack of interest in any serious subject, and held his disinterest in formalized education against him his entire life. As such, Bertie was excluded from any and all affairs of state the Queen could handle herself, and any such attempt made by the Prince of Wales, or by sympathetic politicians such as Disraeli or Gladstone, were met with stony silence and contempt.

Left to his own devices, Bertie devoted himself to a lasting round of feasting, pleasure and leisure, surrounding himself with the wealthy and the aristocratic, who comprised the “Marlborough House Set.” This, as well as his occasional scrapes, led the Queen to assume he was unfit to rule in spite of his popularity of with English people and his well-known adroitness in diplomacy.

Lest you believe Queen Victoria detested her son and heir, thereby continuing the Hanover legacy of the estrangement of heirs from their ruling sires, Victoria was steadfast in the face of the public scrutiny Bertie faced during the Mordaunt divorce trial, the Blandford-Aylesford scandal, and the Tranby Croft Scandal, and rushed to his bedside during a near-fatal bout of typhoid in the 1870s. Victoria simply detested his idleness and choice of friends, but also felt her reign to be a duty solely undertaken by herself.

Bertie’s long and tumulmtuous reign as Prince of Wales came to an end on the 22nd of January, 1901 when Victoria died at the age of 81. At fifty-nine, he had been heir apparent longer than anyone else in British history, and those unable to recall a time when Victoria was not on the throne, doubted his ability to reign. Though Wilfred Scawen Blunt scribbled in his diary: “The Prince of Wales has been proclaimed as Edward VII and begins his reign with the usual acclamations of the vulgar” he nonetheless felt “he will make an excellent king for twentieth century England.” A far cry from the opinion of novelist Henry James: “The old Queen’s death was a real emotion–quite big and fine; but we have dropped again to Edward…fat Edward–E. the Caresser…I mourn the safe and motherly old middle-class queen…the wild waters are upon us now.”

Despite the lukewarm feelings his ascension evoked in a few, Bertie’s popularity proved lasting well past his regrettably short, nine-year reign. His influence in dress, deportment and diplomacy continued to be admired and emulated long after his death. Though largely forgotten by the public, still remarkably overshadowed by his mother, Edward is just as important to her reign as he is to general British history. When Victoria retreated into the spectre of widowhood, it was his charm and affability which kept British subjects from overwhelming resentment of the Royal Family, and he definitely left a stamp of the international relations of the day. And so, as the present Prince of Wales enters his 60th year as heir apparent, one wonders what sort of mark he’ll leave when he ascends the throne.