Regular readers will know that my great great grandmother's siblings Sandy Campbell and Johanna Campbell were both trusted servants to Queen Victoria at Balmoral. So I take a particular interest in the subject of this podcast.
I remember reading a paper that pointed out that Conservative historians hotly denied that Victoria and John Brown were lovers, while left-wing historians sniggered at the idea. The author hoped they were lovers and it made Victoria happy.
In this podcast Fern Riddell describes her researches and discoveries, which make you think that - maybe, just maybe - there was such a child.
And if Victoria and John Brown did have a child, it's not ridiculous to think that Sandy, a friend of Brown from their boyhoods, and Johanna, the housekeeper at Victoria's retreat even from Balmoral, must have known.
Brown pre-deceased the Queen, in 1883, at the age of 56. Tony Rennell's book Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria describes Victoria's detailed instructions about her burial to her doctor, Sir James Reid. These included a list of the keepsakes and mementoes, photographs and trinkets to be placed in the coffin with her: along with Albert's dressing gown and a plaster cast of his hand, the Queen was buried with a lock of Brown's hair, his photograph, Brown's mother's wedding ring, given to her by Brown, along with several of his letters. The photograph, wrapped in white tissue paper, was placed in her left hand, with flowers arranged to hide it from view. She wore the ring on the third finger of her right hand.......................... If this is correct it just goes to show how barmy and eccentric the hereditary system is
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the trouble to post that, but I'm not sure it tells us much about the hereditary system is. I find it rather touching.
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