Boer War Page 92k

The most famous of them all, of course, was Queen Victoria, the longest reigning monarch in British History. She ruled for 64 years from 1837-1901, a record that will never be broken. The monarchy will come to an end before the times, or the quality of the material available, will ever permit such a conjunction of the planets again.

Great Canadian Heritage Treasure

Bust, Prince Albert, c.1856

Orig. parian marble - Size - 14" Found - Toronto, ON Signed WH Kerr & Co., Worcester, RJ Jones Sculptor, Provenance - John Russell Estate

A fabulous parian marble bust of Prince Albert, by the sculptor RJ Jones, that was executed only a short time before Albert died.

His marriage gave him access to the most powerful throne in the world. He performed the marital duties of a husband with diligence, if not with passion. It was the kind of trade-off Barbara Amiel would have understood.

The union of Victoria and Albert produced 4 sons and five daughters, who would be married into every Royal house in Europe.

Queen Victoria would become known as the "Grandmother of Europe."

Queen Victoria came under Prince Albert's spell, and grew to love him passionately. He was her ideal of a man, good-looking, extremely smart, and better educated and schooled than anyone else in the British Royal Family, and oh so knowledgeable!

He had affection for her; it was her office he loved, and her power that he craved. In his day - like in ours - the British Royal Family was mostly known for sexual misbehaviour and dissolute living. Prince Albert wanted to reform this. Bertie, his first son, rebelled.

As a prince, Albert insisted on reforming society according to his German high standards of behaviour, for himself first of course, but for others even more passionately. He, a Teutonic German, was the spiritual fountain for the stiff morality that became identified with "Victorian," and the English ruling classes were not comfortable with it or with him. To them he didn't look or act like an Englishman; at least their misbehaviour, which he deplored, was British! He thought their only interests seemed to be fox-hunting and Sunday observances. Albert was only interested in pursuing the great affairs of state, and wielded powerful influence over Victoria, until 1861, when he prematurely died.

It was a great relief to everyone, in British high society, but not to Queen Victoria, who went into a deep mental slump from which many feared she would never recover.

In fact she blamed Prince Edward for killing his father; she refused to talk with him for years... Albert had suffered his fatal illness right after another shouting match with Bertie over his umpteenth illicit relationship with a married woman and the upset it caused him trying to prevent the ripple effect from tarnishing the reputation of the Royal Family, in fact the Queen and England.

A gloom seemed to descend on the Kingdom.

But the marriage of Bertie and Alix, in 1863, helped bring everyone around again.

A photo of the beautiful Alix convinced Victoria and Albert; but not Bertie. Propping himself on an elbow from a bed where he was doing research of his own, Bertie said that it would take considerably longer than he had time on earth. Albert pushed, and Bertie finally agreed to marry Alix, but, Albert died before it happened.

Whatever beauty there is, in the British Royal family's gene pool, comes from Princess - later Queen - Alexandra, because her parents were Danish and German. Her father was King Christian IX of Denmark. No doubt she was a strikingly beautiful woman as her fabulous busts makes clear.

Alix married Prince Edward, in 1863. He had visited Canada before he was married, in 1860, but like her mother-in-law, Alexandra never did.

Great Canadian Heritage Treasure

Bust, Princess Alexandra, c 1880

Orig. earthenware - Size - 5.5" Found - Toronto, ON

She was unpretentious to a fault and focused her life entirely on Queenly pursuits like, family, dogs, and children.

Bertie had other pursuits, mostly other women, lots of other women, until late in life, old age feebled him, somewhat, no doubt from his many patriotic exertions.

Alix knew what Bertie was up to, or up for, or whatever, whenever an actress, or any of those show business women came on the scene, but looked the other way. She had class even if they didn't. Alix was extremely popular with the British public who sympathized with her, and her married plight, and thought the Prince was a reprobate, a bounder, or worse.

The Boer War brought Alexandra more troubles. She narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when bullets were fired at her and Bertie in Belgium, by a gunman angry at the British treatment of the Boers in South Africa. Then her oldest boy, Albert Victor, who was in the Army there, died of enteric fever. There was a big sigh of relief among those who knew the personal qualities of the prince, but Alix was devastated.

Edward spent so many years waiting for his mother - Victoria - to die - so he could be King - that he feared he would run out of booze, or babes - but not actresses. No fear of that. Finally, God Bless her, Victoria died.

Alix had been Princess of Wales for 39 years when she finally became Queen Alexandra, and Bertie became Edward VII, in 1902. They would only have 8 more years together.

Alexandra was an extremely popular Queen. And oddly enough so was Bertie... A popular King, I mean... You must not confuse him with one of the current princes, just because the tabloids talk...

Indeed Bertie became a very popular King in the short time he had left.

He was able to restore respect for the Crown of England which the Boer War had tarnished in most of the capitals of Europe.