This, of course, was nothing compared to the intense grief she experienced when Albert died in 1861. In her journals, she confessed to being "overcome with a feeling of awe & sorrow". Victoria's uncle passed away shortly after. A few days after Pate's attack, Robert Peel – a staunch ally of the Queen and friend of Albert – died after falling from his horse. ![]() In the end, however, the most devasting emotional blows didn't come from assassins, but from the deaths of people she loved. In her journal, she confessed that when the public pressed close to her carriage it "always makes me think more than usually of the possibility of an attempt being made on me". By the time Robert Pate attacked her in 1850, she had begun to feel anxious in crowds – a not uncommon outcome of a traumatic event like being a victim of a violent crime. Four different men shot at Victoria in the 1840s. Some Victorians – including one of her subsequent attackers – bristled at the idea of living under "petticoat government" and believed that women lacked the grit and composure to rule.īut traumatic experiences like this can be difficult to shake off. It was important for Victoria to project this strength in public. A poem in The Times described her as a "lion-hearted monarch" and dubbed her "A King in courage, though by sex a Queen". This was a defiant and public display of courage by the Queen, and the press lauded her bravery. Victoria emerged unhurt, but it could have ended very differently.įollowing Francis' assault, the Queen immediately resumed her royal duties and continued to appear in public, seemingly unscathed. Sure enough, Francis made another attempt, this time managing to fire his pistol at the royal couple moments before being seized by a policeman. The next evening, she and Albert rode out in their open-top carriage flanked by guards but still exposed. Knowing that a potential assassin was on the loose, Prime Minster Robert Peel urged the Queen to stay at home while his new police force hunted the attacker. Albert spotted him, but Francis didn't fire and managed to slip away. Back in 1842, a teenage boy named John Francis had pointed a pistol at her carriage as it drove up Constitution Hill. Her determination not to hide away in the wake of the attacks was typical of Victoria in her younger years. As Victoria herself quipped, "it is worth being shot at to learn how much one is loved". While not all Victorians were enthusiastic monarchists, attacks on the Queen prompted these outpourings of emotion. Still, she ventured to the opera where joyful crowds threw their hats in the air and serenaded her with spontaneous renditions of "God Save The Queen". In the hours after the attack, Victoria was still "shaken, nervous, & unable to eat". ![]() Prince Albert was "dreadfully shocked", while Sir George Grey, the home secretary at the time, arrived at Buckingham Palace "greatly distressed & in tears". Victoria wasn't the only one to feel some emotion. ![]() As her account of the incident unfolded, fear and confusion gave way to anger, and she came to see the "outrage" as "the most disgraceful and cowardly thing that has ever been done". Looking back on the attack from the safety of Buckingham Palace, she wrote that it now seemed "like a horrid dream". (Read more about the origins of the "stiff upper lip".)ĭespite her public façade, Victoria's personal journals reveal an emotional side. ![]() Many people imagine the 19th Century as a time of repressed emotions, while others celebrate its supposed stoicism. Victoria's famous quote – "we are not amused" – may never have passed her lips, but it has come to symbolise the sangfroid of the Queen and the mood of an era. This description of the Queen as resilient, unflappable, and committed to duty chimes with her popular image, both then and now. The Morning Post reported that "her Majesty betrayed no feeling of alarm" and had the "complete self-possession" to courteously acknowledge groups of cheering spectators as her carriage made its way back to Buckingham Palace. Media accounts often emphasised her coolness. This was the fifth time that she had been attacked since her 1837 ascension to the throne.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |