Queen Victoria | Page 9

a gipsy at Gibraltar who told him that he was to have many
losses and crosses, that he was to die in happiness, and that his only
child was to be a great queen. Before long it became clear that a child
was to be expected: the Duke decided that it should be born in England.
Funds were lacking for the journey, but his determination was not to be
set aside. Come what might, he declared, his child must be
English-born. A carriage was hired, and the Duke himself mounted the
box. Inside were the Duchess, her daughter Feodora, a girl of fourteen,
with maids, nurses, lap-dogs, and canaries. Off they drove--through
Germany, through France: bad roads, cheap inns, were nothing to the
rigorous Duke and the equable, abundant Duchess. The Channel was
crossed, London was reached in safety. The authorities provided a set
of rooms in Kensington Palace; and there, on May 24, 1819, a female

infant was born.

CHAPTER II
. CHILDHOOD
I
The child who, in these not very impressive circumstances, appeared in
the world, received but scant attention. There was small reason to
foresee her destiny. The Duchess of Clarence, two months before, had
given birth to a daughter, this infant, indeed, had died almost
immediately; but it seemed highly probable that the Duchess would
again become a mother; and so it actually fell out. More than this, the
Duchess of Kent was young, and the Duke was strong; there was every
likelihood that before long a brother would follow, to snatch her faint
chance of the succession from the little princess.
Nevertheless, the Duke had other views: there were prophecies... At
any rate, he would christen the child Elizabeth, a name of happy augury.
In this, however, he reckoned without the Regent, who, seeing a chance
of annoying his brother, suddenly announced that he himself would be
present at the baptism, and signified at the same time that one of the
godfathers was to be the Emperor Alexander of Russia. And so when
the ceremony took place, and the Archbishop of Canterbury asked by
what name he was to baptise the child, the Regent replied "Alexandria."
At this the Duke ventured to suggest that another name might be added.
"Certainly," said the Regent; "Georgina?" "Or Elizabeth?" said the
Duke. There was a pause, during which the Archbishop, with the baby
in his lawn sleeves, looked with some uneasiness from one Prince to
the other. "Very well, then," said the Regent at last, "call her after her
mother. But Alexandrina must come first." Thus, to the disgust of her
father, the child was christened Alexandrina Victoria.
The Duke had other subjects of disgust. The meagre grant of the
Commons had by no means put an end to his financial distresses. It was
to be feared that his services were not appreciated by the nation. His
debts continued to grow. For many years he had lived upon L7000 a
year; but now his expenses were exactly doubled; he could make no
further reductions; as it was, there was not a single servant in his
meagre grant establishment who was idle for a moment from morning

to night. He poured out his griefs in a long letter to Robert Owen,
whose sympathy had the great merit of being practical. "I now candidly
state," he wrote, "that, after viewing the subject in every possible way, I
am satisfied that, to continue to live in England, even in the quiet way
in which we are going on, WITHOUT SPLENDOUR, and WITHOUT
SHOW, NOTHING SHORT OF DOUBLING THE SEVEN
THOUSAND POUNDS WILL DO, REDUCTION BEING
IMPOSSIBLE." It was clear that he would be obliged to sell his house
for L51,300, if that failed, he would go and live on the Continent. "If
my services are useful to my country, it surely becomes THOSE WHO
HAVE THE POWER to support me in substantiating those just claims
I have for the very extensive losses and privations I have experienced,
during the very long period of my professional servitude in the
Colonies; and if this is not attainable, IT IS A CLEAR PROOF TO ME
THAT THEY ARE THEY ARE NOT APPRECIATED; and under that
impression I shall not scruple, in DUE time, to resume my retirement
abroad, when the Duchess and myself shall have fulfilled our duties in
establishing the ENGLISH birth of my child, and giving it material
nutriment on the soil of Old England; and which we shall certainly
repeat, if Providence destines, to give us any further increase of
family."
In the meantime, he decided to spend the winter at Sidmouth, "in
order," he told Owen, "that the Duchess may have the benefit of tepid
sea bathing, and our infant that of sea air, on the fine coast of
Devonshire, during