Royalty – Page 12 – Number One London

The London and Waterloo Tour – Victoria and Albert: Art in Love at the Queen’s Gallery

Victoria and I are looking forward to the Victoria and Albert: Art in Love exhibit at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. The Exhibition features 400 items from The Royal Collection including gifts exchanged by Victoria and Albert such as drawings, paintings, sculpture, furniture, musical scores and jewellery and encompasses their mutual love of music and art. The display also touches upon Prince Albert’s work on ‘The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in 1851’ as well Queen Victoria in the years after Albert’s death in 1861.

Works by the couple’s favorite artist, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, are on display, as are photographs taken of the Royal couple. A German painter first recommended to Queen Victoria by Louise, Queen of the Belgians, Winterhalter came to England in 1842 and subsequently worked regularly for the queen and her family over the next two decades. Winterhalter was granted the largest number of royal commissions and produced numerous formal portraits, including the one pictured above, which Queen Victoria commissioned in 1843 as a surprise for her husband’s 24th birthday. The artist presents the Queen in an intimate pose, leaning against a red cushion with her hair half unravelled from its fashionable knot.

Winterhalter (at left) was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1805. He excelled at painting and drawing as a teen and went to Munich where he studied at the Academy of Arts. By the late 1830’s he drew attention as a painter of royal subjects. He traveled and painted in almost every court of Europe until the last few years of his life. Though art critics were never very enthusiastic about his work, his portraits were well executed and conveniently flattering.

Costumes are also displayed in the exhibit, including Queen Victoria’s costume for the 1851 Stuart Ball designed by French artist Eugène Lami. The French silk gown is rich in lace and brocade.

You can take a really in-depth video tour of the exhibition here and/or visit the Royal Collection website.

Winterhalter’s The First of May 1851, at right, shows the Duke of Wellington presenting a casket to his one-year-old godson, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, who is supported by Queen Victoria. Behind these figures and forming the apex of a pyramidal composition is Prince Albert, half looking over his shoulder towards the Crystal Palace in the left background. Both the Duke of Wellington and Prince Albert are dressed in the uniform of Field Marshal and wear the Order of the Garter. The painting derives its title from the fact that both the Duke of Wellington and Prince Arthur were born on 1 May, which was also the date of the inauguration of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park.

The painting was commissioned by Queen Victoria, but Winterhalter clearly encountered some difficulties in devising an appropriate composition. In the queen’s words, he ‘did not seem to know how to carry it out’ and it was Prince Albert ‘with his wonderful knowledge and taste’ who gave Winterhalter the idea of using a casket, instead of the gold cup the Duke had actually presented to the child. The painting hangs at the Duke’s country home, Stratfield Saye.

Above, Victoria and Albert with their children in 1846, Buckingham Palace

Dinner with the Queen

Charles Greville

From the Greville Memoirs

March 11th. (1838) — I dined yesterday at the Palace, much to my surprise, for I had no expectation of an invitation. There was a very numerous party:—the Hanoverian Minister Baron Miinchhausen, Lord and Lady Grey, the Chancellor, the Roseberys, Ossulston, Mahon, etc. We assembled in the round room next the gallery, and just before the dinner was ready the Queen entered with the Duchess of Kent, preceded by the Chamberlain, and followed by her six ladies. She shook hands with the women, and made a sweeping bow to the men, and directly went in to dinner, conducted by Miinchhausen, who sat next to her, and Lord Conyngham on the other side. The dinner was like any other great dinner. After the eating was over, the Queen’s health was given by Cavendish, who sat at one end of the table, and everybody got up to drink it: a vile, vulgar custom, and, however proper it may be to drink her health elsewhere, it is bad taste to have it given by her own officer at her own table, which, in fact, is the only private table it is ever drunk at. However, this has been customary in the two last reigns. George III never dined but with his family, never had guests, or a dinner party.

Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent

“The Queen sat for some time at table, talking away very merrily to her neighbours, and the men remained about a quarter of an hour after the ladies. When we went into the drawing-room, and huddled about the door in the sort of half-shy, half-awkward way people do, the Queen advanced to meet us, and spoke to everybody in succession, and if every body’s ‘palaver ‘ was as deeply interesting as mine, it would have been worth while to have had Gurney to take it down in short-hand. The words of kings and queens are precious, but it would be hardly fair to record a Royal after-dinner colloquy. . . . After a few insignificant questions and answers, —gracious smile and inclination of head on part of Queen, profound bow on mine, she turned again to Lord Grey. Directly after I was (to my satisfaction) deposited at the whist table to make up the Duchess of Kent’s party, and all the rest of the company were arranged about a large round table (the Queen on the sofa by it), where they passed about an hour and a half in what was probably the smallest possible talk, interrupted and enlivened, however, by some songs which Lord Ossulston sang. We had plenty of instrumental music during and after dinner. To form an opinion or the slightest notion of her real character and capacity from such a formal affair as this, is manifestly impossible. Nobody expects from her any clever, amusing, or interesting talk, above all no stranger can expect it. She is very civil to everybody, and there is more of frankness, cordiality, and good-humour in her manner than of dignity. She looks and speaks cheerfully: there was nothing to criticise, nothing particularly to admire. The whole thing seemed to be dull, perhaps unavoidably so, but still so dull that it is a marvel how anybody can like such a life. This was an unusually large party, and therefore more than usually dull and formal; but it is much the same sort of thing every day.”

Regency Reflections: The Regency Era Begins

Two hundred years ago today, the English Regency began. George, Prince of Wales, swore his allegiance to King George III followed by oaths of office as Regent according to Parliamentary Acts, and as protector of the Protestant religion. The solemn ceremonies at the Prince’s residence, Carlton House, were attended by the Royal Dukes, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Parliamentary ministers led by the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval.

At right, a highly flattering picture of George, Prince of Wales, by John Singleton Copley, displayed at the Royal Academy in 1810. George always yearned to be a military leader but, sadly for Copley, he did not purchase this picture. It now hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Its official nme is Portrait of HRH The Prince of Wales at a Review, attended by Lord Heathfield, General Turner, Col. Bloomfield, and Baron Eben; Col. Quinton in the Distance. The Prince never took the battlefield, however much he tried to convince the Duke of Wellington that he’d been at the Duke’s side at Waterloo.

Up to the time of his Regency, the Prince’s closest friends were associated with the Whigs, a political group of prominent aristocrats and their associates, who favored some “liberal” ideas, though one would never say they were radical reformers. The differences between the Tories and the Whigs in the early 19th century today seem rather minor. The Whigs wanted reform but just a little bit! Gradually, the Whigs came to stand for extension of the voting franchise, Catholic emancipation, abolition of slavery, and other forward-thinking policies. But, unexpectedly, the new Prince Regent did not dismiss the Tory government and appoint his old friends. Needless to say, the old buddies were not pleased.

Jane Austen, NPG

Is it just my bias, caused by my admiration of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, or were there really an unusually brilliant collection of characters in the Regency? Here are a few of the personages who capture my fancy.

Jane Austen (1775-1817), brilliant author. Nuff said.

The Duke of Wellington, Waterloo victor

Lord Byron, mad, bad and dangerous to know

George “Beau” Brummell, fashion arbiter

Princess Lieven, by Lawrence, c. 1813
sees all, tells all?

Earl Grey, led the Whig opposition

Sir John Soane, brilliant architect

Sir Thomas Lawrence, self-portrait; he painted them all

Above is just a sliver of the fascinating characters of the Regency Era. Who is your favorite? Let us know…

Regency Reflections: On 5 February, 1811, the Regency Begins…

By February 5, 1811, both houses of Parliament had passed the Regency Act, making George, Prince of Wales, the Regent for his incapacitated father, George III, who was under doctors’ care at Windsor Castle. The Prince took the royal oath on February 6, 1811.

He was 48 years old. He had a legal wife, Princess Caroline, whom he despised, and from whom he had been estranged since shortly after the wedding. Their daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was 15 years old, and suffered from the great inconsistencies in her father’s attention and attitude. She was most often ignored by him, but occasionally she was flaunted before the public, which adored her and loathed him.

Princess Charlotte by Richard Woodman,
1816, NPG

Charlotte was a lively girl who had limited contact with both her mother and father. She was often with her aunts, the Princesses, and her grandmother, Queen Charlotte, and only rarely with girls of her own age. From time to time, the Prince spent time with her, but he complained that her looks reminded him, painfully, of his wife. Little wonder she had the German/Hanoverian stamp, since her George and Caroline were first cousins, both grandchildren of Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751), the son of George II.

Princess Charlotte led a lonely life, though surrounded at all times by attendants and court-appointed companions.

Caroline, Princess of Wales
by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1798, VandA

Caroline, by 1811, had set up a separate establishment where she entertained and socialized. Some of her behavior was reported to be scandalous, and her access to her daughter was often restricted. Caroline enjoyed — and often flaunted — her personal popularity with the people. She resented her position as a cast-aside wife with little or no access to court and none of the honors due her. Little wonder that there were constant rumors circulating in London society.

Mrs. Fitzherbert by Gainsborough, 1787

Prince George had another wife, Maria Fitzherbert, though the union was not legal according to the requirements of the laws regarding royal marriages. Maria put up with a lot of misbehavior from George too. He left her not only for a legal wife, however temporarily, but also had numerous mistresses while he was associating with her. Like Caroline, Maria loved children; both women adopted other children on whom they poured their maternal love. One hopes that all three of these women – Maria, Caroline and Charlotte – managed some degree of happiness in their lives as they were consistently disappointed by the whims and caprices of George, Prince of Wales.

Prince George resided at Carlton House in London, a building he had turned into a palace filled with magnificent art works and sumptuous furnishings. Typical of his over-indulgence in all matters, as King, George IV had Carlton House demolished in 1825 for a new plan to enhance the new Regent Street. Meanwhile, he turned his Marine Pavilion in Brighton, from the tasteful building completed by Henry Holland in 1787, below, into a fantastical building in which the interior is Chinese style while the exterior is Indian-Mughal, whatever that is. Rev. Sydney Smith remarked upon seeing the Pavilion, “It looks like St. Paul’s Cathedral came down and pupped.”

The Marine Pavilion, Brighton
Henry Holland, Architect, 1787

Brighton Pavilion, as remodeled by John Nash, after 1811

England at the beginning of 1811 had been at war with France on and off for decades. British armies were fighting in the Peninsular Wars in Portugal and Spain. Shifting alliances among the continental European powers kept Britain’s diplomats busy negotiating and re-negotiating treaties and mutual support pacts. The Prince Regent left the hard jobs to his ministers while he concentrated on his social life, his collections, his designs for army uniforms, and other even more trivial matters. We will dip further into some of these in future posts.

But George never was very popular. Sometimes the press was full of praise, but between the essayists, satirists and artists of caricatures, the Regent took his full share of criticism.
Here is a fragment of the praiseful poem published by the Morning Post newspaper in honor of the new Prince Regent:

Adonis! In thy shape and face,
A liberal heart and Princely grace
In thee are seen combined …

But Leigh Hunt and his brother John, editor of a literary magazine called the Examiner, published a different view:
“… An Adonis of 50 … a violator of his word, a libertine over head and ears in debt and disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of gamblers and demi-reps, a man without a single claim to the gratitude of his country or the respect of posterity …”

Though many hailed them as heroes for their position, the Hunts were sued for and convicted of libel and served time in jail. Among the visitors to Leigh Hunt in prison were the poet Lord Byron, Lord Brougham, and essayist Charles Lamb.

Leigh Hunt, essayist and critic, 1784-1859

“The Prince of Whales, or The Fisherman at Anchor:
George Cruikshank, 1812

We will look at the Prince, or Prinny as many called him, and his reign many times in the upcoming months. It was a time of excess in many ways, and he certainly led the pack. We will see many more caricatures — they were in their glory in those days — and we will look at the real achievements of the Prince, particularly in assembling his collections of art and decorative arts.

At his Pavilion in Brighton, a new exhibition is about to open: Dress for Excess, Fashion in Regency England. suitable title, don’t you agree? It will include the magnificent Coronation Robe worn by the Prince as he became George IV in 1921. Below, the King’s portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence (who else?).

Regency Reflections: Leading up to the Regency of Prince George, 1811

George III, c.1809; studio of Sir William Beechey, NPG

After the first regency crisis in 1788-89, George III had occasional relapses of illness and mental incapacity. However, each time he would gradually recover, and he retained the powers of his office for more than two decades.

George, Prince of Wales, bided his time, indulging in his characteristic excesses. He was not esteemed by the common people. He complained that he was not given an important post in the Army, like his brother Frederick, Duke of York, or in the Navy like his brother William, Duke of Clarence. This is how he was caricatured by James Gillray (1757-1815) in 1792 as A Voluptuary Under the Horrors of Digestion.

James Gillray, 1792

Caroline, Princess of Wales by Lawrence

Acceding to his father’s and Parliament’s wishes, and to pay his debts, in 1795 he married his cousin Caroline of Brunswick, a marriage which lasted only a few days or weeks before they were effectively estranged forever. Nevertheless, a child was born nine months after the ceremonies, Princess Charlotte. At last there was a legitimate grandchild who could inherit the throne.

Marriage did nothing to improve Prince George; in fact it may have increased his reckless behavior.

Princess Amelia, Hoppner, 1785

The leaders of both political parties died in 1806, William Pitt, the Tory Prime Minister in January and Whig leader Charles James Fox in September, leaving a new cast of characters to assess the need for a regency.

Princess Amelia, 1783-1810, by William Beechey

The British people had grown fond of their old king and his jubilee, celebrating 50 years on the throne, was widely acclaimed in 1809. The next year, King George III’s madness recurred. He was much distressed by the fatal illness of his youngest daughter, Princess Amelia. Though she chafed at the strictness of her parents and her virtual imprisonment at Windsor, she loved her father. Anticipating her death, she had a special jewel set for him including a lock of her hair. The very sight of it caused him tears.

The Prime Minister in 1810-11 was Spencer Perceval (1762-1812), who presided over a fractious set of ministers. Perceval, who called himself “not a Tory but a follower of Pitt”, did not like the Prince. The feeling was mutual. Perceval had taken the side of Caroline, Princess of Wales, in her disputes with her husband, and George was not a forgiving man.

But after much discussion and examination of the King by doctors and politicians alike, Perceval told the Prince that the Parliament would discuss a bill to establish a regency. George was to be ruler in the name of his father. The prince was not pleased with the restrictions placed on his actions by the bill, which was very similar to the one passed by Commons and almost passed by the House of Lords in 1789. These restrictions had mainly to do with the creations of peerages and other offices, awards and pensions. The Queen would be responsible for the care of the King.

For some of the members of both Commons and Lords, the bill gave too much power to the Prince. But despite the bill’s shortcomings, it passed in early February, 1811, and the Regency was established. The Prince took the Royal Oath on February 6.

To the surprise of almost everyone, the Prince Regent did not choose new ministers from his close friends, the Whigs. The Parliament had many issues on its agenda, such as continuation of the Peninsular War, the problems of Ireland, and banking concerns.

Meanwhile, the Prince Regent continued his spendthrift ways. He prided himself on his connoisseurship; he built, remodeled, bought, collected and wasted incredible amounts of public money. However, for the remainder of the regency and his ten years as George IV, his tastes and his extravagances gave Britain a lasting legacy in the royal collections and palaces. Whether it had anything to do with his influence or not, there was a flowering of literary talent on his watch. Byron, Keats, Shelley, Austen, Scott – an endless list. And the painters Constable, Turner, Lawrence and many others were at the top of their games. Architecture, the decorative arts, and garden design developed brilliantly.

We will investigate many of these topics further over the year.