Today on Project Gutenberg: "The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol. 2"

Today on Project Gutenberg, we have…

The Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection from Her Majesty’s Correspondence, Volume 2 by Various

As a historian, there are two subjects that I can’t get enough of: the Victorian era, and poring through collections of letters from centuries past. So naturally, I was delighted to stumble upon this motherlode of reading material.

I’m going to assume that you know who Queen Victoria was. If by some chance you don’t, you can at least tell from the whole “has a major period of British history named after her” thing that she was one of the famous and influential monarchs of all time. Project Gutenberg has a 3-volume collection of personal and business-related letters that she wrote between 1837 (when she ascended to the throne) and 1861 (when her beloved husband Prince Albert passed away). Interestingly, the collection was actually published in 1908 by Victoria’s own son Bertie, who by that point was King Edward VII. So these are what the Crown had chosen to make available at that time, rather than items uncovered much later.

Volume 2 of the collection spans from 1844 to 1853. For the United Kingdom as a whole, these were years marked by rapid social change, technological innovations and societal upheaval. For Victoria herself, they were about raising her young family and carefully managing her domestic and foreign political relationships. The collection is much too larger for me to read entirely before writing these few paragraphs, but from what I did read, it’s a nice mix of personal letters to family members and official ones to foreign rulers or British government ministers. I like that, especially because it really lets you see how the etiquette and tone of Victoria’s letters changes based on the intended recipient.

Hierarchy and intent are huge factors in how these letters are worded. The first few letters I read were from Victoria to her uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium. She writes them in the first person, and they often get long-winded and emotional, as a private letter to a close relative likely would. Take this letter from February 1844, written a few days after the death of Leopold’s brother, who was also Victoria’s father-in-law:

The violence of our grief may be over, but the desolate feeling which succeeds it is worse, and tears are a relief. I have never known real grief till now, and it has made a lasting impression on me. A father is such a near relation, you are a piece of him in fact,—and all (as my poor deeply afflicted Angel says) the earliest pleasures of your life were given you by a dear father; that can never he replaced though time may soften the pang. And indeed one loves to cling to one's grief; I can understand Louise's feeling in her overwhelming sorrows.

Let me now join my humble entreaties to Albert's, relative to the request about dearest Louise, which he has made. It is a sacrifice I ask, but if you knew the sacrifice I make in letting and urging Albert to go, I am sure, if you can you will grant it. I have never been separated from him even for one night, and the thought of such a separation is quite dreadful; still, I feel I could bear it,—I have made up my mind to it, as the very thought of going has been a comfort to my poor Angel, and will be of such use at Coburg. Still, if I were to remain quite alone I do not think I could bear it quietly. Therefore pray do send me my dearly beloved Louise; she would be such a comfort to me; if you could come too—or afterwards (as you promised us a longer visit), that would be still more delightful. I may be indiscreet, but you must think of what the separation from my all and all, even only for a fortnight, will be to me!

(Page 7)

(Note: the “Louise” referred to was Leopold’s wife, a close friend of Victoria.)

Victoria’s writing style takes on a markedly different tone in her letters to people like Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister in 1844, and the Earl of Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary. These letters are much more terse, and she refers to herself in the third person as simply “the Queen.” When these men write to her in return, they also use third person. A lot of languages, like Spanish and French, have defined pronouns for formal and informal speaking. English does not, but I think the changes between first person and third person create a similar effect. It’s a clear indicator of formality and rank.

The formal letters are also fascinating to me because they show how Victoria negotiated and conducted business. In early 1844, for example, Victoria got word that the East India was planning to vote out the current Governor of India, Lord Ellenborough. Victoria didn’t agree with that decision, but she didn’t have the power to directly prevent it. So she settled for giving the Company some advice:

The Queen has heard with the greatest regret from Sir R. Peel that the Court of Directors, after all, mean to recall Lord Ellenborough. She cannot but consider this very unwise at this critical moment, and a very ungrateful return for the eminent services Lord Ellenborough has rendered to the Company in India. They ought not to forget so soon in what state Lord Ellenborough found affairs in 1842. The Queen would not be sorry if these gentlemen knew that this is her opinion.

(Page 9)

The EIC did end up recalling Lord Ellenborough. With some advice from Robert Peel, Victoria decided to convey an earldom upon Ellenborough as reward for his services in India—but not until Ellenborough’s replacement had been chosen, because giving the honors right away would look like a rebuke of the company’s decision. Exchanges like this don’t necessarily reflect the usual affairs that Victoria dealt with, but they do demonstrate how she exerted influence on the giant machine that was the British Empire, and how she conducted herself while doing so.

If you’re interested in Victorian history and/or Queen Victoria as a person, I would absolutely recommend taking a look at these letters. I’m probably going to go back and take a look at the letters from 1848, a year which saw several major uprisings and revolutions across Europe. There must have been a lot on her mind in that year, for obvious reasons. I’m very glad the random search feature on PG managed to unearth these for me. Letters are one of the most valuable historical resources we have, and reading through letters as important as these is an eye-opening experience.

And that’s what we found today on Project Gutenberg! See you next time!

—Dana