When Queen Victoria died in 1901, she took with her far more than the memories of her reign. Hidden in her coffin, alongside various souvenirs linked to her late husband, Prince Albert, are objects reminiscent of another man: John Brown, her Scottish servant who remained her closest confidant for nearly twenty years.
A photograph of John Brown is in fact slipped next to the deceased as well as locks of her hair and her mother’s wedding ring. Simple testimony of boundless devotion? Not sure. A historian has relaunched, more than a century later, one of the most fascinating enigmas in British history: what was really the nature of the relationship between the sovereign and her servant?
From the early days of Victoria’s widowhood, rumors grew about John Brown’s place with the queen, recalls a National Geographic article. This faithful servant, first recruited as a hunting guide at his Scottish estate of Balmoral, quickly rose through the ranks to become Victoria’s shadow. Always at her side, he has the unofficial status of privileged confidant, both indispensable and jealous of the royal entourage. The court begins to murmur, then the press – in particular the London caricaturists who thrive on this scandalous intimacy. We will go so far as to suspect a pregnancy born from this secret love.
Victoria, far from calming the rumors, fuels the ambiguity: she commissions portraits which show them both in complicit postures, and writes letters in which she praises the attachment “strong and true, of a warm and affectionate friendship between a sovereign and her servant”. Nothing, however, will ever be proven.
Well-kept secrets
The sudden death of John Brown in 1883 plunged the queen back into intense mourning: she locked herself in her room and wrote a lot about her sadness. None of these writings have reached us: his memories have been erased by his family. His son Bertie (future Edward VII) removed all signs of the servant’s presence, while the archives were redacted or sealed.
Despite these multiple attempts to erase all traces of John Brown from official royal history, the legend persisted throughout the 20th century.e century. Diaries and correspondence from the period gradually resurface, providing clues to an intimacy that disturbs observers: one-on-one walks, sweet words, and this formula reported by John Brown’s brother: “No one loves you more than me”Victoria would have written to him.
A clandestine marriage?
It is in this context that historian Fern Riddell intervenes. With his book Victoria’s Secret and the associated documentary, she relaunches the debate with new documents: letters, hand casts, a small inscribed New Year card “to my best friend JB / from her best friend VRI”. Riddell also recalls Scottish customs regarding marriage – a simple exchange of vows was then enough to validate a union – without a priest, without banns and without an official ceremony. The possibility of a secret marriage within the royal family has never really been seriously studied until now, as it seems unthinkable in England.
Even more confusing: some family stories report the possible existence of a hidden child. A descendant of John Brown’s brother mentions this rumor of an illegitimate lineage, but caution remains in order: Victoria was then in her forties, suffering from health problems and her previous pregnancies had been a source of immense difficulties. However, the times would not have prevented a late pregnancy, masked by the isolation of the queen and her decision to dress exclusively in black since Albert’s death.
Over the decades, numerous books and biographies have attempted to flesh out Victoria, long perceived as the tutelary figure of a rigid and austere era – the emblem of prudish and corseted “Victorianism”. Discovering the possibility of a passionate, melancholy woman, tormented by love, motherhood and loss, could rewrite the history of an entire section of the country.
Riddell does not provide irrefutable proof, but exposes, piece by piece, the strength of a link which shakes up the legend of an austere queen, reinforcing decades of rumors and speculation.
