Queen Victoria's Children - Ep 2 - A Domestic Tyrant

Queen Victoria, the great matriarch, reigned over a quarter of the world

To her subjects, she was revered as queen. To her family, she was often feared as a domestic tyrant

Queen Victoria's desire to control her children, I think, was... pathological. She ruled the roost domestically, and she was just jolly well determined that

her children were going to behave like subjects. As they grew into manhood, her sons could

break free from Victoria's clutches, but the daughters were always kept on a far tighter

rein by their demanding mother. Everything with Victoria was about me, my needs, my need

for love, my need for care, my need for company. It was never, ever really a case of, what

What can I do for them? In danger of being suffocated, the daughters hit back

Louise is not prepared just to do what her mother says, but always comes out fighting

In a great untold family saga, the headstrong princesses fought to escape their mother

They shocked the queen by forging their own independent lives. And there was more

A marriage to an alleged homosexual. A career risking disease and death

a scandal with a renowned artist, a passion for revolutionary ideas. And in daring to tear up the Queen's rulebook

they became unlikely champions of the independence of women. Her daughters, they really wanted to see the position of women changing

and they were all slowly and gradually working in their own societies to try and bring about a change in women's lives

But Queen Victoria was not going to let her daughters go. where the daughters go without a fight

Osborne House, Queen Victoria's holiday home on the Isle of Wight, where she and her husband Prince Albert

came to find peace and seclusion from the world. Here, the royal children could roam freely

Little did they know they were then at the heart of Victoria and Albert's master plan

to mould the perfect royal dynasty, role models for the nation and marriage partners for European royalty

Victoria and Albert had quite well-worked ideas about what the future of their children should be

even down to selecting who else among the royal houses of Europe

might be suitable for marriage partners. The five royal princesses were not meant to have independent lives

Their destinies were to be controlled by the queen. She let them know at all times that she wasn't just their mother

she was their queen, and they had no chance to disobey her

They weren't allowed to by law. Victoria was to find that she couldn't always have it her own way

In a drama of conflict and determination, as the daughters grew up, they were to challenge their set roles as princesses and women

Clever Vicky, the Princess Royal, would outrage the Queen with her radical ideas

Alice, devoted as a child, so disobeyed her mother that Victoria once called her the real devil in the family

Beautiful Louise was to shock with her rebellious spirit and controversial causes

And loyal Beatrice, who lived chained to her mother's side, would bid for freedom through marriage to the love of her life

But in the 1850s, the young princesses were living in an idyllic regal bubble

Privilege was their life. Louise, for example, grew up as a toddler

She would put her hand out if she met anyone in the corridor

Little, tiny, chubby little legs wandering around, saw somebody, out would go her hand

They were expected to kiss it, which indeed they did. They were taught never to forget their position as princesses

Their governess told them, Go, my dear. Put yourself in the best place before everybody

In 1861, the settled world of the princesses came crashing down. Their father, Prince Albert, died at the young age of 42

the daughters didn't just have to deal with their own bereavement but also the overwhelming grief of

their needy mother a governess predicted catastrophe the worst father worst is yet to come and no one

bore the brunt of their mother's grief more than the four-year-old beatrice

Victoria clung to Beatrice, absolutely clung to her almost from the moment Albert died

In fact, one of the first things she did when Albert died was rush up to the nursery and

grasp the sleeping child to her bosom and took Beatrice into her bed with her

Sweet little Beatrice comes to lie in my bed every morning, which is a great comfort

I so long to cling to and clasp a living being. Beatrice became a sort of mourning toy for Victoria

She cuddled Beatrice to her. And the image that always comes up is of her sort of almost like sucking the life out of it

It's almost vampiric, trying to extract something from her that really no four-year-old child can possibly give

Looking back on this, we could say that the way Victoria behaves towards Beatrice almost amounts to a sort of child abuse

It has a very profound effect on Beatrice's psyche, on her outlook, on her whole personality, and it's hard not to see that as cruel

Beatrice was not alone. Albert's death seemed to intensify Victoria's darker side all of the

princesses were to be dominated by their self-obsessed controlling mother she really just felt that all she'd ever wanted was her and Albert and she

really makes the children feel dreadful about it I mean she seemed to have

blamed the children very much she would I think much rather have lost her

children than her husband. Where once the royal homes Windsor and Osborne were places for fun and play they were now mausoleums of grief The oldest princess Vicky remarked Everything is so different

The old life, the old customs have gone. Victoria seemed more interested in her past

than the children's future. She had her late husband's clothes laid out daily

in his dressing room. hot water for his shaving was delivered each morning she preserved his apartments exactly as

they had always been there are ways in which albert's death is never quite acknowledged there's

something about the coming of the next generation that she finds very difficult because i suppose

there's a sense in which albert's death and albert himself are receding back into history and she's

She's doing absolutely everything she can to stop that from happening. At the time of Albert's death, Victoria's five daughters

ranged from four to 21 years old. The princesses had a problem, how to cope with their unmanageable mother

Vicky had found independence by marrying a German prince and moving to Berlin

It fell to the 18-year-old Princess Alice to take on the burden of the grieving Queen

In a sense, Alice almost took the place of Albert after he died

She comforted Victoria, you know, she tried to be a stable presence

a rock that Albert had been. She didn't cry in her mother's presence

She held back her tears. She'd cry only alone in her room. she really threw herself wholeheartedly into making Victoria's life bearable

Alice didn't only give emotional support to her widowed mother she also took

charge of the Queen's official business Alice effectively was the only person

having close access to the Queen the whole world was shut out there were very

few people allowed to have any contact with her in those first few months so alice would be the

one to steer essential papers in her direction that needed signing but it was very difficult

for the business of government after albert died and alice really was effectively the only intermediary

the demanding role took its toll on the young princess apparently physically it was hard on her

because a nice porty girl turns into an anorexic wreck and her fiance was totally flabbergasted when

he saw her again albert's plan had been to draw germany and britain together through royal into

marriage before he died he had arranged alice's engagement to a german prince louis of hesse

Victoria was in a quandary. She could not bear to lose her daughter

but her late husband's wishes had to be respected. Six months after his death, the marriage went ahead

But there was to be no grand wedding, just a small service in the yellow drawing room at Osborne House

for the grieving queen her daughter's joy was no cause for celebration

poor alice's wedding more like a funeral than a wedding is over and she is a wife i say god bless

her though a dagger is plunged in my bleeding desolate heart when i hear from her this morning

that she is proud and happy to be louise's wife it's not oh i'm so happy for you you have a

husband who loves you it's oh i'm so sorry for me because i haven't got anyone anymore

and she was like that with all her children and alice was allowed out of deep mourning for about

a day to wear white and went away with an entire trousseau of black it was very grim

By marrying, Alice escaped her mother's suffocating grief. Her new life was to be a minor royal in provincial Germany

She was following in the footsteps of her elder sister, Vicky. Three years before, the Princess Royal had been married off

to a much grander prince, Frederick of Prussia, and she had been enduring life in the stiff Prussian court ever since

Being a princess in the 19th century sounds absolutely miserable. Vicki, particularly, off in Prussia and very, very isolated

very, very suspicious of some of the people around her, living a fairly kind of unfulfilled existence

To be propelled off into the world like that and to be planted in an alien environment

I think must have been pretty unsettling. Seeking solace from her family at home

from her family at home, Vicky regularly wrote to her mother, but the letters she received

back were not always ones of comfort. On hearing that Vicky was newly pregnant, the queen wrote

to her. The horrid news has upset us dreadfully. The princess valiantly replied. You know I

love little children so much, and I own one must feel rather proud to think one has given

life to an immortal soul very fine dear but i own i cannot enter into that i think much more of us

being like a cow or dog at such moments when our poor nature becomes so very animal and un ecstatic

vicky may have been 700 miles from windsor but that was no escape from her indomitable mother

the pair exchanged 8 000 letters in what would be a lifelong correspondence

that showed both mutual love and the Queen's obsessive and demanding manner

With Vicky, she has the possibility of being her true self and she is remarkably unguarded

Victoria is one of the great letter writers of the 19th century. She pours out what's on her mind, which is often a stream of anxieties

Your answers yesterday by telegram are not quite satisfactory and you don't say whether

your cold is better or not. Were you feverishly unwell with it or not? I get terribly fidgeted

at not knowing what is really the matter. i really hope you are not getting fat again do avoid eating soft

pappy things or drinking much you know how that fattens they would fire these things off to each other all the time and the ones that are coming from

victoria are trying to exert from hundreds of miles away the kind of control that she tried to

to exert over her children you know when they were small And so there were these directives telling vicky about how to micromanage her life i wish you for the future to adopt the plan of beginning your letters with the

following sort of headings yesterday or day before we did so and so dined here or there

and then where you spent the evening she ruled the roost domestically and that i think was the the key thing she was just jolly well

determined that her children were going to behave like subjects queen victoria's desire to control

her children i think was pathological and i think was that of a domestic dictator the queen wasn't

just a domestic tyrant she could seem shockingly unsympathetic when a pregnant vicky fell down the

stairs and badly sprained her ankle her mother wrote i fear you exaggerate as you so often used

to do others who do not know your disposition think you are really ill which you are not

vicky seemed to be cowed by her mother and often begged for forgiveness

don't be angry dear mama it is very painful to think i have annoyed you or displeased you

The courtier, Baron Stockmar, was horrified by the correspondence. Her mother is behaving abominably to her

The Queen wishes to exercise the same authority and control over her that she did before her marriage

and she writes constant letters full of anger and reproaches. one issue above all brought victoria into fierce conflict with both vicky and alice in germany

breastfeeding the queen detested babies she called them frog-like victoria absolutely refused to

breastfeed her children which is kind of surprising because it was becoming very

very acceptable for women, even fashionable for women, to breastfeed their babies

Upper-class women were doing it as well. The Queen commanded her daughters not to breastfeed their own babies

but Vicky and Alice would later disobey their mother, asserting a woman's right to breastfeed whatever her status

Victoria was disgusted and outraged at her daughter's disobedience. It does make my hair stand on end to think that my two daughters should turn into cows

The Queen took her revenge on her daughter, naming a cow in one of her dairies Princess Alice

For years after Albert's death, Victoria's remaining unmarried daughters, Helena, Louise

and Beatrice, were prisoners in the vaults of grief that were the royal palaces

No one found life more claustrophobic than the second youngest daughter, Princess Louise

She constantly chafed against her mother's unyielding grip. Louise was a bit of a rebel

and her mother described her as rather backward and rather difficult, i.e. she was a bit more trouble

She was a teenager just when her father died, just at the age when she thought her world, her horizons would widen

and they narrowed considerably. And she was watched and protected all the time

and it was stifling victoria would unleash her power at random louise once arranged to have tea

with a friend at court only to be forced to cancel when on a whim the queen stopped her from going

louise's note of apology to the courtier seemed to be a thinly disguised attack on her mother

the Queen seems not to wish me to leave her therefore I have to ask to be excused but not

without me expressing my great disappointment at not being able to come Victoria very jealously

guarded her children's affections she really disliked it when they formed close companionships

with each other let alone with people outside the family she seemed to believe that she had

to be the kind of flame around which they all revolved. Never make friendships

Girl friendships and intimacies are very bad and often lead to great mischief

Victoria not only prevented Louise from having friendships, she also forbade the entertainments that were usually part of a princess's upbringing

when she was 17 she should have had her coming out dance as every other girl of her age was having

and the queen refused she said that she had not opened the ballroom at buckingham palace

since albert had been alive and she wasn't going to do it for any dance for louise

queen victoria's efforts to limit her daughter's social lives may have had its roots in her own

isolated and loveless childhood she recalled her loneliness i was not on comfortable or at all

intimate or confidential footing with my mother it comes from being this very cloistered only child

and i think she was very hungry for proper human love and attention and as soon as they knew she

was heir to the throne she was made to feel the center of attention she was the most important

because she was going to be Queen of England. As a mother herself

Victoria found it difficult to show her children affection, even when they were very young

Only very exceptionally do I find the rather intimate intercourse with them either agreeable or easy

She had very ambivalent feelings about all her daughters, and she's one of those people with a very small heart, Queen Victoria

So if she's liking, say, two or three of the children at once, it means that the other six are out of it and she detests them

Victoria's disapproval could demolish her daughter's self-confidence. As a girl, Louise had once said..

I am so stupid and useless. the Queen seemed to judge her children by their looks always prizing beauty you are wrong in

thinking that I am not fond of children I am I admire pretty ones immensely Victoria was

particularly unimpressed with Helena the middle child nicknamed Lenthin whom she criticized for being the least good of the five princesses dear poor Lenthin has great difficulties with her figure Her features are so very large and long that it quite spoils her looks

Helena was the plainest of the Queen's children, and she also wrestled with her weight

This was not unusual in Victoria's family. Victoria herself frequently weighed almost 12 stone, despite being only 4 feet 11

but it was Helena who was blamed for not getting grip on her weight

By contrast, the pretty Louise had gained the confidence to stand up to her overbearing mother

Desperate to break away, Victoria's daughter had an artistic bent, which she followed

She took up sculpture and had her own studio to which she could escape

The Queen tried to stop her, believing the art form was not ladylike

calling it unnatural for a girl, and especially a princess. But that didn't stop Louise

Once Princess Louise set her mind to something, she was a powerhouse

She wasn't going to stop. That was her purpose. And as with all things with Louise, one track, I have to get this to happen

I think in choosing a sculpture, Louise was probably pushing the boundaries a bit

trying to see what her mother would take and what she wouldn't as strong-willed as her mother louise's determination paid off

victoria gave in and let her be the first princess to attend a public school

in 1868 louise went to the national art training school joining the pioneering generation of women who were learning sculpture

But the Queen was horrified by what her daughter would be exposed to

One of the real worries about women enrolling in art class was this problem of what they would do in the life class

The life class is where you draw or look or sculpt from a nude model

It would be much better if she stuck to painting. You paint the spaniels, you paint the ladies-in-waiting

but it doesn't require you, as it were, to get to grips with the human form

Victoria would not stand for such unladylike activity. She limited Louise's attendance at the school by demanding that she stay at home to help with the Queen's large private correspondence

The other students were astonished at how hard a princess worked. They couldn't believe that she was constantly having to miss lessons because she was working

They'd all assumed she'd be some spoilt brat, and there she was, working harder than any other woman and men of their acquaintance

Not one to be stopped, Louise persevered, and went on to become the first female sculptor to have a statue erected in a public place

The statue, appropriately enough, of her mother, still stands outside Kensington Palace in London

I think that Louise was pushing the boundaries of the behaviour of women in the mid-19th century

and also in the moulding, if you like, of what we consider the monarchy today

Louise's 25-year-old sister Vicky, living in Germany, was less fulfilled. able and clever she had been groomed by albert to be a force for change in hidebound prussia

but the reality was that she didn't have the influence she had expected

without a role vicky set herself up as a matchmaker for her siblings vicky threw herself into this

partly one suspects because it um it gave her something to do it gave her a sense of empowerment

in an environment where she so often felt disempowered the princess set her sights on her sister helena

aged 19 this unremarkable young woman was ready to be married off to an appropriate suitor

vicky found a match that surprisingly delighted the demanding queen her german friend prince christian

he was 15 years older than helena but appeared considerably older than that

he is of moderate height uh stooping bald-headed later on things go from bad to worse in 1891

helena's brother arthur shoots prince christian in the eye a shooting accident

christian rather takes this on the chin and indeed embraces it as an opportunity for fun

and acquires an enormous collection of glass eyes which at dull moments during banquets or dinner

parties he would summon a footman to bring to the table for the edification of fellow guests

he might have been penniless and homeless but victoria was thrilled with her unprepossessing

new son-in-law for her there was an advantage to his poverty the queen knew that by marrying helena

prince christian would have to settle in britain and live at windsor with her

she won't allow them to marry anybody who will take them away so she has to find these rather

sort of tame neutered well not not physically but politically uh neutered princes uh who will agree

have no money and by princely standards and will agree to come and live um in victoria's court

because she doesn't want to lose her daughters so she clings possessively

it makes me shudder the queen had told vicky when she left home when i look round at all

your sweet happy unconscious sisters and think i must give them up too one by one

Helena and Prince Christian remain tied to Windsor for the rest of their lives

poor old Christian who ended up in this rather absurd role living on the estate at Windsor

managing Frogmore managing the park and it was his job to do things like make sure there weren't

too many frogs hopping around at Frogmore his plan to solve this problem was to import ducks

The ducks ate the frog spawn, the numbers of frogs were reduced

But this was the kind of thing he had to deal with. He wasn't managing the reunification of Germany

He was worrying about vermin on the estate at Windsor. The marriage may have pleased the Queen

but it angered Princess Alice, who saw it for what it was

a cynical ploy to keep Helena at home. To Victoria's fury, Alice openly objected to the match

The Queen was to call her... A mischief man. and untruth teller the real devil in the family

this was the beginning of a rift between alice and her mother that would never heal

victoria didn't support her daughter when a year later she was in trouble

alice was marooned with her young family in the war-torn german state of hesse darmstadt

where they lived in the decade after she married they suffered through two wars

in which prussian forces tore europe apart Alice wrote to her mother how I pray some end may soon come to this horrid bloodshed

oh the misery around us you can't imagine but in England Victoria still seething from her earlier

sent a flurry of vitriolic letters criticising her daughter. She has become so sharp and bitter

and no-one wishes to have her in their house. In her exasperation, Victoria became careless

She wrote a letter to Vicki, telling Vicki everything she thought wrong about Alice

But unfortunately, she put the letter for Vicki in an envelope addressed to Alice

addressed to Alice and vice versa. So Alice got the letter saying, you know, to Vicky

saying all the dreadful things she's done. And when Victoria hears this, she's a bit vexed

but her comment is to say, well, um, it's actually jolly good for Alice

to know what her mother thinks about her. The Queen was unrepentant

First of all, to say how greatly annoyed and vexed I am at the mistake about the letter, which is shocking and, to me, unaccountable

But I think, as it is, no harm is done, but good will come out of it

That's one of the wonderful things about Victoria, she never, you know, she never dissembles

She always just says what she thinks, and I think, in a way, that's rather splendid

because so much of courtly etiquette is about, you know, keeping your mouth shut and being sort of discreet and quiet

Not at all Victoria. Alice continued to defy the Queen. She found liberation in nursing and medicine

which she knew would shock her mother. Surrounded by injured soldiers in her war-torn German state

she asked Victoria to send help from England. Illness and wounds would be dreadful in this heat

Coarse linen and rags are the things of which one can't have enough. And I am working, collecting shirts, sheets

And now I come to ask if you could send me some old linen for rags

Alice doesn't want to just be one of these show nurses who just put on an apron and don't do anything

She really wants to be hands-on. This kind of nursing was dangerous

The soldiers were suffering from contagious diseases such as smallpox. Undaunted by the risks, Alice was driven to finding a practical role for herself in the world of medicine

saying life was made for work and not pleasure. Alice's nursing upset the Queen

Though she had praised nurses in the past, Victoria was appalled that a princess of the royal blood

should work so closely with the human body and should be so fascinated by its workings

She objected to Alice being interested in obstetrics, in gynaecology and particularly in Alice quizzing her married sisters and sisters-in-law

on such matters as what their childbirth had been like, what their pregnancies had been like

When Louise is going to visit Alice, Queen Victoria writes to Louise

don't be pumped by Alice, be cautious and silent about your interior

And what Victoria meant by that was, don't talk about anything to do with sex or anatomy

because this is not subject that you should be allowing Alice to be involved in

In the face of her mother's disapproval, Alice stubbornly persisted in her work

Advised by Florence Nightingale, the princess established organisations which revolutionised nursing in Germany

In 1871, she set up beds for the wounded in palace gardens

Alice's actions suggest a way forward for monarchy. It is, if you like, a precursor to the welfare monarchy that we enjoy today

that this is hands-on philanthropy, and it's moving away from a white-gloved detachment

The Queen would get her own back on her defiant daughter. Impoverished by the wars, Alice wrote regularly to Victoria

begging for money to fund her royal lifestyle. but most requests were simply ignored

When Alice returned home for a visit, a courtier described how Princess Alice at Osborne had talked very loudly at dinner

about a horse she wanted, quiet enough for herself and strong enough for Louis

but the Queen changed the discourse pretty smartly to the beef and cutlets

Conflict between the Queen and her second daughter had pushed them into near estrangement

But another princess was also causing trouble. Unmarried sculptress Louise was rebellious

and her looks and charm were wreaking havoc. She had lovely, wide-apart blue eyes

this fair hair, curly. She liked to wear blue ribbons in it

She had the best figure of all Queen Victoria's daughters. Slender, she was very fit

She was actually a very well-rounded, delightful person. I think that people enjoyed sitting next to her

She wasn't at all stuffy. One artist said of Louise... If I were a young man, I should not rest until that lovely girl had promised to marry me

But for Victoria, having a beautiful daughter had its problems. in 1869 when princess Louise was 21 the dashing sculptor Sir Edgar Boehm was invited to stay at Balmoral He was to teach the princess while sculpting a bust of Victoria highland servant and confidant John Brown

Joseph Edgar Boehm was extremely charismatic and good-looking, and right from the beginning, there was a wonderful rapport between him and Louise

Queen Victoria had asked John Brown to keep an eye on Louise and Bohm

Louise found him incredibly intrusive, all of the royal children did. They felt he was a spy for their mother

Brown reported to Victoria on the flirtatious couple. He and the Queen were then said to have burst in on the pair

as they enjoyed an intimate moment. Louise realised that Brown had been spying

Louise says, John Brown, this is your doing, shakes him by the shoulders and says

either you go or I go. And after this stormy event, the only solution is that somebody must quickly find a husband for Louise

While the princess was not going to be pushed into an arranged marriage to a chinless German royal

the Queen had precise ideas for her dynasty. for her dynasty. Her husband should above all be royal and come from the right stock

The way Queen Victoria described the marriage partners reminds us of genetic engineering

or something. I mean, she was really precise. At one point she said she wants some dark

hair now, she wants some dark blood in there. They do talk about marriage partners like

horse breeding or dog breeding. With a desperate shortage of acceptable princes for Louise, the whole family became involved, each favouring a different candidate

I recommend you to take my advice and not forget Albert of Prussia. He is good and excellent

I know the violence of your feelings against him, but I have not refrained from again repeating in the interest of both our fathers

Lord Camperdown is poor, but he'll be rich at his mother's death. She is the daughter of Sir George Philip

A remarkably nice young man with such good manners and very good looking

Louise despaired. Everyone is speaking for or against this. And it is most uncommonly unpleasant

And I am to decide without a proper chance of knowing anyone

Louise was a modern woman. She did not want to marry anyone of their choice

She did not want to marry a foreign prince. She was particularly put off Prussian men

She allegedly said that they smelt bad and they had an appalling sense of humour

The Queen herself had to admit there were no suitable princes. Times have much changed

Great foreign alliances are looked on as causes of trouble and anxiety and are no good

With much of Europe at war, she was forced to give up the plan of marrying all her children to European royalty

Victoria turned to a reference book that listed not royals, but aristocrats, Burke's Guide to the Peerage

For once, Louise and Queen Victoria were of like minds that Louise would marry someone British, home-born

Now, this was completely revolutionary. Eventually, Louise accepted the proposal of an approved candidate

John, Marquess of Lorne, the heir to the Dukedom of Argyle. He was a romantic-looking figure

He had this lovely, thick, luxuriant, fair, fair hair. He had Campbell piercing blue eyes and was considered cultured

He was politically astute. He had travelled. He had gone to America

He wrote articles. He dabbled in writing poetry. In 1871, Louise and her British aristocrat were married

It was the first time in centuries that a princess had been allowed to marry outside royalty

The public were thrilled. They were really fed up with all this foreign royalty stealing their royal princes and princesses

And they were so pleased. It was the best PR move that Louise could have done

The public at large might have been pleased, but the marriage was an unhappy one

Rumours about Lorne may offer an explanation. When you try to research the Marquess of Lorne here, you come up against a lot of allegedly's

possibly's, maybes about the fact that he was gay. There's a great deal of shrouding it all in mystery

And there's an interesting story that Princess Louise, when she and her husband were living in Kensington Palace

had the French windows in their apartments bricked up so that she could stop her husband getting out at night

and cruising soldiers in the park. The Queen, in a rare show of sympathy

came to appreciate how unhappy the marriage was. She was very much on her daughter's side

and she was never normally on her daughter's side. So perhaps she had finally been made aware of the true nature of Lorne's sexuality

Scandal would not die down. Much to Victoria's horror, years later other rumours surfaced

this time over Louise and her relationship with her former teacher, Sir Edgar Byrne

She was visiting him one day in his studio and he collapsed and died

The gossips all said that he died in her arms, in flagrante

but it could be that he just died. The princess could not deny that she was at the studio

at the time of the sculptor's death. She claimed that she had been chaperoned by a lady-in-waiting

Louise described how, during the visit, Sir Edgar carried a bust to show me when I entreated him not to

He also pushed some heavy things and must have overexerted himself. The Queen was terrified of any damage to the royal reputation

When scandal threatened, she always publicly supported her family. but in private, Victoria continued to fight her never-ending battle for control

By 1872 Beatrice the baby Victoria had clung to for comfort when Albert died was her only unmarried daughter

The Queen was determined it should stay that way. She is my constant companion and I hope and trust will never leave me while I live

her youngest daughter always known as baby um occupied a central position in victoria's emotional

life the consequence for poor beatrice was that she was babyfied virtually for life it was a tragic

existence she was sent off to bed early she wasn't allowed to become an adult

Beatrice was totally cowed by Victoria. Beatrice hardly did open her mouth at lunch

except to put food in it. In case she said something, her mother jumped on

However much she wanted to, Victoria couldn't keep Beatrice infantilised forever. The opposite happened

Under the stifling control of her mother, she seemed to age prematurely

There is a sense in which Beatrice and Victoria almost become the same age

She appears to take on a number of the characteristics of a much older person

She begins to suffer from really quite extreme rheumatism. Her figure fills out. She becomes rather portly

Desperate to keep her by her side, the aging Victoria did her utmost to put Beatrice off marriage

dinner guests were reprimanded by the queen for mentioning the words engagement or wedding in the

princess's presence at one point there's a german prince that beatrice may have taken a bit of a

shine to and so victoria arranges for this young man who's very good looking to sit beside beatrice

all through a formal dinner and she instructs beatrice that she is not to direct a single word

to this young man uh this poor young man doesn't know what he's done he's absolutely baffled

leaves the table and obviously thinks well that's obviously i've misread the signs obviously

princess beatrice is not interested in me at all despite victoria's scheming in 1884 beatrice the

most obedient of daughters made a bid for freedom aged 27 she fell in love with henry prince of

battenberg and announced she wanted to marry this is the great moment of beatrice flexing her

muscles this is the one really significant independent action of her life the only time

when she puts up a stand against the queen on a matter of any importance

she was desperate at that moment to escape and to attain this sort of adulthood

Victoria flatly refused even to discuss the possibility of Beatrice marrying. She's furious at what she almost regards as Beatrice's treachery

and I think that Queen Victoria's response is a cruelest thing that she does in her life

For about six months, Victoria would not talk to her. She communicated to her with little notes

They were sitting at breakfast together and she would pass her a note with her eyes averted

Because this was such an outrage, she was going against what her mother needed

Everything with Victoria was about me, my needs, my need for love, my need for care, my need for company

It was never, ever really a case of, what can I do for them

Eventually, the Queen gave way to her tenacious daughter. Victoria allowed the marriage to go ahead on the condition once again that Beatrice and Prince Henry should always remain with her at Windsor

Victoria was uncomfortable with the physical side of her daughter's relationship. She hoped and prayed there would be no results for some time

During the engagement, the Queen had been thankful there was no kissing, etc., which Beatrice dislikes

One of the strangest things about Victoria's attitudes is the way that she seems to resent the sexual and the romantic lives of her children

They become an area of difficulty for her. Victoria did not only need to have power over every aspect of her daughter's lives

she wanted precedence over them too. In 1871, Vicky's father-in-law had been named German Emperor

making her the future German Empress. The Queen was put out by this potential new title

Queen Victoria is rank conscious, and in her own mind she is the topmost reigning monarch in the world

She's quite clear about that. She is therefore troubled by the fact that her eldest daughter is going to become an empress and that she herself is not an empress

Not to be outdone, Victoria had the Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proclaim her Empress of India first

Disraeli was clear about her motives. He is recorded as saying, Her daughter will have imperial rank and she cannot bear to be in a lower position

The Queen also felt threatened by Vicky's intellect. Her daughter was interested in scientific progress and modern thought

ideas which challenged her mother's world view. Vicky was highly intellectual. She was enlightened, she was radical

Queen Victoria said, really, you're so radical, I could almost believe that you're a Republican

So she was very forward-looking, very intellectual, very intelligent, very sympathetic, and really quite unroyal in a strange kind of way

Vicki was that ultimate paradox, the intelligent royal. Vicki shocked her mother by reading Charles Darwin's radical new book

The Origin of the Species, which put forward the theory of evolution

The Queen feared that Vicky was turning into a modern skeptic, as she warned one of her daughters

Don't you listen to her. Don't you let your firm faith ever be shaken

Don't you read those books. Don't follow her advice in many things. Pray, pray, don't

There could be nothing more profane than the work of Karl Marx

Vicky read the revolutionaries Das Kapital and was eager to hear more of his ideas

Careful to avoid enraging the Queen she asked her friend the MP Sir Grant Duff to go and discreetly meet the Communists on her behalf

Grant Duff, having expected to be disgusted and repelled by this firebrand

in fact wrote back that he seemed a very genial and rather clever man

Marx was obviously at his most charming and asked for his compliments to be passed to the Princess Royal and her Prussian husband

But it was her daughter Louise's interest in a new movement that made the deeply conservative Victoria's blood boil

The Queen would be a symbol of female strength and independence for generations to come

Despite this, she was horrified by the rise of the women's movement

The Queen is most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak or write to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of women's rights

It is a subject which makes the Queen so furious that she cannot contain herself

It's hard to imagine anybody on this planet who's ever been less of a feminist than Queen Victoria

She thought it was positively wicked. She thought women belonged in the home

Although she was living at a time when there were lots of people

who were beginning to ask, intellectual, middle-class women and upper-class women, why they shouldn't have the vote

why they shouldn't go to university, why they shouldn't be educated in the same way that boys were educated

For Princess Louise, female emancipation became a burning commitment. The flame had been lit when she went to see Elizabeth Garrett

the first woman in Britain to qualify as a surgeon and an ardent supporter of women's rights

When the princess arrived, the pioneering doctor was up a ladder hanging wallpaper

Elizabeth Garrett was amazed to see this delightful young lady who was interested in meeting her

and wanted to learn all about her training and her education as she was leaving, she said to Elizabeth Garrett

please don't tell the Queen about my visit. Unfortunately, word got out and the Queen was furious

when she discovered what Louise had done. It's psychologically interesting that somebody who had been made

to really bow down to her mother had managed to reach a point when she was strong enough and feisty enough and independent enough

to go against her mother's wishes and to do what she wanted to do

in terms of meeting this woman, who was single-handedly changing female history in Britain

In 1866, Garrett and other prominent women had signed one of the first petitions demanding votes for women

Louise supported the controversial movement, but she didn't sign. As a royal, she wasn't allowed to take a political position

political position. As Victoria reached old age, the daughters became more daring, but

still had to work hard to avoid their mother's wrath. Although Victoria had an amazing kind

of surveillance system and kept tabs on absolutely everybody, I think the daughters were very

very good, as it were, of sort of going under the radar and getting involved in activities

that they knew Victoria would not necessarily be approving of, but they did it nonetheless

Victoria had always encouraged giving to charity, but her daughters took the idea of philanthropy one step further

In later years, Princess Louise became known for her work with hospitals

tirelessly visiting wounded soldiers and encouraging nurses. She devoted much of her life to helping women find new roles

at a time when they were expected to stay at home. She herself worked vociferously in female education and in getting women into work

It was very touching, actually, that she wanted to work so hard in an area which she very much felt, together with her sisters, that their mother was neglecting

Other sisters also developed a deep interest in the position of women

Helena was one of the founders of the British Red Cross, helping women get into medicine

In Germany, Vicky and Alice broke new ground, setting up organisations for women that encouraged them to earn an independent living

As the 20th century dawned, women started to join the workforce in greater numbers than ever before

By sheer determination, the daughters had not only escaped their mother's clutches

to carve new paths for princesses, but had helped to redefine the female role

Victoria's daughters open up a whole set of possibilities for middle-class and working-class women towards the end of the 20th century

Things like nursing, social work, local government work, teaching even, become professionalised

They grow out of that philanthropic moment and become career possibilities for ordinary middle-class women

The daughters may have been quiet revolutionaries, but they were always conscious of protecting the royal image

After Victoria's death, Princess Beatrice edited and transcribed all of the late Queen's letters and journals

She burnt most of the originals. The princess tried to ensure that posterity would only see the best side of Victoria

But try as she might, she couldn't hide the fact that her mother had been headstrong, emotional and controlling

Characteristics that her daughters also inherited. Queen Victoria found her daughters difficult a lot of the time

And yet, of course, when you look at these strong personalities and their radical interests and their great desire to bring about change

stems from them being the daughter of this very strong-willed woman who was running the empire

She'd wanted them to have that strength in many other ways. She just didn't like it when it came up against her

In the final episode tomorrow, the battles between Bertie and his mum

and how his brother Leopold wasn't going to be held back either. Victorious children again at nine o'clock

Film drama tonight on BBC HD with Whistle and I'll come to you next