Marriage explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Love and Marriage

  The chapter portrays Victoria and Albert's marriage as an idyllic union of mutual devotion, where Victoria surrenders her will to Albert's wisdom and finds 'real and solid happiness' in domestic life.

• Power and Independence

  Albert's gradual assumption of supreme political influence over Victoria and the Crown is a central focus, illustrating the transfer of power from Melbourne and Lehzen to the Prince Consort.

• Duty and Morality

  Stockmar's insistence on constitutional propriety and the condemnation of Melbourne's secret correspondence highlight the tension between personal loyalty and constitutional duty.

• Grief and Loss

  Lord Melbourne's decline into depression and imbecility after losing office, and his longing for the past, embody a profound sense of loss and the pain of irrelevance.

Characters to notice

• Queen Victoria

  Struggles with the departure of Lord Melbourne, gradually transfers her trust and affection to Prince Albert, and comes to view her earlier reliance on Melbourne as an 'artificial' happiness.

• Prince Albert

  Patiently consolidates his domestic and political influence, orchestrates the removal of Lehzen, becomes Victoria's sole confidant, and effectively acts as the real controller of the Crown's functions.

• Lord Melbourne

  Resists giving up his influence over Victoria after losing office, eventually accepts the inevitable, suffers a paralytic seizure, and declines into a ghost-like existence, haunted by the loss of power.

• Baroness Lehzen

  Gradually loses ground at court after the birth of royal children, is finally dismissed at Albert's insistence, and retires to Hanover surrounded by portraits of Victoria.

• Baron Stockmar

  Works behind the scenes to ensure Albert's supremacy, writes memoranda against Melbourne's unconstitutional correspondence, and is satisfied when Lehzen is removed and Albert becomes supreme.

• Sir Robert Peel

  Succeeds Melbourne as Prime Minister, receives private advice from Melbourne on winning the Queen's favor, and later earns Victoria's 'extreme admiration' for his chivalrous conduct.

• Duchess of Kent

  Reconciled with Victoria through Albert's efforts, and is mentioned as giving a dress to the Princess Royal.

• George Anson

  Acts as an intermediary for Stockmar, delivering the memorandum to Lord Melbourne and expostulating with him about his correspondence with the Queen.

Key passages

• “This is quite an apple-pie opinion.”

  Lord Melbourne dismisses Stockmar's memorandum as trivial or foolish.

  Melbourne's reaction to Stockmar's criticism of his correspondence with the Queen.

• “God eternally damn it! Flesh and blood cannot stand this!”

  Lord Melbourne loses his temper when Anson suggests his relationship with the Queen is unseemly.

  Melbourne's explosive outburst reveals his emotional attachment to his influence over Victoria.

• “I am not Pussy! I am the Princess Royal!”

  The young Princess Royal asserts her identity when called by a nickname.

  An early sign of the Princess Royal's strong character.

• “Ma'am, it's a damned dishonest act!”

  Lord Melbourne condemns the repeal of the Corn Laws as morally wrong.

  Melbourne's blunt criticism of Peel's free trade policy at a Windsor dinner.

• “So much I feel my general spirit droop, My hopes all flat, nature within me seems, In all her functions weary of herself, My race of glory run, and race of shame, And I”

  Lord Melbourne, in his decline, murmurs lines from Milton's Samson Agonistes expressing despair and exhaustion.

  Melbourne's identification with Samson's lament reflects his own sense of finished glory and shame.