The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1743: Chapter 77: These Traitorous Ministers Want Great Britain to Bear the Name Romanov

Those Dutch boys are simply too mediocre, they can hardly be called handsome. I really breathed a sigh of relief when that meeting finally ended. They were both so stiff, so pretentious, and extremely tedious. They looked rigid, sluggish, and had a hint of terror on their faces, not charming at all. Well, so much for the ”Prince Orange Family,” dear uncle!

—1835, Victoria to her uncle, Belgian King Leopold I

The court attendant led Victoria, Arthur, and Leisen through the hall carpeted in dark green, advancing along the northern wing corridor.

Hanging in the corridor were several family portraits from the times of George III and George IV. In the corners stood some Rococo-style pink porcelains brought back from Hanover.

The attendant, while directing them forward, introduced, ”Later you may have some refreshments in the lounge; His Majesty the King is currently dealing with a military briefing in the royal study, and we have sent someone to inform him.”

Buckingham Palace’s royal study is located on the southern side of the palace, which was originally a sunroom added during the expansion in George IV’s time, facing the gardens of Buckingham Palace, allowing the King to take a stroll anytime amidst work.

Just as they were about to turn into the corridor leading to the southwest garden, they suddenly heard a gentle female voice coming from the open glass door on the left: ”Delina, is that you?”

Upon hearing this, Victoria was startled and turned her head to look. It was a glass door leading to the Buckingham Palace’s Orange Garden, currently half-open, and outside the door, along the stone-paved path, was a flourishing display of red roses and deep blue irises.

Standing amidst the foliage was a middle-aged lady accompanied by several maids, enjoying the flowers.

This lady appeared to be of a similar age to Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent. She wore a high-waisted dress with faint green patterns, a flaxen soft hat, and held a parasol with a gilded ivory handle, her smile exuding warmth and unhidden affection.

Needless to say, this was Queen Adelaide of King William IV, from the Saxon-Meiningen family.

”Portrait of Queen Adelaide”, painted in 1836 by Martin Archer Shee, President of the Royal Academy of Arts, currently housed in London’s Buckingham Palace

Queen Adelaide walked a few steps closer. When she confirmed it was indeed Victoria, her smile became even broader: ”Delina, it really is you?! Come, come, come over here and let your Aunt Adelaide have a look at you.”

Victoria hesitated for a moment but eventually went over. Remembering her mother’s teachings, she curtsied before saying, ”Aunt, His Majesty the King... is summoning us.”

Lady Leisen also stepped forward and respectfully greeted, ”Your Majesty the Queen, we indeed need to proceed to the royal study to meet with His Majesty the King. Would it be possible to visit you afterward?”

However, the Queen seemed to not hear and continued with a smile: ”It doesn’t matter; isn’t His Majesty always buried in the documents from the Privy Council and Parliament all day? Whether he wishes to see anyone depends on his mood, and since Delina is here, she ought to sit and talk with me, her aunt.”

She slightly raised her parasol to cover Victoria with it: ”I haven’t seen you in so long, and you never write to me. Are you implying your Aunt has grown old and can’t keep up with you young ladies?”

Victoria blushed and gave a shy smile.

She didn’t quite know how to respond; she couldn’t very well say that her mother didn’t allow her to write to the palace, and she herself felt there wasn’t much to write about either.

Queen Adelaide then turned to Arthur: ”Sir Arthur, did you come here with them? Perhaps you could head to the royal study first and say that Her Majesty Victoria is with me and will come over shortly. Does that seem appropriate to you?”

Arthur had encountered this Queen before. The year he was shot near the Tower of London, he spent some time recuperating by the seaside.

It happened that the King and Queen were vacationing by the sea, too. The straightforward William IV didn’t care whether patients could drink; he directly sent attendants to fetch Arthur and a few other nobility vacationing at the seaside from their lodgings to join him for several days of food and drink.

The only one back then who dared to advise William IV to limit Arthur’s drinking was the devout Queen Adelaide.

Upon hearing from William IV about Arthur’s seemingly ”resurrected” condition, although people called it a medical mishap, the devotional Queen believed that despite any misdiagnosis, surely it was God’s arrangement within.

Furthermore, after the recent Westminster fire, Queen Adelaide believed even more that the fire was a divine sanction against whimsical reforms by the people.

Coincidentally, the recently returned Sir Arthur Hastings appeared at the scene during the critical moment of the fire and even contributed to the timely extinguishing of the blaze.

Such coincidental events happening repeatedly led the traditionally minded Queen Adelaide to think this young knight must be a child blessed by God.

Of course, although she felt this way, she couldn’t openly say it considering the practical implications.

After all, recently when Queen Adelaide claimed that the Westminster fire was God’s punishment for radical reforms, many Radical Party media outlets on Fleet Street immediately piled the blame onto her, alleging things like: the King dissolved Parliament under the Queen’s influence, Viscount Melbourne was dismissed at her suggestion, and that she secretly supported the opposition during the 1832 Parliamentary reforms...