by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018
Queen Victoria’s family in 1846 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter; left to right: Prince Alfred, The Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Princess Alice, Princess Helena and Victoria, Princess Royal; Credit – Wikipedia
UPDATE: Since this article was published we have added a new area Queen Victoria’s Inner Circle. We have extended articles on some of those who served Queen Victoria and some of her relatives who lived during her reign (1837 – 1901). Many of the people listed were seen in the television series Victoria but their true life story may be very different than the story depicted in the series.
Queen Victoria and her family were my gateway to becoming a royalty aficionado but I procrastinated watching Victoria Season 2. I had seen articles in the British media about the many inaccuracies when Victoria Season 2 was shown in the United Kingdom. I DVRed all the shows when Season 2 started in the United States in January 2018. I noticed that right after the shows aired on Sunday nights and into Monday, a lot of people viewed Unofficial Royalty’s article about Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert’s brother. That made me wonder what they had Ernst doing in Season 2 – probably the same inaccurate thing he had been doing in Season 1. As of the date of this article’s publication, Ernst’s article has had 50,000+ views, is Unofficial Royalty’s tenth most viewed article and is our most viewed biography article. What they had Ernst doing (and what they had many other characters – or should I say real people – doing) never happened.
In my article What’s Wrong With Victoria Season 1, I wrote about the poetic license in historical fiction. I certainly realize that the creators of historical fiction have some poetic license to change the facts of the real world to make their story more interesting. But how much poetic license should historical fiction creators take with facts? Should they change the characteristics of a real person because it will make the plot more dramatic? Should they change the facts so much that a real person is misrepresented or even defamed? How much should real events change? What responsibility do the creators of historical fiction have to tell the truth that the historical facts reveal?
Many things about many secondary characters – real people – are inaccurate and I feel the need to tell the story of these real people. I have compiled a timeline with real events and included comments after most of the events. At the end of the timeline, there is some brief information about the true lives of some of these real people.
There are many timeline inaccuracies and events that occur out of order in Victoria Series 2. Because of this, it is very difficult to tell the time span of each episode. When Victoria Season 2 ends, Queen Victoria has three children and she is pregnant with another child. That child must be her fourth child Prince Alfred who was born in August 1844 so Season 2 must end at Christmas 1843 and yet events have occurred in Season 2 that in reality occurred after 1843.
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Timeline
I have included the birth dates of Queen Victoria’s first five children, born 1840 – 1846. They are the children in the family portrait above. The ages of the children in Victoria Season 2 are all wrong. In December 1843, when Season 2 ended, Victoria, Princess Royal (Vicky) would have been 3 years old, her brother the Prince of Wales (Bertie) would have been 2 years old, and Alice would have been 8 months old.
March 30, 1792 – Birth of Edward Drummond, personal secretary to Prime Minister Robert Peel (Drummond in Victoria Season 2 was in his 20s – 30s. In reality, he was 24 years older than Lord Alfred Paget with whom he has a relationship in Victoria Season 2. The real Drummond died in 1843 before Lord Alfred held a position in Queen Victoria’s household. Drummond and Lord Alfred did not have a relationship.)
April 17, 1795 – Birth of Lady Elizabeth Wilhelmina Coke, daughter of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (I think the writers just picked a random person as this character. The real Wilhelmina Coke was not the niece or great-niece of the Duchess of Buccleuch who was not born until 1811 and Wilhelmina did not marry Lord Alfred Paget. I find no evidence that she ever served as a maid of honor or lady-in-waiting. The real Wilhelmina married John Spencer-Stanhope and had six children.)
May 21, 1806 – Birth of Lady Harriet Howard, the future Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes (Harriet in Victoria Season 2 is much too young. She was 13 years older than Queen Victoria and 12 years older than Prince Ernst of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The real Harriet’s husband George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland did not die until 1861. Harriet and Prince Ernst did not have a relationship. More information below.)
April 10, 1811 – Birth of Lady Charlotte Thynne, the future Duchess of Buccleuch, Mistress of the Robes (The real Charlotte was 8 years older than Queen Victoria, not an old woman named Matilda as portrayed by actress Diana Rigg. More information below.)
June 26, 1816 – Birth of Lord Alfred Paget (Lord Alfred was Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal to Queen Victoria from July 1846 to March 1852, from December 1852 to March 1858, and from June 1859 to 1888. If Victoria Season 2 ends in December 1843, the real Lord Alfred had not yet started serving in Queen Victoria’s household. He did not have a relationship with Edward Drummond. More information below.)
August 9, 1832 – King Leopold I of Belgium (Uncle Leopold) married Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans, daughter of Louis Philippe I, King of the French (Where is Queen Louise-Marie? Why is King Leopold not spending Christmas with his wife and their three young children?)
1837 – 1847 – Baron Christian von Stockmar acted, first as Victoria’s, and then as Victoria and Albert’s, unofficial counselor (Where is Baron Stockmar? More information below.)
1837 – 1862 – Marianne Skerrett served as Head Dresser and Wardrobe-Woman to Queen Victoria. (Her name was not Nancy and she was 26 years older than Queen Victoria. Her entire story in Victoria is utterly false. She did not take the place of a pregnant cousin’s intended position as dresser. More information below.)
March 9, 1840 – March 31, 1842 – Employment of Charles Elmé Francatelli as Queen Victoria’s maitre d’hôtel and chief cook in ordinary. (Francatelli worked at the palace for only two years. He did not come back to work at the palace after leaving and he did not have a relationship with Marianne Skerrett who was 12 years older than him. More information below.)
November 21, 1840 – Birth of Victoria, Princess Royal (Vicky)
November 9, 1841 – Birth of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (Bertie)
January 1842 – 2-year-old Vicky was very ill. (In Victoria Season 2, Vicky is ill after the birth of Princess Alice and is older than age 2.)
May 3, 1842 – Prince Ernst of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Princess Alexandrine of Baden before he succeeded as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (In Victoria Season 2, Ernst is not yet married in December 1843. Where is Alexandrine? More information below.)
July 25, 1842 – Baroness Louise Lehzen was dismissed by Prince Albert (In Victoria Season 2, Lehzen is dismissed after the birth of Princess Alice.)
January 25, 1843 – An assassination attempt was made on Prime Minister Robert Peel (The killer mistook Edward Drummond, Peel’s personal secretary, for Peel, and shot and killed Drummond, age 51. The real Drummond did not jump in front of the bullet and did have a fiancée to mourn him as he did in Victoria Season 2.)
April 25, 1843 – Birth of Princess Alice (Her uncle Prince Ernst did not attend her christening although he does in Victoria Season 2.)
June 18, 1843 – King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland and Victoria’s uncle, attended the wedding of his niece Princess Augusta of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace. This does not occur in the show but I mention it because it was the only time Ernest was in England after he became King of Hanover in 1837. (He did not visit England at Christmas 1843 as shown in Victoria Season 2.)
1843 – Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Louis Philippe I, King of the French (Louis Philippe I’s son Antoine, Duke of Montpensier did not marry Queen Isabella II of Spain as was said in Victoria Season 2. He married her sister Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Albert and Victoria’s cousin Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was never considered as a husband to Queen Isabella II of Spain. Ferdinand married Queen Maria II of Portugal.)
January 29, 1844 – Prince Ernst succeeded his father Ernst I as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (In Victoria Season 2 which ends in December 1843, he is already Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.)
August 6, 1844 – Birth of Prince Alfred (Affie)
1845 – 1849 – Irish Potato Famine (In Victoria Season 2, which ends in December 1843, the Irish Potato Famine has already occurred.)
May 25, 1846 – Birth of Princess Helena (Lenchen)
June 25, 1846 – Repeal of the Corn Laws (In Victoria Season 2, which ends in December 1843, the Repeal of the Corn Laws has already occurred.)
June 29, 1846 – Prime Minister Robert Peel forced to resign because of his support of the repeal of the Corn Laws. (In Victoria Season 2, which ends in December 1843, Peel’s resignation has already occurred.)
1847 – Death of Irish clergyman Robert Traill from typhus (Traill established a soup kitchen in his home to help victims of the Irish Potato Famine. He is the great-great-great-grandfather of Daisy Goodwin, the creator of Victoria. In Victoria Season 2, which ends in December 1843, Traill’s death has already occurred.)
November 24, 1848 – Death of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (Lord Melbourne) at age 69 (Did Melbourne die as he sat in his chair? I am confused!)
1848 – Aina, born in 1843, renamed Sara Forbes Bonetta, was rescued from the Kingdom of Dahomey in Africa by Captain Frederick Forbes of the Royal Navy. (The real Sara was born in 1843 and was not with Victoria and her family at Christmas 1843 as shown in Victoria Season 2. I can find no evidence that she ever lived in the palace.)
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The Real Stories
Marianne Skerrett attributed to Dr. Ernest Becker, circa 1859; Photo Credit – https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2906440/miss-mariann
Marianne Skerrett (1793 – 1887) was the Head Dresser and Wardrobe-Woman to Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1862. The daughter of a British Army officer who owned a plantation in the West Indies, Marianne was born in 1793, so she was 44 years old when Victoria became queen. She was extremely well-read and was fluent in Danish, French, and German.
Author Carolly Erickson has references to Marianne in her biography of Queen Victoria, Her Little Majesty. From Erickson’s book: Marianne Skerrett was “the head of Victoria’s wardrobe, overseeing all the practical work of ordering all her clothing, shoes, hats, gloves, and undergarments…She kept the wardrobe accounts, checking all the bills to make certain no one tried to cheat her mistress, and supervised the purveyors, hairdressers, dressmakers, and pearl-sewers whose task it was to keep the royal wardrobe in good repair.”
In addition, Marianne and Victoria had a lot in common. From Erickson’s book: “Both were intelligent, loved animals, spoke several languages…shared a great interest in paintings and painters. Marianne was well educated, with cultivated tastes, and in time to come Victoria would rely on her to help with the purchase of paintings and in corresponding with artists.”
Although she retired in 1862, Marianne remained in contact with Queen Victoria until her death in 1887 at the age of 94.
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Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1849; Credit – Wikipedia
Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland (1806 – 1868) was born Lady Harriet Howard, the fifth of the twelve children and the third of the six daughters of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle and Lady Georgiana Cavendish. In 1823, Harriet married George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Earl Gower who succeeded his father in 1833 as the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. Harriet and her husband had a successful, loving marriage and had eleven children. One of their daughters was named Victoria and another was named Alexandrina – named after Queen Victoria whose given names were Alexandrina Victoria. Their grandson John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll married Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise.
Harriet served Queen Victoria as Mistress of the Robes whenever the Whigs were in power until her husband’s death: August 1837 to September 1841, July 1846 to March 1852, January 1853 to February 1858, and June 1859 to April 1861. In the weeks following Prince Albert’s death in 1861, Harriet, who had lost her own husband earlier that year, was Queen Victoria’s sole companion.
Harriet’s last public appearance was at the Prince of Wales’s marriage in 1863. Later that year, she developed an illness from which she never recovered. She died on October 27, 1868, at the age of 62.
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Charlotte Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch with her daughter Lady Victoria Alexandrina, named after Queen Victoria by Robert Thorburn. The painting was given from the Duchess to Queen Victoria in 1847; Credit – Wikipedia
Charlotte Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch (1811 – 1895) was born Lady Charlotte Thynne, the youngest of the three daughters and tenth of the eleven children of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath and The Honorable Isabella Elizabeth Byng. In 1829, Charlotte married Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and the couple had seven children. Like Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Charlotte and her husband are great-great-grandparents of Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. They are also great-great-great grandparents of Sarah, Duchess of York. Charlotte’s husband died on April 16, 1884, at the age of 77.
Charlotte served Queen Victoria as Mistress of the Robes from 1841 – 1846 when the Conservative Party was in power and Robert Peel was Prime Minister. Charlotte and Queen Victoria remained close friends and Queen Victoria was a godmother to Charlotte’s daughter Lady Victoria. Charlotte’s daughter-in-law Louisa Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch was Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria from 1885 – 1892 and from 1895 until Queen Victoria’s death in 1901 and was also Mistress of the Robes to Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII, from 1901 until her death in 1912.
Charlotte Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch died on March 18, 1895, at the age of 83.
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Lord Alfred Henry Paget by Southwell Brothers, albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s, NPG x46527 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Lord Alfred Paget (1816 – 1888) was the fourth of the ten children and the second of the five sons of Field Marshal Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey and his second wife Lady Charlotte Cadogan. Alfred had eight half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Lady Caroline Villiers.
Alfred was a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards and served as a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1837 – 1865. From July 1846 to March 1852, from December 1852 to March 1858, and from June 1859 to 1888, Alfred served Queen Victoria as Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal. The offices of Chief Equerry and Clerk Marshal were combined until 1874 when they were separated. From 1874 – 1888, Alfred was only Chief Marshal. An Equerry serves as an aide-de-camp. As Clerk Marshal, Alfred was responsible for the payment of all Royal Household officers and servants. He was also responsible for submitting the Royal Household to the Board of Green Cloth which audited the accounts of the Royal Household.
In 1847, Alfred married Cecilia Wyndham, co-heiress with her elder sister of George Thomas Wyndham. Alfred and Cecilia had fourteen children including two pairs of twins. Their first child was named Victoria Alexandrina after Queen Victoria. He died on August 24, 1888, at the age of 72.
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Charles Elmé Francatelli, drawn by Auguste Hervieu and engraved by Samuel Freeman, 1846; Credit – Wikipedia
Charles Elmé Francatelli (1805 – 1876) was born in London, England. He was educated in France at the Parisian College of Cooking where he studied culinary arts with Antonin Carême, known as “The King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings.” When Francatelli returned to England, he became chef de cuisine (executive chef) to several members of the nobility. He then became chef de cuisine at the St. James’s Club, popularly known as Crockford’s.
For two years only, from March 9, 1840 to March 31, 1842, Francatelli served as maitre d’hôtel and chief cook in ordinary to Queen Victoria. For some reason, he was dismissed, perhaps because Queen Victoria did not like his French cuisine, and he returned to Crockford’s. Francatelli did have one more royal client. From 1863 – 1863, he served as chef de cuisine to The Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) at their London home, Marlborough House
During his career, Francatelli was chef de cuisine at the Coventry House Club and the Reform Club. Afterward, he managed the St. James’s Hotel in Piccadilly London and finally the Freemasons’ Tavern, a position he held until shortly before his death.
Francatelli was a very successful cookbook author. In 1845, he published The Modern Cook which ran through twelve editions. His next book was The Cook’s Guide and Butler’s Assistant published in 1861. The same year, he published Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes which contained practical information valuable to the less affluent people. In 1862, The Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book was published.
Francatelli did marry twice (but not to Marianne Skerrett) and have children. He died in Eastbourne, England on August 10, 1876, at the age of 71.
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Prince Ernst, lithograph by Franz Hanfstaengl, 1842; Credit – Wikipedia
Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818 – 1893) was a year older than Prince Albert and was the elder of the two sons of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his first wife Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Since Ernst and Albert were close in age, they were also close companions during their childhood. However, as mentioned in Victoria, their childhood was marred by their parents’ disastrous marriage, separation, and divorce.
At the urging of his brother Albert, who had married Queen Victoria in 1840, Ernst began his search for a bride. However, Ernst was suffering from a venereal disease as a result of his many affairs. However, he did not have an affair with Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland as depicted in the television series Victoria. Ernst had been warned that continued promiscuity could leave him unable to father children. On May 13, 1842, in Karlsruhe, Baden (now in Germany) Ernst married Princess Alexandrine of Baden, the daughter of Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden and Princess Sofia of Sweden. Ernst had at least three illegitimate children but his marriage was childless, perhaps due to Ernst passing the venereal disease to Alexandrine causing her to become infertile. Alexandrine was loyal and devoted to her husband despite his infidelities, and believed that their lack of children was her fault.
On January 29, 1844, Ernst’s father died and he became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Ernst had financial difficulties throughout his reign due to his extravagance. He was an excellent musician, an amateur composer, and a great patron of the arts and sciences in Coburg. Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha died after a short illness in Coburg on August 22, 1893, at the age of 75.
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Christian Friedrich, Baron Stockmar by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1847; Credit – Wikipedia
Where is Baron Stockmar?
Christian Friedrich, Freiherr von Stockmar (Baron Stockmar) (1787 – 1863) was a physician and a statesman from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who was sent to Victoria in 1837, the year of her accession, by her uncle King Leopold I of Belgium to advise her. Stockmar had accompanied Leopold to England when he married Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1816 and served as his personal physician, private secretary, comptroller of the household, and political advisor. When Albert and Ernst made a six-month tour of Italy in early 1839, Stockmar accompanied them. Baron Stockmar was Albert’s negotiator during the discussions regarding the marriage of Victoria and Albert and stayed in England after the marriage of Victoria and Albert, acting as their unofficial advisor. He was an important person to both Victoria and Albert and is missing from Victoria.
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