©️ Royal Collection Trust / HM King Charles III
“Enquired at 6 when I woke & heard dearest Albert had had a fair night, with a good deal of sleep. At 7 went into him, & again after my breakfast. He seemed very weak, but still, could talk. The Doctors thought him going on well. The usual symptoms of this illness were but slight, & the pulse not bad, but the tongue very furred & great thirst. The window was open, the day being so fine. Albert was very anxious to change his room, & he was placed in the Blue (King’s room) which greatly pleased him. The sun was shining brightly & the room fine, large & gay. He kept remarking on it. He also said he would like to have some music, “to hear a fine Chorale played at a distance”. We had a piano brought into the next room & Alice played different Chorales he was fond of, & he listened with such a sweet expression on his face. I left him to take a short walk. He took chicken tea every 3 hours & a little wine. When I returned, as he was asleep I rested a little, as I felt so tired & worn out. — Went to Church, where M’ Kingsley preached, but I felt my mind always wandering. — Took in Ernest a moment to see Albert after luncheon. He was surprised not to find him looking more ill. The Doctors go in constantly & one or other of the valets are always there. they are most attentive & handy. – Drove out with Alice, dear Marie (who is a great comfort) & darling Baby, who was too funny. then back again to my beloved one, & later sat reading to him, till he fell asleep. – The DSS of Atholl included in our small family dinner. Went in to see dearest Albert, who was so pleased to see me, stroking my face & smiling. D’ Jenner was going to sit up again. -“
http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/
© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2012 © Bodleian Libraries © ProQuest
Reading Victoria’s daily reports of how Albert is doing, it would seem it would get better. Such a blow to all of us that he did not. As sad as these diary entries are, it is enlightening to read how Victoria was feeling at this time. Thank you for doing this.
I completely agree. As each day passes and her hope grows, it becomes so much more heartbreaking to know what eventually happened. I feel like the doctors might have known how bad he was but were too scared to break the news to Victoria
That is a good point. The doctors probably knew Albert wasn’t going to recover. Even if they had told Victoria, she still would have been devastated at his loss.
Oh yeah definitely! I also don’t think she would have accepted it if they’d told her and she possibly would have blamed them for not trying harder to save him. We’ll never know for sure but it sounds like a Victoria thing to do 😂