“This has indeed been a terribly sad Christmas for us all”: Queen Victoria’s final Christmas

 

Queen Victoria’s final Christmas was filled with nothing but heartache for the 81 year old monarch. 1900 had been Victoria’s annus horribilis, with the deaths of her third child, Prince Alfred, and her grandson, Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein. On top of this, the second Boer War was in full swing and the elderly Queen was struggling with her own failing health. For Queen Victoria Christmas had always been a prominent family event, which reminded her of “former happy times” with her beloved husband. However, in 1900 it was clear that her enthusiasm was fading.

Since her childhood at Kensington Palace, Victoria had taken part in Christmas traditions; with the most prominent being the ‘Christmas table’, on which sat a decorated tree, surrounded by an array of carefully displayed gifts. This tradition had continued every year throughout Victoria’s lifetime, and Christmas 1900 was no different. Surrounded by members of her family, on Christmas Eve Victoria entered the exotic Durbar Room at Osborne House, where the tree and presents had been arranged. Despite being surrounded by three of her children and several of her grandchildren, the grief-stricken monarch couldn’t help but to feel “very melancholy” (1) as her poor eyesight prevented her from seeing the festive family scene. Although this was perhaps a good thing.

 

By the end of 1900 Victoria had outlived her mother, husband, two half-siblings and brother-in-law, three of her nine children, three of her five son-in-laws, and several of her 42 grandchildren; along with some of her great-grandchildren and friends. While most of her extended family lived across Europe, you can’t help but feel sorry for Victoria, whose family gatherings were slowly increasing in absences. Spending Christmas at the Queen’s Isle of Wight home in 1900 were: Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, with their children, Prince Albert, Princess Helena Victoria, Princess Marie Louise; Prince Arthur and Princess Louise Margaret of Connaught, with their three children, Princess Margaret, Prince Arthur, and Princess Patricia; and the widowed Princess Beatrice of Battenberg, with her children, Prince Alexander, Princess Victoria Eugenie, Prince Leopold, and Prince Maurice. However, while the royal party was seemingly large, the losses of 1900 were thoughtfully recognised amongst the Queen’s gifts, which had been displayed in the exotic Durbar Room on Christmas Eve.

From her eldest son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife, Princess Alexandra, Victoria received a bracelet in memory of Prince Alfred; and commemorating the passing of her own son, Princess Helena gave Queen Victoria an enamel portrait of Prince Christian Victor, which had been set with one of the Queen’s favourite stones, sapphires. Due to the Queen’s fragility this was the end of the traditional Christmas Eve festivities as she retired to her private rooms for a quiet supper and to watch as Beatrice played the piano.

That night Victoria slept like a child trying to catch a glimpse of Father Christmas. In her Christmas Day journal entry the first thing she writes is how badly she had slept, a contrast to her excitement towards the return of ‘this bright blessed festival’ (2), which she had welcomed with enthusiasm just nine years earlier. Instead, she frustratingly notes that “every remedy that was tried failed in making me sleep” (3), adding that when she eventually gave up on rest and attempted to get up, she unwillingly fell asleep, “which was too provoking.” (4) While the insomnia was most likely caused by declining health, it’s nice to imagine that her mind was racing with happy memories of “a festival so loved by dearest Albert & dear Mama” (5), or perhaps it was a gut feeling that it was to be “a terribly sad Christmas for us all,” with further travesty. (6)

Despite the biblical importance of the day, Victoria seems to have treated Christmas 1900 like any other day. Following her daily routine she went on a short drive with Princesses Helena and Beatrice. While they were out, Helena broke the news that one of the Queen’s “most faithful & intimate friends,” (7) and Lady of the Bedchamber, Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill, was gravely ill in her bed upstairs. Having spent much of her life with an extreme lack of companions, the news understandably distressed the monarch. Jane had been by her side for almost fifty years and was one of the only people remaining that had been there both before and after Albert’s death in 1861. Upon returning from her drive, Victoria sent for physician, Sir James Reid, who told her further news on Jane’s condition.

As the day progressed, the Christmas festivities remained at a minimum. Almost completely blind, deaf and unable to walk, Victoria didn’t attend a family dinner as she had every other year of her life, instead taking some simple broth as she rested in her rooms. That afternoon she embarked on another short drive of the lavish grounds of Osborne, this time with her daughter-in-law, Princess Louise Margaret of Connaught (Louischen), and her granddaughter, Princess Helena Victoria (Thora). Preoccupied by the imminent death of Jane Churchill, the three ladies spent their journey reminiscing about times they had spent with her.

Upon returning to the Italianate house, Victoria sent for James Reid for an update on the Jane’s condition. It was in this moment that Victoria experienced one final blow to her lifetime of grief as Reid informed her that Jane had actually been found dead that morning, having peacefully passed away in her sleep. While she usually had a fiery temper, the frail Queen was, on this occasion, grateful for everyone’s deceit, confiding to her journal that “they had not dared tell me for fear of giving me a shock, so had prepared me gradually for the terrible news.” (8)

Confiding to her eldest child, the Dowager Empress of Germany, Queen Victoria wrote: “This Christmas has been one of the saddest I ever remember, excepting ’61, and you are I am sure as horrified as I am at the loss of my good beloved Jane Churchill, who died in her sleep on Christmas Day. What her loss is to me I cannot describe or even realise yet, and that it should happen here is too sad, but it is I think what she would have wished, excepting for the trouble and sorrow it has caused.”

Due to the Victoria’s poor mobility, the royal family didn’t go to church for a Christmas service and small gathering was instead held in the Drawing Room, where Mr Ellison held a short address and three hymns were sung, with Princess Beatrice playing the Harmonium. After this Victoria, now bound to a rolling chair, was taken up to her rooms, where she spent the remainder of the day resting.

This would be the final Victorian Christmas as the Queen, too, faded away in her bed at Osborne, passing away just 22 days into the new year.

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