The SECRET Affair Queen Victoria Had With A Servant

Welcome to Her Remarkable History. Remember to support our channel, please subscribe. The secret affair Queen Victoria had with her servant. Throughout her life, Queen Victoria experienced a huge amount of grief and upset. She was noted for being a woman who, following the early death of her husband Prince Albert, was plunged into mourning and she would wear black out of respect for her consort for the rest of her life and for decades following his death. Victoria was loved across Britain and she is considered the grandmother of Europe and throughout her incredibly long reign on the throne she had a number of servants who were very loyal to her. They would do whatever the Queen wanted and Victoria was known to have been rather sharp-tongued at times. But there was one servant who much rumour has focused around. John Brown was the Queen's Scottish attendant who was her clear favourite. He was a man whose companionship was a great comfort to Victoria and some, including her heir and son, the future Edward VII, hated him as they believed he was informal. He was a man who could get Victoria to do anything regardless of the fact he was a servant. But many historians have claimed that John Brown may have had a more serious and romantic relationship with Victoria. But what is the story of this? John Brown was born in the December of 1826 in Aberdeenshire and he would work as a ghillie or an outdoor servant in the grounds of Balmoral Castle which Victoria and Prince Albert leased and then purchased in the November of 1851. Brown had a number of siblings and three also entered Royal service but he would then go from being a ghillie to a personal friend of Prince Albert and he would then serve as the leader of the Queen's pony and this gave John Brown time to talk with Victoria. But following the death of Prince Albert the Queen never recovered and John Brown became a close friend and companion of hers. She would throughout his service give him two medals for his work and she would also commission a portrait of him which was considered rather shocking. What is also interesting is that Victoria would sketch John Brown in her free time and it's clear that there was something she found attractive about him. He also had other responsibilities including brewing a pot of tea that the Queen took on picnics. He would also put a bit of whiskey in this and in the October of 1863 the Queen was returning back to Balmoral on a carriage ride and the driver was drunk at the time and he lost his way and took the vehicle over rough terrain. This thing crashed and overturned with passengers inside but Brown saw what was going to happen. He then leapt clear of the carriage and rescued the Queen and her ladies and then released the frightened horses and ordered the driver on foot to get some ponies for them to ride back. The Queen was injured and was badly shaken but John Brown's anticipation stopped her being further hurt. There was a lot of rumour at the time about her involvement with Brown and some claimed he had a hold on the Queen. One Swiss newspaper even reported that the Queen was expecting a child with him and there was a huge amount of gossip. At the time the thought of the Queen taking a lover who was much below her station, especially after her husband died, was considered shocking and disgraceful but John Brown was a man who was loyal to the Queen out of service. Many of the Queen's servants and staff were in awe of her or were intimidated by her but John Brown was different. He could at times seem very rude towards her and if he disapproved of what she was wearing he would say what's this you've got on today? He once was heard telling her off as he fastened a cloak under her bonnet and he said hoots then woman can you not hold your head up? But Victoria liked this brash manner and she saw it as a refreshing change. In 1872 whilst Victoria was on a carriage drive a man with an unloaded pistol pointed it at the Queen but Brown grabbed the man and held him until the police arrested him. Most of the royal family hated Brown's uncouth manner and there was a significant amount of gossip regarding Brown and the fact she may have even married him. This was a rumour and one of the Queen's chaplains, it's believed, made a deathbed confession repenting his actions in presiding over an alleged marriage between Queen Victoria and John Brown but Brown was a heavy whiskey drinker and he died at the age of 56 at Windsor Castle on the 27th of March 1883. Victoria would write in a letter to the Vice Count regarding Brown's death that perhaps never in history was there so strong and true an attachment so warm and loving a friendship between the sovereign and servant. Strength of character as well as power of frame, the most fearless uprightness, kindness, sense of justice, honesty, independence and unselfishness combined with a tender warm heart made him one of the most remarkable men. The Queen feels that life for the second time is become most trying and sad to bear deprived of all she so needs. The blow has fallen too heavily not to be very heavily felt. It shows how fond of Brown that Victoria was and the fact she wrote and the fact she wrote for the second time may have been Victoria writing that she has lost a man she regarded in the same vein as her husband Prince Albert and that John Brown's death was equal to the loss of Albert for Victoria. There's no concrete evidence that alludes to physical relationship between the pair but historians have speculated about this. But what is more bizarre is the fact that Victoria gave specific instructions to her doctor regarding her death that involved John Brown. She listed to Sir James Reid that in her coffin should be placed Albert's dressing gown and a plaster cast of his hand but also she was buried with a lock of Brown's hair, his photograph which was wrapped in a white tissue paper and placed in her left hand and also shockingly John Brown's mother's wedding ring. This is a bizarre and crazy request that the Queen wanted the wedding ring of her once servant to be placed on her right hand and many have alluded to the possibility of a relationship between the two because of this. It is certainly rather suspicious but John Brown would die from a drinking related illness and it left a huge hole in the heart of Queen Victoria. He was buried in Crathie Kirkyard which today is the location where the royal family attend their church services when at Balmoral. The inscription on his gravestone alludes to the link between the Queen and it says this stone is erected in affectionate and grateful remembrance of John Brown the devoted and faithful personal attendant and beloved friend of Queen Victoria in whose service he had been for 34 years. Born at Craithnard the 8th of December 1826, died at Windsor Castle 27th of March 1883. That friend on whose fidelity you count, that friend given to you by circumstance, over which you have no control, was God's own gift. Well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Victoria would write that Brown was the best, truest heart that ever beat and she would also write that he had no thought but for me, my welfare, my comfort, my safety, my happiness. Courageous, unselfish, totally disinterested, discreet to the highest degree, speaking the truth fearlessly and telling me what he thought and considered to be just and right without flattery and without saying what would be pleasing if he did not think it right. The comfort of my daily life is gone, the void is terrible, the loss is imparable. A statue at Balmoral was also created in his memory and what is interesting is that many of the memorials and statues Victoria had made for Brown were destroyed by her son who hated Brown. The relationship that John Brown had with Queen Victoria is one which goes beyond servant and sovereign. There have been accusations of marriage between the pair and even a possible love child and it's obvious that the pair were intimate. There is a feeling in the family of Queen Victoria's doctors that the pair had a substantial relationship but they had doubted the physicality of this. John Brown and the Queen were obviously very fond of each other but what is suspicious is that she was buried with the wedding ring of Brown's mother on her hand. The wedding ring of a mother in tradition is passed to the bride of the son when he proposes and it's interesting to consider why the Queen had this. Was she married to him? It's unlikely but it's more likely that the pair loved each other and that in public they were physical and would hug and Brown for example was the only one who could carry Victoria up the stairs. But the story of the Queen and her Scottish servant still captivates today. Thank you for watching and to support please subscribe to Her Remarkable History. Thank you.