The young Queen Victoria proposed to Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and the two were married on February 10, 1840. The Queen loved her new husband deeply and his guiding hand saw her take up her royal duties with much greater confidence than previously.
However, Victoria´s beloved husband died of typhoid fever on December 14, 1861, at Windsor. The Queen was distraught and retired from public life. Her grief was all consuming and continuing. She was seldom seen in public and, as years passed, there was increasing comment at her failure to be seen to be carrying out her duties.
Sir Theodore Martin, was commissioned to prepare a five volume “Life of His Royal Highness The Prince Consort” which appeared between 1875 and 1880. He became a close friend of the Queen, staying at her Isle of Wight residence and coming to know her very well indeed. In addition to his monumental work, he also penned a small volume: “Queen Victoria As I Knew Her.”
He explained that it was pressure of work, rather than just grief, that kept her from public engagements. Victoria had learned from Albert to pay close attention to every detail of the vast amount of papers and policy documents that were sent to her by the government. She worked long hours, reading everything, and, commenting if she felt this necessary. In the past, Albert had taken a large share of this load but now the Queen had to deal with it alone.
The criticism of her failure to appear in public wounded her and in January 1868, she wrote to Sir Theodore asking him to “take means to let the public know the truth.” He advised against this, saying: “Whatever might be said by some, her people, I was sure, had entire trust in her doing what was best, and that she would appear in public whenever the necessity for doing so arose.”
In 1863 work began on a bridge that was to remove a barrier to the flow of traffic and people in London. The slopes of Holborn Hill and the valley of the Fleet River cut across the east-west axis and an impressive bridge and viaduct was designed by the City Surveyor, William Heywood. The project was not completed until 1869 and it cost some two million pounds. Today the bridge is known as Holborn Viaduct and is hardly noticed by the thousands of people who cross it in cars and buses each day. There used to be a Holborn Viaduct Station nearby but this is now a City Thameslink station.
Queen Victoria finally appeared in public to open the Holborn project, on November 6, 1869, and the event was a great success with a hugely enthusiastic reception from the crowds. Victoria wrote to Martin on November 11: “Nothing could be more successful than the progress and ceremony of Saturday. The greatest enthusiasm prevailed, and the reception by countless thousands of all classes, especially in the City, was most loyal and gratifying – not a word, not a cry that could offend anyone.” On the same day she also opened the new Blackfriars Bridge across the Thames.
Taking a walk across the Holborn Viaduct today, the four fine statues that decorate it still impress. The Fleet River has long since vanished from view and now runs beneath Farringdon Road which passes under the viaduct.
The two statues on the south of the viaduct represent Commerce and Agriculture, and are by the sculptor Henry Bursill. The two on the north side represent Science and Fine Art and are by the firm of Farmer and Bailey.
Queen Victoria and Albert can be found in many places in London, with statues and monuments. But the little bridge at Holborn has its own place in Victoria´s story.
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©Phillip Bruce 2009
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