15 Pieces of History That Victoria Did Differently
By Lacy Baugher
Jenna Coleman and Rufus Sewell in “Victoria” (Photo: ITV)
Victoria Didn’t Propose to Melbourne
Victoria creator Daisy Goodwin is a staunch believer in the idea that Victoria and Lord Melbourne had real feelings for one another. Sure, neither of them were really in any position to do anything about it, due to their respective stations. But, according to Goodwin, that doesn’t mean that the attachment between them wasn’t both real and romantic.
However, Godwin does admit that the scene where Victoria proposes to Lord Melbourne may have pushed the boundaries of accuracy just a bit. That moment certainly didn’t happen in real life – there’s no way that would have escaped a mention in the queen’s diaries. And marriage between these two would have been out of the question anyway. Victoria would have never been able to marry someone who wasn’t of royal blood. And the considerable age difference between them also made an official match a nonstarter.
But Victoria really was mockingly called “Mrs. Melbourne” by the public and in the press due to her overly close relationship with her Prime Minister. So it’s not like there wasn’t plenty of gossip about the two of them. “Her feelings for him are sexual if she but knew it”, said contemporary diarist Charles Greville at the time. (He was also Clerk of the Privy Coucil, so he probably would have been around the two constantly.) This relationship isn’t something Goodwin made up out of whole cloth. But she certainly created the (admittedly super sad) break-up scene between the two of them for dramatic effect.
For what it’s worth: Melbourne did live at Brocket Hall, though. Victoria visited the house often. It’s actually still there if you’d like to visit it. We don’t know if the house actually had a large population of rooks living on the ground. Though, according to Goodwin, Melbourne really was “very keen on” the birds. (And they do, in fact, mate for life.) Just in case you needed something to feel a little bit emotional over.