Queen Victoria (1819–1901)

Much has been made of Queen Victoria's friendships with men during her long widowhood after the death of her beloved Prince Albert. Until reading this book, I did not know that her Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson was one of them. While they did not have the frequent close contact of John Brown, Queen Victoria enjoyed an emotional and spiritual connection with Tennyson. Initially chosen by Prince Albert to be Poet Laureate, Tennyson offered the grief-stricken widow what she felt was true sympathy throughout her life. The Duke of Argyll, a mutual friend, facilitated their first meeting and Tennyson was as moved by her loss as she was by his poetry.

Queen Victoria invited Tennyson to return to Osborne with his family, who met hers. In her own words, she "was struck with the greatness and largeness of his mind, under a certainly rough exterior." For his part, his wife recorded, "A. was delighted with the breadth and freedom and penetration of her mind. One felt that no false thing could stand before her. We talked of all things in heaven and earth it seemed to me."

Through subsequent meetings, they shared a sense of humour and a "natural" directness of manner. Their friendship grew further after the death of John Brown, and the queen began to write to Tennyson herself -- in the first person, as "it is so difficult to express feelings in the third person." He acknowledged in person how alone she was on that "terrible height" of the throne. Their sympathy deepened with the shared loss of grown children during their long correspondence.

While Queen Victoria and Tennyson are identified as the book's authors, this vintage collection includes other letters from their families, and is aptly edited by Hope Dyson and Charles Tennyson. As they say in their introduction, they offer "a much more complete picture of the remarkable friendship which developed between the Queen and her Poet Laureate, two of the most extraordinary personalities of an extraordinary age."… (meer)