In the opera scene, a woman shouts "Mrs. Melbourne" aloud which is aimed at Queen Victoria one presumes. How are audiences to interpret the outburst. Was it thought Melbourne was sleeping with the young Queen? Granted he was a mentor while in office, was it also thought he was her lover? He was quite old compared to the young Queen was he not? Historians please clarify.
-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --
Victoria was thought to be (correctly) too much under Melbourne's influence in the first months of her reign. Melbourne had a racy history with women and it was natural for gossip to arise when the new young Queen seemed so devoted to him. Actually Victoria was looking for a father figure and Melbourne took advantage of that.
When Melbourne lost the election but Victoria refused to replace her Whig ladies with Tories, Sir Robert Peel was unable to form a Government and Melbourne stayed on for awhile. This made the Queen unpopular because she was seen to be thwarting the popular will. (Even though most Britons couldn't vote.)
Thank you for that clarification, I'm not clear on my Torys and Whigs.
-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --
Tory is shorthand for the Conservative Party (centre-right politically) while Whig was the old name for the Liberals (who were the centre-left party of the time).
In the 1920's the Liberals were replaced by Labour as the main centre-left party in the UK, but of course the British government today is a Conservative-Liberal coalition.
I did not quite understand this scene. Were these ladies her maids? And why did it matter who they were? Please explain as I am a little ignorant of this British custom....thank you!!
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I never liked Melbourne
It's true Victoria liked him a lot and she was very influenced on what told her to do, I'd blame him for her fall from grace.
I remember Months Before this movie I watched Elizabeth with Cate Blanchet
I know i was wrong but watching this movie the first time I remember I didn't like Victoria and Melbourne for me he was the worst head advisor any queen could have by his side.
I remember I was thinking god this queen needs Wallsinham so bad he would have make victoria a better queen and would be way better as a head advisor .
Latter I went to see this movie for a second time and I liked Victoria much more but i still hatted Melbourne
He was an incapable advisor compared to my hero Wallsinham.
I agree with you somewhat from how Melbourne was shown in the film - he was very self-serving. However, he was also, from what we see in the film, a bedrock when the young queen needed him to guide her through the politics of her very early days. In that sense he was a good advisor. The problem was that his future depended on remaining in power and this somewhat diminished him and made him limited in his capacity as advisor.
An hour isn't an hour but a little bit of eternity in our handsshare
Maybe he had good intentions with Victoria and guided her the best he could, but I didnt like the way he thought
When Victoria asked him about helping the poor people, he said something like don't try tod do good it never works.
And he said many other things I didn't agree with Melbourne
Meanwhile Wallshinham was more assertive and prudent with his coments
When
Elizabeth told him that maybe she wasn't capable of Ruling he told her that wasn't there to judge her and he wasnt the right person to do so.
When she asked him his opinion going to war, he gave her the best advice: think twice before acting.
The third one when the plot was more than obvious against her, he gave her a real solution which wasn't Marriage.
He was the only one who respected her decision of not getting Married
Yes but ... what was Wallsingham's position within Elizabeth's court compared to Melbourne's? I think therein lies the difference in the way they interacted with the respective monarchs and we don't know what Wallsingham thought of the common people to make a true comparison with Melbourne.
An hour isn't an hour but a little bit of eternity in our handsshare
we don't know what Wallsingham thought of the common people to make a true comparison with Melbourne.
so true but he seemed to care more for Englands future and the Queen scucces, so i wouldnt be suriprised if he agreed on helping the poor people.
that would have made his queen more popular and loved by everyone so the risk of her being shot like they tried to kill Victoria wouldnt have happened.
what was Wallsingham's position within Elizabeth's court compared to Melbourne's? I think therein lies the difference in the way they interacted with the respective monarchs
i dont think there was big diference in their positions with their Monarchs
Both were really loved and respetced by by their queens
Both Man had big influence on their queens, the only diference was Elizabeth´s high temper( she had a lot from her parents strong personality) meanwhile Victoria seemed to be more Calmed
Hello sarizonana,
Well Elizabeth was (I think) a popular monarch and took England into a golden age.
What I meant about Wallsingham/Melbourne's positions in court was that Wallsingham inherited his title that gave him his place in the court whereas Melbourne had to be elected by the populace to earn his place in the court. Consequently Melbourne would have to ingratiate himself to a large enough group of voters unlike Wallsingham. Having written that such were the perils of Elizabeth's court that all the peers and clergy had to play their own games of politics.
Victoria was lucky to be born when she was and to find Albert, a loyal and astute partner. Elizabeth did ot enjoy the same counsel with any one man apart from Wallsingham.
An hour isn't an hour but a little bit of eternity in our handsshare
They got their place in a very different way .
Other times different ways to work there.
Victoria was lucky to be born when she was and to find Albert, a loyal and astute partner. Elizabeth did ot enjoy the same counsel with any one man apart from Wallsingham.
So agree with it.
Victoria Found Love, the type of love Elizabeth never had, yes Wallsinham was one her Best friends completely Loyall to her and helped her to make England a rich country.
But as much Elizabeth said should never get married I bet she wanted a man like Albert by her side, because the cute pirate ( Clive Owen in the Glden age) and Sir Robert Dudley left a lot to be desire as man a queen would pick as a housband
Walsingham was an important figure in Elizabeth's court, but he wasn't nearly as important to the actual history as many of the movies make him out to be. Moviemakers love to put Walsingham onscreen because he was Elizabeth's chief spymaster, which means you can have him doing all kinds of devious and dramatic things behind the screens, and then say, "well, this could have happened."
William Cecil, and then his son Robert Cecil after his death, were Elizabeth's most important and trusted advisers all along.
Interestingly enough, one of William Cecil's descendants, also named Robert Cecil, was Prime Ministers three times during Victoria's later years.
"I don't deduce, I observe."