conspirators revealed that they were part of a group that had members in England and that their bombs had been made there. Palmerston was irritated by the political activities of some of the refugees who had settled in Britain and wanted to draft a Bill empowering the Home Secretary to expel anyone whom he suspected of plotting against a foreign head of state or government. The cabinet agreed it would be simpler to introduce a Conspiracy to Murder Bill instead, by which the crime of planning a murder was promoted from a misdemeanour to a felony and made punishable by a long term of imprisonment. The result, the Conspiracy to Murder Bill, resulted in a defeat for Palmerston on a vote on the second reading in February.
Professing herself ‘much vexed and thunderstruck’ 10 by the defeat, Queen Victoria sent again for Lord Derby to form a government. In March 1859 his ministry introduced a Parliamentary Reform Bill which had a troubled passage through the House of Commons before leading to a motion of no confidence three months later, on which Derby resigned and Palmerston once again took office as prime minister. The Queen disliked having to change governments at a time of European crisis, in this case war between Austria and France, but she readily admitted that when she sent for Palmerston, he ‘behaved very handsomely’. 11
This premiership was to prove relatively untroubled. In fact, the Prime Minister showed a degree of concern towards his sovereign throughout which she found most touching. This was never more apparent than in November 1861, when he was the first person outside the family to express serious anxiety over the condition of the Prince Consort, who had never been robust and seemed seriously run down after a particularly stressful year. While the Queen’s doctors blandly assured her there was nothing to be unduly concerned about, he recognised that the Prince was gravely ill and proposed calling a further physician, Dr Robert Ferguson. The Queen resented the suggestion, insisting that there was no need for further medical advice, and instructed Sir Charles Phipps, her Keeper of the Privy Purse, to thank the Prime Minister for his concern. The Prince, she said, was only suffering from ‘a feverish cold’.
Palmerston was laid low at the time with gout, and although he genuinely mourned the death of the Prince Consort in December, he was privately a little relieved that in her grief the Queen did not wish to see anybody apart from members of her immediate family and household at first. He knew that she would be difficult to deal with, now that the prudent Albert was no longer there to guide or restrain her. He wrote to Russell after Christmas that he believed her determination ‘to conform to what she from time to time may persuade herself would have been at the moment the opinion of the late Prince promises no end of difficulties for those who will have to advise her’, and that they would need to deal with her gently. 12
On 29 January 1862 Victoria received Palmerston at Osborne, for the first time since the Prince’s death. He was deeply moved by the sight of her suffering, and in her words he could ‘hardly speak for emotion’. On his first sight of her, sitting on the sofa in the drawing room at Osborne, he too wept unashamedly for the man they had lost. His colleagues later saw tears in his eyes when he referred to the Prince Consort, and his sympathy for the bereaved Queen was beyond doubt. He assured her ‘what a dreadful calamity it was’ and agreed that the loss of his father was terrible for the Prince of Wales. The Queen was genuinely moved by her statesman’s attitude ‘and would hardly have given Lord Palmerston credit for entering so entirely into my anxieties’. 13
During the crisis that arose over the disputed duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, ruled by Denmark, the Queen was on the side of counter-claimants Austria and Prussia, unlike her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, who
Professing herself ‘much vexed and thunderstruck’ 10 by the defeat, Queen Victoria sent again for Lord Derby to form a government. In March 1859 his ministry introduced a Parliamentary Reform Bill which had a troubled passage through the House of Commons before leading to a motion of no confidence three months later, on which Derby resigned and Palmerston once again took office as prime minister. The Queen disliked having to change governments at a time of European crisis, in this case war between Austria and France, but she readily admitted that when she sent for Palmerston, he ‘behaved very handsomely’. 11
This premiership was to prove relatively untroubled. In fact, the Prime Minister showed a degree of concern towards his sovereign throughout which she found most touching. This was never more apparent than in November 1861, when he was the first person outside the family to express serious anxiety over the condition of the Prince Consort, who had never been robust and seemed seriously run down after a particularly stressful year. While the Queen’s doctors blandly assured her there was nothing to be unduly concerned about, he recognised that the Prince was gravely ill and proposed calling a further physician, Dr Robert Ferguson. The Queen resented the suggestion, insisting that there was no need for further medical advice, and instructed Sir Charles Phipps, her Keeper of the Privy Purse, to thank the Prime Minister for his concern. The Prince, she said, was only suffering from ‘a feverish cold’.
Palmerston was laid low at the time with gout, and although he genuinely mourned the death of the Prince Consort in December, he was privately a little relieved that in her grief the Queen did not wish to see anybody apart from members of her immediate family and household at first. He knew that she would be difficult to deal with, now that the prudent Albert was no longer there to guide or restrain her. He wrote to Russell after Christmas that he believed her determination ‘to conform to what she from time to time may persuade herself would have been at the moment the opinion of the late Prince promises no end of difficulties for those who will have to advise her’, and that they would need to deal with her gently. 12
On 29 January 1862 Victoria received Palmerston at Osborne, for the first time since the Prince’s death. He was deeply moved by the sight of her suffering, and in her words he could ‘hardly speak for emotion’. On his first sight of her, sitting on the sofa in the drawing room at Osborne, he too wept unashamedly for the man they had lost. His colleagues later saw tears in his eyes when he referred to the Prince Consort, and his sympathy for the bereaved Queen was beyond doubt. He assured her ‘what a dreadful calamity it was’ and agreed that the loss of his father was terrible for the Prince of Wales. The Queen was genuinely moved by her statesman’s attitude ‘and would hardly have given Lord Palmerston credit for entering so entirely into my anxieties’. 13
During the crisis that arose over the disputed duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, ruled by Denmark, the Queen was on the side of counter-claimants Austria and Prussia, unlike her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, who
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