Queen Victoria’s association with Christmas
the Queen rarely accepts, even from her oldest friends, any article exceeding a few pounds … as it is, the Christmas-present tax amounts, in the case of Her Majesty, to some £2000 yearly. The Queen is fond of giving beautiful English china to her foreign relatives … but will content herself with a set running into (only) two figures.
‘‘Every year the sovereign purchases a quantity of Scottish homespun and Irish poplin (lightweight cotton), lengths of these being sent off as Christmas, birthday, even wedding presents to her Majesty’s granddaughters and great-nieces.
‘‘At other times the Queen’s Christmas offering will be a valuable dog; very rarely does the Queen give a really good piece of jewellery. In this the Prince of Wales does not quite see eye to eye with his royal parent. His gifts to relatives and friends are costly and magnificent. But of course he is not compelled, as the Queen is, to give away hundreds of presents as each winter comes around…’’
Victoria chose her gifts in private comfort, inviting the royal warrant holders and other favoured tradesmen to visit with their wares for her selection. (Later her daughter-in-law Princess Alexandra would break tradition and visit London emporiums in person.)
What was on the royal menu during Christmastime?
According to an 1897 Star newspaper article, the fare was abundant. The Kaiser of Germany usually sent the Queen venison and Strasbourg pies; the Tsar of Russia gave her sturgeon and Imperial caviar; there was Tokay wine from the Emperor of Austria, a wild boar from the forest of Kranichstein from the Grand Duke of Hesse, a barrel of American oysters; baron of beef and sucking-pig, and a royal tribute of Canadian apples. ‘‘Edible presents arrive from Australia, India, most of the colonies and even China. At Yuletide, the storerooms at Windsor resemble a trans-atlantic market.’’
In summery Palmerston North, however, many families were slowly beginning to swap traditional cold-weather foods – heavy plum puddings and hot roasts – for lighter meals: homegrown new potatoes, green peas, chicken and ham, and strawberries.
After Prince Albert’s death, the grieving Queen had fled to Osborne House, living in seclusion for years, until persuaded by her youngest daughter Princess Beatrice that ‘‘it is not good to weep forever’’.
‘‘It was under her influence that Yuletide at Court gradually resumed most of the features it had worn during the lifetime of the lamented prince’’ continued the article – including the German custom of Christmas trees, which Albert had introduced into England. He had insisted these be suspended from the ceilings, so they would stand ramrod straight and tall.
Victoria endeared herself to the Boer War troops in South Africa by sending a Christmas tin of chocolate to every ‘‘Tommy Atkins’’ soldier.
Referring to this gift, British war correspondent Archibald Forbes raised eyebrows by writing: ‘‘There is one curious fact which came out pointedly on the Nile campaign. It is a well-known chemical truth, that the equivalents of sugar and of alcohol are nearly identical. Tommy discovers this when he is cut short of his grog.’’ He urged families to send more chocolate to the front, ‘‘remembering that if he is cut off from his grog (Tommy) will enjoy its chemical equivalent’’.
That Christmas of 1900 would be Queen Victoria’s last.
She died 29 days later, on January 22, 1901.