Victoria’s tender words of grief for ‘brave and loving’ ghillie Mr Brown
HE was the Highland rock on whom she relied so heavily for comfort and guidance for much of her long reign.
And now a letter from Queen Victoria lamenting the loss of her faithful Scots ghillie John Brown has emerged.
The Queen wrote to her Honorary Chaplain while staying at Balmoral in October 1883 – only six months after Brown died. Still deeply distressed, she refers to him in the note as ‘the brave, true loving honest Highland heart’.
The Monarch wrote the letter on
‘A gushing tribute from the Queen’
The brave, true loving honest Highland heart that served her –, watched over her, took care of her... and is totally irreplaceable!
the evening of October 14, after a visit that day from her Honorary Chaplain, the Reverend James Cameron Lees, minister at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.
In it, Victoria tells him that she ‘felt comforted and encouraged by all he said to her this afternoon’.
And while she could not bring herself to speak of Brown during the visit, she ‘cannot refrain from saying now... the loss of one of the truest, best and most devoted of friends weighs very heavily’.
Writing in the third person, she adds: ‘The brave, true loving honest Highland heart that served her – watched over her, took care of her... for so long, and is totally irreplaceable!
‘She can only pray that God – who gave her this friend in the time of her grief... and has now taken him from her – may give her strength and courage to bear up against the loss of such a help and comfort.’
The letter, on black-edged mourning paper bearing the royal cypher, is to be auctioned at Bonhams’ Scottish Sale in Edinburgh on April 27.
It is estimated the note, which has come ‘from a private source’ will fetch £700 to £900.
Henry Baggott of Bonhams said: ‘Queen Victoria had a very close relationship with John Brown and she was deeply upset following his death.
‘In this letter she’s talking about his loss, which is so significant. It couldn’t be a more gushing tribute from the Queen – it’s phenomenal really. It will be highly prized by collectors.’
Brown, who was born at Crathie, Aberdeenshire, worked as a ghillie to Prince Albert at Balmoral. In 1865, four years after the Prince Consort’s death, he became the Queen’s personal servant.
He was a constant presence at her side, and even foiled an assassination attempt outside Buckingham Palace in 1872.
Brown died at the age of 56 in 1883.