Queen Victoria | Series of 63 autograph letters signed, to Sarah Lyttelton, her children's governess, 1840-61

Queen Victoria

A series of 63 autograph letters signed ("Victoria R", "VRI", etc.), to Lady Sarah Lyttelton

a friendly and often intimate series spanning Lady Lyttelton's entire career as governess to the Queen's children, touching on many aspects of the Queen's family life, describing royal visits and tours, including her impressions of Germany and her love of the Highlands, as well as public issues from politics to the Great Exhibition, revealing the Queen's tireless supervision of her children's upbringing and education, and her adoration of the Prince Consort, upwards of 300 pages, octavo, monogrammed stationery, some letters on mourning stationery, others illustrated with views of Osborne and Balmoral, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral, Osborne and elsewhere, 21 December 1840 to 20 June 1861, with one autograph envelope, stamped and postmarked, minor wear, some letters with monograms clipped

AN EXTENSIVE SERIES OF LETTERS ON THE QUEEN'S FAMILY LIFE. Sarah Lyttelton (1787-1870) was the daughter of the 2nd Earl Spencer. She had married the 3rd Baron Lyttelton in 1813. By 1840 she was a widow with five adult children who had earned the respect of the Queen and Prince Consort as a Lady of the Bedchamber. The present series begins a month after the birth of the Queen's first child, the Princess Royal (later the Empress Frederick of Germany), which was before Lady Lyttelton's appointment as governess:

"...our little girl is very flourishing & very fat & healthy & improves daily in beauty; I hope & think that she will be like the Prince. We have much to be thankful for in my having been thro'out so well (I never had one drawback of any kind and never any fever) . . . but I must confess that we regretted much at first that she was not a Boy, wh we had so earnestly wished for; but we are quite grateful & contented now..." (21 December 1840)

In 1843 she was appointed governess to the royal children, and the Queen's letters fill with detailed instructions regarding the children's reading, the contents of their prayers, their clothes, and treatment of their illnesses ("...I beg that Vicky's appetite may not be too much indulged & that she may never be allowed to eat till she is satisfied, or too often, for the bowels must be weak..."). She compliments Lady Lyttelton on the children's progress in reading and writing, and laments her absence from "these dear little People", frequently expressing her wish that they may resemble their "beloved and perfect Father".

Many of these letters were written during royal tours, which the young children could not join. She writes of her delight in the Scottish highlands ("...I am going out shooting with the Prince this afternoon [...] so you must expect to find me quite farouche when I come back..."), gives an amusing account of a levee in Edinburgh ("...some very odd costumes, but the Ladies wonderfully little awkward -en revanche the Gentlemen fearfully so..."), and describes the collection of antiques and "most invaluable manuscripts" that she has just seen at Stowe. Public affairs also intrude, from Gladstone's resignation from the government in January 1845 ("...I saw Mr Gladstone yesterday-who is very low at having resigned,-but perfectly friendly & unchanged in his feelings towards the Government, which he is most anxious should be known...") to the revolutions of 1848 ("...What horrid monsters these French are!...").

Lady Lyttelton's daughter Lavinia died in 1850, following which she resigned from royal service to care for her grandchildren. The Queen expressed her great regret at Lady Lyttelton's departure from court ("...the parting from you, after so many years of intimate intercourse [...] was most painful. Many were the tears shed by those in the nursery...") but continues to take an interest in her family after her departure ("...whatever afflicts you must ever be felt by me..."). She continued to write to Lady Lyttelton in the years that follow, for example expressing her sadness at the death of Lord Raglan, writing with sympathy on the death of family members, and exulting in the triumph of Albert's organization of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace:

"...the glory of his name united with the glory of my dear country who shone more that she has ever shone on that great day is a source of pride, happiness and thankfulness which none but a wife's heart can comprehend [...] it is so very delightful to see so many, many thousands of the lower classes enjoy what we do [...] they will bless my beloved husband's name..."

PROVENANCE:

Papers of George, fourth Baron Lyttelton (1817-1876); Sotheby's London, The Lyttelton Papers: The Property of the Viscount Cobham, 12 December 1978, lot 179