A visit to the Isle of Wight
I wonder if you can guess which island is here being described by Sir Walter Scott - “that beautiful island which he who once sees it never forgets, through whatever part of the world his future path may lead him”. Well, okay, given the headline you are likely to realize he was talking, not about Mull or Skye or North Uist, but the dear old Isle of Wight, a sacred place in my heart, since the woman who has been my wife for over thirty years was working for English Heritage at Osborne House, and I was doing a telly thing about the Prince Consort. My spirits soar as I approach the Red Funnell at Southampton, knowing that I shall soon be in Cowes , and as the boat bobs over the Solent, I think back to the momentous day, October 10th, 1988, when I met Ruth and my life was changed.
But today, I am alone, and I am going to stay at the Royal Yacht Squadron.
It’s the most beautiful place, the old castle at West Cowes, where William IV, the Sailor King, founded this club for yachting enthusiasts. All sorts of distinguished people have visited it, including another William,the Kaiser, William II, who in his benign moods, was a great enthusiast for the Cowes regatta.
In London, where I live, the office workers come home on crowded trains or buses and maybe enjoy a drink or two at the pub before heading home. In Cowes, quite a lot of the lucky populace come down to the sea, and are bobbing about in their sailing boats as I watch them on the blue water.
I’m always saying that for two pins I could live on the Island, but Ruth says I’d be bored. Ah, here’s Algy.
As well as being my patron and hero, J.G.Cluff (Algy) - who has been an endlessly kind friend over the years - 44 years! - used to own the Spectator magazine when I was the Literary Editor. Among his many roles in life, he is a keen yachtsman and librarian of the Royal Yacht Squadron on the Isle of Wight. He guarantees that a copy of a P.G.Wodehouse is to be found in every bedroom. In my room, there’s a copy of an especially good one, “Eggs, Beans and Crumpets”.
Algy has asked me to address the members on one of my pet subjects, what we owe one of the Isle of Wight’s most famous residents – Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. What follows is a version of my talk, based on one of my books – PRINCE ALBERT: THE MAN WHO SAVED THE MONARCHY, published by Atlantic in 2019.
Crossing the Solent always reminds me of the day I met Ruth, but , mingled with this memory, I also think of that cold January day in 1901, when the body of Queen Victoria, accompanied by her Fleet, crossed the water to the mainland. Half her adult life, she had been a widow, and her letters and diaries reveal a constant awareness, not only of her own grief, but of what Britain owes to the man she called her angel – the Prince Consort.
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And it is to that legacy that I want to address myself today. Time is short, so I am going to reflect upon five aspects of his legacy, five things which are distinctively Albertian. They are 1. The embrace of the Victorian industrial, technological and scientific success story, culminating in the Great Exhibition of 1851. 2. The enormous, wide-ranging cultural enrichment of England which came about in consequence, but which had been part of Albert’s work since his very first arrival in England as the Queen’s husband. 3. His political and constitutional legacy. 4. His concept of a Royal Family. And 5th the diplomatic legacy, left behind , principally and especially through Dynastic Marriage.
By the time of his death, Britain was approaching its zenith as a world power.
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