This despatch, indiscreet in any case, was rendered
infinitely more so by being communicated to Guizot.
Louis Philippe saw his opportunity and pounced on
it. Though there was nothing in Palmerston’s
language to show that he either recognised or supported
Prince Leopold, the King at once assumed that the
English had broken their engagement, and that he was
therefore free to do likewise. He then sent the
despatch to the Queen Mother, declared that the English
were intriguing for the Coburg marriage, bade her
mark the animosity of Palmerston against the Spanish
Government, and urged her to escape from her difficulties
and ensure the friendship of France by marrying Isabella
to the Duke of Cadiz and Fernanda to Montpensier.
The Queen Mother, alarmed and furious, was easily
convinced. There was only one difficulty:
Isabella loathed the very sight of her cousin.
But this was soon surmounted; there was a wild supper-party
at the Palace, and in the course of it the young girl
was induced to consent to anything that was asked
of her. Shortly after, and on the same day, both
the marriages took place.
The news burst like a bomb on the English Government,
who saw with rage and mortification that they had
been completely outmanoeuvred by the crafty King.
Victoria, in particular, was outraged. Not only
had she been the personal recipient of Louis Philippe’s
pledge, but he had won his way to her heart by presenting
the Prince of Wales with a box of soldiers and sending
the Princess Royal a beautiful Parisian doll with
eyes that opened and shut. And now insult was
added to injury. The Queen of the French wrote
her a formal letter, calmly announcing, as a family
event in which she was sure Victoria would be interested,
the marriage of her son, Montpensier—“qui
ajoutera a notre bonheur interieur, le seul vrai dans
ce monde, et que vous, madame, savez si bien apprecier.”
But the English Queen had not long to wait for her
revenge. Within eighteen months the monarchy
of Louis Philippe, discredited, unpopular, and fatally
weakened by the withdrawal of English support, was
swept into limbo, while he and his family threw themselves
as suppliant fugitives at the feet of Victoria.
In this affair both the Queen and the Prince had been
too much occupied with the delinquencies of Louis
Philippe to have any wrath to spare for those of Palmerston;
and, indeed, on the main issue, Palmerston’s
attitude and their own had been in complete agreement.
But in this the case was unique. In every other
foreign complication—and they were many
and serious—during the ensuing years, the
differences between the royal couple and the Foreign
Secretary were constant and profound. There was
a sharp quarrel over Portugal, where violently hostile
parties were flying at each other’s throats.
The royal sympathy was naturally enlisted on behalf
of the Queen and her Coburg husband, while Palmerston
