The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs Disraeli

by Richard Aldous

VICTORIA’S PRIVATE SECRETARY, Henry Ponsonby, hovered outside the rooms of the holidaying Queen in a state of anxious delight. In his hand was a telegram from the prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli, reporting that the government had lost the general election. Ponsonby by now despised the ‘oriental’ Disraeli – ‘He is not one of us’ – and would be glad to see the back of him. The prime minister’s ceaseless flattery had constantly undermined his own influence at court. More than once he had suffered the indignity of the Queen sending Lady Ely to tell him, ‘She wants you to like him.’ Now Disraeli would get his comeuppance. To add to Ponsonby’s satisfaction, there was also a tantalising prospect that William Gladstone, with whom he enjoyed excellent relations, might return to the premiership. Only one aspect of this new situation was disagreeable to the private secretary: he had to deliver the news to the Queen. Her reaction was one of predictable fury and hysteria. ‘Some of the language used,’ Ponsonby said afterwards, was unrepeatable. Most of her anger was directed at Gladstone. She screamed that she would ‘sooner abdicate than send for or have any communication with that half-mad firebrand who would soon ruin everything and be a dictator’. He would never, ever, be prime minister again. ‘Others may submit to his democratic rule,’ she howled, ‘but not the Queen.’ As to Disraeli, her sense of loss was immediate and overwhelming. ‘The grief to her of having to part with the kin...