THE PRIMROSE LEGEND
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The celebration of Primrose Day by admirers of Lord Beaconsfield makes it opportune to raise the question why that name was given both to the day of the commemoration of D'Israeli's death and to the Primrose League founded in his memory.
The general, but erroneous, explanation is that on the occasion of Lord Beaconsfield's funeral Queen Victoria sent a wreath of primroses, to which was attached a holograph card bearing the words, " His Favourite Flower." The story is quite without foundation, and how it originated no one has ever been able to explain. Controversy arose as to whether the possessive pronoun had reference to the Prince Consort or to Lord Beaconsfield, and even today there are thousands who treat the legend as historical fact.
But legend it is. In April, 1888, the late Sir Ellis Ashmead- Bartlett, greatly daring, wrote to Queen Victoria calling her attention to the alleged inscription of " his favourite flower,"
at the same time asking whether she wrote it ; and, if so, to whom it referred. He received in reply, through her Private Secretary, the following curt reply, which appeared in his own journal, England, and was rather widely quoted at the time :
Windsor Castle.
May 1st, 1888.
Sir,—The Queen did not send a wreath of primroses to Lord Beaconsfield's funeral, and consequently there could have been no inscription of the nature you describe.
I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant,
HENRY I'OXSONBY.
I have had many very intimate associations with Hughenden Manor and special opportunities of knowing the precise details of Queen .Victoria's final tributes to her favourite Prime Minister. On April 26th, 1881, the Earl was buried in Hughenden, Churchyard in the same vault that contained the remains of his wife and their friend, Mrs. Brydges Williams. On the following Saturday the Queen, accompanied by Princess Beatrice, visited the tomb and placed upon the coffin a wreath and a cross of white flowers. Subsequently she erected a mural tablet to his memory in Hughenden Church, immediately above the seat he habitually occupied in his lifetime. Moreover, as a signal tribute, she commanded that his Garter ribbon should depend above the pew.
Lord Beaconsfield was never known to wear primroses, and in two places only, I believe, is reference made to them in his novels—associated in either instance with salad ! Still, there is strong evidence that the primrose was in fact " his favourite flower." I knew well Mr. Arthur Vernon, of High Wycombe, who from 1870 acted as land agent to Lord Beaconsfield, and Afterwards continued in a like capacity to Major Coningsby Disraeli, and he frequently mentioned that everyone on the Hughenden estate knew of the Earl's affection for primroses. " The workmen had orders to protect these plants," he explained on one occasion when we were discussing the
subject, " and they were cultivated in large numbers along- side the walk behind the Manor House, known locally as the
German Forest Path ' ; whilst, by the Earl's direction, given to me personally during the last year of his life, a clump of trees in the park, where the grass grew scantily, was thickly planted with ferns and primroses. Upon these and other grounds," he added, I can unhesitatingly assert that they were his favourite flower."
As is well known, Queen Victoria was very fond of Lord Beaconsfield, and he was very fond of the Queen. Her Majesty once defined the difference between Gladstone and Beaconsfield. In the case of Gladstone," she said, " it's the Prime Minister of England and the Queen. In the case of Beaconsfield it is the Queen and her Prime Minister."—
Previous page
