Editing John Brown (servant) (section)

==Relationship with Queen Victoria==
By 1851, Brown's role changed from being gillie and personal friend to Prince Albert<ref>{{cite book |date=1879 |title=The Century, Volume 17|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=88xZAAAAYAAJ|location=Cheltenham, Gloucestershire |publisher=Scribner & Company |page=213}}</ref> to a "permanent role" as the leader of the Queen's pony, "on Prince Albert's instigation".<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Raymond Lamont |date=26 August 2011 |title=John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJwTDQAAQBAJ&q=john+brown+originally+gillie+to+prince+albert&pg=PT5 |location=Cheltenham, Gloucestershire |publisher=The History Press |isbn=9780750927383}}</ref>

[[File:young john brown.JPG|upright=1.2|thumb|alt=Several sketches of a person's head, some in color.|A young John Brown as sketched by Queen Victoria]]
Prince Albert's untimely death in 1861 was a shock from which Queen Victoria never fully recovered. John Brown became a friend and supported the Queen. Victoria was known to give him many gifts as well as creating two medals for him, the Faithful Servant Medal and the Devoted Service Medal. She also commissioned a portrait of him in 1876, given to him on Albert's birthday, 26 August.<ref>{{cite web|last=Scotland|first=Royal Deeside|title=John Brown, faithful servant to Queen Victoria|url=http://www.royal-deeside.org.uk/RDhistory/johnbrown.htm|publisher=Royal Deeside, Scotland}}</ref>

Victoria's children and ministers were not as accepting of the high regard she had for Brown, and rumours circulated that there was something improper in their relationship.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Baird|first1=Julia|title=A Queen's Forbidden Love|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/opinion/a-queens-forbidden-love.html?_r=0|work=The New York Times|date=29 August 2014}}</ref> Victoria herself dismissed the chatter as "ill-natured gossip in the higher classes".<ref name="duff1968">{{cite book|last1=Duff|first1=David|title=Victoria in the Highlands|date=1968|publisher=Frederick Muller|location=London|page=199}}</ref>

The diaries of [[Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt|Lewis Harcourt]] contain a report that one of the Queen's chaplains, [[Norman Macleod (1812–1872)|Rev. Norman Macleod]], made a deathbed confession repenting his action in presiding over Queen Victoria's marriage to John Brown.<ref name=lamont-brown/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Alderson|first=Andrew|date=2003-05-04|title=Victoria 'did become Mrs Brown'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1429127/Victoria-did-become-Mrs-Brown.html|access-date=2021-05-06|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> Debate continues over this report. Harcourt did not receive the confession directly (he was nine when Macleod died) but rather, it is claimed to have passed from Macleod's sister to the wife of [[Henry Ponsonby]], the Queen's private secretary, and thence to Harcourt's father [[Sir William Harcourt]], then Home Secretary. Harcourt served as Home Secretary in the final three years of Brown's life.

A letter from Victoria to [[Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook|Viscount Cranbrook]], written shortly after Brown's death but rediscovered in 2004, shows how she described the loss:<ref name=fix/>

{{Blockquote|text=Perhaps never in history was there so strong and true an attachment, so warm and loving a friendship between the sovereign and servant{{nbsp}}[...] Strength of character as well as power of frame – the most fearless uprightness, kindness, sense of justice, honesty, independence and unselfishness combined with a tender, warm heart{{nbsp}}[...] made him one of the most remarkable men. The Queen feels that life for the second time is become most trying and sad to bear deprived of all she so needs{{nbsp}}[...] the blow has fallen too heavily not to be very heavily felt...<ref>Bendor Grosvenor, article "Dear John", ''History Today'' (Volume 55, Number 1, 2005)</ref>}}

[[File:Queen Victoria, photographed by George Washington Wilson (1863).jpg|alt=A woman, severely dressed in black, seated on a horse with a man standing by its head.|right|thumb|upright=1.3|Queen Victoria with John Brown at Balmoral]]

The phrase "for the second time" relates to the death of Brown after the death of her husband [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]]. The historian who discovered the letter believed that it suggested that Victoria, in her mind, equated Brown's death with Albert's, and that she therefore viewed him as more than a servant, but also as a good friend and confidant.<ref name=fix>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/dec/16/monarchy.stephenbates | work=The Guardian| location=London | title=Letter from Queen Victoria points to affair with Brown | first=Stephen | last=Bates | date=16 December 2004 | access-date=6 May 2010}}</ref> There is, however, no evidence that Brown and Victoria were lovers.

Those who believe that the Queen saw Brown as little more than a servant point to the fact that after his death she became similarly attached to an [[India]]n servant, [[Abdul Karim (the Munshi)|Mohammed Abdul Karim]], one of two who had come to work for her in late June 1887. He came to be resented even more than John Brown. Unlike Brown, whose loyalty was not questioned, there were contemporary allegations that Abdul Karim exploited his position for personal gain and prestige.<ref>{{citation|last=Reid|first=Michaela |author-link=Michaela Reid|title= Ask Sir James:Sir James Reid, Personal Physician to Queen Victoria and Physician-in-Ordinary to Three Monarchs|publisher=Eland|location=London|year=1987}}</ref>

Brown pre-deceased the Queen, in 1883, at the age of 56. Tony Rennell's book ''Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria'' describes Victoria's detailed instructions about her burial to her doctor, Sir James Reid. These included a list of the keepsakes and mementoes, photographs and trinkets to be placed in the coffin with her: along with [[Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha|Albert]]'s dressing gown and a plaster cast of his hand, the Queen was buried with a lock of Brown's hair, his photograph, Brown's mother's wedding ring, given to her by Brown, along with several of his letters. The photograph, wrapped in white tissue paper, was placed in her left hand, with flowers arranged to hide it from view. She wore the ring on the third finger of her right hand.<ref name=lamont-brown>{{cite news|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1655_283/ai_112095011/pg_3 |work=Contemporary Review |title=Queen Victoria's 'secret marriage' |first=Raymond |last=Lamont-Brown |year=2003 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312220228/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_1655_283/ai_112095011/pg_3 |archive-date=12 March 2007 }}</ref>