How did Queen Victoria feel about the Scottish?

Question

I am doing an essay on balmorality, if I only knew what that was! I found one source that says it's a Victorian era love for all things Scottish, so can anyone tell me how Queen Victoria herself felt about the Scottish? Any sources or help at all would be great, thank you!

Thank you so much for you guys who actually answered this. You helped me out SO much. I am actually getting somewhere with this essay.

Answer 1

Well, she apparently loved at least one Scot:
"Douglas Rae, the executive producer of Mrs. Brown and a native of Scotland, had long been intrigued by the story of the Scottish servant John Brown, who is historically know to have been one of Queen Victoria's closest and most unlikely friends. "

And she clearly loved Scotland:

"As told in the delightful movie "Mrs. Brown", Queen Victoria had a great love for the Scottish Balmoral Castle. The Queen actually preferred Scotland to England. As a result, everything Scottish suddenly became fashionable. Tartans, reels, bagpipes and sporrans were considered cultured and refined where before they had been hidden away when friends from the South arrived.
Queen Victoria also had a preference for Scottish doctors, in particular Sir James Simpson of Edinburgh. Her appointment of James Simpson as one of her Majesty’s Physicians was symptomatic of Victoria’s innovative leadership style. Despite the prejudice many have today to all things 'Victorian’, Queen Victoria helped open the doors for her people to modern science and medicine. "

"1842 - Queen Victoria Visits Scotland
The second visit of a United Kingdom monarch to Scotland was in 1842 when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert disembarked at Leith.
Their exploration of Perthshire, walking, reading and deer-stalking, was so pleasurable that they returned annually. In 1852 they bought Balmoral and had the castle built.
The Queen’s Scottish memoirs and paintings of the scenery were extremely popular and her love of tartan ensured publicity and a healthy business for the tweed industry."

Answer 2

Balmoral Castle is where the Royalty have always stayed when in Scotland. Things are appearing about the morality of the place during the past - hence the title Balmorality. For instance, the local Chemists records were recently made public and the amount of drugs that were bought by the castle residents make it seem a right old den. There was no Drugs Act in the days of Queen Victoria, and although Opium, Heroin and Cocaine were then main stream medicines, it still boggles the imagination. Whoever decided on this topic must have had John Brown in mind. After Albert, Victoria's husband died, she became a recluse and refused to go anywhere. In fact she attended her jubilee at St. Paul's dressed in black and refused to get out of her carriage. Back to Master Brown. He became somehow involved, probably through horses and took the queen out and about over the countryside. Whispers were being heard in corners about goings on between them but there is no evidence of any. It could well be that he was a devoted follower of the monarchy but that did not change what was being said. She became known as Mrs. Brown and often stayed in Browns relatives homes. I believe they were well at it, as she was a very sexual woman, having had so many children. So much for gossip............. read up on Queen Victoria and John Brown and you should find some spicy stories on Google about them........................

Answer 3

Yes, she visited Scotland in 1842, and liked it so much that Prince Albert bought Balmoral Castle for her in 1852. But somebody had to make Scotland respectable first, after the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745, and the vicious efforts after Culloden in 1746 to destroy the Scottish clan system and the crofting lifestyle.

Samuel Johnson started the return to respectability when he and James Boswell visited the Hebrides in 1773 and published a book about it, Robert Burns' poems helped some more, then the author Sir Walter Scott persuaded King George IV to make an official visit to Scotland in 1822. So when Victoria showed her enjoyment and approval of Scotland, the opinions of English society about Scotland had been softened up enough to follow her example. But without Johnson, Burns and Scott to smooth the way, I think Scotland would still have been viewed as primitive and dangerous, and Victoria would have avoided it.

Answer 4

I think in modern terms one could say that Queen Victoria thought that Scotland and the Scots were "cute" - attractive but not particularly important. She spent a lot of time in Balmoral, a castle in Scotland, partly because her husband Prince Albert was fond of Scotland and its scenery and she shared his tastes.

I don't think that there is any evidence that she ever spent much time in industrial Scotland, or in trying to alleviate the poverty in parts of it.

But she liked to look at it from a carriage and, in later life, it meant she was a long way from London when she might be expected to actually do something useful.

It seems that Balmoral was a dreadfully boring place to spend any time with the Queen, she was mostly too fat to do anything energetic and, once Albert died, she got fatter and less active. Balmorality probably refers to the lack of anything even remotely exciting to do while you were there, no sex, no drinking, no gambling and certainly no rock and roll.

Answer 5

The Queen is as British born as you will get, nonetheless a number of her ancestors have been German. Prince Philip became into born in Greece, however the Greek royal kin are of Danish descent. on the alternative, Philip became right into a serving officer interior the Royal army for the time of WWII. the place all this tripe approximately him having Nazi leanings, has been coming from, i don't understand.

Answer 6

I think she was quite fond of her gillie