Queen Victoria's Gift: A Guinea from a "Wee Lassie"

Portrait of Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent (later Queen Victoria), 1830. Richard Westall. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection.

A pretty anecdote is told of our late loved Queen when quite "a wee lassie," staying with some other relative of Malvern. The large house where they lived was situated on a road, since that event, called "Queen's road." The Princess, a thorough child, fond of games and a good romp, had two specially favourite amusements, those of climbing trees and walls and riding on a donkey.

On one occasion, a young Princess Alexandrina Victoria climbed into a tempting apple tree, but found her courage fail her when she attempted to descend from it. No one happened to be with her at the time, and unable to make herself heard, she found her position anything but a pleasant one. She continued to call, and at first a gardener, bearing the childish voice, approached, and to his amazement, found his future Queen perched in an apple-tree and sobbing bitterly. By the aid of a ladder he succeeded in getting her down safely, and her first act was to get out her purse and open it, and with gracious words of gratitude thank him for what he had done, whilst offering him a guinea. The gardener was still alive in 1852, and one of his greatest treasures, and which he was always pleased to show to any visitor whilst repeating the incident, was "the wee lassie's" gift, which he had had very neatly and prettily framed.  Weekly Times, October 22, 1904 .