George V: How his Childhood Connections Established Loyalty to his Valets for the Rest of His Life
As previously noted, I’m working through the latest biography of George V. I’ve annotated through the first section of George’s childhood, and I would like to take a moment to connect George’s loyalty to his valets as King to his childhood, as he was making those same loyal connections in those early years.
The first thing to keep in mind, as is evidenced by the source material below, is that George and Eddy (George’s eldest brother) were not encouraged to have friends. Queen Victoria wanted to ensure that George and Eddy didn’t mix with boys their age and that they especially did not mix with friends of her son, Bertie, who, the Queen labeled as “the society of fashionable & fast people.”
George and Eddy were inseparable for most of their childhood, save for the last few years before Eddy’s death. Their father was not very attached to them, and whilst their mother loved and doted on them, Ridley (the author) makes note that their mother would go in waves of affection--- almost smothering them with love and then being distant. And so, Ridley argues that, in light of an absent family, George created his own surrogate family in the early years--- comprised of Eddy, his valet, Fuller, and his tutor, Dalton.
You might recall my earlier post wherein I spoke of the Sovereign’s small circle- family and servants. With few people outside that circle, it is in human nature that one would be close with those around them, even if the Sovereign does still have to kept that close connection at a distance at times.
And so, if a young George associated his valet as family and established a sense of loyalty and friendship with his valet, then it is reasonable to see that pattern of loyalty and friendship with his valets continue throughout his life. It should not surprise us, then, that George V had such a closeness to his valets that resulted in George V placing “great reliance on the wisdom and judgment” (My Twenty Years in Buckingham Palace: A Book of Intimate Memoirs, Frederick John Corbitt) to his valet.
We also see George’s loyalty to his tutors, as well, including after death, for George would visit his French tutor’s [Gabriel Hua] grave on occasion. Again, these instances of George showing loyalty to the people who work for him nod back to this post, with a specific quotation in mind:
“It is difficult for Royalty to have true friends for, as Tennyson wrote, the ‘lonely splendor of a throne’ is a reality. But King George has an uncanny insight into what is true and what is false, and flatterers stand no chance with him. His friends are of all ages, and are selected from all classes. ‘No man is a hero to his valet,’ it has been said, but those who serve the King are among his best friends. [...] The King believes in his friends, and they on their part never fail him. His consideration for them is almost womanly.” (The Intimate Life Story of King George V, Richard Dent, 15 January 1930)
Source Material from George V: Never a Dull Moment:
“Fuller was the nursery footman who arrived a fortnight after Eddy was born, and he looked after the princes on board Bacchante. The affection between George and his valet was very real. George later claimed that he was ‘devoted’ to Fuller, and when the two were separated Fuller wrote to the eighteen-year-old George: ‘You cannot think how I miss your dear face, the place don’t look the same. I used to look at the vacant bed in your room... I scarcely knew what I was doing.’ The linen bag in which George kept letters from friends contained far more from Fuller than anyone else, and very few from boys of George’s age. Making friends with other children was actively discouraged in the royal family. ‘Never make friendships,’ Victoria exhorted her Hesse granddaughters. The Queen was especially concerned that Eddy and George should be kept apart from ‘the society of fashionable & fast people.’ She insisted on the ‘absolute necessity’ of the boys ‘not mixing’ with Bertie’s [eventual Edward VII] friends, by which she meant the social clique known as the Marlborough House Set.”
“George had a detached and intimidating father, and although his mother undoubtedly loved him, she not only sent him away from home but often failed to write for months at a time. [...] George survived finding alternative ‘mothers’. He and Eddy both played mother to one another. Dalton [George and Eddy’s tutor] and Fuller [George and Eddy’s valet] acted as surrogate parents.”
Gabriel Hua, another of George’s tutors, “became a master at Eton, and George liked him so much that he appointed him French tutor to his sons (with equal lack of success). Hua reported that George had ‘a remarkable spontaneous intelligence- quickly grasping some explanation or principle- but also sometimes the faults which go with the same qualities- and a momentary discouragement at meeting the first difficulty.’ After Hua’s death George periodically visited his grave in Kensal Green.” (George V: Never a Dull Moment, Jane Ridley)
