Did Queen Victoria and John Brown Get Married and Have a Child?
The Lownie Report
74,955 views
Join Andrew Lownie on Substack here! https://substack.com/@andrewlownie
Get Fern's book 'Victoria's Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen' here! https://link.amazon/B0i9iFLIC
I was delighted to welcome author and historian Fern Riddell onto the Lownie Report Podcast for a fascinating discussion about her bombshell book ‘Victoria’s Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen’. Following her Channel 4 documentary with Rob Rinder, the book examines Queen Victoria’s relationship with John Brown and the compelling evidence that they may have been lovers, married and even had a child together.
Fern spent four years researching the book in almost complete secrecy. She kept the Royal Archives at arm’s length, fearing censorship of the kind experienced by Julia Baird, who was told to remove an account of Victoria lifting her skirt to show Brown a bruise on her thigh. Many of Fern’s sources also insisted on remaining off the record for fear of being blacklisted by the archives or upsetting the Royal Family.
It is astonishing that such secrecy still surrounds a story almost two centuries old. As I discovered while writing my three royal biographies, the monarchy’s efforts to control its history remain formidable. In ‘Entitled’, I revealed how similar tactics protected Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor until the Epstein files made his position impossible to ignore.
Fern’s book replaces the familiar image of a grumpy, frumpy widow with a more truthful portrait. Victoria could be a domestic tyrant, but she was also a fiercely loyal and passionate friend who, widowed at just 42, had little interest in the celibacy expected of her.
Fern’s greatest breakthrough came when she tracked down the Brown family’s surviving descendants through Facebook and gained access to their archive. Among her discoveries was evidence that Brown wore a gold signet ring on his left hand. Scottish irregular marriages were known colloquially as “left-hand marriages”, raising the tantalising possibility that the ring carried a deeper significance.
She also discovered an image of a cast made of Brown’s hand after his death, echoing the cast Victoria commissioned following Prince Albert’s death. Although Brown wore the ring on his left hand in life, Fern suggests Victoria placed it on his right in the cast because she associated him with his “strong right arm”.
We also explored whether Victoria and Brown may have had a child, something that could conceivably have been concealed beneath her voluminous clothes while she remained almost entirely outside public view. A DNA test of Brown’s descendants in Minnesota might provide answers, although the scientific obstacles make a definitive result far from straightforward.
This is an important book about arguably one of Britain’s most misunderstood monarchs. Despite Victoria’s courtiers burning letters and destroying memorials, Fern proves that the truth has a habit of emerging when historians possess the tenacity and courage to keep asking the right questions.
00:00:00 Introduction and the origins of Victoria’s Secret
00:01:58 Researching the story in secrecy
00:05:38 Reaction to the book and documentary
00:06:55 Discovering Victoria’s lost letters
00:12:32 Finding the John Brown family archive
00:14:17 The Royal Archives and suppression of history
00:20:45 Why historical truth matters
00:22:09 Revealing Victoria as a passionate woman
00:24:47 What was John Brown’s motivation?
00:28:37 The royal children and evidence of marriage
00:37:05 Could Victoria have had a sexual relationship?
00:40:25 The evidence that Victoria had a child
00:47:54 Oral history, missing records and false documents
00:50:34 Did Victoria want the truth revealed?
00:56:11 A royal cover-up spanning generations
00:58:37 New leads following publication
01:00:13 Protecting confidential historical sources
01:02:59 Fern’s next project and closing remarks
20 Comments
Such an interesting interview. Thanks to both.
Please, Mr. L, can we have more intriguing interviews like this? It's been such a treat to be engrossed into this interview, and such a welcome change to spend an hour WITHOUT any mention of the Duchess of Duplicity & her pet donkey - we're all seriously overloaded with their stupidity!
I loved hearing about John Brown's family keeping his secret for 160 years! It's a good job the Internet hadn't been invented, as it probably wouldn't have lasted 160 days, someone would have 'spilled' for ££££! Hat's off to the Brown family - chapeau!
It's interesting that the Royal's won't let any information out about Victoria & Brown - as you both said, it's so long ago what can be the problem?
I really enjoyed this video - please can we have more of the same?
Did Queen Victoria and John Brown Get Married and Have a Child?
The Lownie Report
74,955 views
Join Andrew Lownie on Substack here! https://substack.com/@andrewlownie
Get Fern's book 'Victoria's Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen' here! https://link.amazon/B0i9iFLIC
I was delighted to welcome author and historian Fern Riddell onto the Lownie Report Podcast for a fascinating discussion about her bombshell book ‘Victoria’s Secret: The Private Passion of a Queen’. Following her Channel 4 documentary with Rob Rinder, the book examines Queen Victoria’s relationship with John Brown and the compelling evidence that they may have been lovers, married and even had a child together.
Fern spent four years researching the book in almost complete secrecy. She kept the Royal Archives at arm’s length, fearing censorship of the kind experienced by Julia Baird, who was told to remove an account of Victoria lifting her skirt to show Brown a bruise on her thigh. Many of Fern’s sources also insisted on remaining off the record for fear of being blacklisted by the archives or upsetting the Royal Family.
It is astonishing that such secrecy still surrounds a story almost two centuries old. As I discovered while writing my three royal biographies, the monarchy’s efforts to control its history remain formidable. In ‘Entitled’, I revealed how similar tactics protected Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor until the Epstein files made his position impossible to ignore.
Fern’s book replaces the familiar image of a grumpy, frumpy widow with a more truthful portrait. Victoria could be a domestic tyrant, but she was also a fiercely loyal and passionate friend who, widowed at just 42, had little interest in the celibacy expected of her.
Fern’s greatest breakthrough came when she tracked down the Brown family’s surviving descendants through Facebook and gained access to their archive. Among her discoveries was evidence that Brown wore a gold signet ring on his left hand. Scottish irregular marriages were known colloquially as “left-hand marriages”, raising the tantalising possibility that the ring carried a deeper significance.
She also discovered an image of a cast made of Brown’s hand after his death, echoing the cast Victoria commissioned following Prince Albert’s death. Although Brown wore the ring on his left hand in life, Fern suggests Victoria placed it on his right in the cast because she associated him with his “strong right arm”.
We also explored whether Victoria and Brown may have had a child, something that could conceivably have been concealed beneath her voluminous clothes while she remained almost entirely outside public view. A DNA test of Brown’s descendants in Minnesota might provide answers, although the scientific obstacles make a definitive result far from straightforward.
This is an important book about arguably one of Britain’s most misunderstood monarchs. Despite Victoria’s courtiers burning letters and destroying memorials, Fern proves that the truth has a habit of emerging when historians possess the tenacity and courage to keep asking the right questions.
00:00:00 Introduction and the origins of Victoria’s Secret
00:01:58 Researching the story in secrecy
00:05:38 Reaction to the book and documentary
00:06:55 Discovering Victoria’s lost letters
00:12:32 Finding the John Brown family archive
00:14:17 The Royal Archives and suppression of history
00:20:45 Why historical truth matters
00:22:09 Revealing Victoria as a passionate woman
00:24:47 What was John Brown’s motivation?
00:28:37 The royal children and evidence of marriage
00:37:05 Could Victoria have had a sexual relationship?
00:40:25 The evidence that Victoria had a child
00:47:54 Oral history, missing records and false documents
00:50:34 Did Victoria want the truth revealed?
00:56:11 A royal cover-up spanning generations
00:58:37 New leads following publication
01:00:13 Protecting confidential historical sources
01:02:59 Fern’s next project and closing remarks