When the touchy

Release time：2024-04-30 05:53:01 Source：Global Grid news portal

State visits to Britain have followed more or less the same pattern for well over a century.

Take last November’s visit by the President of South Korea. If a genie had magicked up George V and Queen Mary for the day, they would have recognised all the components from the official arrival in London, the carriage procession, the posed photos, the exchange of gifts and the State Banquet.

It wasn’t always like that. Things went a bit awry during the 40 years of Queen Victoria’s widowhood. 

The queen refused to take part in all, but the bare minimum of public events and it was left to the Prince of Wales or other royals to show hospitality. 

Shah Naser Al-Din Quajar who arrived in Britain in 1873. He was lascivious and unpunctual but hit it off with Queen Victoria

The presentation of a sword to HRH The Duke of Cambridge by his majesty the Shah of Persia

People at Trafalgar Square, the day of the arrival of Shah of Persia Naser al-Din Shah Qajar,

The heavens opened as the Shah arrived for his State visit in June 1873

The Shah is portrayed at the West India Dock, London in July 1873

Heads of State still stayed at Buckingham Palace which, with no owner on site, became a glorified Airbnb for the duration. 

In order to meet Victoria, they had to track her down to which other mansion she was holed up in at the time – Windsor if they were lucky, but otherwise Osborne House on the Isle of Wight or Balmoral Castle in the Highlands.

One of the most memorable ones was the 1873 visit of the lascivious, ill-mannered, and chronically unpunctual Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia who, for some peculiar reason ended up hitting it off with the formidable queen. 

To her unexpected delight he turned out to be very touchy-feely, kissing her hands at every opportunity and had a fascination with the leg-revealing kilts worn by her sons.

The visit came about at the suggestion of the incumbent Prime Minister, William Gladstone. Then, as now, the visit was designed to bolster relations between two very distant nations.

The Shah had already spent several weeks touring Russia, Germany and Belgium before his arrival in London. 

As he headed westwards Victoria nervously digested tales of Shah Naser's rumoured behaviour. 

He was said to wipe his wet hands on the coat tails of which ever gentleman he happened to be seated next to, was clumsy using a knife and fork, preferring to put his fingers into dishes instead, would occasionally pull chewed food out of his mouth to examine it, had been known to drink out of the spout of a teapot and was in the habit of sacrificing a cockerel to the rising sun.

Victoria was also worried he might make improper suggestions to the ladies of the court. 

Queen Victoria greeting the Shah at the principal entrance to the private apartments in the Upper Court of Windsor Castle

The Shah of Persia, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, at the Royal Italian Opera, London, June 1873

A royal quadrille being danced at a state ball at Buckingham Palace in the presence of the Shah of Persia, during his visit to England in 1873

The latter proved true - after a fashion - when he met the philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts at a royal event. He looked her directly in the eye and using his schoolboy French exclaimed: 'Quelle horreur!'

Gladstone was also worried about the women. He was scandalised to hear that while the Shah had left all but three of his two dozen wives at home in Persia, he was intent on bringing his three latest girlfriends to Britain.

The priggish PM threatened to withdraw government hospitality, and the Shah’s female entourage did not share his Buckingham Palace bed.

Meanwhile the Queen’s eldest daughter and namesake, Crown Princess Victoria of Germany, warned her mother the Shah 'always has a lamb roasted in his room, which he pulls to pieces with his fingers distributing it to all his ministers all sitting on the floor.' 

He also 'throws his pocket handkerchief across the room at his Prime Minister when he has used it, upon which this dignitary makes a profound bow and puts the handkerchief in his pocket.'

Vicky's entertaining tales seem to have calmed the Queen rather than alarming her. 

'Your account of the Shah is most amusing … and has somewhat relieved me,' wrote the Queen on the 18th June, the day of his arrival in London, adding: 'But I think if these Eastern potentates wish to travel they ought not to carry their uncivilised notions and habits with them!' 

Suitably forewarned, Victoria instructed her Household to install a removable carpet into the visitor's suite at Buckingham Palace where he was to stay for the next few weeks. 

It was a sensible move since he did indeed regularly roast lamb over a tripod on the floor and upon his departure the carpet was found to be burnt to a cinder.

Despite Vicky's assurance that he 'has a perfect adoration for England and everything English,' the Queen got herself into near hysteria when the visitor came to call on her at Windsor Castle. 

'Felt nervous & agitated at the great event of the day, — the Shah's visit.' Later she noted 'All great hustle & excitement. 

The guns were fired & bells ringing for my Accession Day, & the latter also for the Shah. The Beefeaters were taking up their places, Pages walking about, in full dress..... crowds appeared near the Gates, the Guard of Honour & Band marched into the quadrangle & then I dressed in a smart morning dress, with my large pearls, & the star & ribbon of the Garter, the Victoria & Albert order, &c.'

Her two younger sons, Arthur, and Leopold, went to Windsor station to meet the VIP guest and his entourage.' 

At the castle 'The Band struck up the new Persian march & in another moment the carriage drove up to the door I stepped forward & gave him my hand, which he shook expressing to the Gd [Grand] Vizier my great satisfaction at making the Shah's acquaintance.

Then took his arm & walked slowly upstairs, & along the Corridor,' speaking to each other in French.

As usual the Queen documented the visitor's appearance with forensic detail in her journal: 'The Shah is fairly tall & not fat, has a fine countenance & is very animated. 

He wore a plain coat (a tunic) full in the skirt & covered with very fine jewels, enormous rubies as buttons & diamond ornaments.

After the presentations of family and household by both sides: ' I asked him to sit down, which we did on 2 chairs in the middle of the room (very absurd it must have looked, & I felt very shy), my daughters sitting on the sofa.' 

After she'd invested the Shah with the Order of the Garter, 'he then took my hand & put it to his lips & I saluted him.’

Over luncheon in the Oak Room, the Shah was clearly on best behaviour, avoiding the meat course and the unfamiliar cutlery, opting for just fruit and iced water. 

A band played followed by bagpipes: 'the Pipers at Dessert, walking round the table, which seemed to delight the Shah.'

On his return to Persia, the Shah published his diary account of his European tour. Victoria was given an English translation of it and was flattered to read: 

'The age of the Sovereign is 50, [she was actually 54], but looks no more than 40. She is very cheerful and pleasant of countenance.' 

He was however intrigued to see Prince Leopold in his kilt and noted in the diary: 'This son today had come to the station to meet me. He is very young-looking and very graceful. 

He wore the Scotch costume. The peculiarity of the Scotch costume is this: the knees are left visible up to the thighs.'

The day after the meeting at Windsor, the relieved Queen wrote to Vicky: 'The Shah's visit went off admirably and he certainly is very intelligent, but I thought him very dignified. There was nothing to shock one at all in his eating or anything else.'

Of course, at this stage Victoria had no idea the Persians were by then happily barbecuing inside her London palace. 

Smoke was also pouring from the outside of the palace as courtiers had for some odd reason arranged a demonstration by the London Fire Brigade. 

An engraving of Queen Victoria and her court under the heading 'Royalty in the West'

A portrait of the Shah of Persia under the heading of 'Royalty in the East'

The Shah watched on as firefighters carried out a mock rescue of burnt and half-burnt 'victims' from the top floor of the palace. 

Some were carried over the shoulder in a firemen's lift while others were let down on ropes. The pyromaniacal Persian wrote 'they have invented a beautiful way of saving men.'

After firefighters it was the turn of prize-fighters to entertain the Shah, as the desperate courtiers set up a boxing match in the garden for more oddball entertainment. 

The Shah later explained to his countrymen. 

'To box is to strike one another with the fists which requires great skill and dexterity. But they wore on their hands a kind of large gloves stuffed with wool and cotton. Had they not worn these gloves, they would have killed one another. It was very ludicrous and amusing.'

By the time the Shah came to Windsor  to take leave of the Queen on 2nd July, she was very clearly enthralled by him. 

She gave him a guided tour of the State Apartments and at one point 'called the Shah's attention to the Koh-i-Noor, which I was wearing as a brooch, & he stooped to look at & touch it.'

When it came time to say farewell, the Queen joined him at the top of the staircase & ‘gave him one of my photographs signed & took him down to the door.

 He seemed quite melancholy at taking leave & kissed my hand. I wished him a good journey & health & happiness.'

In his own journal entry, the Shah recounts 'I gave my reflexion [a photograph] to the Sovereign as a souvenir; she gave me hers and that of Prince Leopold.' 

Then as the procession was about to leave the castle's Quadrangle the Queen asked her photographer to take one last shot of the Shah in his carriage as a keepsake for her.

When it came to charming Victoria, the Shah certainly pressed all the right buttons. 

He told her he'd read her published memoirs 'Leaves of a Journal of our Life in the Highlands' in a Persian translation; he asked to see Prince Albert's remains in the Royal Mausoleum.'

 He even visited the Albert Memorial in London 'a structure which the Sovereign has reared to the memory of her husband.'

Victoria’s delighted report to Vicky sounds as though she might be in the running to be wife number 25. Describing the farewell at Windsor she wrote: 'I gave him a nosegay and my photograph which he kissed (I hear) as he was leaving the station! I took him again down and he kissed my hand!'

Sir John Cowell, Master of the Household told the Queen the Shah had left a tip of £1600 (some £170,000 at today's rate) as well as gifts for each of the gentlemen of the Household.

In the days after his departure the Shah was still very much on her mind. In her journal she writes that Princess Beatrice was reading to her out of pamphlet on Persia and on the 8th July she was 'photographed with my Persian order for the Shah.' 

A view of the bedroom at Buckingham Palace occupied by the Shah of Persia 

She also commissioned the artist Nicholas Chevalier to produce a watercolour of the Shah being greeted by her at Windsor and an oil painting of the military review, both of which are still in the Royal Collection.

When it came to leaving the castle on the 11th July for Osborne a wistful Victoria wrote ' left Windsor at ¼ to 10, with regret, as it was looking so beautiful, & the mornings & evenings at Frogmore were so peaceful & lovely. Then too, the Shah's visit remains a pleasant & interesting recollection.'

Gladstone's ploy of arm-twisting the Queen into hosting the State Visit to improve Middle Eastern relations had worked in a way no one could ever have predicted. 

This includes her private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, who, a year after the visit, told his wife: 'The Shah writes to the Queen on business. A boundary question. He calls her 'my auspicious sister of sublime nature to whose wishes events correspond.'

Related articles