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00:11I took and held his dear kind hand I told him no one loved him more than I did
00:21and he answered nor you than me no one loves you more
00:51so this is a basket of heirlooms that have been passed down through my mother's family
00:59they were originally Queen Victoria's and John Brown's and have made their way to me
01:06there are books there's jewelry there's documents this brooch was commissioned by Queen Victoria
01:15it does say March 29 1896 from VRI it does have a lack of hair in the back as well
01:26this is a handwritten note from Victoria it has the royal seal that says to place a wreath and flowers
01:36in dear John Brown's room on his bed on the 27th which would have been the anniversary of his passing
01:44so the story that I grew up with is that John Brown was more than a close companion of Queen
01:53Victoria's that there was a romantic relationship that there was a long boat journey and there was
02:03a baby Mary Ann that was Queen Victoria's and John Brown's and my family has descended from that baby
02:18the relationship between Queen Victoria and her highland servant John Brown has long been disputed
02:25there is no evidence that there was a sexual relationship not even evidence of a romantic
02:31relationship the idea of Victoria and John had some sort of secret marriage isn't mad to me but
02:38historian Dr Fern Riddell has unearthed new evidence she believes sheds new light on the story
02:44we have unmistakable evidence of a passionate romantic love affair
02:52over a four-year investigation Fern has discovered an explosive archive kept by John Brown's family
03:00of intimate letters documents and personal artifacts hidden for generations
03:06you're sure this is in Queen Victoria's handwriting yes I mean that's staggering isn't it
03:13Fern has drawn on this archive to support her radical theory the Queen and her servant may have secretly
03:20married if he did marry Victoria and John that changes everything the idea of Queen Victoria having a
03:28relationship with someone below her class threatened the monarchy and may even have had a child that was
03:35spirited away to avoid scandal there's rumors she's pregnant by John Brown is what's written here
03:43with his legal expertise Rob Rinder is scrutinizing Fern's findings this is Queen Victoria and John Brown as
03:52never told before you are the descendant of the child of Queen Victoria and John Brown
04:10to begin their analysis of Fern's new evidence Fern and Rob have arranged to meet in London
04:17so she can spell out her thesis
04:24so Fern where did your investigation begin well it began with this man John Brown he was Queen Victoria's
04:33highland servant I'm a historian of ordinary people that's what fascinates me and to find the son of a
04:41profiting farmer from Aberdeenshire at the side of the most powerful woman in the world I wanted to know
04:48everything that does not look like my image of who John Brown was you know I've got an aging Billy
04:55Connolly
04:56in my mind he's very handsome isn't he yeah well he's sexy he's really sexy yeah when you look at
05:02this
05:03you can understand why Victoria is irresistibly drawn to him and I wanted to know what the truth of their
05:10relationship was and what do you think the truth was I believe Victoria and John were madly in love
05:17I believe I found evidence that they got married and I really do believe there's a very strong possibility
05:24that they may have had a child together big claims I mean if you're right that changes our understanding
05:34of history I found archives that have been hidden for 160 years this new material really changed
05:40everything but I want someone with a legal mind because there may be connections that make more sense
05:47to you than to me the idea that not only were they involved in a sexual relationship or perhaps
05:54they were married but on top of it all they had a child that's explosive so I'm going with a
06:05skeptically open mind at the same time a little bit of an alarmed one because the Queen Victoria in
06:11my head is certainly not one that's having sex in 1857 Queen Victoria gave birth to Princess Beatrice her
06:26last child with her husband Prince Albert over nearly two decades Victoria had produced nine heirs to
06:34secure her throne when Victorian and Albert marry they are a great team right at the centre of the British
06:43Imperial project the way that Britain projected itself to the world
06:53Fern thinks Rob needs to hear how Victoria and Albert's marriage changed to understand her relationship with
07:02John Brown and it begins in Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight
07:11so this is the absolutely incredible Osborne house yeah it really does look like a villa in Tuscany
07:20Albert built it for Victoria to give them a happy family home super romantic isn't it and this is a
07:27young
07:27couple in love this is the early part of their marriage and they are head over heels for one
07:33another and we can see that even in an early diary entry from before they were married she's describing
07:39going out with him in the rain and they're riding together
07:46it was piercingly cold dearest Albert you were so cold dear angel with tight white cashmere pantaloons
07:54nothing underneath them underlined yes and in brackets but that's her underlining yes it is
08:00it's her emphasis and it's her eroticism and i just love it i don't know what the Victorian way of
08:06describing super horny is
08:07well she but she is she's that she was sensual she adored physical pleasure
08:15so Victoria's clearly passionately in love with Albert did he feel the same about that
08:22there's a sudden shift in Victoria and Albert's relationship and she's really struggled throughout
08:29her pregnancies she's faced a lot of postnatal depression and we didn't know this about Victoria
08:35until very recently with the release of her doctor's records she was deceived into a belief
08:41that she saw spots on people's faces which turned into worms and the coffins floated before her
08:48she's hallucinating so what this says to Albert who has been raised with the fear of the madness of
08:55King George III is that she potentially has inherited that so Albert and Victoria are told she must not have
09:03any more children it is a danger to her mental health the doctor says stop having children yeah
09:10they have two options in this period yes contraception or celibacy contraception is very well known in the
09:16Victorian period but for Albert who is very religious it's not something that he would have seen as
09:21acceptable so that means the only option is celibacy and i want you to think about the Victoria the
09:29woman in her late 30s who suddenly has been told she's not allowed to have a sexual connection with
09:34her husband it's going to cause a real issue in their marriage for her
09:44throughout their marriage Victoria and Albert spent increasing time in the Highlands and Balmoral Castle
09:53hiring an army of locals to run their estate among them was a young John Brown who very quickly became
10:02indispensable to Queen Victoria
10:06so John's duties at Balmoral were everything from taking Victoria and her children out into this kind of
10:13beautiful Scottish weather when it's not raining looking after her she's sketching taking her rowing
10:19taking them on horseback around the hills and the mountains so it's everything that she needs
10:25he's there at her beck and call
10:27does someone say that that's really the the skill set of a great servant
10:33he is a fantastic servant and suddenly there's this incredibly attentive kind caring careful Highlander
10:41who whenever Albert leaves Victoria to go shooting and hunting
10:45John is the one that she is left with and so i think this allows a space for a wounded
10:51queen
10:52who is struggling with her relationship with her husband to indulge in a flirtation with a very sexy
11:00strong interesting young man you're saying that she's starting to fancy him now
11:05yes i think so absolutely i think that is exactly what happens absolutely the thing is Fern i mean
11:12he is still a servant but isn't really persuasive that he's anything more than
11:16just that a great servant who she seriously values well relationships have to start somewhere
11:22and this for me is the beginning of a change in their relationship
11:38but victoria's world was about to be rocked
11:44in 1861 prince albert died tragically from typhoid
11:48aged only 42. when albert died victoria was consumed with the grief at that moment she was
11:56very reliant on him leaned on him and that strong presence was no longer there
12:03albert's death is a catastrophe for victoria a darkness descends upon her life one of her acts
12:11of mourning is to retreat to balmoral and not emerge from it to disappear is not really part of the
12:21deal
12:21it's like the one thing you need to do as a monarch is to show up and this is a
12:26time at which britain
12:28was rapidly becoming responsible for the biggest empire in history it's like julius caesar suddenly vanishing
12:42after years of seclusion queen victoria agreed to spend more time south with her people
12:50but she insisted on taking john brown with her creating a new position as the queen's highland
12:57servant answerable only to her hidden in the john brown family archive fern has uncovered brand new
13:06evidence victoria then began secretly exploring his pedigree this deepening of their relationship
13:13leads to the creation of an absolutely incredible document and this has never been seen before
13:21victoria has had an investigation done into john's family heritage she wants to know who he is where he
13:28comes from where his family come from balmoral june 2nd 1865 the following is a brief outline of the
13:36ancestry of john brown and it goes into john's great grandparents and his grandparents what this
13:43document goes on to tell us is that john comes from scottish aristocracy that he has this incredible
13:49connection not to being a simple crofter's son but to a family that has a much more noble heritage
13:57so queen victoria effectively pays for a private investigator to find out whether or not john brown
14:05was aristocratic or not why would you do that about a servant for me this is the start of a
14:13very
14:14different relationship than the one we've ever been told about what i don't understand is that she's
14:19given him this special job regardless of his ancestry so why would she be concerned at all with whether
14:28or not he was of aristocratic lineage or not i think for victoria as a queen if her feelings for
14:37john are
14:37deepening at this point she's still aware that he is a servant this document that john comes perhaps from
14:45scottish aristocracy i think it's almost an excuse for her but wouldn't the queen risk scandal by
14:52drafting this that's exactly what happens we start to see the whispers and everyone at court becomes
14:59very suspicious about what's actually going on
15:06john brown stuck out like a big hairy highland sore thumb his elevation was disruptive it raises that
15:15spectre of that figure of the favorite who comes in from outside and has the monarch's ear and those
15:22figures have disastrous story that comes with them from history suddenly this random guy in scottish dress
15:30turns up and he seems to have the preferred favor of queen victoria that is a huge threat queen victoria
15:37is breaking the rules when if you look at a document you're asking what's his purpose
15:44it's really interesting this really does raise the stakes here and she's actually set a private
15:51investigator to work to find out who john brown really is she feels something towards him now what that
16:01might be and how confident that you conclude it might be something more than friendship from what i've seen
16:07now is impossible to say john brown was now a key player in queen victoria's life
16:25ruffling court feathers whispers she was neglecting her duties to spend time with a servant
16:32soon made their way into the diaries of her incoming government minister lord stanley this is his first
16:39mention of the rumors and he says strange and disagreeable stories are going about london
16:45founded on fact to a considerable extent the queen has taken a fancy to a certain scotch servant by the
16:51name of brown will have no one else to wait upon her allows him access to her such as no
16:57one else has
16:58in various ways distinguishes him beyond what is customary or fitting in that position and then he
17:04says that in windsor her majesty is talked of as mrs brown and if it lasts the joke will grow
17:12into a
17:13scandal he's clearly worried at this point he's horrified that someone who to his mind is just a
17:20lowly crofter's son is being treated as victoria's companion not a servant stanley says
17:27she really is doing all in her power to create suspicions which i am persuaded have no foundation
17:33the princesses perhaps wisely make a joke of the matter and talk of him as mama's lover
17:42this is clear evidence of the day-to-day relationship between queen victoria and brown
17:47and the fact that it's come out as gossip i suspect he's worried about it at the same time as
17:53he
17:53instantly dismisses it is it because he can't cope with the idea of the queen having any sort of
18:01significant relationship with a serious commoner i think it's exactly that he doesn't want to have to
18:07consider that it might be true john brown is a threat if it's true that there is a sexual
18:15relationship between victoria and brown that's something that can bring down the monarchy what
18:21they've done the british state at this point is they've made queen victoria a symbol not just of
18:26britain but of the biggest empire in human history the idea of her having sex with someone who's not
18:32married to her or is not of the same status it threatens the state
18:41within months loose tongues from within the court had found a listening ear
18:48what happens next is the danger comes from abroad and in september 1866 the swiss newspaper the gazette
18:56de la seine publishes this amazing expose okay so strange news from london the journal
19:09wow so there's rumors that she's pregnant by john brown is what's written here
19:17i mean what's the proper full translation strange things are being said from london the journal of
19:25the court announced two days ago that a man named john brown who is something like an equerry to the
19:30queen it is said that with him and because of him the queen has found comfort after prince albert and
19:35some go even further it is added that she is in a delicate condition and that if she did not
19:41attend
19:41the inauguration of prince albert's monument it is only to hide her pregnancy there is talk of a
19:46morganatic marriage between the queen and her equerry which would remove the scandalous nature of the
19:51situation i mean that's the first time with any substance and it's not insignificant substance
19:59certainly the writer here is albeit saying it's gossip that not only is she pregnant but also
20:06married yes you've got to play your mind a bit skeptically i mean even though it's the gazette
20:11de lausanne it's still a tabloid press right and i completely take your point that this is a newspaper
20:17report so how can we know it's true but what happens after this comes out is immediately from the
20:24victoria's diplomats demands libel demands an apology he wants to enact the law to protect victoria's
20:30reputation he then immediately issues a retraction i reckon because the uk government was like please
20:38don't make a scene don't talk about this we don't want anyone to know we can't risk this scandal getting
20:44any bigger this newspaper article means the radical press in the uk can target john and they start from
20:51now and they do not stop well but the question is is this gossip or is it true is it
20:57based on fact
21:04to escape the growing gossip queen victoria disappeared to the highlands and balmoral
21:12fern has found a letter kept safe in the archives that she believes shows the rumors of a romantic
21:20relationship were true part of the john brown family archive that i uncovered
21:27was evidence of letters that have been kept secret for 160 years and one of them she wrote to john's
21:33brother hugh and i've got it here for you in this beautiful letter she desperately wants his brother
21:40to know how deeply they felt for one another and who john was to her just be clear this was
21:48in john brown's
21:49family's family's archive and you're sure this is in queen victoria's handwriting yes i took and held his
21:58dear kind hand my beloved john and i told him no one loved him more than i did and he
22:05answered nor you
22:06than me no one loves you more i mean that's staggering isn't it no one loves you more
22:15and that she took the trouble to write to his brother to say this is what i felt
22:21on this day gosh when she writes this for the first time is when this report has come out in
22:28the swiss
22:29newspaper and that they're intimately involved that they're that she's pregnant that they've got
22:33married and what is she telling his brother that no one loved her more than john and she didn't love
22:41anyone else more than she loves him wow that letter written in queen victoria's hand
22:49i have to ask myself the question how reliable is this document well pretty reliable if it's in her
22:55hand and we're sure about it what do the words mean well in law you you take them on the
23:01face of the
23:01document my beloved that is seriously powerful evidence that she loved him and he loved her back
23:10it's not conclusive that they had a baby with each other or that they were married but boy does it
23:15lay
23:15the foundation that this was a deep meaningful and enduring love affair that is an extraordinary
23:23expression of tenderness and intimacy it paints this picture of these two people a servant and a queen
23:31holding hands declaring their love for each other i think when we look at evidence like this
23:38we we can't bring our own prejudices to it victorian culture was effusive
23:45it's clearly love but i don't think we have any evidence that it's sexual not even really evidence of a
23:52romantic relationship in the terms that we would use that word
24:03fern is convinced in her theory victoria and john were in a loving sexual relationship
24:10and she believes there's evidence to back up tabloid rumors they secretly married on the outskirts of
24:18balmoral is crathy kirk john brown's family worshipped here and victoria spent time here with her chaplain
24:27the reverend norman mcleod in 2006 new evidence surfaced mcleod had been keeping a secret
24:35so by the 1870s i think something massively changes i think they get married they get married yeah we have
24:44this incredible piece of evidence this is a diary entry saying that victoria's scottish chaplain norman
24:51mcleod married them it's a deathbed confession the only record that we have of this comes from the
24:59son of the home secretary who is told it in confidence and this is his diary yeah okay lady
25:06ponsonby told the home secretary a few days ago that miss mcleod declares her brother norman mcleod
25:14confessed to her to her on his deathbed that he had married the queen to john brown and added that
25:20he
25:20had always bitterly regretted it yeah miss mcleod could have no object in inventing such a story
25:28so that one is almost inclined to believe it impossible and disgraceful as it seems as it
25:35seems if this is the deathbed confession of norman mcleod if he did indeed marry victoria and john
25:41that changes everything
25:46i mean this is a bit of a bombshell that the question is it says that this reverend bitterly
25:51regretted it but why would he have kept it a secret for that long deathbed confessions are incredibly
25:56sacred and especially for a minister of the church he's unburdening his soul to me this is the first
26:04tangible piece of evidence that victoria and john got married i mean if you're right yeah i mean this
26:12blows history up
26:18it's really hard to know what to make of this document um it's multiple hearsay what that means is it's
26:25a statement that's made third hands this person on his deathbed isn't just an ordinary bloke he is a
26:32man of god he didn't just marry them he has kept a secret why would a man like that lie
26:38this doesn't
26:40give us any sense in which it is true you can't rely on this document to say they got married
26:44what it does
26:45is it provides us some circumstantial evidence that there may have been a marriage you have to give
26:53it some weight you have to the idea that victoria and john had some sort of secret marriage isn't mad
27:03to
27:03me victoria the way she wrote about john i could well believe them sneaking off and having a secret
27:08entanglement we have this story of a deathbed confession it's mediated because we do not have
27:17a first-hand account of this so it's something to be treated very delicately and with a bit of
27:23suspicion but it proves that there were some people who believed it had happened but it's impossible to
27:32commit to the idea wholly without a certificate a certificate would show that a marriage ceremony
27:38of some sort had been undergone if queen victoria had secretly married john brown keeping it hidden
27:48would prove almost impossible and fern has documents that show her own government struggled to contain a
27:56possible scandal by now the government are terrified and lord sanley writes this diary entry in 1877
28:06the dean of windsor who is more intimate than almost any with the queen personally confirms the
28:12reports of brown being in more extraordinary favor than ever he insists on the princes treating
28:18him like a gentleman and shaking hands with him and when she travels his room must always be next to
28:25hers hence the report generally spread abroad that they are secretly married
28:32hmm i guess the question is why didn't anybody just go to the queen and say listen i'm your foreign
28:40secretary it's a delicate discussion but it's rumors abroad are you married because they can't
28:47you cannot talk to victoria about a subject she does not wish to discuss victoria was queen above
28:54everything so that respect that every single person in the world has to show her rules
29:01well whatever it was what he says here is certainly true the relationship was extraordinary yes by
29:08this point everybody believes that to be the case and one of my favorite things that i found in this
29:15research is showing just how extraordinary it had become between the two of them and that's a series of
29:21christmas and new year's cards that victoria gave to john i've got them yes i've got some here to show
29:27you
29:28they are so beautifully personal and you can see the message there at the bottom
29:34my lips may give a message better of christmas love than even my letter
29:43yikes
29:46my lips may give a message better christmas love than my letter sorry just be clear this is sent
29:56by queen victoria to john yes this in victorian terms is kind of sexting isn't it i wouldn't mind
30:05nowadays getting this from somebody i mean it could be no doubt there's no subtext here this is another
30:11card from victoria to john brown and it's got her handwriting at the top and bottom i send my sewing
30:17maiden with new year letter laden its words will prove my faith and love to you my heart's best
30:24treasure then smile on her and smile on me and let your answer loving be and give me pleasure
30:35hmm well there's two ways of reading that
30:38go for it i mean the main one is give me pleasure yes well it's a standout line she clearly
30:46loves it
30:46yes just based on this card alone if you found this you know imagine and can you explain this card
30:55gosh that's extraordinary this is wow this we don't have a date for but it is another one that
31:04victoria gave to john and it's beautiful i have loved thee with an everlasting love
31:10i mean everlasting love is only used in literature at this point to mean one thing a passionate love
31:16affair there is no doubt about that by this point i feel we have unmistakable evidence of a deeply
31:27passionate sexual romantic love affair between victoria and john how come nobody knows about these
31:35well they were kept hidden and kept safe by the john brown family archive and they haven't been allowed
31:40to tell anyone where they were this is well i'm not sure we'd say in historical terms but in legal
31:48terms
31:50this is a smoking gun they all are
31:55with the heirloom items that my family has carried through the generations there's no question in my mind
32:03that there was a romantic relationship between king victoria and john brown it wouldn't have been
32:09just a casual man servant to his queen i think john brown definitely surpassed that and became a lover and
32:19probably one of the most important people to her it's supported in how affectionate the writing is
32:28it would definitely be somebody significant
32:33without question these are the most powerful evidence i've seen that there was a love affair
32:39between queen victoria and john brown but what's more they were having a sexual relationship too
32:46yeah this is very very very strong evidence
32:51my interpretation of this is that the language of love does not stay the same there's a historical
32:58dimension to these kind of expressions victorians were always declaring their love for each other
33:04what we have here is intimacy and tenderness it doesn't tell us that they went to bed together it simply
33:12doesn't
33:14but victoria's relationship with john brown was about to receive an unexpected and deadly blow
33:24on the 27th of march 1883 john died suddenly in his room in windsor castle
33:33he had developed a lethal skin infection that within days proved fatal
33:39and kept safe in the john brown family archive is evidence of the impact john's death had on victoria
33:48john's death is catastrophic for victoria she never expected to have to face life without him
33:54one of the most moving documents comes within six days of his death and it's a letter that victoria
34:01writes to lizzie and jesse john's sister-in-law dear lizzie and jesse weep with me for we have lost
34:10the best
34:11the truest heart that ever beat as for me my grief is unbounded and i know not how to bear
34:19it or how to
34:20believe it possible dear dear john my dearest best friend to whom i could say everything and who watched
34:28over and protected me so kindly was well and hearty and strong not three or four days before he was
34:34struck down god bless you both you have your husbands your support but i have no strong arm to lean
34:45on now
34:47god that's so powerful she's absolutely grief-stricken horribly so for me it's that final line
34:54you have your husband's your support underlined but i underlined have no strong arm to lean on
35:03now victoria's comparing husbands to husbands the word friend is still in there isn't it how do you
35:12discount that victoria is not going to publicly declare john as her husband because to admit in
35:19letter that john was her husband would have been catastrophic for the crown so this was kept safe
35:25by john's family for 160 years what victoria did next absolutely blows my mind and it's never ever been
35:35seen before today in the week after john dies victoria has his hand cast and then carved in stone what
35:44is hang on what do you mean it's not been seen before today this has also been kept secret and
35:49kept hidden we don't currently know where the original is but i have a photograph of it oh my gosh
35:59john brown's right-handed marble on john brown's death queen victoria commanded that a cast be taken
36:06of his right hand on the cuff is a stud bearing the queen's head in relief john's body has gone
36:13into the
36:13ground victoria is never going to see him again to carve john's hand so that she can touch it so
36:20that
36:20she can be reminded of his presence of his strength it's one of the most moving artifacts i have ever
36:28seen
36:29where is it we don't know it's one of the tantalizing moments in this story i have this artifact
36:38inquiries have been made with the royal collection if we can confirm
36:42but we haven't been given access for me this is the final nail in the coffin of the idea that
36:48this was
36:48a friendship after albert's death 22 years earlier victoria had his hand immortalized in the same way
37:02john brown was buried in crafty kirk's graveyard on the edge of the balmoral estate
37:10women weren't allowed to attend funerals so queen victoria sent a wreath of metal violets to be placed
37:18on his grave a victorian symbol of faithfulness and everlasting love
37:26she ordered john's bedrooms in balmoral windsor and osborne to be kept exactly as he had left them
37:36and then began a memorializing campaign in his honor that fern believes is laden with clues
37:46so this granite bench is one of victoria's memorials to john and you can see there he's in this
37:53incredible profile very handsome with his whiskers his name gold yes date of birth date of death and then
38:01you can see there he's in this beautiful inscription
38:04a truer nobler trust your heart more loving and more loyal never beat
38:11within a human breast that's from byron i know that it is from byron i actually know the poem do
38:16you
38:17yeah would you like to know the next line i've got a feeling i do but tell me because i
38:22this is
38:23extraordinary so this is the tufoscari it's from 1821 what follows is i would not change my exiled
38:31persecuted mangled husband oppressed but not disgraced crushed overwhelmed alive or dead for prince or
38:40paladin the story of tifascari is about the doge of venice it's about the duty that the doge has to
38:49the state and republic against his private love that's what the whole thing is about i mean
38:56that's not cryptic that couldn't be more poetically obvious could it the victorians love decoded message
39:02she would have known the context that these words came from these are not the words you would say about
39:07anyone other than your lover and your husband it's very moving actually
39:15that i find this really powerful it's in the stone and in the clues that she's left and they're pretty
39:22loud clues but the record of a man who had stood by the queen's side for nearly 20 years
39:30was on fragile ground as the royal family and victoria's court would start to erase all trace
39:38of john brown completely from her history
39:5118 years after john brown's passing queen victoria died in osborne house in january 1901
40:00private details of her burial instructions were uncovered in recent years alongside mementos of
40:08prince albert they show her highland servant was close to her heart even in death victoria has one
40:17more trick left up her sleeve and when she dies she's had a document created that is kept secret and
40:24kept
40:24hidden from her family from her children from everyone it's just for her dresses and her doctor
40:29and it states what she wants with her in her coffin these are my last wishes how i want to
40:34be buried
40:35exactly that and she says a plain gold wedding ring which belonged to the mother of my dear
40:41valued servant j brown which i have worn constantly since his death to be on my fingers a colored profile
40:49photograph in a leather case of my faithful friend j brown his gift to me with some of his hair
40:55to be
40:56put in the case in my hand in addition to all of these i should wish the pocket handkerchief of
41:03my
41:03dearest husband albert and the pocket handkerchief of my faithful brown that friend who was more
41:09devoted to me than anyone to be laid on me she wants john brown's mother's wedding ring on her
41:16fingers and a lock of hair that's what you send to a lover yes and a portrait of john as
41:21well and all
41:22of these things have to be hidden in her coffin so that the family don't spot it and yank it
41:26out at the
41:27end but these are the things that to victoria she wants to go into the next world with this is
41:34the
41:34final expression of their love she's buried with memories of her first husband and her second yes
41:43well the change is the story that we've been told about this place completely and about her completely
42:06with his mother gone the new king edward the seventh took no time in ordering the removal of all
42:12traces of john brown queen victoria's children disliked brown they resented the intimacy that he had
42:20with their mother he was a commoner so they tried to scrub him from the record john's rooms in balmoral
42:28osborne and winter castle were stripped of every trace of them statues photos paintings were all wiped
42:37away improper relationships have almost destroyed the british monarchy on several occasions you had henry
42:43the eighth you had edward the eighth and queen victoria was an extension of that obviously they're going
42:48to try to control the narrative victoria's youngest daughter beatrice was also part of john's elimination
42:58she transcribed and edited her mother's diaries and journals erasing entire entries about john
43:07then destroyed the originals
43:13there's no doubt it's a cover-up now the question is why because it's such a salacious story because
43:21it changes history this person a giant of our national past might not be the widow of windsor but in
43:28fact
43:29it's something totally different i've no doubt this is a part of their family history
43:35that they don't want the public to know but in her investigations fern realized there were some
43:44things the royal family wouldn't be able to control i decided i needed to know if there were any surviving
43:51descendants of john brown and his family and immediately i turned to the internet to look for
43:55census records birth and marriages to trace these generations to today to look for these people
44:01who might hold the final pieces of the john brown family archive
44:06and this huge family tree starts to emerge john his brothers their descendants
44:13the person who was the most interesting was john's brother hugh he married jesse mccardy
44:21they had mary ann
44:25and that family line led me all the way to minnesota in the usa
44:34mary ann's granddaughter anne emigrated to minnesota in the 1960s
44:42and it's here fern found her missing link to the john brown family archive
44:49when fern first got in touch with me i was just flabbergasted i open up facebook and there's this
44:57message from this person i don't know and i'm reading it and i'm just like wow
45:04it was just surreal because the story that we always grew up with as far as john brown and queen
45:09victoria having a baby it just felt like the old family lore you take it seriously but there's never
45:16going to be proof to validate it within my family it was brought up that we were part of the
45:23illegitimate
45:24child line my grandfather was bitter regards the whole story and just with how the browns were treated
45:32after queen victoria passed away so i really just want vindication for my grandpa
45:46when i arrive in scotland i'm just really hoping to bring some truth to the story that we have grown
45:54up with i also hope that there's a way that we can prove that their relationship was this really
46:02beautiful love story to be able to say this was a legitimate part of queen victoria's life john brown
46:09was her second greatest love if it's proven that i am a descendant of queen victoria i'm not sure
46:22how i will feel about that um in my gut i feel it's kind of inevitable
46:32oh i i think i would definitely rock a tiara yeah
46:53rob's interrogation of fern's new evidence into queen victoria and john brown's relationship
47:00is coming to an end fern has brought rob back to scotland to reveal one final piece of the jigsaw
47:09rob i've brought you as far as i can as a historian i've shown you all the evidence i found
47:14of a love
47:14affair and of a marriage and i want to tell you the final part of this story but it's not
47:20mine i've brought
47:21angela over from minnesota to talk to you she is one of the last surviving descendants of john brown's
47:28family angela yes it's her family secret that they've been keeping safe for generations
47:35and i'd like her to tell you it in her own words and she's here she is she seems she's
47:40just inside
47:40waiting for us are you uh let's go and meet her come on come on wait are you serious yeah
47:53completely
48:02serious hello hi hi i'm rom i'm angela nice to meet you nice to meet you i'm doing pretty well
48:08how about
48:08you i'm excited to meet you a little bit surprised as um fern has probably told you this is a
48:15surprise to
48:16me yeah this is getting more surreal at the moment should i go in yeah um okay
48:25so ang i've brought rob here because i've been telling him everything that you've told me over
48:29the last four years and could you tell him your family story so the story that my family has grown
48:37up
48:37with is that there was a romantic relationship between queen victoria and john brown okay they had a baby
48:45that was the story and that this child was given then to hugh brown john's brother to raise and he
48:53went on a long boat journey and that's where my family lineage began so the family story is that
49:02you are the descendant of the child of queen victoria and john brown correct
49:16when you've got a family story like this you need to try and understand where the facts are what
49:21ang has always said to me there was a big long boat journey there was a child given to the
49:25family and
49:26that child was john brown and queen victoria's so i went away to try and find out what facts could
49:32actually fit that story and i uncovered something that ang wasn't aware of which is that hugh and jesse had
49:39gone to new zealand and they'd bought a farm and they'd set themselves up in a targo then in 1865
49:48a child marianne who angie's family believe is the child of john brown and queen victoria
49:54had been born and i found marianne's birth certificate this is angie's great grandmother you can see her name
50:00here yeah marianne you can see the names of hugh brown as the father and jesse yeah and it gives
50:07her date of birth 1865 how do you know this isn't the daughter of just jesse and and hugh well
50:15i would
50:15have loved it if i found this birth certificate and it said john brown and queen victoria very but
50:19we're talking about a royal family here who is known to give illegitimate children to servants and have
50:26them brought up as their own so that there isn't that scandal of an illegitimate child the second piece
50:32of information that i find incredible that was in the john brown family archive is this letter from
50:39victoria and it's to john and victoria feels that the family should be reunited
50:44and she tells him to write to hugh and to jesse and bring marianne home back to scotland so the
50:52letter says now you said it was an expense for him coming back and going out but i beg you
50:57write
50:57let me pay the greater part if not the whole of that expense i am so anxious for it and
51:04she signs
51:04her letter i hope darling one you will do this with this document and with angie's story this could
51:14be seen as evidence of victoria wanting to bring a child that she has a very strong connection to
51:20home darling one you will do this
51:27questions i had were why on earth would you and jesse do this massive boat journey by choice
51:32such a perilous journey months and months at sea if jesse was pregnant the other bit of the timeline
51:39that interests me is marianne's birth is at the end of 1865 but in 1866 we have that report in
51:46the
51:46gazette de lausanne that says that queen victoria is pregnant with john brown's child
51:53do you remember that incredible declaration of love between john brown and queen victoria nobody
51:58loves you more yeah 1866 again i think the marriage came later i think there was a love affair i
52:07think the
52:07baby was potentially spirited away to new zealand and then after john and victoria had committed to
52:14one another victoria then decided it was time to bring hugh and jesse and marianne home
52:19i found the queen surrounded by courtiers and servants and politicians and how on earth would
52:25she have concealed a pregnancy this is still the period of her great seclusion and her great isolation
52:30she wasn't seen in public she was hiding herself away she was wearing these huge voluminous widow's
52:36weeds and in this period she puts on a lot of weight potentially she could have been concealing a
52:43pregnancy and you have to remember no one saw the queen naked but a doctor would have delivered the
52:48child no water midwives how did women deliver children in the scottish islands it's a community
52:55thing we could do a dna test to determine whether you are related to queen victoria yeah i'd be down
53:01for that this question is whether it's possible and i'm not a scientist you're not no and royal dna
53:07we have been told is difficult to find but if there was a way it would give us an answer
53:14to the story
53:14that andy's family has been carrying for 160 years you know while i've been talking to you i have been
53:21looking at you yeah there's definitely a resemblance i can see it it's not science but from the moment i
53:31met and from the moment she told me her story every time i look at her i'm looking for victoria
53:37did you feel different here in this part of the world yes when i was growing up we would come
53:43over
53:43and visit my grandparents yeah and my happy place is here is here yeah i've always felt very
53:49at peace and just that i'm home
54:04so wrong i feel i've proved that there's absolutely a love affair i certainly believe they got married
54:11and angela's family carry this story of a child well what do you think the story i came to the
54:17one
54:17that everybody did was a story about a friendship at most but certainly a story about a queen and a
54:25servant that's the traditional view of history the one thing i'm totally sure about i i just don't see
54:33how there can be any other explanation for it is that john brown and queen victoria
54:39were in love romantic love the moments of poetry between them go far beyond queen and servant
54:50did they get married the timings are right the evidence you presented is compelling it's not
54:57conclusive but certainly there's sufficient circumstantial evidence that on balance they
55:03probably did now the third thing did they have a child science can conclude that
55:09i can't do i look in there and go my god they look alike sure but that's my instinct is
55:14there
55:15circumstantial evidence yes but the jury's still out on that one but this work that you've done
55:20changes the story of john brown it changes our understanding of queen victoria
55:26it's elevated something which was a relationship between a queen and a servant to one of
55:33love love love so well done my mind is blown
55:41the true story of queen victoria and john brown's relationship has remained unanswered for 160 years
55:50but with the discovery of the john brown family archive and his descendants this contentious chapter
55:58of british royal history can finally be re-examined with a new perspective so victoria had this built in
56:08memory of john oh wow
56:12in affectionate and grateful remembrance of john brown the devoted and faithful personal attendant of queen
56:18victoria that friend given you by circumstance over which you have no control was god's own gift
56:25yeah it definitely speaks of their relationship and the bond and the closeness that they had
56:34i'm proud of my family and how they were so honorable withholding this story keeping it private
56:42and i know that my grandfather would be happy i think he would have that vindication that he would
56:48like i think he'd be very proud of this
56:55the only thing that matters to me is that we give john his rightful place in history back and that
57:01is
57:01directly beside victoria and now we know the man that kept her safe kept her happy
57:11i think this really is the true story of their relationship and i'm so excited to bring back that
57:17secret history into the real world
57:20so
57:49so
57:53so
57:54so
57:58so
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