Queen Victoria’s Gift: A Guinea from a “Wee Lassie”

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 .