Who was Queen Victoria's Highland servant John Brown? Channel 4 documentary detailing their relationship hits screens

Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child? hits screens at 9pm on Channel 4 tonight (July 31), with TV star Rob Rinder joining up by historian Dr Fern Riddell to uncover the secrets of the monarch’s alleged relationship with her Highland servant John Brown.

The nature of Queen Victoria’s relationship with John has been long rumoured to have been romantic, with reportedly growing closer following the death of Prince Albert in 1861.

The pair’s close bond is said to have drawn the ire of both the monarch’s children and ministers, with this sparking rumours that the pair had become romantically linked. Queen Victoria often gifted items and portraits to John, with one diary from Lewis Harcourt containing a report that one of the Queen’s chaplains confessed on his death bed to presiding over a marriage ceremony between the two. However, this report remains disputed amongst historian and experts.

In a letter to Viscount Cranbrook uncovered in 2004, Queen Victoria spoke of John’s death in 1883 after losing her husband Prince Albert in 1961. She said in the letter: “Perhaps never in history was there so strong and true an attachment, so warm and loving a friendship between the sovereign and servant.

“Strength of character as well as power of frame – the most fearless uprightness, kindness, sense of justice, honesty, independence and unselfishness combined with a tender, warm heart [...] made him one of the most remarkable men. The Queen feels that life for the second time is become most trying and sad to bear deprived of all she so needs [...] the blow has fallen too heavily not to be very heavily felt...”

Who was John Brown?

John Brown was born in Crathie, Aberdeenshire in 1826. He served as an outdoor servant at Balmoral Castle. He has served as ‘ghillie’ (meaning ‘servant’) and close friend of Prince Albert and later took up the role of the Queen’s pony at the request of the Prince.

Following Prince Albert’s death, he became a close personal friend of Queen Victoria. During their friendship, she gifted him the Faithful Servant medal and Devoted Service medal, as well a commissioning a portrait of John.

Queen Victoria also commissioned a statue of John on the grounds of Balmoral following his death in 1883. However, according to reports, her son, Edward VII, subsequently had the statue and private memorials for the Queen’s former servant destroyed after he ascended the throne.

Queen Victoria was buried with a lock of Brown’s hair, as well as a photograph, his mother’s wedding ring which he had given to her, and several letter. In her coffin, she wore the wedding ring on the third finger on her right hand, while the photograph of John was wrapped in white tissue paper and was hidden from view with flowers.

While some historians believe that the pair may have become romantically linked, other have dismissed these rumours due to her similarly close bond to her Indian-born servant Mohammed Abdul Karim, whom the Queen became close to during her final fourteen years of her reign. Her bond with Abdul also drew resentment from her family and ministers, with contemporary experts theorising that Abdul had used his position for personal gain.