Queen Victoria called the gypsies ‘a cruelly wronged people’
and showed them great sympathy. This was
because a family of gypsies once made a big impression on her when she was only
17 and staying at Claremont House in Surrey.
Here, she became somewhat friendly with the family. She sent food and baskets to one who gave
birth and praised the cleanliness of the newborn. She also drew them. She especially liked
drawing the formidable matriarch, Sarah Cooper. Her sketches have been
criticised as idealised and she described this family as ‘superior’ gypsies, because they were not like the 'fortune-telling, gossiping' ones, she thought. However, her attitude was arguably ahead of its time.
The young princess also often read and underlined The
Gypsies’ Advocate by James Crabb. This
was dedicated to judges and clergymen in the hope that they would develop a
more benevolent attitude to the Romany people.
Crabb helped gypsy children – he looked after some at home and paid for
their schooling – and established a committee with suggestions for reform.
Crabb became interested in changing opinions about the Romanies when he
witnessed a judge saying that he intended to execute horse-stealers, especially
gypsies, even after a convicted man pleaded for his life.
Queen Victoria tried to go out of her way to help the Cooper
family. She not only sent them gifts,
but she employed one of them, Matty Cooper, as her chief rat-catcher at Windsor
Castle. He used to lay them out on the
carpet at the castle, according to his grand-son. Her chief harpist was also a Romani.
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