Queen Victoria’s relationship with her servant back in the spotlight as author claims they may have married secretly

A new book claims that Queen Victoria may have had a secret child with her Scottish servant, John Brown.

The book, Victoria’s Secret by Fern Riddell, looks at the relationship between Victoria and her ghillie who was one of the most important members of her household for twent years.

The possibility is also examined in an accompanying Channel 4 programme called Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child?

Queen Victoria’s love life in the spotlight

The allegation is that in 1865, Queen Victoria gave birth to a daughter after a secret pregnancy and the little girl was sent to New Zealand where she grew up.

Fern Riddell speaks to an American woman, Angela Webb-Milinkovich, who is a descendant of John Brown’s brother, Hugh. However, she says her family has always spoken of Hugh and his wife, Jessie, not being the natural parents of their only child, Mary Ann. Instead, it’s claimed that Mary Ann could be the daughter of Queen Victoria and John Brown who was raised by her father’s brother to cover up a scandal.

The book looks at other evidence to support a case that Queen Victoria actually had a romantic relationship with John Brown.

There’s no doubt that he was given an exalted place in her household. Although he remained a servant, he was given chambers close to the Queen’s own bedroom and drew a substantial salary – a reflection of the value Victoria placed on him.

However, it is smaller details that Fern RIddell argues show that the relationship was deeper than just than that. She claims that Victoria banned men from smoking around her but permitted John Brown to indulge. The book also details how Victoria went to the funeral of John Brown’s father, seen as a real show of support from monarch to servant.

How Queen Victoria could have married again in secret

There are other claims in the book, too. Victoria’s Secret discusses the apparent deathbed confession of a the Balmoral minister, Kenneth MacLeod, who said just before he passed away in 1872 that he had married the queen secretly to her servant.

Scottish law permitted private marriage, doing away with the needs for banns which would have instantly alerted the world to a potential royal marriage. The book also discusses in detail the appearance of a gold signet ring on the left hand of John Brown from 1872 onwards. Signet rings were used by the upper classes and, although John Brown’s healthy salary would have made jewellery an easy buy for him, Fern Riddell argues that his decision to wear it on the little finger of his left hand could point to it being a sign of marriage. The type of marriage they would have had to contract was morganatic marriage which means the non royal spouse gets no title. Fern Riddell argues that it’s also called a ‘left handed marriage’ and she claims that John Brown was indicating that with the appearance of his gold ring.

Crucially, morganatic marriage also means no succession rights. A morganatic marriage is a legally recognized union, traditionally occurring between individuals of unequal social rank, especially within royalty or nobility. In such marriages, the spouse of lower status, and any children from the union, do not receive the titles, privileges, or inheritance rights of the higher-ranking partner. This arrangement allows members of royal families to marry for love without altering succession or diluting noble bloodlines.

That means that even if the story told in a Minnesota family of their ancestor actually being the daughter of a queen was proved correct, there would be no place in the line of succession for them as any union between Victoria and John Brown was morganatic.

The story goes completely against the public image of Queen Victoria who sunk into deep mourning when her husband, Prince Albert, died in December 1861. She famously wore widow’s clothes for the rest of her life, refusing to put on robes of State for important events including her two Jubilees. She also kept busts and portraits of Albert all around her and even built a stunning memorial to him in Kensington which still stands today, glittering with gold leaf.

Victoria’s ongoing devotion to Albert

On her own death, in 1901, she was buried with mementoes of Albert in her coffin. However, we now know that items linking her to John Brown were also placed with her.

In her own lifetime, gossips called Queen Victoria ‘Mrs Brown’ as they mocked her closeness to her servant. There is no doubt he was one of her most trusted advisers and his bravery in protecting the queen during assassination attempts was also noted and won him public praise even if some parts of society saw it as another indication that his relationship with Victoria was much more than professional.

John Brown died in 1883 after catching a chill, again in the process of looking after the queen to whom he was so devoted.

Queen Victoria died in 1901 and the real nature of their relationship was hidden forever.

Angela Webb-Milinkovich has said she is willing to have a DNA test to see if she is linked to Victoria in any way. The Royal Family has never commented on the claims. For now, it appears that Victoria and John’s relationship remains a secret known to them alone.

Victoria’s Secret by Fern Riddell is published on July 31 2025 at £22 by Ebury Press.