This is the story of Henry and Mary Ponsonby, two of the most important courtiers who attended Queen Victoria. Both came from proud but impoverished families who relied on their salaries from serving the queen to survive. They met and married at court. They raised their family in Windsor Castle. They lived and died in the corridors where prime ministers and princesses passed as they went back and forth to see the queen. Henry Ponsonby served as the queen's private secretary for a quarter of a century (1870–95) and his wife collaborated with his in his work. They served at a difficult time for the monarchy – the queen was under attack from republicans and the expanding press. The Ponsonby's solution to these different problems left the Victorian monarchy in a position of unparalleled strength. The lives of Henry and Mary Ponsonby, together and apart, offer a tantalizing glimpse of what it was like to live within the charmed circle of Queen Victoria's court and to laugh about it all over supper. They also suggest a way forward for the contemporary monarchy which has so far gone unremarkable in recent debate about the future of the crown.
