Episode Five: The Soldier

In 1846 a soldier named Robert Pate moved to an expensive
apartment off Piccadilly - one of the most exclusive areas of
London.  Unlike the first four would-be assassins, Robert Pate
came from a wealthy family, so for the first time in this series
Dr Bob Nicholson is exploring the world of affluent London.
Pate's wealth and class helped to smooth his path through life -
his father's money bought him a gentleman's education, and a
commission in the army, but Robert was not well and developed
routines to cope with his mental illness – rituals involving
baths, coins, daily carriage rides, and walks through London
parks. It was in Hyde Park that Queen Victoria spotted Robert’s
eccentric way of dressing and behaving. She wrote to a relative:
‘he makes the point of bowing more frequently and lower to me
than anyone else’.


By 1850, Queen Victoria was by now a mother of seven, having just
given birth to Arthur, her third son. She was celebrating ‘the
restoration of her liberty’ by entering public life once
more. Prince Albert was immersed in the plans for the Great
Exhibition opening the following year. After the tumultuous 1840s
he believed the country was entering a new era. He wrote to his
cousin: ‘we have no fear here either of an uprising or an
assassination.’ So Pate’s attack on 27th June 1850 came out of
the blue.


As Queen Victoria’s carriage pulled out of the house where she
had been visiting a dying relative, Pate stepped from the crowd
and brought his metal-tipped stick down on her head, leaving her
bleeding. The police intervened to stop a lynching.


This was the most serious attack yet and Bob Nicholson’s quest to
understand Robert Pate and find out what happened to him after he
struck the Queen, takes him to the site of the attack, into the
Home Office archives, and the world of Victorian wealth and
poverty.