'I'm part of British royal family after Queen's secret marriage and love child'

Queen Victoria and John Brown were not only secretly married, they had a love child, a new documentary will claim. Historian Dr Fern Riddell believes she has found proof that the monarch and her manservant were deeply in love – and that the Queen gave birth to her tenth child, a girl called Mary-Anne, whose father was John.

"I believe Victoria and John were madly in love. I believe I've found evidence that they got married, and I really do believe there's a strong possibility they may have had a child together," she says.

TV lawyer Rob Rinder, who appears in the documentary to cast his sceptical eye over her findings, says: "Big claims. If you're right, that changes our understanding of history."

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In her new book, Victoria's Secret, Riddell reveals that she has located a direct descendent of Mary-Anne _ Angela Webb, who lives in Minnesota, USA. John Brown was her grandfather's great uncle and she grew up knowing all the stories about her family coming from an illegitimate branch of British royalty – but never thinking it could be proved.

She shows off a basket of heirlooms in the Channel 4 programme and explains: "They were originally Queen Victoria and John Brown's and have made their way to me. There are books, there's jewellery, there’s documents.

"This brooch was commissioned by Queen Victoria. It says March 29, 1896. It does have a lock of hair in the back as well.

"This is a handwritten note from Victoria. It has the royal seal. It says to place a wreath and flowers in dear John Brown's room on his bed on the 27th, which would have been the anniversary of his passing."

Angela says the story she grew up with is that John Brown was far more than a close companion of Queen Victoria's. She says: "We were told there was a romantic relationship, that there was a long boat journey and there was a baby, Mary-Anne, that was Queen Victoria's and John Brown's – and my family has descended from that baby."

Dr Fern says that the secret Brown family archive that she has unearthed proves beyond all doubt that the pair were lovers – and had a baby girl who was given to John's brother Hugh to bring up with his wife Jessie. The couple, who were childless, then moved to New Zealand with the baby, and it helped to avoid a scandal.

But later it's said that Queen Victoria begged them to return to Scotland with the child – and they did. In the film, Dr Fern says that the end of Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert had been an unhappy time. Victoria had struggled through her nine pregnancies and suffered from post-natal depression, plus symptoms including hallucinations that may have been mistaken for the madness that had afflicted King George.

She says doctors had warned against any further pregnancies, meaning the couple would have had to practice celibacy. "So in her late 30s, she is told to no longer have a sexual connection with her husband. It's going to cause a real issue in their marriage for her."

Dr Fern believes the Queen always had a strong sex drive. "She was sensual, she adored physical pleasure." One example of this is a young Victoria writing that she had been riding in the rain with Albert, who was wearing "tight white cashmere pantaloons" and noting that he had on "nothing under them", which she had also underlined.

Fern says that she can understand why Victoria would have been drawn to John Brown at this time, because he was young and handsome and dashing. She explains: "When you look at this, you can see why Queen Victoria is irresistibly drawn to him."

When her marriage to Albert becomes strained, the couple spent more time in Scotland at Balmoral, where John would have spent much time with Victoria. "This allows a space for a wounded Queen to indulge in a flirtation with a strong, sexy young man," Dr Fern says.

There are many examples of love letters, unearthed from the Brown family archive, including one that the monarch wrote to John's brother Hugh in 1886, to let him know how she felt about his brother. It says: "I took and held his dear kind hand. I told him no one loved him more than I did. And he answered, nor you than me, no one loves you more."

In one Christmas card she tells her lover: "My lips may give a message better of Christmas love than even my letter." And in case that wasn’t clear enough, another says: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love."

Rinder agrees this could only mean they had a "deep, meaningful and enduring" love affair. But the affair was hushed up, and so too was the pregnancy, Dr Fern believes, which happened when the Queen was in mourning over Prince Albert and out of public life.

She finds evidence to suggest that Victoria and John were secretly married and declares: "I think there was a surprise baby, spirited away to New Zealand. Then, once Victoria and John had committed to one another, they decided to bring Hugh and Jessie and Mary-Anne home."

Angela was "flabbergasted" when Dr Fern contacted her to ask questions about her ancestry. She believes she can "see myself" in pictures of Queen Victoria and is now keen to do a DNA test.

She says: "I'd love to be able to prove that they had a really beautiful love story. I'd love to be able to say this was a legitimate part of John Brown's life - that he was her second greatest love."

But the American admits: "If it's proven that I am a descendent of Queen Victoria, I'm not sure how I'll feel."

• Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child? airs on Channel 4 at 9pm Thursday July 31

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