Becoming Tom Thumb. Eric D. Lehman

because the next day they were invited to a “command performance” at Buckingham Palace, and as Murray told them, Queen Victoria wanted to make sure “that the General appear before her, as he would appear anywhere else, without training in the use of titles of royalty.” She “desired to see him act naturally and without restraint.” After spending the next two weeks using this royal request to gain entrance to more houses of the British peerage, on March 23 Barnum shrewdly put up an apologetic placard at the entrance to the Egyptian Hall where Charles had been performing. It read, “Closed the evening, General Tom Thumb being at Buckingham Palace by command of her Majesty.”⁴

      Now, in Buckingham Palace, Murray led the two Americans through the gleaming corridors and up a marble staircase. Ahead, two dozen people gathered in a long, glass-roofed picture gallery, all in the finest clothing money could buy, and sparkling with diamonds. The exception was the twenty-four-year-old Queen Victoria, who Barnum described as “sensible and amiable,” but was surprised that “she wore a plain black dress … She was the last person whom a stranger would have pointed out in that circle as Queen of England.”⁵ Barnum may not have known, but the young monarch had put her court officially in mourning for Prince Albert’s father, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, who had died on January 29. This entertainment may have been the first chance for the court to laugh in almost two months.

      Charles himself had been attired in “court dress,” with a red velvet coat and breeches, white stockings, black buckled shoes, powdered wig, cocked hat, cane, and ceremonial sword. His blond hair framed a perfectly round face, with rosy cheeks and bright eyes, a perfect “man in miniature.” He “advanced with a firm step, and as he came within hailing distance made a very graceful bow, and exclaimed ‘Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen!’” A titter of laughter ran around the room. The smiling Queen took his small hand and led him around the picture gallery, which he proclaimed “first-rate.” She asked him many questions and everyone chuckled at his lively answers. He gave a routine that included his recently practiced imitation of Napoleon.⁶ Victoria wrote about the encounter that night in her diary:

      After dinner we saw the greatest curiosity I, or indeed anybody, ever saw, viz: a little dwarf, only 25 inches high & 15 lbs. in weight. No description can give an idea of this little creature, whose name was Charles Stratton, born they say in 32, which makes him 12 years old. He is American, & gave us his card, with Gen. Tom Thumb written on it. He made the funniest little bow, putting out his hand & saying: “much obliged Mam.” One cannot help feeling very sorry for the poor little thing & wishing he could be properly cared for, for the people who show him off tease him a good deal, I should think. He was made to imitate Napoleon & do all sorts of tricks, finally backing the whole way out of the gallery.⁷

      As Charles retreated from the picture gallery in proper deference to royalty, he found he could not keep up with Barnum’s long legs. He backed, tripped, then turned and ran, then tried again, provoking laughter from the nobles and ferocious barks from the Queen’s tiny, flop-eared spaniel, which no doubt seemed the size of a wolf to him. Without a moment’s hesitation Charles attacked the spaniel with his tiny cane in a mock battle, creating what Barnum said was “one of the richest scenes I ever saw.” The courtiers nearly fell over themselves with glee, and the Queen sent an attendant to make sure the little man “had sustained no damage.” Joining the fun, Charles Murray added that “in the case of injury to so renowned a personage, he should fear a declaration of war by the United States.”⁸

      Charles Stratton’s spontaneous mock battle with Queen Victoria’s spaniel became comedy legend. From Barnum’s Struggles and Triumphs, courtesy of the University of Bridgeport Archives.

      Upon returning to Grafton Street, Barnum immediately wrote a grateful letter to Ambassador Everett:

      Ten thousand thousand thanks for your kindness. General Tom Thumb and myself have just returned from a visit to Her Majesty the Queen, in compliance with the royal command delivered this afternoon by Mr. Murray. The Queen was delighted with the General, asked him many questions, presented him with her own hands confectionary &c, and was highly pleased with his answers, his songs, imitation of Napoleon, &c. &c. Prince Albert, the Duchess of Kent, and the Royal Household expressed themselves much pleased with the General, and on our departure the Queen desired the lord-in-waiting request that I would be careful and never allow the General to be fatigued.⁹

      Everett himself told his American correspondents that “Tom Thumb” was “the principal topic of conversation here [in England],” writing further, “He is really a very curious specimen of humanity. It is to be hoped that his parents, who are with him, will spare his strength; and give him a good education out of the golden harvest he is reaping for them.”¹⁰

      On a subsequent visit, on April 6, Queen Victoria received Charles and Barnum in the Yellow Drawing Room, with its “rich yellow satin damask” on the couches, sofas, and chairs, the chamber paneled in gold, with carved and gilt cornices. Charles told the queen he had seen her before. When the queen asked him how he was, he replied “Yes, ma’am, I am first rate.” He told her graciously that “I think this is a prettier room than the picture gallery. That chandelier is very fine.”¹¹ Her husband Albert, the Prince Consort, their son Edward, the two-year-old Prince of Wales, and his sister three-year-old Princess Victoria were also present at this second meeting. The young Prince Edward had missed the first encounter, asleep in bed at the time, and though he was to meet Charles a number of times over the next few decades, he claimed to have never got over the disappointment of missing him on that initial visit.¹²

      Victoria wrote in her diary again: “Saw the little dwarf in the Yellow Drawingroom, who was very nice, lively & funny, dancing and singing wonderfully. Vicky & Bertie [Edward] were with us, also Mama, Ldy. Dunmore and her 3 children, & Ldy Lyttleton. Little ‘Tom Thumb’ does not reach up to Vicky’s shoulder.”¹³ Introduced to the shy Prince of Wales, Charles said, “How are you, Prince?” Then after measuring himself against the two-year-old child, he continued, saying, “The Prince is taller than I am, but I feel as big as anybody.” He gave his performance again, making the sort of mistakes children often do that provoke laughter. He sang his signature song, a revised version of “Yankee Doodle,” without prompting, to the good humor and delight of the assembled British court.¹⁴ The following day, the London Times reported that:

      Her Majesty graciously received General Tom Thumb, the celebrated American dwarf, accompanied by his guardian, Phineas T. Barnum, Esquire, to repeat the entertainment which so pleased the Queen, the Prince Consort, and the Duchess of Kent on March 23rd. After the performance, witnessed by Her Majesty, the Queen, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Queen of the Belgians, and a distinguished gathering, Queen Victoria was pleased to present to the General, with her own hand, a superb souvenir of gold and mother-of-pearl, set with precious stones. On one side were the crown and the royal initials, “V.R.,” and on the reverse a bouquet of flowers in rubies.¹⁵

      On Charles’s third visit to the Palace, on April 19, King Leopold of Belgium and his wife Louise Marie were present, and were, according to Victoria “surprised” by the boy’s size and talent.¹⁶ On May 30 he had dinner again at Ambassador Everett’s house, walking on the dinner table in a feat that apparently never failed to amuse everyone.¹⁷ At Marlborough House he entertained the Dowager Queen Adelaide and the Duke of Devonshire. His wardrobe had expanded considerably by this time, and he wore an embroidered brown silk-velvet coat and short breeches, a white satin vest, white silk stockings and shoes, a wig, and his tiny ceremonial sword barely ten inches long. The Dowager Queen was so taken with him she offered him a watch and chain, accompanied by a severe lecture on morality.¹⁸ Then on June 8, the Russian Ambassador sent for Charles to be presented to his Imperial Majesty, Tsar Nicholas, who was visiting England, leading to “a strange encounter” of the “smallest and greatest personages in existence” and an invitation to St. Petersburg.¹⁹

      But it was the encounter with the Duke of Wellington that became comedy legend. The Duke stopped by one of Charles’s