Angela Webb – Milinkovich claims she may be related to Queen Victoria. (Image: Channel 4)
An American woman has claimed that she may be Queen Victoria‘s illegitimate “great, great granddaughter” through one of her most beloved servants, John Brown. Angela Webb-Milinkovich, a mental health care worker from Minnesota, said that her ultimate goal now is to gain recognition for her and her sister’s lineage from King Charles.
New research by historian Dr Fern Riddell claims that, while Angela’s great-grandmother, Mary Anne, may have officially been the only child of John’s brother Hugh and his wife Jessie, evidence suggests that she could have been the lovechild of the royal aide and the late monarch. The late Queen’s alleged relationship with John has never been confirmed; however, many royal watchers and academics have delved into their bond, with various people suggesting their relationship might have been intimate.
Ms Webb—Milinkovich now wants a DNA test to prove she is related to Victoria, adding that she does not want to make money out of the story but rather have her family’s history finally recognised.
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Queen Victoria reigned until 1901. (Image: Getty)
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In a new documentary, she said, as per the Mirror: “My main goal is to have the story acknowledged—I want their relationship to be recognised and for the Royal Family to stop saying it didn’t happen.”
She added: “If I’m going to reach for the top, it would have to be from King Charles. I mean, it’s a great story, and it has his family involved, too. So he would be interested in it.
The 47-year-old said she learned about her family’s royal connection after she was told a story about a “big boat trip and a baby given to the family.”
During four years of research for her new book Victoria’s Secret, Dr Riddell discovered that childless Jessie and Hugh had emigrated to New Zealand in 1865, registering Mary Ann’s birth there soon after. and told Ms Webb-Milinkovich of her discovery.
The historian argued that Victoria could have easily concealed a pregnancy in the 1860s and suggested she could have sent, what would have been, her tenth child away to avoid a scandal.
Rob Rinder, Angela Webb (centre) and Dr Fern Riddell. (Image: Channel 4)
In 1874, the late monarch reportedly paid for Angela’s family to be brought back to Scotland and gave them a house on the Balmoral estate.
Following John’s death in 1883, the family moved to Windsor, close to Victoria.
The historian was able to access to evidence given to her by Angela from the Brown family archive.
Angela and her sister, who wishes to remain anonymous, found some of the items and documents in a safety deposit box following the death of their father.
She said: “We didn’t know what we had, just that they were items from John Brown and Queen Victoria.
“It was always something in the back of our heads – we should probably get these looked at.”
Queen Victoria with John Brown (Image: Getty)
She added that she was shocked when Dr Riddell contacted her because, up until then, her family’s connection to Queen Victoria had been just suspected.
She said: “I believed my family was being truthful with it, but we could never prove it. Once she sent that message, I thought ‘What the heck? Is there actually validity to this?’”
Angela went on to claim: “I want the vindication essentially for John Brown and just for my lineage, because they were not able to talk about it. It was something that just became that secret that we couldn’t really share, but we knew.”
Although it was never officially confirmed that Victoria and John had an intimate relationship, her love and admiration for him have always been known.
In a letter sent by the late monarch to John’s brother after his death, she recounted a conversation between them, allegedly saying: “Afterwards I told him no one loved him more than I did … and he answered ‘nor you – than me. No one loves you more.'”
She also raised various statues and memorials for her beloved servant, which were later destroyed by her son Edward VII, when he ascended to the throne.
John Brown died in 1883. (Image: Getty)
Angela Webb appeared in a new Channel 4 documentary. (Image: Channel 4)
Victoria also had special instructions for her burial arrangements. In her coffin following her death in January 1901, aside from Prince Albert’s gown and a plastic casket of his hand, the late monarch asked to have a lock of Brown’s hair and his photograph, among other things, placed in her left hand, smartly concealed with a bunch of flowers on top.
She also wore Brown’s mother’s wedding ring on her right hand.
Angela remains optimistic about the royals eventually acknowledging the validity of the claims being made by her ancestors.
She said in the Channel 4 documentary, Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage Secret Child?: “My gut says it’s going to have to get acknowledged at some point.
“Scandals are always very exciting, so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of questions for them to answer. If they don’t say anything, that’s their choice.
“But I’d like them to acknowledge the truth of this love, to recognise that it wasn’t cool to cover up and destroy evidence of the relationship they shared. Let’s be real, Bertie [Edward VII] was a bit of a d*** to the Browns. That story deserves to be known, to have its own breath out there in the world. You don’t get that kind of romance every day.”
