There’s royal tea brewing, and this time it’s not coming from Buckingham Palace – it’s wafting all the way from Minnesota.
Angela Webb-Milinkovich, a perfectly respectable Minnesotan who just might also be Queen Victoria’s secret descendant, has thrown her tiara into the ring after a new documentary unearthed eyebrow-raising evidence of a royal romance gone rogue.
According to family lore passed down with the same reverence as grandma’s apple pie recipe, Angela’s lineage might trace back to none other than Queen Victoria and her rugged manservant, John Brown, a pairing scandalous enough to make The Crown writers swoon with envy.
“I feel pretty confident that there’s some legitimacy to it,” Webb-Milinkovich told The Times of London, before humbly adding: “I think I would definitely rock a tiara.” (A sentiment we all support.)
The new Channel 4 documentary, Queen Victoria: Secret Marriage, Secret Child?, is setting out to do just that: confirm or deny the possibility that Her Majesty wasn’t just ruling empires but also hiding a royal bundle of joy on the side.
Enter historian Fern Riddell, who’s determined to “give Queen Victoria back her womanhood”. Riddell’s research suggests the Queen and Brown may have tied the knot in a so-called “irregular marriage”, Scotland’s more casual version of a Vegas elopement (minus Elvis).
Apparently, Queen Vic was so fond of Brown she commissioned a cast of his hand when he died – one of the highest honours you could bestow on a man in the 1800s, short of naming a ship after him. She also insisted he be in portraits, wear a mysterious ring and be treated as an equal by her children.
And then there’s the “love child”. Angela’s family story claims Queen Victoria and Brown took a long boat trip (Victorian code for “wink wink”), and nine months later a baby girl named Mary Ann appeared, suspiciously unregistered in any known country.
That baby girl would go on to become part of Angela’s family line, which includes Hugh Brown, John’s brother, who emigrated to New Zealand before being mysteriously summoned back to Balmoral by the Queen. (Suspicious? Entirely.)
So, could Angela be the great-great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria? Possibly. Probably not. But maybe! And frankly, we’re here for the drama, the DNA swabs and the inevitable Netflix miniseries.
Angela says she’s willing to take a DNA test, if a few of Victoria’s known descendants are up for spitting into a tube. Considering the number of royals scattered across Europe, there’s no shortage of possible matches, as long as they’re willing to participate (and risk finding out they’re only 99.5% royal).
So stay tuned. This Minnesota mayhem could yet rewrite the history books. Or at the very least, give Angela a legitimate reason to wear that tiara at brunch.
Images: Instagram / Wikimedia
