Ever since Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the royal allowance had been steadily shrinking. In Parliament, any proposal to cut it was immediately met with a chorus of praise.
This made many young MPs eager to use it as the foundation of their political careers. Worse still, British Parliament publicly debated the matter every time, even haggling directly with the royal family.
On one hand, those MPs cut the royal allowance under the banner of "setting an example of thrift and frugality"; on the other, they demanded higher salaries for officials.
This left Victoria and Albert thoroughly enraged. More outrageous still, even Prince Albert's expenditures on science and technology came under criticism.
The very same thing had been praised as generous before the Great Exhibition, only to be condemned afterward as extravagant waste and reckless squandering.
Moreover, unnamed officials would often expose the British royal family's luxurious spending to the public. Even Victoria's recent purchase of murex dye had been revealed.
Murex dye was extraordinarily expensive. With the royal allowance being cut year after year, Queen Victoria's purchase of it appeared deeply unreasonable.
Thus, some proposed investigating the royal family's sources of funding. John Russell agreed to the MPs' request on one hand, while informing Her Majesty the Queen of the matter on the other.
But John Russell's maneuver did nothing to ease the relationship between the British government and the royal family. Instead, it made the Victorias feel humiliated.
Their feelings were one aspect of it, but more importantly, they really did have certain special businesses. Thus, they had obstructed the investigation at every turn.
The British government's earlier praise of Lajos Kossuth had already gone too far, stirring the royal family's distaste. No matter what, as the beneficiaries of a monarchy, they would never like a rebel such