Actually, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert should have noticed the trickery right under their noses. But the former was busy making babies, raising them, and taking them for walks, while the latter was busy creating wonders.
Besides, the loss of an entire Mediterranean Fleet was simply too outrageous to believe. No naval defeat so devastating had ever occurred in British history.
The main reason was that no one would believe such a story if it got out. After all, the French Navy had always avoided battle, while the Austrian Navy, thanks to the British propaganda machine, was all reputation and no substance.
All they could do was rely on sneak attacks and the army. What kind of navy was that?
In truth, under Franz's influence, the Austrian Navy generally chose the methods of warfare most advantageous to itself.
But this had also left people with the impression that it couldn't fight a hard battle. The British and French propaganda machines seized on this and spread lies relentlessly.
So no one in Britain believed the Mediterranean Fleet had been wiped out. At worst, they thought it might have lost a few ships, as in historical defeats, or temporarily ceded control of the Mediterranean. Nothing more.
The British royal family wasn't nearly as cut off from news as it would be in later generations. Victoria and her husband truly didn't believe such a thing could happen.
And Britain had more pressing worries at the time: the Chartists were demanding that the Queen honor her promise of an eight-hour workday.
Back when she was a young woman newly ascended to the throne, she hadn't shrunk from the surging crowds. She had donned her ceremonial robes, taken up the scepter symbolizing the authority of the British royal family, and stepped onto the balcony.
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