Honestly, it wouldn’t be entirely out of left field. The British monarchy at that time was much more limited in its resources (despite still being fabulously wealthy) than the Ottoman monarchy, which effectively held total autocratic control of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, the Ottoman Sultan’s donation would have been, effectively, that of him and his government, whereas the donation of Queen Victoria would have been of the British royal family, but not that of the British government (which did contribute significant, if still vastly insufficient, relief).
Thus, the original donation would have been embarrassing to Queen Victoria (and thus the British government), but because her finances were largely separate from that of her Empire, rather than because she cared less.
Of course, the evidence for this is very thin on the ground, but it’s not implausible.
PugJesus@piefed.social 4 weeks ago
Honestly, it wouldn’t be entirely out of left field. The British monarchy at that time was much more limited in its resources (despite still being fabulously wealthy) than the Ottoman monarchy, which effectively held total autocratic control of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, the Ottoman Sultan’s donation would have been, effectively, that of him and his government, whereas the donation of Queen Victoria would have been of the British royal family, but not that of the British government (which did contribute significant, if still vastly insufficient, relief).
Thus, the original donation would have been embarrassing to Queen Victoria (and thus the British government), but because her finances were largely separate from that of her Empire, rather than because she cared less.
Of course, the evidence for this is very thin on the ground, but it’s not implausible.