William McGonagall recently became the subject of renewed scrutiny regarding his claims of royal patronage from Queen Victoria.
Tim Harford of Cautionary Tales detailed the bizarre 1878 incident where the poet received a fraudulent letter claiming that Her Majesty "would like to become a patron of his poems." Harford notes that the aspiring poet was so gullible—or perhaps so desperate—that he walked three days from Dundee to Balmoral to perform for the monarch.
The skepticism surrounding the event remains a point of debate. Harford questions the origin of the correspondence, suggesting that "maybe they were hoaxes on McGonagall. Maybe they were hoaxes by McGonagall on the rest of us." Whether the letter was an act of cruelty by the secretary or a calculated fabrication by the poet, the legend of the interaction persists as a cornerstone of McGonagall's enduring, if tragic, reputation.
