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| 1 | Throughout England's history there have been many great monarchs. None of them, however, ruled for as many years as Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria ruled Great Britain for sixty-four years, from 1837 to 1901, at the height of their overseas power, acquiring an Empire that covered a quarter of the globe. By the time she died in 1901, it was said that Britain had a worldwide Empire on which the sun never set. |
| 2 | Alexandrina Victoria, the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg, was born on May 24, 1819 in Kensington Palace, London. The Duke and Dutchess planned to name their daughter Georgiana Charlotte Augusta Alexandrina Victoria. However, the Prince Regent, who was the baby's uncle and one of her godfathers, refused to allow his own name (George) or his late daughter's name (Charlotte Augusta) to be given to her. Instead he wanted her name to be Alexandrina, after her other godfather, Alexander I, the tsar of Russia. So the future Queen was christened Alexandrina Victoria. As a small child she was nicknamed Drina, although her mother preferred to call her Victoria. |
| 3 | The first winter of Victoria's life, her father Edward caught pneumonia. He wound up dying when she was only eight months old. She was very overprotected. She could not even walk up or down a staircase without holding someone's hand. Her mother feared that she could possibly be murdered by one of her uncles so that they could claim her place in the line of succession. Because of this the princess was never left alone. She was required to sleep in her mother's bedroom until she turned eighteen. Even while she was in the schoolroom watchful eyes guarded her. |
| 4 | Princess Alexandrina was brought up at Kensington Palace, where she was born. Although she was generally healthy during her childhood, she did become very sick once. This was probably due to complications of tonsillitis. Until the age of three, she spoke only German. When she got a little older she chose to learn Italian because she loved opera. Of course she also learned English, and spoke it without a trace of an accent. She loved singing, and composer Felix Mendelssohn once wrote that she had the finest singing voice of any amateur he'd ever heard. She enjoyed writing, keeping a regular journal throughout her life and publishing two books, "Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highland" (1868) and "More Leaves from the Journal of A Life in the Highlands" (1884). She had a gift for art as well, and enjoyed sketching and watercolor paintings. |
| 5 | She was educated by a governess, and her favorite subject was history. Oddly enough, as she was growing up she did not realize the major historical role for which she was destined. She is quoted as saying at age eleven, "I am nearer to the throne than I thought." By Victoria's own account, she "cried much" on learning that she might one day be Queen. She seems to have gotten over that by the time of her coronation, however, when she wrote in her journal about looking forward to becoming Queen "with calmness and quietness." Showing her humility, she goes on to say "I am not too alarmed at it, and yet I do not suppose myself quite equal to all; I trust, however, that with good-will, honesty, and courage I shall not, at all events, fail." |
| 6 | The King of England, William IV, died just 27 days after Victoria's eighteenth birthday, making Victoria Queen of England. William Howley, the Archbishop of Canterbury, crowned her at Westminster Abbey in London on June 28, 1838. One of the first things she did as Queen was banish Sir John Conroy from the Royal Court. He was her mother's comptroller after the death of her father and had been trying to exert power over her for most of her life. Even though the Queen obviously disliked him, he continued to work for her mother, causing Victoria to avoid them both until a scandal forced Conroy to resign and leave the country. |
| 7 | Victoria's first Prime Minister was Lord Melbourne, who taught her about being Queen. They developed a close friendship. Melbourne's only child died and, being forty years her senior, he treated Victoria like his own daughter. He attempted to protect Victoria from the harsh realities of British life and even advised her not to read certain books such as Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens because it dealt with "paupers, criminals, and other unpleasant subjects." She became dependent on him for political advice and early in her reign supported the Whigs, which was Melbourne's political party. Victoria and Lord Melbourne had developed a very close friendship, and people began to object to their relationship when an apartment was made available for him at Windsor Castle. He was spending about six hours a day with the queen, which in those days was scandalous. In autumn of 1837 rumors began that Victoria was considering marrying Lord Melbourne and people continued to speculate about their relationship until she became interested in her first cousin in 1839. |
| 8 | Victoria first met Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha when he came to visit at age sixteen. Although they did not fall in love immediately, they did enjoy each other's company. However, when Albert visited again 3 years later, Victoria fell in love at first sight. She described Albert as "excessively handsome" with "beautiful eyes" and soon she proposed to him. He accepted, and they were married the following year in February of 1840. |
| 9 | Over the next eighteen years, she gave birth to nine children. Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise was her firstborn. She was born in 1840. Her nickname in the family was Vicky and she was quite spoiled. She married Prince Frederick William of Prussia, who eventually became the Emperor of Germany, when she was just seventeen. She had seven children, one of whom became Emperor of Germany while another became Queen of Greece. Her eldest son was Prince Albert Edward, who was born a year later in 1841. His nickname was Bertie. When his mother died, he became King Edward VII of Great Britain. He had six children with his wife Princess Alexandra of Denmark, including a daughter who became the Queen consort of Norway. Princess Alice Maud Mary was born in 1843. She married Prince Ludwig (later known as Grand Duke Louis XIV) when she was 18. She was sensitive and altruistic. She had seven children, including Alix, who would be the wife of Russia's last tzar. She was also the first of Victoria's children to die. She died of diphtheria when she was 35. Prince Alfred Ernest Albert was born in 1844. His family nickname was Affie. In 1874 he married the daughter of tzar Alexander II or Russia. When he was 50 he became Duke of Saxe-Coburg. His only son died of a self inflicted gunshot in 1899. Princess Helena Augusta Victoria was born in 1846. Her nickname was Lenchen. She has been described as dutiful and dull. She was married for 51 years to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and had five children. Princess Louise Caroline Alberta was born in 1848 and even though custom dictated that princesses must not wed subjects, she married a Scottish nobleman, John Campbell, Marquis of Lorne, when she was 23. She was artistic and rebellious and led a slightly less restricted life than her sisters. Unfortunately her marriage was a troubled one, and she died childless in 1939. Prince Arthur William Patrick was born in 1850 and married Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia in 1879, with whom he had three children. He was Victoria's longest surviving child, dying in 1942 at the age of 92. Prince Leopold George Duncan was born in 1853. He had two children with Princess Helena Frederica of Waldeck, whom he married in 1882. He was a hemophiliac and died two years after getting married. Aptly nicknamed Baby, Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria was born in 1857. She was the youngest of Victoria's children. Intended to be her mother's spinster companion, she did not marry until she was 28 years old when she married Prince Henry of Battenberg. Although Queen Victoria disapproved of the match, Beatrice continued to live in England at Victoria's beck and call. She had four children, including the future Queen of Spain, before dying in 1944. Through the marriages of Victoria's children and grandchildren, the British Royal House became allied with those of Russia, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Romania, and several German states. |
| 10 | Because Victoria was confined by her multiple pregnancies, Prince Albert undertook many of her responsibilities. He brought a strict decorum to the court and gave a more conservative tinge to Victoria's politics, persuading her that the monarch should not favor any particular party, as she had favored the Whigs early in her reign. Victoria herself said that Albert was king in all but name. She wanted to give him that title, but the population would not accept that. They scorned him for his foreign ways and his covert activities as a surrogate ruler. As time went on, he became more accepted by the English people and in 1857 the Queen finally persuaded Parliament to officially grant him the title "Prince Consort." |
| 11 | Albert's health was always poor. In November 1861 he contracted typhoid fever, and a month later he died in his sleep at the age of 42. Victoria was devastated. She had lost her beloved husband and her principal adviser in affairs of state. Always prone to self-pity, Victoria fell into a state of great depression at her husband's death. She mourned him, always wearing black, for the rest of her life. She had Albert's rooms maintained exactly as they were when he was alive. The servants even brought hot water for shaving to his dressing room each morning. Her grief was so great that she did not appear in public for three years, and rarely after that. During this time her popularity dropped and by 1870 her popularity was at it's lowest. During this time, there were several assassination attempts and many wondered if the monarchy, which cost the nation 400,000 pounds a year, was worth the cost. She finally opened Parliament again in 1866, mostly due to the influence of Benjamin Disraeli who, along with William Gladstone, dominated the politics of the latter part of Victoria's reign. |
| 12 | Disraeli became Prime Minister in 1874 and two years later secured the title empress of India, which pleased Victoria greatly. She was quite fond of Disraeli, for he could make her laugh, but she disliked Gladstone, who succeeded Disraeli. |
| 13 | In her old age, Victoria was extremely popular, and had a golden jubilee after fifty years of her reign and a diamond one ten years later. She died at half past six in the evening on January 22, 1901 at Osborne house, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. She left elaborate instructions for her funeral, which was attended by Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes and Lords from around the world. She wore a white dress along with her wedding veil. As she had wished, her sons lifted her into the coffin. She was buried at Windsor beside Prince Albert, in the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum, which she had built for their final resting place. Visitors there can still read Victoria's words, which are inscribed above the mausoleum door: "farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again." |
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Nominated by Dr. Patricia McFarland, History Instructor
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