Chapter Seven
The Madness of Queen
Victoria"Really when one is so happy and blessed in one's home
life, as I am, Politics (provided my Country is Safe) must take only 2nd place."
Biographers of Queen Victoria set themselves an
incredibly difficult task: the task of getting inside the
mind of the queen. Victoria's disposition, her nerves and
Sulks and tantrums, and her famous stubbornness have
been recorded in anecdotes by any number of people
who came into contact with her. However, Victoria was
also a great chronicler of her life, keeping a journal for
many years and writing hundreds upon hundreds of
letters, and she frequently recorded her struggles to
contain her emotions,
From the earliest days of their ırriage, Albert had
set himself the task of molding Victoria in his own image,
to create a woman who was always patient, always calm,
and always collected. Albert convinced Victoria that her
essential character was deeply flawed as a result of her
upbringing and that he would teach her the valuable
lesson of self-control. He certainly taught her
Subservience, but to eradicate the stubbornness and
irritability that had been a facet of Victoria's complex
personality since she was a child was a much greater
challenge.
There are many rt and
terrible rows between Albert and Victoria in her letters.
;and
A one might expect. Victoria was prone to tantrum
ore often when she was pregnant than
anxiety attacks m
when she was not. By the time Victoria gave bir to her
ninth child at the age o 37, her outbursts had become
frequ nt and hysterical. Albert had a habit of quietly
walking away from Victoria when she made a s«
g her later with pa ng notes that criticized
her behavior. that he
Victoria's physician, Sir lames Clark, rec
feared for Victoria's sanity in 1863, and there we
wo thought that Victoria had inherited the "madness"
that had taken hold of George ll, Victoria's gra
Cont his ns do not agree on the nature of
George r's mental illr ss. Some point to a metabolic
disorder known as porphyria as the cause of George's
insanity, while others have dia ed him as bipolar
with manic episodes. Either way. it seems unlikely that
ria genetically inherited George'sn malady, but it was
clear that she was prone to anxiety attacks and had a
violent temper.
The next few years were difficult ones for Vi
Albert retreated from her, spending mo andı
on the mountains of paperwork he had created. Victoria
did not wish to become pr gnant again, and it is possible
that then ne chaste at this time, sc ning
Victoria with. For years Victoria had made
mention of the glorious intimacy shared by husband and
wife and the everlasting passion she had for her lover
and now, still in her thirties, all that had co e to an end.
Victoria had struggled to build close and supportive
relationships with her children and was characterized as
a controlling and harshma er. Perhaps Albert's lifelong
project ofc ing Victoria had simply caused her to
direct her anger and disappointment elsewhere-
towards her children. Victoria seemed only to be happy
when alone with Albert and admitted quite frankly that
she did not enjoy the company of her children. " find no
especial pleasure or compensation in the company of the
elder children," she said and was jealous of the time
Albert spent with them, particularly with her eldest
daughter, nicknamed Vicky.
Vicky was a child prodigy, extremely intelligent and
talented at a great many things, and it is possible that
Victoria was intimidated by her. In 1855, Albert arranged
rriage between 14-year-old Vicky and Frederick
William, heir apparent to the king of Prussia, a dynastic
match he had been planning since her birth. Albert was
thrilled by the union, but Victoria did not approve of
child marriage and feared for Vicky's health should she
be forced to conceive a child while still a child herself,
Perhaps Victoria's jealousy of her eldest daughter
stopped her from intervening, or perhaps she was at this
stage unable to contradict her husband in any way, but
Victoria allowed the marriage; Vicky was sent away to
live in Berlin.
As Victoria had feared, Vicky became pregnant by her
v husband. On hearing about her daughter's
pregnancy, Victoria immediately penned her a letter,
outlining how upset she was at the "horrid news." As
Victoria had suspected, the pregnancy was a dangerous
one, and Vicky almost died in childbirth aged 17. Now
that Vicky and her mother shared an experience unlike
any other, that of motherhood, theit relationship
blossomed. Living in different countries but writing to
each other twice a week, the mother and daughter
became closer than they had ever been while living
togethe
By contrast, Victoria's relationship with her eldest
son grew ever more strained. Victoria freely admitted
that she had never felt any real connection with her son
Albert, known to all as Bertie, and she could constantly
be heard criticizing him, to his face and behind his back.
As a child, Bertie had not responded well to the rigorous
study regime his father had created for him, and after
consulting with a team of phrenologists, who looked at
the formation of Bertie's skull, the young man was
diagnosed with sub-normal intelligence. Bertie's temper
mimicked that of his mother. It is possible that Victoria
saw all of the qualities she despised in herself in her
eldest son and that her attacks on him were a reflection
of her own feelings of inadequacy.
Little did Victoria know that she would soon need the
support and love of all of her children, even poor Bertie.
Chapter Eight
The Widow at Windsor
"Oh! That boy-much as pity I never can or shall look
at him without a shudder
-Queen Victoria
On December 14, 1861, Prince Albert died at age 42; a
tragic end to Victoria's fairytale marriage and an
emotional trauma she would never recover from.
It's not known exactly what caused Albert's death. In
the years preceding 1861, Albert had been in poor health,
suffering regular bouts of violent stomach upset. Pains,
sickness, and diarrhoea had gradually been joined by
depression and insomnia with no definite diagnosis in
sight. Biographers have suggested that Albert may have
Suffered from Crohn's disease or another ulcerative
bowel condition. It is also possible that Albert had
developed bowel cancer. In the winter of 1861, Albert
took to his bed, too ill and exhausted to leave it. On
finding a rash across Albert's stomach, his doctors
diagnosed Typhoid fever and told Victoria that Albert
would almost certainly recover, but Albert soon
developed pneumonia that would kill him.
Victoria would not allow an autopsy to be carried out
on her husband, but doctors advised her that overwork,
stress, and worry were the major causes of the illness
that had killed him. Victoria took this information but
jumped to her own conclusions placing blame for
Albert's death on the shoulders of one person: Bertie.
Weeks before Albert's death, Bertie had caused a scandal
by losing his alleged virginity t named
Nellie Clifden while on military e es in Ireland. He
was 19 years old. The news rocked Albert's moral world,
and he im diately set off to meet Bertie at Cambridge
and give him a piece of his mind. Albert was already
seriously ill at this point, and on his journey to
Cambridge he was caught in m and soaked to
the skin.
To Victoria's mind, the stress of the sc s news,
the worry over Bertie's future, and the strain of the rainy
visit to Cambridge had killed Albert, and she saw no
reason to contain her thoughts on the matter. Her open
e of her eldest son turned to physical re
when sher ed, "Oh! That boy-much asl pity l ne
can or shall look at him without a shudder.
ourning period so deep
Victoria retreated into a m
and dark that she was ne er able to return fully to life as
a healthy, still-young w n. Although Victoria was
determined to keep on top of Albert's life's work in
documentation, she refused to appear n public at all.
Victoria ed living in London, sharing her time
between ne and Balmoral, both homes that she and
Albert had built together. In these homes Victoria kept
Albert's ıs as shrines, insisting hot water and
ers be put in them every day. She dined alone as any
sation or laughter upset her.
as completely incapacitated by Albert's
death and c her n health and
weight gain. It took until 1866 for Via to agree to
open Parliament in on. She arrived without any of a
queen's finery, wearing a simple black gown with a white
s cap, and draped her red velvet cape over
Albert's throne, sitting empty but still adjacent to her
own. Despite her servant's in c that she was
perfectly healthy and well, Vi a refused to
any real form of public life for most of the rest of her life,
a decision that had a lasting effect on the monarchy as a
whole. Victoria's retreat from political life set a
precedent for a constitutional monarchy as opposite to a
working ruler. As a grieving woman who refused to fulfil
her public duty, Victoria was under threat from those
who wanted to force her into abdication in favour of her
Bertie, now referred to as the prince of Wales, was
still mercilessly criticized by Victoria. She wrote that he
s, "totally, totally unfit for ever becoming king" and
forcedhim to be a "social sovereign." Bertie was to act as
the face of the monarchy in London society, but he was
not allowed access to any state papers or to fulfill any
kind of public role.
In the years following Albert's death, Victoria's
relationship with her other children grew just as strained
as her relationship with Bertie, though in other ways.
uring their marriage, Albert was constantly urging
Victoria to have less concern for her own feelings and
more for those around her. Now that she was alone,
Victoria became more self-absorbed than ever, adding
the burden of her grief to her now fatherless children.
Rumor has it that on the night of Albert's death,
Victoria snatched her youngest daughter, Beatrice, then
aged four, from bed, and made her sleep in her dead
father's place wrapped in his nightclothes. The mourning
period that descended on the royal household was strict
and lengthy. Victoria's younger children still at home
became accustomed to dressing only in black and were
banned from engaging in any activity deemed frivolous.
Cheerfulness and laughter were deemed, by Victoria, to
be disloyal to Albert's memory.
Alice, Victoria's third child, was 18 when Albert died,
and had nursed her father on his dcathbed. Unable to
mourn in her own way, Alice was forced into the role of
comforter to her grieving mother. Victoria clung to her
daughters after her husband's death and demanded their
ompany in a way she never had while Albert was still
alive. Alice's wedding in the sum er of 1862 to the
Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt was a somber affair and
immediately following it Victoria begged her newly-wed
daughter to stay in Britain with her. Alice's husband
could not agree to such an ar ngement, and Alice began
anew life in Darmstadt.
When it came to her next two daughters' marriages,
Victoria tried even harder to keep them on British soil.
First, Victoria arranged for her daughter Helena to marry
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, a German prince
with few redeeming qualities, on the condition that he
came to live at Windsor. Next, she forced her daughter
> marry Lord Lorne, heir to the Duke of Argyll but
a commoner nonetheless. Victoria's older children were
horrified and told theit mother as much in an exchange
of letters that caused a major rift in the family.
Victoria vowed to play no part in the marriage
prospects of her younger sons, but did hand out a list of
unmarried Protestant princesse
s, urging her sons,
'choose for yourself amongst them." Leopold, the son
with whom Victoria had the more difficult relationship
after Bertie, for once heeded her advice and duly fell in
love and married Princess Helen of Waldeck and
Pyrmo second eldest son, Alfred the Duke of
Edinburgh, married Marie, daughter ofTsar Alexander Il,
against his mother's wishes, but seemed to suffer none of
the serious displeasure reserved for Bertie.
Victoria openly admitted that she did not want
Beatrice, her younger daughter, to ever marry. She hoped
that Beatrice wouldn main her constant and lifelong
companion and Bcatrice fulfilled this role, a prisoner in
her mother's dull court, until the age of 27 when she fell
in love with Prince Henry Battenberg Victoria reacted to
this development and her youngest daughter
to marry with unchecked rage and forced the prince to
abandon his army career and live with her at Windsor.
Victoria claimed to have abandoned Albert's project
to forge alliances with the great dynasties of Europe
through the marriages of his children, and yet all of
Victoria's children apart from Louise, made a dynas
match that would later earn Victoria the sobriquet the
Grandmother of Europe.
Aside from Victoria's meddling, co
and periods of neglect, Victoria caused a huge amount of
discord between herself and her children in her
relationship with a certain servant, Mr. John Brown. In
1866, Victoria was living alone at Balmoral and spending
the majority of her time with 40-year-old Brown. The
a relationship between Victoria and Brown transcended
what was usual between a queen and her servant, and
they grew to be intimate friends.
It is impossible to know just how ir
relationship Victoria had with her faithful servant but,
expectedly, gossip was soon rife that the widowed queen
was engaged in an illicit affair. The Queen's household
called her Mrs Brown behind her back, and the press had
a field day, reporting on every tidbit of information
emerging from the court. For four months a year, Victoria
escaped to her Highland retreat and allowed Brown to
take liberties that would never be allowed at court in
Windsor. Bro n is said to have blocked contact from
others, especially her children and ministers, while
Victoria was at Balmoral, and his influence raised the
suspicions of many.
In response to the gossip, Victoria commissioned a
painting of herself entitled Her Majesty at Osborne
depicting the queen in mourning sitting astride a black
pony led by a black-kilted Brown. Furious about the "ill-
natured gossip" concerning her relationship with Brown,
the queen found another excuse to isolate herself from
fashionable society. However, gossip continued and does
continue to this day about the queen and her servant,
with claims that the relationship was very much sexual
and may even have led to pregnancy.
Brown died in 1883, aged just 56, as the result of a
skin disease. Victoria had recently injured her leg and
was recovering in bed. On hearing of Brown's death,
Victoria lost the use of her legs completely for several
months and described herself in letters as feeling"utterly
crushed," writing in the third person, "The Queen feels
that life for the second time is becoming most trying and
sad to bear deprived of all she needs." I
rialized for all time with the commission of a
bronze statue engraved with words penned by
Tennyson: "Friend more than servant, loyal, truthful,
brave. Selfless than duty, even to the grave."
Victoria's relationship with Brown did little for her
reputation with the British public and drove an even
deeper wedge between her and her children, and now,
aged 46, Victoria again found herself alone.
Chapter Nine
Public and Personal
Upheaval
Griefis the agony ofan instant; the induigence of grief
the blunder ofa life."
_Benjamin Disracli
Throughout the late 1860s, the 1870s, and the 1880s, the
queen became embroiled in complex relationships with
her prime ministers, one of whom became her best friend
and one of whom became her sworn enemy.
Benjamin Disraeli i i fascinating historical
character. A writer of Jewish birth, Disraeli brought
much-needed gallantry and excitement into Victoria's
life when he became prime minister in 1868. Having
previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord
Derby's Tory government between 1866 and 1868,
Disraeli served as prime minister for just nine months.
During that e, he managed to make a lasting
impression on Victoria, who later referred to him as "one
of the kindest, truest and best friends and wisest
counsellors I ever had."
Disraeli referred to Victoria as "the Faery," likening
her to the Fairy Queen Titania and flattered her with long
and affectionate letters outlining how deeply he relied on
her advice. Through gentle coaxing, Disraeli was able to
convince Victoria that she must reclaim her position in
the political system and come out of hiding once and for
all. The timing was key. Victoria had recently published
her book, Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the
Highland, a selection of diary extracts from 1842 and
1868 that were carefully edited to convey dom bliss
at Balmoral. While Leaves became a best-seller and
ingratiated Victoria with many of her subjects, grateful
for a peek behind the scenes of royal life, the book w
not without its detractors. A very vocal minority
criticized the queen's depiction of er , luxurious
leisure, citing a price tag of £385,000 a year (the queen's
annual civil list payment) paid for by the working people
of Britain.
Still, if Victoria r the public a in a
triumphant display of her worthiness as a sovereign, the
time was now. Unfortunately, the only man it seemed
capable of coaxing Victoria back into the limelight
was more popular with the queen than he was with the
British public and lasted just nine months in office.
Disraeli was replaced by Lord Gladstone, a man Victoria
would soon c e to despise.
Gladstone was not a perfumed cavalier
to wooing royals, as Disraeli was. Gladstone was a stern
man of conviction and resolve with no time for the
gentlemanly ways of times past. That said, Glad
a staunch royalist, with a deep reverence for the
institution Victoria embodied and a determination to
safeguard her positio n against calls to dissolve the
narchy. The issue b n Gladstone and Victoria
as a battle of pers nalities rather than a battle of ideas.
Victoria came to loathe Gladstone's manner, theoretical
and idealist, and in turn, Gladstone was appalled by
Victoria's neglect of her duties.
The same year Gladstone to power Victoria
built her "Widow's House," the Glassalt Shiel. Described
by Victoria as the only place in the world where she could
have complete rest, the Widow's House was completely
isolated. A cheerless concrete l building two and a half
miles from Balmoral, the Widows House sent a clear
message from Victoria to Glad ne: the queen is not to
be disturbed.
ll-feeling t Vic a and, by extension, the
whole royal family, continued to intensify. Bertie was
torn apart by the press for his involvement in a
scandalous society divorce case in 1870. The same year,
Victoria agreed to open Parliament, a decision that
suspiciously coincided with her fourth daughter Louise's
engagement and her third son Arthur's a ent of
majority. The govern nent would mark both events with
financial settlements, an arrangement that outraged
Victoria's critics who littered the streets of London with
an anonymous pamphlet entitled, "What Does She Do
With It?" Finally, when Victoria departedi for Balmoral
before the end of Parliament, there was a public outcry.
Even Victoria's children banded together and wrote her
a letter urging her to take her place in public and quash
the burgeoningrevolution.
Victoria had cried wolf too many times, and no one
believed that she was ill or unable to perform her duties.
The trouble was that this time, Victoria was telling the
truth--she really was gravely ill. It was around this time
that Victoria's faithful Highland servant John Brown died,
and she lost the use of her legs. Victoria suffered a
he case of gout and rheumatoid arthritis and
developed a dangerous abscess on her arm. The Times
published a n apology and, thankfully, the letter written
by Victoria's children was never sent.
During Victoria's convalescence, the rumblings of a
evolution could be heard coming from the north of
England. Up to now, revolution in Britain had been
resisted. In Europe, conservatism, l libcralism, and
m were battling it out, but politics in England
remained fairly calm thanks to the constitutional
arrangement. Even as the Second Empire of France
collapsed in 1848, Victoria's Britain had stood firm, but
now republicanism was gaining popularity, with a rally
in Hyde Park that attracted large crowds. Surprisingly,
the only person who was able to overthrow the
Republican animosity Victoria had created for herself
was her least favorite child: Bertie.
As fate would have it, Bertie came down with Typhoid
fever, the sane illness that was believed to have killed his
father, Prince Albert. Bertie was nursed at Sandringham
with his extended family around him and a number of
high-profile doctors at his disposal, but his illness only
intensified. On December 14,1871, the tenth anniversary
of the death of Prince Albert, Bertie's doctor diagnosed
that he was "on the very verge of the grave." The public
was aghast, and expressions of sympathy for the queen
and her family poured in. Against all odds Bertie
recovered, and a national service of thanksgiving took
place on February 27, 1872, attended by Victoria. The
event took over the city of London with well-wishers
celebrating in the streets, and as Victoria made a rare
appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace,
aving happily to the adoring crowds, it seemed a full
reconciliation between reign and subjects had taken
place.
Chapter Ten
Long Live the Queen and
Empress
"Oh, Albert..
-Queen Victoria
Now that Victoria was, at last, enjoying an almost
unanimous popularity with her subjects, she began to
take more interest in life outside the walls of her sitting
m. In 1874, Victoria's favorite politician Benjamin
Disraeli again became prime minister, and together they
reinvigorated Victoria's image, ensuring that Britain's
golden age of industry and empire would forever be
associated with her ame.
During the mid-nineteenth ce ntury, Britain became a
world leader in industry and trade and used its wealth
and power to expand its empire drastically. During
reign, the British Empire added Canada,
Australia, India, and parts of South East Asia to its lands,
doubling in size. This period of aggressive expansion was
only possible thanks to Victoria's children and the
dynastic marriages they had made. Related by blood or
marriage to the royal houses of Russia, Germany,
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and Greece,
Victoria was able to avoid any serious confrontation over
Britain's expansion overseas.
It wasn't until 1873 that Victoria expressed a desire
to take on the title of empress of India. The East India
Trading Company had been forcing India to succumb to
British rule since the 1750s. In a series of conquests that
began in Bengal but later expanded to Afghanistan in the
west and Myann in the east, the East India Trading
Company had begun as a trading body but gradually
became involved in politics, paving the way for British
Imperialism. Following the suppression of the Indian
Rebellion, India ca e under the direct c of the
Britishf ent in 1858.
Victoria's new determination to officially assume the
title of empress was met with serious opposition. Two
nt Reform Acts had changed the way the British
nment worked for the better. Many believed the
Royal Titles Act, which would give Victoria her new
desired title, was a step backward for political progress
and smacked of imperialism. Imperial titles were
ciated with Russia, Napoleonic France, and
Germany, aggressive nations where ordinary citizens
e under the rule of a single, often despotic, ruler.
But Victoria got her way, and the diverse population
of India became the subjects of Queen Victoria of Great
Britain and Empress of India. Victoria's new title was
proclaimed at an event on January 1, 1877, by Lord
Lytton, viceroy of India, and was as magnificent an affair
as could be. Dripping in the exotic jewels of the Orient,
including the Koh-i-Noor diamond of the Maharajas of
Lahore, Victoria commissioned a number of new family
portraits, and a photograph of herself sat upon an ivory
throne.
Victoria's fascination with the exotic nation she
would never see but would rule from afar may go some
way in explaining her relationship with Abdul Karim,
who was 24 years old when he entered Victoria's
household. A khitmutgar, or male waiter, Karim was one
of two Indian attendants sent to Victoria by a British
or in India in 1887. The queen made Karim her
Indian Secretary and spent much of her free time with
him. It was said that Victoria treated Karim as a sort of
exotic pet, and his influence on the queen aggrieved both
her household and family. Convinced that racism was
behind her household's dislike of Karim, Victoria dug in
her heels and treated him with even greater favor. While
Victoria may have had a point, Karim was not at all what
she thought he was, and it was later revealed that he lied
about his past, stole from the queen, and even leaked
secrets about British policy to anti-British organiz
in India.
Victoria's reinvigoration and increased interest in the
affairs of her government coincided with a series of
crises in the Balkans that grew into the Russo-Turkish
War. Disraeli, still Britain's prime minister at this t
supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia and its
invasion of southeast Europe. From her throne, Victoria
demanded that her government and military be bold. In
a letter to her daughter Vicky, Victoria expressed her
position:"You say you hope we shall keep out of the war
and God knows I hope and pray and think we shall
to fighting. But I am sure you would not wish Great
Britain to eat humble pie to these horrible, deceitful,
cruel Russians?"
However, both Victoria and Disraeli had
miscalculated public opinion on Britain's involvement in
the Russo-Turkish War. Gladstone re-emerged from
retirement, voicing his opinions against Disraeli's
government and by extension, Victoria. Disraeli found
himself defeated at the polls of 1880, paving the way for
Gladstone's return. Gladstone was in office 1880 to 1885,
a few months in 1886, and between 1892 and 1894,
during which time the relationship between he and
Victoria grew ever sourer. Victoria was incredibly vocal
in her dislike for Gladstone and his policies. On the
subject of foreign policy, she a of
strating liberal reluct British
eas. Ev
ed in 1886 without Victoria's help, over his plans
to introduce rish Home Rule.
1887 was an important year for the queen, as she not
only got rid of Gladstone and welcomed her friend
Salisbury into office, she also celebrated her G
Jubilee. Victoria's Golden Jubilee was a celebration of the
queen ammoth fifty-year reign. For the very first
time, e stamps were created; people
ed in the streets singing "God Save the Queer
ere set off in the shape of Vi s face, and
she was ed with gifts rom all co of her
empire. On June 21,1887, Victoria drove to West
Abbey with an escort of Indian cavalry surrounded by
royal relations and well-wi The Jubilee
re exactly what the public wi and
served to galvanize their newappreciation of the queen,
who had ruled over them for half a century. Victoria
telegraphed a e to her 200 million worldwide
subjects stating, "From my heart thank my beloved
people. May God bless them!"
It's a shame in a way that the celebration of her
Golden Jubilee was not the last major event of Victoria's
life. Instead, the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 would
dominate the final years of her reign. Now in her eighties,
Victoria initially greeted the outbreak of war with
bravado. She was all in favor, said her private se
of"teaching Kruger (the Boer president) a sharp lesson."
From a wheelchair, V ria waved off troops, visibly
moved to tears, and issued 100,000 soldiers with a
commemorative tin of chocolate in D mber. Defeat
was not an option for Victoria, and yet as the months
rolled by, news of lost battles and high casualties caused
her severe anxiety.
Victoria died of a cerebral hemorrhage on January 22,
1901, at Osborne House. She did not live to see the end
of the Boer War or to celebrate Britain's victory. Victoria
spent her final hours with her whole family, children,
grandchildren, even great-grandchildren around her.
Her last words were "Oh, Albert." Victoria was buried
with him, Albert, the husband she could not have loved
any more, in the mausoleum she constructed for them
both. Finally, after 39 years, husband and wife were
reunited.
Conclusion
Queen Victoria lived for 81 ycars and ruled as the queen
of the United Kingdom of Grcat Britain and Ircland for
xty-thr
ce ycars and seven months. She had nine
children with her husband Albert, seven of which were
born in the first ten ycars of their marriage, and had
forty-two grandchildren, thirty-four of whomn lived into
adulthood. Victoria more than earned the nickname the
Grandmother of Europe and had an incredible influence
on the politics of nineteenth-century Europe thanks to
her far-reaching dynasty.
It is difficult to overstate the enormous changes that
took place in Great Britain during Queen Victoria's reign.
Victoria oversaw the gradual establishment of the
modern constitutional monarchy, watched English
politics evolve, and the British Empire expand to such a
size that the sun could never set on it.
The image of a queen must be more than mortal, and
as a public figure, Queen Victoria is unrivaled in her
magnificence. Queen Victoria represents the almighty
British Empire, the industrialized powerhouse that was
Victorian Britain, and all of the glamor and refinement of
the royal family.
However, as a private person, Victoria suffered much
loss in her life and never got over the blow of losing her
beloved husband, Prince Albert Victoria nmourned
Albert's passing for the rest of her life and spent many
years living joylessly in seclusion, never truly able to
move on and live as a widow. Known for her caustic
remarks and unsentimental view of childbearing and
family life, Victoria had a difficult relationship with her
nine children but managed in the end to reconcile their
many differences.
The same can be said for Victoria's relationship with
her numerous ministers, counselors, servants, and
subjects, all 200 million of them. During her lengthy
reign, Victoria's actions were criticized at times, and she
endured spells of unpopularity, but in the end, she was
celebrated as a national icon who gave her name to one
of the most important and glorious eras in British
history.
Chapter Five
Die Shattenseite (The
Shadow Side)
"There is great happiness andgreat blessedness in
devoting oneselfto another who is worthy of one's
affection... still men are very selfish and the woman's
devotion is always one of Submission which nakes our
poor sex very unenviabie."
Victoria and Albert's marriage may have continued along
this vein for many years, with frequent arguments over
power and precedence, had it not been for Victoria's first
pregnancy. Within weeks of their marriage, Victoria
discovered that she was pregnant, and her emotional
reaction to this discovery w s clear-cut she was
absolutely furious. Albert immediately moved his
writing table into Victoria's sitting room in Windsor and
placedit alongside hers. As Victoria was pregnant, Albert
was appointed regent in the event that she should die in
childbirth and on the birth of their first child, Albert was
given the keys to the Cabinet Boxes and unofficially
appointed Her Majesty's Private Secretary.
It was at this ne that Queen Victoria experienced
the first attempt on her life. In 1840, an 18-year old man
named Edward Oxford accosted Victoria while she was
riding in a carriage with Albert. Oxford fired on the
pregnant Queen twice but he either missed or his guns
had no shot The queen was unharmed, and Oxford was
ately seized and later charged with tr
Oxford was acquitted on the grounds of insanity and saw
out his days in a state mental institute. The only
motivation Oxford ever gave for his a
empt was "notoriety" Victo a's apparent bravery and
level-he ssin the face of her would-be as in led
to a definite ng in her popularity with the public.
Victoria's opınion on pre , childbirth, and
child-rearing, at least in the early days of motherhood,
was that it was an unpleasant but un dable duty of
e. In her letters, Victoria refers to her role as a
mother as die shattenseite, "the shadow side" of
marriage, a reference perhaps to both her dread of it and
the hidden, shadowy way in which it was ha Each
time Victoria became pregnant and was forced into
ment, into the secret world of m ood wher
so much was deemed unspeakable, Albert moved a step
closer to his goal of ruling Britain as Victoria's superior.
To speed up his attempt to make Victoria sul
to him, Albert i d her from her two closest
compa ns. Until the day Albert came into her life, Lord
Melbourne had been the most dominant male figure in
Victoria's life and her closest friend. Melbourne had
retired from his role as prime minister after suffering
defeat at the 1841 election and frequently w letters
to Victoria from his retire ent. The letters were for the
most part friendly notes with little mention of politics or
royal matters, but no onetheless, Albert put a stop to them,
effectively banning co Victoria
and Melbourne,
difficult nship to break was that
n Victoria and Baro ss Lezhen, Victoria's for
ria put Lezhen in charge of her court and
thing Albert was very much against. In
January 1842, Victo ria had recently given birth to her
second child Edward when her first child, Victoria,
became ill. Albert seized the opportunity to blame the
child's sickness on Lezhen, accusing her of mismanaging
the household and neglecting the child. A furious row
ensued at which time Albert left the family home and
refused to communicate with Victoria except through
letters passed through a third party. In one of his letters,
he said, "Take the child away and do as you like, and if
she dies you will have it on your conscience."
Eventually, Victoria capitulated and dismissed
Baroness Lezhen, a woman who had been by her side
since childhood. This marked a turning point in Victoria
and Albert's relationship. From this point on Victoria
became consumed by her loyalty to and love for Albert
and agreed to submit to his wishes in all things. Victoria
re-wrote her own history, destroying many of the letters
she had written before her marriage to Albert,
dismissing them a flattery,
excitement and mere politics." Everything that had come
before Albert was meaningless;\
entering the most important stage of her life and was
determined to succeed in her role a good wife and
mother.
Following Lezhen's dismissal, Albert carried out a
complete overhaul of the running of the palace. It did
seem that the management of the queen's household left
alot to be desired. In 1838, a young boy was discovered
in the palace kitchens. He had been living there
unobserved for the past 12 months, and in 1840 another
young boy was discovered sleeping under a sofa in a
room next door to the queen's bedroom. Such lax
urity would not do, and the household, in general, was
incredibly chaotic and wasteful. Albert appointed a
Master of the Household, and wasteful expenditure
immediately cut In contrast to Victoria's court during
the early days of her reign, which was a joyful place,
jokingly referred to as "Camelot," Albert's c
pre somber. Albert was of the opinion thata royal court
should set a moral e ample; he introduced strict
etiquette and forbade any discussion of politics or gossip.
Victoria's amusing social life became a distant memory.
By the time Victoria had her third child, Alice, born in
1843, Albert had begun to attend meetings with
ers and sat on a throne directly alongside hers in
the House of Lords. Albert's new status may have
quashed the en man and wife, but it had
intensified the tension betw en man and state. By his
own design, Albert was the natural head of the family,
manager of the queen's private affairs, private se etary,
confidential political advisor and as ant, tutor of the
royal children, and perm ent minister. Albert could
hardly be considered a minister if he v
accountable to Parliament and there were many layers to
his power. As Albert saw it, he was king in all but na
and Victoria was now merely an or ntal qu
In 1845, Victoria and Albert moved to an isolated
spot on the Isle of Wight where Albert bought a seaside
home known as Osborne using the queen's private funds.
Victoria was thrilled to leave London, where she felt she
and her family were under increasing scrutiny from the
press. She loathed living at George IV's Pavilion in
Brighton and complained that she was regularly mobbed
in the streets. Victoria had also recently been subjected
to two further assassination attempts while riding in her
carriage at hstitution Hill. Both attempts left her
ed but gave her ample ammunition to defend her
seclusion from criticism. At Osborne, the royal family
became completely separated from court life and led a
quietly productive lifestyle, just as Albert had wanted.
In the first ten years of Victoria and Albert's marriage,
Victoria gave birth to seven of her nine children. At this
time women were encouraged to take a "lying-in" period
of six weeks following each birth. Add these periods to
seven nine-month periods of pregnancy, and Queen
Victoria spent seven of the ten years between 1840 and
1850 bringing her children into the world. This
arrangement suited Albert perfectly. Albert was free to
take on more and more responsibilities during the time
his wife was otherwise engaged, and a large family was
his idea of domestic bliss as well as an important tool in
dynasty-building.
Victoria's view of motherhood was unsentimental.
Time and time again she reveals in her letters how
unpleasant motherhood could be and how much she
resented what pregnancy did to her body. Victoria
considered the first two years of her marriage "utterly
spoilt" by childbearing and referred to her babies as
"little plants" that are "frightful when undressed." And
yet, completely in thrall to Albert, emotionally, sexually,
intellectually, Victoria was content to be his subservient
wife and mother to his children. As a result of her
marriage, Victoria's attitude to her crown changed.
Women, she decided, were not meant to govern.
Chapter Six
The Hungry Forties and
Albert's Great Exhibition
Nobody who has paid any attention to the peculiar
features of our present era will doubt fora moment that
we are living at aperiod ofmost wonderful transition."
-Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
In 1846, Victoria gave birth to her fifth child, Helena. As
Victoria enjoyed her lying-in period, a time during which
Albert is said to have read out loud to her every night,
Britain's political landscape was in a state of upheaval.
Secluded in their seaside idyll, the royal family were far
from the disturbing events unfolding across their
kingdom. Victoria recorded in her diary at this
"Really when one is so happy and blessed in one's home
life, as l am, Politics (provided my Country is safe) must
take only 2nd place."
In 1848, Victoria and Albert purchased Balmoral
Castle in Scotland. After visiting the house in September
1848, it was quickly decided that the house was too small
for the ever-increasing royal family, and architects were
commissioned to build a much larger house on the land.
Work began in 1853 and was completed in 1856.
The 1840s, the decade during which Victoria had
seven children, were referred to by many as the Hungry
Forties. In Ireland, the Great Famine, which lasted for
seven ycars between 1845 and 1852, killed over a
million people with a million more leaving Ireland in the
hope of uilding a new life elsewhere. The people of rural
nd were hit by the Highland Clearances, during
which tho ls of Scottish far e forced from
their lands, and in England and Wales, the new urban
working class swelled to epic proportions, bringing the
quality oflife in Britain's industrial cities to terrible new
lows. A class war was bubbling b i the poor
workers and the Parliament and aristocracy that
excluded them from both having an i
and i share of Britain's
Against this l p of civil unrest, Albert
orchestrated the Great Exhibition of 1851. 0n May 1,
1851, Vi ia drove with Albert in 1 of nine
iages to Paxton's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.
This event could be described as the high-point in
Albert's relat ship with the British public. An
intelligent man, interested in science, industry and the
arts, Albert's Great Exhibition was highly profitable. The
ey raised during this grand show of British creativity
and industrial ingenuity was used to establish se
ns in Kensington, including the V&A, the old
Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. Over
six million people atte ed the Great Exhibition, and the
queen herself visited three times. An incredible
spectacle, the Great Exhibition was su ful in its aim
to show the world that Great Britain was an industrial
leader and held the key to a better future for all.
er, the pomp of the Great Exhibition and the
spike in popularity Albert experienced following its
ess was short-lived. In the winter of 1843, the press
vilified Albert as an enemy of Great Britain, accusing him
of meddling in fore zn policy and omoting
erests. The Crimean War was just around the cor
and anti-Rus nent in Great Britain spilled over
into anti- sentiment, making Albert publicenemy
number one.
In response to this crisis, Albert took an even firmer
ce on the power of the so reign, stating his vi
that the h (by now he saw himself as the
arch, not Victoria) upreme
authority. Albert firmly believed that the so eign held
power over and above Parliament, but he did follow a
strict code of political neutrality, s mething no other
ruler of Great Britain had thus far m lto do.
Albert under od that in order to have power he
must have information, and he began r
Buckingham Palace almost like his own Cabinet Office.
Albert began to ge the letters held in his sacred
Cabinet Boxes, making duplicates and devising a
elaborate filing system to help him to ac ; info
with greater ease, but he may have underestimated the
labor involved in this task. In the mid-ni enth
century, the m rchy, and indeed Parliam ent, was run
on letters and documents, and Albert was forced to work
tirelessly to keep up with the en ss copying and filing
of papers. Delegation was not an option, and Albert felt
the responsibility of transcribing letters written by the
queen or keeping notes of meetings with ministers
duty that he alone could perform. By now the quee
relied on Albert completely to draft her o
ondence and v en prompted by Albert in
German when making co sation over dinn with
In 1853, the Crimean War broke out b the
Ottoman Empire and Russia. Britain joined the w
almost immediately in support of the Ot The
main cffect of the Crimn n War on Vic ia and Albert's
d was that Albert w
than before, spending hours and hours each day on his
administrative tasks.
On September 10, 1855, Victoria received a telegram
at Balmoral, advising her that the twelve-month siege of
Sebastopol , and the Russians had been
defeated. The Crimean War had come to an end, and
victory for Great Britain was assured. Victoria reached
out to her public during and following the Crimean War
in a way she never had before, forcing the government to
build better military hospitals and barracks, signing
every officer's commission by hand, and giving every
medal in person. The Crimean War was the only major
conflict Great Britain fought in for the entirety of
Victoria's 63-year reign.
QUEEN VICTORIA
ALife From Beginning to End
Introduction
The story of Queen Victoria's life is a difficult one to tell
if only for its duration. Victoria lived for 81 ycars and was
qucen of Grcat Britain and Ireland for 63 of those ycars--
six decades during which the industry, economy, socicty
and forcign policy of Great Britain changcd dramatically.
The world Victoria was born into was a very differer
one to that which she left behind, and her life story is
credible journey from infant heir to matriarchal queen
and empress.
Victoria lived two lives. One was the public life of a
queen, and later empress, who was at the service of her
subjects and responsible for representing her nation to
the rest of the world. The other life was a private one as
a loving wife and mother of nine children, dedicated to
creating a happy and productive household. Victoria
made a valiant attempt to incorporate the public and
private spheres of her life in a way no other woman had
before, but ultimately it was too big a task too far ahead
of its time.
Victoria's childhood was not a happy one, and her
middle years were dominated by the death of her
husband Albert, a tragic loss from which she never fully
recovered. However, there was much joy in Victoria's life
o, in the glamour and folly of her early years as queen,
in her dedication to her work as regent, and in her large,
influential family.
Unusually, the story of Queen Victoria's life has been
written in part by her own hand. Victoria
estimated 2,500 words every day, kept a daily journal,
and e constant letters to family and friends.
Described at different points in her life as a spoiled child,
a stubborn young queen, a subservient wife, a cruel
mother. a reclusive widow. a benevolent matriarch, a
warrior queen, and a principled sovereign, there
many sides to Queen Victoria. We can only hope to begin
to understand a few of them here.
Chapter One
An Unsentimental Marriage
7 will be good."
-Queen Victoria
The story of how Queen Victoria's mother and father met
and married is not a romantic tale. Nor is the story of
Victoria's conception-which could accurately be
described as the result of a crisis of succession.
In the year 1817, King George IIl was on the throne.
George was of the House of Hanover, the royal dynasty
thathad ruled Britain since 1717 when it took over from
the House of Stuart. In 1817 there was only one clear
contender to take over the British throne on George's
death, his granddaughter Princess Charlotte.
Despite the fact that George II fathered fifteen
children-nine sons and six daughters-his sons had
produced just one suitable heir between them. The sinful
situation of George Il's seven sons (who lived in
adulthood) was, before 1817, as follows:
The Prince Regent George, who later became George
IV, was locked into an unhappy marriage with Caroline
of Brunswick. The pair had one child together, Princess
Charlotte, before they were formally separated. George
enjoyed the company of a number of mistresses.
The Duke of York Frederick was married to Princess
Frederica Charlotte of Prussia. The marriage w
unhappy from the outset, and the couple had no children
togethe
The Duke of Clare ce William, Duke of Kent E
Duke of Cumberland Ernest, ar d Duke of Cambridge
Adolphus were not expected to figure in the succession
as theywere George lll's yo ns. Except for Ernest,
the Duke of Cumberland, all of George Il's adult sons
ither but ed from their wives or
unmarried and enjoying a bachelor's lifestyle.
But, in 1817 the only clear and legitimate heir to the
British throne, Princess Charlotte, died in childbirth
along with her child. This tragic event created a dynastic
crisis that threw the entire royal family into action. The
Hanoverian dynasty was un lar with the public, who
thought their days as powerful rulers w e numbered.
King George Ill famously suffered from mental illness,
and most of his sons lived a lifestyle the British pubilic
deemed excessive and imm al. The family knew that
key to keeping the H. an dynasty alive was to
secure an heir. n dukes, whom
The middle-aged Ha her"wicked
immediately sought ut new wives to give them a
ofter n referred to later
legltimate unsentimental heir. race up Duke the of aisle Kent as was in 1817 the winner he promptly of this
his mis s of some 27 years, Madame de
int-Laurent, and rushed into n arranged n
Victoire of Saxe-Coburg result of a careful dynastic
This union was the benefits of uniting the
calculation that saw the political ber
es of Saxe-Coburg and Hanover. Victoire was the
sister of Prince Leopold o Saxe-coburg, the husband of
had recently lost both his
Princess Charlotte. Leopold h
unborn child and any claim to the British th
along with it, and he hopcd that by m rying his sister to
a Saxc-Coburg
ould still stage ä
the Duke of Kenthe co
wer of the Britishc
Chapter Two
The Race to Produce an Heir
Conceived, born and bred... to mount the summits of
greatness.
_Edith Sitwell
Although the marriage between the Duke of Kent and
Victoire of Saxe-Coburg may not have begun on the most
romantic footing, the couple did appear to be a good
match, and Victoire soon became pregnant. On May 24,
1819, Victoire gave birth at Kensington Palace to the
child who would later be named Victoria. The childbirth
was witnessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and
other political figures,2 was the custom when
succession was under scrutiny.
At her birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession
to the British throne after her father, the Duke of Kent,
andhis three older brother
s-the Prince Regent, Duke of
York, and Duke of Clarence. The Duke of York attempted
to disguise his designs on the throne and never
mentioned the succession question in relation with
Victoria, but Edith Sitwell nonetheless described the
bouncing baby as, "conceived, born and bred...
the summits of greatness."
The Prince Regent was much displeased by Victoria's
birth and did not wish to see the offspring of his brother
take to the British throne, even if it would happen many
ycars after his own death. The Prince Regent expressed
his displeasure at the naming ceremony of the new heir
in a somewhat petty display. Vetoing the name Georgina,
which he felt too embled hisown, and
harlotte, the name of his d dead daughter, he se
andrina Victoria, a forei settled
for with the the British intenti throne.," making Victoria appear u
n-sounding name chosen
In 1820, both V kather the Duke of Kent and
King George 1l di
Victoria was just eight months old at the time. The Prince
gent ucceeded to the throne as King George Vl, and
eh^sltion ted to third in line to the British
throne after her uncles the Duke of York and Duke of
nce, neither rofwhom had children.
of Saxe-Cobur Victoria support was raised from at her Kensington Uncle Leopold Palace
in England by her mother, the formidable Duchess of
Kent. Despit the fact that Victoria wa three.
quarters n, she was raised to speak English as her
first language and was always a d as Your Royal
Highness. By Victoria's n in letters writter
later in her life, she was a. spoiled child raised by
suffocating but affect te single mother. Energetic and
healthy and, ir portraiture, cherubic, Victoria was ofte
described as a willful child, Despite Victoria's
sylvan
surroundings, her life at Kensington Palace was one of
Confi nt MoOr she often her
childhood as an unhappy one.
. "1 had a very unhappy life as a child, Victoria wrote
in a letter to her daughter Vicky in 1858.Had no scope
for my very violent feelings of a -had nO
brothers or sisters to live with- r had a father
from my unfort circumstances was not on
comfortable orat all intimate or confidential footing with
my mother... and did not know what a happy domestic
life was!"
From the e of 11, Victoria's life changed
dramatically when Lord Conroy entered the scene.
Victoire, Victoria's mother, had few friends in London
and spoke very little English. Historians have noted a rise
of xenophobia in the British popular culture of the early
nineteenth century, and this intolerance coupled with
King George IV's clear irritation at her daughter's very
existence left Victoire lonely and vulnerable.
Lord Conroy came into Victoria's life masquerading
as some sort of protector, playing on her mother's
vulnerability by unnerving her with conspiracy theories.
It is unknown whether the duchess and Lord Conroy had
a sexual affair, but what is clear is that Conroy quickly
became the major male influence in young Victoria's life.
Together Conroy and the duchess subjected Victoria
what they later dubbed the "Kensington System" of
education. Under this system, Victoria was completely
cut off from her royal relatives and consumed by a
rigorous educational programme that taught strict moral
codes of behavior alongside arithmetic and languages.
Victoire's resolve to raise Victoria as a future
monarch was not completely selfless. King George IIl wa
still on the throne but was in very poor health. The Duke
of Clarence William was next in line to the throne, and
should William die before Victoria reached her 18th
birthday the duchess wanted to assure that she would be
appointed regent in her place. The duchess v
successful in achieving this ambitious ai, and the
Regency Act received royal assent on December 23,
1830.
In the year 1831, at the age of 14, Victoria first
learned the exact nature of her royal destiny thanks to a
genealogical table slipped into one of her history books.
Her response to learning that she was a clear and close
heir to the British throne was to say simply, "I will be
good.
It later became known that what Victoria endured
under the direct tutelage of the duchess and her
accomplice Lord Conroy was nothing short of abuse.
Victoire was essentially Victoria's jailer. Victoria slept in
the same room as her mother and was constantly
watched by members of her house. lt is said that she was
not allowed to walk downstairs without having someone
hold her hand. Victoria was raised in complete isolation
from others her own age, and she later admitted to being
bullied by her mother and Conroy, who taunted and
insulted her all the way into adulthood.
Chapter Thre
Taking the Throne
"Ttrust to God that my life may be spared for nine
months longer after which period, in the event of my
death, no Regency would take place."
-King William IV
The aging King William IV was not ignorant of the
designs the duchess had on his throne, nor of the
undesirable influe e of Lord Conroy. The king
expressed animosity time and time again towards the
household at Kensington Palace sparing just one
member-Victoria. On August 21, 1836, the king hosted
a dinner party at Windsor Castle in celebration of his
75th birthday. Victoria was in attendance, and the king
laid out his feelings towards the household at Kensington
with characteristic frankness, saying
"I trust to God that my life may be spared for nine
months longer, after which period, in the event of my
death, no Regency would take place. I should then have
the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority to the
personal excise of that Young Lady, the Heiress
Presumptive of the Crown and not in the hands of a
person now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisors
and who is herself incompetent to act with propriety in
the situation in which she would be placed."
There was now no real chance of the duchess
becoming regent; furious at this very public snub,
Victoire took her anger outon Victoria. King William was
very ill, close to death in fact, as Victoria celebrated her
18th ay on May 24, 1837. Victoria's birthday was
s happy an c
terrible row broke out between Vi have been. as
s. King William had ofieredc and her an
establishment of her o
duchesrekused control the duchess the and Conroy attempt had over to break her. The the
rwithout ever speaking of
it to Victoria, and Conroy t Victoria in an
attempt to c rce her into officially appointing him as
her political advisor.
The traumatic nature of Victoris's
relationship v with
her motherand Lord Conroywa wast to affect Victoria forthe
rest of her life. Many biographers have pointed to
Victoria's ness and bad temper as the result of
enduring an isolateda ch with an overbearing
mother. The facets of victo
Victoria's ality that led some
to criticize her are in some ways the very things that
saved her. The Kensington System had made her strong-
willed and independent traits she would r
abu eed in
nce to rule as queen. As soon as she was able,
Vict stepped out of her mother's suffocating grip,
banished Conroy, and determined to rule alone."
oen Victoria's coronation took place on Jurne 27,
1838, at Westminster Abbey. h crowds of wel.
wishers gathered to see their net queen, and Victoria
enjoyed a period of imme larity. Recently turned
18 years old with blue eyes, long dark hair, and a fresh
complexion, Victoria vas everything the British public
wanted in their queen after the long line of elderly
Hanoverian kings. Of the day Victoria wrote, " really
cannot say how proud 1 feel to be the Queen of such a
Nation,"'
Despite the duchess and Conroy's careful tutclage of
Victoria, she knew very little of the political position ofa
ch. The only person to have an influer on her
decisions during the earliest days of her reign was her
Uncle Leopold, who counseled her in letters, warning
against making snap judgments and becoming
emotionally involvedin political matters. Victoria moved
into Buckingham Palace immediately and took revenge
on her mother by denying her the title of Queen Mother
and banishing her to a remote part of the palace.
Victoria's published letters contain a succinct reference
to Victoria's attitude towards her mother at this time:"
had to remind her who I was."
On the other hand, Victoria bonded with her first
prime minister, the prominent Whig Lord Melbourne,
instantly; her relationship with this 58-year-old m
would dramatically shape her future as queen. Victoria
enjoyed a long honeymoon period as queen, finding
much joy in her s mer court at Windsor. She met with
Lord Melbourne every day, and during their long
conversations, which often extended over an evening
meal, he taught her much of what the Kensington System
had failed to cover, including her Hanoverian descent,
he state of British politics, and what exactly would be
expected of her as queen.
However, the relationship between Victoria and her
Prime Minister Lord Melbourne was a little too close for
comfort and created a conflict of interest for both. Early
in her reign, Victoria had posed the question of whether
or not she should appoint a private secretary. In the past,
monarchs who were unfit or unwilling to rule alone had
appointed unofficial private secretaries, such King
George , who was mentally incapable. To appoint a
private secretary would be to undermine her position as
queen publicly, but in truth Victoria needed guidance.
Rather than selecting a private secretary to the queen,
Lord Melbourne decided to do the job himself, advising
her on appoint nts and drafting all of her official
letters.
In 1832, a Reform Act went through Pa nt The
act made a clear distinc en the power of the
House of Lords and the power of the House of Commo
Executive authority over political matters now rested
with the Cabinet members of the House of Co
rendering the authority of the negligible.
Victoría was still able to influence politics, though, and in
rne failed to win a majority in the
May 1839 when Melbou
House of C ns, Victoria stepped in Melbourne wa
forced to resign from his position, but the queen rejected
the winning Tory minister Robert Peel. On Melbou
advice, the que n refused to d iss her Whig ladies-in
waiting as Peel had ed.a scandal that came to be
effectively blocked the for on ofa new government
the last time a monarch was able to do this
Melbourne and his Whigs returned to office.
hit Around the headlines the sa of ush press At the center of the
me time, a scandal firom Victoria's court
in-waiting was who dy had Flora been under the ane orders ctoria's of the duchess ladies.
vas a child. Victoria wrote o Lord
Melbourne that she believed Lady Flora was with child
when Victoria
and that the father as level undoubtedly of Victoria's Lord Da court and
Lady a submitted to a
gossip pll ached to clear every1 her name, Ld en she was not, in fact
eventually, osamination.it was proveaon a sibly of
medi hat causcd her
pregnant
liver failure or some other c
abdomen to swell horrífied at how Qucen
Lady Flora's family when they
Victoria had treated their daughter, and
t ters to the
n of apologV , they sen
cived no form
newspapers for publication. The reporters jumped at the
chance to publish such a scandal, and the Duchess of
Kent, still haunting the remote reaches of Buckingham
Palace, jumped on the bandwagon and shared stories
with the press of how badly Victoria had treated her. At
this point in her reign, Victoria is said to have been as
unpopular with the British public as George IV had been
at the time of his divorce. How could the queen win back
the hearts and minds of her public?
Chapter Four
Queen Victoria Marries Her
Cousin, Prince Albert
"He comes to take for better or worse England's fat
Queen and England's fatterpurse."
-Popular mid-ninctecnth century ca
Years before Victoria was crowned queen of Great
Britain, all of the great royal houses of Europe had
designs on who should be her king. One such design came
from Duchess Augusta, the matriarch of the Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha dynasty and Prince Albert's grandmother
Although Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were first
cousins, Albert was groomed for the sole purpose of
becoming Victoria's husband and king,
Victoria was not ignorant of this plan and spent a
number of months pondering over Albert's suitability as
a husband and, indeed, her suitability as a wife. For a
time Victoria showed an unwillingness to marry at all,
citing her obstinate nature as ill-suited to the submissive
role of wife. However, Albert swept her off her feet.
On October 10, 1839, Victoria received Albert at
Windsor Castle with no intention of marrying him.
Albert, for his part, was also said to have no intentions of
marrying Victoria and was planning to break off the
whole courtship on this visit. In her journal, V
described the first time she laid eyes on 19-year-old
Albert: "It was not without some emotion that I beheld
Albert who is beautiful." After just five days in Albert's
company, Victoria decided that she would like very much
to marry him after all. In an unprecedented move, Queen
Victoria proposed to Albert herself. Victoria did not have
to ask anyone's permission to do this, but out of loyalty,
she did let Lord Melbourne know ahead of time.
The young couple spent four months together before
their wedding, a heavenly time for them both. They
spoke n with each other. the lan ze Victoria had
been forbidden from speaking as a child, and by all
accounts seemed to be very much in love. However, in
matters of the heart and crown, it is n r quite that
simple. Despite the fact that Albert's position in Germ
royalty was fairly minor (in Coburg he was "s
highness," the lowest grade of royalty), he had been
raised to rule a kingdom and did not take to the less
prestigious role of husband to the queen with ease. From
its earliest days, the marriage between Victoria and
Albert was a battleground of power and precedence in
both the political and domestic world-worlds that were
completely separate for most w n of the time, but
worlds Victoria was forced to occupy at once.
In order to advance Alberts recognition in Britain,
Victoria promoted him to the highest rank of Royal
Highness and fought to have his allowance raised by
Parliament. Victoria commissioned William Ross to paint
a miniature portrait of Albert, which she wore on a
bracelet, and called him her"Angel." Finally, Victoria was
able to put her lonely and unhappy childhood behind her
and embrace a new life with her beloved husband. But
Albert had greater ambitions than being merely a
husband to Victoria; he wanted to reign.
Victoria did not give in to Albert's d s readily,
and the first few months of their marriage were marred
bya series of struggles during which both husband and
wife were forced to make con . Victoria a
Albert to blot the ink on her letters, using him as a sort of
assistant but preferred that he assisted her only in the
bedroom and not in any official capacity. The British
public found a great deal of amusement in this
arrangement and a number of cartoons circulated
depicting Albert as some gold-digging gigolo.
Victoria and Albert were married on February 10,
1840, in the Royal Chapel of St James' Palace, London-
day Victoria described as the happiest of her life. Despite
her newlywed status, Victoria was unwilling to sideline
her responsibilities as queen. On Albert's suggestion that
they take a long honeymoon, Victoria snapped, "You
forget, my dearest Love, that i am the Sovereign, and that
business can stop and wait for nothing."
Ona visit in 1840, Victoria and Albert's Uncle Leopold
expressed his opinion that Albert "ought to e in
business asi everything necessary to the Queen."
Leopold told Victoria that Albert should be her walking
dictionary of reference and should be called upon by her
to answer any questions she may have about pretty
much anything, Essentially, Leopold thought Albert
should be Victoria's advisor. However, Victoria had been
warned against taking on an advisor as, in the eyes of her
court and Parliament. it amounted to an admission that
she was not up to the task of ruling Britain. Victoria still
refused to share any officialdom with Albert.
The Madness of Queen
Victoria"Really when one is so happy and blessed in one's home
life, as I am, Politics (provided my Country is Safe) must take only 2nd place."
Biographers of Queen Victoria set themselves an
incredibly difficult task: the task of getting inside the
mind of the queen. Victoria's disposition, her nerves and
Sulks and tantrums, and her famous stubbornness have
been recorded in anecdotes by any number of people
who came into contact with her. However, Victoria was
also a great chronicler of her life, keeping a journal for
many years and writing hundreds upon hundreds of
letters, and she frequently recorded her struggles to
contain her emotions,
From the earliest days of their ırriage, Albert had
set himself the task of molding Victoria in his own image,
to create a woman who was always patient, always calm,
and always collected. Albert convinced Victoria that her
essential character was deeply flawed as a result of her
upbringing and that he would teach her the valuable
lesson of self-control. He certainly taught her
Subservience, but to eradicate the stubbornness and
irritability that had been a facet of Victoria's complex
personality since she was a child was a much greater
challenge.
There are many rt and
terrible rows between Albert and Victoria in her letters.
;and
A one might expect. Victoria was prone to tantrum
ore often when she was pregnant than
anxiety attacks m
when she was not. By the time Victoria gave bir to her
ninth child at the age o 37, her outbursts had become
frequ nt and hysterical. Albert had a habit of quietly
walking away from Victoria when she made a s«
g her later with pa ng notes that criticized
her behavior. that he
Victoria's physician, Sir lames Clark, rec
feared for Victoria's sanity in 1863, and there we
wo thought that Victoria had inherited the "madness"
that had taken hold of George ll, Victoria's gra
Cont his ns do not agree on the nature of
George r's mental illr ss. Some point to a metabolic
disorder known as porphyria as the cause of George's
insanity, while others have dia ed him as bipolar
with manic episodes. Either way. it seems unlikely that
ria genetically inherited George'sn malady, but it was
clear that she was prone to anxiety attacks and had a
violent temper.
The next few years were difficult ones for Vi
Albert retreated from her, spending mo andı
on the mountains of paperwork he had created. Victoria
did not wish to become pr gnant again, and it is possible
that then ne chaste at this time, sc ning
Victoria with. For years Victoria had made
mention of the glorious intimacy shared by husband and
wife and the everlasting passion she had for her lover
and now, still in her thirties, all that had co e to an end.
Victoria had struggled to build close and supportive
relationships with her children and was characterized as
a controlling and harshma er. Perhaps Albert's lifelong
project ofc ing Victoria had simply caused her to
direct her anger and disappointment elsewhere-
towards her children. Victoria seemed only to be happy
when alone with Albert and admitted quite frankly that
she did not enjoy the company of her children. " find no
especial pleasure or compensation in the company of the
elder children," she said and was jealous of the time
Albert spent with them, particularly with her eldest
daughter, nicknamed Vicky.
Vicky was a child prodigy, extremely intelligent and
talented at a great many things, and it is possible that
Victoria was intimidated by her. In 1855, Albert arranged
rriage between 14-year-old Vicky and Frederick
William, heir apparent to the king of Prussia, a dynastic
match he had been planning since her birth. Albert was
thrilled by the union, but Victoria did not approve of
child marriage and feared for Vicky's health should she
be forced to conceive a child while still a child herself,
Perhaps Victoria's jealousy of her eldest daughter
stopped her from intervening, or perhaps she was at this
stage unable to contradict her husband in any way, but
Victoria allowed the marriage; Vicky was sent away to
live in Berlin.
As Victoria had feared, Vicky became pregnant by her
v husband. On hearing about her daughter's
pregnancy, Victoria immediately penned her a letter,
outlining how upset she was at the "horrid news." As
Victoria had suspected, the pregnancy was a dangerous
one, and Vicky almost died in childbirth aged 17. Now
that Vicky and her mother shared an experience unlike
any other, that of motherhood, theit relationship
blossomed. Living in different countries but writing to
each other twice a week, the mother and daughter
became closer than they had ever been while living
togethe
By contrast, Victoria's relationship with her eldest
son grew ever more strained. Victoria freely admitted
that she had never felt any real connection with her son
Albert, known to all as Bertie, and she could constantly
be heard criticizing him, to his face and behind his back.
As a child, Bertie had not responded well to the rigorous
study regime his father had created for him, and after
consulting with a team of phrenologists, who looked at
the formation of Bertie's skull, the young man was
diagnosed with sub-normal intelligence. Bertie's temper
mimicked that of his mother. It is possible that Victoria
saw all of the qualities she despised in herself in her
eldest son and that her attacks on him were a reflection
of her own feelings of inadequacy.
Little did Victoria know that she would soon need the
support and love of all of her children, even poor Bertie.
Chapter Eight
The Widow at Windsor
"Oh! That boy-much as pity I never can or shall look
at him without a shudder
-Queen Victoria
On December 14, 1861, Prince Albert died at age 42; a
tragic end to Victoria's fairytale marriage and an
emotional trauma she would never recover from.
It's not known exactly what caused Albert's death. In
the years preceding 1861, Albert had been in poor health,
suffering regular bouts of violent stomach upset. Pains,
sickness, and diarrhoea had gradually been joined by
depression and insomnia with no definite diagnosis in
sight. Biographers have suggested that Albert may have
Suffered from Crohn's disease or another ulcerative
bowel condition. It is also possible that Albert had
developed bowel cancer. In the winter of 1861, Albert
took to his bed, too ill and exhausted to leave it. On
finding a rash across Albert's stomach, his doctors
diagnosed Typhoid fever and told Victoria that Albert
would almost certainly recover, but Albert soon
developed pneumonia that would kill him.
Victoria would not allow an autopsy to be carried out
on her husband, but doctors advised her that overwork,
stress, and worry were the major causes of the illness
that had killed him. Victoria took this information but
jumped to her own conclusions placing blame for
Albert's death on the shoulders of one person: Bertie.
Weeks before Albert's death, Bertie had caused a scandal
by losing his alleged virginity t named
Nellie Clifden while on military e es in Ireland. He
was 19 years old. The news rocked Albert's moral world,
and he im diately set off to meet Bertie at Cambridge
and give him a piece of his mind. Albert was already
seriously ill at this point, and on his journey to
Cambridge he was caught in m and soaked to
the skin.
To Victoria's mind, the stress of the sc s news,
the worry over Bertie's future, and the strain of the rainy
visit to Cambridge had killed Albert, and she saw no
reason to contain her thoughts on the matter. Her open
e of her eldest son turned to physical re
when sher ed, "Oh! That boy-much asl pity l ne
can or shall look at him without a shudder.
ourning period so deep
Victoria retreated into a m
and dark that she was ne er able to return fully to life as
a healthy, still-young w n. Although Victoria was
determined to keep on top of Albert's life's work in
documentation, she refused to appear n public at all.
Victoria ed living in London, sharing her time
between ne and Balmoral, both homes that she and
Albert had built together. In these homes Victoria kept
Albert's ıs as shrines, insisting hot water and
ers be put in them every day. She dined alone as any
sation or laughter upset her.
as completely incapacitated by Albert's
death and c her n health and
weight gain. It took until 1866 for Via to agree to
open Parliament in on. She arrived without any of a
queen's finery, wearing a simple black gown with a white
s cap, and draped her red velvet cape over
Albert's throne, sitting empty but still adjacent to her
own. Despite her servant's in c that she was
perfectly healthy and well, Vi a refused to
any real form of public life for most of the rest of her life,
a decision that had a lasting effect on the monarchy as a
whole. Victoria's retreat from political life set a
precedent for a constitutional monarchy as opposite to a
working ruler. As a grieving woman who refused to fulfil
her public duty, Victoria was under threat from those
who wanted to force her into abdication in favour of her
Bertie, now referred to as the prince of Wales, was
still mercilessly criticized by Victoria. She wrote that he
s, "totally, totally unfit for ever becoming king" and
forcedhim to be a "social sovereign." Bertie was to act as
the face of the monarchy in London society, but he was
not allowed access to any state papers or to fulfill any
kind of public role.
In the years following Albert's death, Victoria's
relationship with her other children grew just as strained
as her relationship with Bertie, though in other ways.
uring their marriage, Albert was constantly urging
Victoria to have less concern for her own feelings and
more for those around her. Now that she was alone,
Victoria became more self-absorbed than ever, adding
the burden of her grief to her now fatherless children.
Rumor has it that on the night of Albert's death,
Victoria snatched her youngest daughter, Beatrice, then
aged four, from bed, and made her sleep in her dead
father's place wrapped in his nightclothes. The mourning
period that descended on the royal household was strict
and lengthy. Victoria's younger children still at home
became accustomed to dressing only in black and were
banned from engaging in any activity deemed frivolous.
Cheerfulness and laughter were deemed, by Victoria, to
be disloyal to Albert's memory.
Alice, Victoria's third child, was 18 when Albert died,
and had nursed her father on his dcathbed. Unable to
mourn in her own way, Alice was forced into the role of
comforter to her grieving mother. Victoria clung to her
daughters after her husband's death and demanded their
ompany in a way she never had while Albert was still
alive. Alice's wedding in the sum er of 1862 to the
Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt was a somber affair and
immediately following it Victoria begged her newly-wed
daughter to stay in Britain with her. Alice's husband
could not agree to such an ar ngement, and Alice began
anew life in Darmstadt.
When it came to her next two daughters' marriages,
Victoria tried even harder to keep them on British soil.
First, Victoria arranged for her daughter Helena to marry
Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, a German prince
with few redeeming qualities, on the condition that he
came to live at Windsor. Next, she forced her daughter
> marry Lord Lorne, heir to the Duke of Argyll but
a commoner nonetheless. Victoria's older children were
horrified and told theit mother as much in an exchange
of letters that caused a major rift in the family.
Victoria vowed to play no part in the marriage
prospects of her younger sons, but did hand out a list of
unmarried Protestant princesse
s, urging her sons,
'choose for yourself amongst them." Leopold, the son
with whom Victoria had the more difficult relationship
after Bertie, for once heeded her advice and duly fell in
love and married Princess Helen of Waldeck and
Pyrmo second eldest son, Alfred the Duke of
Edinburgh, married Marie, daughter ofTsar Alexander Il,
against his mother's wishes, but seemed to suffer none of
the serious displeasure reserved for Bertie.
Victoria openly admitted that she did not want
Beatrice, her younger daughter, to ever marry. She hoped
that Beatrice wouldn main her constant and lifelong
companion and Bcatrice fulfilled this role, a prisoner in
her mother's dull court, until the age of 27 when she fell
in love with Prince Henry Battenberg Victoria reacted to
this development and her youngest daughter
to marry with unchecked rage and forced the prince to
abandon his army career and live with her at Windsor.
Victoria claimed to have abandoned Albert's project
to forge alliances with the great dynasties of Europe
through the marriages of his children, and yet all of
Victoria's children apart from Louise, made a dynas
match that would later earn Victoria the sobriquet the
Grandmother of Europe.
Aside from Victoria's meddling, co
and periods of neglect, Victoria caused a huge amount of
discord between herself and her children in her
relationship with a certain servant, Mr. John Brown. In
1866, Victoria was living alone at Balmoral and spending
the majority of her time with 40-year-old Brown. The
a relationship between Victoria and Brown transcended
what was usual between a queen and her servant, and
they grew to be intimate friends.
It is impossible to know just how ir
relationship Victoria had with her faithful servant but,
expectedly, gossip was soon rife that the widowed queen
was engaged in an illicit affair. The Queen's household
called her Mrs Brown behind her back, and the press had
a field day, reporting on every tidbit of information
emerging from the court. For four months a year, Victoria
escaped to her Highland retreat and allowed Brown to
take liberties that would never be allowed at court in
Windsor. Bro n is said to have blocked contact from
others, especially her children and ministers, while
Victoria was at Balmoral, and his influence raised the
suspicions of many.
In response to the gossip, Victoria commissioned a
painting of herself entitled Her Majesty at Osborne
depicting the queen in mourning sitting astride a black
pony led by a black-kilted Brown. Furious about the "ill-
natured gossip" concerning her relationship with Brown,
the queen found another excuse to isolate herself from
fashionable society. However, gossip continued and does
continue to this day about the queen and her servant,
with claims that the relationship was very much sexual
and may even have led to pregnancy.
Brown died in 1883, aged just 56, as the result of a
skin disease. Victoria had recently injured her leg and
was recovering in bed. On hearing of Brown's death,
Victoria lost the use of her legs completely for several
months and described herself in letters as feeling"utterly
crushed," writing in the third person, "The Queen feels
that life for the second time is becoming most trying and
sad to bear deprived of all she needs." I
rialized for all time with the commission of a
bronze statue engraved with words penned by
Tennyson: "Friend more than servant, loyal, truthful,
brave. Selfless than duty, even to the grave."
Victoria's relationship with Brown did little for her
reputation with the British public and drove an even
deeper wedge between her and her children, and now,
aged 46, Victoria again found herself alone.
Chapter Nine
Public and Personal
Upheaval
Griefis the agony ofan instant; the induigence of grief
the blunder ofa life."
_Benjamin Disracli
Throughout the late 1860s, the 1870s, and the 1880s, the
queen became embroiled in complex relationships with
her prime ministers, one of whom became her best friend
and one of whom became her sworn enemy.
Benjamin Disraeli i i fascinating historical
character. A writer of Jewish birth, Disraeli brought
much-needed gallantry and excitement into Victoria's
life when he became prime minister in 1868. Having
previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord
Derby's Tory government between 1866 and 1868,
Disraeli served as prime minister for just nine months.
During that e, he managed to make a lasting
impression on Victoria, who later referred to him as "one
of the kindest, truest and best friends and wisest
counsellors I ever had."
Disraeli referred to Victoria as "the Faery," likening
her to the Fairy Queen Titania and flattered her with long
and affectionate letters outlining how deeply he relied on
her advice. Through gentle coaxing, Disraeli was able to
convince Victoria that she must reclaim her position in
the political system and come out of hiding once and for
all. The timing was key. Victoria had recently published
her book, Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the
Highland, a selection of diary extracts from 1842 and
1868 that were carefully edited to convey dom bliss
at Balmoral. While Leaves became a best-seller and
ingratiated Victoria with many of her subjects, grateful
for a peek behind the scenes of royal life, the book w
not without its detractors. A very vocal minority
criticized the queen's depiction of er , luxurious
leisure, citing a price tag of £385,000 a year (the queen's
annual civil list payment) paid for by the working people
of Britain.
Still, if Victoria r the public a in a
triumphant display of her worthiness as a sovereign, the
time was now. Unfortunately, the only man it seemed
capable of coaxing Victoria back into the limelight
was more popular with the queen than he was with the
British public and lasted just nine months in office.
Disraeli was replaced by Lord Gladstone, a man Victoria
would soon c e to despise.
Gladstone was not a perfumed cavalier
to wooing royals, as Disraeli was. Gladstone was a stern
man of conviction and resolve with no time for the
gentlemanly ways of times past. That said, Glad
a staunch royalist, with a deep reverence for the
institution Victoria embodied and a determination to
safeguard her positio n against calls to dissolve the
narchy. The issue b n Gladstone and Victoria
as a battle of pers nalities rather than a battle of ideas.
Victoria came to loathe Gladstone's manner, theoretical
and idealist, and in turn, Gladstone was appalled by
Victoria's neglect of her duties.
The same year Gladstone to power Victoria
built her "Widow's House," the Glassalt Shiel. Described
by Victoria as the only place in the world where she could
have complete rest, the Widow's House was completely
isolated. A cheerless concrete l building two and a half
miles from Balmoral, the Widows House sent a clear
message from Victoria to Glad ne: the queen is not to
be disturbed.
ll-feeling t Vic a and, by extension, the
whole royal family, continued to intensify. Bertie was
torn apart by the press for his involvement in a
scandalous society divorce case in 1870. The same year,
Victoria agreed to open Parliament, a decision that
suspiciously coincided with her fourth daughter Louise's
engagement and her third son Arthur's a ent of
majority. The govern nent would mark both events with
financial settlements, an arrangement that outraged
Victoria's critics who littered the streets of London with
an anonymous pamphlet entitled, "What Does She Do
With It?" Finally, when Victoria departedi for Balmoral
before the end of Parliament, there was a public outcry.
Even Victoria's children banded together and wrote her
a letter urging her to take her place in public and quash
the burgeoningrevolution.
Victoria had cried wolf too many times, and no one
believed that she was ill or unable to perform her duties.
The trouble was that this time, Victoria was telling the
truth--she really was gravely ill. It was around this time
that Victoria's faithful Highland servant John Brown died,
and she lost the use of her legs. Victoria suffered a
he case of gout and rheumatoid arthritis and
developed a dangerous abscess on her arm. The Times
published a n apology and, thankfully, the letter written
by Victoria's children was never sent.
During Victoria's convalescence, the rumblings of a
evolution could be heard coming from the north of
England. Up to now, revolution in Britain had been
resisted. In Europe, conservatism, l libcralism, and
m were battling it out, but politics in England
remained fairly calm thanks to the constitutional
arrangement. Even as the Second Empire of France
collapsed in 1848, Victoria's Britain had stood firm, but
now republicanism was gaining popularity, with a rally
in Hyde Park that attracted large crowds. Surprisingly,
the only person who was able to overthrow the
Republican animosity Victoria had created for herself
was her least favorite child: Bertie.
As fate would have it, Bertie came down with Typhoid
fever, the sane illness that was believed to have killed his
father, Prince Albert. Bertie was nursed at Sandringham
with his extended family around him and a number of
high-profile doctors at his disposal, but his illness only
intensified. On December 14,1871, the tenth anniversary
of the death of Prince Albert, Bertie's doctor diagnosed
that he was "on the very verge of the grave." The public
was aghast, and expressions of sympathy for the queen
and her family poured in. Against all odds Bertie
recovered, and a national service of thanksgiving took
place on February 27, 1872, attended by Victoria. The
event took over the city of London with well-wishers
celebrating in the streets, and as Victoria made a rare
appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace,
aving happily to the adoring crowds, it seemed a full
reconciliation between reign and subjects had taken
place.
Chapter Ten
Long Live the Queen and
Empress
"Oh, Albert..
-Queen Victoria
Now that Victoria was, at last, enjoying an almost
unanimous popularity with her subjects, she began to
take more interest in life outside the walls of her sitting
m. In 1874, Victoria's favorite politician Benjamin
Disraeli again became prime minister, and together they
reinvigorated Victoria's image, ensuring that Britain's
golden age of industry and empire would forever be
associated with her ame.
During the mid-nineteenth ce ntury, Britain became a
world leader in industry and trade and used its wealth
and power to expand its empire drastically. During
reign, the British Empire added Canada,
Australia, India, and parts of South East Asia to its lands,
doubling in size. This period of aggressive expansion was
only possible thanks to Victoria's children and the
dynastic marriages they had made. Related by blood or
marriage to the royal houses of Russia, Germany,
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and Greece,
Victoria was able to avoid any serious confrontation over
Britain's expansion overseas.
It wasn't until 1873 that Victoria expressed a desire
to take on the title of empress of India. The East India
Trading Company had been forcing India to succumb to
British rule since the 1750s. In a series of conquests that
began in Bengal but later expanded to Afghanistan in the
west and Myann in the east, the East India Trading
Company had begun as a trading body but gradually
became involved in politics, paving the way for British
Imperialism. Following the suppression of the Indian
Rebellion, India ca e under the direct c of the
Britishf ent in 1858.
Victoria's new determination to officially assume the
title of empress was met with serious opposition. Two
nt Reform Acts had changed the way the British
nment worked for the better. Many believed the
Royal Titles Act, which would give Victoria her new
desired title, was a step backward for political progress
and smacked of imperialism. Imperial titles were
ciated with Russia, Napoleonic France, and
Germany, aggressive nations where ordinary citizens
e under the rule of a single, often despotic, ruler.
But Victoria got her way, and the diverse population
of India became the subjects of Queen Victoria of Great
Britain and Empress of India. Victoria's new title was
proclaimed at an event on January 1, 1877, by Lord
Lytton, viceroy of India, and was as magnificent an affair
as could be. Dripping in the exotic jewels of the Orient,
including the Koh-i-Noor diamond of the Maharajas of
Lahore, Victoria commissioned a number of new family
portraits, and a photograph of herself sat upon an ivory
throne.
Victoria's fascination with the exotic nation she
would never see but would rule from afar may go some
way in explaining her relationship with Abdul Karim,
who was 24 years old when he entered Victoria's
household. A khitmutgar, or male waiter, Karim was one
of two Indian attendants sent to Victoria by a British
or in India in 1887. The queen made Karim her
Indian Secretary and spent much of her free time with
him. It was said that Victoria treated Karim as a sort of
exotic pet, and his influence on the queen aggrieved both
her household and family. Convinced that racism was
behind her household's dislike of Karim, Victoria dug in
her heels and treated him with even greater favor. While
Victoria may have had a point, Karim was not at all what
she thought he was, and it was later revealed that he lied
about his past, stole from the queen, and even leaked
secrets about British policy to anti-British organiz
in India.
Victoria's reinvigoration and increased interest in the
affairs of her government coincided with a series of
crises in the Balkans that grew into the Russo-Turkish
War. Disraeli, still Britain's prime minister at this t
supported the Ottoman Empire against Russia and its
invasion of southeast Europe. From her throne, Victoria
demanded that her government and military be bold. In
a letter to her daughter Vicky, Victoria expressed her
position:"You say you hope we shall keep out of the war
and God knows I hope and pray and think we shall
to fighting. But I am sure you would not wish Great
Britain to eat humble pie to these horrible, deceitful,
cruel Russians?"
However, both Victoria and Disraeli had
miscalculated public opinion on Britain's involvement in
the Russo-Turkish War. Gladstone re-emerged from
retirement, voicing his opinions against Disraeli's
government and by extension, Victoria. Disraeli found
himself defeated at the polls of 1880, paving the way for
Gladstone's return. Gladstone was in office 1880 to 1885,
a few months in 1886, and between 1892 and 1894,
during which time the relationship between he and
Victoria grew ever sourer. Victoria was incredibly vocal
in her dislike for Gladstone and his policies. On the
subject of foreign policy, she a of
strating liberal reluct British
eas. Ev
ed in 1886 without Victoria's help, over his plans
to introduce rish Home Rule.
1887 was an important year for the queen, as she not
only got rid of Gladstone and welcomed her friend
Salisbury into office, she also celebrated her G
Jubilee. Victoria's Golden Jubilee was a celebration of the
queen ammoth fifty-year reign. For the very first
time, e stamps were created; people
ed in the streets singing "God Save the Queer
ere set off in the shape of Vi s face, and
she was ed with gifts rom all co of her
empire. On June 21,1887, Victoria drove to West
Abbey with an escort of Indian cavalry surrounded by
royal relations and well-wi The Jubilee
re exactly what the public wi and
served to galvanize their newappreciation of the queen,
who had ruled over them for half a century. Victoria
telegraphed a e to her 200 million worldwide
subjects stating, "From my heart thank my beloved
people. May God bless them!"
It's a shame in a way that the celebration of her
Golden Jubilee was not the last major event of Victoria's
life. Instead, the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899 would
dominate the final years of her reign. Now in her eighties,
Victoria initially greeted the outbreak of war with
bravado. She was all in favor, said her private se
of"teaching Kruger (the Boer president) a sharp lesson."
From a wheelchair, V ria waved off troops, visibly
moved to tears, and issued 100,000 soldiers with a
commemorative tin of chocolate in D mber. Defeat
was not an option for Victoria, and yet as the months
rolled by, news of lost battles and high casualties caused
her severe anxiety.
Victoria died of a cerebral hemorrhage on January 22,
1901, at Osborne House. She did not live to see the end
of the Boer War or to celebrate Britain's victory. Victoria
spent her final hours with her whole family, children,
grandchildren, even great-grandchildren around her.
Her last words were "Oh, Albert." Victoria was buried
with him, Albert, the husband she could not have loved
any more, in the mausoleum she constructed for them
both. Finally, after 39 years, husband and wife were
reunited.
Conclusion
Queen Victoria lived for 81 ycars and ruled as the queen
of the United Kingdom of Grcat Britain and Ircland for
xty-thr
ce ycars and seven months. She had nine
children with her husband Albert, seven of which were
born in the first ten ycars of their marriage, and had
forty-two grandchildren, thirty-four of whomn lived into
adulthood. Victoria more than earned the nickname the
Grandmother of Europe and had an incredible influence
on the politics of nineteenth-century Europe thanks to
her far-reaching dynasty.
It is difficult to overstate the enormous changes that
took place in Great Britain during Queen Victoria's reign.
Victoria oversaw the gradual establishment of the
modern constitutional monarchy, watched English
politics evolve, and the British Empire expand to such a
size that the sun could never set on it.
The image of a queen must be more than mortal, and
as a public figure, Queen Victoria is unrivaled in her
magnificence. Queen Victoria represents the almighty
British Empire, the industrialized powerhouse that was
Victorian Britain, and all of the glamor and refinement of
the royal family.
However, as a private person, Victoria suffered much
loss in her life and never got over the blow of losing her
beloved husband, Prince Albert Victoria nmourned
Albert's passing for the rest of her life and spent many
years living joylessly in seclusion, never truly able to
move on and live as a widow. Known for her caustic
remarks and unsentimental view of childbearing and
family life, Victoria had a difficult relationship with her
nine children but managed in the end to reconcile their
many differences.
The same can be said for Victoria's relationship with
her numerous ministers, counselors, servants, and
subjects, all 200 million of them. During her lengthy
reign, Victoria's actions were criticized at times, and she
endured spells of unpopularity, but in the end, she was
celebrated as a national icon who gave her name to one
of the most important and glorious eras in British
history.
Chapter Five
Die Shattenseite (The
Shadow Side)
"There is great happiness andgreat blessedness in
devoting oneselfto another who is worthy of one's
affection... still men are very selfish and the woman's
devotion is always one of Submission which nakes our
poor sex very unenviabie."
Victoria and Albert's marriage may have continued along
this vein for many years, with frequent arguments over
power and precedence, had it not been for Victoria's first
pregnancy. Within weeks of their marriage, Victoria
discovered that she was pregnant, and her emotional
reaction to this discovery w s clear-cut she was
absolutely furious. Albert immediately moved his
writing table into Victoria's sitting room in Windsor and
placedit alongside hers. As Victoria was pregnant, Albert
was appointed regent in the event that she should die in
childbirth and on the birth of their first child, Albert was
given the keys to the Cabinet Boxes and unofficially
appointed Her Majesty's Private Secretary.
It was at this ne that Queen Victoria experienced
the first attempt on her life. In 1840, an 18-year old man
named Edward Oxford accosted Victoria while she was
riding in a carriage with Albert. Oxford fired on the
pregnant Queen twice but he either missed or his guns
had no shot The queen was unharmed, and Oxford was
ately seized and later charged with tr
Oxford was acquitted on the grounds of insanity and saw
out his days in a state mental institute. The only
motivation Oxford ever gave for his a
empt was "notoriety" Victo a's apparent bravery and
level-he ssin the face of her would-be as in led
to a definite ng in her popularity with the public.
Victoria's opınion on pre , childbirth, and
child-rearing, at least in the early days of motherhood,
was that it was an unpleasant but un dable duty of
e. In her letters, Victoria refers to her role as a
mother as die shattenseite, "the shadow side" of
marriage, a reference perhaps to both her dread of it and
the hidden, shadowy way in which it was ha Each
time Victoria became pregnant and was forced into
ment, into the secret world of m ood wher
so much was deemed unspeakable, Albert moved a step
closer to his goal of ruling Britain as Victoria's superior.
To speed up his attempt to make Victoria sul
to him, Albert i d her from her two closest
compa ns. Until the day Albert came into her life, Lord
Melbourne had been the most dominant male figure in
Victoria's life and her closest friend. Melbourne had
retired from his role as prime minister after suffering
defeat at the 1841 election and frequently w letters
to Victoria from his retire ent. The letters were for the
most part friendly notes with little mention of politics or
royal matters, but no onetheless, Albert put a stop to them,
effectively banning co Victoria
and Melbourne,
difficult nship to break was that
n Victoria and Baro ss Lezhen, Victoria's for
ria put Lezhen in charge of her court and
thing Albert was very much against. In
January 1842, Victo ria had recently given birth to her
second child Edward when her first child, Victoria,
became ill. Albert seized the opportunity to blame the
child's sickness on Lezhen, accusing her of mismanaging
the household and neglecting the child. A furious row
ensued at which time Albert left the family home and
refused to communicate with Victoria except through
letters passed through a third party. In one of his letters,
he said, "Take the child away and do as you like, and if
she dies you will have it on your conscience."
Eventually, Victoria capitulated and dismissed
Baroness Lezhen, a woman who had been by her side
since childhood. This marked a turning point in Victoria
and Albert's relationship. From this point on Victoria
became consumed by her loyalty to and love for Albert
and agreed to submit to his wishes in all things. Victoria
re-wrote her own history, destroying many of the letters
she had written before her marriage to Albert,
dismissing them a flattery,
excitement and mere politics." Everything that had come
before Albert was meaningless;\
entering the most important stage of her life and was
determined to succeed in her role a good wife and
mother.
Following Lezhen's dismissal, Albert carried out a
complete overhaul of the running of the palace. It did
seem that the management of the queen's household left
alot to be desired. In 1838, a young boy was discovered
in the palace kitchens. He had been living there
unobserved for the past 12 months, and in 1840 another
young boy was discovered sleeping under a sofa in a
room next door to the queen's bedroom. Such lax
urity would not do, and the household, in general, was
incredibly chaotic and wasteful. Albert appointed a
Master of the Household, and wasteful expenditure
immediately cut In contrast to Victoria's court during
the early days of her reign, which was a joyful place,
jokingly referred to as "Camelot," Albert's c
pre somber. Albert was of the opinion thata royal court
should set a moral e ample; he introduced strict
etiquette and forbade any discussion of politics or gossip.
Victoria's amusing social life became a distant memory.
By the time Victoria had her third child, Alice, born in
1843, Albert had begun to attend meetings with
ers and sat on a throne directly alongside hers in
the House of Lords. Albert's new status may have
quashed the en man and wife, but it had
intensified the tension betw en man and state. By his
own design, Albert was the natural head of the family,
manager of the queen's private affairs, private se etary,
confidential political advisor and as ant, tutor of the
royal children, and perm ent minister. Albert could
hardly be considered a minister if he v
accountable to Parliament and there were many layers to
his power. As Albert saw it, he was king in all but na
and Victoria was now merely an or ntal qu
In 1845, Victoria and Albert moved to an isolated
spot on the Isle of Wight where Albert bought a seaside
home known as Osborne using the queen's private funds.
Victoria was thrilled to leave London, where she felt she
and her family were under increasing scrutiny from the
press. She loathed living at George IV's Pavilion in
Brighton and complained that she was regularly mobbed
in the streets. Victoria had also recently been subjected
to two further assassination attempts while riding in her
carriage at hstitution Hill. Both attempts left her
ed but gave her ample ammunition to defend her
seclusion from criticism. At Osborne, the royal family
became completely separated from court life and led a
quietly productive lifestyle, just as Albert had wanted.
In the first ten years of Victoria and Albert's marriage,
Victoria gave birth to seven of her nine children. At this
time women were encouraged to take a "lying-in" period
of six weeks following each birth. Add these periods to
seven nine-month periods of pregnancy, and Queen
Victoria spent seven of the ten years between 1840 and
1850 bringing her children into the world. This
arrangement suited Albert perfectly. Albert was free to
take on more and more responsibilities during the time
his wife was otherwise engaged, and a large family was
his idea of domestic bliss as well as an important tool in
dynasty-building.
Victoria's view of motherhood was unsentimental.
Time and time again she reveals in her letters how
unpleasant motherhood could be and how much she
resented what pregnancy did to her body. Victoria
considered the first two years of her marriage "utterly
spoilt" by childbearing and referred to her babies as
"little plants" that are "frightful when undressed." And
yet, completely in thrall to Albert, emotionally, sexually,
intellectually, Victoria was content to be his subservient
wife and mother to his children. As a result of her
marriage, Victoria's attitude to her crown changed.
Women, she decided, were not meant to govern.
Chapter Six
The Hungry Forties and
Albert's Great Exhibition
Nobody who has paid any attention to the peculiar
features of our present era will doubt fora moment that
we are living at aperiod ofmost wonderful transition."
-Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
In 1846, Victoria gave birth to her fifth child, Helena. As
Victoria enjoyed her lying-in period, a time during which
Albert is said to have read out loud to her every night,
Britain's political landscape was in a state of upheaval.
Secluded in their seaside idyll, the royal family were far
from the disturbing events unfolding across their
kingdom. Victoria recorded in her diary at this
"Really when one is so happy and blessed in one's home
life, as l am, Politics (provided my Country is safe) must
take only 2nd place."
In 1848, Victoria and Albert purchased Balmoral
Castle in Scotland. After visiting the house in September
1848, it was quickly decided that the house was too small
for the ever-increasing royal family, and architects were
commissioned to build a much larger house on the land.
Work began in 1853 and was completed in 1856.
The 1840s, the decade during which Victoria had
seven children, were referred to by many as the Hungry
Forties. In Ireland, the Great Famine, which lasted for
seven ycars between 1845 and 1852, killed over a
million people with a million more leaving Ireland in the
hope of uilding a new life elsewhere. The people of rural
nd were hit by the Highland Clearances, during
which tho ls of Scottish far e forced from
their lands, and in England and Wales, the new urban
working class swelled to epic proportions, bringing the
quality oflife in Britain's industrial cities to terrible new
lows. A class war was bubbling b i the poor
workers and the Parliament and aristocracy that
excluded them from both having an i
and i share of Britain's
Against this l p of civil unrest, Albert
orchestrated the Great Exhibition of 1851. 0n May 1,
1851, Vi ia drove with Albert in 1 of nine
iages to Paxton's Crystal Palace in Hyde Park.
This event could be described as the high-point in
Albert's relat ship with the British public. An
intelligent man, interested in science, industry and the
arts, Albert's Great Exhibition was highly profitable. The
ey raised during this grand show of British creativity
and industrial ingenuity was used to establish se
ns in Kensington, including the V&A, the old
Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum. Over
six million people atte ed the Great Exhibition, and the
queen herself visited three times. An incredible
spectacle, the Great Exhibition was su ful in its aim
to show the world that Great Britain was an industrial
leader and held the key to a better future for all.
er, the pomp of the Great Exhibition and the
spike in popularity Albert experienced following its
ess was short-lived. In the winter of 1843, the press
vilified Albert as an enemy of Great Britain, accusing him
of meddling in fore zn policy and omoting
erests. The Crimean War was just around the cor
and anti-Rus nent in Great Britain spilled over
into anti- sentiment, making Albert publicenemy
number one.
In response to this crisis, Albert took an even firmer
ce on the power of the so reign, stating his vi
that the h (by now he saw himself as the
arch, not Victoria) upreme
authority. Albert firmly believed that the so eign held
power over and above Parliament, but he did follow a
strict code of political neutrality, s mething no other
ruler of Great Britain had thus far m lto do.
Albert under od that in order to have power he
must have information, and he began r
Buckingham Palace almost like his own Cabinet Office.
Albert began to ge the letters held in his sacred
Cabinet Boxes, making duplicates and devising a
elaborate filing system to help him to ac ; info
with greater ease, but he may have underestimated the
labor involved in this task. In the mid-ni enth
century, the m rchy, and indeed Parliam ent, was run
on letters and documents, and Albert was forced to work
tirelessly to keep up with the en ss copying and filing
of papers. Delegation was not an option, and Albert felt
the responsibility of transcribing letters written by the
queen or keeping notes of meetings with ministers
duty that he alone could perform. By now the quee
relied on Albert completely to draft her o
ondence and v en prompted by Albert in
German when making co sation over dinn with
In 1853, the Crimean War broke out b the
Ottoman Empire and Russia. Britain joined the w
almost immediately in support of the Ot The
main cffect of the Crimn n War on Vic ia and Albert's
d was that Albert w
than before, spending hours and hours each day on his
administrative tasks.
On September 10, 1855, Victoria received a telegram
at Balmoral, advising her that the twelve-month siege of
Sebastopol , and the Russians had been
defeated. The Crimean War had come to an end, and
victory for Great Britain was assured. Victoria reached
out to her public during and following the Crimean War
in a way she never had before, forcing the government to
build better military hospitals and barracks, signing
every officer's commission by hand, and giving every
medal in person. The Crimean War was the only major
conflict Great Britain fought in for the entirety of
Victoria's 63-year reign.
QUEEN VICTORIA
ALife From Beginning to End
Introduction
The story of Queen Victoria's life is a difficult one to tell
if only for its duration. Victoria lived for 81 ycars and was
qucen of Grcat Britain and Ireland for 63 of those ycars--
six decades during which the industry, economy, socicty
and forcign policy of Great Britain changcd dramatically.
The world Victoria was born into was a very differer
one to that which she left behind, and her life story is
credible journey from infant heir to matriarchal queen
and empress.
Victoria lived two lives. One was the public life of a
queen, and later empress, who was at the service of her
subjects and responsible for representing her nation to
the rest of the world. The other life was a private one as
a loving wife and mother of nine children, dedicated to
creating a happy and productive household. Victoria
made a valiant attempt to incorporate the public and
private spheres of her life in a way no other woman had
before, but ultimately it was too big a task too far ahead
of its time.
Victoria's childhood was not a happy one, and her
middle years were dominated by the death of her
husband Albert, a tragic loss from which she never fully
recovered. However, there was much joy in Victoria's life
o, in the glamour and folly of her early years as queen,
in her dedication to her work as regent, and in her large,
influential family.
Unusually, the story of Queen Victoria's life has been
written in part by her own hand. Victoria
estimated 2,500 words every day, kept a daily journal,
and e constant letters to family and friends.
Described at different points in her life as a spoiled child,
a stubborn young queen, a subservient wife, a cruel
mother. a reclusive widow. a benevolent matriarch, a
warrior queen, and a principled sovereign, there
many sides to Queen Victoria. We can only hope to begin
to understand a few of them here.
Chapter One
An Unsentimental Marriage
7 will be good."
-Queen Victoria
The story of how Queen Victoria's mother and father met
and married is not a romantic tale. Nor is the story of
Victoria's conception-which could accurately be
described as the result of a crisis of succession.
In the year 1817, King George IIl was on the throne.
George was of the House of Hanover, the royal dynasty
thathad ruled Britain since 1717 when it took over from
the House of Stuart. In 1817 there was only one clear
contender to take over the British throne on George's
death, his granddaughter Princess Charlotte.
Despite the fact that George II fathered fifteen
children-nine sons and six daughters-his sons had
produced just one suitable heir between them. The sinful
situation of George Il's seven sons (who lived in
adulthood) was, before 1817, as follows:
The Prince Regent George, who later became George
IV, was locked into an unhappy marriage with Caroline
of Brunswick. The pair had one child together, Princess
Charlotte, before they were formally separated. George
enjoyed the company of a number of mistresses.
The Duke of York Frederick was married to Princess
Frederica Charlotte of Prussia. The marriage w
unhappy from the outset, and the couple had no children
togethe
The Duke of Clare ce William, Duke of Kent E
Duke of Cumberland Ernest, ar d Duke of Cambridge
Adolphus were not expected to figure in the succession
as theywere George lll's yo ns. Except for Ernest,
the Duke of Cumberland, all of George Il's adult sons
ither but ed from their wives or
unmarried and enjoying a bachelor's lifestyle.
But, in 1817 the only clear and legitimate heir to the
British throne, Princess Charlotte, died in childbirth
along with her child. This tragic event created a dynastic
crisis that threw the entire royal family into action. The
Hanoverian dynasty was un lar with the public, who
thought their days as powerful rulers w e numbered.
King George Ill famously suffered from mental illness,
and most of his sons lived a lifestyle the British pubilic
deemed excessive and imm al. The family knew that
key to keeping the H. an dynasty alive was to
secure an heir. n dukes, whom
The middle-aged Ha her"wicked
immediately sought ut new wives to give them a
ofter n referred to later
legltimate unsentimental heir. race up Duke the of aisle Kent as was in 1817 the winner he promptly of this
his mis s of some 27 years, Madame de
int-Laurent, and rushed into n arranged n
Victoire of Saxe-Coburg result of a careful dynastic
This union was the benefits of uniting the
calculation that saw the political ber
es of Saxe-Coburg and Hanover. Victoire was the
sister of Prince Leopold o Saxe-coburg, the husband of
had recently lost both his
Princess Charlotte. Leopold h
unborn child and any claim to the British th
along with it, and he hopcd that by m rying his sister to
a Saxc-Coburg
ould still stage ä
the Duke of Kenthe co
wer of the Britishc
Chapter Two
The Race to Produce an Heir
Conceived, born and bred... to mount the summits of
greatness.
_Edith Sitwell
Although the marriage between the Duke of Kent and
Victoire of Saxe-Coburg may not have begun on the most
romantic footing, the couple did appear to be a good
match, and Victoire soon became pregnant. On May 24,
1819, Victoire gave birth at Kensington Palace to the
child who would later be named Victoria. The childbirth
was witnessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and
other political figures,2 was the custom when
succession was under scrutiny.
At her birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession
to the British throne after her father, the Duke of Kent,
andhis three older brother
s-the Prince Regent, Duke of
York, and Duke of Clarence. The Duke of York attempted
to disguise his designs on the throne and never
mentioned the succession question in relation with
Victoria, but Edith Sitwell nonetheless described the
bouncing baby as, "conceived, born and bred...
the summits of greatness."
The Prince Regent was much displeased by Victoria's
birth and did not wish to see the offspring of his brother
take to the British throne, even if it would happen many
ycars after his own death. The Prince Regent expressed
his displeasure at the naming ceremony of the new heir
in a somewhat petty display. Vetoing the name Georgina,
which he felt too embled hisown, and
harlotte, the name of his d dead daughter, he se
andrina Victoria, a forei settled
for with the the British intenti throne.," making Victoria appear u
n-sounding name chosen
In 1820, both V kather the Duke of Kent and
King George 1l di
Victoria was just eight months old at the time. The Prince
gent ucceeded to the throne as King George Vl, and
eh^sltion ted to third in line to the British
throne after her uncles the Duke of York and Duke of
nce, neither rofwhom had children.
of Saxe-Cobur Victoria support was raised from at her Kensington Uncle Leopold Palace
in England by her mother, the formidable Duchess of
Kent. Despit the fact that Victoria wa three.
quarters n, she was raised to speak English as her
first language and was always a d as Your Royal
Highness. By Victoria's n in letters writter
later in her life, she was a. spoiled child raised by
suffocating but affect te single mother. Energetic and
healthy and, ir portraiture, cherubic, Victoria was ofte
described as a willful child, Despite Victoria's
sylvan
surroundings, her life at Kensington Palace was one of
Confi nt MoOr she often her
childhood as an unhappy one.
. "1 had a very unhappy life as a child, Victoria wrote
in a letter to her daughter Vicky in 1858.Had no scope
for my very violent feelings of a -had nO
brothers or sisters to live with- r had a father
from my unfort circumstances was not on
comfortable orat all intimate or confidential footing with
my mother... and did not know what a happy domestic
life was!"
From the e of 11, Victoria's life changed
dramatically when Lord Conroy entered the scene.
Victoire, Victoria's mother, had few friends in London
and spoke very little English. Historians have noted a rise
of xenophobia in the British popular culture of the early
nineteenth century, and this intolerance coupled with
King George IV's clear irritation at her daughter's very
existence left Victoire lonely and vulnerable.
Lord Conroy came into Victoria's life masquerading
as some sort of protector, playing on her mother's
vulnerability by unnerving her with conspiracy theories.
It is unknown whether the duchess and Lord Conroy had
a sexual affair, but what is clear is that Conroy quickly
became the major male influence in young Victoria's life.
Together Conroy and the duchess subjected Victoria
what they later dubbed the "Kensington System" of
education. Under this system, Victoria was completely
cut off from her royal relatives and consumed by a
rigorous educational programme that taught strict moral
codes of behavior alongside arithmetic and languages.
Victoire's resolve to raise Victoria as a future
monarch was not completely selfless. King George IIl wa
still on the throne but was in very poor health. The Duke
of Clarence William was next in line to the throne, and
should William die before Victoria reached her 18th
birthday the duchess wanted to assure that she would be
appointed regent in her place. The duchess v
successful in achieving this ambitious ai, and the
Regency Act received royal assent on December 23,
1830.
In the year 1831, at the age of 14, Victoria first
learned the exact nature of her royal destiny thanks to a
genealogical table slipped into one of her history books.
Her response to learning that she was a clear and close
heir to the British throne was to say simply, "I will be
good.
It later became known that what Victoria endured
under the direct tutelage of the duchess and her
accomplice Lord Conroy was nothing short of abuse.
Victoire was essentially Victoria's jailer. Victoria slept in
the same room as her mother and was constantly
watched by members of her house. lt is said that she was
not allowed to walk downstairs without having someone
hold her hand. Victoria was raised in complete isolation
from others her own age, and she later admitted to being
bullied by her mother and Conroy, who taunted and
insulted her all the way into adulthood.
Chapter Thre
Taking the Throne
"Ttrust to God that my life may be spared for nine
months longer after which period, in the event of my
death, no Regency would take place."
-King William IV
The aging King William IV was not ignorant of the
designs the duchess had on his throne, nor of the
undesirable influe e of Lord Conroy. The king
expressed animosity time and time again towards the
household at Kensington Palace sparing just one
member-Victoria. On August 21, 1836, the king hosted
a dinner party at Windsor Castle in celebration of his
75th birthday. Victoria was in attendance, and the king
laid out his feelings towards the household at Kensington
with characteristic frankness, saying
"I trust to God that my life may be spared for nine
months longer, after which period, in the event of my
death, no Regency would take place. I should then have
the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority to the
personal excise of that Young Lady, the Heiress
Presumptive of the Crown and not in the hands of a
person now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisors
and who is herself incompetent to act with propriety in
the situation in which she would be placed."
There was now no real chance of the duchess
becoming regent; furious at this very public snub,
Victoire took her anger outon Victoria. King William was
very ill, close to death in fact, as Victoria celebrated her
18th ay on May 24, 1837. Victoria's birthday was
s happy an c
terrible row broke out between Vi have been. as
s. King William had ofieredc and her an
establishment of her o
duchesrekused control the duchess the and Conroy attempt had over to break her. The the
rwithout ever speaking of
it to Victoria, and Conroy t Victoria in an
attempt to c rce her into officially appointing him as
her political advisor.
The traumatic nature of Victoris's
relationship v with
her motherand Lord Conroywa wast to affect Victoria forthe
rest of her life. Many biographers have pointed to
Victoria's ness and bad temper as the result of
enduring an isolateda ch with an overbearing
mother. The facets of victo
Victoria's ality that led some
to criticize her are in some ways the very things that
saved her. The Kensington System had made her strong-
willed and independent traits she would r
abu eed in
nce to rule as queen. As soon as she was able,
Vict stepped out of her mother's suffocating grip,
banished Conroy, and determined to rule alone."
oen Victoria's coronation took place on Jurne 27,
1838, at Westminster Abbey. h crowds of wel.
wishers gathered to see their net queen, and Victoria
enjoyed a period of imme larity. Recently turned
18 years old with blue eyes, long dark hair, and a fresh
complexion, Victoria vas everything the British public
wanted in their queen after the long line of elderly
Hanoverian kings. Of the day Victoria wrote, " really
cannot say how proud 1 feel to be the Queen of such a
Nation,"'
Despite the duchess and Conroy's careful tutclage of
Victoria, she knew very little of the political position ofa
ch. The only person to have an influer on her
decisions during the earliest days of her reign was her
Uncle Leopold, who counseled her in letters, warning
against making snap judgments and becoming
emotionally involvedin political matters. Victoria moved
into Buckingham Palace immediately and took revenge
on her mother by denying her the title of Queen Mother
and banishing her to a remote part of the palace.
Victoria's published letters contain a succinct reference
to Victoria's attitude towards her mother at this time:"
had to remind her who I was."
On the other hand, Victoria bonded with her first
prime minister, the prominent Whig Lord Melbourne,
instantly; her relationship with this 58-year-old m
would dramatically shape her future as queen. Victoria
enjoyed a long honeymoon period as queen, finding
much joy in her s mer court at Windsor. She met with
Lord Melbourne every day, and during their long
conversations, which often extended over an evening
meal, he taught her much of what the Kensington System
had failed to cover, including her Hanoverian descent,
he state of British politics, and what exactly would be
expected of her as queen.
However, the relationship between Victoria and her
Prime Minister Lord Melbourne was a little too close for
comfort and created a conflict of interest for both. Early
in her reign, Victoria had posed the question of whether
or not she should appoint a private secretary. In the past,
monarchs who were unfit or unwilling to rule alone had
appointed unofficial private secretaries, such King
George , who was mentally incapable. To appoint a
private secretary would be to undermine her position as
queen publicly, but in truth Victoria needed guidance.
Rather than selecting a private secretary to the queen,
Lord Melbourne decided to do the job himself, advising
her on appoint nts and drafting all of her official
letters.
In 1832, a Reform Act went through Pa nt The
act made a clear distinc en the power of the
House of Lords and the power of the House of Commo
Executive authority over political matters now rested
with the Cabinet members of the House of Co
rendering the authority of the negligible.
Victoría was still able to influence politics, though, and in
rne failed to win a majority in the
May 1839 when Melbou
House of C ns, Victoria stepped in Melbourne wa
forced to resign from his position, but the queen rejected
the winning Tory minister Robert Peel. On Melbou
advice, the que n refused to d iss her Whig ladies-in
waiting as Peel had ed.a scandal that came to be
effectively blocked the for on ofa new government
the last time a monarch was able to do this
Melbourne and his Whigs returned to office.
hit Around the headlines the sa of ush press At the center of the
me time, a scandal firom Victoria's court
in-waiting was who dy had Flora been under the ane orders ctoria's of the duchess ladies.
vas a child. Victoria wrote o Lord
Melbourne that she believed Lady Flora was with child
when Victoria
and that the father as level undoubtedly of Victoria's Lord Da court and
Lady a submitted to a
gossip pll ached to clear every1 her name, Ld en she was not, in fact
eventually, osamination.it was proveaon a sibly of
medi hat causcd her
pregnant
liver failure or some other c
abdomen to swell horrífied at how Qucen
Lady Flora's family when they
Victoria had treated their daughter, and
t ters to the
n of apologV , they sen
cived no form
newspapers for publication. The reporters jumped at the
chance to publish such a scandal, and the Duchess of
Kent, still haunting the remote reaches of Buckingham
Palace, jumped on the bandwagon and shared stories
with the press of how badly Victoria had treated her. At
this point in her reign, Victoria is said to have been as
unpopular with the British public as George IV had been
at the time of his divorce. How could the queen win back
the hearts and minds of her public?
Chapter Four
Queen Victoria Marries Her
Cousin, Prince Albert
"He comes to take for better or worse England's fat
Queen and England's fatterpurse."
-Popular mid-ninctecnth century ca
Years before Victoria was crowned queen of Great
Britain, all of the great royal houses of Europe had
designs on who should be her king. One such design came
from Duchess Augusta, the matriarch of the Saxe-
Coburg-Gotha dynasty and Prince Albert's grandmother
Although Prince Albert and Queen Victoria were first
cousins, Albert was groomed for the sole purpose of
becoming Victoria's husband and king,
Victoria was not ignorant of this plan and spent a
number of months pondering over Albert's suitability as
a husband and, indeed, her suitability as a wife. For a
time Victoria showed an unwillingness to marry at all,
citing her obstinate nature as ill-suited to the submissive
role of wife. However, Albert swept her off her feet.
On October 10, 1839, Victoria received Albert at
Windsor Castle with no intention of marrying him.
Albert, for his part, was also said to have no intentions of
marrying Victoria and was planning to break off the
whole courtship on this visit. In her journal, V
described the first time she laid eyes on 19-year-old
Albert: "It was not without some emotion that I beheld
Albert who is beautiful." After just five days in Albert's
company, Victoria decided that she would like very much
to marry him after all. In an unprecedented move, Queen
Victoria proposed to Albert herself. Victoria did not have
to ask anyone's permission to do this, but out of loyalty,
she did let Lord Melbourne know ahead of time.
The young couple spent four months together before
their wedding, a heavenly time for them both. They
spoke n with each other. the lan ze Victoria had
been forbidden from speaking as a child, and by all
accounts seemed to be very much in love. However, in
matters of the heart and crown, it is n r quite that
simple. Despite the fact that Albert's position in Germ
royalty was fairly minor (in Coburg he was "s
highness," the lowest grade of royalty), he had been
raised to rule a kingdom and did not take to the less
prestigious role of husband to the queen with ease. From
its earliest days, the marriage between Victoria and
Albert was a battleground of power and precedence in
both the political and domestic world-worlds that were
completely separate for most w n of the time, but
worlds Victoria was forced to occupy at once.
In order to advance Alberts recognition in Britain,
Victoria promoted him to the highest rank of Royal
Highness and fought to have his allowance raised by
Parliament. Victoria commissioned William Ross to paint
a miniature portrait of Albert, which she wore on a
bracelet, and called him her"Angel." Finally, Victoria was
able to put her lonely and unhappy childhood behind her
and embrace a new life with her beloved husband. But
Albert had greater ambitions than being merely a
husband to Victoria; he wanted to reign.
Victoria did not give in to Albert's d s readily,
and the first few months of their marriage were marred
bya series of struggles during which both husband and
wife were forced to make con . Victoria a
Albert to blot the ink on her letters, using him as a sort of
assistant but preferred that he assisted her only in the
bedroom and not in any official capacity. The British
public found a great deal of amusement in this
arrangement and a number of cartoons circulated
depicting Albert as some gold-digging gigolo.
Victoria and Albert were married on February 10,
1840, in the Royal Chapel of St James' Palace, London-
day Victoria described as the happiest of her life. Despite
her newlywed status, Victoria was unwilling to sideline
her responsibilities as queen. On Albert's suggestion that
they take a long honeymoon, Victoria snapped, "You
forget, my dearest Love, that i am the Sovereign, and that
business can stop and wait for nothing."
Ona visit in 1840, Victoria and Albert's Uncle Leopold
expressed his opinion that Albert "ought to e in
business asi everything necessary to the Queen."
Leopold told Victoria that Albert should be her walking
dictionary of reference and should be called upon by her
to answer any questions she may have about pretty
much anything, Essentially, Leopold thought Albert
should be Victoria's advisor. However, Victoria had been
warned against taking on an advisor as, in the eyes of her
court and Parliament. it amounted to an admission that
she was not up to the task of ruling Britain. Victoria still
refused to share any officialdom with Albert.
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