The House Of Hanover
Queen Victoria
1837-1901
Early Years
One of the most memorable and endearing of English monarchs, Queen Victoria was born on 24th May 1819, at Kensington Palace, London. She was the daughter of Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (the fourth son of George III) and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. Her parent's marriage was one of a series of arranged marriages amongst the sons of George III, to produce an heir in the next generation after the untimely death in childbirth of George IV's only child, the popular Princess Charlotte..
Victoria's christening took place at Kensington Palace and was the cause of much friction within the family. ThePrince Regent detested his brother the Duke of Kent and the thought of a child of the Duke's inheriting the throne was anathema to him. Although he was asked to stand as godfather at the ceremony, he would allow no uniforms or foreign dignitaries to attend to add splendour to the occasion.
He totally forbade the use of the names Charlotte, Elizabeth, Georgina or Augusta, which the baby's parents had chosen. It was clear that the Regent would not allow the child to be given any of the names which were then used in the royal family. When the Archbishop enquired what name he should therefore give the child, the Regent abruptly snapped "Alexandrina", which was after the Russian Emperor, who stood as godfather by proxy. The child was christened Alexandrina Victoria. During her first years, the Princess was often called Drina but Victoria was the name she herself preferred.
Eight months after his daughter's birth, the Duke of Kent died when a heavy cold turned to pneumonia whilst the family were staying at Sidmouth in Devon. By the 1830's it had become obvious that Queen Adelaide was not going to produce a living child and therefore Victoria would succeed her aging uncle, William IV, to the throne.
Her mother's ambitious Comptroller, the Irishman John Conroy, envisaged himself as the power behind the throne during the Princesses minority. He devised the Kensington System, under which she spent, to use her own words, her "rather melancholy childhood" . The system was devised to bring up the Princess entirely dependent on her mother. A lonely and unhappy child, she was alternately bullied by Conroy and cajoled by her mother. Her only support came from her governess, Baroness Lehzen, whom the highly emotional Victoria became very attached to Reign.
Conroy eagerly anticipated a regency, but his plans came to nothing, as on the death of William IV, Victoria had just passed her eighteenth birthday. She was awoken in the early morning of 20th June, 1837, to hear the momentous news that she was now Queen. She later attended the first of many cabinet meetings "Quite alone". Most of those present were impressed by the gravity and dignity with which the new Queen conducted herself, despite her youth. Since Hanover was governed by the salic law, which forbade the succession of a female, Victoria's uncle, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was to succeed as Elector of the province. Ernest Augustus was an unpopular and unsavoury figure who was rumoured to have murdered his own valet.
The new Queen could hardly be described as pretty, she was short, dumpy and plain, with the receding chin of George III and typically Hanoverian features. She got off to a good start, guided by her first Prime Minister, the experienced Lord Melbourne, who saw himself as a surrogate father figure to the young Victoria and to whom she became quite attached. The propriety, decorum and dignity that Queen Victoria early displayed was in marked contrast to that of her profligate Hanoverian uncles.
At the outset of her reign, Victoria lost some of her initial popularity by her behaviour in the Bedchamber Crisis. Understandably harbouring resentment to her mother for her sufferings under the Kensington System, she allowed this to affect her judgement and handling of the affair of one of her mother's ladies, Lady Flora Hastings.
When Lady Flora became ill and swollen about the stomach, the Queen was all too ready to believe gossip about pregnancy and Conroy. Lady Flora's reputation was besmirched and she had to submit to an embarrassing examination to clear her name. It transpired that the unfortunate woman had cancer. When she died shortly after, Victoria's own reputation was at an all time low.
Marriage to Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
It was expected that the new Queen would soon marry and produce an heir to the throne. Victoria was aware of the schemes of her maternal uncle Leopold of Saxe-Coburg for her to marry her first cousin Albert, the younger son of Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Louise of Saxe-Altenburg. Leopold, the widower of George IV's daughter Charlotte and now King of the Belgians, was intent on building up Coburg influence in Europe, through a series of advantageous marriages.
Although Victoria was not over keen to marry in a hurry, she was excessively fond of her "dear Uncle Leopold" who had visited her frequently as a child and had helped with her financial support. She agreed that Albert and his brother Ernest could come over to visit. She promptly fell for the "quite charming and excessively handsome" Albert, who accepted Victoria's proposal. The young couple were married on 10th May, 1840.
The marriage did not get off to a very auspicious start. The Queen's new husband was disliked in England as a foreigner and generally disapproved of, a rhyme circulating at the time 'He comes to take, for better or for worse, England's fat Queen and England's fatter purse' aptly captured the public mood. In addition to this, Albert had to cope with his wife's emotionalism and the relentless interference in their marriage of Victoria's old governess, Baroness Lehzen, whom he grew to thoroughly detest.
Victoria was reluctant to share power with her husband and it seemed that the only position she was prepared to allow him was that of blotting her signature on state papers. These teething troubles were eventually addressed when Albert, a highly intelligent young man, quickly mastered the English language and increased his influence in state affairs. The Queen came to depend on his considerable abilities and became devoted to him. To Albert's delight, the despised Lehzen was soon packed off back to Germany.
Albert's influence became considerable. He applied himself and took an abiding interest in the exploitation of child labour and in the housing conditions of the working classes. The Queen herself had little knowledge of the social problems that industrialization had created for the majority of her subjects and Albert did his utmost to draw such matters to his wife's attention.
Victoria continued
The family of Queen Victoria
Despite the Queen's strong distaste of being pregnant and childbirth, she was to become a prolific mother, producing nine children. The eldest, Victoria, Princess Royal, known in the family as Vicky and later to become German Empress, was born in 1840, she was followed by a male heir to the throne, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, known as Bertie in the family, in 1841 (later to reign as Edward VII).
Two years later the Queen gave birth to Alice, destined to become Grand-Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt. There followed a second son, Alfred, known in the family as Affie'who was born in 1844 and created Duke of Edinburgh, then Helena, Lenchen to her relations, Louise in 1848, Arthur, who became the Duke of Connaught, in 1850, Leopold in 1853, later created Duke of Albany, during his birth the Queen received "blessed chloroform" for the first time, Leopold suffered from haemophilia, the first incidence of many of the disease in Victoria's family. The Queen's last child, Beatrice, was born in 1857.
The Queen had for a long time cherished a love affair with Scotland, she adored the wild Highland scenery, which appealed to her emotional nature. Albert also greatly liked Scotland, since the country reminded him of his German homeland. In 1852, Victoria and Albert acquired their Scottish retreat, Balmoral Castle with money left to her in the will of the wealthy and eccentric John Camden Nield. The couple were to visit their Scottish home every summer.
The Queen's third son Leopold suffered from haemophilia and was to become a constant source of anxiety to his parents. There had been no former incidence of this disease in the Hanoverian family or that of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the mutation which caused it is thought to have arisen in Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent. The disease generally manifests itself only in men, whereas women are known to be carriers. The Queen's daughters Alice and Beatrice were to spread haemophilia into many of the royal families of Europe, including Russia, Spain, Prussia, Battenberg and Hesse.
Victoria and Albert lead an exemplary family life which regained the crown's respect after the scandalous behaviour of her uncles. Albert introduced many of the customs of his German homeland to Britain, perhaps the most famous of these being the Christmas tree.
Bertie, their eldest son and heir to the throne, did not inherit his father's considerable intelligence. He was nevertheless subjected to a punishing system of education, devised by his father's mentor Baron Stockmar, which singularly failed in its object of producing the perfect King. Bertie, overworked far beyond his abilities or inclinations, reacted in rages, for which he was punished and forced into further gruelling study.
The Queen instituted the Victoria Cross, the highest single award for valour, during the Crimean War. It was given to ordinary soldiers as well as officers and proved a popular innovation. Albert's project, the Great Exhibition of 1851, designed to show that Britain lead the World in scientific and industrial knowledge and promote trade, proved to be a great success. "Albert's dearest name is immortalized with this great conception" wrote his doting wife "his own, and my dear country show