29, 51; Waller, p. 363; Weintraub, pp. 164–166, Hibbert, pp. With a reign of 63 years, seven months and two days, Victoria was the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history until her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II surpassed her on 9 September 2015. [83] The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home, was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century. [36], At the time of Victoria's accession, the government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne. 1846), Louise (b. [3], At birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: the Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, Duke of York; William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent. [62] He was tried for high treason, found not guilty by reason of insanity, committed to an insane asylum indefinitely, and later sent to live in Australia. [140] Mother and son attended a public parade through London and a grand service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral on 27 February 1872, and republican feeling subsided. They had been betrothed since September 1855, when Princess Victoria was 14 years old; the marriage was delayed by the Queen and her husband Albert until the bride was 17. Oxford fired twice, but either both bullets missed or, as he later claimed, the guns had no shot. The Prime Minister at once became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced Queen, who relied on him for advice. 53, 58, 64, and 65, Under section 2 of the Regency Act 1830, the, St Aubyn, pp. 425–426, Hibbert, p. 444; St Aubyn, p. 424; Waller, p. 413, Waller, p. 433; see also Hibbert, pp. 602–603; Strachey, pp. Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister. Taylor, Miles (2020) "The Bicentenary of Queen Victoria", This page was last edited on 6 February 2021, at 07:27. She agreed to visit the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and take a drive through London in an open carriage. He was soon promoted to "Munshi": teaching her Urdu (known as Hindustani) and acting as a clerk. [223], Through Victoria's reign, the gradual establishment of a modern constitutional monarchy in Britain continued. [214] Despite this destruction, much of the diaries still exist. [109] The Queen felt "sick at heart" to see her daughter leave England for Germany; "It really makes me shudder", she wrote to Princess Victoria in one of her frequent letters, "when I look round to all your sweet, happy, unconscious sisters, and think I must give them up too – one by one. 274–276, Longford, pp. On 3 July, two days after Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, John William Bean also tried to fire a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco and had too little charge. The Queen had a relatively balanced view of the conflict, and condemned atrocities on both sides. [220] The biographies written by Elizabeth Longford and Cecil Woodham-Smith, in 1964 and 1972 respectively, are still widely admired. He was "the dearest of my dear sons", she lamented. 143–144, Hibbert, p. 58; Longford, pp. Rheumatism in her legs had rendered her lame, and her eyesight was clouded by cataracts. 47–48; Marshall, p. 21, Hibbert, pp. Financially prudent, she paid off her father's debts. "[157] To Victoria's dismay, Disraeli lost the 1880 general election, and Gladstone returned as prime minister. Victoria was then third in line to the throne after Frederick and William. Victoria objected when Gladstone proposed appointing the Radical MP Henry Labouchère to the Cabinet, so Gladstone agreed not to appoint him. [91] Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances. Royal haemophiliacs descended from Victoria included her great-grandsons, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia; Alfonso, Prince of Asturias; and Infante Gonzalo of Spain. She avoided public appearances and rarely set foot in London in the following years. A week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. 221–222, Longford, pp. Though a constitutional monarch, privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality. Victoria was told she would someday be queen when she was thirteen years old. [217] She experienced unpopularity during the first years of her widowhood, but was well liked during the 1880s and 1890s, when she embodied the empire as a benevolent matriarchal figure. Salisbury remained prime minister for the remainder of Victoria's reign. Queen Victoria's family nickname was 'Drina'. [37] Charles Greville supposed that the widowed and childless Melbourne was "passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one", and Victoria probably saw him as a father figure. She remarked "I will be good.". 150–156; Marshall, p. 87; St Aubyn, pp. [212] From July 1832 until just before her death, she kept a detailed journal, which eventually encompassed 122 volumes. Victoria Day is a Canadian statutory holiday and a local public holiday in parts of Scotland celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24 May (Queen Victoria's birthday). [69] Albert, however, thought that Lehzen was incompetent and that her mismanagement threatened his daughter's health. [200] She died on Tuesday 22 January 1901, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81. At … 217–220; Woodham-Smith, pp. One of Albert's dressing gowns was placed by her side, with a plaster cast of his hand, while a lock of John Brown's hair, along with a picture of him, was placed in her left hand concealed from the view of the family by a carefully positioned bunch of flowers. 61–62; Longford, pp. Derby was reinstated as prime minister. 53–57; St Aubyn, pp. [59] Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square. [22] Once queen, she banned him from her presence, but he remained in her mother's household. In Scotland, the first and fourth quarters are occupied by the Scottish lion, and the second by the English lions. [48] When Lady Flora died in July, the post-mortem revealed a large tumour on her liver that had distended her abdomen. [189], On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. [194], Victoria visited mainland Europe regularly for holidays. He had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said. Victoria was love-struck. Prince Edward Island in Canada was named after Victoria's father. 174–175; Woodham-Smith, p. 412, Hibbert, pp. [55] Victoria showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.[56]. Melbourne". [94] She found particularly offensive the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, who often acted without consulting the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or the Queen. 390–391; Marshall, p. 176; St Aubyn, p. 388, Charles, p. 103; Hibbert, pp. 326, 330, Hibbert, p. 267; Longford, pp. Her son and successor Edward VII belonged to her husband's House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. 182–184, 187, Hibbert, p. 123; Longford, p. 143; Woodham-Smith, p. 205, Marshall, p. 152; St Aubyn, pp. [218] Only after the release of her diary and letters did the extent of her political influence become known to the wider public. Less than a month later, on 20 June 1837, William IV died at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom. Britain's Queen Victoria's sordid love affairs and astonishingly high sexual libido have been unveiled in a new TV documentary. 421–422; St Aubyn, pp. In her diary she wrote, "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. [162] Victoria was outraged when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity,[163] but was so pleased by the many expressions of loyalty after the attack that she said it was "worth being shot at—to see how much one is loved". [72] In a similar attack in 1849, unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder-filled pistol at Victoria's carriage as it passed along Constitution Hill, London. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. 60–66; Weintraub, p. 62, Hibbert, pp. In 1853, Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold, with the aid of the new anaesthetic, chloroform. Victoria noted the coincidence of the dates as "almost incredible and most mysterious". According to one of her biographers, Giles St Aubyn, Victoria wrote an average of 2,500 words a day during her adult life. [64] Her daughter, also named Victoria, was born on 21 November 1840. Royal Legacy. [172] She thought his government was "the worst I have ever had", and blamed him for the death of General Gordon at Khartoum. 367–368; Longford, p. 429; Marshall, p. 186; St Aubyn, pp. [77] In the next four years, over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine. [201] Her son and successor, King Edward VII, and her eldest grandson, Emperor Wilhelm II, were at her deathbed. 1843), Alfred (b. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to live at Buckingham Palace. 43–49; Woodham-Smith, p. 117, Victoria quoted in Marshall, p. 27 and Weintraub, p. 49, Victoria quoted in Hibbert, p. 99; St Aubyn, p. 43; Weintraub, p. 49 and Woodham-Smith, p. 119, Hibbert, p. 102; Marshall, p. 60; Waller, p. 363; Weintraub, p. 51; Woodham-Smith, p. 122, Waller, pp. [117] He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner, and died on 14 December 1861. [198] Through early January, she felt "weak and unwell",[199] and by mid-January she was "drowsy ... dazed, [and] confused". After the death of Victoria's aunt, Princess Augusta, in 1840, Victoria's mother was given both Clarence and Frogmore Houses. 457–458; Marshall, pp. Victoria reappears in Before the Storm, the prequel to the events of Life is Strange and is mentioned in a letter in Life is Strange 2. [114] In August, Victoria and Albert visited their son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who was attending army manoeuvres near Dublin, and spent a few days holidaying in Killarney. Instead, the Queen went to Ireland for the first time since 1861, in part to acknowledge the contribution of Irish regiments to the South African war. In what became known as the bedchamber crisis, Victoria, advised by Melbourne, objected to their removal. "[110] Almost exactly a year later, the Princess gave birth to the Queen's first grandchild, Wilhelm, who would become the last German Emperor. Victoria and Albert's hopes of a liberal Germany would go unfulfilled, as Wilhelm was a firm believer in autocracy. Until 1817, Edward's niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Victoria thought he had "little heart or Zartgefühl [tact] – and ... his conscience & intelligence have been completely wharped [sic]". [74], Melbourne's support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria's reign, and in the 1841 general election the Whigs were defeated. 153–155; Woodham-Smith, pp. [225] As Victoria's monarchy became more symbolic than political, it placed a strong emphasis on morality and family values, in contrast to the sexual, financial and personal scandals that had been associated with previous members of the House of Hanover and which had discredited the monarchy. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. In 1843 and 1845, she and Albert stayed with King Louis Philippe I at château d'Eu in Normandy; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French monarch since the meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. 385–386; Strachey, p. 248, St Aubyn, pp. [43] Victoria believed the rumours. "If we are to maintain our position as a first-rate Power", she wrote, "we must ... be Prepared for attacks and wars, somewhere or other, CONTINUALLY. [141], On the last day of February 1872, two days after the thanksgiving service, 17-year-old Arthur O'Connor, a great-nephew of Irish MP Feargus O'Connor, waved an unloaded pistol at Victoria's open carriage just after she had arrived at Buckingham Palace. "Everyone likes flattery," he said, "and when you come to royalty you should lay it on with a trowel. "[183] Victoria dismissed their complaints as racial prejudice. 420–421; St Aubyn, p. 422; Strachey, p. 278, Hibbert, p. 427; Longford, p. 446; St Aubyn, p. 421, Longford, p. 454; St Aubyn, p. 425; Hibbert, p. 443, Hibbert, pp. 43–49, Longford, pp. [167] The manuscript was destroyed. In addition to Beatrice's edited copy, Lord Esher transcribed the volumes from 1832 to 1861 before Beatrice destroyed them. Her full name was Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, and her official title was Victoria Princess Royal. 1850), Leopold (b. 354–355, Hibbert, pp. She marked the fiftieth anniversary of her accession on 20 June with a banquet to which 50 kings and princes were invited. 89, 253; St Aubyn, pp. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor. 491–493, Hibbert, pp. [10] The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of King William's illegitimate children. [166] Ponsonby and Randall Davidson, Dean of Windsor, who had both seen early drafts, advised Victoria against publication, on the grounds that it would stoke the rumours of a love affair. [85], Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain. After a year, she was won around to the marriage by their promise to remain living with and attending her.[171]. [103], On 14 January 1858, an Italian refugee from Britain called Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate Napoleon III with a bomb made in England. Less than a month later, on 20 June 1837, William IV died at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom. [75], In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato blight. [57] They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace, London. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. [8] Her mother was extremely protective, and Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children under the so-called "Kensington System", an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by the Duchess and her ambitious and domineering comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover. 68–69, 91, Hibbert, p. 18; Longford, p. 31; Woodham-Smith, pp. 1844), Helena (b. 363–364; Weintraub, pp. Queen Victoria was a lover of the arts. After both the Duke and his father died in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. 227–228; Longford, pp.