Queen Victoria

ABOUT

Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901 and also Empress of India from 1876. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previous monarch, a period known as the Victorian era. Born: 24 May 1819, Kensington Palace, London, United Kingdom Died: 22 January 1901, Osborne House, East Cowes, United Kingdom Children: Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Alice of the United Kingdom, More Grandchildren: George V of the United Kingdom, William II of Germany, Alexandra Feodorovna, More Spouse: Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1840–1861) Parents: Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Birth May 24, 1819 Kensington Palace, London, United Kingdom Death January 22, 1901 (age 81) Osborne House, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom Buried in 4 February 1901, Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore, Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom Full name Alexandrina Victoria Husband Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Offspring Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom Edward VII of the United Kingdom Alice from the United Kingdom Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Helena of the United Kingdom Louise of the United Kingdom Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Leopold, Duke of Albany Beatrice of the United Kingdom Home Hanover Father Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn Mother Victory of Saxe-Coburg Religion Anglicanism

QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

Reign June 20, 1837 on January 22, 1901 Coronation June 28, 1838 Predecessor William IV Successor Edward VII

EMPRESS OF INDIA

Reign May 1, 1876 on January 22, 1901 Delhi Durbar January 1, 1877 Successor Edward VII

BIOGRAPHY

Edward was the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and the king died in 1820, leaving Victoria to be raised under the supervision of her German-born mother. She inherited the throne at the age of eighteen, after all three of her paternal uncles had died without issue. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign had relatively few direct political powers. In private, Victoria attempted to influence the government and the appointment of ministers. In public, she became a national icon and the model of strict values ​​and personal morality. She married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Her nine children, and twenty-six of her forty-two grandchildren, married into other royal and noble families across the European continent, uniting them together, earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria entered a period of deep mourning during which she avoided public appearances. As a result of her isolation, republicanism gained traction for a time, but in the second half of her reign, the Queen's popularity increased again. Her golden and diamond jubilees were widely celebrated by the public. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is the second longest in British history and is known as the Victorian Era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific and military change in the United Kingdom and was marked by the expansion of the British Empire. As the last monarch of the House of Hanover, her son and successor, King Edward VII, belonged to the new House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, descended from his father Albert.

BIRTH AND FAMILY

On May 30, 1818, the wedding of Victoria's future parents, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, took place at Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg. So that there would be no doubt about the validity of this marriage, a second ceremony was held in England, at Kew Palace, on June 11 of the same year, the same day that the eldest brother, Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. The future queen's father was already heavily in debt before the marriage, but afterwards his economic situation began to worsen even further. As Edward disagreed with the political views of his brother, George, Prince of Wales, he refused to help him and, as a result, Vitória's parents had to leave England and began to live in Germany. A few weeks later, Vitória found out that she was pregnant and the duke immediately realized the importance of the child being born in England, so, with the help of some friends, he managed to save enough money for the trip when the duchess was already seven months pregnant. They arrived at their destination on April 24, 1819 and settled in Kensington Palace. It was there that the future Queen Victoria was born, a month later, on May 24, at a quarter past four in the morning. She was baptized in a ceremony held privately on July 24 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, in the Dome Hall at Kensington Palace. Her godparents were Emperor Alexander I of Russia (represented at the ceremony by her uncle, the Duke of York), her uncle the Prince of Wales, her aunt Charlotte, Princess Royal (represented by Princess Augusta) and Victoria's maternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg (represented by Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh). Her parents wanted to name her Vitória Jorgina Alexandrina Carlota Augusta, but the duke's older brother, the Prince Regent, insisted that three

BIRTH AND FAMILY

Her parents wanted to call her Vitória Jorgina Alexandrina Carlota Augusta, but the duke's older brother, the prince regent, insisted that three of the names disappear. So she ended up being named just Alexandrina Vitória, in honor of Alexandre and his mother. Vitória was in fifth place in succession to the throne, after her father and her three older brothers. The prince regent was separated from his wife and the Duke of York's wife, Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, was fifty-two years old, so there was not much chance of the king's eldest children having heirs. Both daughters born to the Duke of Clarence (in 1819 and 1820) had died before the age of two. Victoria's grandfather and father died in 1820, just a week apart, and the Duke of York died in 1827. After the death of King George IV in 1830, Victoria became heir presumptive to her uncle William IV of the United Kingdom . The Regency Act of 1830 included a special clause that made the Duchess of Kent, Victoria's mother, regent if William died before the princess came of age. King William was suspicious of the duchess's ability to be regent and in 1836 declared in his presence that he wanted to live until Vitória's 18th birthday so that a regency could be avoided.

FIRST YEARS OF REIGN

Vitória turned eighteen on May 24, 1837, thus avoiding a regency. On June 20, 1837, William IV died at the age of 71 and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom. In her diary she wrote: "Mother woke me at six in the morning and told me that the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wanted to see me. I got out of bed and went to my waiting room (dressed only in my sleeping), alone, and I saw them, so I am queen." Official documents from her first day of reign referred to her as Alexandrina Vitória, but the first name was removed at the queen's request and was never used again. used. Since 1714, the sovereign of Great Britain had also shared the throne with the kingdom of Hanover, in Germany, but as this had a Salic law in force that prevented women from succeeding to the throne, Victoria could not inherit it, passing to her father's younger brother, her disliked uncle, the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, who became King Ernest Augustus I. He was also her presumptive heir until she married and had a son. succeeded to the throne, the government was led by a liberal prime minister, Lord Melbourne, who became a strong influence on Victoria, who had no political experience and relied on him for advice. Charles Greville felt that the widower Melbourne, who had never had children, "he liked her a lot, as he would like a daughter if he had had one", and it is likely that Vitória also saw him as a father figure. Her coronation took place on June 28, 1838 and Victoria became the first sovereign to reside at Buckingham Palace. She inherited the properties of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall and began to receive 385 thousand pounds per year. By being financially prudent, he was able to pay off his father's debts.

FIRST YEARS OF REIGN

At the beginning of her reign, Victoria was popular, but her reputation suffered a severe blow during court intrigue in 1839 when the belly of one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, began to grow abnormally, causing rumors that she had become pregnant, out of wedlock, by Sir John Conroy. Victoria believed the rumors. She hated Conroy and despised "that hateful Lady Flora", as she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess of Kent in the Kensington system. At first, Lady Flora refused to submit to a medical examination in the nude, but in mid-February she finally relented and it was discovered that she was still a virgin. Conroy, the Hastings family and the Tories organized a press campaign claiming that the Queen had helped spread false rumors about Lady Flora. When Lady Flora died in July, The autopsy revealed that she had a large tumor in her liver that caused her belly to grow. In public appearances, Victoria was catcalled and called "Mrs. Melbourne." In 1839, Melbourne resigned when the radicals and conservatives (Victoria hated both parties) voted against a law that suspended Jamaica's constitution. The law took political power away from plantation owners who were resisting the abolition of slavery. The queen ordered a conservative, Sir Robert Peel, to form a new government. At that time it was normal for the prime minister to appoint members of the royal household, who were usually his political allies and sponsors. Many of the queen's ladies-in-waiting were wives of liberals and Peel hoped to be able to replace them with wives of conservatives. During what became known as the bedroom crisis, Victoria, advised by Melbourne, was against their replacement. Peel refused to govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen and ended up resigning, leaving Melbourne to return to his old position.

LEGACY

According to his biographer Giles St. Aubyn, Vitória wrote an average of 2500 words a day during her adult life. From July 1832 until shortly before her death, she wrote in diaries frequently, collecting a total of 122 volumes. After Vitória's death, her daughter Beatriz was named his literary executor. The queen's youngest daughter transcribed and edited the diaries from her accession to the throne and burned the originals in the process. Despite this destruction, many of the diaries still exist. In addition to Beatriz's edited copy, Lord Esher transcribed two volumes from 1832 to 1861 before Beatriz destroyed them. Some of Vitória's extensive correspondence was published in several volumes by different authors. Vitória was physically disproportionate - she was corpulent, inelegant and had no more five feet tall, but was successful in projecting a large image. She was unpopular during the early years of her widowhood, but was much loved during the 1880s and 1890s, when she represented the empire as a matriarchal figure. benevolent. It was only after her diaries and letters were revealed to the public that her true political influence was known. Biographies of the queen written before this material was revealed, as well as Lytton Strachey's 1921, are considered outdated. The many biographies published to date conclude that Victoria was emotional, strong-willed, honest and forthright. Throughout Victoria's reign, the gradual establishment of a modern constitutional monarchy in Great Britain continued. Reforms to the voting system increased the power of parliament, harming nobles and the monarchy. In 1867, Walter Bagehot wrote that the monarch only retained "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".

LEGACY

As Victoria's monarchy became more symbolic than political, it began to place increasing importance on morality and family values, unlike the sexual, financial and personal scandals that had been associated with previous members of the House of Hanover, who had discredited the monarchy. The concept of "family monarchy", with which the middle classes could identify, was strengthened. The ties that Vitória had with European royal families earned her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe". Vitória and Alberto were forty-two grandchildren. Their descendants include Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, King Harold V of Norway, King Charles XVI Gustav of Sweden, Queen Margaret II of Denmark and her sister Princess Anne Maria, former Queen of Greece, King Emeritus Juan Carlos of Spain and his wife, Queen Emeritus Sofia of Spain (and their son, King Philip VI of Spain), the former King of Greece, Constantine II and the former King of Romania, Michael I.