Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

VICTORIA [ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA]

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 33 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

VICTORIA [ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA] , See also:Queen of the See also:United See also:Kingdom of See also:Great See also:Britain and See also:Ireland, Empress of See also:India (1819-1901), only See also:child of See also:Edward, See also:duke of See also:Kent, See also:fourth son of See also:King See also:George III., and of Princess Victoria See also:Mary Louisa of See also:Saxe-See also:Coburg-See also:Gotha (widow of See also:Prince Emich Karl of See also:Leiningen, by whom she already had two See also:children), was See also:born at See also:Kensington See also:Palace on the 24th of May 1819. The duke and duchess of Kent had been living at Amorbach, in See also:Franconia, owing to their straitened circumstances, but they returned to See also:London on purpose that their child should be born in See also:England. In 1817 the See also:death of Princess See also:Charlotte (only child of the prince See also:regent, afterwards George IV., and wife of Prince See also:Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, afterwards king of the Belgians), had See also:left the ultimate See also:succession to the See also:throne of England, in the youngergeneration, so uncertain that the three unmarried sons of George III., the See also:dukes of See also:Clarence (afterwards See also:William IV.), Kent and See also:Cambridge, all married in the following See also:year, the two See also:elder on the same See also:day. All three had children, but the duke of Clarence's two baby daughters died in See also:infancy, in 1819 and 1821; and the duke of Cambridge's son George, born on the 26th of See also:March 1819, was only two months old when the See also:birth of the duke of Kent's daughter put her before him in the succession. The question as to what name the child should See also:bear was not settled without bickerings. The duke of Kent wished her to be christened See also:Elizabeth, and the prince regent wanted Georgiana, while the See also:tsar See also:Alexander I., who had promised to stand See also:sponsor, stipulated for Alexandrina. The See also:baptism was performed in a See also:drawing-See also:room of Kensington Palace on the 24th of See also:June by Dr See also:Manners See also:Sutton, See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury. The prince regent, who was See also:present, named the child Alexandrina; then, being requested by the duke of Kent to give a second name, he said, rather abruptly, " Let her be called Victoria, after her See also:mother, but this name must come after the other."' Six See also:weeks after her christening the princess was vaccinated, this being the first occasion on which a member of the royal See also:family underwent the operation. In See also:January 182o the duke of Kent died, five days before his See also:brother succeeded to the throne as George IV. The widowed duchess of Kent was now a woman of See also:thirty-four, handsome, homely, a See also:German at See also:heart, and with little liking for See also:English ways. But she was a woman of experience, and shrewd; and fortunately she had a safe and affectionate adviser in her brother, Prince Leopold of Coburg, afterwards (1831) king of the Belgians, who as the See also:husband of the See also:late Princess Charlotte had once been a prospective prince See also:consort of England. His former See also:doctor and private secretary, See also:Baron See also:Stockmar (q.v.), a See also:man of encyclopaedic See also:information and remarkable See also:judgment, who had given See also:special See also:attention to the problems of a See also:sovereign's position in England, was afterwards to See also:play an important role in Queen Victoria's See also:life; and Leopold himself took a fatherly See also:interest in the See also:young princess's See also:education, and contributed some thousands of pounds annually to the duchess of Kent's income.

Prince Leopold still lived at this See also:

time at See also:Claremont, where Princess Charlotte had died, and this became the duchess of Kent's occasional English See also:home; but she was much addicted to travelling, and spent several months every year in visits to watering-places. It was said at See also:court that she liked the See also:demonstrative See also:homage of crowds; but she had See also:good See also:reason to fear lest her child should be taken away from her to be educated according to the views of George IV. Between the king and his See also:sister-in-See also:law there was little love, and when the death of the duke of Clarence's second See also:infant daughter Elizabeth in 1821 made it See also:pretty certain that Princess Victoria would eventually become queen, the duchess See also:felt that the king might possibly obtain the support of his ministers if he insisted that the future sovereign should be brought up under masters and mistresses designated by himself. The little princess could not have received a better education than that which was given her under Prince Leopold's direction. Her See also:uncle considered that she ought to be kept as See also:long as possible from the knowledge of her position, which might raise a large growth of See also:pride or vanity in her and make her unmanageable; so Victoria was twelve years old before she knew that she was to See also:wear a See also:crown. Until she became queen she never slept a See also:night away from her mother's room, and she was not allowed to converse with any grown-up See also:person, friend, See also:tutor or servant without the duchess of Kent or the Baroness Lehzen, her private governess, being present. See also:Louise Lehzen, a native of Coburg, had come to England as governess to the Princess Feedore of Leiningen, the duchess of Kent's daughter 1 The question of her name, as that of one who was to be queen, remained even up to her See also:accession to the throne a much-debated one. In See also:August 1831, in a discussion in See also:parliament upon a See also:grant to the duchess of Kent, See also:Sir M. W. See also:Ridley suggested changing it to Elizabeth as " more accordant to the feelings of the See also:people"; and the See also:idea of a See also:change seems to have been powerfully, supported. In 1836 William IV. approved of a proposal to change it to Charlotte; but, to the princess's own delight, it was given up. by her first husband, and she became teacher to the Princess Victoria when the latter was five years old.

George IV. in 1827 made her a baroness of See also:

Hanover, and she continued as See also:lady-inattendance after the duchess of See also:Northumberland was appointed See also:official governess in 183o, but actually performed the functions first of governess and then of private secretary till 1842, when she left the court and returned to See also:Germany, where she died in 1870. The Rev. George Davys, afterwards See also:bishop of See also:Peter-See also:borough, taught the princess Latin; Mr J. B. See also:Sale, See also:music; Mr See also:Westall, See also:history; and Mr See also:Thomas Steward, the See also:writing See also:master of See also:Westminster School, instructed her in penmanship. In 1830 George IV. died, and the duke of See also:York (George III.'s second son) having died childless in 1827, the duke of Clarence became king as William IV. Princess Victoria now became the See also:direct See also:heir to the throne. William IV. cherished affectionate feelings towards his niece; unfortunately he took offence at the duchess of Kent for declining to let her child come and live at his court for several months in each year, and through the whole of his reign there was strife between the two; and Prince Leopold was no longer in England to See also:act as peacemaker. In the See also:early See also:hours of the loth of June 1837, William IV. died. His thoughts had dwelt often on his niece, and he repeatedly said that he was sure she would be "a good woman and a good queen. It will See also:touch every sailor's heart to have a girl queen to fight for. They'll be See also:tattooing her See also:face on their arms, and I'll be See also:bound they'll all think she was christened after See also:Nelson's See also:ship." Dr Howley, archbishop of Canterbury, and the See also:marquis of Conyngham, bearing the See also:news of the king's death, started in a See also:landau with four horses for Kensington, which they reached at five o'See also:clock.

Their servants rang, knocked and thumped; and when at last admittance was gained, the See also:

primate and the marquis were shown into a See also:lower room and there left to wait. Presently a maid appeared and said that the Princess Victoria was " in a sweet See also:sleep and could not be disturbed." Dr Howley, who was nothing if not pompous, answered that he had come on See also:state business, to which everything, even sleep, must give See also:place. The princess was accordingly roused, and quickly came downstairs in a dressing-See also:gown, her See also:fair See also:hair flowing loose over her shoulders. Her own See also:account of this interview, written the same day in her See also:journal (Letters, i. p. 97), shows her to have been quite prepared. The privy See also:council assembled at Kensington in the See also:morning; and the usual oaths were administered to the queen by See also:Lord See also:Chancellor See also:Cottenham, after which all present did homage. There was a touching incident when the queen's uncles, the dukes of See also:Cumberland and See also:Sussex, two old men, came forward to perform their obeisance. The queen blushed, and descending from her throne, kissed them both, without allowing them to kneel. By the death of William IV., the duke of Cumberland had become King Ernest of Hanover, and immediately after the ceremony he made haste to reach his kingdom. Had Queen Victoria died without issue, this prince, who was arro-' gant, See also:ill-tempered and rash, would have become king of Great Britain; and, as nothing but See also:mischief could have resulted from this, the young queen's life became very See also:precious in the sight of her people. She, of course, retained the late king's ministers in their offices, and it was under Lord See also:Melbourne's direction that the privy council See also:drew up their See also:declaration to the kingdom. This document described the queen as Alexandrina Victoria, and all the peers who subscribed the See also:roll in the See also:House of Lords on the 20th of June swore See also:allegiance to her under those names.

It was not till the following day that the sovereign's See also:

style was altered to Victoria simply, and this necessitated the issuing of a new declaration and a re-See also:signing of the peers' roll. The public See also:proclamation of the queen took place on the 21st at St See also:James's Palace with great pomp. The queen opened her first parliament in person, and in a well-written speech, which she read with much feeling, adverted to her youth and to the See also:necessity which existed for her being guided by enlightened advisers. When both houses had voted loyal addresses, the question of the See also:Civil See also:List was considered, and a See also:week or two later a See also:message was brought to parliamentrequesting an increase of the grant formerly made to the duchess of Kent. See also:Government recommended an addition of £30,000 a year, which was voted, and before the See also:close of the year a Civil List See also:Bill was passed, settling £385,000 a year on the queen. The duchess of Kent and her See also:brothers, King Leopold and the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, had always hoped to arrange that the queen should marry her See also:cousin, See also:Albert (q.v.) of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the prince himself had been made acquainted with this See also:plan from his earliest years. In 183E Prince Albert, who was born in the same year as his future wife, had come on a visit to England with his See also:father and with his brother, Prince Ernest, and his handsome face, See also:gentle disposition and playful See also:humour had produced a favourable impression on the princess. The duchess of Kent had communicated her projects to Lord Mel-See also:bourne, and they were known to many other statesmen, and to persons in society; but the See also:gossip of drawing-rooms during the years 1837—38 continually represented that the young queen had fallen in love with Prince This or Lord That, and the more imaginative babblers hinted at See also:post-chaises waiting outside Kensington Gardens in the night, private marriages and so forth. The See also:coronation took place on the 28th of June 1838. No more touching ceremony of the See also:kind had ever been performed in Westminster See also:Abbey. See also:Anne was a See also:middle-aged married woman at the time of her coronation; she waddled The See also:coro- ~ nation. and wheezed, and made no majestic See also:appearance upon her throne.

Mary was odious to her See also:

Protestant subjects, Elizabeth to those of the unreformed See also:religion, and both these queens succeeded to the crown in times of See also:general sadness; but the youthful Queen Victoria had no enemies except a few Chartists, and the See also:land was peaceful and prosperous when she began to reign over it. The cost of George IV.'s coronation amounted to £240,000; that of William IV. had amounted to £so,000 only; and in asking £70,000 the government had judged that things could be done with suitable luxury, but without See also:waste. The traditional banquet in Westminster See also:Hall, with the throwing down of the See also:glove by the king's See also:champion in See also:armour, had been dispensed with at the coronation of William IV., and it was resolved not to revive it. But it was arranged that the sovereign's procession to the abbey through the streets should be made a finer show than on previous occasions; and it drew to London 400,000 See also:country visitors. Three ambassadors for different reasons became See also:objects of great interest on the occasion. See also:Marshal See also:Soult, See also:Wellington's old foe, received a hearty popular welcome as a military See also:hero; Prince Esterhazy, who represented See also:Austria, dazzled society by his Magyar See also:uniform, which was encrusted all over, even to the boots, with pearls and diamonds; while the See also:Turkish See also:ambassador, Sarim See also:Effendi, caused much diversion by his bewilderment. He was so wonder-struck that he could not walk to his place, but stood as if he had lost his senses, and kept muttering, "All this for a woman! " Within a year the court was brought into sudden disfavour with the country by two events of unequal importance, but both exciting. The first was the See also:case of Lady See also:Flora See also:Hastings. The In See also:February 1839 this young lady, a daughter of the " See also:Bed-marquis of Hastings, and a maid of See also:honour to the eham,her~ duchess of Kent, was accused by certain ladies of Pi° t the bedchamber of immoral conduct. The See also:charge having been laid before Lord Melbourne, he communicated it to Sir James See also:Clark, the queen's physician, and the result was that Lady Flora was subjected to the indignity of a medical examination, which, while it cleared her See also:character, seriously affected her See also:health. In fact, she died in the following See also:July, and it was then discovered that the See also:physical appearances which first provoked suspicion against her had been due to enlargement of the See also:liver.

The queen's conduct towards Lady Flora was kind and sisterly from the beginning to the end of this painful business; but the See also:

scandal was made public through some indignant letters which the marchioness of Hastings addressed to Lord Melbourne praying for the See also:punishment of her daughter's traducers, and the general See also:opinion was that Lady Flora had been grossly treated at the instigation of some private court enemies. While the agitation about the affair was yet unappeased, the See also:political crisis known as the " Bedchamber See also:Plot " occurred. The Whig See also:ministry had introduced a bill suspending the Constitution of See also:Jamaica because the See also:Assembly in that See also:colony had refused to adopt the Prisons Act passed by the Imperial Legislature. Sir See also:Robert See also:Peel moved an See also:amendment, which, on a See also:division (6th May), was defeated by a See also:majority of five only in a house of 583, and ministers thereupon resigned. The duke of Wellington was first sent for, but he advised that the task of forming an See also:administration should be entrusted to Sir Robert Peel. Sir Robert was ready to See also:form a See also:cabinet in which the duke of Welling-ton, Lords See also:Lyndhurst, See also:Aberdeen and See also:Stanley, and Sir James See also:Graham would have served; but he stipulated that the See also:mistress of the See also:robes and the ladies of the bedchamber appointed by the Whig administration should be removed, and to this the queen would not consent. On the loth of May she wrote curtly that the course proposed by Sir Robert Peel was contrary to usage and repugnant to her feelings; the Tory See also:leader then had to inform the House of See also:Commons that, having failed to obtain the See also:proof which he desired of her See also:majesty's confidence, it was impossible for him to accept See also:office. The ladies of the bedchamber were so unpopular in consequence of their behaviour to Lady Flora Hastings that the public took alarm at the notion that the queen had fallen into the hands of an intriguing coterie; and Lord Melbourne, who was accused of wishing to See also:rule on the strength of court favour, resumed office with diminished See also:prestige. The Tories thus felt aggrieved; and the Chartists were so prompt to make political See also:capital out of the affair that large See also:numbers were added to their ranks. On the 14th of June Mr See also:Attwood, M.P. for See also:Birmingham, presented to the House of Commons a Chartist See also:petition alleged to have been signed by 1,280,000 people. It was a See also:cylinder of See also:parchment of about the See also:diameter of a See also:coach-See also:wheel, and was literally rolled up on the See also:floor of the house. On the day after this curious document had furnished both amusement and uneasiness to the Commons, a woman, describing herself as See also:Sophia Elizabeth See also:Guelph See also:Sims, made application at the See also:Mansion House for See also:advice and assistance to prove herself the lawful child of George IV. and Mrs See also:Fitzherbert; and this incident, trumpery as it was, added See also:fuel to the disloyal See also:flame then raging.

Going in state to See also:

Ascot the queen was hissed by some ladies as her See also:carriage drove on to the course, and two peeresses, one of them a Tory duchess, were openly accused of this unseemly act. Meanwhile some See also:monster Chartist demonstrations were being organized, and they commenced on the 4th of July with riots at Birmingham. It was an untoward coincidence that Lady Flora Hastings died on the 5th of July, for though she repeated on her deathbed, and wished it to be published, that the queen had taken no See also:part whatever in the proceedings which had shortened her life, it was remarked that the ladies who were believed to have persecuted her still retained the sovereign's favour. The riots at Birmingham lasted ten days, and had to be put down by armed force. They were followed by others at See also:Newcastle, See also:Manchester, See also:Bolton, See also:Chester and See also:Macclesfield. These troublous events had the effect of hastening the queen's See also:marriage. Lord Melbourne ascertained that the queen's dis-The positions towards her cousin, Prince Albert, were unqueen's changed, and he advised King Leopold, through M. marriage. See also:Van der Weyer, the Belgian See also:minister, that the prince should come to England and See also:press his suit. The prince arrived with his brother on a visit to See also:Windsor on the loth of See also:October 1839. On the 12th the queen wrote to King Leopold: " Albert's beauty is most striking, and he is so amiable and unaffected—in See also:short, very fascinating." On the 15th all wasdescribed, in the queen's declaration to the privy council, as a Protestant prince; and Lord See also:Palmerston was obliged to ask Baron Stockmar for assurance that Prince Albert did not belong to any See also:sect of Protestants whose rules might prevent him from taking the See also:Sacrament according to the See also:ritual of the English See also:Church. He got an See also:answer couched in somewhat ironical terms to the effect that Protestantism owed its existence in a measure to the house of See also:Saxony, from which the prince descended, seeing that this house and that of the See also:landgrave of See also:Hesse had stood quite alone against See also:Europe in upholding See also:Luther and his cause. Even after this certain High Churchmen held that a Lutheran was a " See also:dissenter," and that the prince should be asked to subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles.

The queen was particularly concerned by the question of the prince's future status as an Englishman. It was impracticable for him to receive the See also:

title of king consort; but the queen naturally desired that her husband should be placed by act of parliament in a position which would secure to him See also:precedence, not only in England, but in See also:foreign courts. Lord Melbourne sought to effect this by a clause introduced in a See also:naturalization bill; but he found himself obliged to drop the clause, and to leave the queen to confer what precedence she pleased by letters-patent. This was a lame way out of the difficulty, for the queen could only confer precedence within her own realms, whereas an act of parliament bestowing the title of prince consort would have made the prince's right to See also:rank above all royal imperial highnesses quite clear, and would have left no room for such disputes as afterwards occurred when foreign princes See also:chose to treat Prince Albert as having See also:mere See also:courtesy rank in his wife's kingdom. The result of these political difficulties was to make the queen more than ever disgusted with the Tories. But there was no other flaw in the happiness of the marriage, which was solemnized on the loth of February 1840 in the See also:Chapel Royal, St James's. It is interesting to See also:note that the queen was dressed entirely in articles of See also:British manufacture. Her See also:dress was of See also:Spitalfields See also:silk; her See also:veil of See also:Honiton See also:lace; her See also:ribbons came from See also:Coventry; even her gloves had been made in London of English kid—a novel thing in days when the See also:French had a See also:monopoly in the finer kinds of gloves. From the time of the queen's marriage the crown played an increasingly active part in the affairs of state. Previously, ministers had tried to spare the queen all disagree-able and fatiguing ifa details. Lord Melbourne saw her - affair lrs, every day, whether she was in London or at Windsor, and he used to explain all current business in a. benevolent, chatty manner, which offered a pleasant contrast to the style of his two See also:principal colleagues, Lord See also:John See also:Russell and Lord Palmerston. A statesman of firmer See also:mould than Lord Melbourne would hardly have succeeded so well as he did in making rough places smooth for Prince Albert.

Lord John Russell and Lord Palmerston were naturally jealous of the prince's interference —and of King Leopold's and Baron Stockmar's—in state affairs; but Lord Melbourne took the See also:

common-sense view that a husband will See also:control his wife whether people wish it or not. Ably advised by his private secretary, George See also:Anson, and by Stockmar, the prince thus soon took the de facto place of the sovereign's private secretary, though he had no official status as such; and his See also:system of classifying and annotating the queen's papers and letters resulted in the preservation of what the editors of the Letters of Queen Victoria (1907) describe as " probably the most extraordinary collection of state documents in the See also:world "—those up to 1861 being contained in between still had some See also:parliamentary mortifications to undergo. The government proposed that Prince Albert should receive an See also:annuity of £5o,000, but an amendment of See also:Colonel -Sibthorpa politician of no great repute—for making the annuity 3o,000 was carried against ministers by 262 votes to 158, the Tories and Radicals going into the same See also:lobby, and many ministerialists taking no part in' the division. Prince Albert had not been settled; and the queen wrote to her uncle, " I love him more Soo and 600 bound volumes at Windsor. To confer on Prince than I can say." The queen's public announcement of her Albert every honour that the crown could bestow, and to let him See also:betrothal was enthusiastically received. But the royal lovers make his way gradually into public favour by his own tact, was the advice which Lord Melbourne gave; and the prince acted upon it so well, avoiding every appearance of intrusion, and treating men of all parties and degrees with urbanity, that within five months of his marriage he obtained a See also:signal See also:mark of the public confidence. In expectation of the queen becoming a mother, a bill was passed through parliament providing for the See also:appointment of Prince Albert as See also:sole regent in case the queen, after giving birth to a child, died before her son or daughter came of See also:age. The Regency Bill had been hurried on in consequence of the See also:attempt of a crazy pot-boy, Edward See also:Oxford, to take the queen's Attempts life. On loth June 1840, the queen and Prince Albert on the were See also:driving up Constitution See also:Hill in an open carriage, queen's when Oxford fired two pistols, the bullets from which lire. flew, it is said, close by the prince's See also:head. He was arrested on the spot, and when his lodgings were searched a quantity of See also:powder and shot was found, with the rules of a See also:secret society, called " Young England," whose members were pledged to meet, " carrying swords and pistols and wearing See also:crape masks." These discoveries raised the surmise that Oxford was the See also:tool of a widespread Chartist See also:conspiracy—or, as the Irish pretended, of a conspiracy of See also:Orangemen to set the duke of Cumberland on the throne; and while these delusions were fresh, they threw well-disposed persons into a See also:paroxysm of See also:loyalty. Even the London See also:street See also:dogs, as See also:Sydney See also:Smith said, joined with O'Connell in See also:barking " See also:God See also:save the Queen." Oxford seems to have been craving for notoriety; but it may be doubted whether the See also:jury who tried him did right to pronounce his acquittal on the ground of See also:insanity. He feigned madness at his trial, but during the See also:forty years of his subsequent confinement at See also:Bedlam he talked and acted like a rational being, and when he was at length released and sent to See also:Australia he earned his living there as a house painter, and used to declare that he had never been mad at all.

His acquittal was to be deprecated as establishing a dangerous precedent in regard to outrages on the sovereign. It was always Prince Albert's opinion that if Oxford had been flogged the attempt of See also:

Francis on the queen in 1842 and of See also:Bean in the same year would never have been perpetrated. After the attempt of Bean—who was a hunchback, really insane—parliament passed a bill empowering See also:judges to See also:order See also:whipping as a punishment for those who molested the queen; but some-how this salutary act was never enforced. In 185o a See also:half-pay officer, named Pate, assaulted the queen by striking her with a stick, and crushing her See also:bonnet. He was sentenced to seven years' transportation; but the See also:judge, Baron Alderson, excused him the flogging. In 1869 an Irish lad, O'See also:Connor, was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment and a whipping for presenting a See also:pistol at the queen, with a petition, in St James's See also:Park; but this time it was the queen herself who privately remitted the See also:corporal punishment, and she even pushed clemency to the length of sending her aggressor to Australia at her own expense. The See also:series of attempts on the queen was closed in 1882 by Maclean, who fired a pistol at her majesty as she was leaving the Great Western Railway station at Windsor. He, like Bean, was a genuine madman, and was relegated to Broadmoor. The birth of the princess royal, on the 21st of See also:November 1840, removing the unpopular King Ernest of Hanover from Birth the position of heir-presumptive to the British crown, of the was a subject of loud congratulations to the people. princess A curious scare was occasioned at See also:Buckingham Palace, royal. when the little princess was a fortnight old, by the See also:discovery of a boy named See also:Jones concealed under a bed in the royal nursery. Jones had a See also:mania for palace-breaking. Three times he effected a clandestine entry into the queen's See also:residence, and twice he managed to spend several days there. By day he concealed himself in cupboards or under See also:furniture, and by night he groped his way into the royal See also:kitchen to eat whatever he could find.

After his third See also:

capture, in March 1841, he coolly boasted that he had lain under a See also:sofa, and listened to a private conversation between the queen and Prince Albert. This third time he was not punished, but sent to See also:sea, and turned out very well. The incident strengthened Prince Albert's hands in trying to carry out sundry domestic reforms which were being stoutly resisted by vested interests. The royal residences and grounds used to be under the control of four different officials—the lord See also:chamberlain, the lord steward, the master of the See also:horse and the commissioners of See also:woods and forests. Baron Stockmar, describing the confusion fostered by this state of things, said " The lord steward finds the fuel and See also:lays the See also:fire; the lord chamberlain See also:lights it. The lord chamberlain provides the lamps; the lord steward must clean, See also:trim and See also:light them. The inside cleaning of windows belongs to the lord chamberlain's depattment, but the See also:outer parts must be attended to by the office of woods and forests, so that windows remain dirty unless the two departments can come to an understanding." It took Prince Albert four years of firmness and See also:diplomacy before in 1845 he was able to bring the queen's home under the efficient control of a master of the See also:household. At the general See also:election of 1841 the Whigs returned in a minority of seventy-six, and Lord Melbourne was defeated on the Address and resigned. The queen was affected sir Robert to tears at parting with him; but the crisis had been Peel's fully expected and prepared for by confidential communications between Mr Anson and Sir Robert Peel, who now became See also:prime minister (see Letters of Queen Victoria, i. 341 et seq.). The old difficulty as to the appointments to the royal household was tactfully removed, and Tory appointments were made, which were agreeable both to the queen and to Peel. The only temporary embarrassment was the queen's continued private See also:correspondence with Lord Melbourne, which led Stockmar to remonstrate' with him; but Melbourne used his See also:influence sensibly; moreover, he gradually dropped out of politics, and the queen got used to his not being indispensable.

On Prince Albert's position the change had a marked effect, for in the See also:

absence of Melbourne the queen relied more particularly on his advice, and Peel himself at once discovered and recognized the prince's unusual See also:charm and capacity. One of the Tory premier's first acts was to propose that a royal See also:commission should be appointed to consider the best means for promoting See also:art and See also:science in the kingdom, and he nominated Prince Albert as See also:president. The See also:International See also:Exhibition of 1851, the creation of .the Museum and Science and Art See also:Department at See also:South Kensington, the See also:founding of art See also:schools and picture galleries all over the country, the spread of musical See also:taste and the fostering of technical education may be attributed, more or less directly, to the commission of distinguished men which began its labours under Prince Albert's auspices. The queen's second child, the prince of See also:Wales (see EDWARD VII.), was born on the 9th of November 1841; and this event " filled the measure of the queen's domestic Birth of happiness," as she said in her speech from the throne the prince at the opening of the session of 1842. It is unnecessary of Wales° from this point onwards to go seriatim through the domestic history of the reign, which is given in the See also:article ENGLISH HISTORY. At this time there was much political unrest at home, and serious difficulties abroad. As regards See also:internal politics, it may be remarked that the queen and Prince Albert were much relieved when Peel, who had come in as the leader of the Protectionist party, adopted See also:Free See also:Trade and re-pealed the See also:Corn See also:Laws, for it closed a dangerous agitation which gave them much anxiety. When the country was in See also:distress, the queen felt a womanly repugnance for festivities; and yet it was undesirable that the court should incur the The court reproach of living meanly to save See also:money. There and the was a conversation between the queen and Sir Robert country. Peel on this subject in the early days of the Tory administration, and the queen talked of reducing her See also:establishment in order that she might give away larger sums in charities. " I am afraid the people would only say that your majesty was returning them change for their pounds in halfpence," answered Peel. " Your majesty is not perhaps aware that the most unpopular person in the See also:parish is the relieving officer, and if the queen were to constitute herself a relieving officer for all the parishes in the kingdom she would find her money go a very little way, and she would provoke more grumbling than thanks." Peel added that a sovereign must do all things in order, not seeking praise for doing one particular thing well, but striving to be an example in all respects, even in See also:dinner-giving.

Meanwhile the year 1842 was ushered in by splendid fetes in honour of the king of See also:

Prussia, who held the prince of Wales at the See also:font. In the See also:spring there was a See also:fancy-dress See also:ball at Bucking-See also:ham Palace, which remained memorable owing to the offence which it gave in See also:France. Prince Albert was costumed as Edward III., the queen as Queen Philippa, and all the gentle-men of the court as knights of See also:Poitiers. The French chose to view this as an unfriendly demonstration, and there was some talk of getting up a See also:counter-ball in See also:Paris, the duke of See also:Orleans to figure as William the Conqueror. In June the queen took her first railway See also:journey, travelling from Windsor to See also:Paddington The on the Great Western See also:line. The master of the horse, queens whose business it was to provide for the queen's first See also:rail- See also:ordinary journeys by road, was much put out by this way innovation. He marched into the station several journey. hours before the start to inspect the See also:engine, as he would have examined a steed; but greater merriment was occasioned by the queen's coachman, who insisted that, as a See also:matter of form, he ought to make-believe to drive the engine. After some dispute, he was told that he might climb on to the See also:pilot engine which was to precede the royal See also:train; but his See also:scarlet See also:livery, See also:white gloves and See also:wig suffered so much from See also:soot and See also:sparks that he made no more fuss about his rights in after trips. The See also:motion of the train was found to be so pleasant that the queen readily trusted herself to the railway for a longer journey a few weeks later, when she paid her first visit to See also:Scotland. A See also:report by Sir James Clark led to the queen's visiting Balmoral in 1848, and to the See also:purchase of the Balmoral See also:estate in 1852, and the queen's See also:diary of her journeys in Scotland shows what See also:constant enjoyment she derived from her Highland home. Seven years before this the estate of See also:Osborne had been See also:purchased in the Isle of See also:Wight, in order that the queen might have a home of her own. Windsor she considered too stately, and the See also:Pavilion at See also:Brighton too uncomfortable.

The first See also:

stone of Osborne House was laid in 1845, and the royal family entered into See also:possession in See also:September 1846. In August 1843 the queen and Prince Albert paid a visit to King See also:Louis Philippe at the See also:chateau d'Eu. They sailed from Relations See also:Southampton for Treport in a yacht, and, as it hap- with pened to be raining hard when they embarked, the foreign loyal members of the Southampton See also:Corporation remem- sove- bered See also:Raleigh, and spread their robes on the ground reigns. for the queen to walk over. In 1844 Louis Philippe returned the visit by coming to Windsor. It was the first visit ever paid by a king of France to a sovereign of England, and Louis Philippe was much pleased at receiving the Order of the Garter. He said that he did not feel that he belonged to the " See also:Club " of See also:European sovereigns until he received this decoration. As the father of King Leopold of See also:Belgium's See also:con-sort, the queen was much interested in his visit, which went off with great success and See also:goodwill. The tsar See also:Nicholas had visited Windsor earlier that year, in which also Prince See also:Alfred, who was to marry the tsar's See also:grand-daughter, was born. In 1846 the affair of the " See also:Spanish marriages " seriously troubled the relations between the United Kingdom and France. Louis Philippe and See also:Guizot had planned the marriage of the duke of See also:Montpensier with the infanta Louisa of See also:Spain, younger sister of Queen See also:Isabella, who, it was thought at the time, was not likely ever to have children. The intrigue was therefore one for placing a son of the French king on the Spanish throne.

(See SPAIN, History.) As to Queen Victoria's intervention on this question and on others, these words, written by W. E. See also:

Gladstone in 1875, may be quoted: "Although the admirable arrangements of the Constitution have now shielded the sovereign from See also:personal responsibility, they have left ample See also:scope for the exercise of direct and personal influence in the whole See also:work of government. . . . The sovereign as compared with her ministers has, because she is the sovereign, the See also:advantage of long experience, wide survey, elevated position and entire disconnexion from the See also:bias of party. Further, personal and domestic relations with the ruling families abroad give openings in delicate cases for saying more, and saying it at once more gently and more efficaciously, than could be ventured in the formal correspondence and See also:rude contacts of government. We know with how much truth, fulness and decision, and with how much tact and delicacy, the queen, aided by Prince Albert, took a principal part on behalf of the nation in the painful question of the Spanish marriages." The year 1848, which shook so many See also:continental thrones,left that of the United Kingdom unhurt. Revolutions See also:broke out in Paris, See also:Vienna, See also:Berlin, See also:Madrid, See also:Rome, See also:Naples, See also:Venice, See also:Munich, See also:Dresden and See also:Budapest. The queen and Prince Albert were affected in many private ways by the events abroad. Panic-stricken princes wrote to them for political assistance or pecuniary aid. Louis Philippe abdicated and fled to England almost destitute, being smuggled over the Channel by the cleverness of the British See also:consul at See also:Havre, and the queen employed Sir Robert Peel as her intermediary for providing him with money to meet his immediate wants. Subsequently Claremont was assigned to the exiled royal family of France as a residence.

During a few weeks of 1848 Prince William of Prussia (afterwards German See also:

emperor) found an See also:asylum in England. In August 1849 the queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by the little princess royal and the prince of Wales, paid a visit to Ireland, landing at the See also:Cove of See also:Cork, which from that day was renamed See also:Queenstown. The receP- ,;49.r" lh tition was enthusiastic, and so was that at See also:Dublin. " Such a day of See also:jubilee," wrote The Times, " such a night of rejoicing, has never been beheld in the See also:ancient capital of Ireland since first it arose on the See also:banks of the Liffey." The queen was greatly pleased and touched. The project of establishing a royal residence in Ireland was often mooted at this time, but the queen's advisers never urged it with sufficient warmth. There was no repugnance to the idea on the queen's part, but Sir Robert Peel thought unfavourably of it as an " empirical " plan, and the question of expense was always mooted as a serious See also:consideration. There is no doubt that the absence of a royal residence in Ireland was felt as a slur upon the Irish people in certain circles. During these years the queen's family was rapidly becoming larger. Princess Alice (afterwards grand duchess of Hesse) was born on the 25th of See also:April 1843; Prince Alfred (afterwards duke of See also:Edinburgh and duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) on the 6th of August 1844; Princess See also:Helena (Princess See also:Christian) on the 25th of May 1846; Princess Louise (duchess of See also:Argyll) on the 18th of March x848; and Prince See also:Arthur (duke of Con-naught) on the 1st of May 185o. At the end of 1851 an important event took place, which ended a long-See also:standing grievance on the part of the queen, in Lord Palmerston's dismissal from the office of foreign secretary on account of his expressing approval of Louis See also:Napoleon's coup d'etat in Paris. The circumstances are of extreme interest for the light they throw on the queen's estimate of her constitutional position and authority. Lord Palmerston had never been persona grata at court.

His Anglo-Irish nature was not sympathetic with the somewhat formal character and German training of Prince Albert; and his views of ministerial See also:

independence were not at all in See also:accord with those of the queen and her husband. The queen had more than once to remind her foreign secretary that his See also:des-patches must be seen by her before they were sent out, and though Palmston assented, the queen's complaint had to be continually repeated. She also protested to the prime minister (Lord John Russell) in 1848, 1849 and 185o, against various instances in which Palmerston had expressed his own personal opinions in matters of foreign affairs, without his despatches being properly approved either by herself or by the cabinet. Lord John Russell, who did not want to offend his popular and headstrong colleague, did his best to smooth things over; but the queen remained exceedingly sore, and tried hard to get Palmerston removed, without success. On the 12th of August 1850 the queen wrote to Lord John Russell the following important memorandum, which followed in its terms a private memorandum See also:drawn up for her by Stockmar a few months earlier (Letters, ii. 282) : " With reference to the conversation about Lord Palmerston which the queen had with Lord John Russell the other day, and Lord Palmerston's disavowal that he ever intended any disrespect to her by the various neglects of which she has had so long and so often to complain, she thinks it right, in order to avoid any mistakes for the future, to explain what it is she expects from the foreign secretary. The queen and Lord Palmerston. " She requires " 1. That he will distinctly state what he proposes in a given case, in order that the queen may know as distinctly to what she has given her royal See also:sanction. " 2. Having given her sanction to a measure, that it be not arbitrarily altered or modified by the minister. Such an act she must regard as failing in sincerity to the crown, and justly to be visited by the exercise of her constitutional right of dismissing that minister.

She expects to be kept informed of what passes between him and the foreign ministers, before important decisions are taken, based upon that intercourse; to receive the foreign despatches in good time, and to have the drafts for her approval sent her in sufficient time to make herself acquainted with their contents before they must be sent off. The queen thinks it best that Lord John Russell should show this See also:

letter to Lord Palmerston." Lord Palmerston took a copy of this letter, and promised to attend to its direction. But the queen thoroughly distrusted him, and in October 1851 his proposed reception of See also:Kossuth nearly led to a crisis. Then finally she discovered (See also:December 13) at the time of the coup d' etat, that he had. of his own initiative, given assurances of approval to See also:Count See also:Walewski, which were not in accord with the views of the cabinet and with the " See also:neutrality which had been enjoined " by the queen. This was too much even for Lord John Russell, and after a short and decisive correspondence Lord Palmerston resigned the See also:seals of office. The death of the duke of Wellington in 1852 deeply affected the queen. The duke had acquired a position above parties, Death of and was the trusted adviser of all statesmen and of the the duke court in emergencies. The queen sadly needed such es/Wei-: a counsellor, for Prince Albert's position was one full Baron Prince of difficulty, and party malignity was continually Albert's putting wrong constructions upon the advice which he position. gave, and imputing to him advice which he did not give. During the Corn Law agitation offence was taken at his having attended a debate in the House of Commons, the Tories declaring that he had gone down to overawe the house in favour of Peel's See also:measures. After Palmerston's en-forced resignation, there was a new and more absurd hubbub. A See also:climax was reached when the difficulties with See also:Russia arose which led to the See also:Crimean See also:War; the prince was accused by the See also:peace party of wanting war, and by the war party of plotting surrender; and it came to be publicly rumoured that the queen's husband had been found conspiring against the state, and had been committed to the See also:Tower. Some said that the queen had been arrested too, and the prince wrote to Stockmar: " See also:Thou-sands of people surrounded the Tower to see the queen and me brought to it." This gave See also:infinite See also:pain to the queen, and at length she wrote to Lord Aberdeen on the subject.

Eventually, on 31st January 1854, Lord John Russell took occasion to deny most emphatically that Prince Albert interfered unduly with foreign affairs, and in both houses the statesmen of the two parties delivered feeling panegyrics of the prince, asserting at the same time his entire constitutional right to give private advice to the sovereign on matters of state. From this time it may be said that Prince Albert's position was established on a secure footing. He had declined (185o) to accept the post of See also:

commander-in-See also:chief at the duke of Wellington's See also:suggestion, and he always refused to let himself be placed in any situation which would have modified ever so slightly his proper relations with the queen. The queen was very anxious that he should receive the title of " King Consort," and that the crown should be jointly See also:borne as it was by William III. and Mary; but he himself never spoke a word for this arrangement. It was only to please the queen that he consented to take the title of Prince Con-sort (by letters patent of June 25, 1857), and he only did this when it was See also:manifest that statesmen of all parties approved the change. For the queen and royal family the Crimean War time was a very busy and exciting one. Her majesty personally super-The intended the committees of ladies who organized Crimean See also:relief for the wounded; she helped See also:Florence Nightin- war. See also:gale in raising bands of trained nurses; she visited the crippled soldiers in the hospitals, and it was through her resolute complaints of the utter insufficiency of the See also:hospital See also:accommodation that See also:Netley Hospital was built. The See also:distribution of medals to the soldiers and the institution of the Victoria See also:Cross (February 1857) as a See also:reward for individual instances of merit and valour must also be noted among the incidents which occupied the queen's time and thoughts. In 18J5 the emperor and empress of the French visited the queen at Windsor See also:Castle, and the same year her majesty and the prince consort paid a visit to Paris. The queen's family life was most happy. At Balmoral and Windsor the court lived in virtual privacy, and the queen and the prince consort saw much of their children. Count- The less entries in the queen's diaries testify to the anxious queen See also:affection with which the progress of each little member and her of the household was watched.

Two more children tamtty. had been born to the royal pair, Prince Leopold (duke of See also:

Albany) on the 7th of April 1853, and on the 14th of April 1857 their last child, the princess See also:Beatrice (Princess See also:Henry of See also:Battenberg), bringing the royal family up to nine—four sons and five daughters. Less than a year after Princess Beatrice's birth the princess royal was married to Prince See also:Frederick William of Prussia, afterwards the emperor Frederick. The next marriage after the princess royal's was that of the princess Alice to Prince Louis (afterwards grand duke) of Hesse-See also:Darmstadt in 1862. In 1863 the prince of Wales married the princess Alexandra of See also:Denmark. In 1866 the princess Helena became the wife of Prince Christian of See also:Schleswig-See also:Holstein. In 1871 the princess Louise was wedded to the marquis of Lorne, eldest son of the duke of Argyll. In 1874 Prince Alfred, duke of Edinburgh, married Princess See also:Marie Alexandrovna, only daughter of the tsar Alexander II. The duke of See also:Connaught married in 1879 the princess Louise of Prussia, daughter of the soldier-prince Frederick See also:Charles. In 1882 Prince Leopold, duke of Albany, wedded the princess See also:Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Finally came the marriage of Princess Beatrice in 1885 with Prince Henry of Battenberg. On the occasion of the coming of age of the queen's sons and the marriages of her daughters parliament made See also:provision. The prince of Wales, in addition to the revenues of the duchy of See also:Cornwall, had 40,000 a year, the princess £1o,000, and an addition of £36,000 a year for their children was granted by parliament in 1889.

The princess royal received a See also:

dowry of £40,000 and £8000 a year for life, the younger daughters £30,000 and £6000 a year each. The dukes of Edinburgh, Connaught and Albany were each voted an income of £15,000, and £1o,000 on marrying. The dispute with the United States concerning the " See also:Trent" affair of 1861 will always be memorable for the part played in its See also:settlement by the queen and the prince consort. The In 1861 the accession of See also:Abraham See also:Lincoln to the presi- See also:American dency of the United States of See also:America caused the civil war. See also:Southern States of the See also:Union to revolt, and the war began. During November the British See also:West India steamer " Trent " was boarded by a See also:vessel of the Federal See also:Navy, the " See also:San Jacinto," and Messrs See also:Slidell and See also:Mason, commissioners for the Confederate States, who were on their way to England, were seized. The British government were on the point of demanding reparation for this act in a See also:peremptory manner which could hardly have meant anything but war, but Prince Albert insisted on revising Lord Russell's despatch in a way which gave the American government an opportunity to concede the surrender of the prisoners without humiliation. The memorandum from the queen on this point was the prince consort's last political draft. The year 1861 was the saddest in the queen's life. On 16th March, her mother, the duchess of Kent, died, and on 14th December, while the dispute with America about the Death of " Trent " affair was yet unsettled, the prince consort the prince breathed his last at Windsor. His death left a void consort• in the queen's life which nothing could ever fill. She built at See also:Frogmore a magnificent See also:mausoleum where she might be buried with him.

Never again during her reign did the queen live in London, and Buckingham palace was only used for occasional visits of a few days.

End of Article: VICTORIA [ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA]

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
VICTORIA NYANZA 		[next]
VICTORINUS, GAIUS MARIUS (4th century A.D.)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries