QUESTIONS3. When was Victoria the queen?
4. How did she become queen?
5. What influence did her mother hold over her?
6. Who did she marry?
7. How many children did she have?
8. When did Prince Albert die?
9. What disease did Victoria carry?
10 How is Victoria related to Queen Elizabeth?
11. Did Victoria have any male companions after Albert died?
Right, earliest known photo of Victoria taken 1845
ADDITIONAL INTERESTING FACTS
*Victoria was the first monarch to ride a train.
*Victoria proposed to Albert. He could not propose to her as she was the Queen.
*Victoria started the trend of wearing a white wedding dress. No one else was allowed to wear white at the wedding, and her dress pattern was destroyed so it could not be copied.
*There were six assassination attempts on Victoria's life.
*Victoria spoke several languages: English, German, French, Italian and Latin.
*Victoria was called "The Grandmother of Europe", as her children married into various European monarchies. She had 42 grandchildren!
*Victoria was the first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace.
ANSWERS
2. Her father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, who was the fourth son of King George III. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
3. Victoria became queen on June 20, 1837 at the age of 18, and reigned until her death on January 22, 1901. Her coronation took place on June 28, 1838 at Westminster Abbey.
4. Victoria was born 5th in line: 1. Grandfather King George died in 1820. 2. Father Duke Edward died in 1820. 3. Uncle Duke of York George IV died in 1827. 4. Uncle King William IV died in 1837. 5. Victoria was crowned in 1837. She was just 18, and did not require a Regent to rule.
5. The Regency Act of 1830 made a provision for the Duchess of Kent (Victoria's mother) to act as regent in case the King died while Victoria was still a minor. King William distrusted the Duchess to be Rregent, and in 1836 he stated that he wanted to live until Victoria's 18th birthday, so that a Regency could be avoided. The Duchess was very controlling, and between her and her financial advisor John Conroy, schemed to make Victoria look incompetent, so they could take over as Regents. Victoria was strong and banished him from court, and by the time she married Albert, they had no further control over her.
6. Victoria married Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, her first cousin, who was the son of her uncle Leopold, her mother's brother. The were married February 10, 1840. They were both 20 years old. Painting: Marriage of Victoria and Albert, by George Hayter.
7. Victoria and Albert had nine children:
i. Victoria, Princess
Royal. ii. Edward VII, Prince of Wales, who became her successor.
iii. Princess Alice. iv. Prince Alfred v. Princess Helena vi. Princess Louise vii. Prince Arthur
viii. Prince Leopold ix. Princess Beatrice.
1946 Family painting showing Prince Alfred, Prince Edward, The Queen and Prince Albert; Princesses Alice, Helena and Victoria.
8. Prince Albert died December 14, 1861 of typhoid fever. Victoria entered a state of mourning and wore black for the rest of her life. She mourned him for 40 years. She avoided public appearances, and rarely set foot in London in the following years. She earned the nickname "Widow of Windsor".
9. Victoria was a carrier of Hemophilia, a blood clotting disorder that is passed along maternal lines, also known as the Royal Curse. Two of her five daughters (Alice and Beatrice) were also carriers, and her son Prince Leopold suffered from it. Her most famous descendant with the disease was Alexei Nikolaevich, son of Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. (Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine at birth, and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, whose mother was Princess Alice). The entire Russian family was executed in 1917 during the revolution.
10. Victoria is Queen Elizabeth's great great grandmother:
Queen Victoria - Edward VII - George V - George VI - Elizabeth
11. In the 1860s, Victoria relied on a servant from Scotland, Mr. John Brown. There were rumors of a romantic connection and the Queen was referred to as "Mrs. Brown" The story of their relationship was made into a movie in 1997 called "Mrs. Brown". In 1887, she became friends with another servant, Abdul Karim. He was accused by the public of spying on the British, but the Queen did not believe these rumors. He remained in her service until her death in 1901, when he returned to India. There was also a movie made about this relationship in 2017, called "Victoria and Abdul".
