Queen Victoria: The British Monarch

The story behind the famous "Grandmother of Europe"

Britain reached its territorial and cultural zenith under Queen Victoria. She is affectionally known as the Grandmother of Europe. But who was this extraordinary woman? 

Was she a benevolent matriarch of an industrialized, modern Europe? Or was she the head of a rapacious, bloodthirsty empire that brutally colonized the Third World? 

George III

Queen Victoria was born on May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. She was delivered by a female doctor. Only months later, tragedy struck when Victoria’s father died of pneumonia. 

Victoria’s grandfather, the infamous King George III, was the first to rule the United Kingdoms of England and Ireland after they consolidated in January of 1801. She came from the House of Hanover, which ruled Britain as a constitutional monarchy. Legislative powers belonged to the Houses of Commons and Lords. The constitutional system of Britain distinguished it from the absolutist monarchies of the rest of Europe. 

Under George III, the British Empire began a rapid geopolitical expansion. This was temporarily wounded by the American War of Independence, which forced the Brits to abandon its colonial ambitions in North America. But for the most part, the British continued to expand rapaciously. 

The monarchical state of Britain went head-to-head with the revolutionary republican regime of France. The Napoleonic Wars finally came to a tragic conclusion with Bonaparte’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, leaving Great Britain as the world’s undisputed naval superpower. 

Industrial Revolution

Over the reigns of the House of Hanover, Great Britain began a massive transformation: the Industrial Revolution. In the early 19th century, the British built the world’s first all-iron steamship, which revolutionized international trade. 

Before Victoria’s accession to the British throne in 1837, ordinary British people traveled by stagecoach at an underwhelming average speed of 12 kilometers per hour. By the time she assumed power, travel speeds nearly doubled thanks to the introduction of industrial railways. In just a couple of decades, by the 1850s, speeds had risen to 80 kilometers per hour. 

Through its vast overseas commercial networks, the British Empire amassed enough wealth and resources to sustain a booming population. Improvements in agriculture, coupled with imports from across the colonies, Britain grew from a population of 11 million at the start of the 19th century to 37 million by the end of Victoria’s reign in 1901. This growing population became increasingly urbanized. People started living in towns, and working in factories, mills, and mines. 

By the end of the Victorian Era, Great Britain had undergone a radical makeover. Factories boomed with thriving industry. Streets were paved and lit with electricity. Life was standardized thanks to the cheap importing of raw materials. People now had electricity, running water, drainage, indoor bathrooms, and gas cooking—all of which provided an unprecedentedly high standard of living. 

With industrialization came social progress as well. Industrial workers organized into trade unions. Political campaigners urged democratic reforms. Although women still didn’t have the vote, many advances were made toward female suffrage. Secret voting was introduced in 1872. Bribing of voters was outlawed. Compulsory education was introduced for children below age 10. By 1900, 90% of kids regularly attended school. Religious tolerance was introduced, allowing for the construction of countless churches. Debate ensued over whether the law should enforce the observation of the Sabbath. 

But Victoria’s Britain had a dark underbelly as well. Poverty, prostitution, and urban crime lurked beneath the scenes. The Queen, reflecting her arrogant aristocratic upbringing, firmly rejected the belief in class mobility. She even opposed the idea of women voting, calling it a “mad and wicked folly.” 

A new Queen

When she turned age four, Victoria was tutored by Reverend George Davies. She was especially good at languages, and spoke French, German, Italian, and Latin. She learned singing and drawing. Victoria’s childhood was strictly regimented by her mother, the Duchess of Kent. 

By age 18, Victoria was on the path toward royal succession. Her uncle, George IV, was the regent for King George III. George IV ascended the throne in 1820. 

Victoria became Queen in 1837. Her coronation drew thousands of people in the streets. Being already age 18, she was old enough to rule by herself. She dressed in mourning black to honor her deceased uncle, and made her first public appearance. To escape her mother’s influence, Queen Victoria left Kensington Palace. She made Buckingham Palace her new primary residence. 

By the start of her reign, Queen Victoria was already very popular. But her image was temporarily tarnished after a political scandal involving the out-of-wedlock pregnancy of Lady Flora Hastings, one of her mother’s ladies-in-waiting. When Flora was found to be a virgin, Queen Victoria was accused of spreading rumors about her mother’s confidant. The Tories used the press to mobilize public opinion against Victoria. 

Another scandal, known as the bedchamber crisis, occurred in 1839. Lord Melbourne had resigned as prime minister after the Radicals and the Tories voted against a bill to spend Jamaica’s constitution. The bill passed by a narrow majority, and it diminished the political clout of plantation owners, who had resisted the abolition of slavery.

A new Tory government was formed under Robert Peel, but Queen Victoria refused to allow him to pick the ladies-in-the-bedchamber. This caused a political crisis. Melbourne returned to office, and many Brits began to question Victoria’s ability to rule as a constitutional monarch. Peel eventually got his wishes with the general election of 1841. 

Prince Albert

Victoria met Albert in 1836. He was her cousin. He was invited to visit Kensington Palace by Victoria’s mother, and with the encouragement of his uncle King Leopold of Belgium. 

Victoria married Albert in an ostentatious ceremony in 1840. It was the first royal marriage to be so displayed for public amusement. She and her husband rode in an open carriage to the ceremony at the royal chapel at Saint James’ Palace. She wore a fashionable white satin dress. The style has been copied by brides ever since. She also wore an orange blossom wreath over her veil. Her earrings and necklace were made of Turkish diamonds. Prince Albert wore the uniform of a British field marshal. 

Photos of Victoria’s marriages were disseminated widely. Her wedding, white dress, and carriage ride all became standard customs for every royal wedding since. 

The pregnant Queen was nearly assassinated a few months into her marriage by the 180year-old Edward Oxford. Oxford fired twice, but both bullets missed. He later claimed the gun had no bullets at all. He was tried for high treason, and found not guilty by reason of insanity. So he was committed to an insane asylum, and later sent to Australia. 

Following the assassination attempt, Queen Victoria’s popularity soared. It eclipsed the ignominies of her two previous scandals, the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis. Oxford’s attempt on Victoria’s life would not be the last. The Queen was nearly killed five times over her reign. 

Victorian family

The British Queen carefully cultivated an image for the royal family. She presented herself as the ideal for British motherhood. She and Albert were devoted parents who lavished their children with affections. Their first child was Vicky. Next they had the future King Edward VII. 

Victoria suffered from postpartum depression, and she hated breast feeding. By her ninth pregnancy, she promoted the use of chloroform as pain relief. The Christian clergy were against it, claiming it violated biblical teachings. Some medical experts thought it was dangerous. 

Victoria presented the royalty as the perfect happy family. She publicly celebrated holidays through illustrated newspapers. Prince Albert presented himself as a devoted father, and he spent lots of time playing with his children. This was unlike many aristocrats of the day. Queen Victoria and her royal family popularized many traditions, such as decorating the Christmas tree. 

For many British people, Queen Victoria became an embodiment of the nation’s ideals for marital harmony and domestic bliss. Her staunch commitment to moralism made her deeply popular with the economically rising middle class. Through her financial prudence, Victoria managed to pay off her father’s debts. Unlike the lavish royalism of prior generations, the Queen prided herself on maintaining a humble home. 

Great Famine

The Great Famine killed over a million people in Ireland, and displaced another million. As many Irish turned against the British Queen, Victoria responded by donating 2,000 pounds to the British Relief Association. That would be millions of dollars in today’s money. It was the largest donation by a single individual. She supported the repeal of the Corn Laws, which kept the price of grain artificially high. Ignoring Protestant objections, the Queen funneled money into the Catholic Saint Patrick’s College in Ireland. She visited famine-struck Ireland in 1849, toward the end of the crisis. Although she was received positively, her visit did little to foster a sense of Irish nationalism. 

“Grandmother of Europe”

Under Victoria’s rule, Great Britain took a keen interest in Europe’s foreign affairs. She worked to improve relations with France. She became the first British monarch to visit France since King Henry VIII visited Francis I in 1520. 

Through her husband Albert, the British Queen was related to the French House of Orleans. Victoria visited King Louis Philippe I in Normandy twice, in 1843 and 1845. When Louis Philippe paid his own visit to Britain in 1944, he became the first French King to visit a British sovereign. When he was deported by the Revolutions of 1848, the disgraced Frenchman fled to monarchist Britain. Demonstrations by British Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to foment any European-style revolution in Britain. 

Albert worked to foster close relations with Germany. He married off their daughter Vicky to the Germans. The Prince hoped that her liberal education were inspire constitutional reforms in the soon-to-be German Empire, based on the British model. But he grossly underestimated the situation. Germany had a tiny middle class, and conservatism was still the dominant ideology. Vicky suffered ostracism in the ultra-conservative culture of Germany, including from its rising leader Otto von Bismarck. 

Using the arranged marriages of their nine children, Victoria and Albert forged ties to the royal families across the European continent. This included Greece, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Spain, and Russia. But their elaborate network of connected families was not enough to prevent the outbreak of a bloody European war. Even with three cousins on the thrones of Britain, Russia, and Germany, World War I broke out in 1914—just a couple of decades after Victoria’s reign. 

Exhibitions

Prince Albert was responsible for staging the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was a grand celebration of the 19th century’s flourishing of technology and trade. 

Albert was highly interested in art, trade, and science. It featured over 100,000 exhibits from across the world. It displayed the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond from India. 

Albert was a very conscientious man. He ensured affordable prices of admission, which allowed many regular people to attend. It was attended by over six million people. For many, it was the first taste of the wider world. It was widely lauded as a huge success. For three months, Victoria herself visited the exhibition. 

It had foreign admirers as well, including Emperor Napoleon III. The French monarch invited Victoria and Albert to the Universal Exposition in August of 1855. The Brits were guests of honor at Versailles, and they visited the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte on the trip.

Imperialism

Prince Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861. Victoria never recovered from her grief. She was so grief-struck that she wore black for the rest of life, and withdrew from the public eye. Her depression caused her to gain weight. She became extremely lonely, and this made her a domineering mother. 

Victoria’s withdrawal from public life proved to be auspicious for the cause of republicanism. The Queen’s popularity plummeted, leading to vociferous demands to abolish the monarchy outright. Doctors who came to see Victoria feared she was mentally ill. 

By the 1880s, Victoria’s close associates finally convinced her to end her self-imposed seclusion. She agreed to the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington, and to take a carriage drive through London. Convinced by her beloved manservants, Victoria reentered the political sphere. 

In the latter years of Victoria’s reign, Great Britain renewed its resolve to aggressively expand its dominion over the rest of the globe. By the end of her reign, the British Empire covered over a fifth of the world’s land mass, and included one in four human beings. India, Africa, and the Caribbean were in British hands. From 1815 to 1914, about 400 million people and 10 million square miles were annexed by the British Empire. The majority of this expansion occurred under Victoria’s long reign. 

Most of Victorian Britain’s wars were fought on distant shores. The major exception was the Crimean War, fought against Russia in the 1850s. During this war, the first Victorian Cross was handed out. It was an honor granted to ordinary military personnel in Britain’s Army and Navy. Throughout the 19th century, the British were involved in Afghanistan, China, India, Ghana, South Africa, and Egypt. 

Victoria strongly endorsed Britain’s aggressive expansion under prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. She understood this as a civilizing mission for indigenous peoples, protecting them from harsh rulers. 

India

On May 1, 1876, Victoria was crowned Empress of India. She had long expressed interest in this vital British colony. As early as the 1840s, the Queen had expressed her disgust for the heavy-handed rule of the British East India Company. She met with deposed Indian princes, including Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the Sikh Empire. He was invited to met the British royalty in 1854, after he converted to Christianity. Although the Indian prince returned to Lahore and tried to seize back his throne, he reconciled with Victoria in 1890, when she received a full pardon from the British Queen. Victoria became the godmother of his daughter, named Sophia Duleep Singh, who became a prominent English suffragist and campaigned for women’s rights outside Hampton Court Palace. Despite her close ties to India, the Queen never actually visited the land that she ruled. 

Golden Age

Queen Victoria’s fame rose to new heights with her extravagant Golden Jubilee of 1887, marking 50 years of her rule. The Diamond Jubilee, held in 1897, celebrated 60 years of rule. Her public appearances were met with massive excitement. Riding through London on an open carriage, she greeted onlookers with a warm smile. Even as she maintained her glamorous public image, Victoria never forgot her husband. She suffered in silence, recording her thoughts in private writings. Nevertheless, Victoria was one of the world’s most popular human beings by 1897. She telegraphed a message of thanksgiving to her subjects. 

The Victorian Era is remembered as a golden age of British history. Industry flourished. With growing affluence, the British were able to afford more spending on leisurely activities. Town parks were formed. Athletic clubs, including those devoted to rugby, were created. Music halls, theaters, and operas became popular forms of mass entertainment. Museums were opened to educate the public, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1852. 

Death and legacy

By 1901, at the age of 81, Queen Victoria was becoming frail. She lost a lot of weight, and moved in a wheelchair. She moved to the Isle of Wight, seeking peace out of the spotlight. She suffered from osteoarthritis, which caused pain in her joints. The elderly queen developed a hump on her upper back, caused by spinal collapse. The last year of her life was spent in misery. Two of her sons died. She lost her appetite. Despite being blind, she wrote up until just days before her death. 

Victoria died on January 22, 1901 in the arms of her grandson, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. In keeping with her wishes, Victoria’s corpse was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil, and brought back to London. Masses of mourners expressed their grief as her body proceeded toward Saint George’s Chapel at Windsor, where her funeral was held. The funeral was simple and respective, as she had requested. Her body was finally laid to rest with her husband Albert at the Royal Mausoleum in Windsor Castle. She had asked for a few items to accompany her to the grave, including jewels and plaster casts of her kids’ hands. She was the last monarch of the House of Hanover. 

With her passing, it was the end of an entire era. Her 64-year reign was the longest of any British monarch up to that point. 

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