Page 80 - All About History - Issue 29-15

The secret life of Victoria

Queen Victoria at
the age of four

Upon hearing the news of her uncle’s
death and her accession, Victoria was
determined to rule alone

There were many differences of opinion. laterwritetoanadultVicky.Shewouldalsoreveal: unintelligent. So when she became queen aged
Respected historian Jane Ridley notes in her “I have no adoration for very little babies.” And she 18, following the death of her uncle, King William
biography, Victoria: Queen, Matriarch, Empress, wouldclarify:“Anuglybabyisaverynastyobject– IV, Victoria dismissed Sir John from her own
that the pair rowed over how their children should and the prettiest is frightful when undressed.” household and dropped her mother too. If she was
be cared for. Following one particular flare-up Thequeenwasaprolificletterwriter.Shewould to rule, she surmised, she would do so alone.
regarding their first child – also named Victoria, writeanaverageof2,500wordseveryday,and Her marriage to Albert changed her approach
Vicky for short – Albert pushed a note under the shedidsofor70years.Theywouldbeimpulsive, entirely, though. Her frequent pregnancies meant
queen’s door. “I shall have nothing more to do with revealingherfeelingsandthoughtsastheycameto she wasn’t always able to carry out her full suite of
it; take the child away and do as you like and if she her. From the age of 13, they allowed her to release duties alone, so Albert would step up and take on
dies you will have it on your conscience,” he wrote. heremotionsandrevealhercharacter.Yetherearly more of the work. He enjoyed this immensely, but it
The disagreements over childcare life was lonely. Victoria’s father, the duke of did put a strain on the relationship. Victoria wished
led to the departure of Victoria’s Kent,diedwhenshewaseightmonths to spend more time with him, but he would throw
governess Baroness Louise old, and she was brought up by a himself into his work, often becoming a prisoner
Lehzen, who had controlled the VICTORIA’S controlling yet indulgent mother of his own ideas (Ridley notes that he spent hours
court and the queen’s private and Baroness Lehzen. relentlessly transcribing and editing letters written
expenditure. Albert did not SECRETS Victoria was addressed as by the queen, or in reality written by him, to suit a
like Lehzen “who regards Aged15,Victoriais ‘your royal highness’ from a very new topic-based filing system he had created). As
herself as a demi-god.” said to have had an youngage,andshewas aspoilt time went on, Albert would become responsible for
Reluctantly, Victoria agreed. affair with a Scottish child.Butshewasalsoclosely running the queen’s household, estates and office.
“I am ready to submit to his nobleman, the 13th monitored and under constant On many occasions, Victoria’s temper came to
wishes as I love him so dearly,” Lord Elphinstone scrutiny.In1830,whenVictoria the fore. She would remind Albert that she was the
she wrote in a letter to Baron was 11 years old, Lehzen introduced queen and insisted that she got the upper hand.
Stockmar, the Anglo-Belgian ‘behaviour books’, in which an Yet she would usually relent, writing apologies and
statesman sent by Prince Leopold of assessment of the princess’s attitude was actually helping Albert boost his power further.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to serve as her adviser. recorded.Shewasalsoeducatedinisolation Deep down, she wanted her husband – a man who
The couple had nine children in total. Victoria underwhatwascalledthe‘KensingtonSystem’, the British public had found hard to accept – to be
had become pregnant within weeks of marrying anelaborateandstrictsetofrulesdevisedbyher embraced. Her feelings of pride when he opened
Albert, and Vicky had been born on 21 November mother and attendant Sir John Conroy. his personal project, the Great Exhibition in Hyde
1840. Her second, Albert Edward, was born the Her freedom was curtailed, her life restrained, Park in 1851, were obvious. But at the same time,
following year, Alice two years later and Alfred the andshebegantofeelhermotherhadbecomehard she felt her power being diminished, her temper
year after that. Helena came into the world in 1846, of heart. Victoria had been diagnosed with typhoid becoming so heated at times that some feared she
Louise in 1848, Arthur in 1850, Leopold in 1853 and in 1835, aged 16, and Victoire had failed to nurse was losing her mind.
Beatrice in 1857. Nine children in 17 years meant her.Instead,sheandSirJohntriedtopersuade Ridley notes in her biography that as early as
that for much of her marriage Victoria was carrying Victoriatomake himherprivatesecretaryupon 1842 Albert began to attend ministerial meetings
a baby or nurturing her newborns. Yet she hated her succession and agree that she was not fit to and the queen spoke not of “I” but “we.” Albert
being pregnant. “I think much more of our being ruleuntilshewas21.Victoriaresisted.Shehated would write many of the queen’s important letters
like a cow or a dog at such moments,” she would Sir John, who bullied her and called her ugly and and sit beside her as she received ministers.
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