96 Facts About Queen Victoria

1.

Queen Victoria inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue.

2.

Queen Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840.

3.

Queen Victoria died in 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, at the age of 81.

4.

Queen Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace.

5.

Queen Victoria was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother.

6.

Queen Victoria's father died in January 1820, when Queen Victoria was less than a year old.

7.

Queen Victoria was then third in line to the throne after Frederick and William.

8.

Queen Victoria's mother was extremely protective, and Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children under the so-called "Kensington System", an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by the Duchess and her ambitious and domineering comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover.

9.

Queen Victoria shared a bedroom with her mother every night, studied with private tutors to a regular timetable, and spent her play-hours with her dolls and her King Charles Spaniel, Dash.

10.

Queen Victoria's lessons included French, German, Italian, and Latin, but she spoke only English at home.

11.

Queen Victoria disliked the trips; the constant round of public appearances made her tired and ill, and there was little time for her to rest.

12.

Queen Victoria objected on the grounds of the King's disapproval, but her mother dismissed his complaints as motivated by jealousy and forced Victoria to continue the tours.

13.

At Ramsgate in October 1835, Queen Victoria contracted a severe fever, which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence.

14.

Queen Victoria was aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes.

15.

Queen Victoria possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy.

16.

Queen Victoria is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too.

17.

Queen Victoria has besides the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see.

18.

Queen Victoria turned 18 on 24 May 1837, and a regency was avoided.

19.

Queen Victoria was Victoria's heir presumptive until she had a child.

20.

Charles Greville supposed that the widowed and childless Melbourne was "passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one", and Queen Victoria probably saw him as a father figure.

21.

Queen Victoria's coronation took place on 28 June 1838 at Westminster Abbey.

22.

At the start of her reign Queen Victoria was popular, but her reputation suffered in an 1839 court intrigue when one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, developed an abdominal growth that was widely rumoured to be an out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Sir John Conroy.

23.

Queen Victoria hated Conroy, and despised "that odious Lady Flora", because she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess of Kent in the Kensington System.

24.

At public appearances, Queen Victoria was hissed and jeered as "Mrs Melbourne".

25.

The Queen Victoria commissioned a Tory, Robert Peel, to form a new ministry.

26.

In what became known as the "bedchamber crisis", Queen Victoria, advised by Melbourne, objected to their removal.

27.

Queen Victoria's mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to see her.

28.

Queen Victoria showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.

29.

Queen Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839.

30.

Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor.

31.

Queen Victoria spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:.

32.

Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen Victoria's companion, replacing Melbourne as the dominant influential figure in the first half of her life.

33.

Queen Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square.

34.

Queen Victoria was tried for high treason, found not guilty by reason of insanity, committed to an insane asylum indefinitely, and later sent to live in Australia.

35.

Queen Victoria's daughter, named Victoria, was born on 21 November 1840.

36.

The Queen Victoria hated being pregnant, viewed breast-feeding with disgust, and thought newborn babies were ugly.

37.

Lehzen had been a formative influence on Queen Victoria and had supported her against the Kensington System.

38.

On 29 May 1842, Queen Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall, London, when John Francis aimed a pistol at her, but the gun did not fire.

39.

The assailant escaped; the following day, Queen Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to bait Francis into taking a second aim and catch him in the act.

40.

In 1850, the Queen Victoria did sustain injury when she was assaulted by a possibly insane ex-army officer, Robert Pate.

41.

Internationally, Queen Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain.

42.

Queen Victoria made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans, who were related by marriage through the Coburgs.

43.

Queen Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success, but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism.

44.

Queen Victoria found particularly offensive the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, who often acted without consulting the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or the Queen.

45.

Queen Victoria complained to Russell that Palmerston sent official dispatches to foreign leaders without her knowledge, but Palmerston was retained in office and continued to act on his own initiative, despite her repeated remonstrances.

46.

In 1853, Queen Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold, with the aid of the new anaesthetic, chloroform.

47.

Queen Victoria was so impressed by the relief it gave from the pain of childbirth that she used it again in 1857 at the birth of her ninth and final child, Beatrice, despite opposition from members of the clergy, who considered it against biblical teaching, and members of the medical profession, who thought it dangerous.

48.

Letters from Albert to Queen Victoria intermittently complain of her loss of self-control.

49.

Queen Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Queen Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister.

50.

On her return Queen Victoria wrote to Derby reprimanding him for the poor state of the Royal Navy in comparison to the French Navy.

51.

Derby's ministry did not last long, and in June 1859 Queen Victoria recalled Palmerston to office.

52.

In March 1861, Queen Victoria's mother died, with Queen Victoria at her side.

53.

Queen Victoria was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner, and died on 14 December 1861.

54.

Queen Victoria blamed her husband's death on worry over the Prince of Wales's philandering.

55.

Queen Victoria had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said.

56.

Queen Victoria entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life.

57.

Queen Victoria avoided public appearances and rarely set foot in London in the following years.

58.

Queen Victoria's seclusion earned her the nickname "widow of Windsor".

59.

Queen Victoria's weight increased through comfort eating, which reinforced her aversion to public appearances.

60.

Queen Victoria's self-imposed isolation from the public diminished the popularity of the monarchy, and encouraged the growth of the republican movement.

61.

Queen Victoria agreed to visit the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and take a drive through London in an open carriage.

62.

In 1866, Queen Victoria attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time since Albert's death.

63.

Queen Victoria found Gladstone's demeanour far less appealing; he spoke to her, she is thought to have complained, as though she were "a public meeting rather than a woman".

64.

In 1870 republican sentiment in Britain, fed by the Queen Victoria's seclusion, was boosted after the establishment of the Third French Republic.

65.

In late November 1871, at the height of the republican movement, the Prince of Wales contracted typhoid fever, the disease that was believed to have killed his father, and Queen Victoria was fearful her son would die.

66.

Brown, who was attending the Queen Victoria, grabbed him and O'Connor was later sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, and a birching.

67.

The Queen Victoria had a relatively balanced view of the conflict, and condemned atrocities on both sides.

68.

Queen Victoria wrote of "her feelings of horror and regret at the result of this bloody civil war", and insisted, urged on by Albert, that an official proclamation announcing the transfer of power from the company to the state "should breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence and religious toleration".

69.

Queen Victoria passed the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, which removed Catholic rituals from the Anglican liturgy and which Victoria strongly supported.

70.

Queen Victoria preferred short, simple services, and personally considered herself more aligned with the presbyterian Church of Scotland than the episcopal Church of England.

71.

Queen Victoria noted the coincidence of the dates as "almost incredible and most mysterious".

72.

Queen Victoria felt "aged" by "the loss of my beloved child".

73.

Disraeli's expansionist foreign policy, which Queen Victoria endorsed, led to conflicts such as the Anglo-Zulu War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War.

74.

On 17 March 1883, Queen Victoria fell down some stairs at Windsor, which left her lame until July; she never fully recovered and was plagued with rheumatism thereafter.

75.

John Brown died 10 days after her accident, and to the consternation of her private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, Queen Victoria began work on a eulogistic biography of Brown.

76.

In early 1884, Queen Victoria did publish More Leaves from a Journal of a Life in the Highlands, a sequel to her earlier book, which she dedicated to her "devoted personal attendant and faithful friend John Brown".

77.

Queen Victoria was "the dearest of my dear sons", she lamented.

78.

Beatrice and Henry planned to marry, but Queen Victoria opposed the match at first, wishing to keep Beatrice at home to act as her companion.

79.

Queen Victoria was pleased when Gladstone resigned in 1885 after his budget was defeated.

80.

Queen Victoria thought his government was "the worst I have ever had", and blamed him for the death of General Gordon at Khartoum.

81.

Queen Victoria was promoted to "Munshi": teaching her Urdu and acting as a clerk.

82.

Queen Victoria and Albert's hopes of a liberal Germany would go unfulfilled, as Wilhelm was a firm believer in autocracy.

83.

Queen Victoria objected when Gladstone proposed appointing the Radical MP Henry Labouchere to the Cabinet, so Gladstone agreed not to appoint him.

84.

In 1894, Gladstone retired and, without consulting the outgoing prime minister, Queen Victoria appointed Lord Rosebery as prime minister.

85.

Queen Victoria's government was weak, and the following year Lord Salisbury replaced him.

86.

The Queen Victoria requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee, which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.

87.

The procession paused for an open-air service of thanksgiving held outside St Paul's Cathedral, throughout which Queen Victoria sat in her open carriage, to avoid her having to climb the steps to enter the building.

88.

Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81.

89.

In 1897, Queen Victoria had written instructions for her funeral, which was to be military as befitting a soldier's daughter and the head of the army, and white instead of black.

90.

Queen Victoria was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil.

91.

Items of jewellery placed on Queen Victoria included the wedding ring of John Brown's mother, given to her by Brown in 1883.

92.

Queen Victoria was stout, dowdy and about five feet tall, but projected a grand image.

93.

Queen Victoria was unpopular during the first years of her widowhood, but was well liked during the 1880s and 1890s, when she embodied the empire as a benevolent matriarchal figure.

94.

They, and others, conclude that as a person Queen Victoria was emotional, obstinate, honest, and straight-talking.

95.

Royal haemophiliacs descended from Queen Victoria included her great-grandsons, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia; Alfonso, Prince of Asturias; and Infante Gonzalo of Spain.

96.

Queen Victoria's arms have been borne by all of her successors on the throne.