80 Facts About Victoria I

Victoria I was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and Princess Victoria I of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victoria I'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.

Victoria I 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.

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

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

Victoria I 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victoria I became the first sovereign to take up residence at Buckingham Palace and inherited the revenues of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall as well as being granted a civil list allowance of £385,000 per year.

At the start of her reign Victoria I 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.

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

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

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Victoria I 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.

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

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

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

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

Victoria I 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.

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

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

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

The assailant escaped; the following day, Victoria I 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.

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

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

Victoria I'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.

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

Victoria I 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.

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

Victoria I 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Victoria I did undertake her official government duties, yet chose to remain secluded in her royal residences—Windsor Castle, Osborne House, and the private estate in Scotland that she and Albert had acquired in 1847, Balmoral Castle.

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

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

Victoria I 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".

Victoria I 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".

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

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

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

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

Victoria I was outraged when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, but was so pleased by the many expressions of loyalty after the attack that she said it was "worth being shot at—to see how much one is loved".

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

In early 1884, Victoria I 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".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1897, Victoria I 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.

Victoria I experienced unpopularity 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.

Biographies of Victoria I written before much of the primary material became available, such as Lytton Strachey's Queen Victoria I of 1921, are now considered out of date.

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

Places named after her include Africa's largest lake, Victoria I Falls, the capitals of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, two Australian states, and the capital of the island nation of Seychelles.

Victoria I Cross was introduced in 1856 to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War, and it remains the highest British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand award for bravery.

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