Queen Victoria
Victoria
Reign 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901
Coronation 28 June 1838
Predecessor William IV
Successor Edward VII
Empress of India
Reign 1 May 1876 – 22 January 1901
Imperial Durbar 1 January 1877
Successor Edward VII
Born Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent
24 May 1819
Kensington Palace, London, England
Died 22 January 1901 (aged 81)
Osborne House, Isle of Wight
Burial 4 February 1901
Frogmore Mausoleum, Windsor
Spouse Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
(m. 1840; died 1861)
Issue
Detail
Victoria, German Empress
Edward VII
Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Princess Helena
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Princess Beatrice
Full name
Alexandrina Victoria
House Hanover
Father Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Religion Protestant
Signature Victoria's signature
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. On 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than that of any of her predecessors. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.
Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After both the Duke and his father died in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. The United Kingdom was an established constitutional monarchy in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe" and spreading haemophilia in European royalty. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism in the United Kingdom temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. She died on the Isle of Wight in 1901. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Birth and family
Victoria aged 4
Portrait of Victoria aged four by Stephen Poyntz Denning, 1823
Victoria's father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of the reigning King of the United Kingdom, George III. Until 1817, Edward's niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a succession crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent and his unmarried brothers to marry and have children. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl (1804–1856) and Feodora (1807–1872)—by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen. Her brother Leopold was Princess Charlotte's widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kent's only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a.m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.[1]
Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace.[2] She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of Kent's eldest brother George, Prince Regent.[3]
At birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: the Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, Duke of York; William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent.[4] The Prince Regent had no surviving children, and the Duke of York had no children; further, both were estranged from their wives, who were both past child-bearing age, so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further legitimate children. William and Edward married on the same day in 1818, but both of William's legitimate daughters died as infants. The first of these was Princess Charlotte, who was born and died on 27 March 1819, two months before Victoria was born. Victoria's father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old. A week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. Victoria was then third in line to the throne after Frederick and William. William's second daughter, Princess Elizabeth of Clarence, lived for twelve weeks from 10 December 1820 to 4 March 1821 and for that period Victoria was fourth in line.[5]
The Duke of York died in 1827. When George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William, and Victoria became heir presumptive. The Regency Act 1830 made special provision for Victoria's mother to act as regent in case William died while Victoria was still a minor.[6] King William distrusted the Duchess's capacity to be regent, and in 1836 he declared in her presence that he wanted to live until Victoria's 18th birthday, so that a regency could be avoided.[7]
Heir presumptive
Portrait of Victoria with her spaniel Dash by George Hayter, 1833
Victoria later described her childhood as "rather melancholy".[8] Her 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] The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable (including most of her father's family), and was designed to render her weak and dependent upon them.[10] The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of King William's illegitimate children.[11] 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.[12] Her lessons included French, German, Italian, and Latin,[13] but she spoke only English at home.[14]
Victoria's sketch of herself
Self-portrait, 1835
In 1830, the Duchess of Kent and Conroy took Victoria across the centre of England to visit the Malvern Hills, stopping at towns and great country houses along the way.[15] Similar journeys to other parts of England and Wales were taken in 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835. To the King's annoyance, Victoria was enthusiastically welcomed in each of the stops.[16] William compared the journeys to royal progresses and was concerned that they portrayed Victoria as his rival rather than his heir presumptive.[17] Victoria disliked the trips; the constant round of public appearances made her tired and ill, and there was little time for her to rest.[18] She 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.[19] At Ramsgate in October 1835, Victoria contracted a severe fever, which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence.[20] While Victoria was ill, Conroy and the Duchess unsuccessfully badgered her to make Conroy her private secretary.[21] As a teenager, Victoria resisted persistent attempts by her mother and Conroy to appoint him to her staff.[22] Once queen, she banned him from her presence, but he remained in her mother's household.[23]
By 1836, Victoria's maternal uncle Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831, hoped to marry her to Prince Albert,[24] the son of his brother Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold arranged for Victoria's mother to invite her Coburg relatives to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of introducing Victoria to Albert.[25] William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, second son of the Prince of Orange.[26] Victoria was aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes.[27] According to her diary, she enjoyed Albert's company from the beginning. After the visit she wrote, "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful."[28] Alexander, on the other hand, she described as "very plain".[29]
Victoria wrote to King Leopold, whom she considered her "best and kindest adviser",[30] to thank him "for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy. He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has besides the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see."[31] However at 17, Victoria, though interested in Albert, was not yet ready to marry. The parties did not undertake a formal engagement, but assumed that the match would take place in due time.[32]
Early reign
Drawing of two men on their knees in front of Victoria
Victoria receives the news of her accession from Lord Conyngham (left) and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Engraving after painting by Henry Tanworth Wells, 1887
Victoria turned 18 on 24 May 1837, and a regency was avoided. Less than a month later, on 20 June 1837, William IV died at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom.[33] In her diary she wrote, "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen."[34] Official documents prepared on the first day of her reign described her as Alexandrina Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her own wish and not used again.[35]
Since 1714, Britain had shared a monarch with Hanover in Germany, but under Salic law women were excluded from the Hanoverian succession. While Victoria inherited all the British Dominions, her father's unpopular younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland, became King of Hanover. He was her heir presumptive while she was childless.[36]
Coronation portrait by George Hayter
At the time of Victoria's accession, the government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne. The Prime Minister at once became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced Queen, who relied on him for advice.[37] 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 Victoria probably saw him as a father figure.[38] Her coronation took place on 28 June 1838 at Westminster Abbey. Over 400,000 visitors came to London for the celebrations.[39] She became the first sovereign to take up residence at Buckingham Palace[40] 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. Financially prudent, she paid off her father's debts.[41]
At the start of her reign Victoria was popular,[42] 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.[43] Victoria believed the rumours.[44] She hated Conroy, and despised "that odious Lady Flora",[45] because she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess of Kent in the Kensington System.[46] At first, Lady Flora refused to submit to an intimate medical examination, until in mid-February she eventually agreed, and was found to be a virgin.[47] Conroy, the Hastings family, and the opposition Tories organised a press campaign implicating the Queen in the spreading of false rumours about Lady Flora.[48] When Lady Flora died in July, the post-mortem revealed a large tumour on her liver that had distended her abdomen.[49] At public appearances, Victoria was hissed and jeered as "Mrs. Melbourne".[50]
In 1839, Melbourne resigned after Radicals and Tories (both of whom Victoria detested) voted against a bill to suspend the constitution of Jamaica. The bill removed political power from plantation owners who were resisting measures associated with the abolition of slavery.[51] The Queen commissioned a Tory, Sir Robert Peel, to form a new ministry. At the time, it was customary for the prime minister to appoint members of the Royal Household, who were usually his political allies and their spouses. Many of the Queen's ladies of the bedchamber were wives of Whigs, and Peel expected to replace them with wives of Tories. In what became known as the bedchamber crisis, Victoria, advised by Melbourne, objected to their removal. Peel refused to govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen, and consequently resigned his commission, allowing Melbourne to return to office.[52]
Marriage
See also: Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Wedding dress of Queen Victoria
Painting of a lavish wedding attended by richly dressed people in a magnificent room
Marriage of Victoria and Albert, painted by George Hayter
Though Victoria was now queen, as an unmarried young woman she was required by social convention to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Conroy.[53] Her mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to see her.[54] When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's close proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a "schocking [sic] alternative".[55] 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.[56]
Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839. 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.[57] They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace, London. Victoria was love-struck. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:
I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life![58]
Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen's companion, replacing Melbourne as the dominant influential figure in the first half of her life.[59] Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square. After the death of Victoria's aunt, Princess Augusta, in 1840, Victoria's mother was given both Clarence and Frogmore Houses.[60] Through Albert's mediation, relations between mother and daughter slowly improved.[61]
Contemporary lithograph of Edward Oxford's attempt to assassinate Victoria, 1840
During Victoria's first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother. Oxford fired twice, but either both bullets missed or, as he later claimed, the guns had no shot.[62] He 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.[63] In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Victoria's popularity soared, mitigating residual discontent over the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis.[64] Her daughter, also named Victoria, was born on 21 November 1840. The Queen hated being pregnant,[65] viewed breast-feeding with disgust,[66] and thought newborn babies were ugly.[67] Nevertheless, over the following seventeen years, she and Albert had a further eight children: Albert Edward (b. 1841), Alice (b. 1843), Alfred (b. 1844), Helena (b. 1846), Louise (b. 1848), Arthur (b. 1850), Leopold (b. 1853) and Beatrice (b. 1857).
Victoria's household was largely run by her childhood governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen from Hanover. Lehzen had been a formative influence on Victoria[68] and had supported her against the Kensington System.[69] Albert, however, thought that Lehzen was incompetent and that her mismanagement threatened his daughter's health. After a furious row between Victoria and Albert over the issue, Lehzen was pensioned off in 1842, and Victoria's close relationship with her ended.[70]
1842–1860
Portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1843
On 29 May 1842, Victoria 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; however the following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to provoke Francis to take a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plainclothes policemen, and convicted of high treason. On 3 July, two days after Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, John William Bean also tried to fire a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco and had too little charge.[71] Edward Oxford felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal in 1840. Bean was sentenced to 18 months in jail.[72] In a similar attack in 1849, unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder-filled pistol at Victoria's carriage as it passed along Constitution Hill, London.[73] In 1850, the Queen did sustain injury when she was assaulted by a possibly insane ex-army officer, Robert Pate. As Victoria was riding in a carriage, Pate struck her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and bruising her forehead. Both Hamilton and Pate were sentenced to seven years' transportation.[74]
Melbourne's support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria's reign, and in the 1841 general election the Whigs were defeated. Peel became prime minister, and the ladies of the bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced.[75]
Victoria cuddling a child next to her
Earliest known photograph of Victoria, here with her eldest daughter, c. 1845[76]
In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato blight.[77] In the next four years, over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine.[78] In Ireland, Victoria was labelled "The Famine Queen".[79][80] In January 1847 she personally donated £2,000 (equivalent to between £178,000 and £6.5 million in 2016[81]) to the British Relief Association, more than any other individual famine relief donor,[82] and also supported the Maynooth Grant to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland, despite Protestant opposition.[83] The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home, was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century.[84]
By 1846, Peel's ministry faced a crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws. Many Tories—by then known also as Conservatives—were opposed to the repeal, but Peel, some Tories (the "Peelites"), most Whigs and Victoria supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after the repeal narrowly passed, and was replaced by Lord John Russell.[85]
Victoria's British Prime Ministers
Year Prime Minister (party)
1835 Viscount Melbourne (Whig)
1841 Sir Robert Peel (Conservative)
1846 Lord John Russell (W)
1852 (Feb) Earl of Derby (C)
1852 (Dec) Earl of Aberdeen (Peelite)
1855 Viscount Palmerston (Liberal)
1858 Earl of Derby (C)
1859 Viscount Palmerston (L)
1865 Earl Russell (L)
1866 Earl of Derby (C)
1868 (Feb) Benjamin Disraeli (C)
1868 (Dec) William Gladstone (L)
1874 Benjamin Disraeli (C)
1880 William Gladstone (L)
1885 Marquess of Salisbury (C)
1886 (Feb) William Gladstone (L)
1886 (Jul) Marquess of Salisbury (C)
1892 William Gladstone (L)
1894 Earl of Rosebery (L)
1895 Marquess of Salisbury (C)
See List of Prime Ministers of Queen Victoria
for details of her British and Imperial premiers
Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain.[86] She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans, who were related by marriage through the Coburgs. In 1843 and 1845, she and Albert stayed with King Louis Philippe I at château d'Eu in Normandy; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French monarch since the meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.[87] When Louis Philippe made a reciprocal trip in 1844, he became the first French king to visit a British sovereign.[88] Louis Philippe was deposed in the revolutions of 1848, and fled to exile in England.[89] At the height of a revolutionary scare in the United Kingdom in April 1848, Victoria and her family left London for the greater safety of Osborne House,[90] a private estate on the Isle of Wight that they had purchased in 1845 and redeveloped.[91] Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances.[92] 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.[93]
Russell's ministry, though Whig, was not favoured by the Queen.[94] She found particularly offensive the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, who often acted without consulting the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or the Queen.[95] 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. It was only in 1851 that Palmerston was removed after he announced the British government's approval of President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte's coup in France without consulting the Prime Minister.[96] The following year, President Bonaparte was declared Emperor Napoleon III, by which time Russell's administration had been replaced by a short-lived minority government led by Lord Derby.
Photograph of a seated Victoria, dressed in black, holding an infant with her children and Prince Albert standing around her
Albert, Victoria and their nine children, 1857. Left to right: Alice, Arthur, Prince Albert, Albert Edward, Leopold, Louise, Queen Victoria with Beatrice, Alfred, Victoria and Helena
In 1853, Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold, with the aid of the new anaesthetic, chloroform. She 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.[97] Victoria may have suffered from postnatal depression after many of her pregnancies.[98] Letters from Albert to Victoria intermittently complain of her loss of self-control. For example, about a month after Leopold's birth Albert complained in a letter to Victoria about her "continuance of hysterics" over a "miserable trifle".[99]
In early 1855, the government of Lord Aberdeen, who had replaced Derby, fell amidst recriminations over the poor management of British troops in the Crimean War. Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister.[100]
Napoleon III, who had been Britain's closest ally since the Crimean War,[98] visited London in April 1855, and from 17 to 28 August the same year Victoria and Albert returned the visit.[101] Napoleon III met the couple at Boulogne and accompanied them to Paris.[102] They visited the Exposition Universelle (a successor to Albert's 1851 brainchild the Great Exhibition) and Napoleon I's tomb at Les Invalides (to which his remains had only been returned in 1840), and were guests of honour at a 1,200-guest ball at the Palace of Versailles.[103]
Portrait by Winterhalter, 1859
On 14 January 1858, an Italian refugee from Britain called Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate Napoleon III with a bomb made in England.[104] The ensuing diplomatic crisis destabilised the government, and Palmerston resigned. Derby was reinstated as prime minister.[105] Victoria and Albert attended the opening of a new basin at the French military port of Cherbourg on 5 August 1858, in an attempt by Napoleon III to reassure Britain that his military preparations were directed elsewhere. On her return Victoria wrote to Derby reprimanding him for the poor state of the Royal Navy in comparison to the French one.[106] Derby's ministry did not last long, and in June 1859 Victoria recalled Palmerston to office.[107]
Eleven days after Orsini's assassination attempt in France, Victoria's eldest daughter married Prince Frederick William of Prussia in London. They had been betrothed since September 1855, when Princess Victoria was 14 years old; the marriage was delayed by the Queen and her husband Albert until the bride was 17.[108] The Queen and Albert hoped that their daughter and son-in-law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging Prussian state.[109] The Queen felt "sick at heart" to see her daughter leave England for Germany; "It really makes me shudder", she wrote to Princess Victoria in one of her frequent letters, "when I look round to all your sweet, happy, unconscious sisters, and think I must give them up too – one by one."[110] Almost exactly a year later, the Princess gave birth to the Queen's first grandchild, Wilhelm, who would become the last German Emperor.
Widowhood
Victoria photographed by J. J. E. Mayall, 1860
In March 1861, Victoria's mother died, with Victoria at her side. Through reading her mother's papers, Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her deeply;[111] she was heart-broken, and blamed Conroy and Lehzen for "wickedly" estranging her from her mother.[112] To relieve his wife during her intense and deep grief,[113] Albert took on most of her duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble.[114] In August, Victoria and Albert visited their son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who was attending army manoeuvres near Dublin, and spent a few days holidaying in Killarney. In November, Albert was made aware of gossip that his son had slept with an actress in Ireland.[115] Appalled, he travelled to Cambridge, where his son was studying, to confront him.[116] By the beginning of December, Albert was very unwell.[117] He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner, and died on 14 December 1861. Victoria was devastated.[118] She blamed her husband's death on worry over the Prince of Wales's philandering. He had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said.[119] She entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She avoided public appearances, and rarely set foot in London in the following years.[120] Her seclusion earned her the nickname "widow of Windsor".[121] Her weight increased through comfort eating, which further reinforced her aversion to public appearances.[122]
Victoria's self-imposed isolation from the public diminished the popularity of the monarchy, and encouraged the growth of the republican movement.[123] She 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. In March 1864 a protester stuck a notice on the railings of Buckingham Palace that announced "these commanding premises to be let or sold in consequence of the late occupant's declining business".[124] Her uncle Leopold wrote to her advising her to appear in public. She agreed to visit the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and take a drive through London in an open carriage.[125]
Victoria and John Brown at Balmoral, 1863. Photograph by G. W. Wilson.
Through the 1860s, Victoria relied increasingly on a manservant from Scotland, John Brown.[126] Slanderous rumours of a romantic connection and even a secret marriage appeared in print, and the Queen was referred to as "Mrs. Brown".[127] The story of their relationship was the subject of the 1997 movie Mrs. Brown. A painting by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer depicting the Queen with Brown was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and Victoria published a book, Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands, which featured Brown prominently and in which the Queen praised him highly.[128]
Palmerston died in 1865, and after a brief ministry led by Russell, Derby returned to power. In 1866, Victoria attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time since Albert's death.[129] The following year she supported the passing of the Reform Act 1867 which doubled the electorate by extending the franchise to many urban working men,[130] though she was not in favour of votes for women.[131] Derby resigned in 1868, to be replaced by Benjamin Disraeli, who charmed Victoria. "Everyone likes flattery," he said, "and when you come to royalty you should lay it on with a trowel."[132] With the phrase "we authors, Ma'am", he complimented her.[133] Disraeli's ministry only lasted a matter of months, and at the end of the year his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone, was appointed prime minister. 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".[134]
In 1870 republican sentiment in Britain, fed by the Queen's seclusion, was boosted after the establishment of the Third French Republic.[135] A republican rally in Trafalgar Square demanded Victoria's removal, and Radical MPs spoke against her.[136] In August and September 1871, she was seriously ill with an abscess in her arm, which Joseph Lister successfully lanced and treated with his new antiseptic carbolic acid spray.[137] 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 Victoria was fearful her son would die.[138] As the tenth anniversary of her husband's death approached, her son's condition grew no better, and Victoria's distress continued.[139] To general rejoicing, he recovered.[140] Mother and son attended a public parade through London and a grand service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral on 27 February 1872, and republican feeling subsided.[141]
On the last day of February 1872, two days after the thanksgiving service, 17-year-old Arthur O'Connor, a great-nephew of Irish MP Feargus O'Connor, waved an unloaded pistol at Victoria's open carriage just after she had arrived at Buckingham Palace. Brown, who was attending the Queen, grabbed him and O'Connor was later sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment,[142] and a birching.[143] As a result of the incident, Victoria's popularity recovered further.[144]
Empress of India
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Queen Victoria's Proclamation
After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British East India Company, which had ruled much of India, was dissolved, and Britain's possessions and protectorates on the Indian subcontinent were formally incorporated into the British Empire. The Queen had a relatively balanced view of the conflict, and condemned atrocities on both sides.[145] She wrote of "her feelings of horror and regret at the result of this bloody civil war",[146] 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".[147] At her behest, a reference threatening the "undermining of native religions and customs" was replaced by a passage guaranteeing religious freedom.[147]
Victoria admired Heinrich von Angeli's 1875 portrait of her for its "honesty, total want of flattery, and appreciation of character".[148]
In the 1874 general election, Disraeli was returned to power. He passed the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, which removed Catholic rituals from the Anglican liturgy and which Victoria strongly supported.[149] She preferred short, simple services, and personally considered herself more aligned with the presbyterian Church of Scotland than the episcopal Church of England.[150] Disraeli also pushed the Royal Titles Act 1876 through Parliament, so that Victoria took the title "Empress of India" from 1 May 1876.[151] The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1 January 1877.[152]
On 14 December 1878, the anniversary of Albert's death, Victoria's second daughter Alice, who had married Louis of Hesse, died of diphtheria in Darmstadt. Victoria noted the coincidence of the dates as "almost incredible and most mysterious".[153] In May 1879, she became a great-grandmother (on the birth of Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen) and passed her "poor old 60th birthday". She felt "aged" by "the loss of my beloved child".[154]
Between April 1877 and February 1878, she threatened five times to abdicate while pressuring Disraeli to act against Russia during the Russo-Turkish War, but her threats had no impact on the events or their conclusion with the Congress of Berlin.[155] Disraeli's expansionist foreign policy, which Victoria endorsed, led to conflicts such as the Anglo-Zulu War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War. "If we are to maintain our position as a first-rate Power", she wrote, "we must ... be Prepared for attacks and wars, somewhere or other, CONTINUALLY."[156] Victoria saw the expansion of the British Empire as civilising and benign, protecting native peoples from more aggressive powers or cruel rulers: "It is not in our custom to annexe countries", she said, "unless we are obliged & forced to do so."[157] To Victoria's dismay, Disraeli lost the 1880 general election, and Gladstone returned as prime minister.[158] When Disraeli died the following year, she was blinded by "fast falling tears",[159] and erected a memorial tablet "placed by his grateful Sovereign and Friend, Victoria R.I."[160]
Later years
Victorian farthing, 1884
On 2 March 1882, Roderick Maclean, a disgruntled poet apparently offended by Victoria's refusal to accept one of his poems,[161] shot at the Queen as her carriage left Windsor railway station. Two schoolboys from Eton College struck him with their umbrellas, until he was hustled away by a policeman.[162] Victoria was outraged when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity,[163] 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".[164]
On 17 March 1883, Victoria fell down some stairs at Windsor, which left her lame until July; she never fully recovered and was plagued with rheumatism thereafter.[165] Brown died 10 days after her accident, and to the consternation of her private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, Victoria began work on a eulogistic biography of Brown.[166] Ponsonby and Randall Davidson, Dean of Windsor, who had both seen early drafts, advised Victoria against publication, on the grounds that it would stoke the rumours of a love affair.[167] The manuscript was destroyed.[168] In early 1884, 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".[169] On the day after the first anniversary of Brown's death, Victoria was informed by telegram that her youngest son, Leopold, had died in Cannes. He was "the dearest of my dear sons", she lamented.[170] The following month, Victoria's youngest child, Beatrice, met and fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg at the wedding of Victoria's granddaughter Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine to Henry's brother Prince Louis of Battenberg. Beatrice and Henry planned to marry, but Victoria opposed the match at first, wishing to keep Beatrice at home to act as her companion. After a year, she was won around to the marriage by their promise to remain living with and attending her.[171]
Extent of the British Empire in 1898
Victoria was pleased when Gladstone resigned in 1885 after his budget was defeated.[172] She thought his government was "the worst I have ever had", and blamed him for the death of General Gordon at Khartoum.[173] Gladstone was replaced by Lord Salisbury. Salisbury's government only lasted a few months, however, and Victoria was forced to recall Gladstone, whom she referred to as a "half crazy & really in many ways ridiculous old man".[174] Gladstone attempted to pass a bill granting Ireland home rule, but to Victoria's glee it was defeated.[175] In the ensuing election, Gladstone's party lost to Salisbury's and the government switched hands again.
Golden Jubilee
Main article: Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
The Munshi stands over Victoria as she works at a desk
Victoria and the Munshi Abdul Karim
In 1887, the British Empire celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. She marked the fiftieth anniversary of her accession on 20 June with a banquet to which 50 kings and princes were invited. The following day, she participated in a procession and attended a thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey.[176] By this time, Victoria was once again extremely popular.[177] Two days later on 23 June,[178] she engaged two Indian Muslims as waiters, one of whom was Abdul Karim. He was soon promoted to "Munshi": teaching her Urdu (known as Hindustani) and acting as a clerk.[179][180][181] Her family and retainers were appalled, and accused Abdul Karim of spying for the Muslim Patriotic League, and biasing the Queen against the Hindus.[182] Equerry Frederick Ponsonby (the son of Sir Henry) discovered that the Munshi had lied about his parentage, and reported to Lord Elgin, Viceroy of India, "the Munshi occupies very much the same position as John Brown used to do."[183] Victoria dismissed their complaints as racial prejudice.[184] Abdul Karim remained in her service until he returned to India with a pension, on her death.[185]
Victoria's eldest daughter became Empress consort of Germany in 1888, but she was widowed within the year, and Victoria's eldest grandchild became German Emperor as Wilhelm II. Under Wilhelm, Victoria and Albert's hopes of a liberal Germany were not fulfilled. He believed in autocracy. Victoria thought he had "little heart or Zartgefühl [tact] – and ... his conscience & intelligence have been completely wharped [sic]".[186]
Gladstone returned to power after the 1892 general election; he was 82 years old. Victoria objected when Gladstone proposed appointing the Radical MP Henry Labouchère to the Cabinet, so Gladstone agreed not to appoint him.[187] In 1894, Gladstone retired and, without consulting the outgoing prime minister, Victoria appointed Lord Rosebery as prime minister.[188] His government was weak, and the following year Lord Salisbury replaced him. Salisbury remained prime minister for the remainder of Victoria's reign.[189]
Diamond Jubilee
Seated Victoria in embroidered and lace dress
Victoria in her official Diamond Jubilee photograph by W. & D. Downey
On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee,[190] which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.[191] The prime ministers of all the self-governing Dominions were invited to London for the festivities.[192] One reason for including the prime ministers of the Dominions and excluding foreign heads of state was to avoid having to invite Victoria's grandson, Wilhelm II of Germany, who, it was feared, might cause trouble at the event.[193]
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee procession on 22 June 1897 followed a route six miles long through London and included troops from all over the empire. The procession paused for an open-air service of thanksgiving held outside St Paul's Cathedral, throughout which Victoria sat in her open carriage, to avoid her having to climb the steps to enter the building. The celebration was marked by vast crowds of spectators and great outpourings of affection for the 78-year-old Queen.[194]
File:Queen Victoria In Dublin (Rare archive footage from 1900).webmPlay media
Queen Victoria in Dublin, 1900
Victoria visited mainland Europe regularly for holidays. In 1889, during a stay in Biarritz, she became the first reigning monarch from Britain to set foot in Spain when she crossed the border for a brief visit.[195] By April 1900, the Boer War was so unpopular in mainland Europe that her annual trip to France seemed inadvisable. Instead, the Queen went to Ireland for the first time since 1861, in part to acknowledge the contribution of Irish regiments to the South African war.[196]
Death and succession
Queen Victoria aged 80, 1899
In July 1900, Victoria's second son Alfred ("Affie") died. "Oh, God! My poor darling Affie gone too", she wrote in her journal. "It is a horrible year, nothing but sadness & horrors of one kind & another."[197]
Following a custom she maintained throughout her widowhood, Victoria spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Rheumatism in her legs had rendered her lame, and her eyesight was clouded by cataracts.[198] Through early January, she felt "weak and unwell",[199] and by mid-January she was "drowsy ... dazed, [and] confused".[200] She died on Tuesday 22 January 1901, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81.[201] Her son and successor, King Edward VII, and her eldest grandson, Emperor Wilhelm II, were at her deathbed.[202] Her favourite pet Pomeranian, Turi, was laid upon her deathbed as a last request.[203]
Poster proclaiming a day of mourning in Toronto on the day of Victoria's funeral
In 1897, Victoria had written instructions for her funeral, which was to be military as befitting a soldier's daughter and the head of the army,[98] and white instead of black.[204] On 25 January, Edward, Wilhelm and her third son, the Duke of Connaught, helped lift her body into the coffin.[205] She was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil.[206] An array of mementos commemorating her extended family, friends and servants were laid in the coffin with her, at her request, by her doctor and dressers. One of Albert's dressing gowns was placed by her side, with a plaster cast of his hand, while a lock of John Brown's hair, along with a picture of him, was placed in her left hand concealed from the view of the family by a carefully positioned bunch of flowers.[98][207] Items of jewellery placed on Victoria included the wedding ring of John Brown's mother, given to her by Brown in 1883.[98] Her funeral was held on Saturday 2 February, in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and after two days of lying-in-state, she was interred beside Prince Albert in Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park.[208]
With a reign of 63 years, seven months and two days, Victoria was the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history until her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II surpassed her on 9 September 2015.[209] She was the last monarch of Britain from the House of Hanover. Her son and successor Edward VII belonged to her husband's House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Legacy
See also: Cultural depictions of Queen Victoria
Victoria smiling
Victoria amused. The remark "We are not amused" is attributed to her but there is no direct evidence that she ever said it,[98][210] and she denied doing so.[211]
According to one of her biographers, Giles St Aubyn, Victoria wrote an average of 2,500 words a day during her adult life.[212] From July 1832 until just before her death, she kept a detailed journal, which eventually encompassed 122 volumes.[213] After Victoria's death, her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, was appointed her literary executor. Beatrice transcribed and edited the diaries covering Victoria's accession onwards, and burned the originals in the process.[214] Despite this destruction, much of the diaries still exist. In addition to Beatrice's edited copy, Lord Esher transcribed the volumes from 1832 to 1861 before Beatrice destroyed them.[215] Part of Victoria's extensive correspondence has been published in volumes edited by A. C. Benson, Hector Bolitho, George Earle Buckle, Lord Esher, Roger Fulford, and Richard Hough among others.[216]
Victoria was physically unprepossessing—she was stout, dowdy and only about five feet tall—but she succeeded in projecting a grand image.[217] She 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.[218] Only after the release of her diary and letters did the extent of her political influence become known to the wider public.[98][219] Biographies of Victoria written before much of the primary material became available, such as Lytton Strachey's Queen Victoria of 1921, are now considered out of date.[220] The biographies written by Elizabeth Longford and Cecil Woodham-Smith, in 1964 and 1972 respectively, are still widely admired.[221] They, and others, conclude that as a person Victoria was emotional, obstinate, honest, and straight-talking.[222] Contrary to popular belief, her staff and family recorded that Victoria "was immensely amused and roared with laughter" on many occasions.[223]
Through Victoria's reign, the gradual establishment of a modern constitutional monarchy in Britain continued. Reforms of the voting system increased the power of the House of Commons at the expense of the House of Lords and the monarch.[224] In 1867, Walter Bagehot wrote that the monarch only retained "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".[225] As Victoria's monarchy became more symbolic than political, it placed a strong emphasis on morality and family values, in contrast to the sexual, financial and personal scandals that had been associated with previous members of the House of Hanover and which had discredited the monarchy. The concept of the "family monarchy", with which the burgeoning middle classes could identify, was solidified.[226]
The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India
Bronze statue of winged victory mounted on a marble four-sided base with a marble figure on each side
The Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace was erected as part of the remodelling of the façade of the Palace a decade after her death.
Descendants and haemophilia
Victoria's links with Europe's royal families earned her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".[227] Of the 42 grandchildren of Victoria and Albert, 34 survived to adulthood. Their living descendants include Elizabeth II; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Harald V of Norway; Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden; Margrethe II of Denmark; and Felipe VI of Spain.
Victoria's youngest son, Leopold, was affected by the blood-clotting disease haemophilia B and at least two of her five daughters, Alice and Beatrice, were carriers. Royal haemophiliacs descended from Victoria included her great-grandsons, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia; Alfonso, Prince of Asturias; and Infante Gonzalo of Spain.[228] The presence of the disease in Victoria's descendants, but not in her ancestors, led to modern speculation that her true father was not the Duke of Kent, but a haemophiliac.[229] There is no documentary evidence of a haemophiliac in connection with Victoria's mother, and as male carriers always suffer the disease, even if such a man had existed he would have been seriously ill.[230] It is more likely that the mutation arose spontaneously because Victoria's father was over 50 at the time of her conception and haemophilia arises more frequently in the children of older fathers.[231] Spontaneous mutations account for about a third of cases.[232]
Namesakes
Around the world, places and memorials are dedicated to her, especially in the Commonwealth nations. Places named after her include Africa's largest lake, Victoria Falls, the capitals of British Columbia (Victoria) and Saskatchewan (Regina), two Australian states (Victoria and Queensland), and the capital of the island nation of Seychelles.
The Victoria Cross was introduced in 1856 to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War,[233] and it remains the highest British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand award for bravery. Victoria Day is a Canadian statutory holiday and a local public holiday in parts of Scotland celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24 May (Queen Victoria's birthday).
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
24 May 1819 – 20 June 1837: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent
20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901: Her Majesty The Queen
At the end of her reign, the Queen's full style and title were: "Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India."[234]
Honours
United Kingdom:
Founder and Sovereign of the Order of the Star of India – 1861[235]
Founder and Sovereign of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert – 1861[236]
Founder and Sovereign of the Order of the Crown of India – 1878[237]
Founder and Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order – 1886[238]
Founder and Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order – 1896[239]
Kingdom of Hawaii: Grand Cross of the Order of Kamehameha – 1881[240]
Russian Empire: Grand Cordon of the Order of St. Catherine – 1837[241]
Siam: Dame of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri – 1887[242]
Arms
As Sovereign, Victoria used the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Before her accession, she received no grant of arms. As she could not succeed to the throne of Hanover, her arms did not carry the Hanoverian symbols that were used by her immediate predecessors. Her arms have been borne by all of her successors on the throne.
Outside Scotland, the blazon for the shield—also used on the Royal Standard—is: Quarterly: I and IV, Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II, Or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III, Azure, a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland). In Scotland, the first and fourth quarters are occupied by the Scottish lion, and the second by the English lions. The crests, mottoes, and supporters also differ in and outside Scotland.[243]
Coat of arms of the United Kingdom (1837-1952).svg
Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom in Scotland (1837-1952).svg
Royal arms (outside Scotland) Royal arms (in Scotland)
Issue
See also: Grandchildren of Victoria and Albert and Royal descendants of Queen Victoria and King Christian IX
Name Birth Death Spouse and children[234][244]
Victoria, Princess Royal 21 November
1840 5 August
1901 Married 1858, Frederick, later German Emperor and King of Prussia (1831–1888);
4 sons (including Wilhelm II, German Emperor), 4 daughters (including Queen Sophia of Greece)
Edward VII of the United Kingdom 9 November
1841 6 May
1910 Married 1863, Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925);
3 sons (including King George V of the United Kingdom), 3 daughters (including Queen Maud of Norway)
Princess Alice 25 April
1843 14 December
1878 Married 1862, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892);
2 sons, 5 daughters (including Empress Alexandra of Russia)
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 6 August
1844 31 July
1900 Married 1874, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (1853–1920);
2 sons (1 stillborn), 4 daughters (including Queen Marie of Romania)
Princess Helena 25 May
1846 9 June
1923 Married 1866, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (1831–1917);
4 sons (1 stillborn), 2 daughters
Princess Louise 18 March
1848 3 December
1939 Married 1871, John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, later 9th Duke of Argyll (1845–1914);
no issue
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn 1 May
1850 16 January
1942 Married 1879, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (1860–1917);
1 son, 2 daughters (including Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden)
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany 7 April
1853 28 March
1884 Married 1882, Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1861–1922);
1 son, 1 daughter
Princess Beatrice 14 April
1857 26 October
1944 Married 1885, Prince Henry of Battenberg (1858–1896);
3 sons, 1 daughter (Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain)
Victoria's family in 1846 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.
Left to right: Prince Alfred and the Prince of Wales; the Queen and Prince Albert; Princesses Alice, Helena and Victoria
Ancestry
Ancestors of Queen Victoria
Notes and references
Hibbert, pp. 3–12; Strachey, pp. 1–17; Woodham-Smith, pp. 15–29
Her godparents were Emperor Alexander I of Russia (represented by her uncle Frederick, Duke of York), her uncle George, Prince Regent, her aunt Queen Charlotte of Württemberg (represented by Victoria's aunt Princess Augusta) and Victoria's maternal grandmother the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (represented by Victoria's aunt Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh).
Hibbert, pp. 12–13; Longford, p. 23; Woodham-Smith, pp. 34–35
Longford, p. 24
Worsley, p. 41.
Hibbert, p. 31; St Aubyn, p. 26; Woodham-Smith, p. 81
Hibbert, p. 46; Longford, p. 54; St Aubyn, p. 50; Waller, p. 344; Woodham-Smith, p. 126
Hibbert, p. 19; Marshall, p. 25
Hibbert, p. 27; Longford, pp. 35–38, 118–119; St Aubyn, pp. 21–22; Woodham-Smith, pp. 70–72. The rumours were false in the opinion of these biographers.
Hibbert, pp. 27–28; Waller, pp. 341–342; Woodham-Smith, pp. 63–65
Hibbert, pp. 32–33; Longford, pp. 38–39, 55; Marshall, p. 19
Waller, pp. 338–341; Woodham-Smith, pp. 68–69, 91
Hibbert, p. 18; Longford, p. 31; Woodham-Smith, pp. 74–75
Longford, p. 31; Woodham-Smith, p. 75
Hibbert, pp. 34–35
Hibbert, pp. 35–39; Woodham-Smith, pp. 88–89, 102
Hibbert, p. 36; Woodham-Smith, pp. 89–90
Hibbert, pp. 35–40; Woodham-Smith, pp. 92, 102
Hibbert, pp. 38–39; Longford, p. 47; Woodham-Smith, pp. 101–102
Hibbert, p. 42; Woodham-Smith, p. 105
Hibbert, p. 42; Longford, pp. 47–48; Marshall, p. 21
Hibbert, pp. 42, 50; Woodham-Smith, p. 135
Marshall, p. 46; St Aubyn, p. 67; Waller, p. 353
Longford, pp. 29, 51; Waller, p. 363; Weintraub, pp. 43–49
Longford, p. 51; Weintraub, pp. 43–49
Longford, pp. 51–52; St Aubyn, p. 43; Weintraub, pp. 43–49; Woodham-Smith, p. 117
Weintraub, pp. 43–49
Victoria quoted in Marshall, p. 27 and Weintraub, p. 49
Victoria quoted in Hibbert, p. 99; St Aubyn, p. 43; Weintraub, p. 49 and Woodham-Smith, p. 119
Victoria's journal, October 1835, quoted in St Aubyn, p. 36 and Woodham-Smith, p. 104
Hibbert, p. 102; Marshall, p. 60; Waller, p. 363; Weintraub, p. 51; Woodham-Smith, p. 122
Waller, pp. 363–364; Weintraub, pp. 53, 58, 64, and 65
Under section 2 of the Regency Act 1830, the Accession Council's proclamation declared Victoria as the King's successor "saving the rights of any issue of His late Majesty King William the Fourth which may be borne of his late Majesty's Consort". "No. 19509". The London Gazette. 20 June 1837. p. 1581.
St Aubyn, pp. 55–57; Woodham-Smith, p. 138
Woodham-Smith, p. 140
Packard, pp. 14–15
Hibbert, pp. 66–69; St Aubyn, p. 76; Woodham-Smith, pp. 143–147
Greville quoted in Hibbert, p. 67; Longford, p. 70 and Woodham-Smith, pp. 143–144
Queen Victoria's Coronation 1838, The British Monarchy, retrieved 28 January 2016
St Aubyn, p. 69; Waller, p. 353
Hibbert, p. 58; Longford, pp. 73–74; Woodham-Smith, p. 152
Marshall, p. 42; St Aubyn, pp. 63, 96
Marshall, p. 47; Waller, p. 356; Woodham-Smith, pp. 164–166
Hibbert, pp. 77–78; Longford, p. 97; St Aubyn, p. 97; Waller, p. 357; Woodham-Smith, p. 164
Victoria's journal, 25 April 1838, quoted in Woodham-Smith, p. 162
St Aubyn, p. 96; Woodham-Smith, pp. 162, 165
Hibbert, p. 79; Longford, p. 98; St Aubyn, p. 99; Woodham-Smith, p. 167
Hibbert, pp. 80–81; Longford, pp. 102–103; St Aubyn, pp. 101–102
Longford, p. 122; Marshall, p. 57; St Aubyn, p. 104; Woodham-Smith, p. 180
Hibbert, p. 83; Longford, pp. 120–121; Marshall, p. 57; St Aubyn, p. 105; Waller, p. 358
St Aubyn, p. 107; Woodham-Smith, p. 169
Hibbert, pp. 94–96; Marshall, pp. 53–57; St Aubyn, pp. 109–112; Waller, pp. 359–361; Woodham-Smith, pp. 170–174
Longford, p. 84; Marshall, p. 52
Longford, p. 72; Waller, p. 353
Woodham-Smith, p. 175
Hibbert, pp. 103–104; Marshall, pp. 60–66; Weintraub, p. 62
Hibbert, pp. 107–110; St Aubyn, pp. 129–132; Weintraub, pp. 77–81; Woodham-Smith, pp. 182–184, 187
Hibbert, p. 123; Longford, p. 143; Woodham-Smith, p. 205
St Aubyn, p. 151
Hibbert, p. 265, Woodham-Smith, p. 256
Marshall, p. 152; St Aubyn, pp. 174–175; Woodham-Smith, p. 412
Charles, p. 23
Hibbert, pp. 421–422; St Aubyn, pp. 160–161
Woodham-Smith, p. 213
Hibbert, p. 130; Longford, p. 154; Marshall, p. 122; St Aubyn, p. 159; Woodham-Smith, p. 220
Hibbert, p. 149; St Aubyn, p. 169
Hibbert, p. 149; Longford, p. 154; Marshall, p. 123; Waller, p. 377
Woodham-Smith, p. 100
Longford, p. 56; St Aubyn, p. 29
Hibbert, pp. 150–156; Marshall, p. 87; St Aubyn, pp. 171–173; Woodham-Smith, pp. 230–232
Charles, p. 51; Hibbert, pp. 422–423; St Aubyn, pp. 162–163
Hibbert, p. 423; St Aubyn, p. 163
Longford, p. 192
St Aubyn, p. 164
Marshall, pp. 95–101; St Aubyn, pp. 153–155; Woodham-Smith, pp. 221–222
Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal, Royal Collection, retrieved 29 March 2013
Woodham-Smith, p. 281
Longford, p. 359
The title of Maud Gonne's 1900 article upon Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland
Harrison, Shane (15 April 2003), "Famine Queen row in Irish port", BBC News, retrieved 29 March 2013
Officer, Lawrence H.; Williamson, Samuel H. (2018), Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present, MeasuringWorth, retrieved 5 April 2018
Kinealy, Christine, Private Responses to the Famine, University College Cork, archived from the original on 6 April 2013, retrieved 29 March 2013
Longford, p. 181
Kenny, Mary (2009) Crown and Shamrock: Love and Hate Between Ireland and the British Monarchy, Dublin: New Island, ISBN 1-905494-98-X
St Aubyn, p. 215
St Aubyn, p. 238
Longford, pp. 175, 187; St Aubyn, pp. 238, 241; Woodham-Smith, pp. 242, 250
Woodham-Smith, p. 248
Hibbert, p. 198; Longford, p. 194; St Aubyn, p. 243; Woodham-Smith, pp. 282–284
Hibbert, pp. 201–202; Marshall, p. 139; St Aubyn, pp. 222–223; Woodham-Smith, pp. 287–290
Hibbert, pp. 161–164; Marshall, p. 129; St Aubyn, pp. 186–190; Woodham-Smith, pp. 274–276
Longford, pp. 196–197; St Aubyn, p. 223; Woodham-Smith, pp. 287–290
Longford, p. 191; Woodham-Smith, p. 297
St Aubyn, p. 216
Hibbert, pp. 196–198; St Aubyn, p. 244; Woodham-Smith, pp. 298–307
Hibbert, pp. 204–209; Marshall, pp. 108–109; St Aubyn, pp. 244–254; Woodham-Smith, pp. 298–307
Hibbert, pp. 216–217; St Aubyn, pp. 257–258
Matthew, H. C. G.; Reynolds, K. D. (2004; online edition October 2009) "Victoria (1819–1901)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36652, retrieved 18 October 2010 (subscription required for online access)
Hibbert, pp. 217–220; Woodham-Smith, pp. 328–331
Hibbert, pp. 227–228; Longford, pp. 245–246; St Aubyn, p. 297; Woodham-Smith, pp. 354–355
Woodham-Smith, pp. 357–360
Queen Victoria's Journals, Volume 40, p. 93, 18 August 1855, St Cloud
1855 visit of Queen Victoria, Château de Versailles, archived from the original on 11 January 2013, retrieved 29 March 2013
Hibbert, pp. 241–242; Longford, pp. 280–281; St Aubyn, p. 304; Woodham-Smith, p. 391
Hibbert, p. 242; Longford, p. 281; Marshall, p. 117
Napoleon III Receiving Queen Victoria at Cherbourg, 5 August 1858, Royal Museums Greenwich, retrieved 29 March 2013
Hibbert, p. 255; Marshall, p. 117
Longford, pp. 259–260; Weintraub, pp. 326 ff.
Longford, p. 263; Weintraub, pp. 326, 330
Hibbert, p. 244
Hibbert, p. 267; Longford, pp. 118, 290; St Aubyn, p. 319; Woodham-Smith, p. 412
Hibbert, p. 267; Marshall, p. 152; Woodham-Smith, p. 412
Hibbert, pp. 265–267; St Aubyn, p. 318; Woodham-Smith, pp. 412–413
Waller, p. 393; Weintraub, p. 401
Hibbert, p. 274; Longford, p. 293; St Aubyn, p. 324; Woodham-Smith, p. 417
Longford, p. 293; Marshall, p. 153; Strachey, p. 214
Hibbert, pp. 276–279; St Aubyn, p. 325; Woodham-Smith, pp. 422–423
Hibbert, pp. 280–292; Marshall, p. 154
Hibbert, p. 299; St Aubyn, p. 346
St Aubyn, p. 343
e.g. Strachey, p. 306
Ridley, Jane (27 May 2017), "Queen Victoria – burdened by grief and six-course dinners", The Spectator
Marshall, pp. 170–172; St Aubyn, p. 385
Hibbert, p. 310; Longford, p. 321; St Aubyn, pp. 343–344; Waller, p. 404
Hibbert, p. 310; Longford, p. 322
Hibbert, pp. 323–324; Marshall, pp. 168–169; St Aubyn, pp. 356–362
Hibbert, pp. 321–322; Longford, pp. 327–328; Marshall, p. 170
Hibbert, p. 329; St Aubyn, pp. 361–362
Hibbert, pp. 311–312; Longford, p. 347; St Aubyn, p. 369
St Aubyn, pp. 374–375
Marshall, p. 199; Strachey, p. 299
Hibbert, p. 318; Longford, p. 401; St Aubyn, p. 427; Strachey, p. 254
Buckle, George Earle; Monypenny, W. F. (1910–20) The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, vol. 5, p. 49, quoted in Strachey, p. 243
Hibbert, p. 320; Strachey, pp. 246–247
Longford, p. 381; St Aubyn, pp. 385–386; Strachey, p. 248
St Aubyn, pp. 385–386; Strachey, pp. 248–250
Longford, p. 385
Hibbert, p. 343
Hibbert, pp. 343–344; Longford, p. 389; Marshall, p. 173
Hibbert, pp. 344–345
Hibbert, p. 345; Longford, pp. 390–391; Marshall, p. 176; St Aubyn, p. 388
Charles, p. 103; Hibbert, pp. 426–427; St Aubyn, pp. 388–389
Old Bailey Proceedings Online, Trial of Arthur O'Connor. (t18720408-352, 8 April 1872).
Hibbert, p. 427; Marshall, p. 176; St Aubyn, p. 389
Hibbert, pp. 249–250; Woodham-Smith, pp. 384–385
Woodham-Smith, p. 386
Hibbert, p. 251; Woodham-Smith, p. 386
St Aubyn, p. 335
Hibbert, p. 361; Longford, p. 402; Marshall, pp. 180–184; Waller, p. 423
Hibbert, pp. 295–296; Waller, p. 423
Hibbert, p. 361; Longford, pp. 405–406; Marshall, p. 184; St Aubyn, p. 434; Waller, p. 426
Waller, p. 427
Victoria's diary and letters quoted in Longford, p. 425
Victoria quoted in Longford, p. 426
Longford, pp. 412–413
Longford, p. 426
Longford, p. 411
Hibbert, pp. 367–368; Longford, p. 429; Marshall, p. 186; St Aubyn, pp. 442–444; Waller, pp. 428–429
Letter from Victoria to Montagu Corry, 1st Baron Rowton, quoted in Hibbert, p. 369
Longford, p. 437
Hibbert, p. 420; St Aubyn, p. 422
Hibbert, p. 420; St Aubyn, p. 421
Hibbert, pp. 420–421; St Aubyn, p. 422; Strachey, p. 278
Hibbert, p. 427; Longford, p. 446; St Aubyn, p. 421
Longford, pp. 451–452
Longford, p. 454; St Aubyn, p. 425; Hibbert, p. 443
Hibbert, pp. 443–444; St Aubyn, pp. 425–426
Hibbert, pp. 443–444; Longford, p. 455
Hibbert, p. 444; St Aubyn, p. 424; Waller, p. 413
Longford, p. 461
Longford, pp. 477–478
Hibbert, p. 373; St Aubyn, p. 458
Waller, p. 433; see also Hibbert, pp. 370–371 and Marshall, pp. 191–193
Hibbert, p. 373; Longford, p. 484
Hibbert, p. 374; Longford, p. 491; Marshall, p. 196; St Aubyn, pp. 460–461
Queen Victoria, Royal Household, retrieved 29 March 2013
Marshall, pp. 210–211; St Aubyn, pp. 491–493
Longford, p. 502
Hibbert, pp. 447–448; Longford, p. 508; St Aubyn, p. 502; Waller, p. 441
"Queen Victoria's Urdu workbook on show", BBC News, 15 September 2017, retrieved 23 November 2017
Hunt, Kristin (20 September 2017), "Victoria and Abdul: The Friendship that Scandalized England", Smithsonian, retrieved 23 November 2017
Hibbert, pp. 448–449
Hibbert, pp. 449–451
Hibbert, p. 447; Longford, p. 539; St Aubyn, p. 503; Waller, p. 442
Hibbert, p. 454
Hibbert, p. 382
Hibbert, p. 375; Longford, p. 519
Hibbert, p. 376; Longford, p. 530; St Aubyn, p. 515
Hibbert, p. 377
Hibbert, p. 456
Longford, p. 546; St Aubyn, pp. 545–546
Marshall, pp. 206–207, 211; St Aubyn, pp. 546–548
MacMillan, Margaret (2013), The War That Ended Peace, Random House, p. 29, ISBN 978-0-8129-9470-4
Hibbert, pp. 457–458; Marshall, pp. 206–207, 211; St Aubyn, pp. 546–548
Hibbert, p. 436; St Aubyn, p. 508
Hibbert, pp. 437–438; Longford, pp. 554–555; St Aubyn, p. 555
Longford, p. 558
Hibbert, pp. 464–466, 488–489; Strachey, p. 308; Waller, p. 442
Victoria's journal, 1 January 1901, quoted in Hibbert, p. 492; Longford, p. 559 and St Aubyn, p. 592
Her personal physician Sir James Reid, 1st Baronet, quoted in Hibbert, p. 492
Longford, p. 562
Longford, p. 561; St Aubyn, p. 598
Helen Rappaport (2003), "Animals", Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion, pp. 34–39, ISBN 978-1-85109-355-7
Hibbert, p. 497; Longford, p. 563
St Aubyn, p. 598
Longford, p. 563
Hibbert, p. 498
Longford, p. 565; St Aubyn, p. 600
Gander, Kashmira (26 August 2015), "Queen Elizabeth II to become Britain's longest reigning monarch, surpassing Queen Victoria", The Daily Telegraph, London, retrieved 9 September 2015
Fulford, Roger (1967) "Victoria", Collier's Encyclopedia, United States: Crowell, Collier and Macmillan Inc., vol. 23, p. 127
Ashley, Mike (1998) British Monarchs, London: Robinson, ISBN 1-84119-096-9, p. 690
Hibbert, p. xv; St Aubyn, p. 340
St Aubyn, p. 30; Woodham-Smith, p. 87
Hibbert, pp. 503–504; St Aubyn, p. 30; Woodham-Smith, pp. 88, 436–437
Hibbert, p. 503
Hibbert, pp. 503–504; St Aubyn, p. 624
Hibbert, pp. 61–62; Longford, pp. 89, 253; St Aubyn, pp. 48, 63–64
Marshall, p. 210; Waller, pp. 419, 434–435, 443
Waller, p. 439
St Aubyn, p. 624
Hibbert, p. 504; St Aubyn, p. 623
e.g. Hibbert, p. 352; Strachey, p. 304; Woodham-Smith, p. 431
Example from a letter written by lady-in-waiting Marie Mallet née Adeane, quoted in Hibbert, p. 471
Waller, p. 429
Bagehot, Walter (1867) The English Constitution, London:Chapman and Hall, p. 103
St Aubyn, pp. 602–603; Strachey, pp. 303–304; Waller, pp. 366, 372, 434
Erickson, Carolly (1997) Her Little Majesty: The Life of Queen Victoria, New York: Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-7432-3657-2
Rogaev, Evgeny I.; Grigorenko, Anastasia P.; Faskhutdinova, Gulnaz; Kittler, Ellen L. W.; Moliaka, Yuri K. (2009), "Genotype Analysis Identifies the Cause of the "Royal Disease"", Science, 326 (5954): 817, Bibcode:2009Sci...326..817R, doi:10.1126/science.1180660, PMID 19815722
Potts and Potts, pp. 55–65, quoted in Hibbert p. 217; Packard, pp. 42–43
Jones, Steve (1996) In the Blood, BBC documentary
McKusick, Victor A. (1965) "The Royal Hemophilia", Scientific American, vol. 213, p. 91; Jones, Steve (1993) The Language of the Genes, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-255020-2, p. 69; Jones, Steve (1996) In The Blood: God, Genes and Destiny, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-255511-5, p. 270; Rushton, Alan R. (2008) Royal Maladies: Inherited Diseases in the Royal Houses of Europe, Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford, ISBN 1-4251-6810-8, pp. 31–32
Hemophilia B, National Hemophilia Foundation, 5 March 2014, retrieved 29 March 2015
"No. 21846". The London Gazette. 5 February 1856. pp. 410–411.
Whitaker's Almanack (1900) Facsimile Reprint 1998, London: Stationery Office, ISBN 0-11-702247-0, p. 86
"No. 22523". The London Gazette. 25 June 1861. p. 2621.
Badge of the Order of Victoria and Albert (first class) c. 1860-2, Royal Collection Trust, retrieved 4 September 2018, "'...she got our Order which I have established as a Family Order called the "Victoria & Albert"' (Journal, 17 April 1862). The Queen had turned the family gift into an Order in memory of her late husband, with its date of foundation her twenty-second wedding anniversary, 10 February 1861."
"No. 24539". The London Gazette. 4 January 1878. p. 113.
"No. 25641". The London Gazette. 9 November 1886. pp. 5385–5386.
"No. 26733". The London Gazette. 24 April 1896. p. 2455.
Kalakaua to his sister, 24 July 1881, quoted in Greer, Richard A. (editor, 1967) "The Royal Tourist—Kalakaua's Letters Home from Tokio to London", Hawaiian Journal of History, vol. 5, p. 100
"Knights of the Order of St. Catherine". List of Knights of the Russian Imperial and Tsarist Orders (in Russian). Printing house of the II branch of His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery. 1850. p. 202.
Royal Thai Government Gazette (5 May 1887). "ข่าวรับพระราชสาสน์ พระราชสาสน์จากกษัตริย์ในประเทศยุโรปที่ทรงยินดีในการได้รับพระราชสาสน์จากพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว" (PDF) (in Thai). Retrieved 8 May 2019.
Patterson, Stephen (1996) Royal Insignia, London: Merrell Holberton, ISBN 978-1-85894-025-0
Whitaker's Almanack (1993) Concise Edition, London: J. Whitaker and Sons, ISBN 0-85021-232-4, pp. 134–136
Louda, Jiří; Maclagan, Michael (1999), Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, London: Little, Brown, p. 34, ISBN 978-1-85605-469-0
Bibliography
Charles, Barrie (2012) Kill the Queen! The Eight Assassination Attempts on Queen Victoria, Stroud: Amberley Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4456-0457-2
Hibbert, Christopher (2000) Queen Victoria: A Personal History, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-638843-4
Longford, Elizabeth (1964) Victoria R.I., London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-17001-5
Marshall, Dorothy (1972) The Life and Times of Queen Victoria, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-83166-6 [1992 reprint]
Packard, Jerrold M. (1998) Victoria's Daughters, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-24496-7
Potts, D. M.; Potts, W. T. W. (1995) Queen Victoria's Gene: Haemophilia and the Royal Family, Stroud: Alan Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-1199-9
St Aubyn, Giles (1991) Queen Victoria: A Portrait, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, ISBN 1-85619-086-2
Strachey, Lytton (1921) Queen Victoria, London: Chatto and Windus online edition
Waller, Maureen (2006) Sovereign Ladies: The Six Reigning Queens of England, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6628-2
Weintraub, Stanley (1997) Albert: Uncrowned King, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-5756-9
Woodham-Smith, Cecil (1972) Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times 1819–1861, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-02200-2
Worsley, Lucy (2018) Queen Victoria – Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow, London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 978-1-4736-5138-8
Published primary sources
Benson, A. C.; Esher, Viscount (editors, 1907) The Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection of Her Majesty's Correspondence Between the Years 1837 and 1861, London: John Murray
Bolitho, Hector (editor, 1938) Letters of Queen Victoria from the Archives of the House of Brandenburg-Prussia, London: Thornton Butterworth
Buckle, George Earle (editor, 1926) The Letters of Queen Victoria, 2nd Series 1862–1885, London: John Murray
Buckle, George Earle (editor, 1930) The Letters of Queen Victoria, 3rd Series 1886–1901, London: John Murray
Connell, Brian (1962) Regina v. Palmerston: The Correspondence between Queen Victoria and her Foreign and Prime Minister, 1837–1865, London: Evans Brothers
Duff, David (editor, 1968) Victoria in the Highlands: The Personal Journal of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, London: Muller
Dyson, Hope; Tennyson, Charles (editors, 1969) Dear and Honoured Lady: The Correspondence between Queen Victoria and Alfred Tennyson, London: Macmillan
Esher, Viscount (editor, 1912) The Girlhood of Queen Victoria: A Selection from Her Majesty's Diaries, 1832–40, London: John Murray
Fulford, Roger (editor, 1964) Dearest Child: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal, 1858–61, London: Evans Brothers
Fulford, Roger (editor, 1968) Dearest Mama: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1861–64, London: Evans Brothers
Fulford, Roger (editor, 1971) Beloved Mama: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the German Crown Princess, 1878–85, London: Evans Brothers
Fulford, Roger (editor, 1971) Your Dear Letter: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1863–71, London: Evans Brothers
Fulford, Roger (editor, 1976) Darling Child: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the German Crown Princess of Prussia, 1871–78, London: Evans Brothers
Hibbert, Christopher (editor, 1984) Queen Victoria in Her Letters and Journals, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-4107-7
Hough, Richard (editor, 1975) Advice to a Grand-daughter: Letters from Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria of Hesse, London: Heinemann, ISBN 0-434-34861-9
Jagow, Kurt (editor, 1938) Letters of the Prince Consort 1831–61, London: John Murray
Mortimer, Raymond (editor, 1961) Queen Victoria: Leaves from a Journal, New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy
Ponsonby, Sir Frederick (editor, 1930) Letters of the Empress Frederick, London: Macmillan
Ramm, Agatha (editor, 1990) Beloved and Darling Child: Last Letters between Queen Victoria and Her Eldest Daughter, 1886–1901, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978-0-86299-880-6
Victoria, Queen (1868) Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands from 1848 to 1861, London: Smith, Elder
Victoria, Queen (1884) More Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands from 1862 to 1882, London: Smith, Elder
Further reading
Arnstein, Walter L. (2003) Queen Victoria, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-333-63806-4
Baird, Julia (2016) Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire, New York: Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-6988-0
Gardiner, Juliet (1997) Queen Victoria, London: Collins and Brown, ISBN 978-1-85585-469-7
Hough, Richard (1996) Victoria and Albert, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0312303853
Lyden, Anne M. (2014) A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, ISBN 978-1-60606-155-8
Weintraub, Stanley (1987) Victoria: Biography of a Queen, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-04-923084-2
Wilson, A. N. (2014) Victoria: A Life, London: Atlantic Books, ISBN 978-1-84887-956-0
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Queen Victoria
House of Hanover
Cadet branch of the House of Welf
Born: 24 May 1819 Died: 22 January 1901
Regnal titles
Preceded by
William IV Queen of the United Kingdom
20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901 Succeeded by
Edward VII
Vacant
Title last held by
Bahadur Shah II
as Mughal emperor Empress of India
1 May 1876 – 22 January 1901
vte
Queen Victoria
Events
Coronation
Honours Hackpen White Horse Wedding
Wedding dress Golden Jubilee
Honours Medal Police Medal Clock Tower, Weymouth Clock Tower, Brighton Bust Diamond Jubilee
Honours Medal
Reign
Bedchamber Crisis Prime Ministers Edward Oxford Empress of India Victorian era Victorian morality Visits to Manchester Foreign visits Funeral Mausoleum
Family
Albert, Prince Consort (husband) Victoria, Princess Royal (daughter) Edward VII (son) Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (daughter) Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (son) Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (daughter) Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (daughter) Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (son) Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (son) Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (daughter) Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (father) Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (mother) Grandchildren Royal descendants Princess Feodora of Leiningen (half-sister) Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen (half-brother)
Early life
Kensington System John Conroy Louise Lehzen Lady Flora Hastings Charlotte Percy George Davys Legitimacy
Honours
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Depictions
Film
Sixty Years a Queen (1913) Victoria the Great (1937) Sixty Glorious Years (1938) Mrs Brown (1997) The Young Victoria (2009) Victoria & Abdul (2017) The Black Prince (2017)
Television
Happy and Glorious (1952) The Young Victoria (1963) Victoria & Albert (2001) Looking for Victoria (2003) Royal Upstairs Downstairs (2011) Victoria (2016–)
Stage
Victoria and Merrie England (1897) Victoria Regina (1934) I and Albert (1972)
Statues and
Memorials
List of statues London
Victoria Memorial Kensington Palace London Leeds St Helens Lancaster Bristol Weymouth Chester Reading Liverpool Birmingham Birkenhead Dundee Balmoral cairns Guernsey Isle of Man Valletta Winnipeg Montreal
Square Victoria, British Columbia Toronto Regina Bangalore Hong Kong Kolkata Queen Victoria Pavilion Penang Sydney
Building Square Adelaide Brisbane Melbourne Christchurch
Poetry
"The Widow at Windsor" (1892) "Recessional" (1897)
Songs
Victoria Choral Songs
Stamps
Penny stamps
Penny Black VR official Penny Blue Penny Lilac Penny Red Penny Venetian Red Two penny blue
Others
Lilac and Green Embossed stamps Chalon head Canada 12d black Canada 2c Large Queen Dull Rose Three Halfpence Red Halfpenny Rose Red Halfpenny Yellow Inverted Head 4 Annas Jubilee Issue
Related
Osborne House Queen Victoria's journals John Brown Abdul Karim Pets
Dash Diamond Crown
vte
English, Scottish and British monarchs
Monarchs of England until 1603 Monarchs of Scotland until 1603
Alfred the Great Edward the Elder Ælfweard Æthelstan Edmund I Eadred Eadwig Edgar the Peaceful Edward the Martyr Æthelred the Unready Sweyn Edmund II Cnut Harold I Harthacnut Edward the Confessor Harold II Edgar Ætheling William I William II Henry I Stephen Matilda Henry II Henry the Young King Richard I John Henry III Edward I Edward II Edward III Richard II Henry IV Henry V Henry VI Edward IV Edward V Richard III Henry VII Henry VIII Edward VI Jane Mary I and Philip Elizabeth I
Kenneth I MacAlpin Donald I Constantine I Áed Giric Eochaid Donald II Constantine II Malcolm I Indulf Dub Cuilén Amlaíb Kenneth II Constantine III Kenneth III Malcolm II Duncan I Macbeth Lulach Malcolm III Donald III Duncan II Donald III Edgar Alexander I David I Malcolm IV William I Alexander II Alexander III Margaret of Norway John Balliol Robert I David II Edward Balliol Robert II Robert III James I James II James III James IV James V Mary I James VI
Monarchs of England and Scotland after the Union of the Crowns from 1603
James VI and I Charles I Charles II James II and VII William III and II and Mary II Anne
British monarchs after the Acts of Union 1707
Anne George I George II George III George IV William IV Victoria Edward VII George V Edward VIII George VI Elizabeth II
Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics.
vte
British princesses
The generations indicate descent from George I, who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family. Where a princess may have been or is descended from George I more than once, her most senior descent, by which she bore or bears her title, is used.
1st generation
Sophia Dorothea, Queen in Prussia
2nd generation
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange Princess Amelia Princess Caroline Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel Louise, Queen of Denmark and Norway
3rd generation
Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick Princess Elizabeth Princess Louisa Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway
4th generation
Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen of Württemberg Princess Augusta Sophia Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh Princess Sophia Princess Amelia Princess Sophia of Gloucester Princess Caroline of Gloucester
5th generation
Princess Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Princess Elizabeth of Clarence Queen Victoria Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck
6th generation
Victoria, Princess Royal and German Empress Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine Princess Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg Princess Frederica, Baroness von Pawel-Rammingen Princess Marie of Hanover
7th generation
Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife Princess Victoria Maud, Queen of Norway Marie, Queen of Romania Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia Princess Alexandra, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Princess Beatrice, Duchess of Galliera Margaret, Crown Princess of Sweden Princess Patricia, Lady Patricia Ramsay Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone Princess Marie Louise, Princess Maximilian of Baden Alexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Princess Olga of Hanover
8th generation
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk Princess Sibylla, Duchess of Västerbotten Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Frederica, Queen of Greece
9th generation
Queen Elizabeth II Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
10th generation
Anne, Princess Royal
11th generation
Princess Beatrice of York Princess Eugenie of York Lady Louise Windsor1
12th generation
Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
1 Status debatable; see her article.
vte
Hanoverian princesses by birth
1st generation
Charlotte, Queen of Württemberg1 Princess Augusta Sophia1 Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg1 Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh1 Princess Sophia1 Princess Amelia1
2nd generation
Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld1 Princess Charlotte of Clarence1 Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom1 Princess Elizabeth of Clarence1 Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz1 Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck1
3rd generation
Princess Frederica, Baroness von Pawel-Rammingen1 Princess Marie1
4th generation
Marie Louise, Princess Maximilian of Baden1 Alexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin1 Princess Olga1
5th generation
Frederica, Queen of the Hellenes1
6th generation
Princess Marie, Countess of Hochberg Princess Friederike, Mrs. Jerry Cyr Princess Olga Alexandra, Princess of Leiningen Princess Caroline-Louise Princess Mireille
7th generation
Princess Saskia, Mrs. Edward Hooper Princess Vera, Mrs. Manuel Dmoch Princess Nora, Mrs. Christian Falk Princess Alexandra Princess Eugenia
8th generation
Princess Elisabeth
1 also princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The legend of Saint George and the Dragon describes the real-life Saint George (died 303) taming and slaying a dragon that demanded human sacrifices; the saint thereby rescues the princess chosen as the next offering. The narrative was first set in Cappadocia in the earliest sources of the 11th and 12th centuries, but transferred to Libya in the 13th-century Golden Legend.[1]
The narrative has pre-Christian origins (Jason and Medea, Perseus and Andromeda, Typhon, etc.),[1] and is recorded in various saints' lives prior to its attribution to St. George specifically. It was particularly attributed to Saint Theodore Tiro in the 9th and 10th centuries, and was first transferred to Saint George in the 11th century. The earliest narrative record of Saint George slaying a dragon is found in a Georgian text of the 11th century.
The legend and iconography spread rapidly through the Byzantine cultural sphere in the 12th century. It reached Western Christian tradition still in the 12th century, via the crusades. The knights of the First Crusade believed that St. George, along with his fellow soldier-saints Demetrius, Maurice and Theodore, had fought alongside them at Antioch and Jerusalem. The legend was popularised in Western tradition in the 13th century based on its Latin versions in the Speculum Historiale and the Golden Legend. At first limited to the courtly setting of Chivalric romance, the legend was popularised in the 13th century and became a favourite literary and pictorial subject in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, and it has become an integral part of the Christian traditions relating to Saint George in both Eastern and Western tradition.
Origins
Pre-Christian predecessors
Further information: Chaoskampf, Thracian horseman, Saint Theodore Tiro, Tetri Giorgi, Verethragna, Zahhak, and Perseus and Andromeda
The iconography of military saints Theodore, George and Demetrius as horsemen is a direct continuation of the Roman-era "Thracian horseman" type iconography. The iconography of the dragon appears to grow out of the serpent entwining the "tree of life" on one hand, and with the draco standard used by late Roman cavalry on the other. Horsemen spearing serpents and boars are widely represented in Roman-era stelae commemorating cavalry soldiers. A carving from Krupac, Serbia, depicts Apollo and Asclepius as Thracian horsemen, shown besides the serpent entwined around the tree. Another stele shows the Dioscuri as Thracian horsemen on either side of the serpent-entwined tree, killing a boar with their spears.[2]
The development of the hagiographical narrative of the dragon-fight parallels the development of iconography. It draws from pre-Christian dragon myths. The Coptic version of the Saint George legend, edited by E. A. Wallis Budge in 1888, and estimated by Budge to be based on a source of the 5th or 6th century, names "governor Dadianus", the persecutor of Saint George as "the dragon of the abyss". Budge makes explicit the parallel to pre-Christian myth,
I doubt much of the whole story of Saint George is anything more than one of the many versions of the old-world story of the conflict between Light and Darkness, or Ra and Apepi, and Marduk and Tiamat, woven upon a few slender threads of historical fact. Tiamat, the scaly, winged, foul dragon, and Apepi the powerful enemy of the glorious Sungod, were both destroyed and made to perish in the fire which he sent against them and their fiends: and Dadianus, also called the 'dragon', with his friends the sixty-nine governors, was also destroyed by fire called down from heaven by the prayer of Saint George.[3] In anticipation of the Saint George iconography, first noted in the 1870s, a Coptic stone fenestrella shows a mounted hawk-headed figure fighting a crocodile, interpreted by the Louvre as Horus killing a metamorphosed Setekh.[4]
Thracian horseman with serpent-entwined tree (2nd century)
Funerary relief of a Roman cavalryman trampling a barbarian warrior (4th or 5th century)
Fenestrella interpreted by Louvre as Horus on horseback spearing Set in the shape of a crocodile (4th century).
Christianised iconography
Depictions of "Christ militant" trampling a serpent is found in Christian art of the late 5th century. Iconography of the horseman with spear overcoming evil becomes current in the early medieval period. Iconographic representations of St Theodore as dragon-slayer are dated to as early as the 7th century, certainly by the early 10th century (the oldest certain depiction of Theodore killing a dragon is at Aghtamar, dated c. 920).[5] Theodore is reported as having destroyed a dragon near Euchaita in a legend not younger than the late 9th century. Early depictions of a horseman killing a dragon are unlikely to represent St. George, who in the 10th century was depicted as killing a human figure, not a dragon.[6]
Vinica ceramic icon of Saints Christopher and George as dragon-slayers
The earliest image of St Theodore as a horseman (named in Latin) is from Vinica, North Macedonia and, if genuine, dates to the 6th or 7th century. Here, Theodore is not slaying a dragon, but holding a draco standard. One of the Vinica icons also has the oldest representation of Saint George with a dragon: George stands besides a cynocephalous St. Christopher, both saints treading on snakes with human heads, and aiming at their heads with spears.[7] Maguire (1996) has connected the shift from unnamed equestrian heroes used in household magic to the more regulated iconography of named saints to the closer regulation of sacred imagery following the iconoclasm of the 730s.[2]
17th-century drawing of the Arcus Einhardi
In the West, a Carolingian-era depiction of a Roman horseman trampling and piercing a dragon between two soldier saints with lances and shields was put on the foot of a crux gemmata, formerly in the Treasury of the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht (lost since the 18th c.). The representation survives in a 17th-century drawing, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.
The Yılanlı Kilise fresco of saints Theodore and George slaying the dragon
The "Christianisation" of the Thracian horseman iconography can be traced to the Cappadocian cave churches of Göreme, where frescoes of the 10th century show military saints on horseback confronting serpents with one, two or three heads. One of the earliest examples is from the church known as Mavrucan 3 (Güzelöz, Yeşilhisar [tr]), generally dated to the 10th century,[8] which portrays two "sacred riders" confronting two serpents twined around a tree, in a striking parallel to the Dioskuroi stela, except that the riders are now attacking the snake in the "tree of life" instead of a boar. In this example, at least, there appear to be two snakes with separate heads, but other examples of 10th-century Cappadocia show polycephalous snakes.[2] A poorly preserved wall-painting at the Yılanlı Kilise [tr] ("Snake Church") that depicts the two saints Theodore and George attacking a dragon has been tentatively dated to the 10th century,[9] or alternatively even to the mid-9th.[10]
A similar example, but showing three equestrian saints, Demetrius, Theodore and George, is from the "Zoodochos Pigi" chapel in central Macedonia in Greece, in the prefecture of Kilkis, near the modern village of Kolchida, dated to the 9th or 10th century.[11]
A 12th-century depiction of the mounted dragon-slayer, presumably depicting Theodore, not George, is found in four muqarna panels in the nave of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo.[5]
Transfer to Saint George
Saints Theodore and George shown side by side as equestrian heroes. Theodore kills a dragon and George a human enemy. Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai, 9th or 10th century
The dragon motif was transferred to the George legend from that of his fellow soldier saint, Saint Theodore Tiro.[12]
The transfer of the dragon iconography from Theodore, or Theodore and George as "Dioskuroi" to George on his own, first becomes tangible in the early 11th century. The oldest certain images of St. George combatting the serpent are still found in Cappadocia.
Golden Legend
Saint George and the Dragon, tinted alabaster, English, ca 1375–1420 (National Gallery of Art, Washington)
In the well-known version from Jacobus da Varagine's Legenda aurea (The Golden Legend, 1260s), the narrative episode of Saint George and the Dragon took place somewhere he called "Silene", in Libya.[13][14]
Silene in Libya was plagued by a venom-spewing dragon dwelling in a nearby pond, poisoning the countryside. To prevent it from affecting the city itself, the people offered it two sheep daily, then a man and a sheep, and finally their children and youths, chosen by lottery. One time the lot fell on the king's daughter. The king offered all his gold and silver to have his daughter spared; the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, dressed as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.
Saint George by chance arrived at the spot. The princess tried to send him away, but he vowed to remain. The dragon emerged from the pond while they were conversing. Saint George made the Sign of the Cross and charged it on horseback, seriously wounding it with his lance.[a] He then called to the princess to throw him her girdle (zona), and he put it around the dragon's neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a "meek beast" on a leash.[b]
The princess and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the populace. Saint George offered to kill the dragon if they consented to become Christians and be baptized. Fifteen thousand men including the king of Silene converted to Christianity.[c] George then killed the dragon, beheading it with his sword, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. The king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George on the site where the dragon died and a spring flowed from its altar with water that cured all disease.[15] Only the Latin version involves the saint striking the dragon with the spear, before killing it with the sword.[16]
The Golden Legend narrative is the main source of the story of Saint George and the Dragon as received in Western Europe, and is therefore relevant for Saint George as patron saint of England. The princess remains unnamed in the Golden Legend version, and the name "Sabra" is supplied by Elizabethan era writer Richard Johnson in his Seven Champions of Christendom (1596). In the work, she is recast as a princess of Egypt.[17][18] This work takes great liberties with the material, and makes St. George marry Sabra,[d] and have English children, one of whom becomes Guy of Warwick.[19] Alternative names given to the princess in Italian sources still of the 13th century are Cleolinda and Aia.[20]
Iconography
Further information: Thracian horseman, Uastyrdzhi, and Tetri Giorgi
Medieval iconography
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Icons of Saint George and the Dragon.
Eastern
The saint is depicted in the style of a Roman cavalryman in the tradition of the "Thracian Heros." There are two main iconographic types, the "concise" form showing only George and the dragon, and the "detailed" form also including the princess and the city walls or towers of Lacia (Lasia) with spectators witnessing the miracle. The "concise" type originates in Cappadocia, in the 10th to 11th century (transferred from the same iconography associated with Saint Theodore of Tiro in the 9th to 10th century). The earliest certain example of the "detailed" form may be a fresco from Pavnisi (dated c. 1160), although the examples from Adishi, Bochorma and Ikvi may be slightly earlier.[21]
Georgian
St George of Parakheti, Georgia, late 10th century
St George of Labechina, Racha, Georgia, early 11th century
Icon of St. George and the dragon from Likhauri (Ozurgeti Municipality), Georgia, 12th century
A 15th-century Georgian cloisonné enamel icon
Greek
Byzantine bas-relief of Saint George and the Dragon (steatite), 12th century
Monumental vita icon at Sinai, first half of the 13th century, likely by a Greek artist. The dragon episode is shown in one of twenty panels depicting the saint's life.
Greek icon of St George with the youth of Mytilene, 15th century, Pyrgos, Santorini.
Icon by Angelos Akotandos, Crete (first half of the 15th century)
"Pedestrian" St George, Crete, second half of the 15th century
Michael Damaskinos (16th century), Saint George killing the dragon, alongside Saint Mercurius killing Julian.
Russian
The oldest example in Russia found on walls of the church of St George in Staraya Ladoga, dated c. 1167. In Russian tradition, the icon is known as Чудо Георгия о змие; i.e., "the miracle of George and the dragon." The saint is mostly shown on a white horse, facing right, but sometimes also on a black horse, or facing left.[22] [23] The princess is usually not included. Another motif shows George on horseback with the youth of Mytilene sitting behind him.
The Staraya Ladoga fresco, c. 1167
14th-century icon from Novgorod
14th-century icon from Rostov
Novgorod vita icon, 14th century; the "detailed" dragon iconography takes the central panel.
Russian icon of the "detailed" type, Moscow, early 15th century
Novgorod icon, late 15th century
Northern Russian icon of the "detailed" type, the saint is exceptionally slaying the dragon with his sword (c. 1500).
Chełm school, 16th century
Western
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint George and the Dragon in medieval miniature.
The motif of Saint George as a knight on horseback slaying the dragon first appears in western art in the second half of the 13th century. The tradition of the saint's arms being shown as the red-on-white St. George's Cross develops in the 14th century.
13th-century fresco in Ankershagen, Mecklenburg
Miniature from a Passio Sancti Georgii manuscript (Verona, second half of 13th century)
Miniature from a manuscript of Legenda Aurea, Paris, 1348.
Book of Hours (c. 1380?).
Miniature from a manuscript of Legenda Aurea, Paris, 1382.
De Grey Hours (c. 1400)
Fresco of the full legend, Anga Church, Gotland, Sweden (mid 15th century)
Miniature from Heures de Charles d'Angoulême, Cognac, France, f.53v (1475–1500)
Wooden sculpture, c. 1500,
Renaissance
Donatello, Saint George, c. 1417. Bargello, Florence, Italy.
Paolo Uccello, Saint George and the Dragon, c. 1470. National Gallery, London.
Giovanni Bellini, Saint George Fighting the Dragon, c. 1471. Pesaro altarpiece.[24]
Lieven van Lathem, Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1471)
Bernt Notke, Saint George and the Dragon, Storkyrkan in Stockholm, ca. 1484–1489.[25]
Andrea della Robbia, terracotta, c. 1490
Albrecht Dürer, woodcut, 1501/4
Raphael (Raffaello Santi), St. George, 1504. Oil on wood. Louvre, Paris, France.
Raphael (Raffaello Santi), St. George and the Dragon, 1504–1506. Oil on wood. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States.
Albrecht Altdorfer, Forest Landscape with St. George Fighting the Dragon, 1510
Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti), Saint George and the Dragon, 1555.[26]
Bernat Martorell – Saint George Killing the Dragon (1435).
Saint George and the Dragon, wood carving by Bernt Notke in Stockholm's Storkyrkan (1470s).
St. George on Horseback, Meister des Döbelner Hochaltars, 1511/13, Hamburger Kunsthalle
Woodcut frontispiece of Alexander Barclay, Lyfe of Seynt George (Westminster, 1515).
Gillis Coignet – St George the Great , (1581).
Early modern and modern art
Paintings
Peter Paul Rubens, Saint George and the Dragon, 1620.
Salvator Rosa, San Giorgio e il Drago
Mattia Preti, St George triumphant over the dragon, 1678, at St. George's Basilica, Malta in Victoria, Gozo.
Edward Burne-Jones, St. George and the Dragon, 1866.[27]
Gustave Moreau, St. George and the Dragon, c. 1870. Oil on canvas. The National Gallery, London.
Briton Rivière, St. George and the Dragon, c. 1914.
Uroš Predić, St George Killing the Dragon, 1930.
Giorgio de Chirico, St. George Killing the Dragon, 1940.[28]
Sculptures
The sculptures which form part of the clock of Liberty's store in Regent Street, London (19th century).[29]
Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm, Saint George and the Dragon, bronze, State Library of Victoria, 1889[30]
Salvador Dalí, Saint George and the Dragon, Open Air Museum in Cosenza, 1947
Edward Seago, Saint George and the Dragon, silver, automobile mascot used for the British monarch's cars, 1952.[31]
Mosaic
Edward Poynter, Saint George for England, 1869. Central Lobby in the Palace of Westminster.
Engravings
Benedetto Pistrucci, engraving for coin dies, 1817.
Prints
On banknotes issued by the Bank of England:
£1 note, 1917 until 1933, on obverse, with portrait of George V; 1928 until 1960, on reverse, duplicated.
£5 note, 1957 until 1967, on obverse, with portrait of Britannia.
£20 note, 1970 until 1993, on obverse, with portrait of Elizabeth II.[32]
17th-century statue in Église Saint-Georges de Châtenois, France
18th-century statue in Église Saint-Georges de Châtenois, France
Saint George and the Dragon, by Mattia Preti (1678), in Gozo, Malta.
Unknown painter from Ukraine, 18th century.
Pendant with Saint George by Lluís Masriera i Rosés (1902), Barcelona.
St. George and the Dragon by Briton Reviere (c. 1914).
1914 sovereign with Benedetto Pistrucci's engraving.
Reverse of an English £1 note of 1940
WWI British recruitment poster.
Edward Seago's St. George and the Dragon automobile mascot used by the British monarch (1952)
Literary adaptations
Edmund Spenser expands on the Saint George and the Dragon story in Book I of the Fairy Queen, initially referring to the hero as the Redcross Knight. William Shakespeare refers to Saint George and the Dragon in Richard III ( Advance our standards, set upon our foes Our ancient world of courage fair St. George Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons act V, sc. 3), Henry V ( The game's afoot: follow your spirit, and upon this charge cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!' act III, sc. 1), and also in King Lear (act I).
A 17th-century broadside ballad paid homage to the feat of George's dragon slaying. Titled "St. George and the Dragon", the ballad considers the importance of Saint George in relation to other heroes of epic and Romance, ultimately concluding that all other heroes and figures of epic or romance pale in comparison to the feats of George.[33]
The Banner of St George by Edward Elgar is a ballad for chorus and orchestra, words by Shapcott Wensley (1879). The 1898 Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame includes a chapter entitled The Reluctant Dragon, in which an elderly Saint George and a benign dragon stage a mock battle to satisfy the townsfolk and get the dragon introduced into society. Later made into a film by Walt Disney Productions, and set to music by John Rutter as a children's operetta.
In 1935 Stanley Holloway recorded a humorous retelling of the tale as St. George and the Dragon written by Weston and Lee. In the 1950s, Stan Freberg and Daws Butler wrote and performed St. George and the Dragon-Net (a spoof of the tale and of Dragnet) for Freberg's radio show. The story's recording became the first comedy album to sell over a million copies.
Margaret Hodges retold the legend in a 1984 children's book (Saint George and the Dragon) with Caldecott Medal-winning illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman.
Samantha Shannon describes her 2019 novel The Priory of the Orange Tree as a "feminist retelling" of Saint George and the Dragon[34].
Heraldry
Coats of arms
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint George and the Dragon in heraldry.
Reggio Calabria used Saint George and the dragon in its coat of arms since at least 1757, derived from earlier (15th-century) iconography used on the city seal. Saint George and the dragon has been depicted in the Coat of arms of Moscow since the late 18th century, and in the coat of arms of Georgia since 1991 (based on a coat of arms introduced in 1801 for Georgia within the Russian Empire).
Coat of arms of Reggio Calabria (1896)
Coat of arms of Moscow (1781)
Coat of arms of Moscow (1993 design)
coat of arms of Georgia (1991)
Coat of arms of Kiev Oblast (1999)
Provincial coats of arms
Kiev Oblast, Ukraine (1999)
Moscow Oblast, Russia (2005)
Municipal coats of arms
Australia: Hurstville
Austria: Pitten, Sankt Georgen an der Gusen, Sankt Georgen an der Leys, Sankt Georgen an der Stiefing, Sankt Georgen im Attergau, Sankt Georgen ob Murau.
Croatia: Kaštel Sućurac.
Czech Republic: Brušperk.
Denmark: Holstebro.
France: Aydoilles, Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames, Ligsdorf, Maulan, Mussidan, Saint-Georges (Moselle), Saint-Georges-Armont, Saint-Georges-d'Espéranche, Saint-Georges-d'Oléron, Saint-Georges-d'Orques, Saint-Georges-de-Reintembault, Saint-Georges-du-Bois, Saint-Georges-du-Vièvre, Saint-Georges-sur-Baulche, Saint-Georges-sur-Loire, Saint-Jurs, Saorge, Sospel, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.
Germany: Bürgel, Hattingen, Mansfeld, Rittersbach, St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, Schwarzenberg.
Hungary: Bácsszentgyörgy, Balatonszentgyörgy, Borsodszentgyörgy, Dunaszentgyörgy, Homokszentgyörgy, Pécsvárad, Szentgyörgyvár, Szentgyörgyvölgy, Tatárszentgyörgy.
Italy: Reggio Calabria
Lithuania: Marijampolė, Prienai, Varniai.
Netherlands: Ridderkerk, Terborg.
Poland: Brzeg Dolny, Dzierżoniów, Milicz.
Romania: Suceava, Sfântu Gheorghe.
Russia: Moscow
Serbia: Srpski Krstur.
Slovakia: Svätý Jur.
Slovenia: Šentjur
Spain: Alcalá de los Gazules, Golosalvo, Puentedura.
Switzerland: Castiel, Kaltbrunn, Ruschein, Saint-George, Schlans, Stein am Rhein, Waltensburg/Vuorz.
Ukraine: Liuboml, Nizhyn, Taikury, Volodymyr-Volynskyi.
Flags
Standard of Greek general Markos Botsaris
Imperial standard of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia (reverse)
Military insignia
Regimental flags of the Hellenic Army (1864)
Badge of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (1968)
See also
iconCatholicism portal iconChristianity portal
Saint George
Saint George in devotions, traditions and prayers
Princess and dragon
Ducasse de Mons
Explanatory notes
Caxton gives "with his spear", but Latin text gives lanceam fortiter vibrans.
Caxton gives "meek beast," but Latin text gives "mansuetissima canis (tamest dog)".
Latin text gives XX thousand.
St. George is supposed to have been martyred as a virgin according to his hagiography.
References
Citations
St. George and the Dragon: Introduction in: E. Gordon Whatley, Anne B. Thompson, Robert K. Upchurch (eds.), Saints' Lives in Middle Spanish Collections (2004).
Paul Stephenson, The Serpent Column: A Cultural Biography, Oxford University Press (2016), 179–182.
E. A. Wallis Budge, The Martyrdom and Miracles of Saint George of Cappadocia (1888), xxxi–xxxiii; 206, 223. Budge (1930), 33-44 also likens George against Dadianus to Horos against Set or Ra against Apep. See also Joseph Eddy Fontenrose, Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins (1959), p. 518 (fn 8).
Charles Clermont-Ganneau, "Horus et Saint Georges, d'après un bas-relief inédit du Louvre". Revue archéologique, 1876. "Horus on horseback | Louvre Museum | Paris". www.louvre.fr..
Johns (2017) p. 170f. Jeremy Johns, "Muslim Artists, Christian Patrons and the Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina (Palermo, Sicily, circa 1143 CE)", Hadiith ad-Dar 40 (2016), p. 15.
Walter (1995), p. 320.
Jan Bazant, "St. George at Prague Castle and Perseus: an Impossible Encounter?", Studia Hercynia 19.1-2 (2015), 189-201 (fig. 4).
"Thierry 1972, who dates the fresco to as early as the seventh century. However, this seems unlikely, as it would be three hundred years earlier than any other church fresco in the region." Stephenson (2016), 180 (fn 89). see also: Walter (2003), pp. 56, 125, plate 27.
Johns (2017) p. 170 "the pairing of the two holy dragon-slayers has no narrative source, and the symbolic meaning of the scene is spelled out in an inscription written on both sides of the central cross, which compares the victory of the two saints over the dragon to Christ's triumph over evil on the cross."
Walter (2003), p. 128.
Melina Paissidou, "Warrior Saints as Protectors of the Byzantine Army in the Palaiologan Period: the Case of the Rock-cut Hermitage in Kolchida (Kilkis Prefecture)", in: Ivanka Gergova Emmanuel Moutafov (eds.), ГЕРОИ • КУЛТОВЕ • СВЕТЦИ / Heroes Cults Saints Sofija (2015), 181-198.
Robertson, Duncan (1998), The Medieval Saints' Lives, pp. 51 f.
Jacobus (de Voragine) (1890), Graesse, Theodor (ed.), "Cap. LVIII. De sancto Georgio", Legenda aurea: vulgo Historia lombardica dicta, p. 260–
Jacobus (de Voragine) (1900), Caxton, William (tr.) (ed.), "Here followeth the Life of S. George Martyr", The Golden Legend: Or, Lives of the Saints, Dent, 3, p. 260–
Thus Jacobus de Voragine, in William Caxton's translation (On-line text).
Johns, Jeremy (2017), Bacile, Rosa (ed.), "Muslim Artists and Christian Moels in the Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina", Romanesque and the Mediterranean, Routledge, note 96
Chambers, Edmund Kerchever, ed. (1878), The Mediaeval Stage: book I. Minstrelsy. book II. Folk drama, Halle: M. Niemeyer, p. 221, note 2
Graf, Arturo, ed. (1878), Auberon (I complementi della Chanson d'Huon de Bordeaux I), Archivio per lo studio delle tradizioni popolari (10) (in Italian), Halle: M. Niemeyer, p. 261
Richmond, Velma Bourgeois (1996), The Legend of Guy of Warwick, New York: Garland, p. 221, note 2
Runcini, Romolo (1999), Metamorfosi del fantastico: luoghi e figure nella letteratura, nel cinema, massmedia (in Italian), Lithos, p. 184, note 13
Walter (2003:142).
notably the icon known as "Black George", showing the saint both on a black horse and facing left, made in Novgorod in the first half of the 15th century (BM 1986,0603.1)
"a few 14th–16th century Novgorod icons such as the 'Miracle of St George', a mid-14th-century icon from the Morozov collection and now in the Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow (Bruk and Iovleva 1995, no. 21), 'St George, Nikita and the Deesis', a 16th-century icon in the Russian Museum, St Petersburg, (Likhachov, Laurina and Pushkariov 1980, fig. 237) and on some Northern Russian icons, for instance, the 'Miracle of St George and his Life' from Ustjuznan and dating from the first half of the 16th century (Rybakov 1995, fig. 214)" British Museum Russian Icon "The Miracle of St George and the Dragon / Black George".
[1] Archived February 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
Nordisk familjebok. 1914.
[2] Archived September 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
Burne-Jones, Sir Edward. "St. George and the Dragon". Olga's Gallery. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
St. George Killing the Dragon - Giorgio de Chirico. Wikiart.com.
The Liberty Clock waymarking.com.
"Forecourt Statues of The State Library of Victoria". THE GARGAREAN. WordPress.com. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
"The Royal Fleet of Limousines". The Chauffeur. 6 October 2005. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
"Withdrawn Banknotes: Reference Guide" (PDF). Bank of England. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
"New Ballad of St. George and the Dragon (EBBA 34079)". English Broadside Ballad Archive. National Library of Scotland - Crawford 1349: University of California at Santa Barbara, Department of English. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0lsvafy9mI
Sources
Mina, John Louis (1979). Thematic and Poetic Analysis of Russian Religious Oral Epics: Epic Duxovnye Stixi (Thesis). University of California, Berkeley. p. 73.
Warner, Elizabeth (2002). Russian Myths. University of Texas Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-2927-9158-9.
MacDermott, Mercia (1998). Bulgarian Folk Customs. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. pp. 64–66. ISBN 978-1-8530-2485-6.
Bibliography
Aufhauser, Johannes B. (1911), Das Drachenwunder des Heiligen Georg: nach der meist verbreiteten griechischen Rezension
Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy (1959), "Appendix 4: Saint George an the Dragon", Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins, University of California Press, pp. 515–520
Loomis, C. Grant, 1949. White Magic, An Introduction to the Folklore of Christian Legend (Cambridge: Medieval Society of America)
Thurston, Herbert (1909), "St. George", The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 6, pp. 453–455
Walter, C., "The Origins of the Cult of St. George," Revue des études byzantines, 53 (1995), 295–326.
Whatley, E. Gordon, editor, with Anne B. Thompson and Robert K. Upchurch, 2004. St. George and the Dragon in the South English Legendary (East Midland Revision, c. 1400) Originally published in Saints' Lives in Middle English Collections (on-line text: Introduction).
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint George and the Dragon.
Saint George Legend explained in Javascript by Tomás Corral
Saint George church in Dolinka (Hungarian: Inám)
St George and the Dragon Events and Ideas – Official Website for Tourism in England
St George Unofficial Bank Holiday: St. George and the Dragon, free illustrated book based on 'The Seven Champions' by Richard Johnson (1596)
St George's Bake and Brew
St. George Killing the Dragon: scented icon
vte
Saint George
In culture
Saint George and the Dragon St George's Cross Devotions, traditions and prayers
Patronages in Georgia in Ossetia Saint George's Day
in England in Spain George's Day in Spring George's Day in Autumn in Palestine
Herden 7, 2018e.jpg
See also
Locales named after St George St. George's University St. George's College (disambiguation) St. George's School (disambiguation) St George's Church (disambiguation) St. George's Cathedral (disambiguation) St George's Hospital (disambiguation) George, Martyr of Córdoba