welcome back to the ancestral findings podcast Alexandria Victoria was Queen of England for
an astounding 63 years a feat not surpassed until that of her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II
known for her strict moral standards and Keen political Acumen as well as for her
deep love and passion for her husband Albert Victoria is a British historical icon whose
influence can still be seen and felt in the world today this is her story [Music]
please [Music] King George III of England the same one who was king during the American Revolution
had an air problem the problem was none of his 15 children had produced a legitimate error
say for his eldest son the Future King George IV who had a legitimate daughter named Charlotte some
of his nine Sons had illegitimate children three of his six daughters married but had no surviving
children and three of his daughters never married at all the entire future of the kingdom was placed
on princess Charlotte princess Charlotte was the heir presumptive for most of her life and was
beloved by the English people when she crossed to the other side in childbirth at only 21 years old
and the baby with her it was a Calamity for the British Monarchy the race to produce a legitimate
grandchild of the king to be their Heir for the next generation was on among the king's sons all
of whom were over 40 years old at the time it was Prince Edward the king's fifth son who heeded the
call dismissing the mistress with whom he had been living in Brussels and proposing marriage to the
sister of Princess Charlotte's widower in 1819 the two years after the country lost Charlotte
Edward's wife gave birth to their legitimate daughter Alexandria Victoria this daughter the
only child the couple had together would grow up to become Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain Victoria's father having produced a legitimate heir to the kingdom crossed to the
other side when Victoria was less than a year old her grandfather King George III crossed only a
week after Victoria's father this left Charlotte's father as King George IV George who was estranged
from his wife had no more children and crossed in 1830. this left George's brother William as
King William IV William had legitimate children but his two legitimate daughters both born around
the same time as Victoria but they crossed as infants this left Victoria as heir presumptive
since William IV didn't trust Victoria's mother to be able to competently conduct a
Regency William declared that he intended to live until Victoria was at least 18 years old which
would make a Regency unnecessary to the Delight of almost everyone he accomplished just that
Victoria described her childhood as lonely in Melancholy her mother was extremely protective
of her and brought her up under a strict set of rules she called the Kensington system
Victoria was only allowed to be around people her mother and her comptroller supposed lover
Sir John Conroy deemed acceptable which excluded most of her father's Royal side of the family was
made to sleep in the same bedroom as her mother every night followed a rigorous tutoring schedule
and her playtime was limited to dolls and her pet dog Dash she was also mostly kept away from Court
as her mother was supposedly scandalized by the presence there of King William IV's illegitimate
children Victoria's mother and John Conroy intended to raise Victoria to be weak willed
and dependent on them it had the opposite effect despite pressure from both of them to appoint
Conroy to her household the teenage Victoria refused once she became Queen She banished
Conroy from her sight though he remained in her mother's household and only rarely gained to
visit with her mother she had a lot of resentment for the way the two of them raised her a marriage
match was proposed for her when she was 17 years old her mother's brother Leopold the now remarried
widower of Princess Charlotte who was the king of Belgium wanted to marry his niece to his brother's
son Albert King William IV though wanted to marry her to the Second Son of the prince of Orange
Victoria entertained several suitors but it was clear she liked Albert the best her
diary describes their first meeting when he came to England to see her in glowing terms
she did not think she was ready for marriage yet but her desire for Albert was such that most
involved in the marriage negotiations thought their Union at some time in the future was all
but a mere formality from the moment they met Victoria only had eyes for Albert a month after
Victoria turned 18 years old her Uncle William King William IV of England crossed to the other
side at age 71. Victoria was awakened and informed she was Queen at six o'clock in the morning after
which she went back to bed alone this time she was Queen now and her mother in Conroy were her
subjects if she didn't want to sleep in the same room as her mother anymore she did not have to
she signed a few documents on her first day as Queen with her full name Alexandria Victoria
always called drenna by her mother then crossed the first name out and asked that
it not be used anymore she was Queen Victoria and that is how she would from then on be known
Britain and the kingdom of Hanover had shared a monarch since George the first ascended the
English throne in 1714. Hanoverian law though did not allow women to ascend of the throne
so Victoria's Uncle her father's younger brother Ernest a senate to the Hanoverian
Throne ending the personal Union between Great Britain and Hanover until Victoria had children
her uncle Ernest was her heir presumptive even though Victoria wanted complete independence
from her mother social convention at the time dictated that an unmarried woman had to live
with a parent or Guardian even if she was Queen so Victoria consigned her to a distant apartment in
Buckingham Palace and often refused to see her her advisors told her she could remedy the situation
by marrying but she did not want to be hurried into it Albert came to visit a second time in
1839 and Victoria found him just as captivating as she had three years prior at their first meeting
she proposed to him as was required since she was a queen and he was only a prince of another
kingdom just five days after he arrived in Great Britain they were married in 1840.
the day after her wedding Victoria wrote in her diary I never never spent such an evening
my dearest dearest dear Albert his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of heavenly
love and happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before he clasped me in his arms and
we kissed each other again and again his Beauty his sweetness and 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 Victoria gave
birth to their first child a daughter also named Victoria later the same year they were married
she hated being pregnant thought breastfeeding was disgusting and considered newborns to be
ugly still she and Albert had eight more children together over a 17-year period
the final two were birthed using the new anesthetic chloroform Victoria loved the way
it took away the pain of childbirth and ignored the clergy who complained it went against God's
Will and a faction of doctors who believed it to be dangerous to use Albert also helped smooth
relations sum up between Victoria and her mother in March of 1861 Victoria's mother crossed to the
other side with Victoria there with her after her Crossing Victoria read some of her mother's papers
and realized her mother had loved her deeply her whole life something she hadn't believed prior
she was heartbroken and all the time lost between them and Blaine Conroy and her childhood nanny for
creating a wedge between them after she recovered somewhat from her grief Victoria and Albert took
a holiday together while on this holiday they visited their eldest son the Prince of Wales
who was doing Army Maneuvers close to Dublin in November of that year Albert was made aware of
Gossip that the Prince of Wales had engaged in sexual relations with an actress in Ireland and
went to Cambridge where the prince was studying to confront him about it shortly after this visit
he became quite ill and was diagnosed with typhoid fever Albert crossed to the other
side of this in December of 1861. Victoria was prostrate with grief and blamed Albert's
concern over their son's sexual Adventures for his Crossing her relationship with the Prince
of Wales her Heir was always strained after that she essentially blamed Albert's death on their son
Victoria wore black for the rest of her life never remarried and gained a lot of weight from Comfort
eating this made her reluctant to appear in public she became known among the English people as the
Widow of Windsor Victoria may not have made many personal appearances after losing Albert but she
was still an active and involved Queen she was beloved by most of her subjects though she did
endure a few more personal tragedies over the years losing three of her children a daughter
and two sons before her she opposed her youngest daughter's desired marriage because she wanted to
keep the princess home to be her companion in her elderly age she only agreed when the princess and
her fiancee agreed to live with her after their marriage Victoria grew weak after losing her son
Alfred in 1900 in January of 1901 she crossed to the other side at age 81. the longest reigning
monarch in British history unsurpassed until her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II's reign
she was buried with her wedding veil a plaster cast of Albert's hand and one of her dressing
gowns as well as her wedding ring and other mementos from friends family and professional
colleagues from Over the Decades of her reign Victoria and Albert are buried next to each
other at the Royal Mausoleum Frogmore Windsor Great Park and her son Albert Edward Prince of
Wales became King Edward VII she was technically the last of the Hanoverian line of monarchs as her
son belonged to Albert's House of sax Coburg gotha the family's surname was changed to Windsor a few
years later after anti-german sentiment during the two World Wars necessitated a more English
sounding name for the Royal Family the family is still known as Windsor to this day [Music]
foreign
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