queen victoria's reign extended from 1837 all the way until 1901. it was one of the longest in
british role history and it was characterized by a lot of change and upheaval for the country she was
so influential they named the entire time period after and to this day the word victorian brings to
mind high society the industrial revolution iconic artworks and some impressive architecture as for
the woman herself she lived a fascinating and sometimes bizarre life today 10 facts about that
number 10. she made pomeranians small these days we associate the british royal family with corgis
thanks to queen elizabeth stable of the little dogs but victoria had a pension for dogs as
well her breed of choice was the feisty little pomeranian mostly known today as puffballs with
faces and the reason that we know them as such rests almost solely with queen victoria victoria
had adopted an unusually small pomeranian in 1888 enamored with the dog's tiny size she had them
brought in from all over europe to be part of a breeding program only small dogs would do and
as a result of her efforts the modern pomeranian typically doesn't weigh more than seven pounds out
of context not that seems dramatic but you have to know what a pomeranian looked like prior to
1888 the dogs were much larger on average than the one victoria had acquired in fact some pomeranians
were known to weigh as much as 50 pounds she had effectively cut the dogs down to well under half
their original size and it's the breed standard today 9. she started the white wedding dress trend
wedding dresses are big business the global bridal wear industry is expected to be worth nearly 80
billion dollars by 2027. that number is staggering but it goes to show how seriously some women take
their dresses and no one has more of an influence on the modern wedding dress than queen victoria
there are a lot of traditions associated with wearing wedding dresses most people have heard
the whole thing about wearing something old and new and borrowed and blue when it comes
to the dress itself white is the preferred color because it's symbolic purity some people believe
it's inappropriate to wear a white wedding dress if you're having your second marriage or if you
have children already because obviously you're not pure which is to say not a virgin the whole idea
dates back to victoria not the purity part but the white part prior to victoria wedding dresses for
royals were often red white was actually not used at all because it was what people in mourning wore
but victoria designed her own lace and satin dress for a 1840 wedding and it sent shockwaves through
the british aristocracy word is many feathers were ruffled but the effect was profound it started a
new age of wedding attire as women wanted to be bold and stand out like the queen white became
the new standard with people deciding that of course white was the best choice because it was
pure and innocent number eight she was empress of india you'd think that being queen of england was
a big enough deal all on its own especially back during victoria's reign england was the world's
biggest superpower and she was probably the most famous woman on earth still there's always room
for expansion when you're a british monarch in 1858 india was taken under british rule
the country was one of the many nations around the world that england claimed as its own over
the years but being so far away and so different in nearly every way it was no easy task to simply
say to all indian people that they were suddenly members of the british empire in an effort to
try and smooth over relations between britain and india which had several centuries of not so smooth
relations between them an elaborate ceremony was planned in 1877 india would officially welcome
their new leader the empress victoria ruler of the land victoria never actually set foot in india and
there has been some speculation that she wanted the title of empress because she was jealous of
the titles her daughter held whatever the case from 1877 onward victoria would officially be
known as queen empress victoria number 7. edward jones stole her underwear we live in an age
in which celebrity worship is an everyday thing some people obsess over their favorite actors
or singers in a way that makes the rest of us a little bit nervous some people take it too far and
that's where celebrity stalkers come in but this is not a new phenomenon maybe it's more common now
but it existed back in victoria's day as well we know this because the queen had her own very weird
and obsessed fan edward jones often referred to as boy jones was 14 years old historians have
claimed he was not mentally at least as far as anyone knows but he was singularly obsessed with
the queen so much so that he managed to break into buckingham palace and steal her underwear
jones broke into the palace not just once but several times he was caught three times and
admitted to others security was not so tight back in the day and in fact there were no palace guns
at all so jones would simply sneak in through windows old doors that people forgot to lock
aside from stealing food and being caught on the throne more than once he was also caught with
queen's underwear stuffed down his pants under the law none of this was a felony so they were never
able to imprison him for very long eventually they forced him on a boat to brazil but when he came
back he was imprisoned on a ship for six years before being sent to australia number six her
first language wasn't english it's probably an assumption most of us would make that the queen
of england would naturally speak english as her native tongue and of course queen victoria did
speak english but it wasn't always so in fact for the first three years victoria only knew
german british royalty had its roots all across europe and there were a number of germans in
victoria's family her mother was german-born so victoria herself was exposed to that language
and no other at first her earliest caretaker spoke german and her school was in german as well
in time she was not just taught english but french and italian as well she also learned some
hindustani as well her german became rusty as she got older and most of her day-to-day communication
was done in english until she met her husband a german himself she re-familiarized herself with
the language and spoke it almost exclusively with him number five she's the source of the
resolute desk the us and england have often been allies despite the rocky start that they got off
to in 1880 queen victoria had a gift made for then-president rutherford b hayes constructed
from the timber salvaged from the hms resolute a desk was made that she could gift to the american
leader there was even a contest held for people to submit ideas the winners came up with the design
for what is known as the resolute desk the hms resolute had been an arctic exploration vessel
in 1854 it became trapped and was abandoned until an american whaling ship pulled it free
and returned it to england as a gesture of thanks victoria commissioned the desk to be
made along with two others nearly every president since hayes has used the desk in the oval office
although a couple have used it in their private study and three didn't use it at all number four
she chewed on cocaine gum with churchill if you know much about medicine in the victorian era you
know that the line between what we now consider medication and narcotics was non-existent things
like heroin and cocaine were not uncommon as pain relievers and cocaine especially was included in
everything from wine to chewing gum back before coca-cola was all the rage you could get coca-bola
a chewing gum in which each piece was infused with cocaine victoria was said to have chewed something
like this with a young winston churchill no less the ads for the gun claim it gave the
user additional power to perform labor as well as relieving fatigue it could also help you kick your
tobacco habit no word on how long the queen used it but it certainly must have perked her up a bit
3. she was raised under strict control it's no surprise if you've never heard of the kensington
system of child-rearing this method how victoria was raised until she ascended to the throne was
one of total dependency in control devised by victoria's mother and her attendant john conroy
it controlled every aspect of young victoria's life the future queen had almost no contact with
the outside world except for two trips to visit an uncle she had almost no contact with strangers
inside the palace and never without a chaperone her two friends were a half-sister and conroy's
daughter her tutor and governess were the only other people that she had any regular contact with
essentially she was raised in a bubble with less than 10 other people she even had to sleep in
her mother's room the reason for the kensington method was not to protect or nurture victoria
instead it was to plan for control the idea was that she would be wholly dependent on her
mother and conroy for everything even into adulthood that way other family members and
those who could benefit from the influence of the queen would be shut out and conroy and victoria's
mother would maintain some semblance of control as regent the people would see how inseparable
victoria and her mother were and they would love them for this wholesome bond the plan
backfired miserably as it seemed to only alienate victoria once she rose to power she immediately
gave herself an hour of alone time a day a luxury she'd never enjoyed in her whole life and
then she kicked conroy out of the palace banning him forever number two she popularized christmas
trees a christmas tree is as much a symbol of the holidays as a turkey dinner or presents for
most people these days we can thank victoria for making it a holiday staple however as
before her influence it was much more of an obscure tradition christmas trees are
historically german victoria's mother was known to use them as part of the holiday celebrations
but it wasn't until victoria met her husband albert that the tradition took off in england
a german himself prince albert wanted to share his tradition with the people he was now a part
of he had trees sent to schools and barracks and an engraving was made showing victoria
and albert alongside their children around a lavish tree as they decorated it a picture
being worth a thousand words that engraving captured the minds of the british population
everyone wanted to be a part of the quaint royal tradition and the christmas tree craze took off 1.
she survived 8 assassination attempts it takes a certain kind of person to stand up and lead a
nation in the face of resistance not in the form of disagreement which any leader will face but
outright rage and violence no one's left to face that and not everyone survives it queen
victoria had more than her fair share of this in her life assassination attempts were made
against the queen astonishing eight times in 1840 a man named edward oxford aimed a gun at the queen
and took his shot he missed two years later another man did the same thing this time it
was john francis and he was no better at shot than oxford had been the next attempt was shortly
after france is a man named john bean it wasn't until 1850 when someone actually managed to even
touch her in their attempts obviously the queen survived but this particular attempt left her with
some scars a man named robert paige attacked victoria with an iron-tipped cane he hit her
in the head with it causing a black eye and a scar undeterred by the attack victoria appeared
shortly afterward to prove to everyone that she was fine in 1882 another man tried to shoot her
in the train station and victoria made strides for legal definitions of insanity to be established as
pretty much everyone who had tried to kill her in the past used that as a defense victoria said
it is worth being shot at to see how much one is lobbed not many people would know her better than
that so i really hope you enjoyed this video if you did please do hit that thumbs up button
below also check out another channel that i do call biographics we've actually done a biographics
video biography of queen victoria please find that linked below and thank you for watching