Fascinating facts about Queen Victoria most people don’t know

Kensington Palace, the current London home of William and Kate – the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – was Queen Victoria’s birthplace. Born on May 24, 1819, Victoria spent much of her childhood at Kensington Palace, where she was raised by her widowed mother (Victoria’s father died when she was eight months old) and several royal courtiers.

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Christened Alexandrina (but called Drina as a child), she started using Victoria – her middle name – when she turned 18, when she ascended to the throne.

Can you imagine Prince Harry as king? Back in 1837, the unthinkable became reality for Victoria. At birth, Victoria was fifth in line to the throne, but the deaths of various princes and a lack of male heirs resulted in the young woman capturing the crown.

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At age 16, Victoria met her future husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was also her first cousin. After four years of friendship and flirtation, Queen Victoria proposed to her prince (actually, she had no choice – according to tradition, a man couldn’t propose to the queen). The smitten young couple married in 1840.

The young queen was a wedding trendsetter. In 1840, it wasn’t the norm to see a bride wearing white. The colour was thought to be boring and conservative, but Victoria didn’t care. She chose simplicity over opulence, and her lacy silk-satin grown – crafted from the finest British textiles – gave a much-needed boost to the struggling lace trade. Several years later, a women’s publication stated that white was the ‘most fitting hue’ for brides, and a tradition was born.

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Victoria and Albert’s first child, Princess Victoria, was born nine months after their wedding. But little Vicky wasn’t an only child for long. A year later, she had a baby brother for company, and within 17 years, the royal household boasted nine children: four boys and five girls.

After 21 years of marriage, Queen Victoria became a widow. In 1861, her beloved Prince Albert died from typhoid. Consumed with grief, Victoria would spend her next 40 years of life wearing only black clothing, and would rarely be seen in public.

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If you thought being bilingual made you an overachiever, you’re about to get schooled. Queen Victoria was fluent in no fewer than five languages: English, German, French, Latin, and Italian. She also learned a little Hindustani and Urdu in order to chat with her Indian servants at Windsor Castle (above).

Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years, and up until September 2015, was the longest reigning British monarch. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, now holds the title.

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Queen Victoria may have been one of the longest reigning monarchs, but she was also one of the luckiest. On at least eight occasions – most of them while riding in her open carriage – would-be assassins tried to kill her. She also had a stalker. A man by the name of Edward Jones broke into the royal residence at Buckingham Palace several times, and was eventually caught – but not before he sat on her throne and stole her underwear.

Our current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is the great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria, but the family connections don’t stop there. Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, is also one of Victoria’s great-great grandchildren, making the royal couple third cousins. Of course, this means princes William and Harry continue Queen Victoria’s lineage, too: they are her great-great-great-great grandsons.

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There is no shortage of dedications to Queen Victoria. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London (above), the states of Queensland and Victoria in Australia, Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe and Victoria Park in Auckland all owe their names to the monarch. Many of the Queen and Victoria streets you encounter on your travels around the globe are also part of the royal’s enduring legacy.

Painting, drawing, and writing were among the many artistic passions that Victoria pursued throughout her lifetime. She filled notebooks with sketches and illustrations of family members and places of interest, and accumulated 120 handwritten diaries.

What do former American president Barack Obama and Queen Victoria have in common? A sturdy oak desk. In 1880, Victoria gave US president, Rutherford Hayes a unique gift ­– a desk crafted from the timbers of a retired British ship, the H.M.S. Resolute. Since its arrival at the White House, the Resolute desk has seen many American presidents including John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and now Donald Trump work at and greet visitors and staff alike.

The ‘Victorian era’ may sound like ancient history, but Queen Victoria lived into the twentieth century, dying at the age of 81 in 1901. She was the first British monarch to travel on a train, use electric lights and a telephone.

In 1970, a British physician named Thomas Stowell wrote an article speculating that Queen Victoria’s grandson, Prince Albert Victor, was in fact Jack the Ripper – the legendary serial killer who terrorised London and brutally murdered five women in 1888. Many historians have since discounted the physician’s theories, citing a lack of convincing evidence.

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Queen Victoria carried a gene mutation for haemophilia, a rare disorder in which blood doesn’t clot as it normally should, leading sufferers to bleed excessively from even the smallest of cuts. The queen passed on the disease to three of her children, including son Leopold, who at age 30, haemorrhaged to death after a fall.

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Diamonds – and sapphires – are a girl’s best friend. Or at least that’s what Prince Albert figured when he commissioned a coronet to present to Victoria as a gift after two years of marriage. Easily one of the most beautiful pieces of jewellery in the royal collection, the stunning tiara boasts countless diamonds and no fewer than 11 sapphires.

Queen Victoria helped prevent a Franco-German war in 1875, and led the British Empire to global supremacy. On the home front, she championed acts that made it possible for more people to vote, as well as legislation that increased wages for the working class. She was also responsible for restoring the royal family’s public role, giving her patronage to more than 150 institutions, including the armed forces, museums, and educational organisations. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert redefined what it meant to be royal, and their charitable legacy lives on in the works of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince William.

Did an 18-year-old Victoria really propose to a swoon-worthy Prime Minister Lord Melbourne? Did scheming stewards actually make an attempt to disrupt a royal ball? Although these tales certainly made for entertaining television in the recent ITV/PBS production of Victoria, they’re likely more fiction than fact. Historians have pointed out that Lord Melbourne would have been 60 years old, overweight, and likely much more of a father figure than a potential love interest for the young queen.

Although modern-day depictions of Queen Victoria would have you believe she was dour – likely due to the fact that her reign was a period of strict conservative values – she herself denied ever having used the phrase, “We are not amused.”

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Source: RD.Canada