Queen Victoria’s life.
Queen Victoria was born on May 1819 and died on January 1901. On the one hand, her life was filled with blissful and satisfactory experiences, such as her childhood, her accession to the throne and her marriage. On the other hand, there existed unhappy and depressing events, such as several attempts to assassinate her and later, her husband’s death. Queen Victoria was the first known carrier of haemophilia, an illness that later on was known as the “Royal disease”. Her reign of 63 years and 7 months was the longest of any female monarch in history and it was recognized as the Victorian Era.
Queen Victoria was born Alexandrina Victoria, in London. She was the only child of Edward, George III’s fourth son, and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg who was sister of King Leopold of the Belgians. It is said that as a child, she was warm hearted and lively and that she had a gift for drawing and painting. While she was educated at the Royal Palace by a governess, she also developed a passion for journal writing. As her father died when she was eight months, her mother became a dominant influence in her life.
After her father’s death and considering that her three surviving uncles, who were ahead of her in succession, had no legitimate heirs who had survived childhood, she became the heir apparent. Consequently, when King William IV died in 1837, Victoria became queen at the age of 18. Lord Melbourne was Victoria’s political advisor and confidant and train her in the complexities of being a constitutional monarch. During Victoria’s reign there was great cultural expansion, advances in industry, science and communications, and also the construction of railways and the London Underground. Victoria was able to show that a monarch who had an extraordinary level of prestige and also who was prepared to master the details of political life could make use of an important influence. This was clearly demonstrated by the mediation between the Commons and the Lords. She reigned up to her death but, in 1897, Victoria had written instructions for her funeral, which was to be military as befitting a soldier’s daughter, the head of the army and to wear white instead of black.
She married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. As the British public did not warm up to the German Prince, he was excluded from holding any official political position, at first. Even though the couple passed through tempestuous periods, they were intensely devoted to each other and shared a strong enough affection to have nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of their children married into other Royal families of Europe. Albert took an enthusiastic interest in the arts, science and industry and the project for which he is best kept in mind was the Great Exhibition of 1851.
Queen Victoria suffered at least six serious assassination attempts and most of them were while she was riding in a carriage. Edward Oxford fired two shots at her carriage while she was riding in London. Although he was accused of high treason, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. In 1842, John Francis made two attempts to shoot the queen and the same year, John William Bean tried to fire a gun loaded with paper and tobacco at her, but the charge was insufficient. In 1849, another carriage attack was made by William Hamilton and in 1850, the ex-army officer Robert Pate hit the queen with his cane. Finally, in 1882, Roderick Maclean shot at Victoria with a pistol while she was leaving the Windsor train station but, as he was found to be insane, he was sentenced to life in an asylum. Every time that an assassination attempt came round, Victoria’s popularity ascended among the British public.
In March 1861, Victoria’s mother died with Victoria at her side and as she was heart-broken, Albert took on most of her duties, despite being ill himself with a chronic stomach trouble. By the beginning of December 1861, Albert was very unwell and he was diagnosed with typhoid fever. As a result, by the middle of December, Albert died and Victoria was devastated. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in affairs of state, so she decided to wear black for the rest of her life and she also avoided public appearances and went into a 25-year seclusion.
Research involving DNA analysis on the bones of the last Russian royal family, the Romanovs, revealed that Victoria’s descendants suffered from a subtype of the disorder called haemophilia B, which is a blood clotting disorder caused by a mutation on the X chromosome and that can be passed along the maternal line within families and in which women are usually carriers but men are more likely to develop it. As Victoria’s descendants married into royal families throughout Europe, the disease spread from Britain to the nobility of Germany, Russia and Spain. For example, Victoria’s son, Leopold, died from blood loss; her grandson Friedrich bled to death at the age of two, and Leopold and Maurice, also Victoria’s grandsons, died of the affliction in their early 30s.
To conclude and considering what has been developed all along this paper, it is evident that Queen Victoria not only had a gift for drawing and painting, as in her childhood, but also for reigning her country. Therefore, Great Britain experienced exceptional expansion in industry, building railways, science and communication among others. She had the good fortune to marry to Prince Albert who was a loving husband and helped her in the difficulties of being a constitutional monarch. Even though she was devastated after Albert’s death, she continued to reign the country up to her death but she kept in seclusion. She also managed to carry on her duties despite suffering more than a few assassination attempts. As regards the affliction that became known as the Royal disease, haemophilia appears to be extinct in the European royal lines now. Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901 and her orders were followed so she was buried at Windsor beside Prince Albert, in the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum. Subsequently, the 19th century was known as Victorian Era because of Queen Victoria’s long reign and the unforgettable stamp it and her persona placed on the country.
