WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:06.540 up, well, a massive stack of sources on one of 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:08.720 the most consequential figures in modern history, 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.640 Queen Victoria. Absolutely. We're talking about 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:14.039 the woman who was, you know, born into relative 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:16.480 obscurity, politically speaking, and somehow 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:19.199 ended up defining an entire century. It's quite 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:22.359 a story. It really is. 63 years on the throne 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:26.879 and 216 days. to be precise. Longer than any 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.940 British monarch before her at that time. It's 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:30.420 staggering. And when we talk about the Victorian 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:33.240 era, we're talking about just immense change. 00:00:33.399 --> 00:00:35.719 Right. Industrial Revolution roaring ahead. Yeah. 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:38.340 Huge political reforms, scientific breakthroughs 00:00:38.340 --> 00:00:40.079 popping up constantly. And the British Empire 00:00:40.079 --> 00:00:42.659 expanding to cover, well, a massive part of the 00:00:42.659 --> 00:00:44.880 globe. It was reaching its absolute peak during 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.899 her reign. So our mission today for this deep 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:50.619 dive is to try and distill that enormous life 00:00:50.619 --> 00:00:53.000 story from, as you said, that quite sheltered, 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.829 even miserable childhood. all the way through 00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:58.289 to her becoming this sort of symbolic matriarch 00:00:58.289 --> 00:01:00.859 of Europe and the empire. We want to give you, 00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:03.659 the listener, the essential insights, the context 00:01:03.659 --> 00:01:07.060 you really need to grasp this pivotal figure. 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:09.079 Maybe some surprising details along the way, 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:11.439 too. Exactly. And I think we need to keep one 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:14.200 central tension in mind throughout this. Which 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:16.260 is? Well, she was a constitutional monarch, right? 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:19.739 Her direct political power on paper was definitely 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.260 waning over those 63 years. That's the textbook 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:25.239 definition, yes. The power shifted more towards 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:29.099 parliament. The sources just consistently show 00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:31.939 this intensely opinionated woman, someone who, 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:34.459 you know, privately and often quite successfully 00:01:34.459 --> 00:01:36.739 tried to influence government policy. Absolutely. 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:40.180 Foreign affairs who got ministerial jobs. She 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:42.439 had strong views and wasn't afraid to push them 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:44.560 behind the scenes. So that tension, the symbol 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:47.180 versus the. Well, the quiet political operator. 00:01:47.299 --> 00:01:48.959 That's where the really fascinating story is. 00:01:49.060 --> 00:01:50.780 Agreed. Let's dive in. And maybe we should start 00:01:50.780 --> 00:01:52.599 right at the beginning because becoming queen 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:55.620 was far from a certainty for her. Okay, so Victoria 00:01:55.620 --> 00:01:58.540 was born Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, 00:01:58.659 --> 00:02:02.319 May 24th, 1819. But yeah, to really get why she 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:04.260 was even born, you have to rewind two years. 00:02:05.420 --> 00:02:09.360 1817. The death of Princess Charlotte. Ah, the 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:11.900 succession crisis. That's the key. Charlotte 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:14.599 was George III's only legitimate grandchild, 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:16.819 wasn't she? Yes, the only one in that direct 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:19.419 line. And her death and childbirth, it wasn't 00:02:19.419 --> 00:02:21.919 just a personal tragedy. It was a national catastrophe. 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:25.699 It threw the whole line of succession into complete 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:28.439 chaos. Right, because George III had all these 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.180 sons, Victoria's uncles, but none of them had 00:02:31.180 --> 00:02:33.539 legitimate heirs who had survived. Exactly. They 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:36.159 were mostly middle -aged, living, shall we say, 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:38.729 rather scandalous lives, many estranged from 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:41.150 the court, suddenly there's immense pressure. 00:02:41.789 --> 00:02:44.650 Marry, produce an heir, secure the Hanoverian 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:47.009 line. It became this desperate scramble. A royal 00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:49.550 baby race, essentially. Pretty much. And Victoria's 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:51.530 father, Edward, the Duke of Cannes, he was the 00:02:51.530 --> 00:02:54.110 fourth son. So when Victoria was born, she was 00:02:54.110 --> 00:02:56.009 actually fifth in line. Fifth, so not exactly 00:02:56.009 --> 00:02:58.129 knocking on the door of the throne. Not at all. 00:02:58.169 --> 00:03:00.860 But the line was, well, brittle. And the key 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:03.639 figures died off quite quickly. Her own father, 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:07.199 the Duke of Kent, died in January 1820. And then 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:10.259 her grandfather, King George III, just a week 00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:14.060 later. Wow. So suddenly she jumps up the ladder. 00:03:14.139 --> 00:03:16.419 She's now the heir presumptive behind her uncles, 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:18.699 King William IV and his brother Frederick, the 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:20.740 Duke of York. Neither of whom had legitimate 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.500 children who survived past infancy, right? Correct. 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:25.840 So when Frederick, the Duke of York, died in 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:29.469 1827. Bam! Suddenly this young girl, Victoria, 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:32.270 is next in line to the throne of the most powerful 00:03:32.270 --> 00:03:34.750 empire on Earth. That's amazing how quickly that 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:37.590 happened. And her name's Alexandrina Victoria. 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:39.610 There's a story there too, isn't there? There 00:03:39.610 --> 00:03:43.229 is. Alexandrina was after her godfather, Tsar 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:46.789 Alexander I of Russia, a powerful ally. Victoria 00:03:46.789 --> 00:03:49.490 was after her mother, the Duchess. But her parents 00:03:49.490 --> 00:03:53.640 had other ideas first. Georgina. Charlotte. They 00:03:53.640 --> 00:03:55.939 did, but the Prince Regent, who became George 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:58.740 IV, he was quite forceful. He apparently vetoed 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:01.319 those names and insisted only Alexandrina and 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:04.360 Victoria be used. Interesting. And later on, 00:04:04.379 --> 00:04:07.439 she chose to drop Alexandrina herself. She did. 00:04:07.539 --> 00:04:09.520 She preferred just Victoria. It's maybe an early 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:11.479 sign of her asserting her own identity, wanting 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:13.680 to shape her own image, even against what the 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:15.840 previous king had sort of dictated. Which is 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.120 ironic, given her childhood was seemingly designed 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:20.259 to prevent her from having any identity at all. 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:22.699 She called it rather melancholy. That's putting 00:04:22.699 --> 00:04:24.740 it mildly. We need to talk about the Kensington 00:04:24.740 --> 00:04:29.240 system. It sounds formal, but it was, well, psychological 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:31.939 warfare almost. Devised by her mother, the German 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:34.800 Duchess of Kent, and this other figure, Sir John 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:38.019 Conroy. Yes, her mother's controller. Fiercely 00:04:38.019 --> 00:04:41.720 ambitious, very controlling. Their aim was purely 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:45.240 political. They wanted power. How so? By making 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:48.019 Victoria completely dependent on them, emotionally, 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:51.100 physically. Every aspect of her life. The goal 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:53.500 was if she became queen while still a minor. 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:55.660 Which looked likely for a while. Then a regency 00:04:55.660 --> 00:04:57.540 would be needed. And who would lead that regency? 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:00.699 The Duchess of Kent with Conroy as her right 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:03.579 -hand man pulling the strings. That was the plan. 00:05:03.879 --> 00:05:06.079 So what did this system actually look like day 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:08.139 to day? What were the rules? Utter isolation. 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:10.779 She was kept away from other children, even her 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:13.319 own cousins most of the time. She wasn't allowed 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:16.459 to meet anyone her mother or Conroy deemed undesirable. 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:19.089 Which included most of her father's family? The 00:05:19.089 --> 00:05:21.509 British royals. Pretty much. Anyone who might 00:05:21.509 --> 00:05:24.329 offer her a different perspective, a different 00:05:24.329 --> 00:05:26.829 loyalty, it was about cutting her off. And the 00:05:26.829 --> 00:05:29.290 bedroom arrangement. That's quite something. 00:05:29.449 --> 00:05:32.029 Isn't it? Sharing a bedroom with her mother every 00:05:32.029 --> 00:05:34.629 single night. Until the very morning she became 00:05:34.629 --> 00:05:38.029 queen. No privacy. Constant supervision. That 00:05:38.029 --> 00:05:42.149 kind of intense and forced closeness. It must 00:05:42.149 --> 00:05:44.750 have been suffocating. It was designed for surveillance 00:05:44.750 --> 00:05:48.480 control. But here's the crucial part. It didn't 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:52.980 foster dependence. It bred resentment. Deep resentment. 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:56.459 And we see signs of her pushing back. Even as 00:05:56.459 --> 00:05:59.600 a child. We do. She apparently hated these public 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:02.240 tours, the royal progresses that Conroy and her 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:04.500 mother arranged. They were meant to boost the 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:06.819 Duchess's image, drum up support for their potential 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:09.259 regency. Victoria found them exhausting and, 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:11.800 you know, manipulative. And politically. Did 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.500 she resist Conroy directly? Yes, especially as 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:17.459 she got older. As a teenager, she flatly refused 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:19.480 all their attempts to make Conroy her official 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:21.500 private secretary. She saw through him. She was 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:23.439 fighting this internal battle long before she 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:25.540 had any real power. And winning it, essentially. 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:27.980 She kept him out of that formal role. She did, 00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:31.220 which really set the stage for her future independence. 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:34.339 Meanwhile, of course, the question of who she 00:06:34.339 --> 00:06:36.680 would marry was bubbling up. The matchmaking 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:39.319 game. Her uncle Leopold, king of the Belgians, 00:06:39.379 --> 00:06:42.970 had a candidate. Yes, his nephew. Prince Albert 00:06:42.970 --> 00:06:46.829 of Saxe -Coburg in Gotha. He was Leopold's favored 00:06:46.829 --> 00:06:50.269 choice. But King William IV, who apparently couldn't 00:06:50.269 --> 00:06:52.910 stand the Duchess and Conroy. Hated them. Yes, 00:06:52.990 --> 00:06:55.350 he had his own preferred candidate. Prince Alexander 00:06:55.350 --> 00:06:57.870 of the Netherlands. You see the political chess 00:06:57.870 --> 00:06:59.850 game playing out through potential husbands. 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:02.339 In Victoria's reaction when she met them. Her 00:07:02.339 --> 00:07:04.279 diary is quite telling. Oh, it's wonderfully 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:07.500 blunt. She met Albert and was just smitten. She 00:07:07.500 --> 00:07:09.540 writes about how handsome he is, his blue eyes, 00:07:09.660 --> 00:07:11.500 his delightful expression. She's clearly very 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:14.220 taken with him. And the other guy, Prince Alexander. 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:17.100 Dismissed. Very plain, she writes. End of story 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:20.819 for him, really. So her personal preference was 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:24.620 clear early on. And her timing, turning 18 just 00:07:24.620 --> 00:07:27.060 before King William I died. That was incredibly 00:07:27.060 --> 00:07:29.459 lucky for her, wasn't it? Crucial. Absolutely 00:07:29.459 --> 00:07:33.579 crucial. She turned 18 in May 1837. William V 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:36.980 died just a few weeks later in June. If he died 00:07:36.980 --> 00:07:38.660 just a bit earlier, she would have been a minor. 00:07:38.860 --> 00:07:40.160 And the Kensington system would have clicked 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:42.100 into place. Yeah. The Duchess and Conroy would 00:07:42.100 --> 00:07:44.779 have got their regency. Exactly. She avoided 00:07:44.779 --> 00:07:46.920 that whole nightmare by a matter of weeks, by 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.180 a hair's breadth, really. And the moment she 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:52.259 actually became queen, her diary captures it 00:07:52.259 --> 00:07:56.560 so vividly. It does. June 20th, 1837, woken up 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.319 at six in the morning by her mother. Then the 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.759 Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain, 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.079 Lord Cunningham, arrive. And she meets them. 00:08:04.620 --> 00:08:07.079 Alone. And that's the key word emphasized in 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:10.220 the sources. Alone. In her sitting room, still 00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:13.300 in her dressing gown. After years of never being 00:08:13.300 --> 00:08:14.899 allowed to be alone, never meeting officials 00:08:14.899 --> 00:08:17.759 without her mother or Conroy hovering. She receives 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:19.879 the highest figures of the church and state by 00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:23.040 herself. It's a profound moment. Lord Cunningham 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:24.660 tells her the king is dead and then delivers 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.029 the line. Consequently, that I am queen, you 00:08:27.029 --> 00:08:29.490 can almost feel the shift in power in those words. 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:33.070 And her very first act as queen, decisive. She 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:35.409 ordered Sir John Conroy banned from her presence 00:08:35.409 --> 00:08:38.330 completely. He could remain in her mother's household, 00:08:38.509 --> 00:08:40.529 but he was never allowed near the queen again. 00:08:40.669 --> 00:08:44.210 A total rejection of her past. Wow. And there's 00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:47.110 one other significant shift that happens right 00:08:47.110 --> 00:08:49.789 at that moment, constitutionally speaking. Ah, 00:08:49.809 --> 00:08:52.970 yes. Hanover. The end of the personal union between 00:08:52.970 --> 00:08:55.269 Britain and the kingdom of Hanover. Because Hanover 00:08:55.269 --> 00:08:57.809 followed Silic Law. Correct. Silic Law prevented 00:08:57.809 --> 00:09:00.210 a woman from inheriting the throne. So while 00:09:00.210 --> 00:09:02.190 Victoria got the British crown, the crown of 00:09:02.190 --> 00:09:05.490 Hanover went to her uncle, Ernest Augustus. A 00:09:05.490 --> 00:09:07.590 rather unpopular figure, actually. So it was 00:09:07.590 --> 00:09:10.529 a quiet separation, but significant. Britain 00:09:10.529 --> 00:09:12.669 and Hanover went their separate ways after over 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:15.259 a century together. So she's queen. But she's 00:09:15.259 --> 00:09:18.360 only 18. And politically, well, she's pretty 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:20.700 inexperienced. Right. All those years of isolation 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:23.480 under the Kensington system didn't exactly prepare 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:25.940 her for governing. Not at all. So initially, 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:28.840 she leans very, very heavily on her first prime 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:31.919 minister, Lord Melbourne, the Whig leader. And 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:33.879 the sources suggest this relationship was more 00:09:33.879 --> 00:09:36.200 than just political mentorship. Oh, much more. 00:09:36.440 --> 00:09:39.480 She saw him as a father figure. he was charming 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:41.659 experienced and filled that void left by her 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:44.679 own father's early death a contemporary observer 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.980 charles greville wrote melbourne was passionately 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:50.580 fond of her as he might be of his daughter that 00:09:50.580 --> 00:09:53.440 sounds potentially problematic politically it 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:57.289 was while victoria saw a kind guide The opposition 00:09:57.289 --> 00:10:00.350 Tories saw a young, naive queen being completely 00:10:00.350 --> 00:10:03.629 manipulated by the Whig leader. It fueled partisan 00:10:03.629 --> 00:10:06.009 tensions. But she did assert her independence 00:10:06.009 --> 00:10:08.750 in other ways, like moving into Buckingham Palace. 00:10:09.029 --> 00:10:11.169 Yes, that was a statement. She was the first 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:13.129 sovereign to actually make it her main residence. 00:10:13.409 --> 00:10:16.470 And another thing, quite practical, she was financially 00:10:16.470 --> 00:10:20.100 prudent. She used her income to pay off the massive 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:22.360 debts her father, the Duke of Kent, had left 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:25.120 behind. So a reasonably good start. But then 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.659 things took a turn. Her early popularity really 00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:30.799 took a hit with a court scandal. Ah, yes. The 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.299 Lady Flora Hastings affair. This is where the 00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:36.000 personal and political just collided disastrously. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:37.980 Lady Flora was one of her mother's ladies -in 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:40.419 -waiting, right? And there were rumors. Rumors 00:10:40.419 --> 00:10:42.669 that she was pregnant. Unmarried, of course, 00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:45.690 her abdomen was visibly swollen. And because 00:10:45.690 --> 00:10:48.990 she was close to the Duchess of Kent and, crucially, 00:10:49.149 --> 00:10:51.809 Sir John Conroy. Victoria's nemesis. Exactly. 00:10:51.909 --> 00:10:54.649 The court -rumor mill immediately decided she 00:10:54.649 --> 00:10:58.730 must be pregnant by Conroy and Victoria. Well, 00:10:58.769 --> 00:11:01.789 she hated Conroy. She resented anyone connected 00:11:01.789 --> 00:11:04.610 to that old Kensington regime. She called Lady 00:11:04.610 --> 00:11:07.870 Flora that odious Lady Flora. And she believed 00:11:07.870 --> 00:11:10.809 the rumor. She did. And her belief gave the rumor 00:11:10.809 --> 00:11:13.629 royal weight, which made it so much worse. What 00:11:13.629 --> 00:11:15.830 was the truth? Tragically, Lady Flora wasn't 00:11:15.830 --> 00:11:17.830 pregnant. When she finally agreed to a medical 00:11:17.830 --> 00:11:20.840 exam, she was found to be a virgin. The swelling 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:23.840 was a massive cancerous tumor on her liver. She 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.179 died soon after. Oh, that's awful. And the public 00:11:26.179 --> 00:11:28.639 reaction. Brutal. Absolutely brutal against the 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.799 queen. The Tories, the Hastings family, they 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:33.460 launched this huge press campaign. They painted 00:11:33.460 --> 00:11:37.019 Victoria as cruel, naive, easily led and directly 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:39.840 responsible for spreading the slander that hastened 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.259 Lady Flora's death. So her image suffered badly. 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:45.639 Terribly. When she went out in public, people 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:47.960 hissed at her. They shouted, Mrs. Melbourne, 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:51.080 linking her directly to the Whig PM and suggesting 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:54.399 she was just his puppet. It was a huge public 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:57.720 relations disaster, deeply humiliating for her 00:11:57.720 --> 00:12:00.600 personally. And this directly led into a constitutional 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:04.299 crisis. The bedchamber crisis. Yes. In 1839, 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:06.700 it followed directly. Melbourne's government 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:09.639 was weak and he resigned. Sir Robert Peel, the 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:11.759 Tory leader, was asked to form a government. 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:13.919 OK. Standard procedure. Standard procedure. Yes. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:16.600 And standard practice was for the incoming prime 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:18.639 minister to request that the monarch replace 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:20.840 the ladies of the bedchamber, her closest female 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:23.399 companions, with women whose families were aligned 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:25.919 with the new governing party. Why was that done? 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.320 To ensure the monarch wasn't seen to be receiving 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:30.720 political advice or gossip from ladies loyal 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:33.110 to the opposite. It was about appearances and 00:12:33.110 --> 00:12:35.570 preventing undue influence. But Victoria refused. 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:39.529 Flatly refused. She argued they were her personal 00:12:39.529 --> 00:12:42.110 friends, not political appointees. She wouldn't 00:12:42.110 --> 00:12:44.750 dismiss them. Of course, she was still smarting 00:12:44.750 --> 00:12:47.110 from the Lady Flora affair, where the Tories 00:12:47.110 --> 00:12:49.870 had attacked her so fiercely. And she was likely 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:52.669 still being advised by Melbourne behind the scenes. 00:12:53.049 --> 00:12:55.590 So Peel couldn't form a government. He said he 00:12:55.590 --> 00:12:57.769 couldn't govern effectively under those conditions 00:12:57.769 --> 00:13:00.870 with the Queen's household staffed by wives and 00:13:00.870 --> 00:13:03.470 sisters of his political opponents, so he resigned 00:13:03.470 --> 00:13:05.429 the commission. And Melbourne came back. Melbourne 00:13:05.429 --> 00:13:07.789 reluctantly returned for a short while. But the 00:13:07.789 --> 00:13:12.090 whole episode, what does it show? Was she just 00:13:12.090 --> 00:13:14.960 naive about constitutional rules? Or was she 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:17.620 deliberately testing how far her personal power 00:13:17.620 --> 00:13:19.720 could go against convention? I think it's the 00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:22.539 latter. She put her personal feelings, her loyalty 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:25.320 to her wig ladies, and her dislike of the Tories 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:27.440 ahead of established constitutional practice. 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:31.620 It was a very early, very clear sign of her strong 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:34.200 will and her willingness to dig her heels in 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:36.820 when she felt personally involved. Things shifted 00:13:36.820 --> 00:13:38.740 dramatically, though, when Prince Albert came 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:41.610 back onto the scene. Yes, he returned in late 00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:45.809 1839, and this time it was serious, since the 00:13:45.809 --> 00:13:48.490 monarch had to be the one to propose. She proposed 00:13:48.490 --> 00:13:52.269 to him. She did. October 15th, 1839, and they 00:13:52.269 --> 00:13:55.309 married the following February, 1840. Her diary 00:13:55.309 --> 00:13:59.019 entry from her wedding night is, well... Quite 00:13:59.019 --> 00:14:00.960 something. It's incredibly intense, isn't it? 00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:04.000 I never, never spent such an evening. My dearest, 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:06.340 dearest, dear Albert. His excessive love and 00:14:06.340 --> 00:14:08.399 affection gave me feelings of heavenly love and 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:10.379 happiness I never could have hoped to have felt 00:14:10.379 --> 00:14:14.899 before. Oh, this was the happiest day of my life. 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:17.440 You feel the sheer emotion there. And this marriage, 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:19.879 this happiness, it had huge political implications, 00:14:20.139 --> 00:14:22.990 didn't it? Massive. Albert very quickly replaced 00:14:22.990 --> 00:14:25.110 Melbourne as the dominant influence in her life. 00:14:25.269 --> 00:14:27.690 He became her closest advisor, her private secretary 00:14:27.690 --> 00:14:30.330 in all but name. He brought structure, seriousness, 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:32.769 and a strong work ethic to the court. He wasn't 00:14:32.769 --> 00:14:35.230 just a consort. He was a partner in power. Absolutely. 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:37.909 And crucially, he also managed something quite 00:14:37.909 --> 00:14:40.350 remarkable. He helped reconcile Victoria with 00:14:40.350 --> 00:14:42.690 her mother, the Duchess of Kent. Really? After 00:14:42.690 --> 00:14:44.350 all that bitterness from the Kensington system? 00:14:44.710 --> 00:14:48.279 Yes. Albert acted as a mediator. Through his 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:50.659 efforts, the relationship thawed, and eventually 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:53.399 the duchess moved out of Buckingham Palace. It 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:55.600 was like the final dismantling of that oppressive 00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:59.080 childhood system. Albert really solidified Victoria's 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.019 emotional and political independence. Now, despite 00:15:02.019 --> 00:15:04.879 the clear marital happiness, Victoria's feelings 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.600 about having children were complex. Very complex. 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:12.220 Nine children over 17 years. That's a lot. But 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:14.559 she famously disliked being pregnant. She found 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:17.470 breastfeeding... disgusting. And she often wrote 00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:20.129 in her journal that newborns were, well, ugly. 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:23.080 It's such a contract, isn't it? The woman who 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.379 became the ultimate symbol of Victorian family 00:15:25.379 --> 00:15:28.279 values actually found the biological processes 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:30.460 quite distasteful. It's one of those fascinating 00:15:30.460 --> 00:15:32.659 contradictions. But her experience with childbirth 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:34.879 led to a really significant moment in medical 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.600 history. You mean the chloroform story? Exactly. 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:39.919 This is a huge aha moment. For the birth of her 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:42.820 eighth child, Prince Leopold in 1853, and then 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:45.860 again for Beatrice in 1857, she used chloroform 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:48.220 as an anesthetic. Which was brand new technology 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:50.889 then. And controversial. Highly controversial. 00:15:51.230 --> 00:15:53.509 There was strong opposition on religious grounds. 00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:56.190 Critics argued it went against the Bible, the 00:15:56.190 --> 00:15:59.409 curse on Eve. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth 00:15:59.409 --> 00:16:02.269 children. They thought interfering with that 00:16:02.269 --> 00:16:05.070 pain was defying God's will. And medical objections, 00:16:05.149 --> 00:16:08.490 too. Yes. Some doctors were very wary. They thought 00:16:08.490 --> 00:16:10.710 it was dangerous. The long -term effects weren't 00:16:10.710 --> 00:16:13.769 known. It was a powerful, potentially risky drug. 00:16:14.070 --> 00:16:16.409 But Victoria... Suffering and labor, she went 00:16:16.409 --> 00:16:18.970 for it anyway. She did. She famously called it 00:16:18.970 --> 00:16:21.429 that blessed chloroform and praised its effects. 00:16:21.649 --> 00:16:24.250 And because the queen herself had used it and 00:16:24.250 --> 00:16:26.970 endorsed it. It gave it immense legitimacy. Royal 00:16:26.970 --> 00:16:29.669 approval. Precisely. The religious and social 00:16:29.669 --> 00:16:32.149 objections just sort of melted away almost overnight. 00:16:32.370 --> 00:16:35.269 It became acceptable, even fashionable, for women 00:16:35.269 --> 00:16:37.669 to use anesthesia in childbirth. Her personal 00:16:37.669 --> 00:16:40.070 decision had a massive positive impact on public 00:16:40.070 --> 00:16:42.629 health, making childbirth safer and less traumatic 00:16:42.629 --> 00:16:45.210 for millions. It's amazing how her personal choice 00:16:45.210 --> 00:16:47.590 had such wide -ranging consequences. Speaking 00:16:47.590 --> 00:16:49.529 of personal risk, though, her life was actually 00:16:49.529 --> 00:16:52.330 in danger quite often during this period. Assassination 00:16:52.330 --> 00:16:55.379 attempts. Yes, a surprising number of them. Between 00:16:55.379 --> 00:16:59.600 1840 and 1850, there were at least five serious 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.899 attempts on her life. What does that tell us 00:17:01.899 --> 00:17:04.059 about the time? Well, it reflects the political 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:06.440 instability, the social unrest of the hungry 00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:09.900 40s. But it also highlights Victoria's own character, 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:13.299 her courage. Tell us about one of them, Edward 00:17:13.299 --> 00:17:17.000 Oxford in 1840. Oxford fired two pistols at her 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:19.569 carriage. He was tried for high treason, but 00:17:19.569 --> 00:17:22.410 found not guilty by reason of insanity. But then 00:17:22.410 --> 00:17:26.410 two years later, 1842, John Francis fired a pistol 00:17:26.410 --> 00:17:28.630 at her. And her reaction this time was incredible, 00:17:28.789 --> 00:17:31.349 wasn't it? Quite extraordinary. After Francis's 00:17:31.349 --> 00:17:33.690 first attempt failed and he escaped, Victoria 00:17:33.690 --> 00:17:36.269 deliberately drove the exact same route the very 00:17:36.269 --> 00:17:38.470 next day. Why on earth would she do that? To 00:17:38.470 --> 00:17:40.869 bait him. She figured he'd try again in the same 00:17:40.869 --> 00:17:43.329 spot. She drove faster this time with a larger 00:17:43.329 --> 00:17:45.809 escort, essentially setting a trap. And it worked. 00:17:46.170 --> 00:17:48.910 Francis took the bait, fired again, and was immediately 00:17:48.910 --> 00:17:51.549 captured by police who were waiting. That's not 00:17:51.549 --> 00:17:54.509 just bravery. That's proactive, almost calculated 00:17:54.509 --> 00:17:57.750 courage. Using herself as bait. It really is. 00:17:57.809 --> 00:18:00.069 And the attacks continued. John William Bean 00:18:00.069 --> 00:18:02.849 in 1842 tried with a pistol loaded only with 00:18:02.849 --> 00:18:05.990 paper and tobacco. William Hamilton in 1849, 00:18:06.089 --> 00:18:08.869 again with a powder -filled pistol. And then 00:18:08.869 --> 00:18:12.170 Robert Pate in 1850 actually managed to strike 00:18:12.170 --> 00:18:14.470 her. He hit her. Yes, hit her on the head with 00:18:14.470 --> 00:18:16.990 a cane as her carriage passed. It bruised her 00:18:16.990 --> 00:18:19.789 forehead quite badly. It just shows the constant 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.339 level of threat she faced, particularly... during 00:18:22.339 --> 00:18:25.599 the turbulent 1840s. Shifting focus a bit internationally, 00:18:25.900 --> 00:18:27.859 she made some interesting moves too, like with 00:18:27.859 --> 00:18:31.140 France. Yes, she actively worked to improve relations 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:33.660 with France, which hadn't always been warm, to 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:36.160 say the least. She visited the French king, Louis 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:39.759 Philippe I, in 1843 and again in 1845. And this 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:41.839 was historically significant. Hugely significant. 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:44.660 It was the first time a reigning British or English 00:18:44.660 --> 00:18:47.319 monarch had visited a French monarch since, well, 00:18:47.380 --> 00:18:49.819 since Henry VIII met Francis I at the Field of 00:18:49.819 --> 00:18:52.319 the Cloth of Gold. Wow. Back in 1520, that's 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.480 over 300 years. A 323 -year gap, yeah. So these 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.420 visits were major diplomatic events signaling 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:01.460 a new era of cooperation, largely driven by Victoria 00:19:01.460 --> 00:19:04.079 and Albert's personal diplomacy. Domestically, 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:06.980 though, this period was overshadowed by immense 00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:10.359 tragedy, particularly in Ireland. The Great Famine. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.900 Yes, the Potato Famine, from roughly 1845 to 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:17.890 1849, a devastating period. And Victoria did 00:19:17.890 --> 00:19:20.150 receive criticism, being labeled by some as the 00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:23.109 famine queen, implying indifference. But is that 00:19:23.109 --> 00:19:25.569 fair? What do the sources actually say about 00:19:25.569 --> 00:19:28.269 her response? Well, the label seems quite unfair 00:19:28.269 --> 00:19:30.690 when you look closer. She personally donated 00:19:30.690 --> 00:19:32.890 2 ,000 pounds to the British Relief Association. 00:19:33.819 --> 00:19:36.160 How much was 2 ,000 pounds back then? A very 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.299 significant sum, equivalent to hundreds of thousands, 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:41.740 maybe even millions in today's money. It was 00:19:41.740 --> 00:19:44.000 reportedly more than any other single individual 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.099 donation. Okay, so not indifferent financially. 00:19:46.460 --> 00:19:48.980 Not at all. And politically, she also supported 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:51.099 the Maynooth Grant, which was government funding 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:53.799 for a Catholic seminary in Ireland. This was 00:19:53.799 --> 00:19:56.259 deeply unpopular with many Protestants in Britain, 00:19:56.339 --> 00:19:58.819 but she backed it. So the famine queen narrative... 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:01.200 maybe doesn't hold up to scrutiny. It seems largely 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.339 based on nationalist rhetoric later on. Her actions 00:20:04.339 --> 00:20:06.640 at the time show personal generosity and a willingness 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:09.099 to support potentially unpopular relief measures. 00:20:09.400 --> 00:20:12.299 And one final point in this busy period, her 00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:14.700 relationship with her ministers. We mentioned 00:20:14.700 --> 00:20:18.940 Melbourne, but later on, she clashed quite spectacularly 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:22.700 with Lord Palmerston. Ah, Palmerston, yes. He 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:24.880 was foreign secretary for much of this time and 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:28.099 later prime minister. He drove Victoria and Albert 00:20:28.099 --> 00:20:31.740 absolutely mad. Why? What was the issue? He was 00:20:31.740 --> 00:20:34.779 fiercely independent, often acted without consulting 00:20:34.779 --> 00:20:37.720 the cabinet, let alone the queen. He'd make major 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:40.319 foreign policy pronouncements or decisions unilaterally. 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:42.900 Victoria found him arrogant, disrespectful, and 00:20:42.900 --> 00:20:44.809 dangerous. She felt he wasn't following the profit 00:20:44.809 --> 00:20:47.329 procedures. Exactly. She believed the monarch 00:20:47.329 --> 00:20:49.650 had the right to be consulted to know what the 00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:51.849 government was doing in her name. Palmerston 00:20:51.849 --> 00:20:54.170 often bypassed her completely. So she pushed 00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:57.920 back. Vigorously. She wrote repeated stern letters 00:20:57.920 --> 00:20:59.640 to the prime minister at the time, Lord John 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:02.160 Russell, complaining about Palmerston's conduct 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.559 and demanding he follow protocol. Did it work? 00:21:04.819 --> 00:21:07.799 Eventually, yes. Her persistent pressure contributed 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:10.680 significantly to Palmerston being sacked as foreign 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:14.099 secretary in 1851. He overstepped by publicly 00:21:14.099 --> 00:21:16.460 approving Louis -Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.559 'etat in France without any authorization. So 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:23.140 even though her direct power to, say, make policy 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:26.000 was limited. she could still exert considerable 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.099 influence by insisting on procedure and holding 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:31.599 ministers accountable. Absolutely. It shows her 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:33.960 using that right to be consulted and the right 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:36.519 to warn very effectively against a very powerful 00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:39.660 and popular minister. It was a significant assertion 00:21:39.660 --> 00:21:42.180 of monarchical prerogative in the mid -19th century. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:44.819 Okay, let's move into the next major phase of 00:21:44.819 --> 00:21:47.119 her life, which is defined by one overwhelming 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:51.029 event. The death of Prince Albert in 1861. Yes, 00:21:51.089 --> 00:21:53.450 1861 was a devastating year for her personally. 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:55.750 First, her mother, the Duchess of Kent, died 00:21:55.750 --> 00:21:57.509 in March. And while their relationship had been 00:21:57.509 --> 00:22:00.089 difficult, Victoria was deeply affected. She 00:22:00.089 --> 00:22:02.410 found her mother's private papers. And realized. 00:22:03.009 --> 00:22:04.930 Realized the depth of her mother's love for her, 00:22:04.970 --> 00:22:07.230 despite everything with Conroy and the Kensington 00:22:07.230 --> 00:22:09.869 system. It apparently brought on immense regret 00:22:09.869 --> 00:22:12.289 about their years of estrangement. And then, 00:22:12.309 --> 00:22:15.690 just months later, in December, Albert died. 00:22:15.910 --> 00:22:19.740 Suddenly. Of typhoid fever. He was only 42. And 00:22:19.740 --> 00:22:22.359 Victoria was utterly, completely shattered. Her 00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:25.259 grief was profound, overwhelming. And she blamed 00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:27.940 his death, partly on their eldest son, the Prince 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:31.279 of Wales. She did, rather unfairly. Bertie, the 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:33.839 future Edward VII, had been involved in a bit 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.960 of a scandal with an actress while stationed 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:38.500 with the army in Ireland. Albert had traveled 00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:40.440 to Cambridge to confront him about it shortly 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.289 before falling ill. Victoria convinced herself 00:22:43.289 --> 00:22:46.089 that the worry and stress of that dreadful business, 00:22:46.309 --> 00:22:48.730 as she called it, had weakened Albert and led 00:22:48.730 --> 00:22:51.450 to his death. Wow. That's a heavy burden to place 00:22:51.450 --> 00:22:53.269 on her son. It poisoned their relationship for 00:22:53.269 --> 00:22:55.809 years. But the main consequence of Albert's death 00:22:55.809 --> 00:22:58.250 was this dramatic shift in Victoria's own life 00:22:58.250 --> 00:23:00.589 and public image. The Great Seclusion. Exactly. 00:23:00.670 --> 00:23:02.910 She retreated from public life almost entirely. 00:23:03.269 --> 00:23:05.970 She started wearing black mourning clothes. Which 00:23:05.970 --> 00:23:07.910 she famously never stopped wearing for the next 00:23:07.910 --> 00:23:11.579 40 years. 40 years. And she avoided public appearances, 00:23:11.779 --> 00:23:14.539 rarely came to London. She spent most of her 00:23:14.539 --> 00:23:17.940 time shuttling between Windsor Castle, Osborne 00:23:17.940 --> 00:23:20.240 House on the Isle of Wight, and Balmoral Castle 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.759 in Scotland. Earning that nickname, the widow 00:23:22.759 --> 00:23:26.279 of Windsor. Mm -hmm. And this withdrawal, which 00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:28.660 went on for decades, wasn't just a personal choice. 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:31.779 It had serious political consequences. Oh, so? 00:23:32.099 --> 00:23:34.339 Well... The public started to get restless. The 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:36.400 monarch wasn't visible. The ceremonial heart 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:37.839 of the state seemed to have stopped beating. 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:41.680 This led to a noticeable, if temporary, rise 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.500 in Republican sentiment in Britain. People started 00:23:44.500 --> 00:23:46.880 questioning the value of a monarchy whose monarch 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:49.880 refused to perform her public duties. Is that 00:23:49.880 --> 00:23:51.700 when that famous sign appeared on Buckingham 00:23:51.700 --> 00:23:55.380 Palace? That's the story, yes. Around 1864, supposedly, 00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:58.299 someone stuck a notice on the railings. These 00:23:58.299 --> 00:24:01.420 commanding premises to be let or sold in consequence 00:24:01.420 --> 00:24:04.380 of the late... occupants declining business ouch 00:24:04.380 --> 00:24:07.099 that's pretty blunt it captures the mood perfectly 00:24:07.099 --> 00:24:09.599 there was a real feeling that the monarchy itself 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:11.819 was becoming redundant because the queen simply 00:24:11.819 --> 00:24:14.859 wouldn't engage she continued her paperwork yes 00:24:14.859 --> 00:24:17.619 reading dispatches signing documents but the 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:19.960 pageantry the ceremonies the public face of the 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:23.779 monarchy she refused For years, it's an incredible 00:24:23.779 --> 00:24:26.319 example of her personal grief taking precedence 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.339 over her public role. But within this secluded 00:24:29.339 --> 00:24:31.619 world, she started leaning very heavily on certain 00:24:31.619 --> 00:24:34.220 members of her household staff. Which brings 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:38.299 us to John Brown. Ah, John Brown. The Scottish 00:24:38.299 --> 00:24:41.759 ghillie or manservant at Balmoral. Starting in 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.460 the mid -1860s, he became her closest companion, 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:47.240 her confidant. And this relationship caused quite 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:50.380 a stir, didn't it? A huge scandal. Brown was, 00:24:50.579 --> 00:24:52.980 well, he wasn't like the courtiers. He was direct, 00:24:53.099 --> 00:24:56.039 perhaps even gruff. He spoke plainly to the queen, 00:24:56.200 --> 00:24:58.539 treated her with an informality that absolutely 00:24:58.539 --> 00:25:01.519 horrified the rigidly hierarchical royal household. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:03.900 And the rumor mill went into overdrive. Oh, completely. 00:25:04.259 --> 00:25:06.700 Whispers about a secret romance, even a secret 00:25:06.700 --> 00:25:09.619 marriage. The satirical press had a field day, 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.720 nicknaming her Mrs. Brown. How did Victoria react 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.049 to all this gossip and mockery? She seems to 00:25:15.049 --> 00:25:17.849 have ignored it or perhaps even defied it. She 00:25:17.849 --> 00:25:20.150 valued his loyalty and companionship immensely. 00:25:20.450 --> 00:25:22.349 She even published a book, Leaves from the Journal 00:25:22.349 --> 00:25:24.289 of Our Life in the Highlands. Which was very 00:25:24.289 --> 00:25:27.190 popular, right? Hugely popular. And in it, she 00:25:27.190 --> 00:25:30.289 praised Brown lavishly, spoke of his devotion, 00:25:30.490 --> 00:25:33.190 detailed their excursions together. She wasn't 00:25:33.190 --> 00:25:35.569 hiding the closeness of their bond at all. So 00:25:35.569 --> 00:25:38.250 when he died in 1883, she must have been devastated 00:25:38.250 --> 00:25:42.099 again. She was deeply grieved. And then she did 00:25:42.099 --> 00:25:44.299 something that caused panic among her advisors. 00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:47.440 She started writing a biography of him. A biography 00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.779 of her servant? A eulogistic biography, praising 00:25:50.779 --> 00:25:53.720 him to the heavens. Her private secretary, Sir 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:56.059 Henry Ponsonby, and the dean of Windsor got wind 00:25:56.059 --> 00:25:58.920 of this and were absolutely terrified. Why? What 00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:01.579 were they afraid of? The scandal. Publishing 00:26:01.579 --> 00:26:03.980 such a personal, adoring account of her relationship 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:06.839 with a Highland servant would just confirm everyone's 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:09.500 worst suspicions and potentially damage the monarchy's 00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:12.490 reputation irrevocably. So they intervened. They 00:26:12.490 --> 00:26:15.609 did. Very delicately but firmly, they managed 00:26:15.609 --> 00:26:18.390 to persuade her to destroy the manuscript. It's 00:26:18.390 --> 00:26:20.529 an extraordinary moment, courtiers convincing 00:26:20.529 --> 00:26:23.410 the queen to burn her own writing to avoid scandal. 00:26:23.769 --> 00:26:25.670 But she still found a way to honor him publicly. 00:26:25.849 --> 00:26:29.150 She did. When she published a sequel to her Highland 00:26:29.150 --> 00:26:31.930 Journal's More Leaves, she dedicated it quite 00:26:31.930 --> 00:26:35.069 pointedly to her devoted, personal attendant 00:26:35.069 --> 00:26:38.940 and faithful friend, John Brown. It shows, again, 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:41.359 her fierce loyalty, placing personal connection 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:44.259 above courtly propriety. Now, while all this 00:26:44.259 --> 00:26:46.720 personal drama was unfolding, her official role 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:49.400 was also changing. The empire was becoming more 00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:52.220 central to her identity. Yes, particularly after 00:26:52.220 --> 00:26:55.480 the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Sapoy Mutiny, 00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:57.720 as it was often called in Britain. After that, 00:26:57.859 --> 00:26:59.759 the British government took direct control of 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.099 India from the East India Company. And this led 00:27:02.099 --> 00:27:05.109 to a new title for Victoria. It did. The conservative 00:27:05.109 --> 00:27:07.650 Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who knew how 00:27:07.650 --> 00:27:09.829 to flatter the Queen, pushed through the Royal 00:27:09.829 --> 00:27:13.289 Titles Act in 1876. Mink and her. Empress of 00:27:13.289 --> 00:27:17.690 India, proclaimed on May 1st, 1876. Kezara Hind. 00:27:17.910 --> 00:27:20.049 And this wasn't just symbolic for her, was it? 00:27:20.069 --> 00:27:22.869 She got involved in the details. She did. Specifically 00:27:22.869 --> 00:27:25.309 in the wording of the official proclamation announcing 00:27:25.309 --> 00:27:28.250 the transfer of power in India back in 1858 after 00:27:28.250 --> 00:27:30.769 the rebellion. What did she insist on? She insisted 00:27:30.769 --> 00:27:34.009 personally intervene to ensure the proclamation 00:27:34.009 --> 00:27:37.190 explicitly guaranteed religious freedom and tolerance 00:27:37.190 --> 00:27:41.069 for Indians. The text had to breathe feelings 00:27:41.069 --> 00:27:44.130 of generosity, benevolence, and religious toleration. 00:27:44.250 --> 00:27:46.269 So she was using her constitutional position 00:27:46.269 --> 00:27:50.269 to shape imperial policy based on her own moral 00:27:50.269 --> 00:27:52.369 convictions, even though she was head of the 00:27:52.369 --> 00:27:55.269 Church of England. Precisely. She overruled officials 00:27:55.269 --> 00:27:57.990 who wanted to take a harder line, possibly threatening 00:27:57.990 --> 00:28:00.990 native religions. She believed in fairness, possibly 00:28:00.990 --> 00:28:03.789 influenced by her own affinity for the Presbyterian 00:28:03.789 --> 00:28:05.829 Church of Scotland, which wasn't the established 00:28:05.829 --> 00:28:08.890 church. It was a significant assertion of her 00:28:08.890 --> 00:28:11.690 influence on a matter of huge imperial importance. 00:28:11.990 --> 00:28:13.910 Her relationships with her prime ministers during 00:28:13.910 --> 00:28:16.990 this era were famously varied. Disraeli, you 00:28:16.990 --> 00:28:18.849 mentioned, knew how to handle her. Oh, he was 00:28:18.849 --> 00:28:20.970 a master. He charmed her completely. His advice 00:28:20.970 --> 00:28:23.710 to others was apparently, lay it on with a trowel 00:28:23.710 --> 00:28:25.829 when talking to the queen. Lots of flattery. 00:28:25.890 --> 00:28:27.589 And he connected with her personally. Yes, he 00:28:27.589 --> 00:28:30.009 famously referred to her published journal saying 00:28:30.009 --> 00:28:33.049 things like, we authors, ma 'am. He treated her 00:28:33.049 --> 00:28:34.970 not just as a monarch, but as an intelligent 00:28:34.970 --> 00:28:38.430 woman. She adored him. But her relationship with 00:28:38.430 --> 00:28:40.309 the great liberal leader, William Gladstone, 00:28:40.470 --> 00:28:43.089 was the polar opposite. Utterly different. She 00:28:43.089 --> 00:28:45.930 couldn't stand Gladstone. She famously complained 00:28:45.930 --> 00:28:48.190 that he addressed her as if she were a public 00:28:48.190 --> 00:28:50.809 meeting rather than a woman. Too formal. Too 00:28:50.809 --> 00:28:54.390 preachy. Yes. She found his intense moral earnestness 00:28:54.390 --> 00:28:57.170 grating. She disliked his politics, his reforms, 00:28:57.309 --> 00:28:59.430 particularly his moves towards Irish home rule. 00:28:59.710 --> 00:29:03.170 She thought his 1885 government was the worst 00:29:03.170 --> 00:29:06.029 I have ever had. So her personal feelings definitely 00:29:06.029 --> 00:29:08.529 colored her political interactions. Immensely. 00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:11.359 She was delighted when Gladstone's first Irish 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:14.920 Home Rule bill was defeated in 1886. While she 00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:17.779 did, somewhat reluctantly, accept the expansion 00:29:17.779 --> 00:29:20.839 of voting rights for men, like the 1867 Reform 00:29:20.839 --> 00:29:22.880 Act. She drew the line elsewhere. Absolutely. 00:29:23.140 --> 00:29:25.599 She remained resolutely opposed to votes for 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:28.339 women throughout her entire reign. A fascinating 00:29:28.339 --> 00:29:30.599 mix of progressive instincts on some issues, 00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:33.339 like religious tolerance, and deeply conservative 00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:36.440 views on others, like female suffrage. As we 00:29:36.440 --> 00:29:38.420 move into the later years of her reign, something 00:29:38.420 --> 00:29:41.119 interesting happens. Victoria's public image 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.220 shifts again. The reclusive widow transforms. 00:29:44.700 --> 00:29:47.420 Into what? Into this beloved, almost mythical 00:29:47.420 --> 00:29:50.799 figure, the grandmother of the nation, the embodiment 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:53.539 of the empire. Her long seclusion was largely 00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:56.920 forgotten or forgiven, and public affection surged, 00:29:56.940 --> 00:29:59.339 especially around her jubilees. Right, the Golden 00:29:59.339 --> 00:30:02.869 Jubilee first in 1887. marking 50 years. Yes. 00:30:03.069 --> 00:30:05.390 That was a huge celebration, very much a sort 00:30:05.390 --> 00:30:09.549 of grand European royal family affair. She hosted 00:30:09.549 --> 00:30:12.230 a banquet for something like 50 visiting kings 00:30:12.230 --> 00:30:14.950 and princes. It reestablished her firmly at the 00:30:14.950 --> 00:30:17.009 center of European royalty. And then 10 years 00:30:17.009 --> 00:30:20.799 later, the Diamond Jubilee in 1897. 60 years 00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:22.920 on the throne. This one was different. It was 00:30:22.920 --> 00:30:25.339 deliberately orchestrated, largely by the colonial 00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:27.980 secretary Joseph Chamberlain, as a festival of 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:29.920 the British Empire. So the focus shifted from 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:32.900 European royalty to the global empire. Exactly. 00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:35.019 They made a point of inviting the prime ministers 00:30:35.019 --> 00:30:37.180 from all the self -governing parts of the empire, 00:30:37.420 --> 00:30:40.240 Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Cape Colony. 00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:42.880 It was a massive display of imperial power and 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.900 unity, with Victoria at its symbolic heart. And 00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:47.960 who was pointedly not invited? Her grandson, 00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:50.700 Kaiser Wilhelm II. of Germany. Why exclude him? 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:54.160 He was family. He was considered too, well, volatile, 00:30:54.380 --> 00:30:57.140 too bombastic. The British government worried 00:30:57.140 --> 00:30:59.099 he might cause some kind of diplomatic incident 00:30:59.099 --> 00:31:01.940 or try to upstage the proceedings. So they politely 00:31:01.940 --> 00:31:04.660 kept him away. It underlined that this jubilee 00:31:04.660 --> 00:31:08.079 was about Britain and its empire. Not the complex 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.720 web of European dynastic ties. And the public 00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:14.200 reaction to the Diamond Jubilee. Overwhelming 00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:16.940 affection. The procession through London was 00:31:16.940 --> 00:31:20.720 six miles long. Victoria herself was 78 by then, 00:31:20.819 --> 00:31:23.519 quite frail. She couldn't even manage the steps 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:25.680 of St. Paul's Cathedral for the service, so they 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:27.920 held it outdoors so she could remain in her carriage. 00:31:28.180 --> 00:31:31.160 But the crowds were enormous, celebrating this 00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:33.980 enduring symbol of stability. Yet even as this 00:31:33.980 --> 00:31:37.079 revered imperial matriarch, She was capable of 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:39.079 causing fresh scandal within the palace walls. 00:31:39.460 --> 00:31:42.900 Enter Abdul Karim. Ah, the moonshee, yes. Another 00:31:42.900 --> 00:31:44.960 relationship that echoed the John Brown affair 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:47.099 and horrified the household. He started as a 00:31:47.099 --> 00:31:49.539 servant. He was hired initially as a waiter during 00:31:49.539 --> 00:31:52.059 the Golden Jubilee celebrations, one of two Indian 00:31:52.059 --> 00:31:54.519 servants brought over. But Victoria quickly took 00:31:54.519 --> 00:31:56.859 a liking to him. She promoted him, made him her 00:31:56.859 --> 00:31:59.720 moonshee, or teacher. Teaching her Urdu. Yes, 00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:02.940 Hindustani, basically. He became a constant presence, 00:32:03.220 --> 00:32:05.779 traveling with her, advising her on Indian affairs. 00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:09.819 He was given houses, titles, privileges. And 00:32:09.819 --> 00:32:11.740 the royal family and the court staff reacted 00:32:11.740 --> 00:32:14.940 how? They were appalled. Just as they had been 00:32:14.940 --> 00:32:17.420 with John Brown, they saw this rapid elevation 00:32:17.420 --> 00:32:19.819 of an Indian servant as completely inappropriate. 00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:22.839 There were accusations that he was spying, that 00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:25.579 he was biased against Hindus, that he was exploiting 00:32:25.579 --> 00:32:28.839 the queen. A lot of it clearly stemmed from racial 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:32.559 prejudice. And Victoria's response? She fiercely 00:32:32.559 --> 00:32:35.039 defended him. She dismissed their objections 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:38.779 flatly as racial prejudice. She valued his service, 00:32:38.859 --> 00:32:41.720 his perspective, and his loyalty. She kept him 00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:43.819 close until the very end of her life, ensuring 00:32:43.819 --> 00:32:46.279 he received a pension and land back in India. 00:32:46.460 --> 00:32:48.940 It's that same pattern again, isn't it? Intense 00:32:48.940 --> 00:32:51.799 personal loyalty trumping court convention and 00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.119 family disapproval. Absolutely. A consistent 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:56.460 thread throughout her long life. Now, alongside 00:32:56.460 --> 00:32:58.799 being the symbol of empire, she also had that 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:01.680 other famous title. Grandmother of Europe. Precisely. 00:33:01.980 --> 00:33:04.240 Through her nine children and their marriages, 00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:06.539 her descendants were spread across almost all 00:33:06.539 --> 00:33:09.559 the royal houses of Europe. Germany, Russia, 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:14.420 Greece, Spain, Sweden, Norway. Her grandson was 00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:17.500 Kaiser Wilhelm II. Her granddaughter, Alexandra, 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:20.240 was the Tsarina of Russia, married to Nicholas 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:23.380 II. It really was one vast, interconnected royal 00:33:23.380 --> 00:33:27.000 family web. It was. But this web carried a tragic 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:30.950 genetic secret within it. hemophilia the royal 00:33:30.950 --> 00:33:34.390 disease yes hemophilia b specifically a blood 00:33:34.390 --> 00:33:37.549 clotting disorder her youngest son leopold duke 00:33:37.549 --> 00:33:39.690 of albany suffered from it and died relatively 00:33:39.690 --> 00:33:41.950 young after a fall and he wasn't the only one 00:33:41.950 --> 00:33:44.900 no At least two of her daughters, Alice and Beatrice, 00:33:45.019 --> 00:33:47.140 were carriers. They passed it on to subsequent 00:33:47.140 --> 00:33:49.079 generations in the Spanish and Russian royal 00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:52.019 families, most famously to Tsarevich Alexei, 00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:54.559 the son of Nicholas and Alexandra. His condition 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:56.960 arguably had huge historical consequences in 00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.359 Russia. And the origin of the hemophilia in Victoria 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:01.880 herself? There were rumors, weren't there? Because 00:34:01.880 --> 00:34:03.740 it wasn't in her ancestry. There were speculation, 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:06.680 yes. Whispers that perhaps her real father wasn't 00:34:06.680 --> 00:34:09.190 the Duke of Kent, implying illegitimacy. But 00:34:09.190 --> 00:34:11.309 science has a different explanation now. Yes. 00:34:11.429 --> 00:34:13.710 Modern genetics points to a much more likely 00:34:13.710 --> 00:34:17.590 cause, a spontaneous mutation. These mutations 00:34:17.590 --> 00:34:20.170 happen randomly, but they occur more frequently 00:34:20.170 --> 00:34:22.750 in the children of older fathers. And her father, 00:34:22.849 --> 00:34:25.110 the Duke of Kempt. He was over 50 when Victoria 00:34:25.110 --> 00:34:27.630 was conceived. Spontaneous mutations account 00:34:27.630 --> 00:34:30.170 for roughly a third of all hemophilia cases. 00:34:30.690 --> 00:34:34.110 So while we can't be 100 % certain, the scientific 00:34:34.110 --> 00:34:36.889 explanation is far more plausible than the old 00:34:36.889 --> 00:34:39.769 court gossip. So looking at her overall legacy 00:34:39.769 --> 00:34:42.789 as monarch, she really oversaw the transition 00:34:42.789 --> 00:34:44.530 to the modern constitutional monarchy, didn't 00:34:44.530 --> 00:34:47.199 she? She absolutely solidified it. The monarch's 00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:49.800 role shifted decisively during her reign from 00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:52.579 someone who could, potentially, still wield significant 00:34:52.579 --> 00:34:55.380 direct power, like her Hanoverian predecessors, 00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:57.340 to someone whose power was primarily symbolic 00:34:57.340 --> 00:34:59.860 and influential rather than executive. Exactly. 00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:02.000 It's perfectly captured in that famous description 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.579 by the constitutional theorist Walter Bagehot, 00:35:04.699 --> 00:35:07.860 written in 1867. What did Bagehot say the monarch 00:35:07.860 --> 00:35:10.280 retained? He argued the sovereign kept three 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:13.559 key rights. The right to be consulted. The right 00:35:13.559 --> 00:35:16.320 to encourage and the right to warn. And we've 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:18.420 seen examples of her using all three, haven't 00:35:18.420 --> 00:35:21.780 we? Definitely. Warning Palmerston. Being consulted 00:35:21.780 --> 00:35:24.659 on the India Proclamation, encouraging certain 00:35:24.659 --> 00:35:27.599 ministers like Disraeli or discouraging others 00:35:27.599 --> 00:35:30.960 like Gladstone. She operated very effectively 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:34.079 within those Bajajoshan limits, even while pushing 00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:36.699 their boundaries sometimes. And she also redefined 00:35:36.699 --> 00:35:39.300 the image of the monarchy itself. Crucially, 00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:42.699 yes. She created the model of the family monarchy. 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:45.739 By presenting this image of stable, respectable, 00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:48.420 bourgeois domesticity, albeit one she sometimes 00:35:48.420 --> 00:35:51.059 struggled with personally, she offered a stark 00:35:51.059 --> 00:35:53.699 contrast to the scandals, debts, and general 00:35:53.699 --> 00:35:56.000 disreputability of her uncles and grandfathers 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.260 in the House of Hanover. And that resonated with 00:35:58.260 --> 00:36:00.099 the public. Especially with the rising middle 00:36:00.099 --> 00:36:02.659 classes. They could identify with, or at least 00:36:02.659 --> 00:36:05.599 aspire to, this image of a moral, family -focused 00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:07.980 monarch. It helped secure the monarchy's popularity. 00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:10.820 and relevance in a rapidly changing society. 00:36:11.239 --> 00:36:12.980 One last aspect we should touch on, Victoria 00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:15.199 the writer. Oh, yes. Prolific doesn't even begin 00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:17.599 to cover it. She wrote constantly. Her journals 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:20.980 alone run to 122 volumes. Starting when she was 00:36:20.980 --> 00:36:24.780 just a teenager. From 1832 onwards, and estimates 00:36:24.780 --> 00:36:27.519 suggest she wrote an average of 2 ,500 words 00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:30.880 a day throughout her adult life. Letters, memos, 00:36:30.880 --> 00:36:33.980 journal entries. It's an astonishing output. 00:36:34.219 --> 00:36:37.269 Should be a goldmine for historians. But there's 00:36:37.269 --> 00:36:40.590 a catch. A huge catch. After her death, her youngest 00:36:40.590 --> 00:36:42.690 daughter, Beatrice, was appointed her literary 00:36:42.690 --> 00:36:45.429 executor, and Beatrice took it upon herself to 00:36:45.429 --> 00:36:48.150 transcribe the diaries. But she edited them heavily. 00:36:48.329 --> 00:36:50.710 Very heavily, censoring anything she felt was 00:36:50.710 --> 00:36:53.110 inappropriate or too personal. And then, the 00:36:53.110 --> 00:36:55.869 truly tragic part, she burned almost all the 00:36:55.869 --> 00:36:59.050 original volumes. No. Why? Presumably to protect 00:36:59.050 --> 00:37:01.269 her mother's image, or perhaps the image of the 00:37:01.269 --> 00:37:03.980 family. It's an incalculable loss of primary 00:37:03.980 --> 00:37:06.820 source material. Generations of historians have 00:37:06.820 --> 00:37:08.860 lamented it. Is anything left of the originals? 00:37:08.900 --> 00:37:11.480 Thankfully, yes. Lord Escher, courtier and historian, 00:37:11.739 --> 00:37:13.579 had previously made transcripts of the journals 00:37:13.579 --> 00:37:16.099 covering the period from 1832 up to Albert's 00:37:16.099 --> 00:37:19.280 death in 1861. So much of the earlier, perhaps 00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:21.760 more candid material survived through his copies. 00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:24.179 But the later decades are mostly known only through 00:37:24.179 --> 00:37:27.340 Beatrice's heavily edited versions. Still, an 00:37:27.340 --> 00:37:30.159 incredible written legacy. And one final myth 00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.940 to bust about her personality. That famous phrase. 00:37:33.219 --> 00:37:36.380 We are not amused. Yes. She apparently denied 00:37:36.380 --> 00:37:39.159 ever saying it. And people who knew her well, 00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:42.099 her household staff, confirmed that while she 00:37:42.099 --> 00:37:44.360 could be stern, she also had a hearty laugh and 00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:46.679 a good sense of humor. Apparently, she often 00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:50.199 roared with laughter. So the image of the perpetually 00:37:50.199 --> 00:37:53.500 stern, unsmiling queen in those later photographs, 00:37:53.739 --> 00:37:56.139 it's not the whole picture. Not by a long shot. 00:37:56.239 --> 00:37:58.280 It was partly the convention of photography at 00:37:58.280 --> 00:38:00.699 the time requiring long exposures and partly 00:38:00.699 --> 00:38:02.599 the image of solemn duty she projected after 00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:05.199 Albert's death. But the private Victoria seems 00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:07.579 to have been much more expressive. So the end 00:38:07.579 --> 00:38:09.559 of this incredibly long era was approaching. 00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:12.219 Her final years were marked by declining health. 00:38:12.380 --> 00:38:14.679 Yes. Severe rheumatism made it very difficult 00:38:14.679 --> 00:38:17.179 for her to walk. She relied heavily on a wheelchair 00:38:17.179 --> 00:38:20.519 in her last couple of years. And cataracts significantly 00:38:20.519 --> 00:38:22.739 impaired her eyesight. And more personal loss, 00:38:22.739 --> 00:38:24.820 too, right near the end. Yes. Her second son, 00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:27.679 Alfred, Duke of Saxe -Coburg in Gotha, died in 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.920 July 1900. Law seemed to punctuate her entire 00:38:30.920 --> 00:38:33.480 life right up to the finish. When did she finally 00:38:33.480 --> 00:38:38.510 pass away? January 22, 1901. She was 81 years 00:38:38.510 --> 00:38:41.510 old. She died at Osborne House, her beloved home 00:38:41.510 --> 00:38:44.230 on the Isle of Wight. Surrounded by family. Yes. 00:38:44.489 --> 00:38:47.670 Her eldest son and heir, Albert Edward, the future 00:38:47.670 --> 00:38:50.250 Edward VII, was there. And perhaps significantly, 00:38:50.510 --> 00:38:53.030 so was her eldest grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm II 00:38:53.030 --> 00:38:56.230 of Germany. Despite the political tensions, the 00:38:56.230 --> 00:38:58.590 family bonds were still strong at the very end. 00:38:58.710 --> 00:39:01.150 Her death marked the end of an era, quite literally. 00:39:01.719 --> 00:39:04.440 And the end of a royal house. It did. She was 00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:06.579 the last monarch of the House of Hanover. Her 00:39:06.579 --> 00:39:09.639 son, Edward VII, inherited the throne. And because 00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:12.300 his father was Albert, the royal house name changed 00:39:12.300 --> 00:39:15.239 to Saxe -Coburg and Gotha. Which itself was later 00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:17.219 changed during World War I. To Windsor, yes. 00:39:17.500 --> 00:39:19.880 But her death ended the Hanoverian line that 00:39:19.880 --> 00:39:22.460 had ruled Britain since 1714. And her funeral. 00:39:22.940 --> 00:39:24.920 It wasn't entirely traditional, was it? She left 00:39:24.920 --> 00:39:27.420 specific instructions. Very specific instructions. 00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:30.199 She insisted on a military funeral, not a purely 00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:32.460 state one. Why military? She wanted to be buried 00:39:32.460 --> 00:39:35.139 as a soldier's daughter, honoring her father, 00:39:35.340 --> 00:39:37.519 the Duke of Kent, and her own position as head 00:39:37.519 --> 00:39:39.860 of the army. It was a statement about her identity. 00:39:40.219 --> 00:39:43.219 And the color scheme was unusual, too. Strikingly 00:39:43.219 --> 00:39:46.559 so. After four decades of wearing black mourning 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:49.280 for Albert, she requested that her funeral be 00:39:49.280 --> 00:39:53.159 white. White horses, white decorations, a complete 00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:55.940 reversal of the image she had cultivated for 00:39:55.940 --> 00:39:59.159 so long. But perhaps the most fascinating details 00:39:59.159 --> 00:40:01.980 are the personal items placed in her coffin with 00:40:01.980 --> 00:40:04.599 her. Yes, these are incredibly revealing. They 00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:06.480 tell the whole story of her deepest loyalties. 00:40:06.619 --> 00:40:08.800 What was included? Obviously, things related 00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:11.679 to Albert. Oh, yes. One of Albert's dressing 00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:14.420 gowns was placed beside her and a plaster cast 00:40:14.420 --> 00:40:17.119 of his hand, symbols of that lifelong devotion 00:40:17.119 --> 00:40:20.110 and public grief. Those were expected. But there 00:40:20.110 --> 00:40:22.349 were other items, more secret ones. There were. 00:40:22.929 --> 00:40:25.289 Items related to John Brown. She had requested 00:40:25.289 --> 00:40:27.530 and ensured it was carried out that a lock of 00:40:27.530 --> 00:40:29.889 John Brown's hair and a photograph of him were 00:40:29.889 --> 00:40:32.929 placed in her coffin. Yes. And even more intimately, 00:40:33.070 --> 00:40:35.750 his mother's wedding ring, which Brown himself 00:40:35.750 --> 00:40:37.869 had given to Victoria after his mother died. 00:40:38.050 --> 00:40:40.150 She instructed that this ring be placed on a 00:40:40.150 --> 00:40:43.010 finger of her left hand. Wow. And was this done 00:40:43.010 --> 00:40:46.570 openly? No. Apparently, these items relating 00:40:46.570 --> 00:40:48.969 to Brown were placed in her hand after her family 00:40:48.969 --> 00:40:51.389 had paid their last respects, and they were concealed 00:40:51.389 --> 00:40:53.929 from view by a carefully positioned bunch of 00:40:53.929 --> 00:40:56.250 flowers before the coffin was sealed. A final, 00:40:56.250 --> 00:40:59.630 private act of devotion, ensuring both her great 00:40:59.630 --> 00:41:02.489 loves, Albert and Brown, went with her. It's 00:41:02.489 --> 00:41:05.269 an extraordinary image. After decades of defining 00:41:05.269 --> 00:41:07.969 herself as Albert's widow, she made sure this 00:41:07.969 --> 00:41:10.230 other profound, controversial relationship was 00:41:10.230 --> 00:41:12.130 acknowledged in the most private way possible, 00:41:12.269 --> 00:41:14.449 hidden from the world but known to her. Where 00:41:14.449 --> 00:41:17.010 was she finally buried? Beside Albert, as she 00:41:17.010 --> 00:41:19.510 had always planned. In the Royal Mausoleum at 00:41:19.510 --> 00:41:22.210 Frogmore, in Windsor Great Park. The end of a 00:41:22.210 --> 00:41:24.010 reign that had not just spanned decades, but 00:41:24.010 --> 00:41:26.610 had fundamentally reshaped Britain, its empire, 00:41:26.909 --> 00:41:30.519 and the monarchy itself. Hashtag tag outro. So 00:41:30.519 --> 00:41:32.699 looking back over this immense life, what are 00:41:32.699 --> 00:41:35.119 the key takeaways? We've seen her journey from 00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:37.280 that isolated girl under the Kensington system. 00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:41.079 Through those early crises like Lady Flora and 00:41:41.079 --> 00:41:44.300 the bedchamber affair, which really tested her 00:41:44.300 --> 00:41:47.719 and the monarchy. To becoming this enduring symbol, 00:41:47.860 --> 00:41:51.019 successfully managing that huge transition of 00:41:51.019 --> 00:41:54.219 the crown's role from direct power towards moral 00:41:54.219 --> 00:41:57.610 and symbolic authority. Absolutely. She navigated 00:41:57.610 --> 00:42:00.449 that tricky path, accepting the constitutional 00:42:00.449 --> 00:42:03.590 realities that Bajha described, but never giving 00:42:03.590 --> 00:42:06.429 up her right to be consulted, to encourage and 00:42:06.429 --> 00:42:09.630 especially to warn. She used her influence subtly, 00:42:09.650 --> 00:42:12.110 but often very effectively. Whether it was pushing 00:42:12.110 --> 00:42:14.630 back against Palmerson or insisting on religious 00:42:14.630 --> 00:42:16.969 tolerance in India or just making her preferences 00:42:16.969 --> 00:42:19.570 for certain ministers very clear. Right. And 00:42:19.570 --> 00:42:21.630 then there's that transformation into the grandmother 00:42:21.630 --> 00:42:24.230 of Europe and perhaps more significantly, the 00:42:24.230 --> 00:42:26.679 matriarch of the empire. It's quite remarkable 00:42:26.679 --> 00:42:28.840 how she recovered from that long period of seclusion 00:42:28.840 --> 00:42:32.000 to become so beloved by the end. An empire whose 00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:34.280 identity in many ways seemed to coalesce around 00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:36.760 her image in those later years. The Jubilees 00:42:36.760 --> 00:42:39.300 really cemented that. They did. The monarchy 00:42:39.300 --> 00:42:41.800 became intertwined with the idea of Britain's 00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:44.280 global destiny, and she was the living embodiment 00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:47.179 of it. Okay, so we know her direct political 00:42:47.179 --> 00:42:51.340 power decreased over the 63 years. That's clear. 00:42:51.960 --> 00:42:56.139 But thinking about her personal impact. It was 00:42:56.139 --> 00:42:58.480 immense, wasn't it? Undeniably. Her personality, 00:42:58.760 --> 00:43:00.679 her opinions, her stubbornness, her loyalties. 00:43:00.739 --> 00:43:03.500 They constantly shaped events, relationships, 00:43:03.739 --> 00:43:06.340 even policy behind the scenes. So that leads 00:43:06.340 --> 00:43:08.699 us to the final provocative thought for you, 00:43:08.760 --> 00:43:11.139 the listener, to mull over. We call it the Victorian 00:43:11.139 --> 00:43:13.900 era. But was that era just coincidentally named 00:43:13.900 --> 00:43:15.719 after the monarch who happened to be on the throne 00:43:15.719 --> 00:43:19.340 for so long? Or did the actual character of that 00:43:19.340 --> 00:43:22.780 age? Its moral tone, its sense of duty, its imperial 00:43:22.780 --> 00:43:24.880 self -confidence, even its particular kind of 00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:27.699 domesticity. Was that shaped in some significant 00:43:27.699 --> 00:43:30.699 way by the powerful, uncompromising, intensely 00:43:30.699 --> 00:43:32.980 personal character of the woman at its very center? 00:43:33.119 --> 00:43:35.219 Was the era Victorian because of Victoria herself? 00:43:35.659 --> 00:43:37.800 It's a fascinating question about the real influence 00:43:37.800 --> 00:43:39.840 of personality on history. Something to think 00:43:39.840 --> 00:43:42.440 about. Join us next time for another Deep Dive.