May 24th: Queen Victoria

Victoria, Queen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 (when she was 18), and the first Empress of India from 1 May 1876, until her death in 1901. Her reign lasted 63 years and seven months. Today would have been her birthday. Here are 10 things you may not know about Queen Victoria:

1. When Victoria was born, there was a succession crisis. King George III only had one grandchild, Princess Charlotte, but she died in 1817. The then Prince of Wales and his two eldest brothers were married, but estranged from their wives, who were both past child bearing age anyway - so the pressure was on for the unmarried sons to marry and produce heirs. Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, and his brother the Duke of Clarence, got married on the same day. Although Clarence had two children, they died young, leaving Victoria as the sole heir to the throne.
2. Victoria's relationship with her mother was fraught. Her mother, also called Victoria, Duchess of Kent, was an ambitious woman who wanted to be the power behind the throne. To this end, she and her attendant (and possibly lover) Sir John Conroy, devised the "Kensington System", a set of rules which included the young Victoria never being left alone and strict controls over who she was allowed to meet. The purpose was to make Victoria weak and dependent on her mother and Conroy. It didn't work. Victoria refused point blank to have Conroy as her personal secretary, and as soon as she reached 18, demanded an hour alone and that her bed be removed from her mother's bedroom. William IV died just a month after Victoria's 18th birthday. He had previously expressed a wish that he would live to see her turn 18, because he didn't want the Duchess as Regent.
3. Victoria was the first sovereign to live in Buckingham Palace.
4. Technically, Queen Victoria should have been Queen Alexandrina, as that was her first name, and Victoria was her middle name. The official papers drawn up at the beginning of her reign referred to her as Queen Alexandrina, but she had them changed.
5. Even though she was Queen of England, as a young unmarried woman she was still obliged to live with her mother. At least in Buckingham Palace, her mother could be assigned rooms as far away from the Queen as possible, and the Queen could refuse to see her. The only way to get rid of her mother completely, she was advised by the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, would be to get married which she was surprisingly reluctant to do - given that she had already met Albert - describing it as a "schocking (sic) alternative."
6. Prince Albert wasn't the only husband considered for her. Naturally, the pressure was on to marry her off so she could start producing heirs. Her mother and uncle were in favour of Albert, who was their nephew (Victoria's cousin) but William IV would have preferred her to marry Prince Alexander of the Netherlands. Having met them both, Victoria's assessment of Albert was: "extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful." Alexander, though, was described by her as "very plain".
7. During her reign, there were a number of assassination attempts on Victoria. In 1840, Edward Oxford shot at her in her carriage but missed; in 1842, John Francis aimed a gun at her carriage but it failed to go off. Victoria deliberately rode out again the next day to provoke Francis into trying again - he did, but was again failed and was arrested; John William Bean shot at her with a pistol loaded with paper and tobacco and with not enough charge to do any damage; in 1849 William Hamilton fired at her and missed; in 1850 she was physically attacked by Robert Pate who hit her with his cane, resulting in bruises and a damaged bonnet; in 1872 Arthur O'Connor threatened her with a gun but it wasn't loaded; and Robert Maclean shot at her at Windsor railway station. Assassination attempts tended to have a positive effect on Victoria's popularity and she said that it was worth getting shot at "to see how much one is loved".
8. Despite having nine children, Victoria hated being pregnant. She thought breast feeding was disgusting and that newborn babies were ugly, especially when they had no clothes on.
9. Queen Victoria was an avid diarist - all through her adult life, she would write an average of 2500 words a day in her journal. After her death, her youngest daughter, Beatrice, transcribed and edited many of the journals, burning the originals. One wonders what she may have been covering up...
10. Victoria gave money to famine relief. She donated £2,000 to help alleviate the Irish potato famine, a lot of money in those days, and more than any other individual gave. She did not, however, support votes for women.