The plaque, that is below a relief profile of Queen
Victoria, reads:
This tablet was erected
by the
Corporation of London
in the mayoralty of Sir Marcus Samuel
to mark the
western boundary of the City
and to commemorate the occasion of the last
visit of
Her Majesty Queen Victoria
who was here presented with the city
sword
on the 7th Day of March 1900
by the Lord Mayor Sir Alfred James
Newton, Bart.
Carried out under the direction of the County Lands
Committee
Claudius George Algar, Esq., Chairman
December
1902.
The Spartacus Educational website [visit link] gives
a biography of Victoria:
"Alexandrina Victoria, the only
child of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg, was born
in 24th May 1819. The Duke of Kent was the fourth son of George III and Victoria
Maria Louisa was the sister of King Leopold of Belgium. The Duke and Duchess of
Kent selected the name Victoria but her uncle, George IV, insisted that she be
named Alexandrina after her godfather, Tsar Alexander II of
Russia.
Victoria's father died when she was eight months old.
The Duchess of Kent developed a close relationship with Sir John Conroy, an
ambitious Irish officer. Conroy acted as if Victoria was his daughter and had a
major influence over her as a child.
On the death of George IV in 1830, his brother William
IV became king. William had no surviving legitimate children and soVictoria,
became his heir. William's health was not good and he feared that Conroy would
become the power behind the throne if Victoria became queen before she was
eighteen.
William IV died 27 days after Victoria's eighteenth
birthday. Although William was unaware of this, Victoria disliked Conroy and she
had objected to his attempt to exert power over her. As soon as she became queen
in 1837, Victoria banished Conroy from the Royal Court.
Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister when Victoria became
queen. Melbourne was fifty-eight and a widower. Melbourne's only child had died
and he treated Victoria like his daughter. Victoria grew very fond of Melbourne
and became very dependent on him for political advice. Melbourne was leader of
the Whig party and although radical in his youth, his views were now extremely
conservative. Melbourne had been a member of Earl Grey's government that had
passed the 1832 Reform Act, but he had privately been against the measure.
Melbourne attempted to protect Victoria from the harsh realities of British life
and even advised her not to read Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens because it
dealt with "paupers, criminals and other unpleasant subjects".
Victoria and Melbourne became very close. An apartment
was made available for Lord Melbourne at Windsor Castle and it was estimated
that he spent six hours a day with the queen. Victoria's feelings for Melbourne
were clearly expressed in her journal. On one occasion she wrote: "he is such an
honest, good kind-hearted man and is my friend, I know it."
Some people objected to this close relationship. When on
royal visits, some members of the crowd would shout out "Mrs. Melbourne". Lord
Melbourne's old friend, Thomas Barnes, the editor of The Times wrote "Is it for
the Queen's service - is it for the Queen's dignity - is it becoming - is it
commonly decent?" In the autumn of 1837 a rumour circulated that Victoria was
considering marrying Lord Melbourne. Queen Victoria wrote in her diary that she
was growing very fond of Melbourne and loved listening to him talk: "Such
stories of knowledge; such a wonderful memory; he knows about everybody and
everything; who they were and what they did. He has such a kind and agreeable
manner; he does me the world of good."
In 1839 Lord Melbourne resigned after a defeat in the
House of Commons. Sir Robert Peel, the Tory leader, now became Prime Minister.
It was the custom for the Queen's ladies of the bedchamber to be of the some
political party as the government. Peel asked Victoria to replace the Whig
ladies with Tory ladies. When Victoria refused, Peel resigned and Melbourne and
the Whigs returned to office.
Soon after the return of Lord Melbourne as Prime
Minister, Victoria saw Lady Flora Hastings, one of her ladies-in-waiting,
getting into a carriage with Sir John Conroy. A few months later Victoria
noticed that Lady Hastings appeared to be pregnant. When Victoria approached
Lady Hastings about this she claimed that she was still a virgin and had not had
a sexual relationship with Conroy. Victoria refused to believe her and insisted
that she submitted to a medical examination. The queen's doctor discovered that
Lady Hastings was indeed a virgin and that the swelling was caused by a
cancerous growth on the liver. The story was leaked to the newspapers and when
Lady Hastings died of cancer a few months later, Victoria became very unpopular
with the British public. Soon afterwards an attempt was made to kill Victoria
while she was driving in her carriage in London. Further assassination attempts
took place in 1842 (twice), 1849, 1850, 1872 and 1882.
Queen Victoria's cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg,
visited London in 1839. Victoria immediately fell in love with Albert and
although he initially had doubts about the relationship, the couple were
eventually married in February 1840. During the next eighteen years Queen
Victoria gave birth to nine children.
Lord Melbourne resigned as Prime Minister in 1841.
However, by this time, it was Prince Albert, rather than Melbourne, who had
become the main influence over Victoria's political views. Whereas Melbourne had
advised Victoria not to think about social problems, Prince Albert invited Lord
Ashley to Buckingham Palace to talk about what he had discovered about child
labour in Britain.
Queen Victoria had a good relationship with the next two
prime ministers, Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell. However, she disapproved
of Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary. Palmerston believed the main
objective of the government's foreign policy should be to increase Britain's
power in the world. This sometimes involved adopting policies that embarrassed
and weakened foreign governments. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, on the other
hand, believed that the British government should do what it could to help
preserve European royal families against revolutionary groups advocating
republicanism. This was very important to Victoria and Albert as they were
closely related to several of the European royal families that faced the danger
of being overthrown.
Victoria and Albert also objected to Palmerston's sexual
behaviour. On one occasion he had attempted to seduce one of Victoria's ladies
in waiting. Palmerston entered Lady Dacre's bedroom while staying as Queen
Victoria's guest at Windsor Castle. Only Lord Melbourne's intervention saved
Palmerston from being removed from office.
In the summer of 1850 Queen Victoria asked Lord John
Russell to dismiss Palmerston. Russell told the queen he was unable to do this
because Palmerston was very popular in the House of Commons. However, in
December 1851, Lord Palmerston congratulated Louis Napoleon Bonaparte on his
coup in France. This action upset Russell and other radical members of the Whig
party and this time he accepted Victoria's advice and sacked Palmerston. Six
weeks later Palmerston took revenge by helping to bring down Lord John Russell's
government.
In 1855 Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister. Queen
Victoria found it difficult to work with him but their relationship gradually
improved. When Palmerston died she wrote in her journal: "We had, God knows!
terrible trouble with him about Foreign Affairs. Still, as Prime Minister he
managed affairs at home well, and behaved to me well. But I never liked
him."
Prince Albert died of typhoid fever in December 1861.
Victoria continued to carry out her constitutional duties such as reading all
diplomatic despatches. However, she completely withdrew from public view and now
spent most of her time in the Scottish Highlands at her home at Balmoral Castle.
Victoria even refused requests from her government to open Parliament in person.
Politicians began to question whether Victoria was earning the money that the
State paid her.
While at Balmoral Queen Victoria became very close to
John Brown, a Scottish servant. Victoria's friendship with Brown caused some
concern and rumours began to circulate that the two had secretly married.
Hostility towards Victoria increased and some Radical MPs even spoke in favour
of abolishing the British monarchy and replacing it with a
republic.
In 1868 William Gladstone, leader of the Liberals in the
House of Commons, became Prime Minister. Gladstone's government had plans for a
series of reforms including the extension of the franchise, elections by secret
ballot and a reduction in the power of the House of Lords. Victoria totally
disagreed with these policies but did not have the power to stop Gladstone's
government from passing the 1872 Secret Ballot Act.
In 1874 the Tory, Benjamin Disraeli, became Prime
Minister. Victoria much preferred Disraeli's conservatism to Gladstone's
liberalism. Victoria also approved of Disraeli's charm. Disraeli later remarked
that: "Everyone likes flattery, and when you come to royalty, you should lay it
on with a trowel." Queen Victoria was very upset when Gladstone replaced
Disraeli as premier in 1880. When Disraeli died the following year, Victoria
wrote to his private secretary that she was devastated by the news and could not
stop crying.
Gladstone's relationship with Victoria failed to
improve. As well as her objection to the 1884 Reform Act, Victoria disagreed
with Gladstone's foreign policy. William Gladstone believed that Britain should
never support a cause that was morally wrong. Victoria took the view that not to
pursue Britain's best interest was not only misguided, but close to treachery.
In 1885 Victoria sent a telegram to Gladstone criticizing his failure to take
action to save General Gordon at Khartoum. Gladstone was furious because the
telegram was uncoded and delivered by a local station-master. As a result of
this telegram it became public knowledge that Victoria disapproved of
Gladstone's foreign policy. The relationship became even more strained when
Gladstone discovered that Victoria was passing on confidential documents to the
Marquess of Salisbury, the leader of the Conservatives.
In 1885 the Marquess of Salisbury became Prime Minister.
He was to remain in power for twelve of the last fifteen years of her reign.
Victoria shared Salisbury's imperialist views and was thrilled when General
Kitchener was successful in avenging General Gordon in the Sudan in 1898.
Victoria also enthusiastically supported British action against the Boers in
South Africa.
Queen Victoria died at her house on the Isle of Wight on
22nd January 1901."