Queen Victoria's Reign - 50 Years - Kensington Gardens, London, UK
N 51° 30.324 W 000° 11.158
30U E 695289 N 5709784
This marble statue to mark the 50th year of Queen Victoria's reign is located at the new entrance to Kensington Palace. It, like parts of the palace, is recently refurbished and is currently (2013) in pristine condition.
Waymark Code: WMHQVE
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/06/2013
Views: 6
The double life-sized statue depicts Queen Victoria at the
age of 18 in her coronation robes in 1837. Victoria is seated with a crown on
her head. The statue was sculpted by Princess Louisa one of Queen Victoria's
daughters in 1893.
There is a bronze plaque on the plinth that
reads:
Victoria R
-1837-
Here in the front of the palace where she was born
and where she resided until her accession,
her loyal Kensington subjects erect this statue,
the work of her daughter
to commemorate fifty years of her reign.
The
Spartacus
Educational website tells us about Queen 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.
Anniversary Year: 1887
Year of Event, Organization or Occurance: 1893
Address: Kensington Palace Kensington Gardens London, United Kingdom
Website: [Web Link]
|
Visit Instructions: 1. Original photo if possible. A narrative of your visit.
|