Royal coat of arms of Queen Victoria on the north west facet of the Victoria Obelisk in Royal Victoria Park, Bath.
"As Sovereign, Victoria used the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Before her accession, she received no grant of arms. As she could not succeed to the throne of Hanover, her arms did not carry the Hanoverian symbols that were used by her immediate predecessors. Her arms have been borne by all of her successors on the throne.
Outside Scotland, the blazon for the shield—also used on the Royal Standard—is: Quarterly: I and IV, Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II, Or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III, Azure, a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland). In Scotland, the first and fourth quarters are occupied by the Scottish lion, and the second by the English lions. The crests, mottoes, and supporters also differ in and outside Scotland."
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"Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India.
Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.
Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover. Her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father."
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"Obeslik with tripartite base, set within circular balustrade. Dated 1837. By G.P. Manners, city architect. Triangular section obelisk, approx. 10m high, with flattened arrises, base sweeps out, beneath band of Vitruvian scroll moulding; large triangular plinth (inscribed at top of each facet) with small wreaths to arrises. Thick egg-and-dart cornice surrounds main shaft of plinth. On west side is a low profile relief of the Princess, set within an oak-leaf wreath with fillets; south west and north west facets have square recesses with the crests of Albert (in bronze) and Victoria (in stone). Widened arrises sweep out to form bases of three lions couchant on stepped plinths. Whole enclosed by balustraded circle.
HISTORY: This memorial was raised to commemorate not the accession, but the coming-of-age of Princess Victoria: it was actually inaugurated on her Coronation Day, 28th June 1838. Of great importance as a key visual incident in Royal Victoria Park, as a striking Neo-classical monument, and as the earliest of the numerous public monuments erected to Queen Victoria. Early designs by Manners included a fountain and the replacement of the lions with dolphins. The design owes something to one of 1827 by Henry Goodridge for a commemorative lamp post, also triangular in plan with sentinel lions (illus. In `Beyond Mr Pulteney¿s Bridge¿ 1987 exhib. Cat., 35). Victoria Park was laid out in 1830 on the former Barton Fields, an area of common land and was opened by the Duchess of Kent with her daughter, Princess Victoria, on October 23rd 1830. It was the country's first municipal park."
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