Woman’s Weekly New Zealand – August 05, 2019

20 New Zealand Woman’s Weekly

made casket in which
Victoria stored the baby teeth
of her nine children – and casts
of their arms and legs!
“Victoria had great trouble
showing simple affection
towards her children,” Amanda
explains. “She didn’t have
the normal upbringing that
would have enabled her to
be a normal mother herself,
so she expressed her love
through things.”
Lucy and Amanda spent
around 18 months planning
the exhibition, which includes a
sumptuous Victorian dinner and
a 3D hologram re-enactment
of a ball, with life-sized dancers
in period dress waltzing to
La Traviata.
“Victoria was only 18 when
she came to the throne,” says
Lucy. “She loved dancing, she
was a pianist and accomplished
singer, and she really breathed
new life into the palace.”
In fact, when Victoria
moved to Buckingham
Palace in 1837, it was
largely unfurnished and
undecorated, so she
and her husband Prince
Albert had to transform
it into a home.
She wrote to Prime
Minister Sir Robert Peel
about the urgency “of
doing something to
Buckingham Palace”
and “the total want
of accommodation
for our growing
little family”.

They added a new east wing,

the ballroom, a concert room

and the Ball Supper Room,

where they could entertain

guests. During their time

together there, Victoria and

Albert held three magnificent

themed costume balls.

“I was so proud and pleased

to see my beloved Albert

looking so handsome, truly royal

and distinguished, and so much

admired,” Victoria wrote about

the 1851 Stuart Ball, which

recreated the era of Charles II.

“I must say, our costumes

were beautifully made.”

Lucy says she hopes visitors

to the exhibition enjoy

experiencing the festivity

that defined the early years

of the monarch’s long reign.

“We’ve done a lot of work

to make sure the exhibition

is authentic, from the music

to the costumes.” #

Top: Victoria’s most

glamorous surviving

dress, a silk, lace and

gold-braid gown

meticulously designed in

17th-century style for

the 1851 Stuart Ball.

Above: The ceremonial

gown she wore for her

coronation. Left: Queen

Elizabeth looks at

portraits of Victoria and

Albert by Louis Haghe.

Window into the

past: The Queen

peruses an 1855

John Gilbert painting

of her great-great-

grandmother inspecting

wounded guardsmen.

‘Victoria was only

18 when she came

to the throne. She

really breathed

new life into

the palace’