2019-06-01+Woman+and+Home

Queen

It’s 200 yearssinceQueen Victoria wasborn, and

historian, authorand TV presenter Lucy Worsley hasbeen

delving deep to discover fascinating factsabout her life

rulebook

who tore up the

The

90 woman&home IT’s aLL abouT you!

The20-year-old

whoproposed...

Victoriawasdestinedfrombirth

tomarryherGermancousinalbert.

butthiswasanarrangedmarriage,

nota lovematch,andVictoriaspent

threeyearsextremelyreluctantto

commitherselftoit. shedecidedthat

she would marryhimafterall,in the

wakeofa runofbadpress.sheknew

herimagewouldbetransformedbya

romanticandpublicroyalwedding.so,

contrarytoexpectation,sheproposed

tohim.Despitethisslowstart,though,

a deeplovedevelopedbetween them.

The moTher

whorefused to suffer

Victorianwomenwereexpected

tosufferin silencewhengiving

birth,butalbertsuspectedhiswife

wouldn’tfollowconvention.He

fearedthatin labourshewould

“make a great Rompos”. Victoria >>

imaginea

princesskept

isolatedbyher

guardiansin a

rundownpalace,

whohadnoidea

shewasgoingtobequeen. That’s

thetrue-lifestoryofPrincessVictoria,

andit captivatedmefroma youngage.

I loveditstriumphanttwist– justthree

weeksafterher18thbirthday,heruncle

thekingdied,andshebecamequeen.

Workingasoneofthecuratorsat

Victoria’schildhoodhomeofKensington

Palacehasbeena dreamcometrue

forme.andtalkingtoourvisitorsthere,

I’vecometorealisethata lotofpeople

thinkofherasanoldladyperpetually

dressedinwidow’sblack.but that

isn’tthewholepicture.

Likeany19th-centurygirl,Victoria

wassupposedtobequietanddemure,

butsheloveddancing,excitementand

speed.Whenshewasoutridingher

horseTartar,forexample,sheenjoyed

it most when “we galloped the whole

wayhome,downhillandeverything”.

Therewere“unprincess-like”lapses

• Victoria’smotherandgoverness
  requiredhertologhowwellshe’d
  behavedina specialbehaviourbook.
  shewassometimes“impertinent”and
  also“veryveryveryhorriblynaughty!”
  smallwonderhermotheradmitted
  thatVictoria’sbadbehaviour“drives
  meattimestorealdesperation”.
  Inreality,shetoreuptherulebook
  for women on the throne in many ways...