Victoria - 1837 - Queen of England
In 1830 George IV died, and the duke of York (George III's second son) having died childless in 1827, the duke of Clarence became king as William IV. Princess Victoria now became the direct heir to, the throne. William IV cherished affectionate feelings towards his niece; unfortunately he took offence at tit duchess of Kent for declining to let her child come and live in his court for several months in each year, and through the rest of his reign there was strife between the two; and Prince Leopold was no longer in England to act as peacemaker.
In the early hours of l0 June 1837, William IV died. His thoughts had dwelt often on his niece, and he repeatedly said that he was sure she would be "a good woman and a good queen. It will touch every sailor's heart to have a girl queen to fight for. They'll be tattooing her face on their arms, and I'll be bound they'll all think she was christened after Nelson's ship." Dr Howley, archbishop of Canterbury, and the marquis Convngham, bearing the news of the king's death, started in a landau with four horses for Kensington, which they reached at five o'clock. Their servants rang, knocked and thumped; and when at last admittance was gained, the primate and the marquis were shown into a lower room and there left to wait. Presently a maid appeared and said that the Princess Victoria was "in a sweet sleep and could not be disturbed." Dr Howley, who was nothing if not pompous, answered that he had come on state business, to which everything, even sleep, must give place. The princess was accordingly roused, and quickly came downstairs in a dressing-gown, her fair hair flowing loose over her shoulders. Her own account of this interview, written the tune day in her journal (Letters, i. p. 97), shows her to have been quite prepared.
The privy council assembled at Kensington in the morning; lad the usual oaths were administered to the queen by Lord Chancellor Cottenham, after which all present did homage. There was a touching incident when the queen's uncles, the dukes of Cumberland and Sussex, two old men, came forward to perform their obeisance. The queen blushed, and descending to her throne, kissed them both, without allowing them to kneel. By the death of William IV, the duke of Cumberland had become King Ernest of Hanover, and immediately after the ceremony he made haste to reach his kingdom. Had Queen Victoria died without issue, this prince, who was arrogant, hot-tempered and rash, would have become king of Great Britain; and, as nothing but mischief could have resulted from this, the young queen's life became very precious in the sight if her people. She, of course, retained the late king's ministers in their offices, and it was under Lord Melbourne's direction that the privy council drew up their declaration to the kingdom. This document described the queen as Alexandrina Victoria, and all the peers who subscribed the roll in the House of Lords the oath of June swore allegiance to her under those names, but it was not till the following day that the sovereign's style was altered to Victoria simply, and this necessitated the issuing of a new declaration and a re-signing of the peers' roll. The public proclamation of the queen took place on the 21st at St James's Mice with great pomp.
The queen opened her first parliament in person, and in a well-written speech, which she read with much feeling, adverted to her youth and to the necessity which existed for her being guided by enlightened advisers. When both houses had voted loyal addresses, the question of the Civil List was considered. In a week or two later a message was brought to parliament requesting an increase of the grant formerly made to the duchess of Kent. Government recommended an addition of £30,000 a year, which was voted, and before the close of the year a Civil List Bill was passed, settling £385,000 a year on the queen.
The duchess of Kent and her brothers, King Leopold and the duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, had always hoped to arrange that the queen should marry her cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the prince himself had been made acquainted with this plan from his earliest years. In 1836 Prince Albert, who was born in the same year as his future wife, had come on a visit to England with his father and with his brother, Prince Ernest, and his handsome face, gentle disposition and playful humor had produced a favorable impression on the princess. The duchess of Kent had communicated her projects to Lord Melbourne, and they were known to many other statesmen, and to persons in society; but the gossip of drawing-rooms during the years 1837-38 continually represented that the young queen had fallen in love with Prince This or Lord That, and the more imaginative babblers hinted at post-chaises waiting outside Kensington Gardens in the night, private marriages and so forth.
The coronation took place on 28 June 1838. No more touching ceremony of the kind had ever been performed in Westminster Abbey. Anne was a middle-aged married woman at the time of her coronation; she waddled and wheezed, and made no majestic appearance upon her throne. Mary was odious to her Protestant subjects, Elizabeth to those of the unreformed religion, and both these queens succeeded to the crown in times of general sadness; but the youthful Queen Victoria had no enemies except a few Chartists, and the land was peaceful and prosperous when she began to reign over it. The cost of George IV's coronation amounted to £240,000; that of William IV had amounted to £50,000 only; and in asking £70,000 the government had judged that things could be done with suitable luxury, but without waste.
The traditional banquet in Westminster Hall, with the throwing down of the glove by the king's champion in armor, had been dispensed with at the coronation of William IV, and it was resolved not to revive it. But it was arranged that the sovereign's procession to the abbey through the streets should be made a finer show than on previous occasions; and it drew to London 400,000 country visitors. Three ambassadors for different reasons became objects of great interest on the occasion. Marshal Soull, Wellington's old foe, received a hearty popular welcome as a military hero; Prince Esterhazy, who represented Austria, dazzled society by his Magyar uniform, which was encrusted all over, even to the boots, with pearls and diamonds; while the Turkish ambassador, Sarim Effendi, caused much diversion by his bewilderment. He was so wonder-struck that he could not walk to his place, but stood as if he had lost his senses, and kept muttering, "All this for a woman!"
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