(York; Victoria and Albert)
(York; Victoria and Albert)
Why did Victoria became Queen of Great Britain if she was not the daughter of a king but of a simple duke, who was only the fourth son of King George III? It was quite simple. In 1817 there was not a legitime youg heir to the British throne. King George III had reigned for 57 years, he was 75 years old, was senile and mentally insane. His eldest son, Prince George, Regent and Heir to the throne, was 55 years old and he had just lost his only legitime daughter, Princess Charlotte, who had died in childbirth. Besides, he had repudiated his wife, Caroline, and there was no chance of having another heir. King George' second son, Frederick, Duke of York, a year younger than his brother, was married but childless; the third one, William, Duke of Clarence (52 years old), was unmarried as well as the fourth, Edward, Duke of Kent (50 years old). The fifth one, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland (48 years old), was married but still childless; Augustus, Duke of Sussex (46) and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (45) were both of unmarried. Some of them had only mistresses and ilegitime children. The Kings's daughters were all unmarried or childless. So in 1817, George III's family was about to extinct.
The British Government made a call to the unmarried Royal Princes to look for an appropiated wife and get married. The Duke of Sussex didn't care about the call; he didn't get married and remained with his mistress. The other three unmarried Princes obeyed. The Duke of Clarence married Princess Adelaide of Saxe Meiningen; the Duke of Cambridge married Princess Augusta of Hesse Cassel and the Duke of Kent married Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld. The Duke of Clarence marriage was childless; in 1819, three newborns arrived to the Royal Family. George of Cambridge, George of Hanover and Victoria, Princess of Kent. This little princess was now fifth in the line of succesion to the throne after the Prince Regent, the Duke of York, the Duke of Clarence and her own father the Duke of Kent. King George III died in 1820 and was succeed by the Prince Regent as George IV. Victoria's father had died six days before the King and her uncle the Duke of York died in 1827, situating her as the second in line of succesion after her uncle, the Duke of Clarence who would eventually become King William IV, and was still chilless. It was inevitable that one day, the little Princess would become Queen of England.
Before getting married, Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent had lived with his mistress, Madame de Saint Laurent, for many years. As the British Government urged him to get married, the Duke left his mistress and found a suitable bride: Victoria of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld, who was tha daughter of Duke Franz Friedrich of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld and Augusta of Reuss Ebersdorf. She had been married before to Prince Emich Charles of Leinningen, who died in 1814 ad left her with two children, Charles and Feodora. When the Duke met her, she liveed at Armobach with her children. Victoria's brother Leopold had been married to the daughter of the Prince Regent, Princess Charlotte, who had died in childbirth. He encourage his sister engagement to his death wife's uncle, the Duke of Kent. One of the reasons for the Duke to get married was that he was moneyless and when he married he would received an income from the Parliament. So he and Victoria got married on July 11, 1918. Their first and only child was born on May 24, 1819. The little girl was christened as Alexandrina Victoria.
The Duke of Kent died of pneumonia on January 23, 1820 and six days later his father George III died too; they both were buried at Windsor. The Duke died leaving only debts ti his widow. The Duchess of Kent and her little daughter went to live to Kensington Palace receiving the economical support of the Duchess' s brother, Prince Leopold, who, as Princess Charlotte's widow, received a 50,000 pounds annuity from the British Parliament. Afterwards King of the Belgians, Prince Leopold would be a second father for his orphan niece.
The Duchess of Kent was an ambitious and domineering woman who tried to kept Princess Victoria isolated in Kensington Palace, away from her uncle the King and the rest of the Royal Family. The Duchess was under the influence of an Irish officer named Sir John Conroy, who had become master of the Duchess's household after the Duke's death. The couple's intetnions were to remain behind Victoria when she became Queen, and influence her. The Princess's uncles, King George IV and his brother the future William IV, were old and would not live too much. If they died before Victoria was eighteen, a regency would be needed. The Duchess, supported by Conroy, could be regent. As she grew up, Victoria began to have differences with her mother and of course with Conroy, who she hated. She was always supported by her governess Baroness Lehzen. Fortunately for her, her uncle King William IV died three weeks after Victoria was eighteen years old, so when she bacame Queen on June 20, 1837, a regency was not needed. Victoria established her independence from her mother by moving into her own bedroom (the Duchess was so domineering that she made Victoria to slept in the same room with her during her childhood and youth).