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Queen and monarchy

Queen Victoria came to the throne as a young woman in 1837 and reigned until her death in 1901. She did not like the way in which power seemed to be slipping so quickly away from the monarchy and aristocracy, but like her advisers she was unable to prevent it. Victoria married a German, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, but he died at the age of forty-two in 1861. She could not get over her sorrow at his death, and for a long time refused to be seen in public.

This was a dangerous thing to do. Newspapers began to criticise her, and some even questioned the value of the monarchy. Many radicals actually believed the end of monarchy was bound to happen as a result of democracy. Most had no wish to hurry this process, and were happy to let the monarchy die naturally. However, the queen's advisers persuaded her to take a more public interest in the business of the kingdom. She did so, and she soon became extraordinarily popular. By the time Victoria died the monarchy was better loved among the British than it had ever been before.

One important step back to popularity was the publication in 1868 of the queen's book Our life in the Highlands. The book was the queen's own diary, with drawings, of her life with Prince Albert at Balmoral, her castle in the Scottish Highlands. It delighted the public, in particular the growing middle class. They had never before known anything of the private life of the monarch, and they enjoyed being able to share it. She referred to the Prince Consort simply as "Albert", to the Prince of Wales as "Bertie", and to the Princess Royal as "Vicky". The queen also wrote about her servants as if they were members of her family.

The increasingly democratic British respected the example of family life which the queen had given them, and shared its moral and religious values. But she also touched people's hearts. She succeeded in showing a newly industrialised nation that the monarchy was a connection with a glorious history. In spite of the efforts of earlier monarchs to stop the spread of democracy, the monarchy was now, quite suddenly, out of danger. It was never safer than when it had lost most of its political power.

"We have come to believe that it is natural to have a virtuous sovereign," wrote one Victorian. Pure family morality was an idea of royalty that would have been of little interest to the subjects of earlier monarchs.

 

 


Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1843


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