May 24th is celebrated in Canada as Victoria Day, to commemorate the life and reign of this commanding British Queen.
Queen Victoria was born on May 24th, 1819 and lived a long life until January 22nd, 1901. Her birthday is marked as a national holiday in Canada, and is a popular summer long weekend. Though the day is technically called Victoria Day, Canadians tend to refer to is simply as the "24th-of-May" holiday.
Victoria was the daughter and only child of Edward, Duke of Kent (who was himself the fourth son of King George III). Her mother was Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg, and her full given name was Alexandrina Victoria. Unfortunately, her childhood was a lonely one. Her mother was under the thumb of her advisor, Sir John Conroy. And in an attempt to further his control over her daughter as well, he convinced the Duchess that Victoria needed to be raised away from the influence of her uncles and other family. He was looking towards the future, and hoped to be in control over the queen-to-be. Her seclusion would influence her social relationships for the rest of her life.
After the deaths of her uncles - who left no heirs - Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 and would go on to have the longest reign in British history, the well-known Victorian Era.
Until her marriage to her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in 1840, she took her political cues from Prime Minister Lord Melbourne. Following his lead, she became a Whig and often made decisions that created a negative image of her in the public eye. The most notable is the "Bedchamber Crisis".
When Melbourne resigned in 1839, the new Conservative leader was concerned about the weak position his government would be in as a minority. So he wanted the Queen to replace her liberal-minded bedchamber ladies with those more sympathetic to the conservative viewpoint. presumably to help influence the Queen in his favour. She refused this condition, as she considered her ladies-in-waiting to be friends and companions, not political figures. As a result, Sir Robert Peel did not take his position. Melbourne was forced to remain in office.
Soon after that time, she married Albert and began to then look to him for advice and support. Though she was a strong and stubborn woman, she was quite dependent on her husband when it came to making decisions, both personal and political. During her marriage to him, she had 9 children.
Ironically, she didn't much like children or childbirth. One particular quote of hers sums up her attitude, " I don't dislike babies, though I think very young ones rather disgusting." At the time of her death, she had 37 great-grandchildren.
During their reign together, they conducted their lives somewhat differently than previous monarchs. They enjoyed their own privacy and often retreated from London to stay in homes in Scotland.
In 1861, Albert died and Victoria never truly recovered from that blow. She spend too long in seclusion, leading to a slide in public popularity and she continued to dress in mourning black until her own death in 1901. During the last 40 years of her reign, she made few public appearances.
Overall, her reign oversaw great expansion, progress and development of the British empire. The Victorian era was a prosperous time for Britain and the United Kingdom.
