Getting back to the Victorians & Edwardians
When the future Queen Victoria was born, on 24 May 1819, at Kensington Palace, she was to be named ‘Alexandrina’. Curiously, it wasn’t even the princess’s parents who chose the name, it was the heir to the throne, the Prince Regent. The name honoured the baby’s godfather, the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I. It was only at the last moment (during the christening) that the Prince Regent threw in another name, Victoria. She’d be Alexandrina Victoria but known to her family as ‘Drina’, and to history as ‘Victoria’.
The new princess was the daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent (1767-1820), the fourth son of George III, and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg (1786-1861). It looked likely that Victoria would enjoy a life of relative obscurity. George III (the mad one) was still on the throne (until January 1820). The heir was the Prince Regent, the future George IV (d1830), followed by his brother, Frederick, Duke of York (d1827), then William, the future William IV (d1837). William also had a daughter, Elizabeth (d March 1821). There was also Victoria’s own father, the Duke of Kent (d1820).
It’s a complex paragraph that might have you checking the family tree, but what it amounted to was Victoria being sixth in line to the throne at the moment of her birth, so unlikely ever to be queen. When the Prince Regent passed away in 1830, however, Victoria suddenly found herself next in line, after her uncle William.
Inching closer to the crown
Little Victoria was taken to Devon for her first holiday in December 1819. Holidays are usually
