QUEEN VICTORIA George III 1760 1820 The Prince 1811 1820 Regency George IV 1820 1830 William IV 1830 1837 Victoria 1837 1901 1819 May 24, Monday: At a performance of La Gazza ladra in Gioachino Rossini’s home town of Pesaro, followers of Caroline of Brunswick, Duchess of Wales did everything they could to disrupt the proceedings. She and her lover were hoping to repay a perceived snub he had given them during the previous year’s performance. Most citizens hoped to make his return a gala occasion but the toughs forced the town fathers to smuggle him in the stage door. They carried out whistling and disruptions from all sides of the theater. Rossini would never set foot in Pesaro again. Alexandrina Victoria, who would in 1837 become Queen Victoria, was born in Kensington Palace in London, the 1st and only child of Edward, Duke of Kent (allegedly) and Princess Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe- Coburg-Saalfeld — and hemophilia became a fact of life in the English and eventually the Russian royal families. As there is only one chance in 50,000, genetically, that Indolent Edward had been biologically her father and that that gene for hemophilia had been introduced into the royal family at this point by a chance mutation, it seems likely that from this point forward all the Brit troubles with their royals have been utterly unnecessary. If Victoria was a bastard, then it should be the socialite Ernst, Prince of Hanover on the throne right now, not Elizabeth II — and Chuckie “I want to be your tampon” Stuart would have been being the mere socialite.1 Two women reigned during Thoreau’s florut. There were many similarities: Dynasty Period Person Florut Windsor 1837-present Queen Victoria 1837-1901 Ch’ing 1644-1911 The Empress Dowager Tz’u-hsi 1861-1908 1. Hey, let’s dig her up the way the Empress Dowager was dug up. Maybe we can shuck the lot of them. What price news copy? HDT WHAT? INDEX QUEEN VICTORIA PRINCE ALBERT Two women reigned during Thoreau’s florut. There were many similarities: Dynasty Period Person Florut Windsor 1837-present Queen Victoria 1837-1901 Ch’ing 1644-1911 The Empress Dowager Tz’u-hsi 1861-1908 It was the Duke and Duchess of Kent who selected the name Victoria, but her uncle George IV, who had a certain sort of rank in the family, insisted that she be named Alexandrina after her godfather Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Victoria’s putative or official daddy would die when she was but eight months old and her mama the Duchess of Kent would then ( :-) develop a close relationship with Sir John Conroy, an ambitious Irish officer. Conroy, nice man that he was, would act as if ( :-) Victoria were his own daughter and would have a major influence over her as a child: Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 2nd day 24th of 5 M / Went this morning to Connanicut with our fr D Buffum to attend the funeral of Robert Watsons daughter. - D was concerned in a very lively & pertinent testimony which I hope may tend to the instruction & edification of some present -we returned & dined at J L Greenes & then crossed the ferry & got home before 5 OC PM RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 2 Copyright 2012 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX PRINCE ALBERT QUEEN VICTORIA August 26, Thursday: Albert, who would become Prince Albert the consort to Queen Victoria of England (also known as Mrs. Brown), was born near Coburg in Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 1820 January 23, Sunday: Edward Augustus Hanover, Duke of Kent and Strathern, 4th son of King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover and father of the princess who would become Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, died of pneumonia in Woodbrook Cottage at Sidmouth in Devon, England. The princess would be raised by her mother. In Newport, Rhode Island, Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 1st day 23rd of 1 M / Our Morning was pretty well attended by male & female considering that the ground is coverd with Snow Father Rodman & Hannah Dennis were engaged in lively testimonys. —Silent in the Afternoon, but I believe true Worship was performed. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 1830 On the death of King George IV, his brother William Henry Hanover, the duke of Clarence, became King William IV of England. George III 1760 1820 The Prince 1811 1820 Regency George IV 1820 1830 William IV 1830 1837 Victoria 1837 1901 At the funeral he “talked constantly and walked out early.” His wife, Adelaide Amelia Louisa Theresa Caroline of Saxe-Coburg Meiningen (1792-1849), of course simultaneously became Queen. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 3 HDT WHAT? INDEX QUEEN VICTORIA PRINCE ALBERT WALDEN: As with our colleges, as with a hundred “modern PEOPLE OF improvements”; there is an illusion about them; there is not WALDEN always a positive advance. The devil goes on exacting compound interest to the last for his early share and numerous succeeding investments in them. Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. Either is in such a predicament as the man who was earnest to be introduced to a distinguished deaf woman, but when he was presented, and one end of her ear trumpet was put into his hand, had nothing to say. As if the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly. We are eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough. ADELAIDE HARRIET MARTINEAU 4 Copyright 2012 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX PRINCE ALBERT QUEEN VICTORIA Since William’s wife Adelaide had given birth to no surviving children, Victoria became his heir. William’s health was not good and he feared that Sir John Conroy would become the power behind the throne if Victoria became queen before she was eighteen. The Wellington ministry collapsed. Henry Peter Brougham continued as a Whig MP. He was a leading advocate of freedom of the press, of national popular education, of tithe reform, and of the abolition of slavery. With the accession of the Whigs to government he became the Lord Chancellor and was made a baron. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 5 HDT WHAT? INDEX QUEEN VICTORIA PRINCE ALBERT 1835 Receiving a request for an autograph by England’s Princess Victoria, James Fenimore Cooper sent her a manuscript of “The Minikins.” He and his family spent the summer in Cooperstown, New York. Frederick C. Mills, newly-elected chief engineer of the Genesee Valley Canal, presented a report based on the previous year’s survey. $1,548,100 in tolls were collected on New York canals. 1836 August: In England, a meeting between King William IV and Princess Victoria as described by Charles Greville, Clerk of the Privy Council: When the King arrived at Windsor and went into the drawing room (at about ten o’clock at night), where the whole party was assembled, he went up to Princess Victoria, took hold of both her hands and expressed his pleasure at seeing her there and his regret at not seeing her oftener. The next day it was his birthday, and though the celebration was what was called private, there were a hundred people at dinner, either belonging to the Court or from the neighborhood. The Duchess of Kent sat on one side of the King and one of his sisters on the other, the Princess Victoria opposite. After dinner the King made a very long speech, in the course of which he poured forth the following extraordinary tirade: “I trust in God that my life may be spared for nine months longer, after which period, in the event of my death, no regency would take place [because by that point in time the Princess Victoria having achieved her 18th birthday would be officially an adult 6 Copyright 2012 Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX PRINCE ALBERT QUEEN VICTORIA and thus no regent would need to be appointed for the interim period]. I should then have the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority to the personal exercise of that young lady (pointing to the princess) the heiress presumptive of the Crown, and not in the hands of a person near me, who is surrounded by evil advisers [Conroy], and who is herself incompetent to act with propriety in the station in which she would be placed.” This awful speech (with a great deal more which I forget) was uttered in a loud voice and excited manner. The Queen Adelaide looked in great distress, the Princess [Victoria] burst into tears, and the whole company was aghast. The Duchess of Kent said not a word. It was an unparalleled outrage from a man to a woman, from a host to his guest, and to the last degree unbecoming the situation they both of them fill. King William IV would manage to hold onto this world somehow until 27 days after Victoria’s 18th birthday.