Queen Victoria (1819-1901)


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Curryong said:
Observers described Queen Victoria's voice as 'silvery' and 'bell-like', even in old age. Doesn't sound like that on these, lol. I'm not sure that is QV's voice really.
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We will never know for sure, I guess. But that is probably as close as we'll ever get to hearing her voice.
 
Gawin said:
If you open the first video and click on "Show More" you read this [boldfacing mine]:

"I managed to digitally remaster the 1888 graphophone recording of Queen Victoria to the best of my ability. Here is what I believe Her Majesty is saying."

So it's unclear to me how much is authentic and how much was "added."
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Thank you.
 
Is that really the voice of Queen Victoria?
 
I just finished reading "Letters to Vicky" and I have one last family relation question. I tried to figure it out, but it just escapes me. In the latter part of 1897 Queen Victoria and Vicky are discussing the pregnancy (by a married footman) of Marie, daughter of the heir to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife, Elizabeth of Anhalt. The Queen tells Vicky that Louischen (Prince Arthur's wife, Princess Louise of Prussia) "should not be told, but she knows all and she said her mother wrote to say they could not hold up their heads." How is Marie related/connected to Prince Arthur's wife? I remember reading about this incident in a book on Queen Mary, but it has been awhile. Thanks.

P.S. I highly recommend this book. It is so interesting reading the conversations between Victoria and VIcky and they discussed almost everything (politics, art, family members, royalty, friends, child rearing, children and babies, servants, some gossip ;) etc.). I also learned new things about Queen Victoria that were not covered in the two books I have read on her.
 
duchessrachel said:
I just finished reading "Letters to Vicky" and I have one last family relation question. I tried to figure it out, but it just escapes me. In the latter part of 1897 Queen Victoria and Vicky are discussing the pregnancy (by a married footman) of Marie, daughter of the heir to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife, Elizabeth of Anhalt. The Queen tells Vicky that Louischen (Prince Arthur's wife, Princess Louise of Prussia) "should not be told, but she knows all and she said her mother wrote to say they could not hold up their heads." How is Marie related/connected to Prince Arthur's wife? I remember reading about this incident in a book on Queen Mary, but it has been awhile. Thanks.

P.S. I highly recommend this book. It is so interesting reading the conversations between Victoria and VIcky and they discussed almost everything (politics, art, family members, royalty, friends, child rearing, children and babies, servants, some gossip ;) etc.). I also learned new things about Queen Victoria that were not covered in the two books I have read on her.
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Prince Arthur's wife Louise and Marie's mother Elizabeth were first cousins. Elizabeth was born a Princess of Anhalt and so was Louise's mother.
 
Gawin said:
Prince Arthur's wife Louise and Marie's mother Elizabeth were first cousins. Elizabeth was born a Princess of Anhalt and so was Louise's mother.
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Thanks. So Louise's mother and Elizabeth were sisters?
 
Gawin said:
Louise's mother Marie Anne of Anhalt and Elizabeth's father Duke Frederick of Anhalt were siblings.
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Thank you. I went to Wikipedia to try and backtrack from Louise to her parents and then from Elizabeth, but I kept going in circles.
 
confusing things in a book I read

I just read "Queen Victoria's Children" by John Van Der Kiste, and I read some things that I had never read before. Van Der Kiste says that "inevitably Queen Victoria was beginning to find Lord Melbourne's company dull, and his flippancy mildly offensive." I have never read anything but that she was virtually enamored of him, and this was in much longer and more detailed books.

Another thing that confused me was his reference to Louis Philippe's children as cousins of Queen Victoria's children. When Louis Philippe fled France for England and stayed with Queen Victoria and her family, Van Der Kiste says that "Aiice and Affie were ... thrilled to be playing with their young cousins and adapting at once to their temporary dormitories in the servants' quarters." This sounds like Queen Victoria's and King Louis Philippe's children were related. I don't ever remember reading that anywhere else. Is it true?
This has been answered by CyrilVladisla and Gawin


Also, I finished reading a book on Empress Frederick (Princess Vicky) recently as well as "Letters to Vicky" and much was made of Vicky not being a great beauty , or even pretty. However, Van Der Kiste states that when Prince Frederick (Fritz) came to visit Vicky in order to propose to her, "He was struck by the way in which a lively, attractive little girl was maturing into such a beautiful young woman". However, he does not cite any evidence that this is what Fritz felt. This confuses me too because in the book " An Uncommon Woman", Fritz writes his parents that Vicky is "sweet, natural, friendly, and unaffected...possessing great feeling and intelligence." Never once did he describe her as beautiful. Now, whether or not Vicky was beautiful is completely unimportant, but these books seems to disagree on this point.

Then as the author is listing Princess Beatrice's troubles, he writes this sentence: "Her second son Leopold succumbed in 1922 to haemophilia, the scourge of her daughter Queen Ena's married life." i know the issues with Queen Ena's situation, and what is meant by this sentence, but that is a run-on sentence. The portion of the sentence after the comma is written grammatically as if it applies to the part before the comma. (I'm being picky, but by this point I was irritated)

Those four things threw me off, but the one that boggles my mind the most was when the author states that when Fritz's father, King William I, threatened to abdicate that Fritz's hesitation to accept it "would have made no difference if he had accepted" because "Bismarck, swiftly appointed minister-president of Prussia, soon made is philosophy clear" which was that of autocracy. Then he turns around and says the opposite later in the book. He says "If Emperor Frederick had lived, the German empire would have been on the best possible terms with England." Later on he states that it was a tragedy that Emperor Frederick III "died before his time" and "in a happier world...the English declaration of war on Germany in 1914...would have been inconceivable." Well, which is it? The author can't seem to make up his mind whether Germany and the world would have been better off if Emperor Frederick III could have reigned much longer.

Also, this author, more than once, calls the Russian Orthodox Church the Greek Orthodox Church. I just don't know what to think about these things. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book, even though I found it trying at times.
 
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Can I ask you to break up the above post?

It is very hard to read in such a large block.
 
duchessrachel, King Louis Philippe I's daughter Princess Louise married King Leopold I of the Belgians. Their children were cousins to the children of Queen Victoria.
 
CyrilVladisla said:
duchessrachel, King Louis Philippe I's daughter Princess Louise married King Leopold I of the Belgians. Their children were cousins to the children of Queen Victoria.
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Thank you. I read the passage too literally. There are so many kinships that I still struggle to get it straight in my head. Would they be 1st cousins,once removed?
 
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duchessrachel said:
Another thing that confused me was his reference to Louis Philippe's children as cousins of Queen Victoria's children. When Louis Philippe fled France for England and stayed with Queen Victoria and her family, Van Der Kiste says that "Aiice and Affie were ... thrilled to be playing with their young cousins and adapting at once to their temporary dormitories in the servants' quarters." This sounds like Queen Victoria's and King Louis Philippe's children were related. I don't ever remember reading that anywhere else. Is it true?
This has been answered by CyrilVladisla.
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In addition to the relationship provided by CyrilVladilsa there were four others:

1. Louis Philippe's oldest son and heir, Ferdinand Duke of Orleans, married Helene of Meckleburg-Schwerin who was a first cousin of Prince Albert's mother Louise of Saxe-Gotha (Louise's mother was Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin). Victoria and Albert often referred to Helene as their "cousin."

2. Louis Philippe's second son, Louis Duke of Nemours, married Victoria of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha who was Albert and Victoria's first cousin. She was the daughter of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha who was the brother of Victoria Duchess of Kent (Queen Victoria's mother) and Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Prince Albert's father).

3. Louis Philippe's second daughter Marie married Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg, another first cousin of Victoria and Albert. His mother Antoinette was another sibling of the Duchess of Kent and Duke Ernest. To confuse matters even more, Duke Alexander's sister Marie married her uncle Duke Ernest (as his second wife), making her Prince Albert's stepmother as well as his cousin.

4. Louis Philippe's third daughter Clementine married Duke Augustus of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, son of Ferdinand and brother of Victoria wife of Louis Duke of Nemours (see #2 above) and yet another first cousin of Victoria & Albert.
 
Gawin said:
In addition to the relationship provided by CyrilVladilsa there were four others:

1. Louis Philippe's oldest son and heir, Ferdinand Duke of Orleans, married Helene of Meckleburg-Schwerin who was a first cousin of Prince Albert's mother Louise of Saxe-Gotha (Louise's mother was Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin). Victoria and Albert often referred to Helene as their "cousin."

2. Louis Philippe's second son, Louis Duke of Nemours, married Victoria of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha who was Albert and Victoria's first cousin. She was the daughter of Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha who was the brother of Victoria Duchess of Kent (Queen Victoria's mother) and Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Prince Albert's father).

3. Louis Philippe's second daughter Marie married Duke Alexander of Wurttemberg, another first cousin of Victoria and Albert. His mother Antoinette was another sibling of the Duchess of Kent and Duke Ernest. To confuse matters even more, Duke Alexander's sister Marie married her uncle Duke Ernest (as his second wife), making her Prince Albert's stepmother as well as his cousin.

4. Louis Philippe's third daughter Clementine married Duke Augustus of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, son of Ferdinand and brother of Victoria wife of Louis Duke of Nemours (see #2 above) and yet another first cousin of Victoria & Albert.
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Thank you. I look forward to the day when I can remember all of these family relations.
 
duchessrachel said:
Thank you. I read the passage too literally. There are so many kinships that I still struggle to get it straight in my head. Would they be 1st cousins,once removed?
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duchessrachel, King Leopold I and Queen Louise's children would be first cousins to Queen Victoria. These children would be first cousins once removed to the children of Victoria.
 
:previous: An Ard Ri, The stamps are quite impressive. I like the fact that various pictures of Queen Victoria throughout her life were used.
 
Amazing footage of Queen Victoria's third and last ever visit to Ireland on April 3rd 1900 in Dublin.
 
I just came across the link to the footage. Wow, that’s amazing and she’s wearing sunglasses.
 
I am currently reading "Queen Victoria's Matchmaking" by Deborah Cadbury and she refers to Lady Geraldine Somerset and her diary. She includes snippets from her diary. She and her diary have also been mentioned in other books I have read. How I would love to read this diary!!! Are there any publications of it or books on Lady Geraldine Somerset?
 
I would love to read her diaries too and wish someone would publish them. She certainly wasn't very reverential about various royals! Lady Geraldine spent years at Court and knew many members of the RF intimately, including the Tecks.

I suspect that's why her diaries (she never married or had a family) were tucked safely away in the Royal archives at Windsor at her death, where they were unearthed by James Pope Hennessy when he was researching his biography of Queen Mary in the 1950s.

Perhaps if she had had descendants these diaries would have been published Several of the royals that she wrote about lingered on into old age which is probably why her acerbic comments on them didn't come to light before the mid twentieth century.

Apparently Lady Geraldine had a huge crush on George Duke of Cambridge, Queen Victoria's cousin. She loathed his morganatic wife Louisa. Geraldine is quoted a lot here.

https://books.google.com.au/books?i...dy geraldine somerset and her diaries&f=false
 
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