Home› World & Ancient Coins Forum
Options

British Queens "Bullet Book," Queen Victoria, 1837 - 1901

BillJonesBillJones Posts: 33,487 ✭✭✭✭✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum


1871 Victoria "Young Head" Sovereign


1863 Victoria "young Head" Penny

• When it became clear that George IV and William IV would die without producing legitimate heirs, the surviving sons of George III worked to get their marital affairs in order so that they could produce the next king or queen of England. The “winner” was Edward Augustus, the duke of Kent, who married Mary Louise Victoria, the daughter of Franz I, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. Edward was 53 and Mary Louise was 31. Like most of the royal males, the duke of Kent had produced a number of children out of wedlock, who, of course, had no claim to the crown. The product of their marriage was the future Queen Victoria

• Victoria’s father died soon after she was born. Her mother took up with John Conroy. They treated Victoria harshly during her childhood. They also sought to have considerable influence over her once she became queen. Victoria would have none of that. She banished them both once she became queen.

• Victoria was queen for more than 63 years. During that time she aged from a young woman of 18 to the ripe age of 82. She held the record for the longest reign until Queen Elizabeth II broke that mark in September 2015.

• Over her long reign, Victoria’s appearance changed considerably. Unlike Elizabeth II, Victoria’s appearance was reflected by the portraits on her coinage. Those changes are reflected on the coins that are shown on these pages.

• At the time that Victoria became queen, the British monarchy was not popular. While King George IV and his brothers lived a life of luxury, the common people were having hard times. There had been several assassination attempts on George IV and numerous riots across the country that had been put down with military zeal.
• Some reforms had been enacted during William IV’s reign, but they were only a beginning.

• There were three assassination attempts upon the queen during the first four years of her reign. At first Victoria did little to correct the problems that caused the unrest, but that would change once she married Albert in 1840. Still one embarrassing scandal remained.

• Victoria accused one of her Ladies in Waiting, Flora Hastings, of having an affair with none other than John Conroy. Flora’s expanding belly implied that she was pregnant by him. After an examination it was determined that Flora was a virgin and that her swollen belly was a tumor, not a fetus. When Flora died shortly after the public viewed the queen as a heartless and vindictive monarch. Some hoped that a husband would help to settle Victoria down and improve her image.

• Victoria was not impressed when she met her cousin, Albert, the first time in 1837, but at a second meeting in 1839, she was smitten. They were married in 1840. It was a perfect match. Victoria and Albert worked at adjoining desks. He was the stronger administrator of the • two. Victoria would have named him king if it had been within her power. Albert was a royalist reformer who supported reductions in child labor and workplace reforms. As a result the monarchy become much more popular. When the 1848 upheavals occurred in Europe, they did not come to England.

• Victoria and Albert had a passionate marriage. She adored him, and they had nine children. Many of them were married off to the royal families of Europe which ultimately gave Victoria the nickname, “the grandmother of Europe.”

• At the same they advocated that royalty should have live moral lives. This gave rise to the concept of “Victorian values” which the middle class embraced. Ironically their oldest son, Albert, was a playboy, much to the embarrassment of his parents.

• One of Albert’s major projects was the Great Exhibit of 1851. It was a showcase of industry which publicized Britain’s pre-eminence in manufacturing. The Exhibit was highly successful and turned a large profit which was used to fund the Victorian and Albert Museum. The most tangible leftover from the event was the Chrystal Palace, a one million square foot glass and iron structure, which survived in a new location until it burned in 1936.

• Wars: Crimean War, allied with France against Russia, 1853 to 1856. Conflict with India, 1857—8, resulted in the dissolving of the British East India Company and the placing of India under the direct rule of the British crown.

• 1861 was a bad year for Victoria. Her mother died, and after reading her private papers, Victoria came to the conclusion that her mother really did love her. After years of estrangement, this came sad realization for Victoria which plunged her into grief.

• In December, Albert’s fragile health became grave. His condition was partially aggravated by a carriage ride he took in November to Cambridge to deal with Prince Albert’s (royal nickname, “Bertie”) licentious behavior. Albert died on December 14 at age 42. The official cause of death was typhoid, but it could have been due to an autoimmune disorder. Albert’s death devastated the queen. She would wear black for the rest of her life and be in  state of constant morning. That would have an effect on her ability to carry out her duties for the next decade.


1887 "Jubilee Head" Florin

The queen developed a relationship with John Brown, a Scottish servant who became her closest friend. Her daughters joked about a possible more intimate relationship and she was officially called “Mrs. Brown.” The queen resisted all calls to remove him. Ironically one of the harshest critics of the Brown relationship was Prince Bertie, the playboy, who had no room to talk. The relationship ended in 1883 when Brown died.

• Events in 1871 brought the queen out of seclusion. King Napoleon III of France was captured by the Prussians, and in his absence the French Commune declared a republic. Victoria realized that she would have to justify her office as queen. That year she addressed Parliament wearing a small crown. She also opened the Albert Hall and attended the wedding of her daughter Louise’s wedding. Late in the year a liberal MP called for the abolition of the monarchy.

• In December Bertie became critically ill with typhoid. The crisis captured the nation’s attention, and when the prince rallied on December 14, ten years after the death of his father, the nation rejoiced, and the monarchy was saved.

• Victoria’s relationships with her Prime Ministers was uneven. Her favorite was Benjamin Disraeli. Disraeli pleased the queen greatly when he advanced the bill which made Victoria the Empress of India. The opposition opposed it, but Disraeli pushed the legislation through.

• Under Disraeli Britain pushed its position as an imperial power. He secured the Suez Canal, pushed against the Russian Empire in Central Asia and altered the terms of the Congress of Berlin which minimized Russian influence in the Balkans.

• Victoria lived to celebrate her golden jubilee in 1887, (Coin noted on the previous page) and her diamond jubilee in 1897. She invited dignitaries from most all of Europe to celebrate and hosted a grand parade of troops from all over the vast British Empire. By then she was too weak to do more than sit in an opera carriage and review the proceedings.


1897 Victoria "Old Head" farthing

• Victoria died quietly in January 1901. By then she was much infirmed with many ailments and nearly blind from cataracts. She died with her son Bertie and her grandson, Kaiser Wilhelm, by her bedside.

• Her burial instructions called for her to be buried in her white wedding dress. Many objects were buried with her in her coffin. They included one of Albert’s dressing gowns and a plaster cast of his hand. There was also a lock of John Brown’s hair along with a picture of him and several of his letters. A ring, which had belonged to John Brown’s mother, was placed on her right hand.

• Victoria presided over the formation of a world-wide empire. Although she did not have anywhere near the power that Queen Elizabeth I had, she presented a potent symbol for her nation. She achieved this despite that fact that she was in seclusion for a number of years during her reign.

Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.