Victoria's Accession to the British Throne ~ June 20, 1837

undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/monarchs/images/victoria-450.jpg

On 24 May 1837 Victoria turned 18, and the regency was avoided. On 20 June 1837, William IV died from heart failure at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom. In her diary she wrote, "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma …who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen…" Her coronation took place on 28 June 1838, and she became the first Monarch to take up residence at Buckingham Palace.

Under Salic Law, however, no woman could be heir to the throne of Hanover, a realm which had shared a monarch with Britain since 1714. Hanover passed to her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, who became King Ernest Augustus I. (He was the fifth son and eighth child of George III.) As the young queen was as yet unmarried and childless, Ernest Augustus also remained the heir presumptive to the throne of the United Kingdom until Victoria's first child was born in 1840.

Text:wikipedia.com

NAPOLEON IV ~ March 16, 1856 ~ June 1, 1879

Photo:wikipedia.com

Napoléon IV, Prince Imperial, often referred to as Louis Napoléon (Full name: Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph, 16 March 1856 – 1 June 1879), Prince Imperial, Fils de France, was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo. His early death in Africa sent shock waves throughout Europe, as he was the last dynastic hope for the restoration of the Bonapartes to the throne of France. Wikipedia.com

On my first trip to the UK in 1978, I visited St. George's Chapel in Windsor. It's a splendid late Gothic building with insignia for the Knights of the Garter. I saw the tombs of George V and Queen Mary, and visited the old chapel, which houses an impressive bronze tomb of Mary's first fiance, George's older brother, the Duke of Clarence, who may very well have been the real "Jack the Ripper" (but that's a story for another post.)

When I went into the gift shop, I was startled to see Bonaparte imperial bees, and laurel wreathed 'N's featured on the stained glass. What on earth were these symbols doing in an English Royal Chapel? Well it turned out that this was the memorial side chapel of the Prince Imperial, who had died fighting for the British in Africa. He was the only Bonaparte to die in battle, I believe. He was shot with Zulu arrows. So Victoria honored him with a side chapel in Windsor. How gracious! But then memories fade, and today--or at least thirty-three years ago-- crass commercialism took over and his chapel was the gift shop. You had to look for his marble effigy... completely surrounded by merchandise!

Queen Victoria ~ May 24, 1819 ~ January 22, 1901

Portrait:Winterhalter, Franz Xavier (1806-1873):wikipedia.com

Queen Victoria ~ May 24, 1819 ~ January 22, 1901

Image:seminar.torontoghosts.org