Five Commonalities Between Queen Victoria, and Her Great Great Granddaughter Queen Elizabeth- Two Women Who Should Not Have Been Queen
Neither of Their Fathers Were in the Direct Line of Succession
Queen Victoria’s father was Prince Edward, The Duke of Kent and Strathern and was actually the fourth son and fifth child of King George III and Queen Charlotte. Their oldest son, George IV had a daughter named Princess Charlotte who was second in line to the throne. Charlotte was beloved by the public, but unfortunately she died after delivering a stillborn boy at the age of 21 while her grandfather and father were both still alive. And although her grandfather, George III had FIFTEEN children, there were no more legitimate heirs (many of them had several illegitimate children) after Princess Charlotte. So, his sons got to work finding wives and trying to have children so that they might produce the next legitimate heir. Prince Edward married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and their daughter, Princess Victoria of Kent became the heir to the throne after her Uncle George IV because her father had passed away.
Queen Elizabeth was also not intended to be in the direct line of succession when she was born. Queen Elizabeth’s father was actually the second son of George V and Queen Mary and was styled as The Duke of York (the title that is often given to the second son of the sovereign). When his oldest daughter was born, she was styled as Her Royal Highness, Princess Elizabeth of York (the exact same way Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are styled today) and being a fairly minor royal, it seemed as if her life would be a quiet one. A decade later however, things looked very different for the York Family as the Duke of York’s brother, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so that he could marry Wallace Simpson, a twice divorced women whom he loved. This meant that all of a sudden, the Duke and Duchess of York became the King and Queen and the young Princess Elizabeth was all of a sudden the heiress presumptive to the throne, and would one day become Queen!
Both Queen Elizabeth and Her Great Great Grandmother realized they would become Queen during childhood
It is said that when Queen Victoria was around the age of ten, and while doing her studies, she was looking through a book on the Kings and Queens of England and in it, she saw how close her place was to the throne. Upon inspection, she realized that after her uncle, she was in fact next in line to the throne and would one day become Queen. Before that time, she was not as acutely aware she was the heiress presumptive and I’m sure just thought of herself as any other child would.
As for the current Queen Elizabeth, she was around the same age when she realized that she would also become the queen. When her uncle abdicated the throne, she supposedly told her sister princess Margaret that, “Papa was King.” Princess Margaret asked if that then meant she was to become Queen? Princess Elizabeth replied, “Yes, I suppose it does.” And that was that!
Although Both Princess Victoria and Princess Elizabeth had male cousins, they remained Ahead in Line to the Throne Because of Male Preference Primogeniture
Male Preference Primogeniture means that the line of succession follows the sons of the sovereign and their own children (male and then female) in their birth order, and then the daughters of the sovereign in birth order and their respective children. So, just because both Princess Victoria and Elizabeth had male cousins who were also grandchildren of the sovereign like they were, they held their places in the line of succession because of the birth order of their fathers. Britain still follows this custom today, however there is one change... with the original system, daughters, regardless of birth order were moved to the back after their brothers. Today, it goes by birth order regardless of the children being male or female. The first generation where this applies is for the Queen’s great grandchildren. So, Princess Charlotte will only ever move down the line of succession because of children her older brother Prince George might have, not because of her younger brother, Prince Louis.
Both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth Succeeded to the Throne at a Very Young Age
Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne upon the death of her uncle, William IV at the very young age of eighteen. In fact, it has been said that William IV willed himself to stay alive just long enough so that a regency could be avoided and Victoria could become Queen without a regent to take control of things, which is just what he did.
Similarly, her great great granddaughter also became queen at the age of just twenty-five upon the death of her father. King George VI died while the then Princess Elizabeth was away on tour in Kenya, so while his health had been deteriorating, it is clear that nobody expected his death to be that imminent. All of a sudden, Princess Elizabeth and her little family were thrust into a life that was far different from the relatively quiet life they had. In the years leading up to her ascension, the Duke of Edinburgh was in the Navy, and they lived a very normal life in Malta. It was not just hard for the Duke of Edinburgh to give up his career, it was hard for Princess Elizabeth to step into such a massive and restricting life at such a young age.
When you think about these two events, one in the 1837 and the other in 1952, we must also consider how hard it must have been for two extremely young women to step into completely male dominated and rather stuffy establishments. How long it must have taken for them to garner the respect of their governments and establish that they were in fact the heads of state. I imagine it must have been very difficult for them to feel heard, confident and like they had any worthwhile advice to offer being such young women in that position.
Both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth Had a Prime Minister at the Beginning of Their Reigns that was Very Influential for Them
When Queen Victoria ascended to the throne, her first Prime Minister was Lord Melbourne. They developed a very close relationship, and while some teased behind the Queen’s back and called her Mrs. Melbourne, their relationship can be thought of more as a father/ daughter relationship. It is easy to see why the young Queen clung so heavily to the advice of her Prime Minister when she grew up with no father of her own and her court was full of ill wishing uncles and politicians who didn’t respect her. And while of course, Lord Melbourne steered her in a direction that would also benefit his government, he was a stalwart support for the young Queen Victoria and without him, it might have been much harder for her to adjust to the very difficult role she was thrust into.
Fast forward to 1952 when Queen Elizabeth took the throne and the world was still very much in a recovery period from the Second World War. Winston Churchill, who was regarded as one of the heroes of the war and who had formed a very close bond with the Queen’s Father during the war was the Prime Minister. As the Queen stepped into her new role, Winston Churchill was was there to help support and guide her through a very difficult transition as well. It is no secret how much she valued the support and advice from this great old man, and again, without him, I am sure it would have felt like a much bumpier transition into becoming sovereign.
Only fifty-one years separated the end of Queen Victoria’s reign and the start of Queen Elizabeth’s, however today it seems as though they were born world’s apart. While this pair of Queen’s both had/have their share of difficulties to overcome, they hold the spots for the two longest serving and some of the most accomplished and well respected monarchs in British history. It is amazing to see how similar their lives were, particularly in their early years!
Until Next Time,
McKenzie
*Want to read a little more? Here are a few blogs about people who were connected to both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth.
