Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7Sylvester, Charles Herbert
General
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7
Sylvester, Charles Herbert
Children's literature; Literature -- Collections
One month after her birth the child was baptized with great ceremony, a
gold font being brought from the Tower for the purpose, and the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London officiating. The
Prince of Wales, at that time acting as Prince Regent in the place of
his father, who was insane, was the chief sponsor for the child, and he
gave her the name of Alexandrina in honor of Alexander, Emperor of
Russia. The Duke of Kent wished her to bear her mother's name also, and
George IV added the name Victoria. "Little Drina," the child was usually
called when she was small, but when she grew older she decided that her
mother's name should stand second to no other, and desired that she be
called simply Victoria. There were uncles and cousins and her own father
between the little princess and the throne, and it did not look as if
her chances of becoming queen were very great, so that people used to
laugh indulgently when the Duke of Kent would produce his baby and say
proudly, "Look at her well; she will yet be Queen of England."
Victoria's father died when she was but eight months old, but the child
knew no lack, for her mother superintended her training and her teaching
in a very wise manner, for she thought that it was possible, if not
probable, that her child would one day have the chief place in the
kingdom, and she wanted to fit her for it. Very simply was the little
princess brought up; her clothing as well as her food was of the
plainest, and habits of economy and regularity were impressed upon her
and stayed with her all her life. Her governess, Baroness Lehzen, was
German, as were all of her teachers until the time she was twelve years
old, and it is said that she spoke English with a German accent.
Of course Victoria's life was different from the lives of other
children, and this she must early have perceived. There are, however,
little stories of her childhood which show that she was really not so
different from ordinary children as some of her serious biographers
would have one think. She was very fond of dolls, and had, it is said,
one hundred and thirty-two of them who lived in a house of their own.
Even with these, however, she was not allowed to play just as other
children did, for her governess made use of them to teach her little
charge court etiquette. And indeed, some means of teaching the child
court etiquette was necessary, as her mother refused to allow her to
appear at the royal court and receive her lessons there at first hand.
The court of George IV was most disreputable, and the Duchess of Kent
wisely judged that it was no place for her little daughter. When William
IV came to the throne in 1830, Victoria's mother still refused to allow
the child to be much at court, for though the new king was in some ways
better than his predecessor had been, he was far from being a moral man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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