Buzz
Queen Victoria (1819–1901) was not only the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but she also defined an entire era—the Victorian Age, which was named in her honor. Though her reign was long and transformative, she remains an enigma to many, with much of her personal life known only to historians. Her image is often reduced to a stiff, prim, and distant monarch—an inaccurate portrayal that doesn't capture the complexity of her character.
This stereotype, however, clashes with the passionate and vibrant individual she truly was. The following 10 surprising facts about Queen Victoria will reveal a much different side to her—one that contrasts sharply with the stern, unapproachable figure many still envision.
10. She Maintained an Extensive Journal Throughout Her Life
Starting in 1832 at the age of 13, the young girl who would later become Queen Victoria began keeping a journal. By the time of her passing in 1901 at the age of 81, her written records had accumulated to an astonishing 43,000 pages. Throughout her journals, she expressed her thoughts on a wide range of topics, from the political landscape and her prime ministers to deeply personal reflections about her adored husband, Prince Albert.
On October 10, 1839, she wrote with great emotion, "It was with some emotion that I beheld Albert—who is beautiful." She fondly described the tender moment when he embraced her and they kissed repeatedly. Her journals also reveal her sorrow after his death.
In 1885, Victoria documented the fall of Khartoum and the uncertain fate of Major-General Charles George Gordon. She detailed her coronation on June 28, 1838, as well as the overwhelming applause she received during her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Victoria also remembered that the first volume of her journal was a gift from her mother, intended for her to document a trip to Wales.
Although many of the original journals were destroyed by her daughter, Princess Beatrice, who also served as her private secretary, copies of the surviving volumes have been preserved. These are now available online, thanks to Queen Elizabeth II, her great-great-granddaughter, and the Royal Archives.
9. She Took the Initiative to Propose to Her Future Husband
From the moment Victoria laid eyes on Albert, it was love at first sight. Tradition dictated that the suitor should propose, but as queen, Victoria took matters into her own hands. On October 15, 1839, at the age of 20, she proposed to Albert, as noted in her journal.
Victoria's journal recounts that she called Albert to a private room and, with great care, expressed her joy at the prospect of him accepting her proposal. She shared, “We embraced each other over and over again, and he was so kind, so affectionate.” The couple was married on February 10, 1840.
8. She Endured Eight Assassination Attempts
Between 1840 and 1882, Queen Victoria survived eight separate assassination attempts. Remarkably, she lived through each of them.
The first attempt on her life took place on June 10, 1840, when 18-year-old Edward Oxford, a bartender, fired his dueling pistol twice at the queen, who was four months pregnant with her first child. She and her husband were seated in a carriage outside Buckingham Palace. Oxford was quickly tackled and arrested, later found guilty but insane. He spent 24 years in an asylum before being deported to Australia, where he spent the remainder of his life.
John Francis made two separate attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria. His first attempt occurred on May 29, 1842, while she and her husband were riding in an open carriage after church. As he aimed his flintlock pistol at her, the weapon misfired. Disguising his pistol beneath his coat, Francis disappeared into Green Park.
The following day, Francis made his second attempt during the royal couple's return journey by carriage. Expecting the assassin to strike again, they waited for him to act. When he did, Francis was swiftly captured. Although he was sentenced to be hanged and quartered, Victoria showed mercy and commuted his sentence to lifelong banishment.
John William Bean, a 17-year-old with a severe spinal deformity, also made an attempt on Queen Victoria's life. Using the same method as Francis, Bean's gun failed to discharge. He later claimed that his weapon was loaded with tobacco instead of gunpowder. Arrested that night, July 3, 1842, at his family's home, Bean was sentenced to 18 months of hard labor.
On June 19, 1849, twenty-four-year-old William Hamilton, an unemployed bricklayer, saw his chance to kill the queen. During her official birthday celebrations, Queen Victoria, accompanied by her three children, was traveling in a carriage through Hyde Park and Regent's Park. As they made their way back to Buckingham Palace, Hamilton fired his pistol but failed to harm anyone. For his crime, Hamilton was exiled to Gibraltar for seven years.
On June 27, 1850, after visiting her ailing uncle, Victoria was attacked when her carriage stopped outside Cambridge House. Robert Pate, a peculiar British army officer, struck the queen on the forehead with his cane, leaving her with a large bruise and a black eye. He was sentenced to seven years in the penal colony of Tasmania.
Another attempt occurred on February 29, 1872, when 17-year-old Arthur O'Connor, a descendant of Irish revolutionaries, snuck into Buckingham Palace grounds by climbing over a fence. As Victoria's carriage was on its return journey, O'Connor stood just one foot away and pointed a gun at the queen. However, her personal servant, John Brown, tackled the assailant. O'Connor was whipped 20 times, imprisoned for a year, and sent to Australia.
On March 2, 1882, after taking a train from London to Windsor, Queen Victoria was leaving the station in her carriage when she heard a loud noise, which she mistook for an engine explosion. The noise was actually a gunshot fired by 28-year-old Roderick Maclean, who had attempted to assassinate the queen. As Maclean was being subdued by a crowd of Eton students, the police rescued him. At his trial, Maclean was found guilty but insane and was placed in an asylum until his death.
7. She Had a Fondness for Nude Art
Jonathan Marsden, the chief curator of the 2010 exhibition Victoria & Albert: Art & Love at The Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace, mentioned that the display would shock those who saw Queen Victoria as a strict, modest woman. Contrary to expectations, she had a preference for nude art, while her husband Albert preferred artworks with more conservative depictions.
For Victoria’s 23rd birthday, Albert commissioned a statue of himself, dressed in a kilt and barefoot, showing much of his legs. Though the queen admired the piece, she placed it “on a secluded staircase, away from the eyes of visitors at Osborne House, the queen’s residence on the Isle of Wight.”
While Victoria wasn't bothered by the statue, she placed it there to spare Albert's embarrassment. He thought the statue's exposed legs and feet were too revealing for the setting. To address this, Albert requested a second statue with a longer kilt and sandals.
For his birthdays, Victoria would often gift Albert paintings featuring nudity, which were displayed proudly in their home.
6. One of Her Loyal Subjects Left Her a Fortune in His Will
John Camden Neild, a reclusive and eccentric figure, held the position of Lay Rector of North Marston. Despite his substantial wealth, he refused to spend money on maintaining his property, allowing the vicarage and surrounding buildings to fall into decay. A former barrister and magistrate, Neild also owned estates in Buckinghamshire, Kent, and Chelsea. He had inherited a fortune from his father, a silversmith.
Upon his death, Neild bequeathed a remarkable sum of £500,000 to Queen Victoria. She utilized this legacy to finance repairs for the North Marston parish, using the “miser’s fortune” to restore the church’s chancel and east window. The queen also made a contribution to reopen the parish’s National School.
It is believed that part of Neild’s generous gift to the queen also helped fund her children’s weddings and enhancements to Balmoral Castle. To commemorate her benefactor’s memory and generosity, Victoria ordered the creation of a royal memorial.
5. She Was Anesthetized During Childbirth
Dr. John Snow developed an early interest in ether and chloroform, writing numerous articles on these anesthetics. Later in his career, he collaborated with Victoria’s physicians.
Although Snow believed in the safety of anesthesia, Victoria’s doctors were initially skeptical. At Albert’s request, Snow administered chloroform to Victoria during the births of her seventh child, Arthur (later Duke of Connaught), her eighth, Leopold (later Duke of Albany), and her youngest, Princess Beatrice.
In each instance, Snow used the open-drop method, where liquid chloroform was placed on a mask covering the face and mouth.
4. She Prevented War With The United States
At the onset of the US Civil War, Great Britain leaned towards supporting the Confederacy. The relationship between the United States and Britain reached a boiling point when Confederate diplomats James Murray Mason and John Slidell were forcibly removed from the British ship Trent.
The British saw this as a breach of neutrality, and tensions escalated to the brink of war with the United States. Earl Russell, the Foreign Secretary, prepared an ultimatum filled with harsh terms likely to provoke conflict.
Though Albert was gravely ill, he revised the ultimatum to enable the US to meet Britain’s demands while saving face. The United States accepted, agreeing to release Mason and Slidell.
Having concurred with Albert’s strategy, Victoria gave her approval for the delivery of the revised document. Her decision helped prevent a costly and potentially disastrous war between her nation and the United States.
3. She Witnessed Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
In 1887, Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show staged a special performance for Victoria. While the grandstands could hold 40,000 spectators, only the queen, her guests, and entourage, a total of 26 people, were in the audience. The queen was captivated by the show, which featured nearly 200 performers, including cowboys, Mexican vaqueros, Annie Oakley and her husband, as well as horses, buffalo, and a stagecoach under attack by Indians.
Following the performance, Victoria had the opportunity to meet Annie Oakley and several Sioux performers, all of whom left a lasting impression on the queen. She was equally awestruck by them. That evening at Windsor Castle, Victoria wrote in her journal about the event, praising the show and describing “Col. Cody, ‘Buffalo Bill’ as he is called, [whom she saw as] a splendid man, handsome and gentlemanlike in manner.”
Though the painted representations of Indians unnerved her somewhat, Oglala Sioux performer Black Elk remarked, “We liked Grandmother England because we could see that she was a fine woman, and she was good to us. Maybe if she had been our Grandmother, it would have been better for our people.”
2. She Gifted President Hayes The Desk Used By Presidents Ever Since
Victoria presented President Rutherford B. Hayes with a desk crafted from the timber of the British Arctic Exploration ship Resolute, which became its namesake. This was one of four desks made from the ship’s remnants by William Evenden.
Victoria kept a duplicate of the desk she gave to Hayes, which can be found in Windsor Castle, along with a writing table made for her private yacht, the HMY Victoria and Albert II. A smaller, ladies’ version of the desk was later given to the widow of US merchant and philanthropist Henry Grinnell.
1. She Was Twice Rumored To Have Had Love Affairs
Victoria was the subject of rumors regarding two alleged love affairs, one prior to her marriage with Albert and another after his passing.
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, served as prime minister during Victoria's early reign. She regarded him as a fatherly figure and he guided her through the intricate world of politics. In exchange, she excused him for his habit of nodding off after meals and snoring during chapel services. These allowances were not extended to others, and their close rapport did not go unnoticed by those around them.
Outside of matters of state, Lord Melbourne's counsel was not always wise. He suggested that Victoria give weight to the idea that Sir John Conroy might have fathered a child with Lady Flora, one of her ladies-in-waiting, who appeared to be pregnant.
Unbeknownst to others, Lady Flora was suffering from cancer. Her tumors gave her the appearance of being pregnant. When Lady Flora passed away, Victoria's willingness to have believed the worst about her caused a scandal. Victoria’s carriage was stoned during the funeral, she was booed at the theater, and at Ascot, women called out “Mrs. Melbourne” in reference to her.
The second rumored love affair is said to have occurred after Albert's passing. John Brown, Albert’s manservant, was a rough and unpolished man. However, his humor and unwavering devotion brought Victoria comfort and laughter.
Victoria granted him considerable freedom in their interactions, overlooking his frequent drunkenness and even allowing him to contradict her. He was frequently by her side, both at the castle and during her travels across Europe and beyond.
As time passed, rumors began to spread. Behind closed doors, Victoria was referred to as “Mrs. Brown” and gossipers speculated that she and Brown had secretly married or even had a child together. In truth, it seems Victoria valued having a confidant she could trust, and after Albert’s death, Brown filled this role for her.
