So I was reading We two, by Gillian Gill when I came across a very interesting passage saying that if Queen Victoria's father had not made a will naming his wife Victoria of Saxe-Coburg as his daughter's guardian, Victoria would have been brought up by her father's relative. Mrs. Gill proceeded to guess would her life with her paternal relatives would have been like
If her father had not made a will, the guardianship and custody of the Princess Victoria would have gone to her eldest male kinsman, the prince regent. As a ward of the Crown, she would have grown up in the household of one of her many female relatives until she was considered an adult and given a household of her own. She would have grown up a Hanoverian from babyhood an habituee of the English Court under the direct influence of her two uncle kings, George IV and his successor William IV.
A Hanoverian Victoria would have been introduced as a girl to the notorious set that clustered around her uncle George at Carlton House, his opulent London residence. She would have met Lord Melbourne when they were dashing young men about town. She would have matched wits over dinner with some of the great minds of the day. She would have and education in art, architecture, and design from her uncle George, who was in the process of building the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and transforming Windsor Castle into a modern royal residence. She would have grown up with her uncle William’s bastards, the FitzClarences, and enjoyed the rough and tumble of a house filled with children. A Hanoverian Victoria would have been a very different woman, a very different Queen. History would have been different.
So my question is what if Edward didn't leave a will or died before signing it. How would a Hanoverian raised Queen Victoria's reign look?
Would she still mary Albert of Sax-Coburg-Gotha? Would the Victorian era be remembered as a time of dour restraint? Would Victoria be a figurehead for her consort or rule like her female predecessors, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Anne?
If her father had not made a will, the guardianship and custody of the Princess Victoria would have gone to her eldest male kinsman, the prince regent. As a ward of the Crown, she would have grown up in the household of one of her many female relatives until she was considered an adult and given a household of her own. She would have grown up a Hanoverian from babyhood an habituee of the English Court under the direct influence of her two uncle kings, George IV and his successor William IV.
A Hanoverian Victoria would have been introduced as a girl to the notorious set that clustered around her uncle George at Carlton House, his opulent London residence. She would have met Lord Melbourne when they were dashing young men about town. She would have matched wits over dinner with some of the great minds of the day. She would have and education in art, architecture, and design from her uncle George, who was in the process of building the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and transforming Windsor Castle into a modern royal residence. She would have grown up with her uncle William’s bastards, the FitzClarences, and enjoyed the rough and tumble of a house filled with children. A Hanoverian Victoria would have been a very different woman, a very different Queen. History would have been different.
So my question is what if Edward didn't leave a will or died before signing it. How would a Hanoverian raised Queen Victoria's reign look?
Would she still mary Albert of Sax-Coburg-Gotha? Would the Victorian era be remembered as a time of dour restraint? Would Victoria be a figurehead for her consort or rule like her female predecessors, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Anne?
