I do not mean to deny that there would be social and other butterflies from a different monarch - for Victoria, coming to the throne in an era when the monarchy still had some political clout and proceeding to become such a towering figure in the popular imagination, they would be enormous; but the puritanical standards of the British middle-classes were not her sole doing. If there's a single simplified explanation, it's that the early-Victorian middle-classes were anxious to prove their moral supremacy over the degenerate aristocracy (and the common people, but that goes without saying), and that one of the ways in which they demonstrated their refinement and sophistication was in making sure the female members of the tribe didn't do anything except play the piano.