BBC_Timewatch Young Victoria
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00:00Victoria. Her empire ruled a quarter of the world's population, but she was once a passionate,
00:14excitable young girl. A girl who had to battle to become queen. While researching my book
00:22on Victoria, a forgotten story emerged of her epic struggle to come to the throne.
00:31It's a story of greed and power played out in royal palaces and some of Britain's greatest
00:37buildings. It's also a story of a bankrupt monarchy redeemed. This is a film about the
00:44torturous early life of the most powerful little girl in the world.
01:06King George III was a popular monarch who came to the throne in 1760.
01:11Farmer George fathered 15 children, nine sons and six daughters.
01:18His court was famously bourgeois, family-centered and dull.
01:25But by 1817, the king was insane and locked away at Windsor. The future of the crown was in doubt.
01:33His sons and heirs had grown into selfish playboys who drank too much, had scores of illegitimate
01:38children and were running up enormous debts. The king's eldest son George was appointed Prince
01:43Regent, ruling over the country while his father was incapable. Prinny was also the only son who
01:49had managed to father a legitimate heir to the throne, his daughter Princess Charlotte.
01:55Unlike her father, she was much loved by the people, the great hope for the future of the
02:00monarchy. She set up a happy home at Claremont House in Surrey, but here events took a disastrous
02:06turn. Aged just 21, Princess Charlotte died tragically in childbirth. The death of Charlotte
02:12brought the country close to revolution, but out of the tragedy of Charlotte's death comes this
02:17incredible story of struggle and success of a young princess who was passionate, vibrant and
02:24determined to fight for the throne. With the young heiress Charlotte dead, George's brothers took
02:30centre stage. Those next in line to the throne were the Duke of York, the Duke of Clarence,
02:38the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Cumberland. When Charlotte dies in childbirth, this is the
02:45starting pistol for the baby race because all the other brothers, all the other sons, now have to
02:50make legitimate marriages. So there was an absolute panic for everybody to acquire a legitimate wife
02:55and acquire a legitimate child who could be heir to the throne of England. And people were joking
03:00about it even at the time. There's one poem I really like, it's by Peter Pindard, you know,
03:06it's one that goes, hot and hard each royal pair are at it hunting for the heir.
03:13The fourth son of the king was Edward, the Duke of Kent. Of all the dukes, he was considered by
03:18many to be the best of a bad bunch, although he too had a long-term mistress. But now he set his
03:26sights on a young widow, Princess Victoire from the tiny German principality of Saxe-Coburg.
03:33They were married in the summer of 1818. He was 50, she was just 32. Well, she was born a Coburg,
03:42very powerful family ruling an incredibly tiny principality. And then she gets this rather
03:47flattering offer from the Duke of Kent, and this brings her into the English royal family,
03:51which is obviously a step up. But it's a risk, isn't it? Because she's got independence,
03:57she's got her life sorted out, really, and she takes the risk. And I feel kind of sorry for her,
04:02really, because although she's entering the English royal family, they don't want her, she's German.
04:08Barely two months after their wedding, the Duke and Duchess of Kent left London to live in Germany.
04:14The Duke was in severe financial difficulties, and the move was a desperate attempt to save money.
04:23They arrived here in the Palace of Ammerbach in central Germany,
04:27then a cold and modernized ruin, miles from civilization.
04:31The Duchess was happier in her beloved Germany, and the Duke relished the chance
04:35to renovate a new property, consequently getting himself deeper and deeper in debt.
04:42The pair settled into a happy life here in the palace, and soon had one piece of excellent news.
04:48The Duchess was pregnant. To prove that the child really was legitimate, it was important
04:54that the Duchess be given a proper birth, and that she be given a proper burial.
05:01It was imperative that the birth was witnessed by key members of the British establishment.
05:06So, with the Duchess eight months pregnant,
05:08she and the Duke had to collect their belongings and race back to London.
05:20The Duke of Kent applied to his brother, the Prince of Wales, Prinny.
05:23He wanted money to come to England. The Prince of Wales refused.
05:26So, they set off in this sort of procession, or it's a parade, this rather scuzzy parade of,
05:32you know, phantoms and landowns. And, in fact, the Duke of Kent himself drove, just to save money,
05:37470 miles, something like that, across potholed roads with an inexperienced coachman
05:43and a seven-month pregnant Duchess. It was a pretty nasty thing.
05:57The party arrived in Calais on the 18th of April and then drummed their heels,
06:01waiting for the weather to improve. The Duchess breathed deeply and held on.
06:06Finally, six days later, they embarked on the Royal Yacht for England.
06:11After three hours of rough seas, they arrived here in Dover and then set off for Kensington Palace.
06:26On the 24th of May, 1819, the Duchess of Kent gave birth to a baby girl here in Kensington Palace.
06:57The new baby was described as being a pretty little princess, as plump as a partridge.
07:04But when the Regent heard that his brother had now produced an heir to the throne,
07:08he was furious. He turned the christening into a farce, vetoing all the family's regal-sounding
07:15chosen names. The Archbishop of Canterbury stood with the child by the front, waiting to be told
07:21what to call her. The Regent was determined that the Kent's baby would never be queen,
07:26so he refused to give her a royal name. Finally, he declared, give her the mother's name,
07:32and so the little girl became the first person in England ever to be called Victoria.
07:38The royal world that Victoria was born into was a rapidly changing one. Under her grandfather,
07:43King George III, the monarchy had enjoyed widespread popularity. But under the despised
07:49Prince Regent with his profligate brothers, the once popular royal family seemed a thing of the
07:54past. People were very worried about the future of the monarchy, about the political future.
07:59There was growing claims for political reform. The French Revolution was still in people's minds.
08:05So all of these things were playing out, and playing out very much in a kind of public
08:09sphere of newspapers. Caricaturists were pillaring the elite. So I think it was anxious times in many
08:15ways for Britain in those years. A lot of the royal dukes, what Victoria came to call later
08:20her disreputable or her disgraceful uncles, they were all in debt. They gambled, they borrowed
08:26money from their friends, they took out loans, they were profligate. And yet, of course, they
08:30felt they were of the royal blood. So they thought they had some sort of expectations
08:33of how they should live. So they got deeply in debt.
08:56The Duke of Kent was massively in debt, just like his brothers. In a bid to save money,
09:01he moved his new family to this house, then a damp, cold cottage by the sea.
09:07They arrived here on Christmas Day with Princess Victoria, just six months old.
09:12The Duchess spent her time walking on the seafront and practising her English.
09:16But the Duke was less content. The debts were mounting, and he decided that come springtime,
09:22they should all move back to Germany. But before the Duke could put his plan into action,
09:27events in Sidmouth sent little Victoria's life in an entirely different direction.
09:43The Duke of Kent took long walks on the beach in the pouring rain,
09:47often returning to the cottage soaked to the bone. He soon caught a cold and did not recover.
09:53By 12th January, Victoria's father was seriously ill.
09:57Delirious, vomiting and suffering from chest pains, he had to be propped up even to breathe.
10:02After the Duke of Kent took to his bed, obviously the local doctor was called in,
10:06and immediately he recommended cupping, which really involved taking a heated cup,
10:12making a cut in the skin and placing the heated cup over it. And then as the cup cooled,
10:17it would create a vacuum that would draw increasing amounts of blood. This was repeated
10:21time and time again with the Duke, taking out several litres of blood over several days.
10:25The Duke had a strong constitution, but the cupping and the constant bleeding must have
10:29taken so much blood out of his system that ultimately he must have hastened his end.
10:34The dying Duke summoned the strength to ask for his will to be drawn up. In it he appointed
10:54the Duchess sole guardian of Victoria. On being told that his signature was legible,
10:59he fell back against the pillows. Next morning, the Duke died, holding his Duchess's hand.
11:06Princess Victoria was now fourth in line to the throne.
11:09She and her mother were brought back from Sidmouth and into the royal fold in London.
11:21Within days, the infant Victoria would move even closer to the throne.
11:26Her grandfather, King George III, who'd been ill for so long, finally passed away.
11:33At the death of George III, the entire nation went into mourning. Thousands of people attended
12:01his funeral here in St George's Chapel. He had lost America and sired a clutch of useless children,
12:09but his plain speaking had charmed his people and his struggle with illness had won their
12:14sympathies. They grieved for him and they dreaded the regent becoming king.
12:23Victoria was now third in line to the throne. King George IV wanted the Duchess of Kent and
12:29her baby out of the way. Deep in debt and frightened of the new king, the Duchess began
12:34to rely on a handsome and persuasive young Irishman called John Conroy, previously the Duke
12:40of Kent's equerry. With the Duchess all alone, he seized his opportunity to influence her and her
12:46daughter Victoria. Well, Conroy, I think, wasn't good news. I mean, Conroy was an unscrupulous sort
12:53of Irish person that got into the household and was on the make, wasn't he? And really,
12:58he seized his opportunity. In 1820, the Duke of Kent died, the princess's father, and he kind
13:05of moved in, didn't he? He moved in on the Duchess of Kent, you know, who wasn't exactly Einstein for
13:12a start. And he obviously saw a way to controlling the way things could go. He was supposed to be
13:20quite a charming man. He was quite a persuasive man. He was quite a talker. He was actually quite
13:26a crude man and quite a sort of rough man. And he was very ambitious. And in the end, he turned out
13:31to be very, very manipulative. He felt that he could really end up as the kind of Svengali figure
13:39behind the future queen. For the Duchess of Kent and John Conroy, Victoria's succession was vital.
13:48They knew the little princess was now their ticket to unlimited riches and power.
13:54Victoria herself was a real little terror, wasn't she? I can see that she must have been a real
14:01handful because she had such a strong and determined character. But she had this really
14:06weird upbringing because she was so heavily controlled, looked after. She was the focus of
14:13attention. She was her mother's meal ticket. She spent most of her time with adults. The only girls
14:19that she was allowed to play with were the daughters of the evil Sir John Conroy. So she was living in
14:24a sort of curious prison. Victoria's earliest memory was of crawling on a yellow carpet
14:30here in Kensington Palace. She was told that if she cried, her uncle Sussex, who lived next door,
14:36would come and punish her. Typically, defiant little Victoria responded by screaming loudly
14:41every time she saw him. As the Duchess of Kent said, the little mouse has a will of her own.
14:48This single-mindedness was a vital part of Victoria's character. She would come to rely
14:53on it in the years ahead in her battles with her mother and John Conroy. I think Victoria's
14:59childhood, what she called her melancholy childhood, had several effects on her. I think it forged her
15:05as a character of steel. I think the iron entered her soul during her childhood and I think it
15:11showed her as the resolute monarch she was going to be throughout her very long reign. The
15:17Duchess and Conroy were determined to control Victoria, so they created a regime for her that
15:22became known as the Kensington System. At the heart of the system was 24-hour surveillance on the little
15:29girl. At the same time, she was forced to sleep in her mother's bedroom and she was never allowed
15:34to be alone. The Duchess appointed a governess for the young Victoria, Baroness Lateson. The
15:45Baroness became Victoria's closest ally. The two were inseparable and Lateson guarded the young
15:52girl obsessively. Even so, there were still fears for the safety of young Victoria. The Duke of
15:59Cumberland posed a particular threat, for following the death of the Duke of York, he was now third in
16:04the line of succession. The only person blocking his route to the throne was little Princess Victoria.
16:11I think the Duke of Cumberland was seen as the vilest in the eyes of the public, really, and there
16:17were all sorts of terrible rumours about what he got up to and what his reputation was like. For
16:23example, he was supposed to have murdered his valet, he was supposed to have been involved in an incestuous
16:28relationship with one of his sisters, and it's reported that the Times noted when he died that
16:34there was nothing good that they could find to say about him. He was so fantastically disliked by the
16:39British nation. The Duchess and Conroy were convinced that the Duke of Cumberland wished
16:45to kidnap and kill the young Victoria. As a consequence, she was watched at all times, her
16:51food was tasted before every meal, and she was forbidden to walk downstairs without someone else
16:57holding her hand. But the royal family was becoming increasingly concerned about Conroy's
17:02influence and greed for power. Various members of the family tried to warn the Duchess of Kent about
17:08him, but to no avail. The warnings given to the Duchess of Kent, particularly by Princess Adelaide,
17:14who is the wife of the Duke of Clarence, really reinforced her feeling that she must keep
17:22close to Conroy, and that Conroy must continue to be her advisor. So this was evidence, she thought,
17:29that all of those relations were out to get her, and trying to part her from her only
17:34source of support. In June 1830, King George IV died, and the childless Duke of Clarence
17:41became King William IV. Victoria was now heir to the throne. Just 11 years old, the unlikely
17:50princess now seemed certain to be the next queen. It was at this point that Conroy and the Duchess
17:56of Kent made their bid for power. Almost the day after George IV died, and his brother, of
18:03course, ascended the throne, the Duke of Clarence ascended the throne as William IV, the Duchess
18:07wrote to the Duke of Wellington, who was the Prime Minister at the time, the Tory Prime Minister,
18:11actually immediately laying out her claim, asking for, wanting to become the Dowager Princess of
18:17Wales, asking for an increased allowance, basically positioning herself as the mother of
18:24William IV's heir. She says, I'd like to have my debts paid, please, and I would like to be the
18:30official regent to my daughter. So she's saying at that point, I see Victoria as the heir to the
18:36throne, I don't think William IV is going to have any children, that's what she's saying.
18:41She's really staking her claim. But this was the moment that they really, they saw the prize within
18:46their grasp, and their actions from then on were absolutely to position themselves
18:51for her to be regent and for Victoria to ascend the throne.
19:02The Duchess was obsessed with becoming regent and getting her hands on the money that would
19:06come with a position. She embarked on an ambitious project to increase her own popularity by taking
19:13the young Victoria on a series of journeys all over the country.
19:23After months of planning and poring over maps, Victoria's first grand tour set out from Kensington
19:29Palace. The carriages rumbled off for the Midlands and the towns of Stratford, Warwick and Birmingham.
19:35The tour was a great success, there were brass bands and cheering crowds all the way.
19:40But Victoria was miserable. She missed her beloved pet, she was surrounded by
19:45Conroy and his family, and the Duchess kept pushing her aside to grasp the attention.
19:51And it wasn't just Victoria who resented the Duchess stealing the limelight.
19:55And if the Duchess of Kent and her daughter are staying in some of the great family houses of
20:00these powerful elite families with their own political influence, if she's visiting some
20:06of the great mercantile cities and getting, you know, loyal addresses and entertainment and
20:11receptions and so on, it all detracts from the central role of the actual monarch. It does mean
20:16that William becomes quite a stickler for insisting that the Duchess of Kent should stay
20:22within the boundaries that have been provided.
20:28The conflict between King William and the Duchess was growing.
20:32In September 1831, William IV was crowned King at Westminster Abbey.
20:38He called it a useless and ill-timed expense. But he imposed one very strict condition,
20:45and this made the Duchess of Kent so angry that she took drastic action,
20:49boycotting the ceremony and fleeing London.
21:01The King commanded that Princess Victoria must follow behind his brothers as he walked up the
21:06aisle. Furious at what she saw as an attack on her daughter's position as heir to the throne,
21:12the Duchess declared that she and the Princess would not attend the coronation.
21:17Instead, she wished the young Victoria here to Norris Castle on the Isle of Wight.
21:22London reeled at the shocking news that the Duchess had snatched the young Victoria away,
21:27snubbing the coronation. The Times reported that the Duchess had refused to attend.
21:32The editor made it patently clear who should be blamed.
21:36We should be glad to know who are the advisors of this misguided lady.
21:53Victoria was angry and frustrated at missing her uncle's coronation,
21:57but even as a lonely and isolated child, she found solace in the beautiful surroundings.
22:03Victoria loved Norris Castle. Really, the Duchess was bribing her for not attending
22:08the coronation. The Princess adored the freedom of being away from Kensington,
22:14able to see the sea. As she wrote later,
22:17Kensington looks so gloomy, and the trees are quite bare. What a sad, sad change from dear Norris.
22:38Now that Victoria was in her teens and showing signs of rebellion,
22:42the Duchess was growing ever more intent on absolute power.
22:46And to this end, she introduced a new daily task.
22:52Eager to control her daughter, the Duchess bought her a diary and told her to write in it every day.
22:58She wanted to read Victoria's innermost thoughts. But although she resented the invasion of privacy,
23:04Victoria embraced the diary, writing pages and pages every night.
23:09It now forms a unique insight into the mind of the teenage Princess.
23:15Victoria began her diary with her description of her first grand tour.
23:19It's clear that at the tender age of 13, she was shocked by what she saw.
23:25The men, women, children, country and houses are all black. The country is very desolate.
23:32Engines flaming, everywhere smoking and burning coal heaps,
23:35intermingled with wretched huts and little ragged children.
23:40The grand tour exposed Victoria to the general public
23:43and it began to open her eyes to the country she would one day rule.
23:47But it also infuriated the King.
23:50What I think in general affronts William is their presumption and their
23:56grandeur in acting so independently. This is not a tour which has court approval.
24:01We have to remember that under the Regency Act,
24:04the Duchess has been appointed regent in the event of William
24:07not surviving until Victoria's 18th birthday in 1837.
24:14So a royal progress modelled very explicitly on those of the lioness herself, Elizabeth I,
24:22introducing Victoria as the heir to the throne,
24:25really does create an impression of vultures circling above William.
24:29So at a time when he's struggling to improve the popular image of the House of Hanover,
24:35it would have been deeply grating to receive reports of the loyal addresses,
24:41the cheering crowds, on occasion even the regal salutes which greet her.
24:46As Victoria grew older, her relationship with the King grew stronger.
24:50He became even more opposed to the influence of her mother and John Conroy.
24:55They now hatched a plan to totally discredit the young princess.
24:59Victoria was almost 15 and King William IV was gloating in his good health,
25:05determined to eke out his life until his young successor turned 18.
25:09The Duchess and Conroy saw power slipping away from them,
25:13so they decided to present Victoria as too childish to govern herself, let alone the country,
25:18and so she would need the Duchess to be her regent past the age of 18, perhaps up until 21.
25:25In July 1835, at Victoria's confirmation ceremony,
25:29the King publicly humiliated John Conroy, expelling him from the service.
25:34The incident brought mother and daughter into direct conflict yet again.
25:38Just an hour after the ceremony, the Duchess wrote to Victoria,
25:42telling her of all her great sacrifices for her.
25:46She commanded her to dismiss Baroness Lateson, but Victoria refused.
25:51She knew she had great struggles ahead and Lateson would be her only support.
25:57I felt that my confirmation was one of the most solemn and important events in my life.
26:02I went with the firm determination to become a true Christian,
26:06to try and comfort my dear mama in all her griefs, trials and anxieties.
26:12Also to be obedient to dear Lateson, who has done so much for me.
26:17It's interesting in this diary entry that when Victoria writes dear Lateson,
26:21the word dear is italicised, she's emphasising her affection,
26:25but when she writes dear referring to her mother, she doesn't bother to italicise it.
26:30This may seem like a minor detail,
26:32but it's a clear sign of what was developing into a struggle for the throne itself.
26:46In the autumn of 1835, Victoria, the Duchess and the Conroys
27:10took one of their customary holidays to Ramsgate and stayed here in Albion House.
27:15Soon after their arrival, Victoria fell seriously ill.
27:18Initially, the Duchess told her she was malingering,
27:21but then when Victoria became delirious and seemed close to death,
27:25her mother desperately called for the doctors from London.
27:32Victoria was heir to the throne, but if she were to die now,
27:35the Duchess and Conroy would lose everything.
27:38The Duke of Cumberland would inherit.
27:40Victoria's illness in Ramsgate would be her greatest crisis so far.
27:44The Princess was still desperately ill when her mother paid a visit
27:47and commanded her to sign a paper appointing John Conroy as her private secretary
27:52in charge of her household.
27:54Victoria refused, but the Duchess loomed over her, demanding that she obey.
27:59Then she sent in Conroy to threaten.
28:01Over and over, as Victoria wept with fever,
28:04he thrust the paper under her nose and commanded her to sign.
28:08But Victoria still refused.
28:11She emerged from her ordeal, determined to rely on herself.
28:15When Conroy and her mother told her that they were only trying to help her,
28:18she knew that they were lying.
28:21I think it was at Ramsgate that the battle lines were really drawn.
28:25We don't know why Princess Victoria hated Conroy so much.
28:29There's been a lot of speculation about this.
28:31In the wilder shores of Spain,
28:34In the wilder shores of speculation, it was that he made advances to her.
28:40I think that's probably very unlikely.
28:42It is possible he had a relationship with her mother that she judged to be inappropriate,
28:46that she was supposed to have found her mother in his arms at one time.
28:50We'll never know that.
28:51As for my part, I think that actually his behaviour to her,
28:55a young girl in her formative years,
28:57was sufficient to explain her dislike of her,
29:01of him, without us needing to look for other reasons.
29:06Seemingly destined to become queen,
29:08Victoria was still a pawn in the marriage market.
29:12But an unlikely suitor now appeared on the scene,
29:15a man who would play a major part in her battle with her mother.
29:30Prince Albert first arrived here in Kensington Palace in May 1836.
29:35Victoria waited at the top of the stone steps
29:38and watched Albert and his brother Ernest being shown in.
29:42She was not immediately impressed by Albert,
29:44rather preferring his brother Ernest,
29:47although she did admit to her diary that Albert had a most
29:50honest, good-natured and intelligent countenance.
29:53She's very attracted to him,
29:56but this is partly because she leads this isolated life, I think,
30:00and she doesn't get out very much,
30:02and she's very glad to see another young person.
30:05So she's not instantly in love and wanting to marry,
30:08but it's definitely a significant moment.
30:10How could it not be?
30:11It's the start of her life in many ways.
30:13In 1836, the king's health began to fail.
30:17If he died now, he would have to spend the rest of his life
30:20In 1836, the king's health began to fail.
30:22If he died now, before Victoria reached 18,
30:25then the Duchess and Conroy would finally get their hands
30:28on the money and power they so craved.
30:31He was desperate to make sure that he stayed alive for long enough
30:35for Victoria to ascend the throne as queen in her own right,
30:40not with her mother, and particularly her mother's consort,
30:44co-conspirator, John Conroy, as sort of co-regent.
30:50The lines were now firmly drawn,
30:55and the battle between the king and the Duchess was about to come to a head.
31:00On a trip to Parliament, the king took a detour past Kensington Palace.
31:04He was horrified to find that the Duchess had occupied
31:07and remodelled the entire upper floor.
31:10Without his permission, she had taken over 17 rooms
31:14and transformed his state bedchamber into her new boudoir.
31:19This, for the king, was the final straw.
31:23The furious king waited his chance to confront the Duchess.
31:26It came on the occasion of his birthday in August 1836.
31:31The situation really came to boiling point at the king's birthday.
31:36A couple of days before, he'd been to Kensington Palace on an unexpected visit,
31:40and he'd found that the Duchess had appropriated several suites of rooms,
31:44which he had refused permission for her to do.
31:47So he upbraided her for that, and then, on his birthday,
31:50in view of 100 guests, an important public occasion, he berated her.
31:56The king's angry speech was noted verbatim by diarist Charles Greville.
32:02I trust in God that my life may be spared for nine months longer,
32:06after which period, in the event of my death, no regency would take place.
32:11I should then have the satisfaction of leaving the royal authority
32:14to the personal exercise of that young lady, the heiress presumptive of the crown,
32:20and not in the hands of a person now near me, who is surrounded by evil advisers.
32:26Victoria burst into tears before the furious king had finished his speech.
32:31The other guests reeled in shock, leaving the fine wines and food untouched.
32:35The Duchess sat stony-faced, and when the ladies left the table,
32:39she declared that she and Victoria would walk out immediately,
32:43and she had to be begged not to do so for fear of newspaper headlines.
32:47It seemed as if matters between the king and the Duchess could not get any worse.
32:54It was an amazing thing to do. It embarrassed the Duchess terribly.
32:58She couldn't look at him in the face.
33:00Victoria burst into tears. They were guests in his house.
33:03He must have felt extremely strongly to have done such a thing,
33:07which was completely, of course, against protocol and against courtesy.
33:10But the king went even further.
33:15Just a few days before Victoria's 18th birthday, the king made her an incredible offer,
33:20£10,000 a year and permission to appoint her own attendants.
33:24He wanted her well away from Mama.
33:26But the Duchess was furious.
33:28She and Conroy forced Victoria to copy out a letter which read,
33:32I wish to remain as I am now, in the care of my dear mother.
33:37On the 24th of May, 1837, Princess Victoria turned 18.
33:42There can have been few mothers throughout history
33:45for whom their daughter's 18th birthday was such a disaster.
33:49I will strive every day to become less trifling
33:53and more fit for what, if heaven wills it, I'm someday to be.
33:58Victoria could now inherit the throne, but she was still under Conroy's control,
34:03forced to obey her mother and subjected to the Kensington system.
34:08The Kensington system, although it was, you know, horrible,
34:12was kind of the fiery furnace in which the steel in Victoria's soul was forged.
34:18And she does come through it.
34:20It must have been, you know, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
34:24And she learnt a lot of important lessons there
34:27about being nice to people that you don't like,
34:30being patient, playing a waiting game and just staying true to herself.
34:38She has a very disciplined mind.
34:40She has a propensity for hard work and a quick intelligence.
34:44And she is strikingly sure of her own fitness to rule.
34:50In the summer of 1837, the waiting game was nearly over.
34:54The King was very ill.
34:56The Duchess resorted to emotional blackmail.
34:59She wrote to her daughter, begging her to appoint Conroy as her private secretary.
35:15In the years and months before the death of William IV,
35:18the Duchess of Kent, instead of boosting her daughter from the role
35:21that it was becoming pretty obvious that she was going to have to take,
35:25actually sought to, in a sense, to undermine her.
35:27She told her all the time that she was young, she needed advice,
35:31she was far too young a girl to take on the role of state that was going to be hers.
35:36And she did more than that.
35:37She wrote to people saying that the Queen,
35:38that the Princess Victoria needed the guidance of a mother.
35:42And more than that, she needed the guidance of a man.
35:46And that man, of course, was John Conroy.
35:47And she used to try to blackmail her daughter,
35:49saying, this is what your father would have wished.
35:58Just four weeks after Victoria reached her 18th birthday,
36:01King William IV finally died.
36:09The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain
36:12hurried to Kensington Palace, arriving at five in the morning,
36:15but the Duchess refused to let them in.
36:18Finally, at six, she awoke Victoria to tell her she had important visitors.
36:23The Duchess tried to enter the room with her, but Victoria refused.
36:39Instead, she walked in alone, in her nightwear,
36:42and saw the great men kneel to her and tell her,
36:45that she was the Queen of England.
36:47Outside the door, the Duchess plotted.
36:50She was sure that the Kensington system had worked,
36:53that Victoria was under her control,
36:55and that great power and riches were still within her grasp.
36:59Victoria's first act as Queen was simple and telling.
37:03She requested that her bed be moved from her mother's room
37:07and made up in her own chamber.
37:09Her mother, Queen Victoria, was the first to enter the room.
37:12She was the first to see her mother,
37:15and made up in her own chamber.
37:17Her bid for freedom had begun, and her closest ally from now on
37:21would be the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne.
37:24She immediately formed a bond with Melbourne,
37:27and I think, from her perspective, the attraction is obvious.
37:31This is a dutiful and necessary relationship
37:34with the incumbent Prime Minister,
37:36and it represents an immediate escape from her mother's domination.
37:41So, from the off, the relationship is supercharged,
37:45and I think his influence is enhanced
37:47by the very novelty of her acting independently,
37:51by her emancipation from the Kensington system.
37:55She tells Melbourne that she plans to retain
37:58his administration and his ministers.
38:02Melbourne bows to kiss her hand in thanks.
38:05She then underlines that she wishes to make one change
38:09in the royal household,
38:10and that, of course, is the dismissal of Sir John Conroy.
38:20And Conroy realised the game was lost, so he threw in the towel.
38:24But he didn't just throw in the towel, he made excessive demands.
38:27He demanded a peerage, and he demanded a pension of £3,000.
38:32But Victoria was so desperate to get rid of him that she agreed,
38:36and, of course, the conditions on which she agreed to that
38:38were that he was never to attend court.
38:40She sticks to that one, despite her mother begging her
38:43to have him and his children at court, she won't do it.
38:46He's completely cut out of the picture.
38:48Victoria's first duty as Queen was to host a Privy Council
38:52and introduce herself to 220 of the most important men in the land.
38:58The Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, asked if she wished to be accompanied,
39:02but even though she was young, inexperienced,
39:05and utterly sheltered from men, Victoria refused.
39:09The doors opened, and the new Queen entered in her plain black mourning gown.
39:15The room fell silent.
39:30As soon as Victoria came to the throne,
39:33her mother made repeated attempts to see her.
39:36The new Queen refused her permission.
39:38I had to remind her who I was, she told Lord Melbourne.
39:42Quite right, he replied. Disagreeable, but necessary.
39:46The new Queen's first day was consumed with giving audiences to various dignitaries,
39:50all the while ignoring her mother.
39:53She dined on her own in the evening,
39:55and talked with Lord Melbourne just before she retired.
39:59That night, she slept alone for the first time in her entire life.
40:06The next step towards freedom lay in one of the many letters of congratulation.
40:11It was from her cousin Albert, and to this one she replied in person.
40:15I cannot tell you how happy you have made me by your kind, dear letter.
40:20My new situation is not an easy one,
40:23but I trust with goodwill, honesty, and courage I shall not fail.
40:28I delight in the business which I have to do,
40:30and which is not trifling either in matter or quantity.
40:37Just a few weeks later, Queen Victoria turned her back on Kensington Palace.
40:41Her life under the Kensington system was finally over.
40:46I have gone through painful and disagreeable scenes here, she wrote,
40:50but still I am fond of the poor old palace.
40:53Despite her words, she didn't return to Kensington for many years.
41:04Her new home would be the building we now most closely associate
41:07with the royal family, Buckingham Palace.
41:18Victoria's first six months as Queen was complete
41:21when Parliament voted her an annual income of almost 400,000 pounds.
41:26At just 18, she was not only the most powerful woman in the world,
41:30but also the richest.
41:32And she was about to be celebrated
41:34in one of the most flamboyant coronations in history.
41:41Diarist Charles Greville described the preparations for the big day.
41:46Not a mob here or there, but the town all mob,
41:49thronging, bustling, gaping and gazing at everything.
41:52The park won vast encampment,
41:55with banners floating on the tops of the tents.
41:57And still the roads are covered,
41:59the railroads loaded with arriving multitudes.
42:08On the 28th of June, 1838,
42:10Queen Victoria was woken at four in the morning by the sound of cannon fire.
42:15By seven o'clock, the streets were teeming.
42:18Victoria entered her gilded state coach
42:20and set off on the slow journey to Westminster Abbey.
42:36The Abbey was decorated in crimson
42:39and gold tapestries hung on the wall,
42:42while oriental carpets covered the floor.
42:45At the altar, shining with gold plate,
42:47the Archbishop of Canterbury received Victoria
42:50and pronounced her the undoubted Queen of this realm.
42:54The congregation responded to a man,
42:57God save Queen Victoria.
43:00The Archbishop came in and ought to have delivered the orb to me,
43:03but I had already got it.
43:05I replaced my crown, which I had taken off for a few minutes.
43:08The Archbishop had put the ring on the wrong finger
43:10and the consequence was that I had the greatest difficulty
43:13to take it off again.
43:15It's like Bo Peep in the middle of a Hammer film sequence, isn't it?
43:18She doesn't actually know what's going to happen next
43:20or what's going to hit her,
43:21she actually doesn't know what it's about,
43:23but she's got to go through this whole thing.
43:25And obviously she wants this kind of frail vision
43:28and things went wrong.
43:30Somebody turned over two pages,
43:32so a great chunk was missing,
43:33and she went through to St Edward's Chapel
43:35and she got through there
43:36and then they realised they'd missed two pages,
43:38so they got her back again.
43:40The Archbishop ran the coronation ring on her finger
43:44and she couldn't get the darn thing off
43:45and had to soak her finger in cold water to get it off.
43:49So it was a kind of enormous muddle.
44:03Victoria was now Queen of England
44:05and out from under her mother's direct gaze.
44:07But she complained to Lord Melbourne
44:09that the Duchess was still living with her.
44:12It was clear that the only way
44:14Victoria could escape her mother completely
44:16would be if she married.
44:18In October 1839,
44:20Ernest and Albert arrived back in London.
44:22As soon as Victoria saw them,
44:24she was delighted.
44:26Her cousins had grown into handsome men.
44:28It was with some emotion that I beheld Albert,
44:31who is beautiful and so excessively handsome.
44:35Such beautiful blue eyes,
44:37an exquisite nose and such a pretty mouth.
44:41Well, he comes back into her life.
44:44He's improved.
44:45He's travelled in Italy.
44:46He's got a bit more self-confidence,
44:48although he's never going to be a charmer.
44:50He's not a ladies' man, Albert.
44:52And he's obviously...
44:53She obviously fancies him.
44:55There's quite a strong sexual attraction between them.
44:58It's a very isolated position, being the Queen of England.
45:01Very few people, obviously.
45:02There was nobody who was her equal who could approach her.
45:04And I think she'd begun to find that she needed...
45:06She wanted companionship.
45:08She wanted a relationship.
45:09And so I think when she met Albert again two years later,
45:12she was very much...
45:13She had a predilection.
45:13She had a predisposition to fall in love,
45:16which she did heavily.
45:19A mere five days into his visit,
45:21she sent for Albert to see her alone.
45:24It would make me too happy
45:25if you would consent to what I wished,
45:28namely to marry me.
45:29We embraced each other over and over again.
45:33And he was so kind, so affectionate.
45:36Albert was too great a delight to describe.
45:39The Queen of England was now engaged,
45:41but she took a whole month to tell her mother.
45:44And when she did,
45:44she told her that she would have to leave the household.
45:47When she becomes Queen,
45:48she suddenly realises that what she demands can happen.
45:53And there is this marvellous moment
45:55when she thinks,
45:56I can actually have a dinner
45:57and I don't have to have Mother there.
45:59And that's a moment of revelation.
46:02And one warms to her
46:04because her entire life
46:06was so circumscribed.
46:08There was nothing beyond it
46:10and nothing beyond these people
46:11who controlled and manipulated her.
46:14Victoria's escape was complete.
46:16The focus of her life from now on
46:18would be her beloved Albert.
46:20After a very brief engagement,
46:21they were married on February 10th, 1840.
46:25Tens of thousands gathered early to see the royal wedding.
46:29It was a measure of just how popular
46:31the new monarch was in the eyes of her subjects.
46:34At 12.30,
46:35Victoria left the palace
46:36and drove through the rain and cheering crowds
46:38to meet her bridegroom.
46:40At the Chapel Royal,
46:4112 bridesmaids carried her six-foot train
46:44and she was resplendent in white and roses.
46:48It was Victoria's wedding day,
46:50but she still could not forgive her mother.
46:52As she left the chapel,
46:53she stooped to kiss Queen Adelaide,
46:55but merely shook hands with the Duchess.
47:04Marrying, of course,
47:05meant that she was able to remove her mother from the household.
47:08It was perfectly proper for her to live with her husband
47:10and not have her mother there.
47:12So, in a sense, it was the final act of separation from her mother.
47:15It sounds very odd to be the Queen of England
47:17and then need to separate from your mother,
47:19but I think that that was the case.
47:21And after that, of course, the Duchess did not live with her
47:24and really had absolutely no role at all.
47:28The Duchess was married to the Duke of Cambridge,
47:31and really had absolutely no role at all.
47:46This incredible story,
47:48the bitter struggle between the most powerful little girl in the world
47:51and the woman who wanted that power,
47:53ushered in the modern era.
47:55Victoria left behind the debauched,
47:57self-indulgent, corrupt monarchs of the Regency period,
48:00and became the first People's Queen.
48:03The country would never be the same again.
48:09The story about a castaway and that of a cut purse
48:12were the first literary works
48:13that heralded the birth of the British novel.
48:16Henry Hitchings explores this golden age of creativity
48:19here on BBC4 Next.