Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s first child, Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, the Princess Royal, was born at Buckingham Palace on the 21st of November 1840. The real baby Vicky was actually nicknamed “Pussy” for the first few years of her life - something the ITV series chooses not to recreate!
Read more about the baby Princess under the cut.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s first child arrived three weeks early, taking everyone by surprise. ‘Just before the early hours of the morning of the 21rst[of November]’ Victoria wrote in her journal, she had woken feeling ‘very uncomfortable & with difficulty aroused Albert from his sleep’:
Tried to get to sleep again, but by 4, I got very bad and both the Doctors arrived. My beloved Albert was so dear & kind. [The Doctor] said the Baby was on the way & everything was all right. We both expressed joy that the event was at hand, & I did not feel at all nervous.
Unusually for the era, Prince Albert stayed with his wife throughout her labour. He was, wrote Victoria, ‘the greatest comfort and support.’ The baby arrived at two that afternoon (‘alas! a girl & not a boy, as we both had so hoped & wished for’) and was immediately whisked away ‘stark naked’ to be shown to the official witnesses including the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, the Foreign Minister and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“Victoria asleep, aged 3 weeks” - pen and watercolour sketch by Queen Victoria dated 12th December 1840 (Royal Collection)
Queen Victoria recovered quickly from the birth - a day later she ‘felt as well as if nothing had happened’ and by mid-December happily reported that she was ‘walking about the house like myself again.’ Both mother and baby were strong enough to travel to Windsor for Christmas. Victoria had chosen not to breastfeed her new daughter, and hired instead a Mrs Ratsey of Cowes, Isle of Wight, to act as wet nurse. Mrs Ratsey was required to show deference to the baby’s rank by always standing while she breastfed her.
Baby Victoria, or “Pussy” as her parents began to affectionately call her, slotted in easily to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s busy lives. She was brought down from the nursery to see them twice a day - once after breakfast and again in the afternoon when Victoria changed for dinner. Victoria loved to show off her daughter to visitors to the place, and would produce the baby for even her cabinet ministers to see. On the 11th of December 1840 Victoria proudly described ‘our dear little Child’ in her journal:
She gets daily prettier, & is so "éveillé" [alert] for her age. I hope & think she will be like her beloved Father. She has large, bright, dark blue eyes, a nice little nose & mouth, a very good complexion, with a little colour in her cheeks, very unusual, for so young a Baby.
Lithograph of Victoria, Princess Royal with her parents Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Published by William Spooner c.1840. (British Museum)
The doting parents micromanaged every aspect of baby Vicky’s infant life. Prince Albert wrote long memoranda outlining how the nursery should be run - the Princess was not to be left alone, she couldn’t be shown to anyone or taken out of the nursery without the express permission of her parents, and the nurses had to consult either the Queen or Prince Albert before they acted on the doctor’s orders. Prince Albert even slept with the key to the nursery under his pillow.
The baby Princess was christened in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace on the 9th of February 1841, her parent’s first wedding anniversary. She was given the names “Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa” after her mother, both grandmothers, and Queen Victoria’s aunt, the Dowager Queen Adelaide. Victoria recorded the day in her journal:
Today it is a year, that I have been blessed by becoming the wife of my beloved Albert. What perfect happiness I have enjoyed since then! & how I pray it may continue. This anniversary must ever be the most precious one in my life. — Albert gave me a little brooch representing a cradle with the Child in it, — the quaintest thing I ever saw & so pretty.
[... I] Dressed in a white ribbed silk gown, trimmed with my wedding lace, with my diamond Diadem, necklace of Turkish diamonds, & Albert's beautiful sapphire & diamond brooch. He was in his Field Marshal's uniform with high boots, & looked so handsome. We went into the Green Drawingroom & received all the Company. When all had arrived, the Archbishops of Canterbury & York, the Bishops of London & Norwich, & the Dean of Carlisle (as Vicar of the Parish in which our child was born) went into the Throne Room, which was very handsomely filled up as a Chapel. We 2, with our suite, went in soon after we then sent for the Child who looked very dear in a white Honiton point lace robe & mantle, over white satin. [...] The Archbishop of Canterbury christened the Baby from the new Font, & with water from the river Jordan, sent by Dr Browning for the purpose. The names the child was given were: Victoria, Adelaide, Mary Louisa. She was wide awake & never cried, though the Archbishop held her most uncomfortably. My sincere & fervent Prayers were offered up for our dear Child. [...] Albert a I agreed that all had gone off beautifully & in a very dignified manner.
Albert wrote proudly that his daughter was:
awake, but did not cry at all, and seemed to crow with immense satisfaction at the sights and brilliant uniforms, for she is very intelligent and observing.
Princess Victoria’s christening as painted by Charles Robert Leslie c. 1841-2. Adelaide, the Queen Dowager, whom the Princess was named after, steps forward to name the baby. (Royal Collection)
Albert had designed his daughter’s christening font himself (silver gilt with cherubs and waterlilies to represent purity and new life), and he composed a chorale for the banquet held that evening in the princess’ honour. The centerpiece of the grand occasion was a tiered christening cake topped with an edible sugar figure of Britannia holding a tiny sugar Vicky. Lady Sarah Lyttleton (who was later appointed governess to the royal children) was among the attendees. In a letter to her daughter, Lady Lyttleton described her impression of the baby princess:
She is a fine, fat, firm, fair, royal-looking baby, sitting bolt upright, and too absurdly like the Queen; grave, calm, and penetrating in her look, most gentle and sweet-tempered. She wore a very plain white pelisse of muslin, and a droll little Quaker-shaped straw bonnet; no bows or bustle about her, and she surveyed us all most composedly for a minute. She was shewn at her carriage-window to all the standers-by, and it was amusing to us who followed to see the universal grin left upon all faces after their look at her. She will soon have seen every pair of teeth in the kingdom. They say she laughs, crows, and kicks very heartily, and the Prince tosses her often.
Although both of her parents had initially felt disappointed that Vicky was not the son and heir they had hoped for, they had quickly became besotted. Albert in particular doted upon his baby daughter and the pair remained close throughout their lives. 'Our young lady flourishes exceedingly,’ wrote Queen Victoria to her uncle Leopold when the princess was six weeks old:
I think you would be amused to see Albert dancing with her in his arms; he makes such a capital nurse (which I do not, and she is much too heavy for me to carry), and she already seems so happy to go to him.
There is a popular myth that Queen Victoria hated her own children, largely inspired by a series of letters she wrote to Vicky in the 1850s and 60s after Vicky had married and was beginning to have children of her own. Victoria, who had by this stage had given birth to nine children (and likely suffered postpartum depression after some of the births), wrote that being pregnant made her feel ‘like a cow or a dog’ and that she disliked very little babies:
I have no tendre [fondness] for them until they become a little human; an ugly baby is a very nasty object - and the prettiest is frightful when undressed - till about four months; in short as long as they have their big bodies and little limbs and that terrible frog-like action.
But sensational articles like “Queen Victoria hated her children, say academics” (Telegraph, 2012) and “Queen Victoria adored Prince Albert so much it made her loath her nine children” (Mirror, 2016) do not tell the whole story. Queen Victoria had a whole host of complex feelings about motherhood, including a deep and sincere love for her children. In another letter to Vicky, she reminisced fondly about her daughter’s babyhood:
[...] though I hated the thought having children and have no adoration for very little babies, (particularly not in their baths till they are past 3 or 4 months, when they really become very lovely) still I know what a fuss and piece of work was made of you [...] I used to have you in my dressing room - while I dressed for dinner, dancing on Mrs Pegley’s [the nurse] knees - till you got so lively that you did not sleep at night. All that was very foolish, and I warn you against it - but one is very foolish with one’s first child.
Miniature of the Princess Royal as an angel by Sir William Ross, signed and dated 1841. Prince Albert had this miniature copied and made into an enamel brooch set with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds and topazes which he gave to his wife that year for Christmas. Victoria was ‘delighted’. (Royal Collection)
Further Reading:
Queen Victoria’s letters and journals
An Uncommon Woman: The Empress Frederick by Hannah Pakula
Are you sure you heard that explosive comment you think you heard? If you're not, don't tweet it. Associated Press sports writer Jon Krawczynski did, and his employer paid the price -- literally, in the form of a legal settlement -- for the accusation Krawczynski made against a National Basketball Association referee.
William Spooner sued Krawczynski and AP in March based on a tweet that accused Spooner of negotiating foul calls with a coach during a game. The NBA investigated and concluded that Spooner did no such thing.
"Mr. Krawczynski acknowledges the possibility that he misunderstood what Mr. Spooner said," according to an AP statement. The media company agreed to pay $20,000 for Spooner's legal fees, and Krawczynski deleted the tweet. However, screen shots of the offending tweet remain online.
I would like to honor a very special musician. Logan Whitehurst was not just an amazing talent, but an incredibly giving person. Anyone that counted him as a friend knows what I'm talking about. Logan died of brain cancer five years ago today, at age 29. He was taken from us far too soon, and I for one will never forget his amazing work and generous spirit. I highly recommend you checking out Logan's music, most of which is available for free download on the Logan Whitehurst Music Archive, including a cover of TMBG's Weep Day. They Might Be Giants was Logan's favorite band, and it shows in his music. Sadly, I never had the chance to see him perform. His final album, "Very Tiny Songs" which is still available for sale consists of 81 songs that were suggested by friends and fans of Logan. My song is the last on the album, because I submitted my idea two weeks late. He wrote and recorded the song anyway, and that's Logan for you. I requested a song about spoonerisms, and I'm pretty sure that he would be cool with letting me share it with you. Please donate to the American Cancer Society in the memory of Logan Whitehurst.
