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KF5JRV > TODAY 22.01.19 14:35l 56 Lines 2968 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 29851_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Jan 22
Path: IW8PGT<IR2UBX<SR1BSZ<F1OYP<ON0AR<GB7CIP<EI2GYB<ZL2BAU<W9ABA<KE0GB<
KF5JRV
Sent: 190122/1232Z 29851@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
The death of Queen Victoria on January 22, 1901, ends an era in which
most of her British subjects know no other monarch. Her 63-year reign,
the longest in British history, saw the growth of an empire on which the
sun never set. Victoria restored dignity to the English monarchy and
ensured its survival as a ceremonial political institution.
Born in 1819, she came to the throne after the death of her uncle, King
William IV, in 1837. As a young woman ascending to the throne, her
future husband described her “as one whose extreme obstinacy was
constantly at war with her good nature.ö Her first prime minister, Lord
Melbourne, became her close friend and adviser, and she succeeded in
blocking his replacement by Tory leader Sir Robert Peel in 1839. Two
years later, however, an election resulted in a Tory majority in the
House of Commons, and Victoria was compelled to accept Peel as prime
minister. Never again would she interfere so directly in the politics of
democratic Britain.
In 1839, her first cousin Albert, a German prince, came to visit the
English court at Windsor, and Victoria proposed to him five days after
his arrival. Prince Albert accepted, and in February 1840 they were
married. He soon became the dominant influence in her life and served as
her private secretary. Among his greatest achievements as royal consort
was his organization of the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first world’s
fair, in the Crystal Palace in London. He also steered her support away
from the Whigs to the conservative Tories; she later was a vocal
supporter of Benjamin Disraeli, leader of the Conservative Party.
Victoria and Albert built royal residences at Osborne House on the Isle
of Wight and at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and became increasingly
detached from London. They had nine children, including Victoria, later
the empress of Germany, and the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.
In 1861, Albert died, and Victoria’s grief was such that she did not
appear in public for three years. She never entirely got over the loss,
and until the end of her life she had her maids nightly lay out Albert’s
clothes for the next day and in the morning replace the water in the
basin in his room.
Disraeli coaxed her out of seclusion, and she was impressed by his
efforts to strengthen and expand the British Empire. In 1876, he had her
made “empress of India,ö a title which pleased her and made her a symbol
of imperial unity. During the last few decades of her life, her
popularity, which had suffered during her long public absence, increased
greatly. She never embraced the social and technological advances of the
19th century but accepted the changes and worked hard to fulfill her
ceremonial duties as head of state. When she died, she had 37 surviving
great-grandchildren, and their marriages with other monarchies gave her
the name the “grandmother of Europe.ö
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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