Victoria as a Girl: The Patient Rebel

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• 1. 'Horribly naughty'
• 2. Melodramatic flair
• 3. Placating others
• 4. Female influences
• 5. Male companionship
• 6. Find out more
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Placating others

The apocryphal story of how Victoria learned that she was the future Queen of England, which ends with Victoria making a solemn gesture and vowing 'to be good', cannot be corroborated (at least three competing versions of the event exist); many years later, the Queen herself remembered the moment differently: 'I cried much on learning it - & even deplored this contingency.'

In 1830, the anticipated death of George IV (which would make Victoria heiress presumptive to the throne) spurred the Duchess of Kent to revise the so-called 'Kensington System' - the method of educating Victoria in seclusion - and to publicise her daughter's moral and intellectual strengths by organising a series of examinations by three esteemed clerics. Princess Victoria performed well on her examinations, much to her mother's satisfaction; the Archbishop of Canterbury concluded that 'no change [in her educational program] could be made for the better.'

'...her carefully monitored life allowed her little freedom.'

Certainly it was not easy to be the object of such intense scrutiny. Victoria had many opportunities to practice the virtue of patience, as her carefully monitored life allowed her little freedom. Victoria's restraint is revealed within her daily journal, as her struggles with her mother (which can be followed through the Duchess of Kent's extant letters) never explicitly appear within it. This self-control is all the more remarkable because Victoria was a passionate child and a strong-willed girl. Yet, she longed to please and placate those about her, including her mother, Lehzen and Uncle Leopold, her mother's brother.

In his frequent letters, Leopold, who became King of the Belgians in 1831, often commented upon Victoria's appearance and public conduct. His counsel attempted to prepare his young niece for the demands and responsibilities of her eventual station. In 1836, he reminded her that 'high personages are a little like stage actors - they must always make efforts to please their public.' Victoria's short stature concerned Leopold (she never quite reached five feet in height), and he often warned her against eating too quickly and too much. Victoria took this advice to heart and tried to persuade him to visit her - in part to witness her reformed eating habits: 'I wish you could come here, for many reasons, but also to be an eyewitness of my extreme prudence in eating, which would astonish you.'

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Published: 2001-04-01