1892 VICTORIA CROWN Solid 0.925 Silver Antique Coin Old Proof Nicely Toned

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Seller: anddownthewaterfall ✉️ (33,495) 99.8%, Location: Manchester, Take a Look at My Other Items, GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 364684654260 1892 VICTORIA CROWN Solid 0.925 Silver Antique Coin Old Proof Nicely Toned. Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish pioneer of radar (died 1973). Coronation 28 June 1838. Persia:[250]. Woodham-Smith, p. 281. Reign 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901. Sorry about the poor quality photos. Queen of the United Kingdom (more. ). Queen Victoria Solid Silver Crown This is a 1892 Victorian Crown which  features the Robed Jubilee bust portrait of mature Queen Victoria  facing left, adorned with jewellery, veil, and a small crown  as designed by Joseph Edgar Boehm The obverse, with the reverse design depicting the famed St George, the paton saint of England and the Dragon by Benedetto Pistrucci.  The Victoria Jubilee Head obverse design was adopted from 1887 for silver and gold coins only, and was continued until the old head portrait was introduced in 1893. It was the second major portrait type of Victoria's reign, and was introduced for the golden jubilee (50 years) of Queen Victoria's reign. She acceded to the throne in 1837.  The Obverse reads 'VICTORIA D:G: BRITT:REG:F:D:'. Monarch - Victoria (1837 - 1901) Edge - reeded Weight - 28.35 g Diameter - 38.6 mm Composition - 92.5% silver Minted - London, England Mintage - approx. 1,807,223 (inc varieties) This vintage 1892 Victoria Crown is a valuable addition to any coin collection. Made of solid 0.925 silver, this antique coin features a stunning design that showcases the era of Queen Victoria's reign. The intricate details on the coin speaks to the craftsmanship of the United Kingdom during this time period. The denomination of this coin is a Crown and it was minted in Great Britain. The fineness of the silver used is 0.925, which ensures the durability of the coin. With its sterling proof quality, this vintage piece is a true testament to the rich history and culture of Great Britain.

A wonderful item for anyone who loves the Royal Family

It would be a super addition to any collection, excellent display, practical piece or authentic period prop. This once belonged to my Grand Mother and she kept in a display cabinet for many years, but when she died it was placed in a box for storage.  "e have decided to sell some of her items to raise money for a Memorial Bench with a plaque  Where we can sit and remember her on Summer Days  I hope it will find a good home In Very good  condition  for over 131 Years Old   Comes from a pet and smoke free home Sorry about the poor quality photos.  They don't  do the plate  justice which looks a lot better in real life I have a lot of Historical Memorabilia on Ebay so Check out my    other items ! Bid with Confidence - Check My Almost 100% Positive Feedback from over 20,000 Satisfied
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Crown (British coin) One crown Great Britain United Kingdom Value 5/— (25p in decimal currency) £5 (commemorative coins from 1990 and later) Diameter 38 mm Edge Milled Composition (1816–1919) 92.5% Ag (1920–1946) 50% Ag (1947–1970) Cupronickel Years of minting 1707–1981 Obverse Obverse of the crown of 1891, Great Britain, Victoria.jpg Design Profile of the monarch (Victoria "jubilee head" design shown) Designer Joseph Boehm Design date 1887 Reverse Reverse crown 1891, Great Britain, Victoria.jpg Design Various (St George design shown) Designer Benedetto Pistrucci Design date 1817 The British crown was a denomination of sterling coinage worth  1 / 4  of one pound, or 5 shillings, or 60 (old) pence. The crown was first issued during the reign of Edward VI, as part of the coinage of the Kingdom of England. Always a heavy silver coin weighing around one ounce, during the 19th and 20th centuries the crown declined from being a real means of exchange to being a coin rarely spent, and minted for commemorative purposes only. Unlike in some territories of the British Empire (such as Jamaica), in the UK the crown was never replaced as circulating currency by a five-shilling banknote. "Decimal" crowns were minted a few times after decimalisation of the British currency in 1971, initially with a nominal value of 25 (new) pence. However, commemorative crowns issued since 1990 have a face value of five pounds.[1] History The coin's origins lie in the English silver crown, one of many silver coins that appeared in various countries from the 16th century onwards (most famously the Spanish piece of eight), all of similar size and weight (approx 38mm diameter, 25g fine silver) and thus interchangeable in international trade. The Kingdom of England also minted gold Crowns until early in the reign of Charles II.[2] The dies for all gold and silver coins of Queen Anne and King George I were engraved by John Croker, a migrant originally from Dresden in the Duchy of Saxony.[3] The British silver crown was always a large coin, and from the 19th century it did not circulate well. However, crowns were usually struck in a new monarch's coronation year, from George IV through Elizabeth II in 1953, with the exceptions of George V and Edward VIII. "Gothic" crown of Queen Victoria (1847). The coin had a mintage of just 8,000 and was produced to celebrate the Gothic revival The King George V "wreath" crowns struck from 1927 through 1936 (excluding 1935 when the more common "rocking horse" crown was minted to commemorate the King's Silver Jubilee) depict a wreath on the reverse of the coin and were struck in very low numbers. Generally struck late in the year and intended to be purchased as Christmas gifts, they were generally kept rather than circulated. The 1927 "wreath" crowns were struck as proofs only (15,030 minted) and the 1934 coin had a mintage of just 932.[citation needed] With their large size, many of the later coins were primarily commemoratives. The 1951 issue was for the Festival of Britain, and was only struck in proof condition. The 1953 crown was issued to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, while the 1960 issue (which carried the same reverse design as the previous crown in 1953) commemorated the British Exhibition in New York. The 1965 issue carried the image of Winston Churchill on the reverse. According to the Standard Catalogue of coins, 19,640,000 of this coin were minted, although intended as collectable pieces the large mintage and lack of precious metal content means these coins are effectively worthless today.[4] Production of the Churchill crown began on 11 October 1965, and stopped in the summer of 1966. The crown coin was nicknamed the dollar, but is not to be confused with the British trade dollar that circulated in the Orient. In 2014, a new world record price was achieved for a milled silver crown. The coin was unique, issued as a pattern by engraver Thomas Simon in 1663 and nicknamed the "Reddite Crown". It was presented to Charles II as the new crown piece, but ultimately rejected in favour of the Roettiers Brothers' design. Auctioneers Spink & Son of London sold the coin on 27 March 2014 for £396,000 including commission.[5] All pre-decimal crowns from 1818 on remain legal tender with a face value of 25p.[6] Decimal crowns Main articles: British twenty-five pence coin and Five pounds (British coin) After decimalisation on 15 February 1971, the 25-pence coin was introduced as a replacement for the crown as a commemorative coin. These were legal tender[6] and were made with large mintages. Further issues continued to be minted, initially with a value of twenty-five pence (with no face value shown). From 1990, the face value of new crown coins was raised to five pounds.[1] Preceded by English crown Crown 1707–1965 Succeeded by Twenty–five pence Changing values The legal tender value of the crown remained as five shillings from 1544 to 1965. However, for most of this period there was no denominational designation or "face value" mark of value displayed on the coin. From 1927 to 1939, the word "CROWN" appears, and from 1951 to 1960 this was changed to "FIVE SHILLINGS". Coins minted since 1818 remain legal tender with a face value of 25 pence. Although all "normal" issues since 1951 have been composed of cupro-nickel, special proof versions have been produced for sale to collectors, and as gift items, in silver, gold, and occasionally platinum. The fact that gold £5 crowns are now produced means that there are two different strains of five pound gold coins, namely crowns and what are now termed "quintuple sovereigns" for want of a more concise term.[7][8] Numismatically, the term "crown-sized" is used generically to describe large silver or cupro-nickel coins of about 40 mm in diameter. Most Commonwealth countries still issue crown-sized coins for sale to collectors. New Zealand's original fifty-cent pieces, and Australia's previously round but now dodecagonal fifty-cent piece, although valued at five shillings in predecimal accounting, are all smaller than the standard silver crown pieces issued by those countries (and the UK). They were in fact similarly sized to the predecimal half crown (worth two shillings and sixpence). Composition For silver crowns, the grade of silver adhered to the long-standing standard (established in the 12th century by Henry II) – the Sterling Silver standard of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. This was a harder-wearing alloy, yet it was still a rather high grade of silver. It went some way towards discouraging the practice of "clipping", though this practice was further discouraged and largely eliminated with the introduction of the milled edge seen on coins today. In a debasement process which took effect in 1920, the silver content of all British coins was reduced from 92.5% to 50%, with a portion of the remainder consisting of manganese, which caused the coins to tarnish to a very dark colour after they had been in circulation for a significant period. Silver was eliminated altogether in 1947, with the move to a composition of cupro-nickel – except for proof issues, which returned to the pre-1920 92.5% silver composition. Since the Great Recoinage of 1816, a crown has, as a general rule, had a diameter of 38.61 millimetres (1.520 in), and weighed 28.276 grams (defined as 10⁄11 troy ounce).[9][10] Modern mintages Monarch Year Number minted Detail Composition* Edward VII As 5/- (60d - quarter sovereign) 1902 256,020 Coronation 0.925 silver George V 1927 15,030 (proof only) 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1928 9,034 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1929 4,994 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1930 4,847 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1931 4,056 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1932 2,395 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1933 7,132 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1934 932 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver 1935 714,769 George V and Queen Mary Silver Jubilee 0.500 silver 1936 2,473 'Wreath' Crown 0.500 silver George VI 1937 418,699 Coronation 0.500 silver 1951 1,983,540 Festival of Britain Cu/Ni Elizabeth II 1953 5,962,621 Coronation Cu/Ni 1960 1,024,038 British Exhibition in New York Cu/Ni 1965 19,640,000 Death of Sir Winston Churchill Cu/Ni As 25p (quarter sovereign) 1972 7,452,100 Queen Elizabeth II 25th Wedding Anniversary 25p Cu/Ni 1977 37,061,160 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Cu/Ni 1980 9,306,000 Queen Mother 80th Birthday Cu/Ni 1981 26,773,600 Charles & Diana Wedding Cu/Ni For crowns minted from 1990, which have a value of £5, see here. The specifications for composition refer to the standard circulation versions. Proof versions continue to be minted in Sterling silver. Gallery Quarter sovereign In 1853, the Royal Mint had produced two patterns for a gold 5-shilling coin for circulation use, one denominated as five shillings and the other as a quarter sovereign, but this coin never went into production, in part due to concerns about the small size of the coin and likely wear in circulation.[11] The quarter sovereign was introduced in 2009 as a bullion coin. References icon Money portal Numismatics portal flag United Kingdom portal  "The Royal Mint: Five Pound Coin Designs and Specifications". The Royal Mint. Retrieved 10 July 2015.  "Crown". Royal Mint Museum. Retrieved 17 July 2022. In 1551 Edward VI issued a large silver coin of the value of five shillings and as its currency value was the same as that of the gold crown it took its name from that coin. Both gold and silver crowns continued to be struck concurrently until early in the reign of Charles II, when minting of the gold crown ceased.  Warwick William Wroth, 'Croker, John (1670-1741)' in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, vol. 13  "How Much is a 1965 Winston Churchill Coin Worth?". churchillcentral.com. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2022.  "Spink sets new world record for an English silver coin, 27 March 2014". Spink Auctioneers. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2014.  "How can I dispose of commemorative crowns? And why do some have a higher face value than others?". The Royal Mint Museum. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019.  "Quintuple Sovereigns - Five Pound Gold Coins". taxfreegold.co.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2017.  "British Gold Proof Commemorative Crowns". taxfreegold.co.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2017.  Specifications of British Pre-decimal Coins  Kindleberger, Charles P. (2005). A Financial History of Western Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 60. ISBN 9780415378673.  OnlineCoinClub Quarter Sovereign pre-decimal External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crown (British coin). History of Five Shilling Coins on Coins of the UK Royal Mint Museum's history of Crown Coin Crown, Coin Type from United Kingdom - Online Coin Club vte Currency units named crown or similar Circulating Czech korunaDanish kroneFaroese krónaIcelandic krónaNorwegian kroneSwedish krona Defunct Austrian kroneAustrian Netherlands kronenthalerAustro-Hungarian crownBohemian and Moravian korunaCzechoslovak korunaEstonian kroonFiume kroneHungarian koronaLiechtenstein kroneSlovak korunaSlovak koruna (1939–1945)Yugoslav krone Proposed Greenlandic koruuni As a denomination British crownEnglish crownKronenthaler vte Sterling coinage Decimal 1 / 2 p1p2p5p10p20p50p£1£2 Pre-decimal Quarter farthing ( 1 / 16 d) (British Ceylon)Third farthing ( 1 / 12 d) (Crown Colony of Malta)Half farthing ( 1 / 8 d)Farthing ( 1 / 4 d)Halfpenny ( 1 / 2 d)Penny (1d)Three halfpence (1+ 1 / 2 d) (British Ceylon & British West Indies)Twopence (2d)Threepence (3d)Fourpence (4d)Sixpence (6d)Shilling (1/–)Fifteen pence (1/3d) (Australia)Eighteen Pence(1/6d) (British Ireland)Florin (2/–)Half crown (2/6d)Thirty Pence(2/6d) (British Ireland)Double florin (4/–)Crown (5/–)Six Shillings (6/-) (British Ireland)Quarter guinea (5/3d)Third guinea (7/–)Half sovereign (10/–)Half guinea (10/6d)Sovereign (£1)Guinea (£1/1/–)Double sovereign (£2)Two guineas (£2/2/–)Five pounds (£5)Five guineas (£5/5/–) Commemorative 3p (Tristan Da Cunha)6p25p60p (Isle of Man)70p (Ascension Island)£5£10£20£25£50£100£200£500£1000Maundy money Bullion BritanniaQuarter sovereignHalf sovereignSovereignDouble sovereignQuintuple sovereignLunarThe Queen's BeastsLandmarks of Britain See also SterlingSterling banknotesList of British banknotes and coinsList of British currenciesJubilee coinageOld Head coinageScottish coinageCoins of IrelandList of people on coins of the United Kingdom Categories: Crown (currency)Coins of Great BritainCoins of the United KingdomQuarter-base-unit coins Queen Victoria Victoria Photograph of Queen Victoria, 1882 Photograph by Alexander Bassano, 1882 Queen of the United Kingdom (more ...) Reign    20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901 Coronation    28 June 1838 Predecessor    William IV Successor    Edward VII Empress of India Reign    1 May 1876 – 22 January 1901 Imperial Durbar    1 January 1877 Successor    Edward VII Born    Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent 24 May 1819 Kensington Palace, London, England Died    22 January 1901 (aged 81) Osborne House, Isle of Wight, England Burial    4 February 1901 Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore, Windsor Spouse    Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ​ ​(m. 1840; died 1861)​ Issue    Victoria, German Empress Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg House    Hanover Father    Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn Mother    Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Signature    Victoria's signature Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than any previous British monarch. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria, a constitutional monarch, attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality. Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe" and spreading haemophilia in European royalty. After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond jubilees were times of public celebration. She died on the Isle of Wight in 1901. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Birth and family Portrait of Victoria at age 4 Victoria at the age of four, by Stephen Poyntz Denning, 1823 Victoria's father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of the reigning King of the United Kingdom, George III. Until 1817, Edward's niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a succession crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent and his unmarried brothers to marry and have children. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl (1804–1856) and Feodora (1807–1872)—by her first marriage to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen. Her brother Leopold was Princess Charlotte's widower and later the first king of Belgium. The Duke and Duchess of Kent's only child, Victoria, was born at 4:15 a.m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.[1] Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace.[a] She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Tsar Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of Kent's eldest brother George, Prince Regent.[2] At birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: the Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, Duke of York; William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent.[3] The Prince Regent had no surviving children, and the Duke of York had no children; further, both were estranged from their wives, who were both past child-bearing age, so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further legitimate children. William and Edward married on the same day in 1818, but both of William's legitimate daughters died as infants. The first of these was Princess Charlotte, who was born and died on 27 March 1819, two months before Victoria was born. Victoria's father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old. A week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. Victoria was then third in line to the throne after Frederick and William. William's second daughter, Princess Elizabeth of Clarence, lived for twelve weeks from 10 December 1820 to 4 March 1821, and for that period Victoria was fourth in line.[4] The Duke of York died in 1827, followed by George IV in 1830; the throne passed to their next surviving brother, William, and Victoria became heir presumptive. The Regency Act 1830 made special provision for Victoria's mother to act as regent in case William died while Victoria was still a minor.[5] King William distrusted the Duchess's capacity to be regent, and in 1836 he declared in her presence that he wanted to live until Victoria's 18th birthday, so that a regency could be avoided.[6] Heir presumptive Portrait of Victoria with her spaniel Dash by George Hayter, 1833 Victoria later described her childhood as "rather melancholy".[7] Her mother was extremely protective, and Victoria was raised largely isolated from other children under the so-called "Kensington System", an elaborate set of rules and protocols devised by the Duchess and her ambitious and domineering comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who was rumoured to be the Duchess's lover.[8] The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable (including most of her father's family), and was designed to render her weak and dependent upon them.[9] The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of King William's illegitimate children.[10] Victoria shared a bedroom with her mother every night, studied with private tutors to a regular timetable, and spent her play-hours with her dolls and her King Charles Spaniel, Dash.[11] Her lessons included French, German, Italian, and Latin,[12] but she spoke only English at home.[13] Victoria's sketch of herself Self-portrait, 1835 In 1830, the Duchess of Kent and Conroy took Victoria across the centre of England to visit the Malvern Hills, stopping at towns and great country houses along the way.[14] Similar journeys to other parts of England and Wales were taken in 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835. To the King's annoyance, Victoria was enthusiastically welcomed in each of the stops.[15] William compared the journeys to royal progresses and was concerned that they portrayed Victoria as his rival rather than his heir presumptive.[16] Victoria disliked the trips; the constant round of public appearances made her tired and ill, and there was little time for her to rest.[17] She objected on the grounds of the King's disapproval, but her mother dismissed his complaints as motivated by jealousy and forced Victoria to continue the tours.[18] At Ramsgate in October 1835, Victoria contracted a severe fever, which Conroy initially dismissed as a childish pretence.[19] While Victoria was ill, Conroy and the Duchess unsuccessfully badgered her to make Conroy her private secretary.[20] As a teenager, Victoria resisted persistent attempts by her mother and Conroy to appoint him to her staff.[21] Once queen, she banned him from her presence, but he remained in her mother's household.[22] By 1836, Victoria's maternal uncle Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831, hoped to marry her to Prince Albert,[23] the son of his brother Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold arranged for Victoria's mother to invite her Coburg relatives to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of introducing Victoria to Albert.[24] William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, second son of the Prince of Orange.[25] Victoria was aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes.[26] According to her diary, she enjoyed Albert's company from the beginning. After the visit she wrote, "[Albert] is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful."[27] Alexander, on the other hand, she described as "very plain".[28] Victoria wrote to King Leopold, whom she considered her "best and kindest adviser",[29] to thank him "for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert ... He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy. He is so sensible, so kind, and so good, and so amiable too. He has besides the most pleasing and delightful exterior and appearance you can possibly see."[30] However at 17, Victoria, though interested in Albert, was not yet ready to marry. The parties did not undertake a formal engagement, but assumed that the match would take place in due time.[31] Early reign Accession Drawing of two men on their knees in front of Victoria Victoria receives the news of her accession from Lord Conyngham (left) and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Painting by Henry Tanworth Wells, 1887. Victoria turned 18 on 24 May 1837, and a regency was avoided. Less than a month later, on 20 June 1837, William IV died at the age of 71, and Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom.[b] In her diary she wrote, "I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen."[32] Official documents prepared on the first day of her reign described her as Alexandrina Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her own wish and not used again.[33] Since 1714, Britain had shared a monarch with Hanover in Germany, but under Salic law, women were excluded from the Hanoverian succession. While Victoria inherited the British throne, her father's unpopular younger brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, became King of Hanover. He was Victoria's heir presumptive until she had a child.[34] Coronation portrait by George Hayter At the time of Victoria's accession, the government was led by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne. He at once became a powerful influence on the politically inexperienced monarch, who relied on him for advice.[35] Charles Greville supposed that the widowed and childless Melbourne was "passionately fond of her as he might be of his daughter if he had one", and Victoria probably saw him as a father figure.[36] Her coronation took place on 28 June 1838 at Westminster Abbey. Over 400,000 visitors came to London for the celebrations.[37] She became the first sovereign to take up residence at Buckingham Palace[38] and inherited the revenues of the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall as well as being granted a civil list allowance of £385,000 per year. Financially prudent, she paid off her father's debts.[39] At the start of her reign Victoria was popular,[40] but her reputation suffered in an 1839 court intrigue when one of her mother's ladies-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, developed an abdominal growth that was widely rumoured to be an out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Sir John Conroy.[41] Victoria believed the rumours.[42] She hated Conroy, and despised "that odious Lady Flora",[43] because she had conspired with Conroy and the Duchess of Kent in the Kensington System.[44] At first, Lady Flora refused to submit to an intimate medical examination, until in mid-February she eventually acquiesced, and was found to be a virgin.[45] Conroy, the Hastings family, and the opposition Tories organised a press campaign implicating the Queen in the spreading of false rumours about Lady Flora.[46] When Lady Flora died in July, the post-mortem revealed a large tumour on her liver that had distended her abdomen.[47] At public appearances, Victoria was hissed and jeered as "Mrs. Melbourne".[48] In 1839, Melbourne resigned after Radicals and Tories (both of whom Victoria detested) voted against a bill to suspend the constitution of Jamaica. The bill removed political power from plantation owners who were resisting measures associated with the abolition of slavery.[49] The Queen commissioned a Tory, Robert Peel, to form a new ministry. At the time, it was customary for the prime minister to appoint members of the Royal Household, who were usually his political allies and their spouses. Many of the Queen's ladies of the bedchamber were wives of Whigs, and Peel expected to replace them with wives of Tories. In what became known as the "bedchamber crisis", Victoria, advised by Melbourne, objected to their removal. Peel refused to govern under the restrictions imposed by the Queen, and consequently resigned his commission, allowing Melbourne to return to office.[50] Marriage See also: Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Wedding dress of Queen Victoria Painting of a lavish wedding attended by richly dressed people in a magnificent room Marriage of Victoria and Albert, painted by George Hayter Though Victoria was now queen, as an unmarried young woman she was required by social convention to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Conroy.[51] Her mother was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to see her.[52] When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a "schocking [sic] alternative".[53] Victoria showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.[54] Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor.[55] They were married on 10 February 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace, London. Victoria was love-struck. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary: I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! ... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life![56] Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen's companion, replacing Melbourne as the dominant influential figure in the first half of her life.[57] Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in Belgrave Square. After the death of Victoria's aunt, Princess Augusta, in 1840, Victoria's mother was given both Clarence and Frogmore Houses.[58] Through Albert's mediation, relations between mother and daughter slowly improved.[59] Contemporary lithograph of Edward Oxford's attempt to assassinate Victoria, 1840 During Victoria's first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother. Oxford fired twice, but either both bullets missed or, as he later claimed, the guns had no shot.[60] He was tried for high treason, found not guilty by reason of insanity, committed to an insane asylum indefinitely, and later sent to live in Australia.[61] In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Victoria's popularity soared, mitigating residual discontent over the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis.[62] Her daughter, also named Victoria, was born on 21 November 1840. The Queen hated being pregnant,[63] viewed breast-feeding with disgust,[64] and thought newborn babies were ugly.[65] Nevertheless, over the following seventeen years, she and Albert had a further eight children: Albert Edward (b. 1841), Alice (b. 1843), Alfred (b. 1844), Helena (b. 1846), Louise (b. 1848), Arthur (b. 1850), Leopold (b. 1853) and Beatrice (b. 1857). The household was largely run by Victoria's childhood governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen from Hanover. Lehzen had been a formative influence on Victoria[66] and had supported her against the Kensington System.[67] Albert, however, thought that Lehzen was incompetent and that her mismanagement threatened his daughter's health. After a furious row between Victoria and Albert over the issue, Lehzen was pensioned off in 1842, and Victoria's close relationship with her ended.[68] Married reign Portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1843 On 29 May 1842, Victoria was riding in a carriage along The Mall, London, when John Francis aimed a pistol at her, but the gun did not fire. The assailant escaped; the following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to bait Francis into taking a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plainclothes policemen, and convicted of high treason. On 3 July, two days after Francis's death sentence was commuted to transportation for life, John William Bean also tried to fire a pistol at the Queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco and had too little charge.[69] Edward Oxford felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal in 1840. Bean was sentenced to 18 months in jail.[70] In a similar attack in 1849, unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder-filled pistol at Victoria's carriage as it passed along Constitution Hill, London.[71] In 1850, the Queen did sustain injury when she was assaulted by a possibly insane ex-army officer, Robert Pate. As Victoria was riding in a carriage, Pate struck her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and bruising her forehead. Both Hamilton and Pate were sentenced to seven years' transportation.[72] Melbourne's support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria's reign, and in the 1841 general election the Whigs were defeated. Peel became prime minister, and the ladies of the bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced.[73] Victoria cuddling a child next to her Earliest known photograph of Victoria, here with her eldest daughter, c. 1845[74] In 1845, Ireland was hit by a potato blight.[75] In the next four years, over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the Great Famine.[76] In Ireland, Victoria was labelled "The Famine Queen".[77][78] In January 1847 she personally donated £2,000 (equivalent to between £178,000 and £6.5 million in 2016[79]) to the British Relief Association, more than any other individual famine relief donor,[80] and also supported the Maynooth Grant to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland, despite Protestant opposition.[81] The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to Battersea Dogs Home, was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century.[82] By 1846, Peel's ministry faced a crisis involving the repeal of the Corn Laws. Many Tories—by then known also as Conservatives—were opposed to the repeal, but Peel, some Tories (the free-trade oriented liberal conservative "Peelites"), most Whigs and Victoria supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after the repeal narrowly passed, and was replaced by Lord John Russell.[83] Victoria's British prime ministers Year    Prime Minister (party) 1835    Viscount Melbourne (Whig) 1841    Sir Robert Peel (Conservative) 1846    Lord John Russell (W) 1852 (Feb)    Earl of Derby (C) 1852 (Dec)    Earl of Aberdeen (Peelite) 1855    Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) 1858    Earl of Derby (C) 1859    Viscount Palmerston (L) 1865    Earl Russell [Lord John Russell] (L) 1866    Earl of Derby (C) 1868 (Feb)    Benjamin Disraeli (C) 1868 (Dec)    William Gladstone (L) 1874    Benjamin Disraeli [Ld Beaconsfield] (C) 1880    William Gladstone (L) 1885    Marquess of Salisbury (C) 1886 (Feb)    William Gladstone (L) 1886 (Jul)    Marquess of Salisbury (C) 1892    William Gladstone (L) 1894    Earl of Rosebery (L) 1895    Marquess of Salisbury (C) See List of prime ministers of Queen Victoria for details of her British and Imperial premiers Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain.[84] She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the House of Orleans, who were related by marriage through the Coburgs. In 1843 and 1845, she and Albert stayed with King Louis Philippe I at Château d'Eu in Normandy; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French monarch since the meeting of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.[85] When Louis Philippe made a reciprocal trip in 1844, he became the first French king to visit a British sovereign.[86] Louis Philippe was deposed in the revolutions of 1848, and fled to exile in England.[87] At the height of a revolutionary scare in the United Kingdom in April 1848, Victoria and her family left London for the greater safety of Osborne House,[88] a private estate on the Isle of Wight that they had purchased in 1845 and redeveloped.[89] Demonstrations by Chartists and Irish nationalists failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances.[90] Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success, but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism.[91] Portrait of the young Queen by Herbert Smith, 1848 Russell's ministry, though Whig, was not favoured by the Queen.[92] She found particularly offensive the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, who often acted without consulting the Cabinet, the Prime Minister, or the Queen.[93] Victoria complained to Russell that Palmerston sent official dispatches to foreign leaders without her knowledge, but Palmerston was retained in office and continued to act on his own initiative, despite her repeated remonstrances. It was only in 1851 that Palmerston was removed after he announced the British government's approval of President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte's coup in France without consulting the Prime Minister.[94] The following year, President Bonaparte was declared Emperor Napoleon III, by which time Russell's administration had been replaced by a short-lived minority government led by Lord Derby. Photograph of a seated Victoria, dressed in black, holding an infant with her children and Prince Albert standing around her Albert, Victoria and their nine children, 1857. Left to right: Alice, Arthur, Prince Albert, Albert Edward, Leopold, Louise, Queen Victoria with Beatrice, Alfred, Victoria, and Helena. In 1853, Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold, with the aid of the new anaesthetic, chloroform. She was so impressed by the relief it gave from the pain of childbirth that she used it again in 1857 at the birth of her ninth and final child, Beatrice, despite opposition from members of the clergy, who considered it against biblical teaching, and members of the medical profession, who thought it dangerous.[95] Victoria may have had postnatal depression after many of her pregnancies.[96] Letters from Albert to Victoria intermittently complain of her loss of self-control. For example, about a month after Leopold's birth Albert complained in a letter to Victoria about her "continuance of hysterics" over a "miserable trifle".[97] In early 1855, the government of Lord Aberdeen, who had replaced Derby, fell amidst recriminations over the poor management of British troops in the Crimean War. Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister.[98] Napoleon III, Britain's closest ally as a result of the Crimean War,[96] visited London in April 1855, and from 17 to 28 August the same year Victoria and Albert returned the visit.[99] Napoleon III met the couple at Boulogne and accompanied them to Paris.[100] They visited the Exposition Universelle (a successor to Albert's 1851 brainchild the Great Exhibition) and Napoleon I's tomb at Les Invalides (to which his remains had only been returned in 1840), and were guests of honour at a 1,200-guest ball at the Palace of Versailles.[101] Portrait by Winterhalter, 1859 On 14 January 1858, an Italian refugee from Britain called Felice Orsini attempted to assassinate Napoleon III with a bomb made in England.[102] The ensuing diplomatic crisis destabilised the government, and Palmerston resigned. Derby was reinstated as prime minister.[103] Victoria and Albert attended the opening of a new basin at the French military port of Cherbourg on 5 August 1858, in an attempt by Napoleon III to reassure Britain that his military preparations were directed elsewhere. On her return Victoria wrote to Derby reprimanding him for the poor state of the Royal Navy in comparison to the French Navy.[104] Derby's ministry did not last long, and in June 1859 Victoria recalled Palmerston to office.[105] Eleven days after Orsini's assassination attempt in France, Victoria's eldest daughter married Prince Frederick William of Prussia in London. They had been betrothed since September 1855, when Princess Victoria was 14 years old; the marriage was delayed by the Queen and her husband Albert until the bride was 17.[106] The Queen and Albert hoped that their daughter and son-in-law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging Prussian state.[107] The Queen felt "sick at heart" to see her daughter leave England for Germany; "It really makes me shudder", she wrote to Princess Victoria in one of her frequent letters, "when I look round to all your sweet, happy, unconscious sisters, and think I must give them up too – one by one."[108] Almost exactly a year later, the Princess gave birth to the Queen's first grandchild, Wilhelm, who would become the last German Emperor. Widowhood Victoria photographed by J. J. E. Mayall, 1860 In March 1861, Victoria's mother died, with Victoria at her side. Through reading her mother's papers, Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her deeply;[109] she was heart-broken, and blamed Conroy and Lehzen for "wickedly" estranging her from her mother.[110] To relieve his wife during her intense and deep grief,[111] Albert took on most of her duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble.[112] In August, Victoria and Albert visited their son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who was attending army manoeuvres near Dublin, and spent a few days holidaying in Killarney. In November, Albert was made aware of gossip that his son had slept with an actress in Ireland.[113] Appalled, he travelled to Cambridge, where his son was studying, to confront him.[114] By the beginning of December, Albert was very unwell.[115] He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner, and died on 14 December 1861. Victoria was devastated.[116] She blamed her husband's death on worry over the Prince of Wales's philandering. He had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said.[117] She entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She avoided public appearances and rarely set foot in London in the following years.[118] Her seclusion earned her the nickname "widow of Windsor".[119] Her weight increased through comfort eating, which reinforced her aversion to public appearances.[120] Victoria's self-imposed isolation from the public diminished the popularity of the monarchy, and encouraged the growth of the republican movement.[121] She did undertake her official government duties, yet chose to remain secluded in her royal residences—Windsor Castle, Osborne House, and the private estate in Scotland that she and Albert had acquired in 1847, Balmoral Castle. In March 1864 a protester stuck a notice on the railings of Buckingham Palace that announced "these commanding premises to be let or sold in consequence of the late occupant's declining business".[122] Her uncle Leopold wrote to her advising her to appear in public. She agreed to visit the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Kensington and take a drive through London in an open carriage.[123] Victoria and John Brown at Balmoral, 1863. Photograph by G. W. Wilson. Through the 1860s, Victoria relied increasingly on a manservant from Scotland, John Brown.[124] Rumours of a romantic connection and even a secret marriage appeared in print, and some referred to the Queen as "Mrs. Brown".[125] The story of their relationship was the subject of the 1997 movie Mrs. Brown. A painting by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer depicting the Queen with Brown was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and Victoria published a book, Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands, which featured Brown prominently and in which the Queen praised him highly.[126] Palmerston died in 1865, and after a brief ministry led by Russell, Derby returned to power. In 1866, Victoria attended the State Opening of Parliament for the first time since Albert's death.[127] The following year she supported the passing of the Reform Act 1867 which doubled the electorate by extending the franchise to many urban working men,[128] though she was not in favour of votes for women.[129] Derby resigned in 1868, to be replaced by Benjamin Disraeli, who charmed Victoria. "Everyone likes flattery," he said, "and when you come to royalty you should lay it on with a trowel."[130] With the phrase "we authors, Ma'am", he complimented her.[131] Disraeli's ministry only lasted a matter of months, and at the end of the year his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone, was appointed prime minister. Victoria found Gladstone's demeanour far less appealing; he spoke to her, she is thought to have complained, as though she were "a public meeting rather than a woman".[132] In 1870 republican sentiment in Britain, fed by the Queen's seclusion, was boosted after the establishment of the Third French Republic.[133] A republican rally in Trafalgar Square demanded Victoria's removal, and Radical MPs spoke against her.[134] In August and September 1871, she was seriously ill with an abscess in her arm, which Joseph Lister successfully lanced and treated with his new antiseptic carbolic acid spray.[135] In late November 1871, at the height of the republican movement, the Prince of Wales contracted typhoid fever, the disease that was believed to have killed his father, and Victoria was fearful her son would die.[136] As the tenth anniversary of her husband's death approached, her son's condition grew no better, and Victoria's distress continued.[137] To general rejoicing, he recovered.[138] Mother and son attended a public parade through London and a grand service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral on 27 February 1872, and republican feeling subsided.[139] On the last day of February 1872, two days after the thanksgiving service, 17-year-old Arthur O'Connor, a great-nephew of Irish MP Feargus O'Connor, waved an unloaded pistol at Victoria's open carriage just after she had arrived at Buckingham Palace. Brown, who was attending the Queen, grabbed him and O'Connor was later sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment,[140] and a birching.[141] As a result of the incident, Victoria's popularity recovered further.[142] Empress Wikisource has original text related to this article: Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the princes, chiefs, and people of India After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British East India Company, which had ruled much of India, was dissolved, and Britain's possessions and protectorates on the Indian subcontinent were formally incorporated into the British Empire. The Queen had a relatively balanced view of the conflict, and condemned atrocities on both sides.[143] She wrote of "her feelings of horror and regret at the result of this bloody civil war",[144] and insisted, urged on by Albert, that an official proclamation announcing the transfer of power from the company to the state "should breathe feelings of generosity, benevolence and religious toleration".[145] At her behest, a reference threatening the "undermining of native religions and customs" was replaced by a passage guaranteeing religious freedom.[145] Victoria admired Heinrich von Angeli's 1875 portrait of her for its "honesty, total want of flattery, and appreciation of character".[146] In the 1874 general election, Disraeli was returned to power. He passed the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874, which removed Catholic rituals from the Anglican liturgy and which Victoria strongly supported.[147] She preferred short, simple services, and personally considered herself more aligned with the presbyterian Church of Scotland than the episcopal Church of England.[148] Disraeli also pushed the Royal Titles Act 1876 through Parliament, so that Victoria took the title "Empress of India" from 1 May 1876.[149] The new title was proclaimed at the Delhi Durbar of 1 January 1877.[150] On 14 December 1878, the anniversary of Albert's death, Victoria's second daughter Alice, who had married Louis of Hesse, died of diphtheria in Darmstadt. Victoria noted the coincidence of the dates as "almost incredible and most mysterious".[151] In May 1879, she became a great-grandmother (on the birth of Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen) and passed her "poor old 60th birthday". She felt "aged" by "the loss of my beloved child".[152] Between April 1877 and February 1878, she threatened five times to abdicate while pressuring Disraeli to act against Russia during the Russo-Turkish War, but her threats had no impact on the events or their conclusion with the Congress of Berlin.[153] Disraeli's expansionist foreign policy, which Victoria endorsed, led to conflicts such as the Anglo-Zulu War and the Second Anglo-Afghan War. "If we are to maintain our position as a first-rate Power", she wrote, "we must ... be Prepared for attacks and wars, somewhere or other, CONTINUALLY."[154] Victoria saw the expansion of the British Empire as civilising and benign, protecting native peoples from more aggressive powers or cruel rulers: "It is not in our custom to annexe countries", she said, "unless we are obliged & forced to do so."[155] To Victoria's dismay, Disraeli lost the 1880 general election, and Gladstone returned as prime minister.[156] When Disraeli died the following year, she was blinded by "fast falling tears",[157] and erected a memorial tablet "placed by his grateful Sovereign and Friend, Victoria R.I."[158] Later years Victorian farthing, 1884 On 2 March 1882, Roderick Maclean, a disgruntled poet apparently offended by Victoria's refusal to accept one of his poems,[159] shot at the Queen as her carriage left Windsor railway station. Gordon Chesney Wilson and another schoolboy from Eton College struck him with their umbrellas, until he was hustled away by a policeman.[160] Victoria was outraged when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity,[161] but was so pleased by the many expressions of loyalty after the attack that she said it was "worth being shot at—to see how much one is loved".[162] On 17 March 1883, Victoria fell down some stairs at Windsor, which left her lame until July; she never fully recovered and was plagued with rheumatism thereafter.[163] John Brown died 10 days after her accident, and to the consternation of her private secretary, Sir Henry Ponsonby, Victoria began work on a eulogistic biography of Brown.[164] Ponsonby and Randall Davidson, Dean of Windsor, who had both seen early drafts, advised Victoria against publication, on the grounds that it would stoke the rumours of a love affair.[165] The manuscript was destroyed.[166] In early 1884, Victoria did publish More Leaves from a Journal of a Life in the Highlands, a sequel to her earlier book, which she dedicated to her "devoted personal attendant and faithful friend John Brown".[167] On the day after the first anniversary of Brown's death, Victoria was informed by telegram that her youngest son, Leopold, had died in Cannes. He was "the dearest of my dear sons", she lamented.[168] The following month, Victoria's youngest child, Beatrice, met and fell in love with Prince Henry of Battenberg at the wedding of Victoria's granddaughter Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine to Henry's brother Prince Louis of Battenberg. Beatrice and Henry planned to marry, but Victoria opposed the match at first, wishing to keep Beatrice at home to act as her companion. After a year, she was won around to the marriage by their promise to remain living with and attending her.[169] Extent of the British Empire in 1898 Victoria was pleased when Gladstone resigned in 1885 after his budget was defeated.[170] She thought his government was "the worst I have ever had", and blamed him for the death of General Gordon at Khartoum.[171] Gladstone was replaced by Lord Salisbury. Salisbury's government only lasted a few months, however, and Victoria was forced to recall Gladstone, whom she referred to as a "half crazy & really in many ways ridiculous old man".[172] Gladstone attempted to pass a bill granting Ireland home rule, but to Victoria's glee it was defeated.[173] In the ensuing election, Gladstone's party lost to Salisbury's and the government switched hands again. Golden Jubilee The Munshi stands over Victoria as she works at a desk Victoria and the Munshi Abdul Karim In 1887, the British Empire celebrated Victoria's Golden Jubilee. She marked the fiftieth anniversary of her accession on 20 June with a banquet to which 50 kings and princes were invited. The following day, she participated in a procession and attended a thanksgiving service in Westminster Abbey.[174] By this time, Victoria was once again extremely popular.[175] Two days later on 23 June,[176] she engaged two Indian Muslims as waiters, one of whom was Abdul Karim. He was soon promoted to "Munshi": teaching her Urdu and acting as a clerk.[177][178][179] Her family and retainers were appalled, and accused Abdul Karim of spying for the Muslim Patriotic League, and biasing the Queen against the Hindus.[180] Equerry Frederick Ponsonby (the son of Sir Henry) discovered that the Munshi had lied about his parentage, and reported to Lord Elgin, Viceroy of India, "the Munshi occupies very much the same position as John Brown used to do."[181] Victoria dismissed their complaints as racial prejudice.[182] Abdul Karim remained in her service until he returned to India with a pension, on her death.[183] Victoria's eldest daughter became empress consort of Germany in 1888, but she was widowed a little over three months later, and Victoria's eldest grandchild became German Emperor as Wilhelm II. Victoria and Albert's hopes of a liberal Germany would go unfulfilled, as Wilhelm was a firm believer in autocracy. Victoria thought he had "little heart or Zartgefühl [tact] – and ... his conscience & intelligence have been completely wharped [sic]".[184] Gladstone returned to power after the 1892 general election; he was 82 years old. Victoria objected when Gladstone proposed appointing the Radical MP Henry Labouchère to the Cabinet, so Gladstone agreed not to appoint him.[185] In 1894, Gladstone retired and, without consulting the outgoing prime minister, Victoria appointed Lord Rosebery as prime minister.[186] His government was weak, and the following year Lord Salisbury replaced him. Salisbury remained prime minister for the remainder of Victoria's reign.[187] Diamond Jubilee Seated Victoria in embroidered and lace dress Victoria in her official Diamond Jubilee photograph by W. & D. Downey On 23 September 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather George III as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. The Queen requested that any special celebrations be delayed until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee,[188] which was made a festival of the British Empire at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain.[189] The prime ministers of all the self-governing Dominions were invited to London for the festivities.[190] One reason for including the prime ministers of the Dominions and excluding foreign heads of state was to avoid having to invite Victoria's grandson, Wilhelm II of Germany, who, it was feared, might cause trouble at the event.[191] The Queen's Diamond Jubilee procession on 22 June 1897 followed a route six miles long through London and included troops from all over the empire. The procession paused for an open-air service of thanksgiving held outside St Paul's Cathedral, throughout which Victoria sat in her open carriage, to avoid her having to climb the steps to enter the building. The celebration was marked by vast crowds of spectators and great outpourings of affection for the 78-year-old Queen.[192] Queen Victoria in Dublin, 1900 Victoria visited mainland Europe regularly for holidays. In 1889, during a stay in Biarritz, she became the first reigning monarch from Britain to set foot in Spain when she crossed the border for a brief visit.[193] By April 1900, the Boer War was so unpopular in mainland Europe that her annual trip to France seemed inadvisable. Instead, the Queen went to Ireland for the first time since 1861, in part to acknowledge the contribution of Irish regiments to the South African war.[194] Death and succession Portrait by Heinrich von Angeli, 1899 In July 1900, Victoria's second son, Alfred ("Affie"), died. "Oh, God! My poor darling Affie gone too", she wrote in her journal. "It is a horrible year, nothing but sadness & horrors of one kind & another."[195] Following a custom she maintained throughout her widowhood, Victoria spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Rheumatism in her legs had rendered her disabled, and her eyesight was clouded by cataracts.[196] Through early January, she felt "weak and unwell",[197] and by mid-January she was "drowsy ... dazed, [and] confused".[198] She died on 22 January 1901, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81.[199] Her son and successor, King Edward VII, and her eldest grandson, Emperor Wilhelm II, were at her deathbed.[200] Her favourite pet Pomeranian, Turi, was laid upon her deathbed as a last request.[201] Poster proclaiming a day of mourning in Toronto on the day of Victoria's funeral In 1897, Victoria had written instructions for her funeral, which was to be military as befitting a soldier's daughter and the head of the army,[96] and white instead of black.[202] On 25 January, Edward, Wilhelm, and her third son, Arthur, helped lift her body into the coffin.[203] She was dressed in a white dress and her wedding veil.[204] An array of mementos commemorating her extended family, friends and servants were laid in the coffin with her, at her request, by her doctor and dressers. One of Albert's dressing gowns was placed by her side, with a plaster cast of his hand, while a lock of John Brown's hair, along with a picture of him, was placed in her left hand concealed from the view of the family by a carefully positioned bunch of flowers.[96][205] Items of jewellery placed on Victoria included the wedding ring of John Brown's mother, given to her by Brown in 1883.[96] Her funeral was held on Saturday 2 February, in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and after two days of lying-in-state, she was interred beside Prince Albert in the Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore, at Windsor Great Park.[206] With a reign of 63 years, seven months, and two days, Victoria was the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history, until her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II surpassed her on 9 September 2015.[207] She was the last monarch of Britain from the House of Hanover; her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to her husband's House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Legacy See also: Cultural depictions of Queen Victoria Victoria smiling Victoria amused. The remark "We are not amused" is attributed to her but there is no direct evidence that she ever said it,[96][208] and she denied doing so.[209] According to one of her biographers, Giles St Aubyn, Victoria wrote an average of 2,500 words a day during her adult life.[210] From July 1832 until just before her death, she kept a detailed journal, which eventually encompassed 122 volumes.[211] After Victoria's death, her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, was appointed her literary executor. Beatrice transcribed and edited the diaries covering Victoria's accession onwards, and burned the originals in the process.[212] Despite this destruction, much of the diaries still exist. In addition to Beatrice's edited copy, Lord Esher transcribed the volumes from 1832 to 1861 before Beatrice destroyed them.[213] Part of Victoria's extensive correspondence has been published in volumes edited by A. C. Benson, Hector Bolitho, George Earle Buckle, Lord Esher, Roger Fulford, and Richard Hough among others.[214] Bronze statue of winged victory mounted on a marble four-sided base with a marble figure on each side The Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace was erected as part of the remodelling of the façade of the Palace a decade after her death. Victoria was physically unprepossessing—she was stout, dowdy and only about five feet (1.5 metres) tall—but she succeeded in projecting a grand image.[215] She experienced unpopularity during the first years of her widowhood, but was well liked during the 1880s and 1890s, when she embodied the empire as a benevolent matriarchal figure.[216] Only after the release of her diary and letters did the extent of her political influence become known to the wider public.[96][217] Biographies of Victoria written before much of the primary material became available, such as Lytton Strachey's Queen Victoria of 1921, are now considered out of date.[218] The biographies written by Elizabeth Longford and Cecil Woodham-Smith, in 1964 and 1972 respectively, are still widely admired.[219] They, and others, conclude that as a person Victoria was emotional, obstinate, honest, and straight-talking.[220] Contrary to popular belief, her staff and family recorded that Victoria "was immensely amused and roared with laughter" on many occasions.[221] Through Victoria's reign, the gradual establishment of a modern constitutional monarchy in Britain continued. Reforms of the voting system increased the power of the House of Commons at the expense of the House of Lords and the monarch.[222] In 1867, Walter Bagehot wrote that the monarch only retained "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn".[223] As Victoria's monarchy became more symbolic than political, it placed a strong emphasis on morality and family values, in contrast to the sexual, financial and personal scandals that had been associated with previous members of the House of Hanover and which had discredited the monarchy. The concept of the "family monarchy", with which the burgeoning middle classes could identify, was solidified.[224] Descendants and haemophilia Victoria's links with Europe's royal families earned her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".[225] Of the 42 grandchildren of Victoria and Albert, 34 survived to adulthood. Their living descendants include Elizabeth II; Harald V of Norway; Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden; Margrethe II of Denmark; and Felipe VI of Spain. Victoria's youngest son, Leopold, was affected by the blood-clotting disease haemophilia B and at least two of her five daughters, Alice and Beatrice, were carriers. Royal haemophiliacs descended from Victoria included her great-grandsons, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia; Alfonso, Prince of Asturias; and Infante Gonzalo of Spain.[226] The presence of the disease in Victoria's descendants, but not in her ancestors, led to modern speculation that her true father was not the Duke of Kent, but a haemophiliac.[227] There is no documentary evidence of a haemophiliac in connection with Victoria's mother, and as male carriers always had the disease, even if such a man had existed he would have been seriously ill.[228] It is more likely that the mutation arose spontaneously because Victoria's father was over 50 at the time of her conception and haemophilia arises more frequently in the children of older fathers.[229] Spontaneous mutations account for about a third of cases.[230] Namesakes The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India Around the world, places and memorials are dedicated to her, especially in the Commonwealth nations. Places named after her include Africa's largest lake, Victoria Falls, the capitals of British Columbia (Victoria) and Saskatchewan (Regina), two Australian states (Victoria and Queensland), and the capital of the island nation of Seychelles. The Victoria Cross was introduced in 1856 to reward acts of valour during the Crimean War,[231] and it remains the highest British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand award for bravery. Victoria Day is a Canadian statutory holiday and a local public holiday in parts of Scotland celebrated on the last Monday before or on 24 May (Queen Victoria's birthday). Titles, styles, honours, and arms Titles and styles 24 May 1819 – 20 June 1837: Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901: Her Majesty The Queen At the end of her reign, the Queen's full style was: "Her Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India".[232] Honours British honours Royal Family Order of King George IV, 1826[233] Founder and Sovereign of the Order of the Star of India, 25 June 1861[234] Founder and Sovereign of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, 10 February 1862[235] Founder and Sovereign of the Order of the Crown of India, 1 January 1878[236] Founder and Sovereign of the Order of the Indian Empire, 1 January 1878[237] Founder and Sovereign of the Royal Red Cross, 27 April 1883[238] Founder and Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, 6 November 1886[239] Albert Medal of the Royal Society of Arts, 1887[240] Founder and Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, 23 April 1896[241] Foreign honours Spain: Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa, 21 December 1833[242] Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III[243] Portugal: Dame of the Order of Queen Saint Isabel, 23 February 1836[244] Grand Cross of Our Lady of Conception[243] Russia: Grand Cross of St. Catherine, 26 June 1837[245] France: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, 5 September 1843[246] Mexico: Grand Cross of the National Order of Guadalupe, 1854[247] Prussia: Dame of the Order of Louise, 1st Division, 11 June 1857[248] Brazil: Grand Cross of the Order of Pedro I, 3 December 1872[249] Persia:[250] Order of the Sun, 1st Class in Diamonds, 20 June 1873 Order of the August Portrait, 20 June 1873 Siam: Grand Cross of the White Elephant, 1880[251] Dame of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 1887[252] Hawaii: Grand Cross of the Order of Kamehameha I, with Collar, July 1881[253] Serbia:[254][255] Grand Cross of the Cross of Takovo, 1882 Grand Cross of the White Eagle, 1883 Grand Cross of St. Sava, 1897 Hesse and by Rhine: Dame of the Golden Lion, 25 April 1885[256] Bulgaria: Order of the Bulgarian Red Cross, August 1887[257] Ethiopia: Grand Cross of the Seal of Solomon, 22 June 1897 – Diamond Jubilee gift[258] Montenegro: Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I, 1897[259] Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Silver Wedding Medal of Duke Alfred and Duchess Marie, 23 January 1899[260] Arms As Sovereign, Victoria used the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Before her accession, she received no grant of arms. As she could not succeed to the throne of Hanover, her arms did not carry the Hanoverian symbols that were used by her immediate predecessors. Her arms have been borne by all of her successors on the throne. Outside Scotland, the blazon for the shield—also used on the Royal Standard—is: Quarterly: I and IV, Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II, Or, a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III, Azure, a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland). In Scotland, the first and fourth quarters are occupied by the Scottish lion, and the second by the English lions. The crests, mottoes, and supporters also differ in and outside Scotland. Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (1837-1952).svg Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom in Scotland (1837-1952).svg Royal arms (outside Scotland)    Royal arms (in Scotland) Family Victoria's family in 1846 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Left to right: Prince Alfred and the Prince of Wales; the Queen and Prince Albert; Princesses Alice, Helena and Victoria. Issue See also: Descendants of Queen Victoria and Royal descendants of Queen Victoria and King Christian IX Name    Birth    Death    Spouse and children[232][261] Victoria, Princess Royal    21 November 1840    5 August 1901    Married 1858, Frederick, later German Emperor and King of Prussia (1831–1888); 4 sons (including Wilhelm II, German Emperor), 4 daughters (including Queen Sophia of Greece) Edward VII of the United Kingdom    9 November 1841    6 May 1910    Married 1863, Princess Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925); 3 sons (including King George V of the United Kingdom), 3 daughters (including Queen Maud of Norway) Princess Alice    25 April 1843    14 December 1878    Married 1862, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (1837–1892); 2 sons, 5 daughters (including Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia) Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha    6 August 1844    31 July 1900    Married 1874, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (1853–1920); 2 sons (1 stillborn), 4 daughters (including Queen Marie of Romania) Princess Helena    25 May 1846    9 June 1923    Married 1866, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (1831–1917); 4 sons (1 stillborn), 2 daughters Princess Louise    18 March 1848    3 December 1939    Married 1871, John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, later 9th Duke of Argyll (1845–1914); no issue Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn    1 May 1850    16 January 1942    Married 1879, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (1860–1917); 1 son, 2 daughters (including Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden) Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany    7 April 1853    28 March 1884    Married 1882, Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1861–1922); 1 son, 1 daughter Princess Beatrice    14 April 1857    26 October 1944    Married 1885, Prince Henry of Battenberg (1858–1896); 3 sons, 1 daughter (Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain) Ancestry Ancestors of Queen Victoria[262] Family tree   Red borders indicate British monarchs     Bold borders indicate children of British monarchs Family of Queen Victoria, spanning the reigns of her grandfather, George III, to her grandson, George V Notes  Her godparents were Tsar Alexander I of Russia (represented by her uncle Frederick, Duke of York), her uncle George, Prince Regent, her aunt Queen Charlotte of Württemberg (represented by Victoria's aunt Princess Augusta) and Victoria's maternal grandmother the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (represented by Victoria's aunt Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh).  Under section 2 of the Regency Act 1830, the Accession Council's proclamation declared Victoria as the King's successor "saving the rights of any issue of His late Majesty King William the Fourth which may be borne of his late Majesty's Consort". "No. 19509". The London Gazette. 20 June 1837. p. 1581. References Citations  Hibbert, pp. 3–12; Strachey, pp. 1–17; Woodham-Smith, pp. 15–29  Hibbert, pp. 12–13; Longford, p. 23; Woodham-Smith, pp. 34–35  Longford, p. 24  Worsley, p. 41.  Hibbert, p. 31; St Aubyn, p. 26; Woodham-Smith, p. 81  Hibbert, p. 46; Longford, p. 54; St Aubyn, p. 50; Waller, p. 344; Woodham-Smith, p. 126  Hibbert, p. 19; Marshall, p. 25  Hibbert, p. 27; Longford, pp. 35–38, 118–119; St Aubyn, pp. 21–22; Woodham-Smith, pp. 70–72. 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(1998), Victoria's Daughters, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-24496-7 Potts, D. M.; Potts, W. T. W. (1995), Queen Victoria's Gene: Haemophilia and the Royal Family, Stroud: Alan Sutton, ISBN 0-7509-1199-9 St. Aubyn, Giles (1991), Queen Victoria: A Portrait, London: Sinclair-Stevenson, ISBN 1-85619-086-2 Strachey, Lytton (1921), Queen Victoria, London: Chatto and Windus Waller, Maureen (2006), Sovereign Ladies: The Six Reigning Queens of England, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-6628-2 Weintraub, Stanley (1997), Albert: Uncrowned King, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-5756-9 Woodham-Smith, Cecil (1972), Queen Victoria: Her Life and Times 1819–1861, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-02200-2 Worsley, Lucy (2018), Queen Victoria – Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow, London: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 978-1-4736-5138-8 Primary sources Benson, A. C.; Esher, Viscount, eds. (1907), The Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection of Her Majesty's Correspondence Between the Years 1837 and 1861, London: John Murray Bolitho, Hector, ed. (1938), Letters of Queen Victoria from the Archives of the House of Brandenburg-Prussia, London: Thornton Butterworth Buckle, George Earle, ed. (1926), The Letters of Queen Victoria, 2nd Series 1862–1885, London: John Murray Buckle, George Earle, ed. (1930), The Letters of Queen Victoria, 3rd Series 1886–1901, London: John Murray Connell, Brian (1962), Regina v. Palmerston: The Correspondence between Queen Victoria and her Foreign and Prime Minister, 1837–1865, London: Evans Brothers Duff, David, ed. (1968), Victoria in the Highlands: The Personal Journal of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, London: Muller Dyson, Hope; Tennyson, Charles, eds. (1969), Dear and Honoured Lady: The Correspondence between Queen Victoria and Alfred Tennyson, London: Macmillan Esher, Viscount, ed. (1912), The Girlhood of Queen Victoria: A Selection from Her Majesty's Diaries Between the Years 1832 and 1840, London: John Murray Fulford, Roger, ed. (1964), Dearest Child: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal, 1858–1861, London: Evans Brothers Fulford, Roger, ed. (1968), Dearest Mama: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1861–1864, London: Evans Brothers Fulford, Roger, ed. (1971), Beloved Mama: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the German Crown Princess, 1878–1885, London: Evans Brothers Fulford, Roger, ed. (1971), Your Dear Letter: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the Crown Princess of Prussia, 1863–1871, London: Evans Brothers Fulford, Roger, ed. (1976), Darling Child: Private Correspondence of Queen Victoria and the German Crown Princess of Prussia, 1871–1878, London: Evans Brothers Hibbert, Christopher, ed. (1984), Queen Victoria in Her Letters and Journals, London: John Murray, ISBN 0-7195-4107-7 Hough, Richard, ed. (1975), Advice to a Grand-daughter: Letters from Queen Victoria to Princess Victoria of Hesse, London: Heinemann, ISBN 0-434-34861-9 Jagow, Kurt, ed. (1938), Letters of the Prince Consort 1831–1861, London: John Murray Mortimer, Raymond, ed. (1961), Queen Victoria: Leaves from a Journal, New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy Ponsonby, Frederick, ed. (1930), Letters of the Empress Frederick, London: Macmillan Ramm, Agatha, ed. (1990), Beloved and Darling Child: Last Letters between Queen Victoria and Her Eldest Daughter, 1886–1901, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 978-0-86299-880-6 Victoria, Queen (1868), Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands from 1848 to 1861, London: Smith, Elder Victoria, Queen (1884), More Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands from 1862 to 1882, London: Smith, Elder Further reading Arnstein, Walter L. (2003), Queen Victoria, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-0-333-63806-4 Baird, Julia (2016), Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire, New York: Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-6988-0 Cadbury, Deborah (2017), Queen Victoria's Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages That Shaped Europe, Bloomsbury Carter, Sarah; Nugent, Maria Nugent, eds. (2016), Mistress of everything: Queen Victoria in Indigenous worlds, Manchester University Press Eyck, Frank (1959), The Prince Consort: a political biography, Chatto Gardiner, Juliet (1997), Queen Victoria, London: Collins and Brown, ISBN 978-1-85585-469-7 Homans, Margaret; Munich, Adrienne, eds. (1997), Remaking Queen Victoria, Cambridge University Press Homans, Margaret (1997), Royal Representations: Queen Victoria and British Culture, 1837–1876 Hough, Richard (1996), Victoria and Albert, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-30385-3 James, Robert Rhodes (1983), Albert, Prince Consort: A Biography, Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 9780394407630 Kingsley Kent, Susan (2015), Queen Victoria: Gender and Empire Lyden, Anne M. (2014), A Royal Passion: Queen Victoria and Photography, Los Angeles: Getty Publications, ISBN 978-1-60606-155-8 Ridley, Jane (2015), Victoria: Queen, Matriarch, Empress, Penguin Taylor, Miles (2020), "The Bicentenary of Queen Victoria", Journal of British Studies, 59: 121–135, doi:10.1017/jbr.2019.245, S2CID 213433777 Weintraub, Stanley (1987), Victoria: Biography of a Queen, London: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-04-923084-2 Wilson, A. N. (2014), Victoria: A Life, London: Atlantic Books, ISBN 978-1-84887-956-0 External links Listen to this article (1 hour and 2 minutes) 1:01:53 Spoken Wikipedia icon This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 20 July 2014, and does not reflect subsequent edits. 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IEadredEadwigEdgar the PeacefulEdward the MartyrÆthelred the UnreadySweynEdmund IronsideCnutHarold IHarthacnutEdward the ConfessorHarold GodwinsonEdgar ÆthelingWilliam IWilliam IIHenry IStephenMatildaHenry IIHenry the Young KingRichard IJohnHenry IIIEdward IEdward IIEdward IIIRichard IIHenry IVHenry VHenry VIEdward IVEdward VRichard IIIHenry VIIHenry VIIIEdward VIJaneMary I and PhilipElizabeth I Kenneth I MacAlpinDonald IConstantine IÁedGiricEochaidDonald IIConstantine IIMalcolm IIndulfDubCuilénAmlaíbKenneth IIConstantine IIIKenneth IIIMalcolm IIDuncan IMacbethLulachMalcolm IIIDonald IIIDuncan IIEdgarAlexander IDavid IMalcolm IVWilliam IAlexander IIAlexander IIIMargaretJohnRobert IDavid IIEdward BalliolRobert IIRobert IIIJames IJames IIJames IIIJames IVJames VMary IJames VI Monarchs of England and Scotland after the Union of the Crowns from 1603 James I and VICharles ICharles IIJames II and VIIWilliam III and II and Mary IIAnne British monarchs after the Acts of Union 1707 AnneGeorge IGeorge IIGeorge IIIGeorge IVWilliam IVVictoriaEdward VIIGeorge VEdward VIIIGeorge VIElizabeth II Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics. vte British princesses The generations indicate descent from George I, who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family. Where a princess may have been or is descended from George I more than once, her most senior descent, by which she bore or bears her title, is used. 1st generation    Sophia Dorothea, Queen in Prussia 2nd generation    Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of OrangePrincess AmeliaPrincess CarolineMary, Landgravine of Hesse-KasselLouise, Queen of Denmark and Norway 3rd generation    Augusta, Duchess of BrunswickPrincess ElizabethPrincess LouisaCaroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway 4th generation    Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen of WürttembergPrincess Augusta SophiaElizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-HomburgPrincess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and EdinburghPrincess SophiaPrincess AmeliaPrincess Sophia of GloucesterPrincess Caroline of Gloucester 5th generation    Princess Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-SaalfeldPrincess Elizabeth of ClarenceQueen VictoriaAugusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-StrelitzPrincess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck 6th generation    Victoria, Princess Royal and German EmpressAlice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by RhinePrincess Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-HolsteinPrincess Louise, Duchess of ArgyllPrincess Beatrice, Princess Henry of BattenbergPrincess Frederica, Baroness von Pawel-RammingenPrincess Marie of Hanover 7th generation    Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of FifePrincess VictoriaMaud, Queen of NorwayMarie, Queen of RomaniaGrand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of RussiaPrincess Alexandra, Princess of Hohenlohe-LangenburgPrincess Beatrice, Duchess of GallieraMargaret, Crown Princess of SwedenPrincess Patricia, Lady Patricia RamsayPrincess Alice, Countess of AthlonePrincess Marie Louise, Princess Maximilian of BadenAlexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-SchwerinPrincess Olga of Hanover 8th generation    Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of HarewoodPrincess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of FifePrincess Maud, Countess of SoutheskPrincess Sibylla, Duchess of VästerbottenPrincess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and GothaFrederica, Queen of Greece 9th generation    Queen Elizabeth IIPrincess Margaret, Countess of SnowdonPrincess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy 10th generation    Anne, Princess Royal 11th generation    Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli MozziPrincess Eugenie, Mrs Jack BrooksbankLady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor1 12th generation    Princess Charlotte of Cambridge 1 Status debatable; see her article. vte Hanoverian princesses by birth Generations are numbered by descent from the first King of Hanover, George III. 1st generation    Charlotte, Queen of WürttembergPrincess Augusta SophiaElizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-HomburgPrincess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and EdinburghPrincess SophiaPrincess Amelia 2nd generation    Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-SaalfeldPrincess Charlotte of ClarenceQueen Victoria of the United KingdomPrincess Elizabeth of ClarenceAugusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-StrelitzPrincess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck 3rd generation    Princess Frederica, Baroness von Pawel-RammingenPrincess Marie 4th generation    Marie Louise, Princess Maximilian of BadenAlexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-SchwerinPrincess Olga 5th generation    Frederica, Queen of the Hellenes 6th generation    Princess Marie, Countess von HochbergPrincess OlgaPrincess Alexandra, Princess of LeiningenPrincess Friederike 7th generation    Princess AlexandraPrincess Eugenia 8th generation    Princess ElisabethPrincess EleonoraPrincess Sofia Authority control Edit this at Wikidata General    ISNI 1VIAF 1WorldCat National libraries    NorwaySpainFrance (data)CataloniaGermanyItalyIsraelUnited StatesLatviaJapanCzech RepublicAustraliaGreeceKoreaCroatiaNetherlandsPolandSwedenVatican Art galleries and museums    VictoriaTe Papa (New Zealand) Art research institutes    RKD Artists (Netherlands)Artist Names (Getty) Biographical dictionaries    Germany Scientific databases    CiNii (Japan) Other    Faceted Application of Subject TerminologyMusicBrainz artist 2National Archives (US)RISM (France) 1Social Networks and Archival Context 2SUDOC (France) 1Trove (Australia) 1 Categories: Queen Victoria1819 births1901 deathsMonarchs of the United KingdomMonarchs of the Isle of ManHeads of state of CanadaMonarchs of AustraliaHeads of state of New ZealandQueens regnant in the British Isles19th-century British monarchs20th-century British monarchsHouse of HanoverHanoverian princessesHouse of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (United Kingdom)Empresses regnantIndian empressesBritish princesses19th-century diaristsBritish diaristsFounders of English schools and collegesPeople associated with the Royal National College for the BlindPeople from KensingtonBritish people of German descentFemale critics of feminismKnights Grand Cross of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila ViçosaDames of the Order of Saint IsabelGrand Croix of the Légion d'honneurGrand Crosses of the Order of St. SavaRecipients of the Order of the Cross of Takovo What is an Antique 7 What exactly is an Antique? In purist words, and based on the “official” description from the United States Customs Service, antiques have generally been viewed as things with no less than a hundred years of age under their belts. Meaning the scale slides each year since a lot more items age to suit into that particular time period. Then again, the word antique is employed rather freely from the public, and frequently lands up highlighting the age of the individual utilizing it over the definite definition. For a teenager, for instance, a home kitchen items from the 60’s appears “antique,” while a older adult may see antiques as the numerous items they utilized or spotted in the homes of their grandparents as a kid. Varying Views Among “Experts” Obviously, you may ask several different antiques “experts” what exactly an antique is and you’ll obtain a few different answers. There have already been hot discussions about this very topic when multiple antiques experts have gathered to try and define the word antique. A few experts tend to look more at high design and style whenever deeming an item antique. They view antiques as “masterpieces” of style and of merely the best quality. For this evaluation, anything from primitive furniture of all ages to faceless Amish rag dolls coming from the late twentieth century wouldn’t be regarded antique no matter the scarcity of the object. A number of other experts don’t agree with these people. A great way to view it is the dividing line drawn in which styles totally changed from the old-fashioned look toward the contemporary. Hemlines were reduced and simplified, and Art Deco design was the extremely popular throughout the 1920s stepping into the 1930s. These types of fashion and design developments having a modern curve, and the like within this transitional period, offer a stark distinction into the elegant nature of Victorian, Edwardian, as well as Colonial influences observed in the past decades to hundreds of years. Bearing this in mind, one perspective is to see things made just before 1920 as antiques and newer items as “collectibles.” The antique scale slides with regards to the real age of these items as we go on to move ahead through the calendar, however. The moment 2020 comes around these objects will be regarded as antiques by the U.S. Customs Service definition thus broadly adopted in the field. How Must You Describe Objects You’re Selling? Perhaps even the most honest sellers having the best of intentions can do a miscalculation occasionally to describe their wares. However when sellers use terms improperly, particularly if they do it over and over again, those blunders could quickly ruin their integrity. For this reason alone it’s best if you try to obtain the facts straight. Distinguishing something that is actually a collectible – anything under a hundred years old – as an antique makes smart buyers feel as if you’re simply wanting to pull one over to them. It may also cause you to look ignorant as to what you’re selling, or much worse, dishonest. If the item is clearly newer than a hundred years in age, simply refer to it as a collectible. In case you actually think that a product is over a hundred years in age after doing research, then it’s completely fine to refer to it as an antique. A few online selling sites have got particular groups to adhere to which differentiate antiques from collectibles. You’ll do better by having it right, because potential clients will examine those classes for what they’re searching for apart from depending on keyword searches. Even when you are marketing in an antique shopping mall or in a show, marking and representing your things precisely helps you well. Clients will return over and over again to find out what’s new within your booth should you do your very best to provide them great product which has been carefully investigated and properly sold. Types of Antiques As stated over and over before, antiques are items of old things like home furniture and jewelry or uncommon things which have been stored for over a hundred years old. When you are planning to enter antique collecting, then you’ll discover that this is an incredibly satisfying exercise where you can find a number of classes involved. You’ll certainly discover a rare item or thing at numerous avenues such as antique art galleries or at local flea markets and car boot sales and prior to going out and begin purchasing all that hits your curiosity you must first know the types of antique. Generally, antiques are things that where possible over a century old while they’re recognized for being rare, incredible and valuable. Here are a few types of antique items: Antique Furniture 183-144-190-Rosewood-Rococo-Parlor-set-Laminated-Pierced-carved-sofa-74in-long-50in.-Tall-by-Meeks-Stanton-Hall-patt.jpg An antique furniture is a valuable interior decorations of old age. Frequently its age, uniqueness, condition, utility, or any other unique features makes a furniture piece appealing as a collectors’ item, and so called an “antique”. Antique furniture might provide the body of a human (like seating or beds), offer storage space, or carry items on horizontal surfaces on top of the ground. Storage furniture (which frequently employs doors, compartments, as well as shelves) is utilized to carry or contain little items like tools, clothes, books, as well as home items. Furniture could be a product of creative style and it is regarded a type of decorative art. Besides furniture’s useful function, it could function a emblematic or religious purpose. Domestic furniture functions to produce, along with furnishings like clocks and lighting, comfy and convenient interior spots. Furniture can be created from numerous materials, such as steel, plastic, as well as wood. Cabinets and cupboard making are terms for the set of skills utilized in the constructing of furniture. Antique Jewelry IMG_0539-copy Antique jewellery is jewellery which has hit an age of a hundred years or even more which makes it a witness of history. It’s commonly employed for second hand jewelry and for jewellery produced in earlier (style-)periods and not always pre-worn jewellery. It isn’t a dequalifying designation as numerous items of antique jewellery usually feature fine craftsmanship and superior quality gemstones, and also one-of-a-kind items. Antique jewellery consists of numerous years or eras. All of them has numerous different styles. These periods can include Early Victorian, Georgian, Mid-Victorian, Late Victorian, Crafts and arts era, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Retro and Art Deco. Throughout the years it was royals who requested and set trends for the various fashions obediently accompanied by the upper class and bourgeoisie. The church too was a vitally important commissioner, even though more for silversmiths compared to goldsmiths. Antique Clocks maxresdefault Just as the name suggests, this object refers to mechanical clocks which were made over a hundred years ago. However, mechanical clocks have carried on to be made well into the twentieth century and still being manufactured these days. It must be observed that the majority of mechanical clocks which have been made over the past a hundred years, example the ones that aren’t antique, have been produced in a factory employing mass production methods. Mechanical antique clocks are available in many forms, both ground standing grandfather (longcase) clocks, wall dangling clocks, rack and mantle clocks as well as mount or table clocks. Antique clocks could be run both by weights working under gravity, or perhaps by springs. The two weight driven clocks as well as spring driven clocks are often wrapped by a key or crank (key) over the dial in front of the clock. Antique Kitchenware vintage-antique-kitchen-utensils-l-3ad44d78a72aee02 Aged or historic kitchen items go by many different labels from “culinary antiques” to “vintage kitchenalia”. No matter whether they’re ancient or mid-20th century “retro”, nearly all old cooking, serving, as well as storage objects attract a few collector wherever. Numerous items are simple to recognize, although not all. It’s not at all times obvious if the simple box or pot or implement had a specific title or perhaps a specific use. A set of jars (earthenware, stoneware, glass from the twentieth century) as well as boxes (wooden, tin) was required whenever food was kept at home and groceries were offered unwrapped. Homes got various beaters, paddles, as well as bats – a number of them called beetles – for functions from tenderising meat to working butter to pumping the dirt away from clothes. Basic wooden boards, mixing sticks, and big spoons had a number of uses. At times kitchen collectibles are classified based on what they’re made from. Wood (treen), copper, tinware, stoneware and many others. . Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.[a] Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. While Prince of Wales, he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and then-British prime minister Stanley Baldwin. Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became the second monarch of the House of Windsor. The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused concern among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, a constitutional crisis was caused by his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England, which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew the Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning British monarchs to date. After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany, which fed rumours that he was a Nazi sympathiser. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France but after the fall of France was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972; they had no children. Early life Edward (second from left) with his father and younger siblings (Albert and Mary), photograph by his grandmother Alexandra, 1899 Edward was born on 23 June 1894 at White Lodge, Richmond Park, on the outskirts of London during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria.[2] He was the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary). His father was the son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). His mother was the eldest daughter of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge and Francis, Duke of Teck. At the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind his grandfather and father. He was baptised Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David in the Green Drawing Room of White Lodge on 16 July 1894 by Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury.[b] The name "Edward" was chosen in honour of Edward's late uncle Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who was known within the family as "Eddy" (Edward being among his given names); "Albert" was included at the behest of Queen Victoria for her late husband Albert, Prince Consort; "Christian" was in honour of his great-grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark; and the last four names – George, Andrew, Patrick and David – came from, respectively, the patron saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.[4] He was always known to his family and close friends by his last given name, David.[5] As was common practice with upper-class children of the time, Edward and his younger siblings were brought up by nannies rather than directly by their parents. One of Edward's early nannies often abused him by pinching him before he was due to be presented to his parents. His subsequent crying and wailing would lead the Duke and Duchess to send him and the nanny away.[6] The nanny was discharged after her mistreatment of the children was discovered, and she was replaced by Charlotte Bill.[7] Edward's father, though a harsh disciplinarian,[8] was demonstratively affectionate,[9] and his mother displayed a frolicsome side with her children that belied her austere public image. She was amused by the children making tadpoles on toast for their French master as a prank,[10] and encouraged them to confide in her.[11] Education Edward as a midshipman on board HMS Hindustan, 1910 Initially, Edward was tutored at home by Helen Bricka. When his parents travelled the British Empire for almost nine months following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, young Edward and his siblings stayed in Britain with their grandparents, Queen Alexandra and King Edward VII, who showered their grandchildren with affection. Upon his parents' return, Edward was placed under the care of two men, Frederick Finch and Henry Hansell, who virtually brought up Edward and his brothers and sister for their remaining nursery years.[12] Edward was kept under the strict tutorship of Hansell until almost thirteen years old. Private tutors taught him German and French.[13] Edward took the examination to enter the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and began there in 1907. Hansell had wanted Edward to enter school earlier, but the prince's father had disagreed.[14] Following two years at Osborne College, which he did not enjoy, Edward moved on to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. A course of two years, followed by entry into the Royal Navy, was planned.[15] Edward automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay on 6 May 1910 when his father ascended the throne as George V on the death of Edward VII. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a month later on 23 June 1910, his 16th birthday.[16] Preparations for his future as king began in earnest. He was withdrawn from his naval course before his formal graduation, served as midshipman for three months aboard the battleship Hindustan, then immediately entered Magdalen College, Oxford, for which, in the opinion of his biographers, he was underprepared intellectually.[15] A keen horseman, he learned how to play polo with the university club.[17] He left Oxford after eight terms, without any academic qualifications.[15] Prince of Wales Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a special ceremony at Caernarfon Castle on 13 July 1911.[18] The investiture took place in Wales, at the instigation of the Welsh politician David Lloyd George, Constable of the Castle and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government.[19] Lloyd George invented a rather fanciful ceremony in the style of a Welsh pageant, and coached Edward to speak a few words in Welsh.[20] Edward in August 1915, during the First World War When the First World War broke out in 1914, Edward had reached the minimum age for active service and was keen to participate.[21] He had joined the Grenadier Guards in June 1914, and although Edward was willing to serve on the front lines, Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener refused to allow it, citing the immense harm that would occur if the heir apparent to the throne were captured by the enemy.[22] Despite this, Edward witnessed trench warfare first-hand and visited the front line as often as he could, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. His role in the war, although limited, made him popular among veterans of the conflict.[23] He undertook his first military flight in 1918, and later gained a pilot's licence.[24] Edward's youngest brother, Prince John, died at the age of 13 on 18 January 1919 after a severe epileptic seizure.[25] Edward, who was 11 years older than John and had hardly known him, saw his death as "little more than a regrettable nuisance".[26] He wrote to his mistress of the time that "[he had] told [her] all about that little brother, and how he was an epileptic. [John]'s been practically shut up for the last two years anyhow, so no one has ever seen him except the family, and then only once or twice a year. This poor boy had become more of an animal than anything else." He also wrote an insensitive letter to his mother which has since been lost.[27] She did not reply, but he felt compelled to write her an apology, in which he stated: "I feel such a cold hearted and unsympathetic swine for writing all that I did ... No one can realize more than you how little poor Johnnie meant to me who hardly knew him ... I feel so much for you, darling Mama, who was his mother."[26] Edward in Ashburton, New Zealand, with returned servicemen, 1920 Throughout the 1920s, Edward, as the Prince of Wales, represented his father at home and abroad on many occasions. His rank, travels, good looks, and unmarried status gained him much public attention. At the height of his popularity, he was the most photographed celebrity of his time and he set men's fashion.[28] During his 1924 visit to the United States, Men's Wear magazine observed, "The average young man in America is more interested in the clothes of the Prince of Wales than in any other individual on earth."[29] Edward visited poverty-stricken areas of Britain,[30] and undertook 16 tours to various parts of the Empire between 1919 and 1935. On a tour of Canada in 1919, he acquired the Bedingfield ranch, near Pekisko, Alberta.[31] He escaped unharmed when the train he was riding in during a tour of Australia was derailed outside Perth in 1920.[32] Edward and his staff wearing kimono (yukata) in Japan, 1922 His November 1921 visit to India came during the non-cooperation movement protests for Indian self-rule, and was marked by riots in Bombay. In 1929 Sir Alexander Leith, a leading Conservative in the north of England, persuaded him to make a three-day visit to the County Durham and Northumberland coalfields, where there was much unemployment.[33] From January to April 1931, the Prince of Wales and his brother Prince George travelled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) on a tour of South America, steaming out on the ocean liner Oropesa,[34] and returning via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.[35][36] Though widely travelled, Edward shared a widely held racial prejudice against foreigners and many of the Empire's subjects, believing that whites were inherently superior.[37] In 1920, on his visit to Australia, he wrote of Indigenous Australians: "they are the most revolting form of living creatures I've ever seen!! They are the lowest known form of human beings & are the nearest thing to monkeys."[38] In 1919, Edward agreed to be president of the organising committee for the proposed British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Park, Middlesex. He wished the Exhibition to include "a great national sports ground", and so played a part in the creation of Wembley Stadium.[39] Romances Portrait by Reginald Grenville Eves, c. 1920 By 1917, Edward liked to spend time partying in Paris while he was on leave from his regiment on the Western Front. He was introduced to Parisian courtesan Marguerite Alibert, with whom he became infatuated. He wrote her candid letters, which she kept. After about a year, Edward broke off the affair. In 1923, Alibert was acquitted in a spectacular murder trial after she shot her husband in the Savoy Hotel. Desperate efforts were made by the Royal Household to ensure that Edward's name was not mentioned in connection with the trial or Alibert.[40] Edward's womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, King George V, and those close to the prince. George V was disappointed by his son's failure to settle down in life, disgusted by his affairs with married women, and reluctant to see him inherit the Crown. "After I am dead," George said, "the boy will ruin himself in twelve months."[41] George V favoured his second son Albert ("Bertie") and Albert's daughter Elizabeth ("Lilibet"), later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II respectively. He told a courtier, "I pray to God that my eldest son will never marry and have children, and that nothing will come between Bertie and Lilibet and the throne."[42] In 1929, Time magazine reported that Edward teased Albert's wife, also named Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), by calling her "Queen Elizabeth". The magazine asked if "she did not sometimes wonder how much truth there is in the story that he once said he would renounce his rights upon the death of George V – which would make her nickname come true".[43] Thelma Furness and the Prince of Wales in 1932 In 1930, George V gave Edward the lease of Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park.[44] There, he continued his relationships with a series of married women, including Freda Dudley Ward and Lady Furness, the American wife of a British peer, who introduced the prince to her friend and fellow American Wallis Simpson. Simpson had divorced her first husband, U.S. Navy officer Win Spencer, in 1927. Her second husband, Ernest Simpson, was a British-American businessman. Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales, it is generally accepted, became lovers, while Lady Furness travelled abroad, although the prince adamantly insisted to his father that he was not having an affair with her and that it was not appropriate to describe her as his mistress.[45] Edward's relationship with Simpson, however, further weakened his poor relationship with his father. Although his parents met Simpson at Buckingham Palace in 1935,[46] they later refused to receive her.[47] Edward's affair with an American divorcée led to such grave concern that the couple were followed by members of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, who examined in secret the nature of their relationship. An undated report detailed a visit by the couple to an antique shop, where the proprietor later noted "that the lady seemed to have POW [Prince of Wales] completely under her thumb."[48] The prospect of having an American divorcée with a questionable past having such sway over the heir apparent led to anxiety among government and establishment figures.[49] Reign Edward VIII surrounded by heralds of the College of Arms prior to his only State Opening of Parliament, 3 November 1936 George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward ascended the throne as Edward VIII. The next day, accompanied by Simpson, he broke with custom by watching the proclamation of his own accession from a window of St James's Palace.[50] He became the first monarch of the British Empire to fly in an aircraft when he flew from Sandringham to London for his Accession Council.[13] Edward caused unease in government circles with actions that were interpreted as interference in political matters. His comment during a tour of depressed villages in South Wales that "something must be done"[13] for the unemployed coal miners was seen as an attempt to guide government policy, though he had not proposed any remedy or change in policy. Government ministers were reluctant to send confidential documents and state papers to Fort Belvedere, because it was clear that Edward was paying little attention to them, and it was feared that Simpson and other house guests might read them, improperly or inadvertently revealing government secrets.[51] Edward's unorthodox approach to his role also extended to the coinage that bore his image. He broke with the tradition that the profile portrait of each successive monarch faced in the direction opposite to that of his or her predecessor. Edward insisted that he face left (as his father had done),[52] to show the parting in his hair.[53] Only a handful of test coins were struck before the abdication, and all are very rare.[54] When George VI succeeded to the throne he also faced left to maintain the tradition by suggesting that, had any further coins been minted featuring Edward's portrait, they would have shown him facing right.[55] Left-facing coinage portrait of Edward VIII On 16 July 1936, Jerome Bannigan, alias George Andrew McMahon, produced a loaded revolver as Edward rode on horseback at Constitution Hill, near Buckingham Palace. Police spotted the gun and pounced on him; he was quickly arrested. At Bannigan's trial, he alleged that "a foreign power" had approached him to kill Edward, that he had informed MI5 of the plan, and that he was merely seeing the plan through to help MI5 catch the real culprits. The court rejected the claims and sent him to jail for a year for "intent to alarm".[56] It is now thought that Bannigan had indeed been in contact with MI5, but the veracity of the remainder of his claims remains debatable.[57] In August and September, Edward and Simpson cruised the Eastern Mediterranean on the steam yacht Nahlin. By October it was becoming clear that the new king planned to marry Simpson, especially when divorce proceedings between the Simpsons were brought at Ipswich Assizes.[58] Although gossip about his affair was widespread in the United States, the British media kept silent voluntarily, and the general public knew nothing until early December.[59] Abdication Main article: Abdication of Edward VIII Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson on their Mediterranean holiday, 1936 On 16 November 1936, Edward invited Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his desire to marry Simpson when she became free to remarry. Baldwin informed him that his subjects would deem the marriage morally unacceptable, largely because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people would not tolerate Simpson as queen.[60] As king, Edward was the titular head of the Church, and the clergy expected him to support the Church's teachings. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, was vocal in insisting that Edward must go.[61] Edward proposed an alternative solution of a morganatic marriage, in which he would remain king but Simpson would not become queen consort. She would enjoy some lesser title instead, and any children they might have would not inherit the throne. This was supported by senior politician Winston Churchill in principle, and some historians suggest that he conceived the plan.[61] In any event, it was ultimately rejected by the British Cabinet[62] as well as other Dominion governments.[63] The other governments' views were sought pursuant to the Statute of Westminster 1931, which provided in part that "any alteration in the law touching the Succession to the Throne or the Royal Style and Titles shall hereafter require the assent as well of the Parliaments of all the Dominions as of the Parliament of the United Kingdom."[64] The Prime Ministers of Australia (Joseph Lyons), Canada (Mackenzie King) and South Africa (J. B. M. Hertzog) made clear their opposition to the king marrying a divorcée;[65] their Irish counterpart (Éamon de Valera) expressed indifference and detachment, while the Prime Minister of New Zealand (Michael Joseph Savage), having never heard of Simpson before, vacillated in disbelief.[66] Faced with this opposition, Edward at first responded that there were "not many people in Australia" and their opinion did not matter.[67] Cypher on a postbox erected during his short reign Edward informed Baldwin that he would abdicate if he could not marry Simpson. Baldwin then presented Edward with three options: give up the idea of marriage; marry against his ministers' wishes; or abdicate.[68] It was clear that Edward was not prepared to give up Simpson, and he knew that if he married against the advice of his ministers, he would cause the government to resign, prompting a constitutional crisis.[69] He chose to abdicate.[70] Edward duly signed the instruments of abdication[c] at Fort Belvedere on 10 December 1936 in the presence of his younger brothers: Prince Albert, Duke of York, next in line for the throne; Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester; and Prince George, Duke of Kent.[71] The document included these words: "declare my irrevocable determination to renounce the throne for myself and for my descendants and my desire that effect should be given to this instrument of abdication immediately".[72] The next day, the last act of his reign was the royal assent to His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936. As required by the Statute of Westminster, all the Dominions had already consented to the abdication.[1] On the night of 11 December 1936, Edward, now reverted to the title and style of a prince, explained his decision to abdicate in a worldwide BBC radio broadcast. He said, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love." He added that the "decision was mine and mine alone ... The other person most nearly concerned has tried up to the last to persuade me to take a different course".[73] Edward departed Britain for Austria the following day; he was unable to join Simpson until her divorce became absolute, several months later.[74] His brother, the Duke of York, succeeded to the throne as George VI. Accordingly, George VI's elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive. Duke of Windsor On 12 December 1936, at the accession meeting of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, George VI announced his intention to make his brother the "Duke of Windsor" with the style of Royal Highness.[75] He wanted this to be the first act of his reign, although the formal documents were not signed until 8 March the following year. During the interim, Edward was known as the Duke of Windsor. George VI's decision to create Edward a royal duke ensured that he could neither stand for election to the British House of Commons nor speak on political subjects in the House of Lords.[76] Letters Patent dated 27 May 1937 re-conferred the "title, style, or attribute of Royal Highness" upon the Duke, but specifically stated that "his wife and descendants, if any, shall not hold said title or attribute". Some British ministers advised that the reconfirmation was unnecessary since Edward had retained the style automatically, and further that Simpson would automatically obtain the rank of wife of a prince with the style Her Royal Highness; others maintained that he had lost all royal rank and should no longer carry any royal title or style as an abdicated king, and be referred to simply as "Mr Edward Windsor". On 14 April 1937, Attorney General Sir Donald Somervell submitted to Home Secretary Sir John Simon a memorandum summarising the views of Lord Advocate T. M. Cooper, Parliamentary Counsel Sir Granville Ram, and himself:         We incline to the view that on his abdication the Duke of Windsor could not have claimed the right to be described as a Royal Highness. In other words, no reasonable objection could have been taken if the King had decided that his exclusion from the lineal succession excluded him from the right to this title as conferred by the existing Letters Patent.         The question however has to be considered on the basis of the fact that, for reasons which are readily understandable, he with the express approval of His Majesty enjoys this title and has been referred to as a Royal Highness on a formal occasion and in formal documents. In the light of precedent it seems clear that the wife of a Royal Highness enjoys the same title unless some appropriate express step can be and is taken to deprive her of it.         We came to the conclusion that the wife could not claim this right on any legal basis. The right to use this style or title, in our view, is within the prerogative of His Majesty and he has the power to regulate it by Letters Patent generally or in particular circumstances.[77] Château de Candé, the Windsors' wedding venue The Duke married Simpson, who had changed her name by deed poll to Wallis Warfield (her birth surname), in a private ceremony on 3 June 1937, at Château de Candé, near Tours, France. When the Church of England refused to sanction the union, a County Durham clergyman, the Reverend Robert Anderson Jardine (Vicar of St Paul's, Darlington), offered to perform the ceremony, and the Duke accepted. George VI forbade members of the royal family to attend,[78] to the lasting resentment of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Edward had particularly wanted his brothers the dukes of Gloucester and Kent and his second cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten to attend the ceremony.[79] The denial of the style Royal Highness to the Duchess of Windsor caused further conflict, as did the financial settlement. The Government declined to include the Duke or Duchess on the Civil List, and the Duke's allowance was paid personally by George VI. The Duke compromised his position with his brother by concealing the extent of his financial worth when they informally agreed on the amount of the allowance. Edward's wealth had accumulated from the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall paid to him as Prince of Wales and ordinarily at the disposal of an incoming king. George VI also paid Edward for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, which were Edward's personal property, inherited from his father and thus did not automatically pass to George VI on his accession.[80] Edward received approximately £300,000 (equivalent to between £21 million and £140 million in 2021[81]) for both residences which was paid to him in yearly instalments. In the early days of George VI's reign the Duke telephoned daily, importuning for money and urging that the Duchess be granted the style of Royal Highness, until the harassed king ordered that the calls not be put through.[82] Relations between the Duke of Windsor and the rest of the royal family were strained for decades. The Duke had assumed that he would settle in Britain after a year or two of exile in France. King George VI (with the support of Queen Mary and his wife Queen Elizabeth) threatened to cut off Edward's allowance if he returned to Britain without an invitation.[80] Edward became embittered against his mother, Queen Mary, writing to her in 1939: "[your last letter][d] destroy[ed] the last vestige of feeling I had left for you ... [and has] made further normal correspondence between us impossible."[83] Duke and Duchess of Windsor in Germany, October 1937 Edward reviewing SS guards with Robert Ley The Duke and Duchess meeting Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden In October 1937, the Duke and Duchess visited Nazi Germany, against the advice of the British government, and met Adolf Hitler at his Berghof retreat in Bavaria. The visit was much publicised by the German media. During the visit the Duke gave full Nazi salutes.[84] In Germany, "they were treated like royalty ... members of the aristocracy would bow and curtsy towards her, and she was treated with all the dignity and status that the duke always wanted", according to royal biographer Andrew Morton in a 2016 BBC interview.[85] The former Austrian ambassador, Count Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein, who was also a second cousin once removed and friend of George V, believed that Edward favoured German fascism as a bulwark against communism, and even that he initially favoured an alliance with Germany.[86] According to the Duke of Windsor, the experience of "the unending scenes of horror"[87] during the First World War led him to support appeasement. Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Germany and thought that Anglo-German relations could have been improved through Edward if it were not for the abdication. Albert Speer quoted Hitler directly: "I am certain through him permanent friendly relations could have been achieved. If he had stayed, everything would have been different. His abdication was a severe loss for us."[88] The Duke and Duchess settled in Paris, leasing a mansion in Boulevard Suchet [fr] from late 1938.[89] Second World War In May 1939, the Duke was commissioned by NBC to give a radio broadcast[90] (his first since abdicating) during a visit to the First World War battlefields of Verdun. In it he appealed for peace, saying "I am deeply conscious of the presence of the great company of the dead, and I am convinced that could they make their voices heard they would be with me in what I am about to say. I speak simply as a soldier of the Last War whose most earnest prayer it is that such cruel and destructive madness shall never again overtake mankind. There is no land whose people want war." The broadcast was heard across the world by millions.[91][92] It was widely regarded as supporting appeasement,[93] and the BBC refused to broadcast it.[90] It was broadcast outside the United States on shortwave radio[94] and was reported in full by British broadsheet newspapers.[95] On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the Duke and Duchess were brought back to Britain by Louis Mountbatten on board HMS Kelly, and Edward, although he held the rank of field marshal, was made a major-general attached to the British Military Mission in France.[13] In February 1940, the German ambassador in The Hague, Count Julius von Zech-Burkersroda, claimed that the Duke had leaked the Allied war plans for the defence of Belgium,[96] which the Duke later denied.[97] When Germany invaded the north of France in May 1940, the Windsors fled south, first to Biarritz, then in June to Francoist Spain. In July the pair moved to Portugal, where they lived at first in the home of Ricardo Espírito Santo, a Portuguese banker with both British and German contacts.[98] Under the code name Operation Willi, Nazi agents, principally Walter Schellenberg, plotted unsuccessfully to persuade the Duke to leave Portugal and return to Spain, kidnapping him if necessary.[99] Lord Caldecote wrote a warning to Winston Churchill, who by this point was prime minister, that "[the Duke] is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue."[100] Churchill threatened the Duke with a court-martial if he did not return to British soil.[101] In July 1940, Edward was appointed governor of the Bahamas. The Duke and Duchess left Lisbon on 1 August aboard the American Export Lines steamship Excalibur, which was specially diverted from its usual direct course to New York City so that they could be dropped off at Bermuda on the 9th.[102] They left Bermuda for Nassau on the Canadian National Steamship Company vessel Lady Somers on 15 August, arriving two days later.[103] The Duke did not enjoy being governor and privately referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony".[104] The British Foreign Office strenuously objected when the Duke and Duchess planned to cruise aboard a yacht belonging to Swedish magnate Axel Wenner-Gren, whom British and American intelligence wrongly believed to be a close friend of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring.[105] The Duke was praised for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands, although he was as contemptuous of the Bahamians as he was of most non-white peoples of the Empire. He said of Étienne Dupuch, the editor of the Nassau Daily Tribune: "It must be remembered that Dupuch is more than half Negro, and due to the peculiar mentality of this Race, they seem unable to rise to prominence without losing their equilibrium."[106] He was praised, even by Dupuch, for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in 1942, even though he blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft".[107] He resigned from the post on 16 March 1945.[13] Many historians have suggested that Adolf Hitler was prepared to reinstate Edward as king in the hope of establishing a fascist puppet government in Britain after Operation Sea Lion.[108] It is widely believed that the Duke and Duchess sympathised with fascism before and during the Second World War, and were moved to the Bahamas to minimise their opportunities to act on those feelings. In 1940 he said: "In the past 10 years Germany has totally reorganised the order of its society ... Countries which were unwilling to accept such a reorganisation of society and its concomitant sacrifices should direct their policies accordingly."[109] During the occupation of France, the Duke asked the German Wehrmacht forces to place guards at his Paris and Riviera homes; they did so.[110] In December 1940, the Duke gave Fulton Oursler of Liberty magazine an interview at Government House in Nassau. Oursler conveyed its content to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a private meeting at the White House on 23 December 1940.[111] The interview was published on 22 March 1941 and in it the Duke was reported to have said that "Hitler was the right and logical leader of the German people" and that the time was coming for President Roosevelt to mediate a peace settlement. The Duke protested that he had been misquoted and misinterpreted.[112] The Allies became sufficiently disturbed by German plots revolving around the Duke that President Roosevelt ordered covert surveillance of the Duke and Duchess when they visited Palm Beach, Florida, in April 1941. Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg (then a monk in an American monastery) had told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the Duchess had slept with the German ambassador in London, Joachim von Ribbentrop, in 1936; had remained in constant contact with him; and had continued to leak secrets.[113] Author Charles Higham claimed that Anthony Blunt, an MI5 agent and Soviet spy, acting on orders from the British royal family, made a successful secret trip to Schloss Friedrichshof in Allied-occupied Germany towards the end of the war to retrieve sensitive letters between the Duke of Windsor and Adolf Hitler and other leading Nazis.[114] What is certain is that George VI sent the Royal Librarian, Owen Morshead, accompanied by Blunt, then working part-time in the Royal Library as well as for British intelligence, to Friedrichshof in March 1945 to secure papers relating to the German Empress Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria. Looters had stolen part of the castle's archive, including surviving letters between daughter and mother, as well as other valuables, some of which were recovered in Chicago after the war. The papers rescued by Morshead and Blunt, and those returned by the American authorities from Chicago, were deposited in the Royal Archives.[115] In the late 1950s, documents recovered by U.S. troops in Marburg, Germany, in May 1945, since titled the Marburg Files, were published following more than a decade of suppression, enhancing theories of the Duke's sympathies for Nazi ideologies.[116][117] After the war, the Duke admitted in his memoirs that he admired the Germans, but he denied being pro-Nazi. Of Hitler he wrote: "[the] Führer struck me as a somewhat ridiculous figure, with his theatrical posturings and his bombastic pretensions."[118] In the 1950s, journalist Frank Giles heard the Duke blame British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden for helping to "precipitate the war through his treatment of Mussolini ... that's what [Eden] did, he helped to bring on the war ... and of course Roosevelt and the Jews".[119] During the 1960s the Duke said privately to a friend, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, "I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap."[120] Later life The Duke of Windsor in 1945 Clementine (far left) and Winston Churchill with the Duke of Windsor on the French Riviera in 1948 At the end of the war, the couple returned to France and spent the remainder of their lives essentially in retirement as the Duke never held another official role. Correspondence between the Duke and Kenneth de Courcy, dated between 1946 and 1949, emerged in a U.S. library in 2009. The letters suggest a scheme where the Duke would return to England and place himself in a position for a possible regency. The health of George VI was failing and de Courcy was concerned about the influence of the Mountbatten family over the young Princess Elizabeth. De Courcy suggested the Duke buy a working agricultural estate within an easy drive of London in order to gain favour with the British public and make himself available should the King become incapacitated. The Duke, however, hesitated and the King recovered from his surgery.[121] The Duke's allowance was supplemented by government favours and illegal currency trading.[13][122][123] The City of Paris provided the Duke with a house at 4 route du Champ d'Entraînement, on the Neuilly-sur-Seine side of the Bois de Boulogne, for a nominal rent.[124] The French government also exempted him from paying income tax,[122][125] and the couple were able to buy goods duty-free through the British embassy and the military commissary.[125] In 1952, they bought and renovated a weekend country retreat, Le Moulin de la Tuilerie at Gif-sur-Yvette, the only property the couple ever owned themselves.[126] In 1951, the Duke had produced a ghost-written memoir, A King's Story, in which he expressed disagreement with liberal politics.[19] The royalties from the book added to their income.[122] The Duke and Duchess effectively took on the role of celebrities and were regarded as part of café society in the 1950s and 1960s. They hosted parties and shuttled between Paris and New York; Gore Vidal, who met the Windsors socially, reported on the vacuity of the Duke's conversation.[127] The couple doted on the pug dogs they kept.[128] In June 1953, instead of attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, his niece, in London, the Duke and Duchess watched the ceremony on television in Paris. The Duke said that it was contrary to precedent for a Sovereign or former Sovereign to attend any coronation of another. He was paid to write articles on the ceremony for the Sunday Express and Woman's Home Companion, as well as a short book, The Crown and the People, 1902–1953.[129] U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1970 In 1955, they visited President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White House. The couple appeared on Edward R. Murrow's television-interview show Person to Person in 1956,[130] and in a 50-minute BBC television interview in 1970. On 4 April of that year President Richard Nixon invited them as guests of honour to a dinner at the White House with Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, Charles Lindbergh, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Arnold Palmer, George H. W. Bush, and Frank Borman.[131][132] The royal family never fully accepted the Duchess. Queen Mary refused to receive her formally. However, Edward sometimes met his mother and his brother, George VI; he attended George's funeral in 1952. Queen Mary remained angry with Edward and indignant over his marriage to Wallis: "To give up all this for that", she said.[133] In 1965, the Duke and Duchess returned to London. They were visited by Elizabeth II, his sister-in-law Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and his sister Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. A week later, the Princess Royal died, and they attended her memorial service. In 1967, they joined the royal family for the centenary of Queen Mary's birth. The last royal ceremony the Duke attended was the funeral of Princess Marina in 1968.[134] He declined an invitation from Elizabeth II to attend the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969, replying that Prince Charles would not want his "aged great-uncle" there.[135] In the 1960s, the Duke's health deteriorated. Michael E. DeBakey operated on him in Houston for an aneurysm of the abdominal aorta in December 1964, and Sir Stewart Duke-Elder treated a detached retina in his left eye in February 1965. In late 1971, the Duke, who was a smoker from an early age, was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent cobalt therapy. On 18 May 1972, Queen Elizabeth II visited the Duke and Duchess of Windsor while on a state visit to France; she spoke with the Duke for fifteen minutes, but only the Duchess appeared with the royal party for a photocall as the Duke was too ill.[136] Death and legacy Edward's grave at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore On 28 May 1972, ten days after the Queen's visit, the Duke died at his home in Paris, less than a month before his 78th birthday. His body was returned to Britain, lying in state at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The funeral service took place in the chapel on 5 June in the presence of the Queen, the royal family, and the Duchess of Windsor, who stayed at Buckingham Palace during her visit. He was buried in the Royal Burial Ground behind the Royal Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Frogmore.[137] Until a 1965 agreement with the Queen, the Duke and Duchess had planned for a burial in a cemetery plot they had purchased at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, where the Duchess's father was interred.[138] Frail, and suffering increasingly from dementia, the Duchess died in 1986, and was buried alongside her husband.[139] In the view of historians, such as Philip Williamson writing in 2007, the popular perception in the 21st century that the abdication was driven by politics rather than religious morality is false and arises because divorce has become much more common and socially acceptable. To modern sensibilities, the religious restrictions that prevented Edward from continuing as king while planning to marry Simpson "seem, wrongly, to provide insufficient explanation" for his abdication.[140] Honours and arms Royal Standard of the Duke of Windsor Honours Portrait of Edward in the robes of the Order of the Garter by Arthur Stockdale Cope, 1912 British Commonwealth and Empire honours     KG: Royal Knight of the Garter, 1910[141]     MC: Military Cross, 1916[142]     GCMG: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, 1917[141]     GBE: Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire, 1917[141]     ADC: Personal aide-de-camp, 3 June 1919[143]     GCVO: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1920[141]     PC: Privy Counsellor, (United Kingdom) 1920[141]     GCSI: Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India, 1921[141]     GCIE: Knight Grand Commander of the Indian Empire, 1921[141]     Royal Victorian Chain, 1921[141]     KT: Extra Knight of the Thistle, 1922[141]     GCStJ: Bailiff Grand Cross of St John, 12 June 1926[144]         KStJ: Knight of Justice of St John, 2 June 1917[145]     KP: Knight of St Patrick, 1927[141]     PC: Privy Councillor of Canada, 1927[146]     GCB: Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, 1936[141]     ISO: Companion of the Imperial Service Order, 23 June 1910[147]     FRS: Royal Fellow of the Royal Society[141] Foreign honours     Grand Duchy of Hesse Knight of the Golden Lion, 23 June 1911[148]     Spain Knight of the Golden Fleece, 22 June 1912[149]     French Third Republic Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, August 1912[150]     Denmark Knight of the Elephant, 17 March 1914[151]     Norway Grand Cross of St. Olav, with Collar, 6 April 1914[152]     Kingdom of Italy Knight of the Annunciation, 21 June 1915[153]     French Third Republic Croix de Guerre, 1915     Russian Empire Knight of St. George, 3rd Class, 1916[154]     Thailand Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 16 August 1917[155]     Kingdom of Romania Order of Michael the Brave, 1st Class, 1918[154]     Kingdom of Italy War Merit Cross, 1919     Kingdom of Egypt Grand Cordon of the Order of Mohamed Ali, 1922[154]     Sweden Knight of the Seraphim, 12 November 1923[156]     Kingdom of Romania Collar of the Order of Carol I, 1924[154]     Chile Order of Merit, 1st Class, 1925[154]     Bolivia Grand Cross of the Condor of the Andes, 1931[154]     Peru Grand Cross of the Sun of Peru, 1931[154]     Portugal Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders, 25 April 1931 – during his visit to Lisbon[157]     Brazil Grand Cross of the Southern Cross, 1933[154]     San Marino Grand Cross of St. Agatha, 1935[154] Military ranks     22 June 1911: Midshipman, Royal Navy[158]     17 March 1913: Lieutenant, Royal Navy[158]     18 November 1914: Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, British Army. (First World War, Flanders and Italy)[158]     10 March 1916: Captain, British Army[158]     1918: Temporary Major, British Army[158]     15 April 1919: Colonel, British Army[158]     8 July 1919: Captain, Royal Navy[158]     5 December 1922: Group Captain, Royal Air Force[158][159]     1 September 1930: Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy; Lieutenant-General, British Army;[160] Air Marshal, Royal Air Force[161]     1 January 1935: Admiral, Royal Navy; General, British Army; Air Chief Marshal, Royal Air Force[162]     21 January 1936: Admiral of the Fleet, Royal Navy; Field Marshal, British Army; Marshal of the Royal Air Force[158]     3 September 1939: Major-General, British Army[163] Arms Edward's coat of arms as the Prince of Wales was the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, differenced with a label of three points argent, with an inescutcheon representing Wales surmounted by a coronet (identical to those of Charles III when he was Prince of Wales). As Sovereign, he bore the royal arms undifferenced. After his abdication, he used the arms again differenced by a label of three points argent, but this time with the centre point bearing an imperial crown.[164]     Coat of arms as Prince of Wales (granted 1911)[165]     Coat of arms as Prince of Wales (granted 1911)[165]     Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom     Coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom     Scottish coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom     Scottish coat of arms as King of the United Kingdom     Coat of arms as Duke of Windsor     Coat of arms as Duke of Windsor Ancestry Ancestors of Edward VIII[166] See also     Cultural depictions of Edward VIII of the United Kingdom     Abandoned coronation of Edward VIII     List of prime ministers of Edward VIII Notes The instrument of abdication was signed on 10 December, and given legislative form by His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 the following day. The parliament of the Union of South Africa retroactively approved the abdication with effect from 10 December, and the Irish Free State recognised the abdication on 12 December.[1] His twelve godparents were: Queen Victoria (his paternal great-grandmother); the King and Queen of Denmark (his paternal great-grandparents, for whom his maternal uncle Prince Adolphus of Teck and his paternal aunt the Duchess of Fife stood proxy); the King of Württemberg (his mother's distant cousin, for whom his granduncle the Duke of Connaught stood proxy); the Queen of Greece (his grandaunt, for whom his paternal aunt Princess Victoria of Wales stood proxy); the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his granduncle, for whom Prince Louis of Battenberg stood proxy); the Prince and Princess of Wales (his paternal grandparents); the Tsarevich (his father's cousin); the Duke of Cambridge (his maternal granduncle and Queen Victoria's cousin); and the Duke and Duchess of Teck (his maternal grandparents).[3] There were fifteen separate copies – one for each Dominion, the Irish Free State, India, the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Prime Minister, among others.[71]     She had asked Alec Hardinge to write to the Duke explaining that he could not be invited to his father's memorial.[83] References Heard, Andrew (1990), Canadian Independence, Simon Fraser University, Canada, archived from the original on 21 February 2009, retrieved 1 May 2010 Windsor, p. 1 "No. 26533". The London Gazette. 20 July 1894. p. 4145. Ziegler, p. 5 Ziegler, p. 6 Windsor, p. 7; Ziegler, p. 9 Wheeler-Bennett, pp. 16–17 Windsor, pp. 25–28 Ziegler, pp. 30–31 Windsor, pp. 38–39 Ziegler, p. 79 Parker, pp. 12–13 Matthew, H. C. G. (September 2004; online edition January 2008) "Edward VIII, later Prince Edward, duke of Windsor (1894–1972)" Archived 5 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31061, retrieved 1 May 2010 (Subscription required) Parker, pp. 13–14 Parker, pp. 14–16 "No. 28387". The London Gazette. 23 June 1910. p. 4473. "The Prince of Wales Starts Play" (PDF), Polo Monthly, p. 300, June 1914, archived from the original (PDF) on 30 July 2018, retrieved 30 July 2018 Weir, Alison (1996), Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy Revised edition, London: Pimlico, p. 327, ISBN 978-0-7126-7448-5 Windsor, p. 78 Ziegler, pp. 26–27 Windsor, pp. 106–107 and Ziegler, pp. 48–50 Roberts, p. 41 and Windsor, p. 109 Ziegler, p. 111 and Windsor, p. 140 Edward VIII (Jan–Dec 1936), Official website of the British monarchy, 12 January 2016, archived from the original on 7 May 2016, retrieved 18 April 2016 "Death of Youngest Son of King and Queen". Daily Mirror. 20 January 1919. p. 2. Ziegler, p. 80 Tizley, Paul (director) (2008), Prince John: The Windsors' Tragic Secret Archived 8 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine (Documentary), London: Channel 4, retrieved 26 April 2017 Broad, Lewis (1961), The Abdication: Twenty-five Years After. A Re-appraisal, London: Frederick Muller Ltd, pp. 4–5 Flusser, Alan J. (2002), Dressing the man: mastering the art of permanent fashion, New York, NY: HarperCollins, p. 8, ISBN 0-06-019144-9, OCLC 48475087 Windsor, p. 215 Voisey, Paul (2004), High River and the Times: an Alberta community and its weekly newspaper, 1905–1966, Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta, p. 129, ISBN 978-0-88864-411-4 Staff writers (6 July 2017), "Remarkable photographs show how Edward VIII narrowly escaped death in train crash", Daily Express, archived from the original on 11 November 2020, retrieved 17 January 2021 Windsor, pp. 226–228 Erskine, Barry, Oropesa (II), Pacific Steam Navigation Company, archived from the original on 4 March 2016, retrieved 15 December 2013 "Arrival at Windsor by Air", The Straits Times, National Library, Singapore, 30 April 1931, archived from the original on 29 October 2014, retrieved 18 December 2013 "Princes Home", The Advertiser and Register, National Library of Australia, p. 19, 1 May 1931, archived from the original on 25 November 2021, retrieved 18 December 2013 Ziegler, pp. 158, 448 Godfrey, Rupert, ed. (1998), "11 July 1920", Letters From a Prince: Edward to Mrs. Freda Dudley Ward 1918–1921, Little, Brown & Co, ISBN 978-0-7515-2590-8 Grant, Philip (January 2012), The British Empire Exhibition, 1924/25 (PDF), Brent Council, archived (PDF) from the original on 16 May 2017, retrieved 18 July 2016 Rose, Andrew (2013), The Prince, the Princess and the Perfect Murder, Hodder & Stoughton reviewed in Stonehouse, Cheryl (5 April 2013), "A new book brings to light the scandalous story of Edward VIII's first great love", Express Newspapers, archived from the original on 19 September 2020, retrieved 1 July 2020 See also: Godfrey, pp. 138, 143, 299; Ziegler, pp. 89–90 Middlemas, Keith; Barnes, John (1969), Baldwin: A Biography, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, p. 976, ISBN 978-0-297-17859-0 Airlie, Mabell (1962), Thatched with Gold, London: Hutchinson, p. 197 "Foreign News: P'incess Is Three", Time, 29 April 1929, archived from the original on 27 February 2014, retrieved 1 May 2010 Windsor, p. 235 Ziegler, p. 233 Windsor, p. 255 Bradford, p. 142 Bowcott, Owen; Bates, Stephen (30 January 2003), "Car dealer was Wallis Simpson's secret lover", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 28 December 2013, retrieved 1 May 2010 Ziegler, pp. 231–234 Windsor, p. 265; Ziegler, p. 245 Ziegler, pp. 273–274 Windsor, pp. 293–294 A. Michie, God Save The Queen "The coins of Edward VIII", Royal Mint Museum, September 2012, retrieved 22 September 2022 Coinage and bank notes, Official website of the British monarchy, 15 January 2016, archived from the original on 7 May 2016, retrieved 18 April 2016 "George Andrew McMahon: attempt on the life of H.M. King Edward VIII at Constitution Hill on 16 July 1936", MEPO 3/1713, The National Archives, Kew, 2003, archived from the original on 7 December 2016, retrieved 28 May 2018 Cook, Andrew (3 January 2003), "The plot thickens", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 3 February 2014, retrieved 1 May 2010 Broad, pp. 56–57 Broad, pp. 44–47; Windsor, pp. 314–315, 351–353; Ziegler, pp. 294–296, 307–308 Windsor, pp. 330–331 Pearce, Robert; Graham, Goodlad (2013), British Prime Ministers From Balfour to Brown, Routledge, p. 80, ISBN 978-0-415-66983-2, archived from the original on 4 January 2019, retrieved 3 January 2019 Windsor, p. 346 Windsor, p. 354 Statute of Westminster 1931 c.4, UK Statute Law Database, archived from the original on 13 October 2010, retrieved 1 May 2010 Ziegler, pp. 305–307 Bradford, p. 187 Bradford, p. 188 Windsor, pp. 354–355 Beaverbrook, Lord (1966), Taylor, A. J. P. (ed.), The Abdication of King Edward VIII, London: Hamish Hamilton, p. 57 Windsor, p. 387 Windsor, p. 407 "The Abdication of Edward VIII", Maclean's, 15 January 1937, archived from the original on 4 January 2019, retrieved 3 January 2019 Edward VIII, Broadcast after his abdication, 11 December 1936 (PDF), Official website of the British monarchy, archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2012, retrieved 1 May 2010 Ziegler, p. 336 "No. 34349". The London Gazette. 12 December 1936. p. 8111. Clive Wigram's conversation with Sir Claud Schuster, Clerk to the Crown and Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor quoted in Bradford, p. 201 Attorney General to Home Secretary (14 April 1937) National Archives file HO 144/22945 quoted in Velde, François (6 February 2006) The drafting of the letters patent of 1937 Archived 17 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine. 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Bradford, p. 285 The Times, 8 May 1939, p. 13 e.g. The Times, 9 May 1939, p. 13 No. 621: Minister Zech to State Secretary Weizsäcker, 19 February 1940, in Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918–1945 (1954), Series D, Volume VIII, p. 785, quoted in Bradford, p. 434 McCormick, Donald (1963), The Mask of Merlin: A Critical Biography of David Lloyd George, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, p. 290, LCCN 64-20102 Bloch, p. 91 Bloch, pp. 86, 102; Ziegler, pp. 430–432 Ziegler, p. 434 Bloch, p. 93 Bloch, pp. 93–94, 98–103, 119 Bloch, p. 119; Ziegler, pp. 441–442 Bloch, p. 364 Bloch, pp. 154–159, 230–233; Luciak, Ilja (2012), "The Life of Axel Wenner-Gren–An Introduction" (PDF), in Luciak, Ilja; Daneholt, Bertil (eds.), Reality and Myth: A Symposium on Axel Wenner-Gren, Stockholm: Wenner-Gren Stiftelsirna, pp. 12–30, archived (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2016, retrieved 6 November 2016 Ziegler, p. 448 Ziegler, pp. 471–472 Ziegler, p. 392 Bloch, pp. 79–80 Roberts, p. 52 Morton, Andrew (2015), 17 Carnations: The Windsors, The Nazis and The Cover-Up, Michael O'Mara Books, ISBN 9781782434658, archived from the original on 21 June 2020, retrieved 25 May 2015 Bloch, p. 178 Evans, Rob; Hencke, David (29 June 2002), "Wallis Simpson, the Nazi minister, the telltale monk and an FBI plot", The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 26 August 2013, retrieved 2 May 2010 Higham, Charles (1988), The Duchess of Windsor: The Secret Life, New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, pp. 388–389 Bradford, p. 426 Fane Saunders, Tristram (14 December 2017), "The Duke, the Nazis, and a very British cover-up: the true story behind The Crown's Marburg Files", The Telegraph, archived from the original on 14 August 2018, retrieved 14 August 2018 Miller, Julie (9 December 2017), The Crown: Edward's Alleged Nazi Sympathies Exposed, Vanity Fair, archived from the original on 6 February 2018, retrieved 14 August 2018 Windsor, p. 277 Sebba, Anne (1 November 2011), "Wallis Simpson, 'That Woman' After the Abdication", The New York Times, archived from the original on 5 November 2011, retrieved 7 November 2011 Lord Kinross, Love conquers all in Books and Bookmen, vol. 20 (1974), p. 50: "He indeed remarked to me, some twenty-five years later, 'I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap'." 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"Duke, Duchess Have Dinner With Nixons" The Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina) 6 April 1970; p. 13 Bradford, p. 198 Ziegler, pp. 554–556 Ziegler, p. 555 Duke too ill for tea with the Queen, BBC, 18 May 1972, archived from the original on 30 August 2017, retrieved 24 October 2017 Ziegler, pp. 556–557 Rasmussen, Frederick (29 April 1986), "Windsors had a plot at Green Mount", The Baltimore Sun Simple funeral rites for Duchess, BBC, 29 April 1986, archived from the original on 30 December 2007, retrieved 2 May 2010 Williamson, Philip (2007), "The monarchy and public values 1910–1953", in Olechnowicz, Andrzej (ed.), The monarchy and the British nation, 1780 to the present, Cambridge University Press, p. 225, ISBN 978-0-521-84461-1 Kelly's Handbook, 98th ed. (1972), p. 41 "No. 29608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1916. p. 5570. "No. 13453". The Edinburgh Gazette. 5 June 1919. p. 1823. "No. 33284". The London Gazette. 14 June 1927. p. 3836. "No. 30114". 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(1933) [1st pub.:1801], Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1933 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1933] (PDF), Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish), Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri, p. 17, archived (PDF) from the original on 24 December 2019, retrieved 16 September 2019 – via da:DIS Danmark "Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden", Norges Statskalender (in Norwegian), 1922, pp. 1173–1174, archived from the original on 17 September 2021, retrieved 17 September 2021 – via hathitrust.org Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920), Calendario generale del regno d'Italia, p. 58, archived from the original on 25 November 2021, retrieved 8 October 2020 Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1977), Burke's Royal Families of the World (1st ed.), London: Burke's Peerage, pp. 311–312, ISBN 978-0-85011-023-4 พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ มหาจักรีบรมราชวงศ์ (PDF), Royal Thai Government Gazette (in Thai), 19 August 1917, archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2020, retrieved 8 May 2019 Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), vol. II, 1940, p. 7, archived from the original on 7 January 2018, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org "Banda da Grã-Cruz das Duas Ordens: Eduardo Alberto Cristiano Jorge André Patrício David, Príncipe de Gales Archived 26 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine" (in Portuguese), Arquivo Histórico da Presidência da República, retrieved 28 November 2019 Cokayne, G.E.; Doubleday, H.A.; Howard de Walden, Lord (1940), The Complete Peerage, London: St. Catherine's Press, vol. XIII, pp. 116–117 "No. 32774". The London Gazette. 5 December 1922. p. 8615. "No. 33640". The London Gazette. 2 September 1930. p. 5424. "No. 33640". The London Gazette. 2 September 1930. p. 5428. "No. 34119". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1934. p. 15. The Times, 19 September 1939, p. 6, col. F Prothero, David (24 September 2002), Flags of the Royal Family, United Kingdom, archived from the original on 31 March 2010, retrieved 2 May 2010 "No. 28473". The London Gazette. 7 March 1911. p. 1939.     Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1973), "The Royal Lineage", Burke's Guide to the Royal Family, London: Burke's Peerage, pp. 252, 293, 307, ISBN 0-220-66222-3 Bibliography     Bloch, Michael (1982). The Duke of Windsor's War. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77947-8.     Bradford, Sarah (1989). King George VI. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-79667-4.     Donaldson, Frances (1974). Edward VIII. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-76787-9.     Godfrey, Rupert (editor) (1998). Letters From a Prince: Edward to Mrs Freda Dudley Ward 1918–1921. Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-7515-2590-1.     Parker, John (1988). King of Fools. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-02598-X.     Roberts, Andrew; edited by Antonia Fraser (2000). The House of Windsor. London: Cassell and Co. ISBN 0-304-35406-6.     Wheeler-Bennett, Sir John (1958). King George VI. London: Macmillan.     Williams, Susan (2003). The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9573-2.     Windsor, The Duke of (1951). A King's Story. London: Cassell and Co.     Ziegler, Philip (1991). King Edward VIII: The official biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57730-2. External links Edward VIII at Wikipedia's sister projects     Media from Commons     Quotations from Wikiquote     Texts from Wikisource     Data from Wikidata     "Archival material relating to Edward VIII". UK National Archives. Edit this at Wikidata     Portraits of Edward, Duke of Windsor at the National Portrait Gallery, London Edit this at Wikidata     Newspaper clippings about Edward VIII in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW Edward VIII House of Windsor Cadet branch of the House of Wettin Born: 23 June 1894 Died: 28 May 1972 Regnal titles Preceded by George V     King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions; Emperor of India 20 January – 11 December 1936     Succeeded by George VI British royalty Preceded by George (V)     Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall; Duke of Rothesay 1910–1936     Vacant Title next held by Charles (III) Government offices Preceded by Sir Charles Dundas     Governor of the Bahamas 1940–1945     Succeeded by Sir William Lindsay Murphy Honorary titles Vacant Title last held by The Prince of Wales     Grand Master of the Order of St Michael and St George 1917–1936     Succeeded by The Earl of Athlone New title     Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire 1917–1936     Succeeded by Queen Mary Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Auxiliary Air Force 1932–1936     Succeeded by King George VI Academic offices New office     Chancellor of the University of Cape Town 1918–1936     Succeeded by Jan Smuts Articles and topics related to Edward VIII     vte Abdication of Edward VIII     Edward VIII Wallis Simpson People    Royal Family        Prince Albert (Edward VIII's brother, later George VI) Prince Henry (Edward VIII's brother) Prince George (Edward VIII's brother) Queen Mary (Edward VIII's mother) Officials        Stanley Baldwin (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) Clement Attlee (Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom) Winston Churchill (MP and supporter of Edward VIII) William Lyon Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada) Joseph Lyons (Prime Minister of Australia) Michael Joseph Savage (Prime Minister of New Zealand) J. B. M. Hertzog (Prime Minister of South Africa) Éamon de Valera (President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State) Stanley Bruce (High Commissioner of Australia to the United Kingdom) Clergy        Cosmo Gordon Lang (Archbishop of Canterbury) Alfred Blunt (Bishop of Bradford) Other        Alec Hardinge (Edward VIII's private secretary) Alan Lascelles (Edward VIII's assistant private secretary) Walter Monckton (advisor to Edward VIII) John Theodore Goddard (Mrs Simpson's solicitor) Ernest Simpson (Mrs Simpson's husband) Legal documents        His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 (United Kingdom) Executive Authority (External Relations) Act 1936 (Ireland) His Majesty King Edward the Eighth's Abdication Act, 1937 (South Africa) Succession to the Throne Act, 1937 (Canada) Cultural depictions        Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978) The Woman He Loved (1988) Bertie and Elizabeth (2002) Wallis & Edward (2005) The King's Speech (2010) W.E. 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Reign 6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022[a] Coronation 2 June 1953 Predecessor George VI Successor Charles III Prime ministers See list Born Princess Elizabeth of York 21 April 1926 Mayfair, London, England Died 8 September 2022 (aged 96) Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Burial 19 September 2022 King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Spouse Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh ​(m. 1947; died 2021)​ Issue Detail Charles III Anne, Princess Royal Prince Andrew, Duke of York Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Forfar Names Elizabeth Alexandra Mary House Windsor Father George VI Mother Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Signature Elizabeth's signature in black ink Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death.[a] Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the longest verified reign of any female sovereign in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII, making Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until his death in 2021. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward. When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth—then 25 years old—became queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka), as well as Head of the Commonwealth. Elizabeth reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonisation of Africa, and the United Kingdom's accession to the European Communities and withdrawal from the European Union. The number of her realms varied over time as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. As queen, Elizabeth was served by more than 170 prime ministers across her realms. Her many historic visits and meetings included state visits to China in 1986, to Russia in 1994, and to the Republic of Ireland in 2011, and meetings with five popes. Significant events included Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 and the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Although she faced occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family—particularly after the breakdowns of her children's marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales—support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom remained consistently high throughout her lifetime, as did her personal popularity.[1] Elizabeth died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, at the age of 96, and was succeeded by her eldest child, King Charles III. Her state funeral was the first to be held in the United Kingdom since that of Winston Churchill in 1965. Elizabeth gave birth to her third child, Prince Andrew, on 19 February 1960, which was the first birth to a reigning British monarch since 1857.[95] Her fourth child, Prince Edward, was born on 10 March 1964.[96] In addition to performing traditional ceremonies, Elizabeth also instituted new practices. Her first royal walkabout, meeting ordinary members of the public, took place during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970.[97] Acceleration of decolonisation In Queensland, Australia, 1970 With President Tito of Yugoslavia in Belgrade, 1972 The 1960s and 1970s saw an acceleration in the decolonisation of Africa and the Caribbean. More than 20 countries gained independence from Britain as part of a planned transition to self-government. In 1965, however, the Rhodesian prime minister, Ian Smith, in opposition to moves towards majority rule, unilaterally declared independence while expressing "loyalty and devotion" to Elizabeth, declaring her "Queen of Rhodesia".[98] Although Elizabeth formally dismissed him, and the international community applied sanctions against Rhodesia, his regime survived for over a decade.[99] As Britain's ties to its former empire weakened, the British government sought entry to the European Community, a goal it achieved in 1973.[100] Elizabeth toured Yugoslavia in October 1972, becoming the first British monarch to visit a communist country.[101] She was received at the airport by President Josip Broz Tito, and a crowd of thousands greeted her in Belgrade.[102] In February 1974, the British prime minister, Edward Heath, advised Elizabeth to call a general election in the middle of her tour of the Austronesian Pacific Rim, requiring her to fly back to Britain.[103] The election resulted in a hung parliament; Heath's Conservatives were not the largest party, but could stay in office if they formed a coalition with the Liberals. When discussions on forming a coalition foundered, Heath resigned as prime minister and Elizabeth asked the Leader of the Opposition, Labour's Harold Wilson, to form a government.[104] A year later, at the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the Australian prime minister, Gough Whitlam, was dismissed from his post by Governor-General Sir John Kerr, after the Opposition-controlled Senate rejected Whitlam's budget proposals.[105] As Whitlam had a majority in the House of Representatives, Speaker Gordon Scholes appealed to Elizabeth to reverse Kerr's decision. She declined, saying she would not interfere in decisions reserved by the Constitution of Australia for the Governor-General.[106] The crisis fuelled Australian republicanism.[105]

1892 in the United Kingdom Article Talk Read Edit View history Tools From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1892 in the United Kingdom Other years 1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 Constituent countries of the United Kingdom England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales Sport 1892 English cricket season Football: England | Scotland Events from the year 1892 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Victoria Prime Minister – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative) (until 11 August); William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) (starting 15 August) Parliament – 24th (until 28 June), 25th (starting 4 August) Events 14 January – Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second-in-line to the throne. Next in line is his younger brother Prince George (later King George V). February – Scottish Universities Commissioners publish an ordinance authorising Scottish universities to provide for the education and graduation of women for the first time.[1] 6–8 March – "Exclusive Agreement": Rulers of the Trucial States (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah and Umm al-Quwain) sign an agreement by which they become de facto British protectorates. 15 March – Liverpool Football Club founded by John Houlding, the owner of Anfield, who has decided to form his own team after previous tenants Everton left Anfield in a dispute over rent. They are formally recognised under the Liverpool name in 3 June and play their first match – with a team formed entirely of Scottish players – on 1 September. 19 May – British troops defeat Ijebu infantry at the battle of Yemoja river, in modern-day Nigeria, using a maxim gun. 20 May – The last broad gauge train runs on the Great Western Railway main line out of London Paddington station. Over the following two days, 177 route miles (285 km) of its line are converted to standard gauge. 22 May – British conquest of Ijebu-Ode marks a major extension of colonial power into the Nigerian interior. 24 May – Prince George of Wales (later George V) becomes Duke of York. 27 June – Small Holdings Act empowers County councils to provide smallholdings for sale or rent on easy terms.[2] 4–18 July – 1892 United Kingdom general election: Unionist government loses its parliamentary majority, but remains in office.[3] 14 July – Official inauguration of the Liverpool water supply from Lake Vyrnwy. The Vyrnwy dam is the first high masonry gravity dam in Britain. 25 July – The Community of the Resurrection, an Anglican religious community for men, is founded by Charles Gore and Walter Frere, initially in Oxford. 11 August – Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury loses a vote of no confidence in his government. 18 August – William Ewart Gladstone becomes Prime Minister at the head of a Liberal government with support from the Irish Nationalist Party.[4] Queen Victoria vetoes the appointment of the radical Henry Labouchère to his Cabinet.[5] 26 August – An underground explosion at Parc Slip Colliery, Aberkenfig, Glamorgan, kills 110 people.[6] 2 September – Everton F. C. play their first game at their new Goodison Park stadium following their exit from Anfield earlier this year. Their first game at the stadium ends in a 2–2 draw with Nottingham Forest.[7] 3 September – Three years after the formation of the Football League, a Second Division is created.[8] Its twelve members are: Small Heath of Birmingham, Sheffield United, Darwen of Lancashire, Grimsby Town, Ardwick of Manchester, Burton Swifts of Staffordshire, Northwich Victoria of Cheshire, Bootle of Liverpool, Lincoln City, Crewe Alexandra, Burslem Port Vale of Staffordshire and Walsall Town Swifts.[9] November – Traveller Isabella Bird becomes the first woman inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.[10] 7 December – Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co, a leading case in English contract law. 21 December – Brandon Thomas' farce Charley's Aunt begins a record-breaking London run at the Royalty Theatre (following a pre-London opening at Bury St Edmunds on 29 February). 22 December – Following a merger of Newcastle East Football Club and Newcastle West Football Club earlier in the year, a new name is given to the club: Newcastle United F.C. Undated Diplomat Henry Galway secures a treaty by which Ovonramwen, Oba of Benin, ostensibly accepts British protection for his kingdom.[11] Norland College founded by Emily Ward for the training of nannies. Publications Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (book publication 14 October). Michael Field's poetry collection Sight and Song. George and Weedon Grossmith's comic fiction Diary of a Nobody (book publication). Rudyard Kipling's poetry collection Barrack-Room Ballads. Births 3 January – J. R. R. Tolkien, South African-born author of The Lord of the Rings and philologist (died 1973) 6 February – Sir John Carden, 6th Baronet, tank and vehicle designer (died 1935) 8 February – Ralph Chubb, poet, printer and artist (died 1960) 14 February – Val Parnell, theatrical impresario and television executive (died 1972) 23 February – Kathleen Harrison, film character actress (died 1995) 9 March David Garnett, writer (died 1981 in France) Vita Sackville-West, poet, novelist and gardener (died 1962) 10 March – Eva Turner, operatic soprano (died 1990) 25 March – Andy Clyde, Scottish-born screen actor (died 1967 in the United States) 13 April Arthur Harris, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, RAF Bomber Command during World War II (died 1984) Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish pioneer of radar (died 1973) 3 May – George Paget Thomson, atomic physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975) 5 May – Dorothy Garrod, archaeologist of the palaeolithic Near East (died 1968) 11 May – Margaret Rutherford, actress (died 1972) 14 May – Paule Vézelay (Marjorie Watson-Williams), painter (died 1984) 13 June – Basil Rathbone, actor (died 1967) 28 June – E. H. Carr, historian, diplomat, journalist and international relations theorist (died 1982) 2 July – Jack Hylton, bandleader (died 1965) 8 July – Richard Aldington, poet and writer (died 1962) 11 July – Trafford Leigh-Mallory, senior RAF officer during World War II (died 1944 in aviation accident) 17 July – Edwin Harris Dunning, naval aviator (died 1917 in aviation accident) 22 July – Jack MacBryan, cricketer and field hockey player (died 1983) 11 August – Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve), Scottish poet and nationalist (died 1978) 14 August – Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, composer, music critic, pianist and writer (died 1988) 26 August – Emanuel Miller, child psychiatrist (died 1970) 6 September – Edward Victor Appleton, radiophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1965) 17 October – Herbert Howells, church music composer (died 1983) 5 November – J. B. S. Haldane, geneticist (died 1964) 18 November – D. E. Stevenson, Scottish romantic novelist (died 1973) 6 December – Osbert Sitwell, writer (died 1969) 9 December – Beatrice Harrison, cellist (died 1965) 10 December – Lucy M. Boston, née Wood, children's novelist (died 1990) 21 December Amy Clarke, mystical poet, writer and teacher (died 1980) Rebecca West, born Cicily Fairfield, writer (died 1983) Deaths January – Doncaster, racehorse (born 1870) 2 January – Sir George Airy, astronomer royal (born 1801) 14 January – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line to the throne (born 1864) 21 January – John Couch Adams, astronomer (born 1819) 27 January – Philip Charles Hardwick, architect (born 1822) 31 January – Charles Spurgeon, preacher (born 1834) February – Baxter Langley, radical political activist (born 1819) 13 February – Sir Provo Wallis, Admiral of the Fleet (born 1791) 16 March – Edward Augustus Freeman, historian and politician (born 1823) 15 April – Amelia Edwards, Egyptologist and fiction writer (born 1831) 19 April – T. Pelham Dale, Church of England priest prosecuted for Anglo-Catholic ritualist practices in the 1870s (born 1821) 9 May – George Wilshere, 1st Baron Bramwell, judge (born 1808) 15 July – Thomas Cooper, Chartist, poet and religious lecturer (born 1805) 18 July – Thomas Cook, English travel pioneer (born 1808)[12] 25 July – Thomas Legh Claughton, academic, poet and clergyman, first Bishop of St Albans (born 1808) 4 August – Ernestine Rose, feminist (born 1810 in Poland) 6 September – Betty Bentley Beaumont, merchant (born 1828) 22 September – George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland, landowner (born 1828) 6 October – Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet laureate (born 1809) 7 October – Thomas Woolner, sculptor and poet (born 1825) 18 December – Sir Richard Owen, paleontologist (born 1804) ≥==References==  "Women in the University". The University of Glasgow Story. University of Glasgow. Retrieved 6 April 2014.  The History Today Companion to British History. London: Collins & Brown. 1995. pp. 698–9. ISBN 1-85585-178-4.  Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 319–320. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.  "William Ewart Gladstone". PMs in history. Number 10 Downing Street. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008.  Bogdanor, Vernon (1997). The Monarchy and the Constitution. Oxford University Press. p. 34. ISBN 0-19-829334-8.  "Park Slip Colliery, Aberkenfig". Welsh Coal Mines. Retrieved 14 October 2010.  "The History of the Everton Football Club". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2011.  "Manchester City 1892-1893". Statto. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2016.  "Football League, 1892-93". F.C.H.D. Retrieved 24 February 2016.  Bell, Morag; McEwan, Cheryl (1 January 1996). "The Admission of Women Fellows to the Royal Geographical Society, 1892-1914; the Controversy and the Outcome". The Geographical Journal. 162 (3): 295–312. doi:10.2307/3059652. JSTOR 3059652.  Igbafe, Philip A. (1970). "The fall of Benin: A Reassessment". The Journal of African History. XI (3): 385–400. doi:10.1017/S0021853700010215. JSTOR 180345.  "Thomas Cook | British businessman | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 April 2022. vte 1707–1800 ← Years in the United Kingdom (1801–present) Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 180118021803180418051806180718081809181018111812181318141815181618171818181918201821182218231824182518261827182818291830183118321833183418351836183718381839184018411842184318441845184618471848184918501851185218531854185518561857185818591860186118621863186418651866186718681869187018711872187318741875187618771878187918801881188218831884188518861887188818891890189118921893189418951896189718981899190019011902190319041905190619071908190919101911191219131914191519161917191819191920192119221923192419251926 Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 19271928192919301931193219331934193519361937193819391940194119421943194419451946194719481949195019511952195319541955195619571958195919601961196219631964196519661967196819691970197119721973197419751976197719781979198019811982198319841985198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 vte 1892 in Europe Sovereign states AndorraAustria-HungaryBadenBelgiumBulgariaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceItalyLiechtensteinLuxembourgMonacoMontenegroNetherlandsNorwayOttoman EmpirePortugalPrussiaRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUnited Kingdom Dependencies, colonies and other territories CyprusGibraltarGuernseyIsle of ManJerseyMalta Categories: 1892 in the United KingdomYears of the 19th century in the United Kingdom1892 by country1890s in the United Kingdom1892 in Europe
  • Condition: In Good Condition for its age over 130 years old
  • Denomination: Crown
  • Year of Issue: 1892
  • Era: Victoria (1837-1901)
  • Fineness: 0.925
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
  • Country of Origin: Great Britain

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