“The white sails of the yachts had such a charming effect” : Queen Victoria and Cowes Week

Perhaps it was these early experiences of the Isle of Wight and its rich nautical heritage that encouraged Queen Victoria to choose the Isle of Wight as the location for her new family home, Osborne House, in 1845. Just three years later, Victoria once again writes of an outing to ‘see the Regatta at Cowes’. Twelve years after her first taste of Cowes Week, Victoria’s entourage looked much different than it had in 1833. While she was now the Queen of Great Britain, the Isle of Wight offered her a place to relax and live like any other aristocratic woman. Here she could be a wife to Albert and a mother to her children. This new version of Victoria is clear in her journal entry:

‘At luncheon we decided to board the “Fairy,” […] setting off soon after 3 with the children, Eliza, Ly Canning & C. The boys wore their sailor suits. We picked up Mama on the way.’ She goes on to add that they ‘went a short way up the harbour, in order to turn & get out of the way of the number of yachts that were lying there. We anchored opposite the yacht club, & saw several races, in which a number of foreign boats competed. There were a quantity of people on shore, looking on.’

Over the coming years Victoria and Albert would regularly attend the iconic races with their growing family, which was finally completed in April 1857. The following year, Victoria and Albert once again ‘went to the Town Regatta at West Cowes,’ having embarked on the “fairy” via their own personal pier at Osborne. With them were Princesses Helena and Louise, Prince Arthur, ‘in a sailor suit,’ and the newest addition to their family, Princess Beatrice. ‘It was a very pretty sight’ writes the Queen of the array of people and yachts, which had gathered along the shoreline and upon the glistening water of the Solent.

A year later, Victorias eldest child, also named Victoria, was visiting Osborne with her husband Fritz (Prince Friedrich of Prussia) and their two children, Wilhelm and Charlotte. On 5th August 1861, the royal party sailed ‘round to Cowes Roads to see the starting of the yacht races’. In her journal she describes ‘A very pretty sight. Delightful on the water, the sea so blue, the sun so bright & the white sails of the yachts had such a charming effect.’ Little did Victoria know that this would be her final Cowes Week experience with her beloved husband by her side. Despite the overwhelming grief that Victoria often connected to the things she once enjoyed with Albert, attending Cowes Week is a hobby that she chose to continue into her later years.

Having grown up attending the races, many of the Queen’s nine children – particularly her sons – and her grandchildren had grown up with a great appreciation for the art of sailing. In fact, the Cowes Regatta appears to have become somewhat of a uniting event in the royal calendar, with members of Victoria’s family travelling from all around the world to attend the spectacle. Members of Victoria’s family that were particularly fond of the regatta included: the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII); Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Prince George of Wales (later King George V); Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (Later Kaiser Wilhelm II); Prince Henry of Prussia and Prince Henry of Battenberg.

Like Victoria, the Prince of Wales enjoyed entering his own boat the “Britannia” into the races, often winning. Having always had a level of resentment towards his British bloodline and the ability/ reputation of the British Navy, the future Kaiser also saw the Cowes Regatta as an opportunity to prove himself and Germany’s nautical abilities to his British relatives. In the early 1890s he commissioned a new yacht, the “Meteor”, to be built and raced on the Solent against his uncle, Bertie.

On 2nd August 1892, Victoria writes that ‘the Princes were absent as the Regatta had began & my cup was being sailed for, amongst the racing being William’s “meteor” […] drove with Lenchen [Princess Helena] & Thora [Princess Helena Victoria] through West Cowes […] everyone was much disappointed that William was beaten by a very little Adm: Victor Montagu (my godson) winning my very pretty cup’.

Unfortunately for Wilhelm and the “Meteor”, losing the Queen’s cup was the least of his worries. Just two years later, on 18th August 1896, ‘a dreadful accident happened’ when the “Meteor” collided with some smaller boats racing separately near Portsmouth. Wilhelm’s yacht ‘cut into & utterly crushed the “Isolde” belonging to a German Baron Sezwitz, who was killed almost on the spot by the mast falling on him. The crew were saved by other boats, but the yacht is a complete wreck. The “Britannia” was also somewhat injured’. Later that year, Wilhelm commissioned the “Meteor II”.

In 1909, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia travelled to the Isle of Wight with his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and their five children, specifically for the Cowes Regatta. During their visit the family attended a reception on board the Royal Yacht “Victoria and Albert”, which was hosted by King Edward VII. Similarly, Nicholas held receptions on his boat, the “Standart”, which was heavily guarded by two Russian cruisers, three destroyers and ships of the British Fleet. While the children spent much of their time exploring the beach and Swiss Cottage at Osborne, the Tsar’s two eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana, were allowed to visit the races in West Cowes. However, locals were quick to recognise the Grand Duchess’s going in and out of shops, which encouraged immense crowds to form, putting pressure on their safety.

By the late 1940s, other sailing clubs had began holding their own annual races at either side of Cowes Week. The famous “King’s Cup” was later replaced by the “Britannia Cup”, which King George VI awarded to the Royal Yachting Association in 1950. Three years later, Cowes Week was extended to nine days of races, with different clubs hosting their own races under different rules for competitors. Today, Cowes Week is the longest running and most popular sailing events in the world, with around 40 races taking place each day.

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