1832: Christmas with Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace

Until the Victorian era Christmas was a reasonably uncelebrated festival amongst the ordinary people. However, in the 1840s, something changed. The publication of Charles Dickens’ novel ‘A Christmas Carol’ on 19th December 1843 not only brought people’s attention to the religious event, but also created a new perspective on the joys that the otherwise depressing winter could bring. On top of this, in 1848, the Illustrated London News published a lithograph of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children gathered around a decorated tree and gifts. This image of the royal family showed people that Christmas was a time to celebrate and spend with family. As a result, Christmas quickly grew in popularity and became a key event in everyone’s calendar. However, while the idea of a fun-filled Christmas was a new concept to the ordinary members of Victorian society, the royal family had been celebrating this way for decades; including Princess Victoria of Kent, who went on to give her name to the era that gave birth to the Christmas that we all know and love today.

As I’ve mentioned in my previous post about the royal family and Christmas trees, it was Queen Victoria’s paternal grandmother, Queen Charlotte, that brought the German tradition of decorated trees to Britain in the 1790s. However, Victoria’s mother, Victoire, Duchess of Kent, was also German and continued her native customs at Kensington Palace during her daughter’s childhood. In 1832 Princess Victoria began keeping a journal about her daily activities and, as a result, we have 67 detailed accounts of the Christmases she spent with her forever growing family. Using the journals as a reference, join me as I go back in time to Kensington Palace during the festive season of 1832.

In the modern day Christmas seems to be happening earlier and earlier every year, with the shops selling decorations and festive themed treats as early as September. But for Princess Victoria the festivities didn’t begin until Christmas Eve and, in fact, this was the main day in the Christmas celebrations.

Having woken with enthusiasm at 7am, the thirteen-year-old Princess waited patiently for her day to commence. After eating her breakfast, Victoria helped her mother as she distributed boxes of gifts to their personal attendants and members of their household. Throughout the exchange the Princess waited in anticipation for the main event of the day. As more guests visited the Palace, Victoria and her mother had their dinner with the Duchess’s unpopular advisor, Sir John Conroy and his family. Having eaten in the Conroy’s personal apartments, the group then went to the Princess’s Drawing-Room while the Duchess of Kent made the final touches to the nearby Dining-Room, where all the magic was to take place.

After a long day of waiting, the future Queen embraced the last few moments of suspense as she awaited the gentle sound of a bell ringing from the restricted room. One ring… two rings… three rings. It was time for the excited, yet dignified, Princess to enter the room, which had been filled with ‘two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments.’ (1) Beneath the trees lay an array of gifts, which had been delicately arranged and presented. One of the large tables had been allocated to the whole of the Conroy family, with a smaller table just for Victoria’s Governess, Baroness Louise Lehzen. As the only child from her mother’s second marriage, Princess Victoria had the second larger table for herself.

Laid out on Victoria’s table was an array of gifts from various members of her large family, including two of her paternal aunts. From Princess Sophia she received a dress that she herself had worked on, and from Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, she received a pair of amethyst earrings. There seems to have been a hand-worked theme to Victoria’s gifts as she also received a ‘very pretty white bag’ (2) which had been worked on by Victoire Conroy, daughter of Sir John. In addition to this she also received a ‘little lovely pink bag [and] a little sachet’ (3) from her mother, which she, too, had worked herself. In addition to this, Victoria also received an ‘opal brooch and earrings, books, some lovely prints, a pink satin dress and a cloak lined with fur’ (4) from her mother; with Lehzen giving her a music book. While Victoria resented Sir John Conroy, his position in the future monarch’s household meant that he was obliged to give her a gift, just as she was obliged to receive it with pride. On the occasion of Christmas 1832, this gift consisted of a small silver brush.

After the excitement of looking through her own gifts, Victoria returned to her Sitting-Room, in which she had laid out her gifts for her mother and her attendants. From her daughter the Duchess of Kent received ‘a white bag which I had worked, a collar and … an Annual’ (5). For her mother’s Lady-in-waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, Victoria had got ‘a steel chain’, (6) an Annual and a book holder, the latter of which were also received by John Conroy. To her aunt, Princess Sophia, Victoria had got a pair of turquoise earrings. However, the most interesting gift to have been given by the Princess was the ‘little white and gold pincushion and a pin with two little gold hearts hanging to it’, which she gave to Baroness Lehzen. Victoria had always been close to her Governess and notably viewed her as a motherly figure, possibly with the additional belief that Lehzen had loved her more than the Duchess. With this in mind, the sentiment of the two hanging gold hearts on Lehzen’s gift compared to the Duchess’ hand-worked bag is a poignant indication to the Princess’s true feelings.

Once Victoria had finished handing out her gifts, her mother took her and the other ladies into her, Victoria’s, bedroom, where a ‘new toilet table with a white muslin cover over pink’ had been set up and arranged with ‘all my [Princess Victoria’s] silver things standing on it with a fine new looking-glass’ (7). This was to be Victoria’s present for the day before went to bed at 9pm for a full night’s sleep, ready for Christmas Day.

In comparison to the day before, the 25th December was much quieter in terms of festivities. Victoria had woken up at 8am before dressing in time for breakfast at ½ past 9. Like many people of Christmas Day, at 10am she attended prayers with members of her family and household. From there much of the day was spent entertaining visitors and, of course, a lavish dinner was served. After a busy day of socialising, Victoria returned to her room and was asleep by 9pm, putting an end to the Christmas celebrations for that year.

 

© Queen.Victoria.Roses / Shannon McInulty 2025

1840: Queen Victoria’s first Christmas as a wife and mother

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