Discovering the secret life of Queen Victoria since 2018
Queen Victoria famously only wore black following the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, in December 1861. As a result of Victoria spending half of her life in mourning we are fortunate to have many surviving garments from her time of sorrow, including this dress from 1898. © Historic Royal Palaces Made by Martha… Continue reading Queen Victoria’s mourning dress, 1898
© London Museum Described by Queen Victoria as ‘a never to be forgotten day’, 14th January 1892 saw a major shift in the future of the British Monarchy. Not only had the Queen just experienced the loss of her dear grandson, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, but the nation had also lost its future… Continue reading Queen Victoria’s mourning dress, 1892
Queen Victoria’s petticoat at Kensington Palace, October 2019© Shannon McInulty / Queen.Victoria.Roses Dating between 1840-1841, this petticoat was worn by Queen Victoria during the earlier years of her reign, when she was in her early 20s. Made out of lawn cotton and trimmed with French lace, this lightweight garment would have been worn under her… Continue reading Queen Victoria’s petticoat
On display at Carisbrooke Castle Museum on the Isle of Wight visitors can see an ornately decorated Birthday Book, which was designed by the museum’s founder, Princess Beatrice in 1881. As Queen Victoria’s closest companion and private secretary, Princess Beatrice found herself in constant correspondence with the Queen’s forever growing family, which was scattered across… Continue reading Princess Beatrice makes a ‘Charming Birthday Book’ for charity
Kicking off my new series, ‘Royal Fashion Friday’, we’re looking at Queen Victoria’s earliest surviving dress, best known as the ‘Blonde Dress’. The ‘Blond Dress’ at Kensington Palace, 18th October 2025 © Shannon McInulty / Queen.Victoria.Roses Made in the early 1830s, this delicate rare survival is believed to have been a gift from King Leopold… Continue reading ‘The Blonde Dress’: Queen Victoria’s earliest surviving dress
1896 had been a traumatic year for Queen Victoria. Not only was it ‘the 35th anniversary of that dreadful day which crushed my life!’1, but she also watched ‘the terrible sorrow that has befallen my poor darling child [Princess Beatrice] & made her a widow too.’2 While Queen Victoria had initially been reluctant for Beatrice… Continue reading ‘A great feeling of strangeness & unlikeness to Christmas’: Queen Victoria’s Christmas 1896
‘With joy do I hail the return of this blessed festival,’1 wrote Queen Victoria on Christmas Eve in 1845. By this time in her life Victoria was eight years into her reign, had been married for five and was mother to four children, with her fifth child, Princess Helena, expected the following May. To Victoria,… Continue reading ‘It was a very merry Xmas’: Queen Victoria’s Christmas 1845
‘This festive day, the eve of such blessings & the day when ever since our childhood we have been happy & joyous, in giving & receiving,’ wrote Queen Victoria as she began her Christmas Ever journal entry in 1847; adding ‘I know no day, or rather more anniversary which we celebrate with more feelings of… Continue reading ‘This festive day’: Queen Victoria’s Christmas 1847
Christmas 1860 was the final happy festival to have been spent by Queen Victoria before the premature death of Prince Albert the following December. However, while this Christmas was later looked upon with sorrow, at the time, the scene captured a thriving family, who celebrated the engagement of their third child, Princess Alice to Prince… Continue reading ‘A merry happy night’: Prince Albert’s final Christmas
Queen Victoria’s final Christmas was filled with nothing but heartache for the 81 year old monarch. 1900 had been Victoria’s annus horribilis, with the deaths of her third child, Prince Alfred, and her grandson, Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein. On top of this, the second Boer War was in full swing and the elderly… Continue reading “This has indeed been a terribly sad Christmas for us all”: Queen Victoria’s final Christmas
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… Continue reading 1832: Christmas with Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace
In the evening of 30th November 1936, the Crystal Palace was tragically destroyed by fire, exactly 85 years after it housed the 1851 Great Exhibition. Designed by botanist, Joseph Paxton, the Crystal Palace was made of iron beams and 300,000 panes of glass, which helped preserve the pre-existing trees in Hyde Park where the exhibition… Continue reading The Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire