An Evening With Lucy Worsley | Queen Victoria
If you're a fan of the History channel, the One Show, the Discovery channel, or just history in general, then you'll know exactly who this person is. Lucy Worsley is a very well known historian, joint Chief Curator at 'Historic Royal Palaces' and best known for presenting a number of series on BBC television, including 'A Very British Romance' and 'Six Wives with Lucy Worsley' (no prizes for guessing what that programme was about, haha).
She attended school in West Bridgford, Nottingham, and read Ancient and Modern History at New College, Oxford, graduating in 1995 with a BA First Class Honours degree. So she's a very clever, hardworking person, passionate about the subject she studied and making a healthy, successful career out of it.
So, on Saturday 15th September, my mum and I attended one of her talks, all about the life of Queen Victoria. Earlier that year, Worsley had uncovered Queen Vic's diaries, dating back to when she was a child, from the archives at Windsor Castle. In turn she wrote a book all about Victoria's life, from being a young girl, to a wife, mother and grandmother, it's very informative, containing information that didn't necessarily come out in the history books.
Worsley's talk was very entertaining. As well as the talk being absolutely fascinating, uncovering information that I otherwise wouldn't have known, she also made it highly entertaining, making jokes, being interactive the audience and adding some interesting quotes from Vic's diaries, ones that you wouldn't have necessarily thought would come from the mind of a former Queen of England.
As well as talking about Vic's life, Worsley also delved into how she became Queen in the first place, it just so happens that she came to be on the throne, almost by accident. Her grandfather, George III, had several children, the eldest of which, George IV, had a wife and many mistresses, he also had several illegitimate children (kids born outside of marriage, and so could not be associated with the Royal Family or the throne). However, Victoria's cousin, Princess Charlotte, only legitimate child of George IV, was set to become Queen after her father died. However, she married, became pregnant, gave birth but died as a result and so did her infant child, leaving the Royal Family Heir-less once again.
The reason why a baby race occurred at this time, was because all of George III's children either didn't have legitimate off spring, or all of their legitimate kids had sadly died, therefore putting pressure on the British throne, mainly because at this stage, they didn't have anyone left to rule the country after George IV's death (who only ruled for ten years).
With the pressure on, it was down to George IV's younger brother, Edward, to produce an heir. In 1818, he married German Princess, Marie Luise Viktoria, who in 1819, gave birth to Alexandria Victoria, who would eventually rule England as Queen Victoria. However, in 1830 George IV (Vic's uncle) had died meaning that Victoria had become Queen of England at the age of 11, having won the baby race as a result of being the only surviving, legitimate grandchild of George III.
Are you still with me? Confusing isn't it? Worsley however explained it in a way we could all understand and keep track, mainly with the aid of a family tree and a few diagrams! So now you all know how she came to be on the throne in the first place. In later life, she married a man named Albert in 1840, who would eventually father all 9 of her children. They remained married until his death in 1861, having died of suspected Typhoid at the young age of 42, leaving Victoria grief stricken, causing her to withdraw from the public eye for quite some time.
This resulted in her receiving quite bad press, as the public felt she no longer cared about her people or the industrial revolution that was very much in full swing. However, she eventually got her mojo back and became the longest reigning monarch in history, being on the throne for 63 years and 7 months. As a result of her reign being so lengthy, it became known as the 'Victorian' era.
Many argue she was Queen at a very difficult time in British history. It was a period of cultural, industrial, military and scientific evolution, as well as this, it was a time in which the British Empire was expanding, so Vic had a lot of responsibility towards the countries who, at that time, were part of the Empire. As well as being Queen of England, she also became Empress of India in 1876 as a result of the 'Royal Titles Act 1876' being pushed by British PM Disraeli.
It was a very interesting talk, I learnt a lot that I wouldn't have otherwise known about Queen Victoria and her life. I hadn't learnt about any of that school or in the history books. It was definitely worth going, purely to expand my own historical knowledge, as I find history in general to be fascinating and so interesting.
After the talk, Worsley did a book signing and she returned to the stage to do a Q&A. That in itself was very interesting. She is such a knowledgeable person, being able to answer all questions, from what period she'd go back to if she was a time traveller, to her favourite of Henry VIII's wives, to what she reads for pleasure, it was very interesting to hear her talk about all aspects of history and impressive to see just how much historical knowledge she has.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience, as well as a talk, there was cake, tea and coffee which made for a great addition, as well as being able to buy her book and meet her in real life. We had so much fun, loved every second we were there and I highly recommend doing something similar if the opportunity arises near you!
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