I’ve been a fan of the Victorian age for as long as I can remember. To me it’s a time of magic and mystery, a time of excitement and imagination and more to the point, the birthplace of our modern Christmas.
The Victorian age was unlike anything that had happened before and arguably has and will happen. It was a time of great social, economic and technological advancement and laid the foundation of the society we find ourselves in today. So many things happened that I’m pretty sure that to cover them we would need a time longer than the Victorian era itself! To sum up, things changed a lot between the years of 1839 and 1901 and in some cases it was not because they could, it was because they had to!
Within the Victorian age two values we see time and time again were the importance of family and the celebration of the Christmas season. The focus on both of these can be traced to one event which happened on February 10th 1840 in St James’ palace where the newly appointed Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Sax-Coburg and the rest, as they say, is history.
Albert and Victoria – a love story
A New Age
Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent was born in Kensington Palace on the 24th of May 1819. Her father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the 4th son of King George 4th.
Princess Alexandrina’s Mother was Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coberg Saalfeld. After the deaths of her Father and Grandfather, Victoria’s life changed. She became increasingly isolated, almost imprisoned, within the walls of Kensington palace. She had a very strict upbringing by her mother and had a very unhappy, lonely childhood. This all changed however, in the early hours of 20th June 1837.
Ascension
The young princess was woken with news that an important visitor wished to speak with her. She came down in her dressing gown, walking down the stairs holding her mother’s hand, which was customary as she was never allowed to walk down the stairs unaided, even at the age of 18 she was still forbidden to do so. At the bottom of the stairs, she refused to allow her mother to accompany her into the room where her visitors were waiting. This upset her mother who protested but the strong willed Victoria, tired from all the mollycoddling, stuck to her guns maintaining she s was 18 and should be allowed to greet people on her own. As she entered, she was greeted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain, they knelt down before her and began kissing her feet, normal in some of the higher Royal echelons but not for our Princess. The visitors then proceeded to inform the young princess that her uncle King William IV had died and since she was the closet relative in line to the throne, she was now the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Defender of the Faith.
The aligning
It was pretty much decided that she was to marry straight away. This was because of her young age and the fact she was a woman it was seen that she would need a man’s help to support the throne. Because of this it was announced that she would marry Prince Albert. A young man she had first been introduced to a year prior and one who, after the meeting, Victoria is noted as having said she almost instantly fell in love with. She wasn’t objecting here, although it has been reported by some that she resisted marriage for some time before giving in. Albert was quoted to have said the same so it appeared like the stars were truly aligning and the most famous Royal marriage in history was coming to bear. (It’s a little-known fact that the two were not “first” introduced a year before the death of the King. They were in fact first introduced when the now Queen was three years old and it was decided they would marry at this point! It is true that both shared the same Grandparents, more on this in good time).
Assertion
It was during this time that Her Royal Highness, eager to stand on her own feet and be recognized as doing so, dropped her first name (Alexandrina) in favour of being known by her middle name (Victoria). The Queen we know was born.
Her Prince
Prince Albert, who would remain a prince his whole life (spoiler alert!) was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-coburg-saafeld, in the castle known as Schloss Rosenauu on the 26th August 1819. His birth name was Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel and he was the 2nd son of Earnest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Earnest’s first wife Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Albert was very close to his elder brother Ernest and their early childhood was plagued with trouble from their parents troubled marriage, after their divorce Alberts mother was exiled from court in 1824.
Popping the question
The proposal required careful handling, since the Queen was now err, Queen. No one could be seen to be proposing to her as the reigning monarch so it was decided that Queen Victoria should propose to the prince (how modern!) which she did on Albert’s second visit in 1839 at Windsor castle.
The event and married life
On the 10th February 1840, only one year after the proposal. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, were married. The Royal couple began starting their family straight away. Albert adored his wife and more so adored his children, of which there were many. Nine in all. Though Victoria didn’t care for children or babies, and often saw them as “ugly”, Albert was the complete opposite. He showered them with love and affection and as so often happens when a royal shows favour in a direction, this rippled through society and lead to the rest of the British population focusing on the significance and importance of family. Albert also is largely credited for popularizing Christmas to the masses bringing traditions from Germany into the Palace and gaining similar traction with them as he did with his approach to his family. There are of course other people and factors we need to consider when looking at the history of Christmas, which we will unearth in due course.
The stage is set
With a Royal household so devoted to each family (an almost unheard-of event), the huge changes in society and living resulting from the successes (and some failures) of the age and some literary sparks from some of the most influential writers of all time, the scene was set for a seasonal explosion, Christmas as we know (or think we know) it was about to be born.