January 22, 1901: Queen Victoria Dies

One of the last photos of Queen Victoria.

Her son, King Edward VII, is on the right.

His son, King George V, is on the left.

And his son, King Edward VIII, is the boy in the sailor suit.

January 22, 1901, 125 years ago: Victoria, By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India, head of state for about one-quarter of all the people then living on planet Earth, does the unthinkable.

She dies.

She passes away at the age of 81, at Osborne House, her country estate on the Isle of Wight, 88 miles southwest of London. The last of a series of strokes brought her life to a close, 63 years after she took the throne, longer than any English or British monarch ever had, breaking the record of her grandfather, King George III, who lasted just under 60 years. Three entire generations of her subjects had known no other monarch of Britain except her.

She was born on May 24, 1819, the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, a son of King George III. Her uncle, King George IV, died without legitimate children. So did his brother, King William IV. And Edward died before either George or William. So Victoria became Queen when she was only 18, on William's death on June 20, 1837.

At the time, through the mental incapacity of George III, and the dissipation and profligacy of George IV and William IV, the British monarchy was at its lowest point since Oliver Cromwell chopped off the head of Charles I in 1649.

The Industrial Revolution was in its early stages. Railroads were a new thing. Photography was in its infancy. There were no telephones, no telegraphs, no railroads, no automobiles, no air vehicles except hot-air balloons, no recorded sound, no recorded images. Victoria had more in common with Alfred the Great, who unified England 1,000 years before her reign, than she did with King Charles III, born 48 years after her death.

She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, ending the House of Hanover. They produced 9 children:

* Victoria, who married Crown Prince Friedrich of Germany, who became Kaiser Friedrich III, and they were the parents of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

* Albert Edward, who became King Edward VII of Britain. He married Alexandra, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Their son became King George V of Britain, and their daughter Maud married King Haakon VII of Norway.

* Alice, who married Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse (in Germany). Their daughter, Alexandra, married Czar Nicholas II of Russia.

* Alfred, who became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in Germany). His daughter, Marie, married King Ferdinand I of Romania.

* Helena, who married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (in Germany).

* Louise, who married John Campbell, the 9th Duke of Argyll (in Scotland).

* Arthur, who inherited his grandfather's titles of Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Connaught is in Ireland, and Strathearn is in Scotland), and served as Governor-General of Canada. His daughter, Margaret, is an ancestor of the monarchs of Sweden and Denmark.

* Leopold, who became the Duke of Albany (in Scotland). And:

* Beatrice, who married Prince Henry of Battenberg (in Germany). Their daughter, Victoria Eugenie, married King Alfonso XIII of Spain.

And so, Victoria was "The Grandmother of Europe." Her son Albert Edward, or "Bertie," thus became "The Uncle of Europe." And Christian IX of Denmark became "The Father-in-Law of Europe."

Bertie was 59 years old when he finally became King, and, most of that time, because he was a disobedient child and then a compulsive womanizer, frequently cheating on Alexandra, Victoria never fully trusted him. As he put it, "I don't mind praying to an Eternal Father, but I seem to have been afflicted with an eternal mother."

Victoria lived long enough to be wildly cheered at her Golden Jubilee (50th Anniversary) in 1887 and her Diamond Jubilee (60th Anniversary) in 1897; to have her voice recorded in 1888; and to be filmed at a garden party at Buckingham Palace in 1898, and on a state visit to Dublin, Ireland in 1900.

But in her last years, she was beset by rheumatism, which combined with her passion for comfort food to make walking impossible; and she was nearly blind due to cataracts. Later in 1900, she began to suffer strokes. Her last diary entry was written from Osbourne House on Sunday, January 13, 1901, and referred to her daughters Helen, or "Lenchen," and Beatrice. It reads:

Had a fair night, but was a little wakeful. Got up earlier & had some milk. — Lenchen came & read some papers. — Out before 1, in the garden chair, Lenchen & Beatrice going with me. — Rested a little, had some food, & took a short drive with Lenchen & Beatrice. — Rested when I came in & at 5.30, went down to the Drawing room, where a short service was held, by Mr Clement Smith, who performed it so well, & it was a great comfort to me. — Rested again afterwards, then did some signing & dictated to Lenchen.

Nine days later, on January 22, at 6:30 PM, she died of another stroke at Osborne House. Bertie and Kaiser Wilhelm, her eldest grandson, were in the room. She was laid to rest in the Royal Mausoleum, on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, about 25 miles west of Central London. She and her husband, Prince Albert, are the Mausoleum's only occupants.

Victoria was played by Blanche Forsythe in Sixty Years a Queen in 1913, Jenny Jugo in Victoria in Dover in 1936, Anna Neagle in Victoria the Great in 1937 and Sixty Glorious Years in 1938, Renée Asherson in Happy and Glorious in 1952, Romy Schneider in a remake of Victoria in Dover in 1954, Julie Harris in Hallmark Hall of Fame's Victoria Regina in 1961, Lola Brooks in The Young Victoria in 1963, Annette Crosbie in Edward the Seventh in 1975, Lurene Tuttle on an episode of Voyagers! in 1983, Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown in 1997 and its sequel Victoria & Abdul in 2017, Victoria Hamilton in Victoria & Albert in 2001, Emily Blunt in The Young Victoria in 2009, Amanda Root in The Black Prince in 2017, and Jenna Coleman in Victoria in 2019.

Her son, Edward VII, reigned until he died in 1910. His son, George V, reigned until he died in 1936. His son, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne later that year, in favor of his brother, George VI. He reigned until he died in 1952. His daughter became Queen Elizabeth II, and she broke all longevity records for English and British monarchs, celebrating a Platinum Jubilee (70th Anniversary) in 2022. She died later that year, and her son became King Charles III.