Princess Victoria Research Paper

Most people know Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch. The woman who named an era and the Queen that brought us into the modern age. But little know of her struggle to the throne, which started before she was even born. It all started with King George the Third. The oldest of his thirteen children, George, the Prince regent, was the only one to have a legitimate heir to the throne, his daughter Charlotte. Her tragic death during childbirth began the search for the next heir. “In order to understand the nineteenth-century royal succession you should know of the main rules. First and for most, male children precede over female, regardless of birth order. The King is always succeeded by his eldest son, and if a king is childless, his oldest brother takes crown. For lack of a son or brother, English law allowed a man to pass his estate

All the brothers were in a scramble to find a spouse, since one of them had to “produce a legitimate child who could inherit the throne (Gill 25).” The Duke of Kent married a widow name Victoire of Saxe-Coburg, who quickly became pregnant. Alexandrina Victoria was not only born to be Queen of England: she was conceived to be Queen (PBS).” On May 24th 1819, she was born at Kensington Palace. She was then fifth in line of succession to the throne proceeding over her male cousins. In February, the Duke of Kent fell ill. Victoria was only eight months old when her father died. Against royal tradition, Victoria’s Mother was her sole guardian. If her father didn’t sign the right over to her Mother, than the Duke’s closest male relatives would have had the right to determine her destiny. “Victoria would have been a very different woman, and a very different queen (Gill 39).” Her childhood was the main factor in shaping