Editing Queen Victoria (section)

== Marriage and public life ==
{{See also|Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert|Wedding dress of Queen Victoria}}
[[File:Victoria Marriage01.jpg|upright=1.4|alt=Painting of a lavish wedding attended by richly dressed people in a magnificent room|thumb|Marriage of Victoria and Albert, painted by George Hayter]]
Although Victoria was now queen, as an unmarried young woman she was required by [[social convention]] to live with her mother, despite their differences over the Kensington System and her mother's continued reliance on Conroy.<ref>Longford, p. 84; Marshall, p. 52</ref> The duchess was consigned to a remote apartment in Buckingham Palace, and Victoria often refused to see her.<ref>Longford, p. 72; Waller, p. 353</ref> When Victoria complained to Melbourne that her mother's proximity promised "torment for many years", Melbourne sympathised but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a "schocking {{Sic}} alternative".<ref>Woodham-Smith, p. 175</ref> Victoria showed interest in Albert's education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into wedlock.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 103–104; Marshall, pp. 60–66; Weintraub, p. 62</ref>

Victoria continued to praise Albert following his second visit in October 1839. They felt mutual affection and the queen proposed to him on 15 October 1839, just five days after he had arrived at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]].<ref>Hibbert, pp. 107–110; St Aubyn, pp. 129–132; Weintraub, pp. 77–81; Woodham-Smith, pp. 182–184, 187</ref> They were married on 10 February 1840, in the [[Chapel Royal]] of [[St James's Palace]], London. Victoria was love-struck. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:
{{Blockquote|
I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert&nbsp;... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have ''hoped'' to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness—really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a ''Husband''!&nbsp;... to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before—was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!<ref>Hibbert, p. 123; Longford, p. 143; Woodham-Smith, p. 205</ref>
}}
Albert became an important political adviser as well as the queen's companion, replacing Melbourne as the dominant influential figure in the first half of her life.<ref>St Aubyn, p. 151</ref> Victoria's mother was evicted from the palace, to Ingestre House in [[Belgrave Square]]. After the death of Victoria's aunt [[Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom|Princess Augusta]] in 1840, the duchess was given both [[Clarence House]] and [[Frogmore House]].<ref>Hibbert, p. 265, Woodham-Smith, p. 256</ref> Through Albert's mediation, relations between mother and daughter slowly improved.<ref>Marshall, p. 152; St Aubyn, pp. 174–175; Woodham-Smith, p. 412</ref>
[[File:Edward Oxford shoots at H. M. the Queen, 1840.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|Contemporary lithograph of Edward Oxford's attempt to assassinate Victoria, 1840]]

During Victoria's first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old [[Edward Oxford]] attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother. Oxford fired twice, but either both bullets missed or, as he later claimed, the guns had no shot.<ref>Charles, p. 23</ref> He was tried for [[high treason]], found [[not guilty by reason of insanity]], committed to an insane asylum indefinitely, and later sent to live in Australia.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 421–422; St Aubyn, pp. 160–161</ref> In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Victoria's popularity soared, mitigating residual discontent over the [[Lady Flora Hastings#Scandal|Hastings affair]] and the [[bedchamber crisis]].<ref>Woodham-Smith, p. 213</ref> Her daughter, also named [[Victoria, Princess Royal|Victoria]], was born on 21 November 1840. The queen hated being pregnant,<ref>Hibbert, p. 130; Longford, p. 154; Marshall, p. 122; St Aubyn, p. 159; Woodham-Smith, p. 220</ref> viewed breast-feeding with disgust,<ref>Hibbert, p. 149; St Aubyn, p. 169</ref> and thought newborn babies were ugly.<ref>Hibbert, p. 149; Longford, p. 154; Marshall, p. 123; Waller, p. 377</ref> Nevertheless, over the following seventeen years, she and Albert had a further eight children: [[Edward VII|Albert Edward]], [[Princess Alice of the United Kingdom|Alice]], [[Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Alfred]], [[Princess Helena of the United Kingdom|Helena]], [[Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll|Louise]], [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|Arthur]], [[Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany|Leopold]] and [[Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom|Beatrice]].<ref name="odnb" />

The household was largely run by Victoria's childhood governess, Baroness [[Louise Lehzen]] from [[Kingdom of Hanover|Hanover]]. Lehzen had been a formative influence on Victoria<ref>Woodham-Smith, p. 100</ref> and had supported her against the Kensington System.<ref>Longford, p. 56; St Aubyn, p. 29</ref> Albert, however, thought that Lehzen was incompetent and that her mismanagement threatened his daughter Victoria's health. After a furious row between Victoria and Albert over the issue, Lehzen was pensioned off in 1842, and Victoria's close relationship with her ended.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 150–156; Marshall, p. 87; St Aubyn, pp. 171–173; Woodham-Smith, pp. 230–232</ref>

[[File:Winterhalter - Queen Victoria 1843.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait by [[Franz Xaver Winterhalter]], 1843]]

On 29 May 1842, Victoria was riding in a carriage along [[The Mall, London]], when John Francis aimed a pistol at her, but the gun did not fire. The assailant escaped; the following day, Victoria drove the same route, though faster and with a greater escort, in a deliberate attempt to bait Francis into taking a second aim and catch him in the act. As expected, Francis shot at her, but he was seized by plainclothes policemen, and convicted of high treason. On 3 July, two days after Francis's death sentence was commuted to [[transportation for life]], [[John William Bean]] also tried to fire a pistol at the queen, but it was loaded only with paper and tobacco and had too little charge.<ref>Charles, p. 51; Hibbert, pp. 422–423; St Aubyn, pp. 162–163</ref> Edward Oxford felt that the attempts were encouraged by his acquittal in 1840.<ref name="auto">Hibbert, p. 423; St Aubyn, p. 163</ref> Bean was sentenced to 18 months in jail.<ref name="auto"/> In a similar attack in 1849, unemployed Irishman William Hamilton fired a powder-filled pistol at Victoria's carriage as it passed along [[Constitution Hill, London]].<ref>Longford, p. 192</ref> In 1850, the queen did sustain injury when she was assaulted by a possibly insane ex-army officer, [[Robert Pate]]. As Victoria was riding in a carriage, Pate struck her with his cane, crushing her bonnet and bruising her forehead. Both Hamilton and Pate were sentenced to seven years' transportation.<ref>St Aubyn, p. 164</ref>

Melbourne's support in the House of Commons weakened through the early years of Victoria's reign, and in the [[1841 United Kingdom general election|1841 general election]] the Whigs were defeated. Peel became prime minister, and the ladies of the bedchamber most associated with the Whigs were replaced.<ref>Marshall, pp. 95–101; St Aubyn, pp. 153–155; Woodham-Smith, pp. 221–222</ref>
[[File:Queen Victoria the Princess Royal Victoria c1844-5.png|alt=Victoria cuddling her daughter next to her|thumb|upright|Earliest known photograph of the Queen, here with her eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, {{Circa|1845}}<ref>{{Citation |title=Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal |url=https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/search#/36/collection/2931317-c/queen-victoria-and-the-princess-royal |publisher=Royal Collection |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=17 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160117132415/https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/search#/36/collection/2931317-c/queen-victoria-and-the-princess-royal |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

In 1845, Ireland was hit by a [[potato blight]].<ref>Woodham-Smith, p. 281</ref> In the next four years, over a million Irish people died and another million emigrated in what became known as the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]].<ref>Longford, p. 359</ref> In Ireland, Victoria was labelled "The Famine Queen".<ref>The title of [[Maud Gonne]]'s 1900 article upon Queen Victoria's visit to Ireland</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Harrison |first=Shane |title=Famine Queen row in Irish port |date=15 April 2003 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/2951395.stm |publisher=BBC News |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=19 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190919081531/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2951395.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> In January 1847 she personally donated £2,000 (equivalent to between £230,000 and £8.5{{nbsp}}million in 2022)<ref>{{Citation |last1=Officer |first1=Lawrence H. |title=Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present |date=2024 |url=https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/result.php?year_source=1846&amount=2000&year_result=2022 |publisher=MeasuringWorth |access-date=8 June 2024 |last2=Williamson |first2=Samuel H.}}</ref> to the [[British Relief Association]], more than any other individual famine relief donor,<ref>{{Citation |last=Kinealy |first=Christine |title=Private Responses to the Famine |url=http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Private_Responses_to_the_Famine3344361812 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406031633/http://multitext.ucc.ie/d/Private_Responses_to_the_Famine3344361812 |publisher=University College Cork |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=6 April 2013}}</ref> and supported the [[Maynooth Grant]] to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland, despite Protestant opposition.<ref>Longford, p. 181</ref> The story that she donated only £5 in aid to the Irish, and on the same day gave the same amount to [[Battersea Dogs Home]], was a myth generated towards the end of the 19th century.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kenny |first=Mary |title=Crown and Shamrock: Love and Hate Between Ireland and the British Monarchy |date=2009 |place=Dublin |publisher=New Island |isbn=978-1-905494-98-9}}</ref>

By 1846, Peel's ministry faced a crisis involving the repeal of the [[Corn Laws]]. Many Tories—by then known also as [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]]—were opposed to the repeal, but Peel, some Tories (the free-trade oriented [[liberal conservative]] "[[Peelite]]s"), most Whigs and Victoria supported it. Peel resigned in 1846, after the repeal narrowly passed, and was replaced by [[Lord John Russell]].<ref>St Aubyn, p. 215</ref>

{| class="toc"  style="float:left; border:3px solid lightblue; font-size:90%;margin-right:10px; clear:left;"
|-
| colspan="2"  style="text-align:center; background:mistyrose"|{{strong|Victoria's British prime ministers}}
|-  style="background:lavenderblush;"
! scope="col" style="width:5.5em;" | Year
! scope="col" | Prime Minister (party)
|-
|1835
| style="background:#fed;"|[[William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne|Viscount Melbourne]] ([[Whig (British political party)|Whig]])
|-
|1841
| style="background:#def;"|[[Sir Robert Peel]] ([[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]])
|-
|1846
| style="background:#fed;"|[[Lord John Russell]] (Whig)
|-
|1852 (February)
| style="background:#def;"|[[Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby|Earl of Derby]] (Conservative)
|-
|1852 (December)
| style="background:#D8F8C8;"|[[George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen|Earl of Aberdeen]] ([[Peelite]])
|-
|1855
| style="background:#ffd;"|[[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Viscount Palmerston]] ([[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]])
|-
|1858
| style="background:#def;"|Earl of Derby (Conservative)
|-
|1859
| style="background:#ffd;"|Viscount Palmerston (Liberal)
|-
|1865
| style="background:#ffd;"|Earl Russell, Lord John Russell (Liberal)
|-
|1866
| style="background:#def;"|Earl of Derby (Conservative)
|-
|1868 (February)
| style="background:#def;"|[[Benjamin Disraeli]] (Conservative)
|-
|1868 (December)
| style="background:#ffd;"|[[William Gladstone]] (Liberal)
|-
|1874
| style="background:#def;"|Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield (Conservative)
|-
|1880
| style="background:#ffd;"|William Gladstone (Liberal)
|-
|1885
| style="background:#def;"|[[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Marquess of Salisbury]] (Conservative)
|-
|1886 (February)
| style="background:#ffd;"|William Gladstone (Liberal)
|-
|1886 (July)
| style="background:#def;"|Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)
|-
|1892
| style="background:#ffd;"|William Gladstone (Liberal)
|-
|1894
| style="background:#ffd;"|[[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery|Earl of Rosebery]] (Liberal)
|-
|1895
| style="background:#def;"|Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative)
|- style="background:#efefef;"
|colspan="2"|{{em|See [[List of prime ministers of Queen Victoria]]<br />for details of her British and overseas premiers}}
|}

Internationally, Victoria took a keen interest in the improvement of relations between France and Britain.<ref>St Aubyn, p. 238</ref> She made and hosted several visits between the British royal family and the [[House of Orleans]], who were related by marriage through the Coburgs. In 1843 and 1845, she and Albert stayed with King [[Louis Philippe I]] at [[Château d'Eu]] in Normandy; she was the first British or English monarch to visit a French monarch since the meeting of [[Henry VIII]] of England and [[Francis I of France]] on the [[Field of the Cloth of Gold]] in 1520.<ref>Longford, pp. 175, 187; St Aubyn, pp. 238, 241; Woodham-Smith, pp. 242, 250</ref> When Louis Philippe made a reciprocal trip in 1844, he became the first French king to visit a British sovereign.<ref>Woodham-Smith, p. 248</ref> Louis Philippe was deposed in the [[revolutions of 1848]], and fled to exile in England.<ref>Hibbert, p. 198; Longford, p. 194; St Aubyn, p. 243; Woodham-Smith, pp. 282–284</ref> At the height of a revolutionary scare in the United Kingdom in April 1848, Victoria and her family left London for the greater safety of [[Osborne House]],<ref>Hibbert, pp. 201–202; Marshall, p. 139; St Aubyn, pp. 222–223; Woodham-Smith, pp. 287–290</ref> a private estate on the Isle of Wight that they had purchased in 1845 and redeveloped.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 161–164; Marshall, p. 129; St Aubyn, pp. 186–190; Woodham-Smith, pp. 274–276</ref> Demonstrations by [[Chartists]] and [[Irish nationalists]] failed to attract widespread support, and the scare died down without any major disturbances.<ref>Longford, pp. 196–197; St Aubyn, p. 223; Woodham-Smith, pp. 287–290</ref> Victoria's first visit to Ireland in 1849 was a public relations success, but it had no lasting impact or effect on the growth of Irish nationalism.<ref>Longford, p. 191; Woodham-Smith, p. 297</ref>

Russell's ministry, though Whig, was not favoured by the queen.<ref>St Aubyn, p. 216</ref> She found particularly offensive the [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Foreign Secretary]], [[Lord Palmerston]], who often acted without consulting the cabinet, the prime minister, or the queen.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 196–198; St Aubyn, p. 244; Woodham-Smith, pp. 298–307</ref> Victoria complained to Russell that Palmerston sent official dispatches to foreign leaders without her knowledge, but Palmerston was retained in office and continued to act on his own initiative, despite her repeated remonstrances. It was only in 1851 that Palmerston was removed after he announced the British government's approval of President [[Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s [[1851 French coup d'état|coup in France]] without consulting the prime minister.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 204–209; Marshall, pp. 108–109; St Aubyn, pp. 244–254; Woodham-Smith, pp. 298–307</ref> The following year, President Bonaparte was declared Emperor Napoleon&nbsp;III, by which time Russell's administration had been replaced by a short-lived minority government led by [[Lord Derby]].<ref>St Aubyn, pp. 255, 298</ref>
[[File:Queen Victoria Prince Albert and their nine children.JPG|alt=Victoria, dressed in black, is seated and holding her infant daughter. Prince Albert and their other children stand around her.|thumb|upright=1.8|Albert, Victoria and their nine children, 1857. Left to right: Alice, Arthur, Prince Albert, Albert Edward, Leopold, Louise, Queen Victoria with Beatrice, Alfred, Victoria, and Helena]]

In 1853, Victoria gave birth to her eighth child, Leopold, with the aid of the new anaesthetic, [[chloroform]]. She was so impressed by the relief it gave from the pain of childbirth that she used it again in 1857 at the birth of her ninth and final child, Beatrice, despite opposition from members of the clergy, who considered it against biblical teaching, and members of the medical profession, who thought it dangerous.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 216–217; St Aubyn, pp. 257–258</ref> Victoria may have had [[postnatal depression]] after many of her pregnancies.<ref name="odnb" /> Letters from Albert to Victoria intermittently complain of her loss of self-control. For example, about a month after Leopold's birth Albert complained in a letter to Victoria about her "continuance of hysterics" over a "miserable trifle".<ref>Hibbert, pp. 217–220; Woodham-Smith, pp. 328–331</ref>

In early 1855, the government of [[Lord Aberdeen]], who had replaced Derby, fell amidst recriminations over the poor management of British troops in the [[Crimean War]]. Victoria approached both Derby and Russell to form a ministry, but neither had sufficient support, and Victoria was forced to appoint Palmerston as prime minister.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 227–228; Longford, pp. 245–246; St Aubyn, p. 297; Woodham-Smith, pp. 354–355</ref>

Napoleon III, Britain's closest ally as a result of the Crimean War,<ref name="odnb" /> visited London in April 1855, and from 17 to 28 August the same year Victoria and Albert returned the visit.<ref>Woodham-Smith, pp. 357–360</ref> Napoleon&nbsp;III met the couple at [[Boulogne]] and accompanied them to Paris.<ref>{{Citation |last=Queen Victoria |title=Queen Victoria's Journals |volume=40 |page=93 |chapter=Saturday, 18th August 1855 |chapter-url=http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org |via=The Royal Archives |access-date=2 June 2012 |archive-date=25 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125152643/http://qvj.chadwyck.com/marketing.do |url-status=live}}</ref> They visited the {{lang|fr|[[Exposition Universelle (1855)|Exposition Universelle]]|italic=no}} (a successor to Albert's 1851 brainchild the [[Great Exhibition]]) and [[Napoleon I]]'s tomb at [[Les Invalides]] (to which his remains had only been [[retour des cendres|returned]] in 1840), and were guests of honour at a 1,200-guest ball at the [[Palace of Versailles]].<ref>{{Citation |title=1855 visit of Queen Victoria |url=http://en.chateauversailles.fr/history/the-significant-dates/most-important-dates/1855-visit-of-queen-victoria |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111200927/http://en.chateauversailles.fr/history/the-significant-dates/most-important-dates/1855-visit-of-queen-victoria |publisher=Château de Versailles |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=11 January 2013}}</ref> This marked the first time that a reigning British monarch had been to Paris in over 400 years.<ref>{{Citation |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/queen-victoria-in-paris/bowes-museum-barnard-castle |title=Queen Victoria in Paris |publisher=Royal Collection Trust |access-date=29 August 2022 |archive-date=29 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829155504/https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/queen-victoria-in-paris/bowes-museum-barnard-castle |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Queen Victoria - Winterhalter 1859.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait by Winterhalter, 1859]]

On 14 January 1858, an Italian refugee from Britain called [[Felice Orsini]] attempted to assassinate Napoleon&nbsp;III with a bomb made in England.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 241–242; Longford, pp. 280–281; St Aubyn, p. 304; Woodham-Smith, p. 391</ref> The ensuing diplomatic crisis destabilised the government, and Palmerston resigned. Derby was reinstated as prime minister.<ref>Hibbert, p. 242; Longford, p. 281; Marshall, p. 117</ref> Victoria and Albert attended the opening of a new basin at the French military port of [[Cherbourg]] on 5&nbsp;August 1858, in an attempt by Napoleon&nbsp;III to reassure Britain that his military preparations were directed elsewhere. On her return Victoria wrote to Derby reprimanding him for the poor state of the [[Royal Navy]] in comparison to the [[French Navy]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Napoleon III Receiving Queen Victoria at Cherbourg, 5 August 1858 |url=http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12129.html |publisher=Royal Museums Greenwich |access-date=29 March 2013 |archive-date=3 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403162336/http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12129.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Derby's ministry did not last long, and in June 1859 Victoria recalled Palmerston to office.<ref>Hibbert, p. 255; Marshall, p. 117</ref>

Eleven days after Orsini's assassination attempt in France, Victoria's eldest daughter married [[Frederick III, German Emperor|Prince Frederick William of Prussia]] in London. They had been betrothed since September 1855, when Princess Victoria was 14 years old; the marriage was delayed by the queen and her husband Albert until the bride was 17.<ref>Longford, pp. 259–260; Weintraub, pp. 326 ff.</ref> The queen and Albert hoped that their daughter and son-in-law would be a liberalising influence in the enlarging [[Prussia]]n state.<ref>Longford, p. 263; Weintraub, pp. 326, 330</ref> The queen felt "sick at heart" to see her daughter leave England for Germany; "It really makes me shudder", she wrote to Princess Victoria in one of her frequent letters,<!--8000 over 40 years--> "when I look round to all your sweet, happy, unconscious sisters, and think I must give them up too – one by one."<ref>Hibbert, p. 244</ref> Almost exactly a year later, the Princess gave birth to the queen's first grandchild, [[Wilhelm II|Wilhelm]], who would become the last German emperor.<ref name="odnb" />