Concetti Chiave
- Victoria's early life was marked by strict control under the "Kensington System," isolating her from family and peers.
- Her father's death left her mother, the Duchess, in debt, eventually residing in Kensington Palace by the Prince Regent's aid.
- Victoria became heir to the throne after the death of King George IV, as her uncles had no heirs.
- Despite political pressure to change her name, Victoria retained it, becoming queen at 18 after King William IV's death.
- Upon her ascension, Victoria asserted her independence by requesting solitude and moving her bed from her mother's room.
The rise to the throne of Victoria
The Duke of Kent died when Victoria was just eight months old. The duchess was full of debts and desperate so the Prince Regent gave her rooms in Kensington Palace. On 29 January 1829 the poor mad King George III finally died and his first born, the Prince Regent, became King George IV, After the Dukes of York and Clarence, baby Victoria was next in line to the throne. A that time Kensinghton Palace was cold and gloomy and the life Victoria led there was little better.
The duchess was convinced that Victoria would become queen and so she started the “Kensinghton System”, a cruel regime of bullying and, most of all, control. Victoria was not allowed to be alone for a second. She slept in her mother retired to bed. She was kept away from her father’s family and isolated from all other children. Victoria’s food was tasted before every meal, and she could not walk downstairs without holding somebody’s hand.Kent’s eider brothers had no heirs, just after Victoria turned 11, King George IV died and his brothed, the 65.years.old Duke of Clarence, ascended the throne as King William IV. Victoria was now heir to the throne. Meanwhile, the politicians voiced their opinion that Victoria was just too ridiculus a name for a ruler. Indeed the king tried to force her mother to change it to Elizabeth or Charlotte, but she refused. It is odd to think now that if she had accepted, the Victoria’s eighteenth birthday was a giant gala day for the country. Kensinghton was decorated with banners and there was an official reception at the palace with a formal ball in the evening. In the early hours of 20 June 1837 the king died. At six o’clock in the morning. In Kensington Palace, Victoria stood in her nightdress as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Cancellor knelt to her and told her that she was queen. Her first act was to ask for an hour alone. Then she moved her bad from her mother’s room. “I shall never remember this day as the proudest of my life” wrote Victoria on 28 June 1838, her coronation day.
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cómo afectó el "Sistema de Kensington" a la infancia de Victoria?
- ¿Por qué se consideró cambiar el nombre de Victoria antes de que ascendiera al trono?
- ¿Qué evento marcó el inicio del reinado de Victoria y cómo reaccionó ella?
El "Sistema de Kensington" fue un régimen cruel de control y acoso que aisló a Victoria de su familia paterna y de otros niños, impidiéndole estar sola y sometiéndola a estrictas medidas de seguridad.
Los políticos y el rey consideraron que "Victoria" era un nombre ridículo para una monarca y propusieron cambiarlo a Elizabeth o Charlotte, pero su madre se negó a hacerlo.
El reinado de Victoria comenzó con la muerte del rey William IV el 20 de junio de 1837. Su primera acción como reina fue pedir una hora a solas y luego trasladar su cama fuera de la habitación de su madre.
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