How Queen Victoria and Queen Mary each continued tragedy – and the opposite interesting similarities between the 2 royals born just about 48 years aside

Despite being born 48 years aside, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary of Teck have way more in not unusual than first meets the attention – with the exception of each being the matriarchs of the Royal Family.

Queen Victoria was once born 206 years in the past the following day in the similar room of Kensington Palace because the then-Princess Mary of Teck nearly precisely 48 years afterward May 26 1967.

Mary was once the great-granddaughter of King George III, making her Victoria’s first cousin as soon as got rid of.

The Queen came around the baby Mary and described her as ‘an excessively advantageous one, with lovely little options and a amount of hair’.

Through her marriage to Prince George in 1893 – whose father Edward was once the inheritor to the throne – Mary would sooner or later change into Queen too.

In many extra techniques Queen Victoria’s and Queen Mary’s lives have been remarkably equivalent. Both have been impacted by way of non-public tragedy and big societal adjustments going down in Britain.

At delivery, each ladies’s lives can have been very other because of their folks being somewhat low-ranking royals within the circle of relatives.

Victoria was once the one kid of Prince Edward, the fourth son of King George III. This supposed at delivery she was once simplest 5th in line to the throne – a distance this is steadily sufficient to make the chance of turning into queen a narrow one.

However, numerous deaths within the circle of relatives – which incorporated the King and Victoria’s personal father who gave up the ghost when she was once not up to a 12 months outdated – noticed Victoria upward thrust to 3rd in line.

Then the loss of life of King George IV in 1830 noticed William IV topped and Victoria changed into inheritor presumptive at simply 10 years outdated.

Victoria’s whirlwind adventure to the throne culminated together with her being topped Queen in 1837 when she was once 18. 

Similarly, Mary’s folks have been minor royals. Her father was once Prince Francis the Duke of Teck – a member of the German House of Wurttemberg dynasty which dominated over what’s modern day Stuttgart in Germany.

Her mom was once Princess Mary, a fellow German from the Kingdom of Hanover.

The circle of relatives weren’t as rich as you will have anticipated and her father had no inheritance or wealth. In order to are living a extra frugal life they relocated to Florence within the 1880s.

By the top of the last decade the circle of relatives had returned to London and she or he changed into engaged to Prince Albert, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. 

But tragedy struck when he died from pneumonia simply six weeks later.

With the assistance of Queen Victoria, Mary then changed into engaged to Albert’s more youthful brother George who was once now 2nd in line to the throne. They married on July 6 1893. 

Just 17 years later Mary changed into Queen consort in 1910 when her husband succeeded his father as King.

Following their marriages, Queen Victoria and Queen Mary had quite a lot of kids – giving delivery to 9 and 6 respectively – however each have been recognized to be rather far away in opposition to their offspring.

Victoria wrote that she discovered being pregnant tricky and was once uncomfortable within the presence of youngsters however, like many ladies on the time, a big circle of relatives was once her ambition.

Their first kid, Victoria, was once born in 1840. The Princess Royal was once adopted by way of Albert Edward (1841), Alice (1843), Alfred (1844), Helena (1846), Louise (1848), Arthur (1850), Leopold (1853) and Beatrice (1857).

The daily care of her kids was once delegated to governesses together with Baroness Louise Lehzen – who have been a big supporter of Victoria whilst she grew up below the draconian Kensington System administered by way of her controlling mom. 

Similarly, Mary was once a hands-off mom to her six kids. 

Edward was once born in 1894. He was once adopted by way of Albert, later King George VI (1895), Mary (1897), Henry (1900), George (1902) and John (1905).

Both Mary and Prince George failed to note the abuse of Edward and Albert by the hands in their nanny who would steadily pinch the 2 boys.

King Edward VIII, when he heard of his mom’s loss of life in 1953, wrote: ‘Mother can have been so onerous and vicious in opposition to her eldest son for such a lot of years and but so difficult on the finish with out relenting a scrap.

‘I’m afraid the fluids in her veins have at all times been as icy chilly as they’re now in loss of life.’

Nevertheless, it nonetheless stays transparent that each Queens beloved and loved their kids dearly.

Victoria had marble sculptures fabricated from each and every of her 9 kids – made out of casts taken of them whilst they have been asleep.

And Edward wrote fondly about Mary in his memoirs: ‘Her cushy voice, her cultivated thoughts, the snug room overflowing with non-public treasures have been all inseparable substances of the happiness related to this ultimate hour of a kid’s day. 

‘Such was once my mom’s delight in her kids that the whole lot that took place to each and every one was once of the maximum significance to her. With the delivery of each and every new kid, Mama began an album during which she painstakingly recorded each and every innovative level of our early life.’

Tragically, the 2 ladies additionally suffered their fair proportion of grief all over their lengthy reigns.

Victoria’s husband of 21 years, Prince Albert, died in 1861, elderly simplest 42.

The Queen was once devastated. At a Privy Council assembly 3 weeks after his loss of life she may just now not utter a phrase.

She wrote to her uncle Leopold: ‘The deficient fatherless child of 8 months is now the definitely broken-hearted and overwhelmed widow of forty-two! My lifestyles as a cheerful one is ended! The international is long gone for me!’ 

Victoria wore black for the remainder of her lifestyles and her sharp withdrawal from public lifestyles lasted ten years.

The monarch nearly obsessively attempted to stay the presence of Albert within the lives of her 9 kids. At certainly one of her son’s weddings, she insisted the siblings pose round a bust of Albert.

Meanwhile, the loss of life of King George V in 1936 introduced an finish to his and Mary’s 43 years of marriage – which means they have been married for longer than Albert was once alive.

Mary issued a message of gratitude to the country for his or her condolences after the King’s loss of life, expressing her appreciation for his or her strengthen.

Her lifestyles differs from that of her cousin’s at this level as with the loss of life of Prince Albert Victoria was once nonetheless sovereign whilst Mary ceased being Queen Consort and as an alternative changed into the Queen Mother.

In her new position she lived via a tumultuous length of the 1930s when her son, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne so as to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Although she was once supportive of her son, Mary may just by no means perceive why he would forget his royal tasks.

When the timid Prince Albert changed into George VI she noticed it as her accountability to supply ethical strengthen to the brand new King along his spouse Elizabeth.

Yet some other devastating similarity which permeates their lives is the loss of life in their kids.

Three of Victoria’s 9 kids died sooner than her.  Her 2nd eldest daughter, Princess Alice died, when she was once 35 from diphtheria on December 14 1878 – at the 17th anniversary of Prince Albert’s loss of life.

Victoria described the accident of the date as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘mysterious’.

In a letter to her eldest daughter, Victoria, the queen wrote: ‘My valuable kid, who stood by way of me and upheld me seventeen years in the past at the similar day taken, and by way of such an terrible and frightened illness.

‘She had darling Papa’s nature, and far of his self-sacrificing persona and fearless and full devotion to accountability!’

Tragedy struck the Royal Family once more in 1884 when Victoria’s youngest son Leopold died elderly 30.

Leopold had hemophilia and was once holidaying in Cannes, the south of France, when he slipped and fell, inflicting him to undergo a cerebral hemorrhage. 

Writing about his loss of life in her magazine, his mom mentioned: ‘Another terrible blow has fallen upon me and all folks nowadays. 

‘My loved Leopold, that vivid, suave son, who had such a lot of occasions recovered from such frightened sickness, and from more than a few small injuries, has been taken from us! 

‘To lose some other pricey kid, a long way from me, and one that was once so talented, and this type of assist to me, is simply too dreadful!’

Victoria’s son Alfred died from throat most cancers in July 1900 simply months sooner than Victoria died in January 1901.

Of Mary’s six kids, 3 died sooner than her. 

In 1919 Mary’s youngest kid, Prince John, died elderly 13.

The Prince had critical epilepsy and what’s now purported to were autistic. He was once referred to as the ‘Lost Prince’ as a result of he was once avoided the general public eye.

He was once despatched to are living in a area at the Sandringham property as his situation deteriorated, and he died in 1919 on the age of 13 after struggling a critical seizure.

Upon his loss of life, Mary described his loss of life as a ‘super reduction’ to an in depth pal.

 ‘For [John] this can be a super reduction, as his illness was once changing into worse as he grew older, and he has thus been spared a lot struggling.  

‘I can’t say how thankful we really feel to God for having taken him in this type of non violent approach, he simply slept quietly into his heavenly house, no ache no battle, simply peace for the deficient little stricken spirit,’ Mary mentioned.

During World War Two, the Royal Family, like 1000’s throughout the United Kingdom, suffered the lack of members of the family. This incorporated the loss of life of Mary’s son Prince George.

He was once certainly one of 15 passengers killed within the Dunbeath air crash in August 1942.

The aircraft crashed into the Scottish Highlands whilst on a regimen flight from RAF Invergordon to RAF Reykjavik. 

Mary additionally outlived her son King George VI, who died in February 1952 from most cancers – simply over a 12 months sooner than Mary gave up the ghost in March 1953.

The lack of a 3rd kid had a profound affect on Queen Mary. She reportedly instructed Princess Marie Louise, grandaughter of Queen Victoria: ‘I’ve misplaced 3 sons via loss of life, however I’ve by no means been privileged to be there to mention a final farewell to them.’ 

Finally, all over their lengthy lives each Queen Victoria and Queen Mary lived to peer large societal adjustments within the United Kingdom. 

When Victoria was once born in 1819 the sunshine bulb had now not been invented and the horse-drawn carriage was once the primary mode of transportation.

By the top of her reign the white warmth of the commercial revolution had introduced marvelous innovations to Britain, together with steam trains that adventure occasions from days to mere hours.

On most sensible of this Victoria had overseen the solar upward thrust at the British Empire, which changed into the sector’s maximum robust superpower of the 1800s.

She additionally ushered within the generation of constitutional monarchy, which noticed the Queen change onerous energy for affect over British politics. It stays the machine of presidency in Britain to at the present time. 

Meanwhile, Queen Mary’s lifestyles was once permeated by way of sessions of fatal wars, which ended in the fast building of recent kinds of struggle.

She was once Queen Consort all over World War One and the Queen mom all over World War Two. In the latter she reportedly would consult with troops and directed the gatherings of scrap fabrics.

Mary was once born at a time when cavalry fees have been nonetheless not unusual in conflict and lived to peer the discovery of the hydrogen bomb – probably the most devastating weapon mankind has ever created. 

She was once additionally Queen when the Empire reached its top in 1920, protecting roughly one quarter of the sector, and by the point of her loss of life decolonisation had begun.   

In loss of life, each ladies have left a long-lasting legacy in Britain. 

Queen Victoria is now one of the well-known monarchs to have ever dominated – 2nd simplest to Queen Elizabeth II – together with her cultural affect proceeding to at the present time.

Queen Mary is remembered as a ‘grand Queen’ who was once ‘above politics’ in addition to an avid collector of antiques. Many of her maximum precious pieces – together with her Dolls House – are on show in Windsor Castle.