1837-1901, British history calls these 64 years the "Victorian Era". The reigning British monarch Queen Victoria led the United Kingdom on the wave of development of the Industrial Revolution and created the British Empire. The golden age of .
The book "Queen Victoria: A Life as a King and a Woman" selects 24 important nodes from the Queen's life journey from birth to death. Through these nodes, it shows how the little girl named Victoria grew up step by step. How did the queen, who was deeply loved by her subjects, become a restricted woman throughout her life?
She is a daughter and heir to the throne.
Victoria was born initially because she wanted to inherit the throne in her family.
Victoria's grandfather, King George III, required that his successor must be born in a serious marriage with his permission. Unfortunately, most of George III's many grandchildren, grandsons, and granddaughters were born out of wedlock and did not meet the conditions. Victoria's parents were united for the purpose of creating a reserve heir to the royal family.
Before Victoria was 1 year old, her father Edward died of illness. Forced to fragment the family, her mother Victorie was also forced to shoulder the burden of cultivating and educating the heir to the throne on her own.
Under the airtight "surveillance" education, Princess Victoria is not as carefree, innocent and innocent as people think. On the contrary, she experienced the feeling of being "restricted" very early on.
The most direct one is economic restrictions. As a princess, she is quite poor. Father Edward was extremely lavish when building the palace, so he owed a lot of foreign debt. Although her mother did not treat her materially badly, she also had little financial autonomy. Fortunately, at that time she didn't have to think about whether to repay her debt or not.
She can be a little willful within the scope of her mother's permission, such as willfully not eating, willfully turning a blind eye to mistakes... Such willfulness has also been well restricted after the arrival of tutor Laichun.
The so-called "good" refers to the arrival of Lai Chun, which brought a respite to Victoria's dull girl life. The existence of this mentor and friend allowed Victoria to break away from the "willful daughter" setting and continue to work towards cultivating the heir to the throne.
To be a good wife and mother is to be a good queen.
The book divides the queen's life into three parts, namely "the wayward daughter", "the competent wife" and "the widow of Windsor". Daughter, wife and widow , the transformation of the three roles is indispensable for her husband Albert .
uses her husband as the dividing line in life, which shows the importance of Albert.
’s marriage to her husband Albert allowed Victoria to awaken her female role. She realizes that she is not only a queen, but also a wife and will be a mother.
At the same time, she also realized that as a woman, even if she was a monarch, her power was limited. In a monarchy that is inherently restricted, expectations for the role of the Queen are also relatively low. Rather than being wise, mighty, and decisive, people want to see the image of a queen who sets an example for women.
In this contest between women’s inherent social impression and monarchy, the balance of fate added love on the female character’s side, and finally cleverly defeated monarchy. Victoria left most of her affairs in the hands of Albert and was busy being a good wife and raising children.
Victoria gave birth to a total of 9 children. In the process, her inaction in governing British politics just won the love of her subjects and saved the endangered monarchy.
Although there have been many kings in British history, Queen Victoria still enjoys high reputation among her subjects as a woman. This is not because of anything she did, but precisely because she did nothing.
The only thing she did was to become a good wife and mother in the eyes of her subjects.
In people’s eyes, Victoria was a good wife and mother. She lived a rigorous life, worked hard, and was full of responsibility. She was a model of the moral style of the era. However, Victoria, who had the supreme status, even benefited from the role of a female in the queen’s career. itself, but in the final analysis, she is still trapped in the female role.
After Albert's death, Victoria began her long career in mourning. Mourning clothes became her regular clothes. When people saw her in public, she had a "face like a potato and always wore black clothes." She was in mourning for her beloved husband, so how could she not be in mourning for her own life?
Limited autonomy, an inescapable life
Mother Victorie once said to Victoria: "You can't escape your emotions, and you can't escape your origins."
This sentence is a prophecy, Although she brought about the glorious Victorian era, the life background of this restricted queen was as dark as the dress she wore most often in her life - mourning clothes.
In the days after Albert's death, Victoria was very sad and missed her husband, and her personality changed to become eccentric, but in most senses, it was at this time that she truly had her own life.
is not a daughter who is monitored and controlled by her mother, nor is she a wife and mother dedicated to love, but Queen Victoria, who has her own will.
During this period, Victoria’s life was thanks to the servant John Brown. This enthusiastic and energetic young man brought a glimmer of light to Victoria’s gloomy middle-to-late life.
John Brown brought emotional comfort to Victoria and contributed to the liberation of her personality. At the same time, in him, Victoria once again experienced the feeling of restriction.
When the Queen wanted to write a book about her valet John Brown, she was opposed by her ministers. They worry that once the book is published, the Queen's image will be damaged, which will affect the face of the entire royal family.
Sure enough, once the book "Notes on Highland Life" in memory of John Brown was published, it "brought a lot of vicious gossip to Victoria." Although Victoria had more autonomy in her life, in the position of queen, she Possessing very little power.
Just as her mother said, she can't escape her desire for beautiful emotions, but she can't escape the fate she was born with. This fate gave her the spotlight and also put heavy shackles on her.
written at the end
Throughout Victoria's life, her life was limited in all aspects, including finances, emotions, making friends, and choosing a spouse.
's limited monarchy restricted her limited female role. During her reign, she transcended gender itself and only considered the privileged class in which she lived. Every word and deed was representative of her class.
And her female role itself restricted her own limited monarchy, so that although she had the glory to define an era, she also spent her whole life defining herself.
This is the splendid and glorious Victorian era, and its life-limited Queen Victoria.
(Text/Shiguang Photo/Network)
