Nine Offspring of Queen Victoria: An Intimate Glimpse at the Monarch Who Cared for Them All
In November 1840, Queen Victoria of England gave birth to her first child, Victoria, who would later become known as "Vicky." Born to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Vicky was the oldest of their nine children.
At the tender age of 14, Vicky was engaged to Prince Frederick of Prussia, who was nine years her senior. Two months after turning 17, she married Prince Frederick in January 1858.
Vicky shared her father's intellect and received a liberal education. On her son Wilhelm's 13th birthday, she wrote a letter expressing her hopes for his future as a leader.
Until the birth of her younger brother, Edward, Vicky was the presumptive heir to the British throne. However, her fate took a different turn when Edward was born a year after her in 1841.
In 1888, Frederick became the Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, making Vicky empress and queen consort. Tragically, Frederick died from laryngeal cancer just 99 days after becoming emperor.
Their son, Wilhelm, ruled Germany as Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, who abdicated in 1918 at the end of World War I. Vicky faced criticism for her politically liberal views in the conservative royal court of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
Despite not embracing her son's desire to transform the empire into a constitutional monarchy, Vicky remained a significant figure in German history. She died of breast cancer in August 1901, not long after her mother's death. Vicky was 60 years old.
The German Kaiser born from Vicky, the daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was the husband of Auguste Viktoria and served as German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 to 1918. Vicky's life and reign were marked by love, loss, and political intrigue, making her a fascinating figure in both British and German history.
