The girlhood of Queen Victoria: A selection from Her Majesty’s diaries between the years 1832 and 1840. Part I

by Queen Victoria

From the diaries;

Wednesday, 6th February 1839: (Lord M = Melbourne)

I always felt nervous; and Lord M said that no one ever got over that, and that there were very few who didn’t feel the same nervousness before making a Speech even if you had done it a 100 times....

11th October 1839, she writes:

At about 1/2 p. 10 dancing began. I danced 5 quadrilles; (1) with Ernest; (2) with dearest Albert, who dances so beautifully; (3) with Lord Alfred; (4) with Ernest; and (5) with dearest Albert again. […] it is quite a pleasure to look at dearest Albert when he gallops and valses, he does it so beautifully, holds himself so well with that beautiful figure of his.

15th October when Victoria proposed to Albert;

NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … 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! … 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!

Genres: Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2002

About the author

The expansion and industrial growth marked reign of Victoria, queen of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 and empress of India from 1877, and her strict moral code influenced 19th-century society.

Alexandrina Victoria from 20 June 1837 until her death. People know her 63 years and seven months as the Victorian era, a period of cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom. She was the last monarch of the house of Hanover.

Albert, her prince consort, died in 1861.

Victoria wrote an average of 2,500 words a day during her adult life. From July 1832, she kept a detailed journal, which eventually encompassed 122 volumes, until her death. After death of Victoria, survivors appointed Beatrice, her youngest daughter and a princess, as her literary executor. Beatrice transcribed and edited the diaries, covering accession of her mother onward, and she burned the originals in the process. Despite this destruction, much of the diaries still exist. In addition to edited copy of Beatrice, Lord Reginald Baliol Brett Esher transcribed the volumes from 1832 to 1861 before Beatrice destroyed them.

Reviews

[Maud · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read bits and pieces of this on the internet, whenever I feel like it, as it is the only diary of queen Victoria I have found. I'm in love with the tv-show, and the history is pretty interesting too!

[Agnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a rather dry and boring account of her everyday life. It gets more interesting after her coronation, when she starts relating the subjects she discusses, mainly with her prime minister. Yet the main interest is for historians, as we don't get much insight in her opinions. Maybe this is natural, as they probably still have to be shaped. Lord Melbourne seems to do a good job of it, in a kind fatherly way. By which I do not mean that he is not indoctrinating her, but then which father does not indoctrinate his children with his opinions? She seems at least to get the freedom to think for herself.

[Dana Pavel · Rating 4 out of 5]

enchanting and dull