Bye Bye Birdie

Bye Bye Birdie was a 1963 movie. I'm pretty sure it was a Broadway play before that. This post is not about that movie/play.
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22 January, 1901. Osborne House, Isle of Wight. The family is gathered. The German Kaiser has just said his goodbyes to his loved Grandmama in private. For once he is subdued, behaving himself, sitting quietly and causing no trouble.

Ever since the death of her husband, she had been in mourning, dressed in black. Something I didn't know though, was that the she still had "them" lay out his clothes every morning, just as if he were still alive. Of course, being who I am, that made me wonder if they kept laying out the same suit of clothes each day, or if she selected his pretend wardrobe and let them know what to lay out. Further, I wondered if she still bought him new clothes so the latest fashions could be laid out for him. But that's just me. You may not think it is important. Nevertheless, it was probably good to have the wherewithal to be able to hire someone to do stuff like that.

There are several versions of what the last words the old queen uttered before she expired. The concensus is, "Bertie! Bertie!"

Well, she was looking into his eyes and perhaps holding his hand, so one assumes she was talking to her son during her final seconds. Bertie being the only name she had ever called him. She never had called her husband by that name, Bertie, by all accounts. So.

Others swear she said, "O! That peace might come. Bertie!" That sounds like royal PR for the press release. I will go with just, "Bertie! Bertie!"

The nine children of Victoria and Albert

In the 19th century, the main royal houses of Europe were well stocked with queen Victoria's offspring and her grandchildren. Her nine children were:

Victoria

Albert (later Edward VII)

Alice

Alfred

Helena

Louise

Arthur

Leopold

Beatrice

You may already see some namesakes of the current royal family.

Tomorrow: Victoria, Empress of Prussia

Victoria and Albert

From Victoria's diary (24 May 1837):

"I was awoke at 6 o'clock by Mamma...who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen..."

She was to have reigned as Alexandrina Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her request.

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Victoria had met her future husband when she was only seventeen. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was her first cousin. The queen proposed to Albert in October of 1838, and they were married early in 1839. Apparently he said yes.

Albert became not only Victoria's companion, but her close advisor as well. Victoria's mother was then evicted from Buckingham Palace, as the young queen, now married, was no longer required to live with her. Her mother was thereafter seldom visited.

Fun fact: Victoria was taught only in German until she was 3 years old, then in English and French, becoming virtually tri-lingual. (Tri-lingual means she had three tongues, to Albert's delight, tho' some say it contributed to his early demise. Some, not I.) Her seldom-visited mother spoke to her daughter in German, though she approached proficiency in English. Is that cool, or what?

[Next: 9 children, the future movers and shakers of all of Europe]

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria can be considered the matriarch of the modern British royal family. Indeed, most, if not all, of the royal houses of Europe can show this remarkable queen somewhere in their family tree. She had nine children and 42 grandchildren, many of whom married into other royal families, thereby extending British influence across Europe.

Queen Victoria was born in 1819 and became queen in 1837, less than a month after her eighteenth birthday. At over 63 years, she is the longest-reigning female monarch ever - anywhere in the world.

Of mostly German descent, Victoria continued the House of Hanover. She was a niece of her predecessor, King William IV. Victoria's first name was Alexandrina, after Emperor Alexander I of Russia (her godfather); Victoria was the name of her mother.

(Next: Victoria and Albert)