15 Pieces of History That Victoria Did Differently

Catherine Flemming and Jenna Coleman (Photo: (C) ITV Plc)

Victoria’s Family Didn’t Really Plot to Steal Her Throne

In the first episode of Victoria, the Duke of Cumberland plots rather nefariously and openly to have the young queen declared unfit. Cumberland is one of the queen’s uncles and the next in line for the throne, so it’s not like he doesn’t have motive for such shady behavior. He joins forces with Sir John Conroy and Victoria’s own mother to plot to wrest control of the throne from Victoria. These terrible people gaslight the queen in an attempt to make her (and her ministers) think she’s losing her mind. The queen’s grandfather, King George III, did rather famously go insane, after all. And, because society was just as misogynist back then as it is now, people really might have believed this plan. But outside of the show, this supervillain team-up just didn’t happen.

Sure, it made for some good drama. (Though personally I could have done without the cake full of rats.) And in real life, rumors of a Cumberland plot to pass over Victoria and alter the line of succession did exist. But Cumberland himself vehemently denied this accusation. In fact, he went to the House of Lords and declared openly that he would shed his “last drop of blood” for his niece.

Even though they clearly weren’t nefarious enough to try and steal her crown, Victoria did have a difficult relationship with her family. The young queen had a very harsh upbringing. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her ambitious advisor, Sir John Conroy, kept Victoria a virtual prisoner at Kensington Palace. Isolated from other children, they raised her using their so-called “Kensington System”. This complicated set of rules and protocols kept Victoria firmly under her mother (and her advisor’s) thumb. In fact, Conroy designed it specifically to keep the young princess weak and dependent on him and her mother. She had almost no time to herself, had to share a bedroom with her mother, and couldn’t even go down stairs alone.

Later in life, Victoria described Conroy as the “devil incarnate” and never forgave him for manipulating her mother. Or for the system of rules imposed on her as a child. Following her ascension to the throne, Victoria banned him from her personal presence and did her best to limit his influence at court.