Queen Victoria's Sons

Queen Victoria's nine children the sons Queen Victoria had a large brood of nine children she had incredibly high expectations for her four sons and held him up in comparison with their saintly father Prince Albert he was a more gentle and loving parent who doted on his offspring he was the heart of this close-knit family an innovation from previous royal children who lived separately from and rarely saw their parents Victoria and Albert children were sheltered from court life and raised at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight there Albert built them a swiss cottage where they learned practical skills like cooking and carpentry along with a robust education in history politics literature and languages typical for princes the eldest son was destined to inherit the throne of the British Empire at the height of its power though he had to wait a long time to obtain it from his aging mother while waiting in the wings the three younger sons all lived active lives to join the military and traveled the world while the youngest was held back by the Royal disease hemophilia here are the stories of Queen Victoria's four intriguing sons Edward Victoria's second child and heir was named Albert after his father and the more British sounding Edward after his maternal grandfather Prince Edward Duke of Kent the family called him Bertie his rigorous education was a challenge to the inattentive birdie he struggled continuously to meet his parents lofty expectations but could never measure up to his saintly father or his bright older sister despite his academic lacking he had an abundance of charm and sociability as a teenager he attended the University of Edinburgh and Oxford where away from his parents imposing oversight he enjoyed education very much at 19 he toured North America and met President James Buchanan Birdy's confidence and good humor made for a very successful tour he hoped to pursue an active military career based on his own merit but his mother vetoed this plan and instead he was given an honorary position as colonel while attending a military training camp in Ireland and again back at Cambridge 19 year old Edward had rendevouz with an actress named Nellie Clifton but when his royal parents learned of their son's youthful indiscretion Prince Albert though ill dropped everything to visit his son and reprimand him Albert died of typhoid fever two weeks later and Victoria never forgave her son Hanoverian monarchs have a long tradition of parents and heirs despising each other and Victoria and Bertie were no exception to get birdy under control his mother arranged a marriage to the beautiful Princess Alexandra of Denmark but Alexandra was deaf and spoke very little Edward preferred the company of witty mistresses and lived a playboy lifestyle smoking cigars and guzzling champagne he is thought to have had some 55 different mistresses he tried to be as discreet as possible under the disapproving eye of his prudish mother and never acknowledged any illegitimate children but the private life of the Prince of Wales was often fodder for society gossip and occasionally leaked to the press his mistresses included British actress Lily Langtry French actress Sarah Bernhardt lady Jennie Churchill American mother of the famed Prime Minister Winston Churchill Daisy Greville Countess of Warwick and inspiration for the popular music hall song Daisy Daisy French opera singer Hortense Schneider wealthy humanitarian Agnes kisser and British socialite Alice Keeble great-grandmother to Camilla parker-bowles longtime mistress and now wife of Prince Charles the Prince became embroiled in scandal when he was compelled to testify in the divorce trial of his mistress Harriette Mon CREF Princess Alexandra was aware of her husband many dalliance --is how could she not be but seem to have been accepting of them the couple lived at dazzling social life throwing a glittering balls at Marlborough house and setting the trend for the lavish country house party at Sandringham house edward was an arbiter of fashion popularizing tweed Homburg hats norfolk jackets and black tie for formal occasions he introduced the now traditional British Sunday meal of roast beef and potatoes with horseradish sauce and all those Yorkshire puddings added a few pounds to the Royal waistline so he also popularized the tradition of men not buttoning the bottom button of their waistcoat the Queen tried to dictate her son and daughter-in-law how they should live their life and raise their children but the domineering Queen was mostly ignored in turn Victoria blocked her son out of government affairs as would have been expected for an heir apparent she disagreed with her son's liberal ideas despite his luxurious lifestyle the prince was empathetic to the plight of the poor and labourers he pushed for social reforms and was involved in public housing works he also spoke out against racism on many occasions but he and his mother did agree on one thing that women should not have the vote while Queen Victoria cloistered herself away in deep depression following her husband's death Edward made himself popular with the people he pioneered the royal public appearance so important to the British royal family today in 1875 he embarks on an eight-month tour of India his advisers remarked on Edwards habit of treating everyone the same regardless of their social standing or color Edwards eldest son Prince Albert Victor was a playboy like his old man and was often embroiled in scandal but he died at 28 during an influenza pandemic and his younger brother George became the heir in 1900 ad word was the victim of an attempted assassination a 15 year old anarchist shot at him in protest over the second Boer War in South Africa a year later Queen Victoria died one and birdie became King Edward the seventh at the age of 59 two days before his planned coronation he fell ill with appendicitis at the time the disease was usually a death sentence but Edward decided to undergo the cutting-edge surgery to remove the infected organ the operation was a success and the king popularized the life-saving procedure he was crowned a few weeks later King Edward improved relations with France but didn't get along with his nephew kaiser wilhelm ii of germany he particularly despised and often criticized Wilhelm's racism and anti-semitism he signed a treaty against Parliament's wishes promising that if Germany invaded France Britain would go to war setting the stage for World War 1 in 1914 in 1909 Britain faced a constitutional crisis which pitted the House of Lords and the House of Commons against each other over their imbalance of power the king gave a speech introducing measures to limit the power of the Lord's in 1910 the 68 year old King suffered several heart attacks but refused to go to bed saying no I shall not give in I shall go on I shall work to the end he died later that night after a short but very successful reign of nine years Alfred Alfred was the second son and spare to the throne as a child he was musical and played the violin he joined the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen and served as midshipman on the HMS Euryalus while aboard he made an official royal visit to the Cape Colony in South Africa where he made a favorable impression on the colonists and the native Chiefs and did a great deal of big-game hunting when Alfred was 18 King Otto of Greece abdicated and Alfred was elected to be the new king of Greece but his parents stopped this honor as they had already decided that Alfred would succeed his father's childless brother as Duke of saxe-coburg and Gotha at 22 his mother appointed him Duke of Edinburgh Earl of Ulster and Earl of Kent which entitled him to a seat in the House of Lords the following year he was promoted to captain in the Navy and given command of the HMS gala T on which he set sail around the world he again visited Cape Town then Australia where he stayed for five months while at a picnic in Sydney alfred was shot in the back by an Irish assassin the bullet missed his spine by inches but he recovered and set sail again two weeks later he visited New Zealand Japan Hawaii India and Sri Lanka at 30 Alfred returned home to settle down he married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna daughter of emperor alexander ii of russia who came with a staggering dowry of a hundred thousand pounds plus an annual allowance the marriage was not a happy one Maria was proud and haughty she insisted that she take precedence over all of her sisters-in-law as her family it was more important than theirs the Queen refused her demands the couple traveled with Alfred's military career and spent several years in Malta at 43 he was promoted to Admiral of the fleet and while nepotism may have helped him in his climb up the ranks he was a capable commander one officer wrote as a commander-in-chief he had no equal he handled the fleet magnificently and introduced many improvements in signalling and maneuvering when he was 49 his uncle Ernest ii died and alfred became duke of saxe-coburg and Gotha he renounced his British titles and moved to Germany he was at first unwelcome as a foreigner but his Amy ability and competence eventually gained him popularity with his new people he was very fond of music and could still be persuaded at dinner parties to play something on the violin but one party goer said that the noise he made was abominable he was also a keen collector of glass and ceramic ware his only son Alfred became ensnared in scandal surrounding his mistress and a possible secret marriage the young man shot himself and died two weeks later of his injuries his father was devastated the following year Alfred himself died of throat cancer he was 55 Arthur lucky number seven Arthur was Victoria's favorite child he had an interest in the military from an early age and at 16 he enrolled at the Royal Military Academy at 18 he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the army he served in South Africa and then in Canada where he shifted from the military duties of a soldier to the glittering social life of a prince with ease he was wined and dined by local society and met president ulysses s grant and he won a medal for his bravery in the Battle of Echols Hill during which he fought off an Irish Republican invasion of Montreal he was very popular in Canada and was invited to sit on the Iroquois Council and vote on tribe matters at 24 he was created Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex at 29 he was married to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia Arthur was devoted to his wife with whom he had three children but he also maintained a long-term liaison with Lady Leonie Leslie American heiress and sister of his brother Edwards mistress Ginny Churchill I wonder if they ever double dated Arthur took military posts in Ireland Egypt and spent four years in India his wife traveled with him at 43 he was promoted to general he wanted to become commander in chief of the British Army and equal his brother Alfred's rank but he was denied this position in 1910 Arthur travelled to South Africa to open the first Parliament of the newly formed Union the following year he returned to Canada as a very popular Governor General he his wife and youngest daughter traveled the country extensively and visited the u.s. to meet President William Howard Taft the family loved Canada and took to camping fishing hunting and often hosted ice-skating parties at Rideau Hall Arthur played an active role in preparing Canadian troops before departing for Europe to fight in World War one Princess Louise worked with the Red Cross during the war in 1916 the family returned to Britain and earth went back to military service and royal engagements Princess Louise died during the influenza pandemic in 1917 and was the first member of the royal family to be cremated a new fashion at the time in 1921 Arthur traveled to India to open the new central Legislative Assembly he died in 1942 at the age of 91 years eight months and 15 days the exact same age to the day as his sister Louise Leopold from an early age Leopold showed great intellectual promise poet Alfred Lord Tennyson said that he had a very thoughtful mind and high aims he suffered physical weakness bruising clumsiness and seizures it was soon realized that Leopold had hemophilia and epilepsy doctors inaccurately blamed the Queen's use of chloroform during his delivery at 19 he attended Oxford University there he studied law became a freemason and president of the chess club in his 20s he travelled Europe Canada and the United States as his disabilities prevented him from serving in the military he instead became a patron of humanities and sponsored the London chess tournament he acted as his mother's unofficial secretary often bridging the gap between the aging Queen and the government of the day he requested a regal post to Canada but much to his disappointment his mother refused preferring to keep him close she instead created him Duke of Albany stifled by his mother Leopold saw marriage as a way to escape her overbearing he was friends with Alice little for whom Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland he also courted his second cousin Princess fredericka of Hanover but instead the pair became lifelong friends he pursued marriages with a number of noble ladies but enough was known about genetics at this point that none of them were interested in risking hemophilia in their children despite his royal blood his mother wasn't much help to Leopold's romantic aspirations either as she objected to any she felt to be unworthy of a British Prince the Queen finally suggested Princess Helena Frederika of valdek Piermont and the couple were Wed a year later Helena gave birth to a daughter Alice during her second pregnancy Leopold's health worsened and his doctors ordered him to a warmer climate to relieve his severe joint pain Helena was unable to accompany her husband but encouraged him to go while recuperating in con France he slipped and fell hitting his head he died the next morning of a cerebral hemorrhage he was 30 years old his son Charles Edward was born four months later in an upcoming episode we'll learn about Queen Victoria's 42 grandchildren among their ranks were a king an emperor six queens two married couples an embarrassing number of Nazis and many captivating characters today of the approximately 28 monarchies that still survive in the world five are occupied by descendants of Queen Victoria a very special thank you goes to my patron Dakota Pulis thank you so much for supporting my work if you enjoyed this video please consider supporting me on patreon and help me make more fascinating videos a link to my patreon is in the description thank you for watching

Channel: Lindsay Holiday

Views: 1,530,915

Rating: 4.8607402 out of 5

Keywords: history, game of thrones, documentary, royal family, nobility, royalty, sex, bbc, the crown, british history, england, scandal, murder, queen elizabeth, royal wedding, princess charlotte of wales, pregnancy, feminist, women, victorian era, Queen victoria, prince albert, hemo, hemophilia, incest, inbreeding, inbred, europe, wwi, world war 1, 1800s, historic costumes, canadian history, prince, duke, military, navy, army, edward vii, king of england, aurthur, leopold, alfred, mistress, alice in wonderland

Id: 7-dv3SNSzkg

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 29 2019