"The Young Victoria"

[kensei]

I just tonight saw the movie "The Young Victoria" starring Emily Blunt. Wow, what a shock to the system for a Ripperologist seeing a portrayal of the old and austere Queen Vic as she was when she first came to the throne as a young girl in blissful love with Prince Albert. I couldn't help but thinking, with the myriad of experiences she had as queen over so many years/decades, how high in importance do you suppose Jack the Ripper rated to her? One thing that really struck me about the film was that if she and Albert were so concerned about the housing crisis and the plight of the poor working man, how could they have allowed the East End of London to remain one of the worst slums in the history of the Western World? But having said that, I still found myself liking Victoria very much at the end of the film, contrasting the young vivacious girl it portrays with the older widdowed lady who would later send the telegram reading, "This new and most ghastly murder calls for some very decided action" in response to the killing of Mary Jane Kelly. I find myself comparing it to Richard Nixon's statement on Charles Manson during the Helter Skelter trial. Neither Nixon nor Victoria were under any obligation to involve themselves in those cases. They both chose to because they felt it was important.

It was, in part, Jack the Ripper that led to the cleaning up of the East End. I find that highly ironic if Victoria held an interst in the plight of the poor decades before, but I still find myself holding deep respect for her.

However, I was disappointed just minutes ago to do a Google search and find that Prince Albert was not really shot and wounded protecting Victoria in the assassination attempt portrayed in the film. It happened, but he wasn't hit. The dramatic license portrayed in films like "Braveheart" is one thing, but in history as recent and well documented as the Victorian era I think that maybe shouldn't have been done. Any thoughts?

[Robert]

Hi Kensei

If you want history don't for Christ's sake watch a film.

[Graham]

Yes, Queen Vic was so concerned about the well-being of her nation's poor and underprivileged, that when on the Royal Train and about to pass through the delightful town of Wolverhampton, she demanded that the blinds be lowered to spare her from the sight of the deprivation she was so earnestly concerned about.

And speaking of Royal Trains, there is an old legend that her marriage with Albert was actually consummated on the Royal Train bearing the newly-wed couple from their wedding to Sandringham (at least, I think it was Sandringham) where they were to spend their honeymoon. The randy Kraut consort and the equally randy monarch couldn't wait to get it on...or so the persistent legend would have us believe. I believe it! In later years she also wrote to one of her daughters about the delights of sex.

Graham

[Robert]

When she was still quite young she launched a campaign against one of her ladies-in-waiting, who had the outrageous impudence to appear in public pregnant and unmarried. In fact the woman was very ill - it may have been ovarian cancer, I can't remember now.

[Graham]

And here they are, the lovely royal couple:

"Und hier ist ein picture von mein great-aunt Isolde ven she on holiday vas in Baden-Baden und schcoffing ze, how you say, candy-floss..."

"Oh, bloody hellfire....not again...!"

It's all true, I tell you.

Graham

[Mascara & Paranoia]

Well, considering it was her who masterminded Jack the Ripper with the shadowy aide of the Freemasons, I would've thought she was quite concerned about the Whitechapel murders and seeing that her agent succeeded his mission to eliminate the proostitoot offensive against the royal family.

But on a serious note, I doubt she was all that bothered to be honest. I can't remember much about what she did about the Ripper scare but didn't all she do about it was give the prostitutes more... lampposts?

[j.r-ahde]

Hello you all!

Cannot help asking kensei;

Do they present an episode of Vic's life, when her nick-name was "Mrs. Brown"?

They have made a movie about that thing too, starring Judy Dench...

All the best
Jukka

[kensei]

No no, the movie ends in 1840 when Victoria is still very young, at the time of the birth of her first child five months after the assassination attempt by Edward Oxford. Quite dramatic, I suppose, that someone tried to kill her while she was pregnant. But extra drama is added by having Albert leap in front of her and take a bullet in the arm, which didn't really happen. (And of course, in her 20s, when wasn't she pregnant?)

[jason_c]

I didnt realise Queen Victoria was actually Prime Minister and could carry out a policy of social security for her poorest subjects.

[kensei]

The movie implies that it was Prince Albert who had strong ideas about housing the poor, and that he influenced Victoria to have at least a cursory interest as well and that she encouraged him to pursue his ideas. But I will defer to those who know more about British history.

[Robert]

They began to realise they'd better do something about the poor when they saw the Prussian army in action. Stunted men with rickets would have been deemed a bit of a gamble in a war situation.