Mother and Daughter Drama, Starring Queen Victoria

This week, we’re turning to family dramas between mothers and
daughters. Playing the role of both is our friend Queen Victoria!
As a daughter, she had a rebellious relationship against her
mother, the Duchess of Kent. Becoming Queen meant Victoria was
able to shake off her mother’s smothering influence—and she did.
As a mother, Victoria had enough children to have all kinds of
maternal relationships—good, bad, and in between. For today,
we’ll see this range in the relationship to her youngest
daughter, Beatrice. 

The Duchess tried to prepare Victoria to be Queen. Unfortunately,
this involved creating a large role for Sir John Conroy, a man
Victoria hated. Conroy had been the Duke’s equerry and became the
Duchess’s closest adviser. He could be charming when he wished,
but he was also manipulative. He saw the chance to gain greater
power by running the household and establishing for himself a
significant role in Victoria’s reign. 

Denying her mother this power, Victoria ascended to the throne.
When she became a mother herself, she healed the relationship
with her own mother. The Duchess was a doting grandmother and
support to the Queen.

Echoing the better relationship with her own mother, Queen
Victoria attempted to manage the lives of her own children. This
was true of her youngest daughter, Beatrice. The baby fo the
family was Victoria's obvious favorite, which meant she was
expected to spend her life taking care of her mother. The
relationship came into crisis when Beatrice wanted a husband and
family of her own.

Victoria had trouble making peace with Beatrice's decision, but
eventually she did. When Beatrice became a widow after 11 years
of marriage, she returned to her mother's side. After Victoria's
death, Beatrice was the literary executor of the Queen's
journals, editing and rewriting the history to create the image
she wanted her mother to have. So as much as Victoria hoped to
shape her daughter's life, her daughter shaped her mother's
legacy.


History shows us what's possible.