QUEEN VICTORIA

Personal Details -

BIRTH - Queen Victoria was born 24 May, 1819. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward,
Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-
Coburg-Saalfeld.

CHILDHOOD AND YOUNG ADULT - As a child, Victoria was described as warmhearted,

lively, and occasionally mischievous. She also exhibited a natural gracefulness, carrying
herself with unselfconscious dignity. During these early years of her life she began to keep
regular diaries, a habit that she never dropped, enabling modern historians to gain a thorough,
intimate look at the course of her whole life. Queen after the death of her father was kept in
the tight eye of her mother and a care of Sir John Conroy. Queen was constrained to her room
and was raised in a strict household in the “Kingston style”. She maintained a diary in which
she expresses her desire to go to town. Her mother at times was heartless and strict towards
her. Her strict childhood gave rise to her more relaxed style towards her leadership even if
she was very stoic and bossy as her personality.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY - At the age of sixteen Queen was introduced to many of her royal
cousins but she had felt a particular liking for Prince Albert. In October 1839, Victoria's cousin
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha visited England once again, and this time the Queen fell
very much in love with him. The feeling was mutual. She proposed marriage to him, and he
accepted. The two were married on February 10, 1840.Finally Queen had 9 children and over
40 grandchildren.

PERSONAL IDEOLOGIES - She felt she was being forced into marriage at a young age. Her
stubborn self resented it more because it was pushed on her by her uncle Leopold. She writes
in her diary- “All marriage is, is such a lottery. Happiness is an exchange. Though it might be
a happy one, the woman is bodily and morally a husband’s slave.”

One problem arose after marriage- She had to share some details of the affair of states with
Albert, which she didn’t like very much. She wanted to be a boss in her private life too. She
writes in her diary- “Albert wants to go on a long honeymoon.” She resented this in a long
letter “3 days longer is out of the question.” She was Queen .This shows how even at the
young age she was a benevolent as a queen and kept her duties as her first priority.

Child birth was hell in the olden days and queen hated it .She even wrote to her first daughter
during her first birth about how pregnancy were nasty. 9 months into marriage- she desired a
son. Instructed midwife to drown the child, if born a girl. She hated pregnancies and childbirth.
Only liked them once they reached the age of about 3 or 4 where they were characters with
personalities, little people.

After Albert’s death, she mourned him passionately and only wore black ever since. She could
not bear any noise, and laughter in her presence was forbidden.

Historians term the 15-20 years after his death as rather selfish of Victoria for having dismissed
her children and kingdom. She preferred keeping to herself, making less public appearances
and even when she did, it was for Albert’s memorials and statues.
25 years after Albert’s death, their youngest daughter Beatrice was set to marry. Victoria was
jealous of her daughter’s newfound partnership and in her presence, bright colours were
allowed only until sunset, after which it was the mandatory black.

Professional Details –

May 24,1819 was the beginning of Alexandrina Victoria who later ascended to the throne at
age eighteen on June 20, 1837 and began one of Britain’s memorable reigns as Queen
Victoria. Her reign was the longest monarchy led by a female leader in the British Empire.
Aged 18 she became Queen of Great Britain and she went on to rule for 63 years – at the time
– she was the longest-serving Monarch in Europe. She ruled through a period of British
imperialism with the British Empire expanding and she became Empress of India. She came
to epitomise an era of social conservatism and economic expansion.

During Victoria's reign, the people of England “saw great cultural expansion and advances in
industry, science, communications, and the building of railways and the London
Underground”. Because of these contributions, England’s national pride for the Queen
“connected with the name of Victoria - the term Victorian England”("Queen Victoria."). The
naming of the era as Victorian shows that people of England remember the time as a period
where England flourished in many aspects. Furthermore, other than her accomplishment of
having an era named after her, “ in 1877, the Royal Titles Act was passed, making Victoria
Empress of India—a sign of her popularity and of British imperial sentiment”.

She was given the title of Empress of India after India was colonized under British colonies.
This increased Queen Victoria's popularity around the world and especially with England's
citizens and displayed England's major territory expansion. In addition to her significant titles
as Queen and Empress, she had a successful family that continued to be royalty which
consisted of “37 surviving great-grandchildren, and their marriages with other monarchies
gave her the name the “grandmother of Europe” ("Queen Victoria."). By the end of Queen
Victoria's reign, she achieved being a symbol of England’s pride and witnessed advancement
in technology and in territorial expansion.

There were in total seven attempts of assination against her.

3 OR KEY EVENTs / Decisions –

INCIDENT 1 - In 1855, David Livingston discovered some gigantic waterfalls in Africa on an

expedition. In honour of his Queen, he calls them Victoria falls. The queen is flattered and
requires a personal report from him. These adventurous expeditions give way to the Empire
-- the first Economist Scientist, followed by Salesmen, Soldiers-- The foundation of modern
imperialism.

INCIDENT 2 - 1870: Queen Victoria calls for a reform of the British army, as it was
demonstrated inefficient during the Crimean War. This is the first major change called for by
the Queen since 1861 and Prince Albert's death. Also provided an improvement of the sanitary
conditions in the hospitals.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ks3-gcse-history-queen-victoria-monarchy/z73rnrd
As a constitutional monarch whose powers were quite limited, Queen Victoria was able to use
her influence in colonization and to occasionally effect positive change, particularly for the
poor. Queen Victoria herself was known as a conservative monarch whose 64-year reign was
the longest in the history of the United Kingdom.
INCIDENT 3 - Queen Victoria tended to use her considerable influence to promote causes
that interested her personally: She was in favour of the Housing Commission and other efforts
to help the poor. She supported British imperialism and was crowned Empress of India in
1876.Queen Victoria took her duties as Empress very seriously and when her Golden Jubilee
came around in 1887 she made every effort to showcase her ‘jewel in the crown of the British
Empire’. She hosted lavish banquets and parties for Indian princes and European nobility and
rode in elaborate processions accompanied by the Colonial Indian cavalry. Indian attendants
were brought to the royal household to help with the festivities as well. Victoria took a liking to
one of her new servants in particular: Abdul Karim. Soon the twenty-four-year-old’s role
changed from patiently waiting at tables to teaching the Queen to read, write and speak in
Urdu, or ‘Hindustani’. The Queen wanted to know everything about India, a place where she
ruled but could never visit. Abul told her all about Agra, from the local fruits and spices to the
sights and sounds of his homeland. It was not long before he became her ‘Munshi’, or teacher,
and they began a friendship that would last over a decade.

To Queen Victoria India was both an exotic, faraway place and also a country to be ruled. She
put her opinions on governance and sometimes those of her trusted Munshi - forward in her
frequent letters to the Viceroy often with severe underlining to emphasise her points. For
example, Abdul described the riots that sometimes broke out in Agra when the Muslims had
the religious procession of Muharram to mark the martyrdom of Hussain, the grandson of the
Prophet, and it clashed with the Hindu procession of Sankranti. The Queen responded by
writing immediately to Viceroy Lord Dufferin, requesting he take ‘some extra measure to
prevent this painful quarrelling’ so that the Muslims could carry out their ceremonies ‘quietly
and without molestation’ and ‘give strict orders and prevent the Mahomedans and the Hindus
from interfering with one another, so that perfect justice is shown to
both.’(https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/india-from-queen-victoria-s-time-to-
independence/)

She took an interest in the Canadian colonies, which led to the establishment of elected
government there, signing the British North America Act in 1840.

Leadership style of the Queen -

Laissez-faire is a French word that means “Let (people) do (as they choose), thus this type of
leadership allows people to use their own skills and talents to succeed, and the leader would
only intervene when it is absolutely necessary. Providing a minimum level of overall
supervision, laissez faire is often employed on a group of individuals who are fully
knowledgeable and mature in their field with proven competence.

Many historians can define the Queens’ leadership style as compassionate, intelligent, and
stubborn with laissez faire leadership skills. Compassionate as she empathised with the poor
people of her country.

Phrases, such as “Heaven helps those who help themselves”, were often used to promote the
laissez faire leadership style during the Victorian Period in the UK. This era is also known as
the Age of Individualism, as many people worked hard using their own skills and talents to
help create one of the world’s richest and strongest countries at the time, with Queen Victoria
staying out of business unless it was necessary. However, Queen Victoria was a monarch
with a large kingdom geographically but she was a constitutional monarch thus she did not
have that much say in political decisions.

https://queenvicky4life.weebly.com/leadership-traits.html
https://futureofworking.com/5-famous-laissez-faire-leaders/
Three Quotes which convey her leadership style –

"We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist."

‘’Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my
duty towards my country; I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things,
inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to
do what is fit and right than I have’’.
- Queen Victoria's journal entry, June 20, 1837.

“We will not have failure - only success and new leanings”

Negative attributes –

Her Highness: A Misogynist

Queen Victoria’s ideologies have said to have an impact on the onset of early anti-feminism.
Her vehemently expressed anti-feminist sentiments have come to dominate the Queen's
reputation, during her life her persona as a public and politically active woman inspired other
women to reassess their beliefs about what women could do or be.
Queen Victoria issued some notoriously vicious statements about “women’s rights.” For
example, she blanched at the prospect of women becoming doctors. And she was equally
horrified by the campaign for female suffrage, which she described as a “mad, wicked folly.”

Company letter –
(Hypothetical crisis - Our 70 % of annual targets are met, 30% yet to be completed.)

Dear All,

When I first laid the foundation stone of the company we are all organs of today, I knew I was
young, and was dreaming big. I knew well that executing the value deliverables will require
the best of the people, and heartfelt efforts.

Today, as the rather rocky financial year comes to an end, I announce 70% of our annual
targets met but with the company chasing the year end goal, we are not being able to match
up to our effective rate of production like the financial years in the past.

I must make myself clear here. I am not disappointed. Because if there is one thing that runs
in the blood of every person in the organization here- it is the belief of perseverance.
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist.

For the 30% targets not met, and the compensation for the next year, as it begins, we shall
together work solitarily with a single motive in mind. It is not ourselves we are to worry about
right now, but our shareholders, our stakeholders. And the power to churn that defeat into
magic lies within you, within all of us. If anything, our failures have only become learning
experiences.

We will all work in unison and follow a 9-9 schedule. 9am to 9pm. No distractions, no blame
games. Sales, Marketing, Operations, FRM- all our Departments interlinked and synced,
working in synergy. The Rule, is to not give up. The rule is to not lose passion and to never
doubt the great potential of our team. This doesn't mean that employees will not be able to
exercise their free will. Any Further decisions regarding the overtime to be taken in this timeline
of reaching goal will be left in the hands of the employees and their managers. Employees will
be free to use their overtime in the way they think they can achieve the goal.
We are each other’s support. We are together and stronger to deliver better results with a
fixed, undivided determination. I am excited and hopeful to see where this will take us. Time
is what we sincerely invest, value is what we create.

Drinks and discussions every Friday !

-Warren