The Life and Times of Queen Victoria; vol. 1 of 4

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
From a Photograph by Mr. Walery, London
BY ROBERT WILSON. —— Illustrated. —— VOL. I.
EDITORIAL NOTE.
The first Eleven Chapters of this Work are from the pen of the late Mr. Edmund Ollier, to whom the Publishers originally entrusted the commission to write it—a commission which he was compelled to resign by the illness which terminated in his lamented death.



DISTANT VIEW OF WINDSOR CASTLE.
A Remarkable Visit to Kensington Palace—Death of King William IV.—Details of his Last Days—Parliamentary Eulogies on his Character—Progress in the Last Half-Century—Ancestry of Queen Victoria—Her Descent traced to Odoacer, King of Italy—Saxon Ancestors of her Majesty—Liberal Views of the Duke of Kent, Father of the Queen—State of the Succession after the Death of the Princess Charlotte—Marriage of the Duke of Kent, and Birth of the Princess Victoria—Christening at Kensington Palace—The name “Victoria,” and its Associations—Death of the Duke of Kent—Kensington Palace in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries—Early Training of Victoria by her Mother—Child-life of the Princess—False Rumours of Ill-health—Anecdotes of Juvenile Years—The Princess and George IV.—Accession of William IV.—The Regency Bill—Prince Leopold and the Throne of Belgium—Studies of the Princess—Her Life of Retirement—Home Tours in Various Parts of England—Visit to the Cotton Mills of the Messrs. Strutt at Belper—Reception at Oxford and at Southampton—Benevolence to an Actress—Her Royal Highness declared of Age on the 24th of May, 1837.