In January 1901. Queen Victoria died at the age of 81 after being Queen for 64 years. Her reign experienced the revolutions of 1848, the formation of the Second French Empire, Crimea War, and the unification of Germany. A small woman, she hid herself from the public and to a certain extent, politics for decades after the death of her husband, Prince Albert. The unintended result was a diminution of power of the Crown as strong Prime Ministers stepped into the role she abdicated.
When she died, most citizens knew no other monarch and although her health had been slipping, many of her closest advisors were unaware of the seriousness of her illness. This meant that her death came as a shock to the nation and the private secretaries, etc. scrambled to find the proper procedure for her internment. Fortunately, Captain (later Sir) Frederick Ponsonby took charge, often stepping on bureaucratic toes to make the arrangements. Fate seemed to work against a smooth ceremony as the funeral cortege was too long for the route march, the casket almost fell off the caisson, the casket (there were several, each within the others), was so heavy that the troops carrying it had to be relieved after taking it off the caisson, and finally the traces broke and the caisson with the casket had to be pulled by the troops (in fact it was considered a great honor and a rival troop demanded the honor of pulling everything during the next stage).
The United States suffered shocks to its system by the death of FDR and the assassination of JFK but imagine if either of them had governed for over 60 years. And, given the level of communications at the time, her death must have come like a bolt from the blue. It seemed to be taken for granted that her reign would never end. Her children ruled or were married to rulers of most of the European states which was thought to assure stability for the future but in the end, her death signaled the beginning days of the end for the old world which would be smashed in World War I.
If you are not familiar with this area, this book gives a glimpse into a simpler time, one filled with hope and dreams for a future. A time when Europe still believed in itself and looked positively to scientific and economic advances which would benefit humanity.
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