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| From tartan to tippling: the A to Z of things two queens have in common | From tartan to tippling: the A to Z of things two queens have in common |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A – Alcohol | A – Alcohol |
| The Queen is known to be partial to Dubonnet, a drink that was also the favourite tipple of the Queen Mother. Her love of the obscure fortified wine has landed her in sticky situations. In 2009, when she arrived to watch the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, where the amount of alcohol you are allowed to take into the ground is restricted, security staff initially refused the royal bottle entry, though eventually relented. Victoria was reportedly fond of a drink made of claret and single malt whisky. Mmm … delicious. | The Queen is known to be partial to Dubonnet, a drink that was also the favourite tipple of the Queen Mother. Her love of the obscure fortified wine has landed her in sticky situations. In 2009, when she arrived to watch the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, where the amount of alcohol you are allowed to take into the ground is restricted, security staff initially refused the royal bottle entry, though eventually relented. Victoria was reportedly fond of a drink made of claret and single malt whisky. Mmm … delicious. |
| B – Balmoral | B – Balmoral |
| Bought by Albert for Victoria for £31,000 in 1852 through which she bequeathed to the monarchy a love of bagpipes, kilts and tartan, which her great-great granddaughter the Queen still embraces today. | Bought by Albert for Victoria for £31,000 in 1852 through which she bequeathed to the monarchy a love of bagpipes, kilts and tartan, which her great-great granddaughter the Queen still embraces today. |
| C – Corgis | C – Corgis |
| The Queen’s doggie dynasty of more than 30 is legendary. But the remaining two, Holly and Willow are the end of the line. Victoria’s first canine love was childhood companion Dash, a King Charles spaniel. She flirted with greyhounds and mastiffs, but it was her favourite pomeranian Turi which lay on her deathbed at her request. | The Queen’s doggie dynasty of more than 30 is legendary. But the remaining two, Holly and Willow are the end of the line. Victoria’s first canine love was childhood companion Dash, a King Charles spaniel. She flirted with greyhounds and mastiffs, but it was her favourite pomeranian Turi which lay on her deathbed at her request. |
| D – Dorgis | D – Dorgis |
| Hadn’t been invented in Victoria’s day as the Queen introduced them. Her corgi Tiny was cross-bred with Princess Margaret’s diminutive dachshund Pipkin, a process allegedly aided by the provision of a small brick. After the dorgi was revealed the Kennel Club noted snootily: “The dachshund was evolved to chase badgers down holes, and the corgis to round up cattle. If anyone loses a herd of cattle down a badger hole, then these are just the dogs to get them out!” | Hadn’t been invented in Victoria’s day as the Queen introduced them. Her corgi Tiny was cross-bred with Princess Margaret’s diminutive dachshund Pipkin, a process allegedly aided by the provision of a small brick. After the dorgi was revealed the Kennel Club noted snootily: “The dachshund was evolved to chase badgers down holes, and the corgis to round up cattle. If anyone loses a herd of cattle down a badger hole, then these are just the dogs to get them out!” |
| E –Enemies | E –Enemies |
| Victoria suffered eight assassination attempts. One was by a disaffected poet who took a pot shot at Windsor, missed, was pummelled by two brolly-wielding Etonians, arrested then found insane. But the subsequent outpourings of affection caused her to remark it was “worth being shot at – to see how much one is loved”. The Queen has also had some near-misses: in June 1981, when she was riding in the trooping the colour parade, a man in the crowd fired a gun at her, which was loaded with blanks. One year later, in an embarrassing security breach, a man named Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace through an unlocked window and disturbed the Queen in her bedroom. She reportedly calmly chatted to him until security came to take him away. | Victoria suffered eight assassination attempts. One was by a disaffected poet who took a pot shot at Windsor, missed, was pummelled by two brolly-wielding Etonians, arrested then found insane. But the subsequent outpourings of affection caused her to remark it was “worth being shot at – to see how much one is loved”. The Queen has also had some near-misses: in June 1981, when she was riding in the trooping the colour parade, a man in the crowd fired a gun at her, which was loaded with blanks. One year later, in an embarrassing security breach, a man named Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace through an unlocked window and disturbed the Queen in her bedroom. She reportedly calmly chatted to him until security came to take him away. |
| F – Films | F – Films |
| Victoria has been portrayed on the big screen numerous times, including by Anna Neagle, Fay Compton, Irene Dunne, Sybil Thorndike, Judi Dench, Gemma Jones, Kathy Bates, Emily Blunt and Peter Sellers. The Queen has been portrayed fewer times, most notably by Helen Mirren. They have both been portrayed in novels, theatre and popular music, with Victoria featuring in the Kinks’ 1969 song Victoria and the Queen as the subject of the Beatles’ shortest-recorded song, Her Majesty. | |
| G – Grandchildren | G – Grandchildren |
| Victoria had 42, of which 38 survived infancy. Marrying off her nine children into European royalty and nobility, ensured her grandchildren were members of the most powerful families of the day. They included George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Alexandra the last Empress of Russia, Queen Maud of Norway, Queen Marie of Romania and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. Not for nothing was she nicknamed “the Grandmother of Europe”. The Queen’s modest clutch of eight grandchildren have so far shown no inclination to take over Europe. | Victoria had 42, of which 38 survived infancy. Marrying off her nine children into European royalty and nobility, ensured her grandchildren were members of the most powerful families of the day. They included George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Alexandra the last Empress of Russia, Queen Maud of Norway, Queen Marie of Romania and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. Not for nothing was she nicknamed “the Grandmother of Europe”. The Queen’s modest clutch of eight grandchildren have so far shown no inclination to take over Europe. |
| H – Horses | H – Horses |
| At 89, the Queen still rides whenever she can, wearing headscarf instead of hard hat. Victoria rode, too, until widowed, when she lost the will to do pretty much anything. It was John Brown, her Scottish ghillie and rumoured lover who got her back in the saddle, so to speak. The Queen’s passion is her thoroughbreds, who have won four of the five flat racing classics, with only the Derby eluding her. Victoria enjoyed her Shetland ponies, Alma and Flora. | At 89, the Queen still rides whenever she can, wearing headscarf instead of hard hat. Victoria rode, too, until widowed, when she lost the will to do pretty much anything. It was John Brown, her Scottish ghillie and rumoured lover who got her back in the saddle, so to speak. The Queen’s passion is her thoroughbreds, who have won four of the five flat racing classics, with only the Derby eluding her. Victoria enjoyed her Shetland ponies, Alma and Flora. |
| I – Ireland | I – Ireland |
| Victoria was labelled “The Famine Queen” after rumours circulated that she donated just £5 in aid to the Irish potato famine, the same amount she gave to an English dogs home. The rumours persisted despite being unfounded – she gave considerably more – and the fact she loved Ireland and made official visits four times. Nationalism grew under her reign, culminating in the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. By the time the Queen got to go to Dublin, in her hugely successful visit in 2011, it had been 100 years since a British monarch had set foot in what is now the Irish Republic. | Victoria was labelled “The Famine Queen” after rumours circulated that she donated just £5 in aid to the Irish potato famine, the same amount she gave to an English dogs home. The rumours persisted despite being unfounded – she gave considerably more – and the fact she loved Ireland and made official visits four times. Nationalism grew under her reign, culminating in the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. By the time the Queen got to go to Dublin, in her hugely successful visit in 2011, it had been 100 years since a British monarch had set foot in what is now the Irish Republic. |
| J – Jubilees | J – Jubilees |
| Both queens have enjoyed three apiece – silver, golden and diamond. While the Queen, a hale and hearty 86-year-old at the time, was blown and buffeted about on a boat in the Thames river pageant to mark her 60th anniversary, a younger Victoria, at 78, was too lame and fat to make it up the steps to St Paul’s for her thanksgiving service. Instead, it was held outside so she could remain in her carriage. | Both queens have enjoyed three apiece – silver, golden and diamond. While the Queen, a hale and hearty 86-year-old at the time, was blown and buffeted about on a boat in the Thames river pageant to mark her 60th anniversary, a younger Victoria, at 78, was too lame and fat to make it up the steps to St Paul’s for her thanksgiving service. Instead, it was held outside so she could remain in her carriage. |
| K – Kensington Palace | K – Kensington Palace |
| Where Victoria was virtually incarcerated as a child, enduring a strict, isolationist, borderline psychologically-abusive upbringing. Edward VIII, before he abdicated, derided the palace as “the Aunt heap”, a home for elderly royals no-one knew what to do with. The Queen has upgraded it, moving in a youthful Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with party prince Harry. | Where Victoria was virtually incarcerated as a child, enduring a strict, isolationist, borderline psychologically-abusive upbringing. Edward VIII, before he abdicated, derided the palace as “the Aunt heap”, a home for elderly royals no-one knew what to do with. The Queen has upgraded it, moving in a youthful Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with party prince Harry. |
| L – Low points | L – Low points |
| For Victoria the loss of Albert, after whose death she became a recluse, donned black, shunned London, and earned the soubriquet “the Widow of Windsor”. For the Queen, her “annus horribilis” of 1992. Princess Anne divorced, the Yorks separated and the so-called War of the Waleses marked the end of Prince Charles’s marriage. Then Windsor Castle burned down. It was not a year, she drily remarked, she would look back on “with undiluted pleasure”. But, perhaps she spoke too soon. An even lower point may have been when Tony and Cherie Blair forced her to link hands and look jolly for Auld Lang Syne on live TV to welcome in the Millennium. Tough call. | For Victoria the loss of Albert, after whose death she became a recluse, donned black, shunned London, and earned the soubriquet “the Widow of Windsor”. For the Queen, her “annus horribilis” of 1992. Princess Anne divorced, the Yorks separated and the so-called War of the Waleses marked the end of Prince Charles’s marriage. Then Windsor Castle burned down. It was not a year, she drily remarked, she would look back on “with undiluted pleasure”. But, perhaps she spoke too soon. An even lower point may have been when Tony and Cherie Blair forced her to link hands and look jolly for Auld Lang Syne on live TV to welcome in the Millennium. Tough call. |
| M – Marriage | M – Marriage |
| The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will have been married for 68 years in November and he has been a constant at her side. On their golden wedding, she paid a rare public tribute to him as “my strength and stay all these years”. Victoria was obsessively in love with her handsome Albert, and never got over his death at the age of 42, wearing widows weeds for the next 40 years. The Queen and Philip are third cousins through Victoria. Victoria, liked to keep it even closer in the family, marrying her first cousin. | The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will have been married for 68 years in November and he has been a constant at her side. On their golden wedding, she paid a rare public tribute to him as “my strength and stay all these years”. Victoria was obsessively in love with her handsome Albert, and never got over his death at the age of 42, wearing widows weeds for the next 40 years. The Queen and Philip are third cousins through Victoria. Victoria, liked to keep it even closer in the family, marrying her first cousin. |
| N – Nannies | N – Nannies |
| Victoria’s German-born nanny, Louise Lehzen, became closer to Victoria than her mother during her isolated childhood. On becoming queen, Victoria made her her unofficial private secretary. But Albert, who called her “the hag”, soon booted her out of the household after suggestions that she be allowed a private door to the royal bedchamber. | Victoria’s German-born nanny, Louise Lehzen, became closer to Victoria than her mother during her isolated childhood. On becoming queen, Victoria made her her unofficial private secretary. But Albert, who called her “the hag”, soon booted her out of the household after suggestions that she be allowed a private door to the royal bedchamber. |
| The Queen’s nannies included Margaret “Bobo” McDonald, Clara “Alah” Knight, and the infamous Marion Crawford, who, after leaving royal serviceswrote a book about the Queen and her sister, titled “The Little Princesses”, which saw her repudiated. Ever since, acts of personal betrayal towards the family are known as “doing a Crawfie”. | The Queen’s nannies included Margaret “Bobo” McDonald, Clara “Alah” Knight, and the infamous Marion Crawford, who, after leaving royal serviceswrote a book about the Queen and her sister, titled “The Little Princesses”, which saw her repudiated. Ever since, acts of personal betrayal towards the family are known as “doing a Crawfie”. |
| O – Overseas travel | O – Overseas travel |
| Few of Victoria’s overseas subjects would ever see her because she never visited, though she did like to holiday on the continent. The Queen has made official visits to some 116 countries and still, aged almost 90, continues to undertake overseas engagements, her last being to Bergen-Belsen in Germany, which was the first time she had visited a former Nazi concentration camp. | Few of Victoria’s overseas subjects would ever see her because she never visited, though she did like to holiday on the continent. The Queen has made official visits to some 116 countries and still, aged almost 90, continues to undertake overseas engagements, her last being to Bergen-Belsen in Germany, which was the first time she had visited a former Nazi concentration camp. |
| P – Popularity | P – Popularity |
| The Queen’s standing has rarely wobbled, but Victoria’s positively rattled. After Albert’s death, when she became reclusive, republican’s demanded “What does she do with it?” - “it” being taxpayers money. On the rare occasion her carriage was seen, it was stoned. Her popularity was restored by the near death from typhoid of her son, the future Edward VII. His miraculous recovery bolstered the royalist cause enough for her to sail majestically through her golden and diamond jubilees. | The Queen’s standing has rarely wobbled, but Victoria’s positively rattled. After Albert’s death, when she became reclusive, republican’s demanded “What does she do with it?” - “it” being taxpayers money. On the rare occasion her carriage was seen, it was stoned. Her popularity was restored by the near death from typhoid of her son, the future Edward VII. His miraculous recovery bolstered the royalist cause enough for her to sail majestically through her golden and diamond jubilees. |
| Q – Queen | Q – Queen |
| The Queen reigns over roughly 140 million people in 16 Commonwealth realms including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada , Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu, as well as the British overseas territories of the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla and Bermuda. This is a modest clutch of colonies compared to her great-great-grandmother. Victoria’s empire covered about a quarter of the globe and roughly 450 million people. | The Queen reigns over roughly 140 million people in 16 Commonwealth realms including Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada , Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu, as well as the British overseas territories of the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla and Bermuda. This is a modest clutch of colonies compared to her great-great-grandmother. Victoria’s empire covered about a quarter of the globe and roughly 450 million people. |
| R – Royal Mail | R – Royal Mail |
| Victoria never aged on British stamps, using the same portrait, based on a cameo made when she was just 15, from 1841 until her death, aged 81. The Queen has been upgraded on definitive stamps – but just the once, back in 1967. While he was postmaster-general, Tony Benn attempted to persuade her that her head should be removed from the stamps, or at very least shrunk down. Strangely he failed. | Victoria never aged on British stamps, using the same portrait, based on a cameo made when she was just 15, from 1841 until her death, aged 81. The Queen has been upgraded on definitive stamps – but just the once, back in 1967. While he was postmaster-general, Tony Benn attempted to persuade her that her head should be removed from the stamps, or at very least shrunk down. Strangely he failed. |
| S – State openings of parliament | S – State openings of parliament |
| During her decades-long period of mourning for Albert, Victoria shunned London and parliament, only bothering to conduct one of her main constitutional duties – the state opening of parliament – seven times in her last 39 years. The Queen has missed the opening just twice, in 1959 and 1963, both due to pregnancy. | During her decades-long period of mourning for Albert, Victoria shunned London and parliament, only bothering to conduct one of her main constitutional duties – the state opening of parliament – seven times in her last 39 years. The Queen has missed the opening just twice, in 1959 and 1963, both due to pregnancy. |
| T – Trains | T – Trains |
| The Queen is very attached to her royal train, resisting all attempts to abolish it by government bean-counters who point out it is, mile for mile, the most expensive form of transport. She only has one royal train, down from three at the start of her reign. Victoria had 16. She made good use of the silk blinds in her lavishly-decorated saloon cars, pulling them down each time she passed Newcastle central station, in protest at being billed for attending festivities at its official opening. The blinds went down again between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, because it was just too grim. Rail operators white-washed the top layer of coal lest her eye be offended by coal dust. | The Queen is very attached to her royal train, resisting all attempts to abolish it by government bean-counters who point out it is, mile for mile, the most expensive form of transport. She only has one royal train, down from three at the start of her reign. Victoria had 16. She made good use of the silk blinds in her lavishly-decorated saloon cars, pulling them down each time she passed Newcastle central station, in protest at being billed for attending festivities at its official opening. The blinds went down again between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, because it was just too grim. Rail operators white-washed the top layer of coal lest her eye be offended by coal dust. |
| U – Unusual live gifts | U – Unusual live gifts |
| The Queen’s haul has included two tortoises presented in the Seychelles, a seven-year-old bull elephant called Jumbo from the President of Cameroon, and two black beavers from to Canada. Among gifts Victoria accepted were pair of Tibetan goats from the Shah of Persia, from which a royal goat herd was established at Windsor. A German uncle also sent her a parrot, which she said “is so tame that it remains on your hands, and you may put your finger into its beak or do anything with it without it ever attempting to bite”. | The Queen’s haul has included two tortoises presented in the Seychelles, a seven-year-old bull elephant called Jumbo from the President of Cameroon, and two black beavers from to Canada. Among gifts Victoria accepted were pair of Tibetan goats from the Shah of Persia, from which a royal goat herd was established at Windsor. A German uncle also sent her a parrot, which she said “is so tame that it remains on your hands, and you may put your finger into its beak or do anything with it without it ever attempting to bite”. |
| V – Visible | V – Visible |
| Being visible was not Victoria’s forte. Apart from locking herself away for large chunks of her reign, when she did emerge, she dressed in black and at just 5ft was hard to see. The Queen is 5ft 4-ish, but takes no chances of being swallowed up in a crowd. Her signature look – coats in vivid colours, brimmed hat and handbag is instantly recognisable across the globe. “I have to be seen to be believed,” she once famously said. | Being visible was not Victoria’s forte. Apart from locking herself away for large chunks of her reign, when she did emerge, she dressed in black and at just 5ft was hard to see. The Queen is 5ft 4-ish, but takes no chances of being swallowed up in a crowd. Her signature look – coats in vivid colours, brimmed hat and handbag is instantly recognisable across the globe. “I have to be seen to be believed,” she once famously said. |
| W – Walkabouts | W – Walkabouts |
| The Queen’s first royal walkabout took place during a visit to New Zealand in 1970 and these meet and greets have since become a royal staple. Victoria rarely descended from her carriage and was too infirm in her latter years to walk anywhere. | The Queen’s first royal walkabout took place during a visit to New Zealand in 1970 and these meet and greets have since become a royal staple. Victoria rarely descended from her carriage and was too infirm in her latter years to walk anywhere. |
| X – Xmas | X – Xmas |
| Victoria popularised the German tradition of Christmas trees in the UK. She was not the first royal to uproot an evergreen for Christmas celebrations, but she and Albert popularised them aftera drawing of the royal family celebrating round a decorated tree was published in 1848 by the Illustrated London News. The Queen’s most famous Yuletide tradition is her televised Christmas message, a tradition that dates back to 1932 and started by Victoria’s grandson, the Queen’s grandfather, George V. | Victoria popularised the German tradition of Christmas trees in the UK. She was not the first royal to uproot an evergreen for Christmas celebrations, but she and Albert popularised them aftera drawing of the royal family celebrating round a decorated tree was published in 1848 by the Illustrated London News. The Queen’s most famous Yuletide tradition is her televised Christmas message, a tradition that dates back to 1932 and started by Victoria’s grandson, the Queen’s grandfather, George V. |
| Y – Yachts | Y – Yachts |
| There have been 84 royal yachts since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. But no longer. The decommissioning of HMY Britannia in 1997 saw a rare public tear well in the Queen’s eye. Victoria had two yachts. HMY Victoria and Albert, a twin paddle steamer, was scrapped after just 20 voyages to make way for HMY Victoria and Albert II in 1855. She then argued long and hard for a new one , but only when she pointed out the Russian Tsar and German Kaiser had bigger and better ones than Britain did parliament assent. HMY Victoria and Albert III, however, was not completed until seven months after her death. | There have been 84 royal yachts since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. But no longer. The decommissioning of HMY Britannia in 1997 saw a rare public tear well in the Queen’s eye. Victoria had two yachts. HMY Victoria and Albert, a twin paddle steamer, was scrapped after just 20 voyages to make way for HMY Victoria and Albert II in 1855. She then argued long and hard for a new one , but only when she pointed out the Russian Tsar and German Kaiser had bigger and better ones than Britain did parliament assent. HMY Victoria and Albert III, however, was not completed until seven months after her death. |
| Z – Zulus | Z – Zulus |
| Victoria handed out 11 Victoria crosses following the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War in 1879 when a tiny British garrison of 140 men repelled repeated attacks by up to 3,000 Zulu warriors. More than 100 years later, the Queen has reportedly found herself facing demands for compensation following that same Anglo-Zulu war. Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has called for recompense for the burning down by British troops of the royal homestead in Ulundi, which followed the British defeat at Isandlwana immediately before Rorke’s Drift. | Victoria handed out 11 Victoria crosses following the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War in 1879 when a tiny British garrison of 140 men repelled repeated attacks by up to 3,000 Zulu warriors. More than 100 years later, the Queen has reportedly found herself facing demands for compensation following that same Anglo-Zulu war. Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has called for recompense for the burning down by British troops of the royal homestead in Ulundi, which followed the British defeat at Isandlwana immediately before Rorke’s Drift. |