Chapter I: Early Years of the Princess Victoria. Page

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 1

CHAPTER II.

EARLY EVENTS OF THE NEW REIGN.

First Council of the Queen--Her Address to the Assembled Dignitaries--Admirable Demeanour of the Young Sovereign--Proclamation of Queen Victoria--Condition of the Empire at the Time of her Accession--Character of Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister--His Training of the Queen in Constitutional Principles--Question of the Royal Prerogative and the Choosing of the Ministry--Removal of the Queen to Buckingham Palace--First Levee--Her Majesty’s Speech on the Dissolution of Parliament--Amelioration of the Criminal Laws--Results of the General Election--Meeting of the New Legislature--The Civil List Fixed--Relations of the Queen towards the Duchess of Kent--Daily Life of her Majesty--Royal Visit to the City--Insurrection in the Two Canadas--Measures of the Government, and Suppression of the Revolt--The Melbourne Administration and Lord Durham--Reform of the Canadian Constitution 19