1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,400 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:11,360 Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey listener discretion advised, Hey, 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: this is Danish for its One quick note before we begin. 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: If you want to support the show, we have a Patreon. 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: It's patreon dot com slash Noble Blood Tales. I upload 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: the episode scripts and a monthly bonus episode where I 7 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: talk about a movie period piece and how historically accurate 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,240 Speaker 1: or inaccurate it is. And we also have a seasonal 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,200 Speaker 1: sticker club, so every season you get a brand new 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: and exclusive sticker to the Patreon. We also have Noble 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: Blood merch It's at df t b a dot com, 12 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: but it's linked in the episode description. But as always, 13 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: the best possible support is just you listening to the show. 14 00:00:48,479 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: So thank you so much. Oh this was is the 15 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: happiest day of my life. That's a line in the 16 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: diary of Queen Victoria, dated February tenth, eighteen forty. That 17 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: night she recorded in detail the events of that most 18 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: happy day, the day of her wedding to Prince Albert. 19 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: It wouldn't be an overstatement to call it the wedding 20 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: of the century. It's remembered as one of the most 21 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: defining events of the Victorian era. Given that Queen Victoria 22 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: and Albert would also go on to have nine children, 23 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 1: we can assume correctly that Victoria was also thrilled not 24 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: just about the wedding itself, but the events of the 25 00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 1: wedding night. But the wedding itself was a colossal event, 26 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: and it was defining in its own time too, not 27 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: just in retrospect. At the time, Charles Dickens wrote to 28 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: a friend, quote, society is unhinged here by her Majesty's marriage, 29 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: and I am sorry to add the I have fallen 30 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: hopelessly in love with the Queen. Historians often point to 31 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: Queen Victoria's wedding ceremony as having popularized many of the 32 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:15,959 Speaker 1: wedding traditions were familiar with today. Victoria's innovation of combining 33 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: the luxury that a royal wedding demanded with a number 34 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: of traditional customs from both common and noble people created 35 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: a new ideal for what a wedding quote unquote should be. 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:35,519 Speaker 1: Every subsequent royal wedding and every subsequent royal bride has 37 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: followed in Victoria's footsteps to some degree, but her influence 38 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:44,920 Speaker 1: went far beyond royalty. On a larger cultural scale, much 39 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,119 Speaker 1: of our modern conception of the white wedding in Western 40 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: culture was shaped by Victoria. It's ironic, then, a little bit, 41 00:02:54,919 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: that Victoria is perhaps most often associated with wearing black. 42 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: For forty years after the death of Prince Albert, Victoria 43 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: wore her mourning dress. The queen, who was once seen 44 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: as the picture of the angelic, blushing bride, would see 45 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: her later life consumed by mourning, shrouded in its requisite color. 46 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: It was only for her own funeral sixty one years 47 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,920 Speaker 1: after her wedding, that she would allow herself to wear 48 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: white again, And as she did for her wedding, for 49 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: her funeral, Victoria created a list of practices that would 50 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: break royal protocol and align herself with the common people 51 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: in a way that would persist in royal funerals to 52 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: this day. Her subjects did in great numbers fall hopelessly 53 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: in love with Victoria, as Dickens had, in large part 54 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: due to that very ability. She had to frame herself 55 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: as an ordinary wife, mother, and widow while also being 56 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: a queen. For better or for worse, Queen Victoria quite 57 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: literally defined an era. I'm danis Schwartz and this is 58 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: noble blood. Despite the Victorian era being a time that 59 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: we associate with a fixation around modesty and chastity, many 60 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: of us also associate the Victorian era with its literary 61 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: romance heroins and their dark, moody heroes Kathy and Heathcliff, 62 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: Jane and Mr Rochester North and South's Margaret and Thornton. 63 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: There is no doubt, though, that during the actual Victorian period, 64 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: the country's favorite love story was between Victoria and Albert. 65 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: While the marriage between the first cousins had been arranged, 66 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:12,119 Speaker 1: Victoria was famously infatuated with her husband. She didn't see 67 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: the need for a husband during the first few years 68 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: of her life as queen, but she soon found herself 69 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: feeling somewhat adrift, and she decided that marriage would set 70 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,840 Speaker 1: her life on a new track, especially because she realized 71 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: that marriage would also mean that she would no longer 72 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,679 Speaker 1: need to live in her mother's household. Victoria's father died 73 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,360 Speaker 1: when she was a baby, and her relationship with her 74 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 1: mother was let's say contentious. The future Queen was raised 75 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: under something called the Kensington system, which refers to the 76 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: incredibly strict set of rules that the young Victoria was 77 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: forced to abide by Victoria was isolated from all other 78 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: children and never permitted to be alone without her mother 79 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: or governess or tutor. Her diet was strictly controlled and 80 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: all of her behavior was recorded, and her lessons would 81 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: occupy most of her time. One of Victoria's first requests 82 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: when she became queen at eighteen years old was that 83 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,679 Speaker 1: she would be allowed to have one hour of time 84 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: to herself a day. Her next request was that her 85 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: bed would be removed from her mother's room. Even once 86 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: their bedrooms were separated, mother and daughter would share a 87 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: household until Victoria was married. Yes, even after Victoria became queen, 88 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: and so that separation between daughter and mother was one 89 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: more reason for Victoria to want to get married sooner 90 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: rather than later. None of that sound particularly romantic, but 91 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: once Victoria and Albert began their courtship, there was no 92 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: going back. On the night of her proposal to him, 93 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:03,919 Speaker 1: because of course, as queen, she had to propose, Victoria wrote, quote, 94 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: oh to feel I was and am loved by such 95 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: an angel as Albert was too great delight to describe. 96 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: He is perfection, perfection in every way, in beauty, in 97 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: everything I told him I was quite unworthy of him, 98 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: and kissed his dear hand. This quote paints a fair 99 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: portrait of who Victoria was in marriage. She willingly gave 100 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: up her independence in favor of devotion, and she made 101 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: it very clear to all of England that she was 102 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: just as much of a wife as she was a queen. Albert, 103 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: for his part, would rise to the expected role of 104 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: husband as both caretaker and controller, albeit in the slightly 105 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:54,120 Speaker 1: unusual situation of his wife also being the sovereign. If 106 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: the aforementioned literary couples were all non traditional in a sense, 107 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: Victoria and al Bert represented everything the era idealized, despite 108 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: their unusual power dynamic. A good metaphor for their relationship, 109 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: I think, is the charming, if a little stifling, fact 110 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: that on their retreat at the Isle of Wight they 111 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: had side by side writing desks so they would work 112 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: right next to each other. Their wedding was a chance 113 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: to show the country everything they embodied, everything Victoria wanted 114 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: to represent. To portray the fairy tale love story, she 115 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: would have to deviate from the decidedly unromantic royal weddings 116 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,839 Speaker 1: of the past and implement some new customs. To start with, 117 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: she traded her crown for a wreath of imitation orange blossoms. 118 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,439 Speaker 1: One of the more popular cultural fads of the time 119 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: was the quote unquote language of flowers, the idea that 120 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: flowers were associated with a specific meaning. Orange blossoms symbolized 121 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: fertility and purity, and the message Victoria told with them 122 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: would have been clear to all the ladies who read 123 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: about her wedding attire in the popular women's magazines of 124 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:14,319 Speaker 1: the day. In most descriptions, her dress was also adorned 125 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: with orange blossoms on the bodice, and the incorporation of 126 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:22,079 Speaker 1: orange blossoms into the dress itself would become a royal tradition. 127 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: Victoria's daughters had designs of orange blossoms sewn into the 128 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: hems of their gowns. The current Queen Elizabeth the Second, 129 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: would do this later for her own wedding to Prince Philip. 130 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: More recently, Kate Middleton reportedly or Joe Malone's orange blossom 131 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: perfume for her wedding to Prince William. Orange blossoms didn't 132 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 1: just become a symbol in royal weddings. The famous first 133 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: wedding dress of socialite and Noble Blood alumna Margaret Wigham, 134 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,640 Speaker 1: the future Mrs Sweeney and Duchess of Argyle, was embroidered 135 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: with orange blossoms. That dress was designed by Norman Hartnell, 136 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: who would later go on to design Queen Elizabeth the 137 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: second wedding dress years later. Arguably, Queen Victoria's greatest impact 138 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:15,040 Speaker 1: on weddings wasn't what was embroidered onto her dress, but 139 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: the color of the dress itself. Her gown was not 140 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: a true white, but a cream. It's wide neckline and 141 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:27,080 Speaker 1: puffed sleeves trimmed with cream lace from Haunting, a manufacturer 142 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: based in Devon. Victoria's dress was entirely composed of British 143 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: textiles in an effort to give a much needed boost 144 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: to her country's industry, a tradition we still see today, 145 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: with Cape Middleton and Megan Markle strategically highlighting British designers 146 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:48,439 Speaker 1: at key public events. Satin was used for Victoria's bodice, 147 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 1: which was fitted around the waist in a deep V 148 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: shape before it opened into a full skirt. Lace would 149 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: also be used for her veil, which represented modesty. The Torria, 150 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: perhaps an early pioneer in the slow fashion movement, rewore 151 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: her wedding veil on several important occasions throughout her life. 152 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,040 Speaker 1: If you've ever seen pictures of an older Queen Victoria 153 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: with a crown that seems a little too small for 154 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: her head, she might actually be wearing a lace veil 155 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 1: under the crown. Can you sort of picture that the 156 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: veil and then the little crown on top. That's her 157 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: wedding veil up cycled. At her wedding ceremony, she wore 158 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: a dress with a six yard long satin train, which 159 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: took twelve attendants to carry down the aisle. Victoria was 160 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: the vision of femininity and romance, but that wasn't what 161 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 1: a royal wedding had previously represented. Traditionally, royal brides wore 162 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:55,199 Speaker 1: colorful velvet capes and brocaded gowns. Victoria would not be 163 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: the first bride to wear all white or cream and 164 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: embody all that that color symbolized, but she would be 165 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,080 Speaker 1: the first royal bride to do so, and first to 166 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: do so on such a massively public scale. Her wedding 167 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 1: would be broadcast around the world, with paintings of it 168 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: printed in newspapers and on souvenirs for sale. There aren't 169 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: any photographs of the wedding, we would be about a 170 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: decade out from that technology being available. But there are 171 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:30,360 Speaker 1: actually photographs of Victoria and Albert in their wedding clothes. 172 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:34,599 Speaker 1: Albert would have them re enact their wedding for photographs 173 00:12:34,679 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 1: fourteen years later after the fact, maybe inadvertently starting a 174 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: trend of valle renewals for the sake of Instagram likes. 175 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,200 Speaker 1: But about the color choice Victoria had made, What was 176 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: the purpose of the choice to wear white. According to 177 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: biographer Julia Baird Quote, Victoria had chosen to wear white 178 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: mostly because it was the perfect color to highlight her 179 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:04,719 Speaker 1: gowns delicate lace. But even if the decision was stylistic 180 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: or practical, at least in my mind, it's impossible to 181 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:14,319 Speaker 1: separate the ideas of Victorian purity and religious morality from 182 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 1: one of the period's most defining social events, the wedding. 183 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: Victorian's obsession with white and whiteness was not born from 184 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,199 Speaker 1: Victoria or her wedding, but her choice further the connection 185 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 1: between these ideals and the domestic sphere. And her contemporary biography, 186 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:40,480 Speaker 1: published in eighteen forty, the historian Agnes Strickland described Victoria 187 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: the bride as dressed quote, not as a queen in 188 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:49,199 Speaker 1: her glittering trappings, but in spotless white, like a pure virgin, 189 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: to meet her bridegroom. Ever since the Hanovers had come 190 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: to the British throne, the image of the monarchy in 191 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: the eyes of the British people was a little fragile, 192 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: so many were ready to accept a version of a 193 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: queen who appeared to be more like them than what 194 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: a monarch had previously represented. Thousands showed up to watch 195 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: the wedding procession, hoping to get a glimpse of the 196 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: adoring couple. There were, of course, those who were wary 197 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: of the change. Victoria's bridesmaids in white dresses designed by 198 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: Victoria herself, were adorned with white roses, and the dresses 199 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: apparently courted the opinion from onlookers that they quote looked 200 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 1: like village girls. To most, though that wasn't such a 201 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: bad thing. It certainly wasn't. To the women's magazines at 202 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:43,320 Speaker 1: the time, targeting a middle class audience, who provided their 203 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: readers with detailed reports on the queen's bridal fashion, Victoria 204 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: was seen as a symbol of the modest, the tasteful, 205 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: and readers were advised to follow in her footsteps and 206 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: avoid the vulgar. Around this time, romance novels were becoming 207 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: increasingly popular with this middle class audience. There was a 208 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: clear market for what Victoria was selling, in other words, 209 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: and the people were ready to buy. As noted in 210 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: the book Cinderella Dreams, Victoria did not invent the romantic 211 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: consumer culture, but rather provided several of its customs with 212 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: a new level of desirability. As we would come to 213 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: see time and time again from a wide range of 214 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: public figures, Victoria was simply selling them something they already had. 215 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 1: Of course, for the majority of brides, white dresses were impractical, 216 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: they got dirty easily, and they were difficult to rewear. 217 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: If you were wearing a white dress for your wedding 218 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: day at the time, you were showing off the fact 219 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: that you were rich enough to have it cleaned. Up 220 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: until that point, most women would just have warned the 221 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:59,640 Speaker 1: nicest dress they already owned, in a bright, often vibrant color. 222 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: But that was the power of Victoria's symbolism. She was 223 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:09,080 Speaker 1: somehow both down to earth and aspirational. She was the 224 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: sovereign leader of the country and an obedient wife Beyond 225 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: the white wedding dress, there's another domestic tradition that Victoria 226 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: and Albert popularized together, the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree 227 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: was originally a Germanic tradition, and German Albert gifted decorated 228 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: trees to schools and barracks around Windsor Castle during the holidays, 229 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: but in eighteen forty eight, the idea of an evergreen 230 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: tree in one's home for the holidays became an indelible 231 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: part of English culture when there was an engraving published 232 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: of Victoria, Albert and their children surrounding a Christmas tree 233 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: alight with candles toys glittering below. It was this engraving 234 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: that tattooed itself on the popular West Stern imagination Christmas 235 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,719 Speaker 1: trees a symbol of the domestic order, as ushered in 236 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:10,159 Speaker 1: by a white wedding. In her diary, Victoria later recounted 237 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: of her wedding quote, the ceremony was very imposing and 238 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: fine and simple, and I think ought to make an 239 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:23,960 Speaker 1: everlasting impression on that. She was correct. In all of 240 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: those romance novels alluded to before, there is perhaps an 241 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:32,399 Speaker 1: equal fascination with death as there is with love and life. 242 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: The Victorian era is arguably as equally remembered now for 243 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,840 Speaker 1: its morbidity as for its ideas of romance. Think of 244 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: portraits that were taken of corpses upright after their deaths, 245 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: as if they were still alive, so that their loved 246 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: ones would be able to remember them. Hair was given 247 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: as a token of love. It's those sort of maccabb 248 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: Victorian gestures that now as modern audiences we come to 249 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: associate with the victory Orian period. Weddings and funerals are 250 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: perhaps the two biggest bullet points in any monarch's life, 251 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: but for Queen Victoria, her spiritual death was perhaps more 252 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: prominent in pages of history than her physical one. Death 253 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:23,359 Speaker 1: had essentially become her for the last forty years of 254 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,679 Speaker 1: her life after losing her husband Albert in eighteen sixty one. 255 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: My husband won't die, she had said to Albert's doctor 256 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 1: when he had taken ale, for that would kill me. 257 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: Those who were present at the time of his passing 258 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: recalled Victoria throwing herself onto his lifeless body, sobbing and 259 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: calling him every endearing name shared between them. Quote, this 260 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: is death, they heard her say. I know it. I 261 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: have seen this before. Victoria had lost her mother in 262 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 1: March of that very same year. Of course, she and 263 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: her mother had had a strained relationship, but the sense 264 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:06,640 Speaker 1: of a loneness the death of a mother and then 265 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: a spouse must have been profound. Victoria knew just as 266 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,359 Speaker 1: well as those around her, how heavily she relied on Albert, 267 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:18,880 Speaker 1: from her personal life to her duties as queen, how 268 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,840 Speaker 1: she had kept her vow to obey him, and how 269 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,160 Speaker 1: without him she was left flailing. For the next decade, 270 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 1: Victoria withdrew from public life. She had earned the nickname 271 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: the Widow of Windsor isolated in her castle. Until that point, 272 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: she had always managed to be everything at once a wife, 273 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:45,120 Speaker 1: a mother, and a queen. Now she was simply a widow. 274 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: Doctors worried about the weight she had lost and what 275 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,680 Speaker 1: they described as a quote madness that had overtaken her. 276 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: A widow of the time was expected to wear black 277 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: for one to two years after the death of her husband, 278 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: but Victoria chose to wear it for the rest of 279 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: her life. Mourning was quote the dress which I have 280 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:14,639 Speaker 1: adopted forever for mine. As she told her daughter to 281 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 1: another daughter, she admitted she was quote afraid of getting 282 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,600 Speaker 1: too well. Because death was so common in the era, 283 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: the culture and conversation surrounding it became open and deeply ritualistic. 284 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: The anecdote of Victoria collapsing onto Albert's deathbed is known 285 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: because of the Victorian custom to surround the deathbed with 286 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: loved ones, hoping to hear the last words of the dying. 287 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: It was also popular to keep a lock of the 288 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: dead's hair in jewelry, along with producing portraits and death masks, 289 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: anything to memorialize the deceased. There were, also, of course, 290 00:20:55,600 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 1: the intricacies of mourning dress. Typically, widows were expect did 291 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: to mourn their husbands for around two years, which meant 292 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: donning black dresses made of crape and isolating themselves from society. 293 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:13,320 Speaker 1: For the most part, While it represented the emotional state 294 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: of the family, mourning dress was also meant to signify 295 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,400 Speaker 1: to others that one needed special consideration because they were grieving. 296 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,679 Speaker 1: In choosing to mourn for the rest of her life, 297 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: Victoria was communicating to her subjects a certain level of helplessness. 298 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,439 Speaker 1: This was a double sided coin. On one side, this 299 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 1: open doors for anti monarchs to rally around the uselessness 300 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: of the queen. But on the other side, she was 301 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: able to evoke a Christian sympathy from the nation that 302 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 1: her advisers encouraged in calculating her wedding image. Victoria was 303 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: an active player in mourning. She allowed those around her 304 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: to craft a narrative where the design of her wedding dress, 305 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: with its romantic sleeves and billowing skirt, represented romance and youthfulness. 306 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: The design of Victoria's mourning clothes represented a sensibility and practicality. 307 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: She asked for the bodice to include only light boning 308 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: and for pockets to be added to the skirts. The 309 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,720 Speaker 1: black morning dress, in a style of her own, had 310 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: become her defining image in the public, even when she 311 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: was still alive. Thanks to the commercialization of photography. Later 312 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:38,719 Speaker 1: in her life, Victoria was beginning to have more portraits taken, 313 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: of course, this being towards the end of her life, 314 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: in her mourning dress. In one of her most famous photos, 315 00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: her Diamond Jubilee portrait, she wears a black gown and 316 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: her wedding veil, bridging the past and the present. By 317 00:22:56,840 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 1: this point she had re emerged in society, albeit not 318 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,760 Speaker 1: to the extent that she had been with Albert by 319 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:08,000 Speaker 1: her side. One of the occasions Victoria would regularly show 320 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,959 Speaker 1: up for was a funeral, which, though surrounding her noted, 321 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,199 Speaker 1: was a source of great interest for her. One of 322 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:19,200 Speaker 1: her ladies, Mary Mallett, once noted, quote, it is very 323 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,640 Speaker 1: curious to see how the Queen takes the keenest interest 324 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: in death and all its horrors, and specifically commented that quote, 325 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 1: it is certainly strange that she should take such deep 326 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 1: interest in the merest details of these functions end quote. 327 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: It is no surprise, then, that Victoria made elaborate plans 328 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: for her own funeral. She listed each item that she 329 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:50,960 Speaker 1: wanted buried with her jewelry, photographs, Albert's dressing gown, and 330 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 1: her wedding veil. She also insisted on a military procession 331 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,440 Speaker 1: to honor her status as a soldier's daughter and head 332 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 1: of the army. Her coffin was to be carried by 333 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 1: a gun carriage, the first time this was ever to 334 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: be done. The innovation of a military funeral for a 335 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:15,120 Speaker 1: monarch led to perhaps the most impactful shift in future 336 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:20,400 Speaker 1: state funerals, once again firmly identifying the crown with a 337 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: larger or middle class oriented organization. She also insisted that 338 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: there should be no public lying in state, meaning her 339 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: coffin would be transported straight to Windsor, where she would 340 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:38,359 Speaker 1: be buried after the procession through London. Most of note, 341 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: she wanted everything to be white, from her gown to 342 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:50,200 Speaker 1: the pall to the horses. Victoria's returned to white brought 343 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,239 Speaker 1: with it a new symbolic meaning. Years earlier, she had 344 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: visited a mausoleum with the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, whom 345 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: the Queen Greatly in my acared. There she had commented 346 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:05,480 Speaker 1: on the bright light that cast through the windows and 347 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: covered the room. Tennyson told her he liked that point 348 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: and wished funerals could be in white. Twenty years later, 349 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: when he died, he was buried in a coffin covered 350 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: in a white pall. Upon Victoria's death, another eight or 351 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,080 Speaker 1: so years after Alfred Lord Tennyson's, she would choose to 352 00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: do the same. Perhaps, after long years of mourning, Victoria 353 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: had seen death as a rebirth, letting the light back in. 354 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: Or perhaps she wanted to wear white, as she had 355 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,479 Speaker 1: for her wedding, because she knew she would be seeing 356 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: her Albert one more time that's the story of the 357 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: wedding and funeral of Queen Victoria, but stick around to 358 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: hear about another process. In her casket, Queen Victoria was 359 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: buried with her beloved Albert's dressing gown, but he wasn't 360 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: the only man. She would take a memento up to 361 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 1: the grave. In her instructions, she asked for two things 362 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: to be placed in her left hand, a photograph of 363 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: a man called John Brown and a lock of his hair. 364 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,200 Speaker 1: A bunch of flowers was then placed over her hand 365 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: to conceal what she held. John Brown was a Scottish man, 366 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: a personal attendant to Victoria and a former gilly or 367 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: hunting attendant for Albert. While the suspected nature of his 368 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:53,200 Speaker 1: relationship with Victoria cannot be confirmed, we know that there 369 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: was a great friendship and intimacy between the two. When 370 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: Brown passed a letter Victoria sent read quote, perhaps never 371 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: in history was there so strong and true, an attachment 372 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,440 Speaker 1: so warm and loving, a friendship between the sovereign and servant. 373 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: Strength of character as well as power of frame, the 374 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: most fearless uprightness, kindness, sense of justice, honesty, independence, and unselfishness, 375 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: combined with a tender, warm heart made him one of 376 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:28,360 Speaker 1: the most remarkable men. The Queen feels that life, for 377 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: the second time, is becoming most trying and sad to bear, 378 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,920 Speaker 1: deprived of all she needs. The blow has fallen too heavily, 379 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: not to be very heavily felt. This was the second blow, 380 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: she said. The first, of course, was the death of 381 00:27:47,040 --> 00:28:06,679 Speaker 1: her husband, Prince Albert. Noble Blood is a production of 382 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. 383 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: Noble Blood is hosted by me Danishwartz. Additional writing and 384 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:19,679 Speaker 1: researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Miura Hayward, Courtney Sunder, 385 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by rema Il Kali, 386 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thayne and executive producers Aaron Mankey, 387 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, 388 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 389 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.