Alexandrina Victoria - (1819-1901)

In a letter of 22^nd August 1914 to her mother, Juliet Sladden refers to an article in the latest edition of the satirical magazine, Punch.

The 19th August 1914 issue of Punch contained the following short snippet:  "Dear Mr Punch, You may remember that Queen Victoria recorded in her Journal in the Highlands that 'Vicky sat down on a wasps' nest’.  'Vicky,' of course, was destined later to be the mother of Wilhelm II.  Can we not see in the present situation rather a remarkable example of heredity?  Yours, etc, Medico."

Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years until her death on 22^nd January 1901, had strong German connections and was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover.  In childhood, Victoria had been raised under close supervision by her German-born mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Sax-Coburg and Gotha; her nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent.  Most notably, her eldest daughter, Victoria ("Vicky") married the German Emperor Frederick III and gave birth to a son, the Kaiser, Wilhelm II.