Still, even after her five daughters and four sons were born between 18, she was truly repulsed by babies. She claimed the drug was “soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure.” Victoria’s first seven children were born naturally, and it was only on her eighth pregnancy that she was allowed chloroform to numb her pain during childbirth. He once went so far as to tell her, “It is a pity you find no consolation in the company of your children.” Perhaps Albert enjoyed children and wanted a large family, and as such didn’t share contraceptive information with his wife. The couple married in 1840, when they were both 20 years old, and had their first child later that year. It is, however, hard to believe that husband Albert, a graduate of the University of Bonn, didn’t. She was, after all, a woman so sheltered that she was not allowed to walk downstairs without holding someone’s hand until she was 18. The fact that Victoria didn’t seem to know about them isn’t a total surprise. Victorians at the time had access to condoms made of sheep’s intestine, and by the 1850s rubber ones were also available. According to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, there were five maternal deaths for every 1,000 births in England from 1800-1850. Her anxiety probably had something to do with the fact that without modern medicine, childbirth was both risky and extremely painful. Perhaps realizing that this would be a detriment to the UK monarchy she at least hoped (without success) to avoid a large family, telling her uncle King Leopold of Belgium in 1840, “I think you will see with me the great inconvenience a large family would be to us all.” Still, as she informed her eldest daughter Vicky in 1859, following her own marriage, she had a horror of having children and “would rather have none.” He clasped me in his arms, and we kissed each other again and again!” She was in raptures following her wedding night, claiming in her diary that “his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of heavenly love and happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before. It was particularly unfortunate given that the queen also loved having sex with her husband. That’s because, despite living in an era when motherhood was considered a woman’s noblest calling, she had very little maternal instinct. Her only problem was she had nine children. She was generally admired by her subjects. Queen Victoria’s reign from 1837 to 1901 was unusually prosperous and peaceful.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |