The Dawn of the Victorian Era: An Original Order to Proclaim Queen Victoria’s Accession to the Throne

Signed by the whole Privy Council, including three Prime Ministers, this document announced to the country the death of King William and ordered proclamation of Victoria as Queen.

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The only example of this document we can find ever having reached the market; it was actually read aloud in the streets of Chester, England to proclaim the new Queen

Princess Alexandrina Victoria, known as Victoria, was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent and Duchess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg in Germany....

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The Dawn of the Victorian Era: An Original Order to Proclaim Queen Victoria’s Accession to the Throne

Signed by the whole Privy Council, including three Prime Ministers, this document announced to the country the death of King William and ordered proclamation of Victoria as Queen.

The only example of this document we can find ever having reached the market; it was actually read aloud in the streets of Chester, England to proclaim the new Queen

Princess Alexandrina Victoria, known as Victoria, was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent and Duchess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg in Germany. Her father was a son of British King George III, so Victoria was the King’s granddaughter. Her father Edward died when she was one year old, and her domineering and overprotective mother sheltered and controlled her, largely keeping her away from her uncles Kings George IV and William IV. Both uncles died without leaving heirs, and as the surviving child of her father, who was next in line for the throne, she became Queen. This was shortly after her 18th birthday in 1837.

King William died at Windsor Castle on Tuesday morning, June 20, 1837.  As rapidly as possible, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain rushed to Kensington Palace to announce to the young Princess Victoria that she was now Queen of Great Britain.  The Privy Council was hastily assembled, issued a declaration proclaiming her Queen, and the Councilors swore her their fealty. The declaration read in part, “Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to call to His mercy our late Sovereign Lord King William IV, of blessed and glorious memory, by whose decease the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is solely and rightfully come to the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria…We…do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim, that the high and mighty Princess Alexandrina Victoria is now, by the death of our late Sovereign, of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lady Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, saving as aforesaid.

Then the Councilors prepared an order instructing that Victoria be proclaimed Queen throughout the Kingdom. Copies of it were immediately dispatched throughout the country. The following day, June 21, this proclamation was read in London in the presence of the Queen, after which the Tower guns were fired in salute. Over the next few days the proclamation was read throughout the land.

One of the proclamations reached the City of Chester through the hands of Mr. Humberston, Vice Chamberlain, early on the morning of June 21. It was delivered immediately to the Mayor, Thomas Dixon. This is that very Order of Proclamation of Victoria as Queen, perhaps the only one in private hands, and certainly the only we can find ever having reached the market:

Document signed, Kensington Palace, June 20, 1837, to Mayor Thomas Dixon, signed by the entire Privy Council, including the Prime Minister and two others who served in that position.

“To our loving friend, The Mayor of the City of Chester:

“After our hearty commendations, it having pleased Almighty God to take to His Mercy out of this troublesome life our late Sovereign Lord King William the Fourth of blessed memory. And thereupon Her Royal Majesty Queen Victoria being here proclaimed – according to the tenor of the Proclamation signed by us herewith sent unto you.

“We do hereby will and require you, Thomas Dixon, forthwith to cause the said Proclamation to be proclaimed and published in the usual place within your jurisdiction with the Solemnities and Ceremonies accustomed on the like occasion.  And so, not doubting of your ready compliance herein, we bid you heartily farewell.

“From the Council of Chambers at Kensington. This 20th day of June, 1837.

Your loving friends,

Charles C. Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham [Twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, 1836-1841, 1846-1850]
Thomas Spring-Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon [Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1835-1839]
John Hotham
Lord Palmerston [Prime Minister, 1859-1865]
Lord Melbourne [Prime Minister, 1835-1841]
Lord Duncannon [Lord Privy Seal]
Lord John Russell [Prime Minister, 1865-1866]

On the following morning, the 22nd, Mayor Dixon gave notice of the King’s death and the proclamation of Her Majesty Queen Victoria the First. “Notice is Hereby Given, That such proclamation will be made on Friday (tomorrow) the 23rd instant.  The Mayor, therefore, respectfully requests the attendance of his Fellow Citizens, the Clergy, and Inhabitants of the City, to meet him and the Corporation in the Town Hall, tomorrow morning, Friday, at twelve o’clock; from whence the Procession will move to the High Cross, where the Proclamation will be first Read; from thence to the Bridge Gate; from thence to the East Gate; from thence to the North Gate; and from thence to the Water Gate, when the Procession will disperse, and the Proclamation will afterwards be read to the Soldiers on the Rodee.  By order of the Mayor.”

Victoria’s official coronation was held at Westminster Abbey on June 28, 1838. The coronation was a huge occasion and 400,000 visitors went to London to see the new Queen crowned and attendant ceremonies. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 until 1901, a span of 64 years, the longest of any British monarch until recently exceeded by her great, great granddaughter Elizabeth II.

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