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(Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Queen Victoria with her husband, Prince Albert, c1854.

However, with the prospect of her becoming a future queen of Great Britain, it is likely that some of that accent was trained out of her by elocution lessons. Until she was about 12 years of age Victoria’s tutors were mostly German and so it is unsurprising that a report on her education in early 1831 confirmed that she “speaks English with a German accent”. Victoria was brought up in relative seclusion by her German mother, Victoire, Duchess of Kent, and German governess, Baroness Lehzen, and the three of them spoke their native language for most of the time.

And the voice lost none of its attractiveness in old age in the 1890s the actress Ellen Terry waxed poetic, remarking that it sounded “like a silver stream flowing over golden stones”. The actress Fanny Kemble considered the young queen’s voice to be “exquisite” she had, she said, “not heard any spoken words more musical”. (Photo by The Royal Photographic Society Collection/Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Getty Images) Victoria’s half-sister, Feodora, noted her habit of keeping her mouth always a little open and advised her to try hard to keep it closed, though another commentator noted that her mouth, when closed, was “vacant and inexpressive”.Ī photograph by Roger Fenton of Queen Victoria, c1856. Her mouth was rather thin and rabbity, and, when she smiled the princess displayed small, short teeth “like those of a mouse”, according to Princess Marie of Romania. Victoria’s lack of height always frustrated her – she was once heard to exclaim in frustration: “Everyone grows but me!” Was Queen Victoria pretty?Īs the young Victoria grew older her fair hair became darker and mousier and straighter, and although she had a very good complexion, her intolerance of heat caused her face to flush. Her marriage, nine pregnancies and a lifetime’s overeating inexorably took their toll on her figure, which spread ever outwards rather than upwards as she aged, thus making her appear even shorter.

But despite all his advice on her diet, Victoria never grew. Victoria’s Uncle Leopold, solicitous about the young princess’s wellbeing in his many letters to her, worried that she was not getting enough exercise or eating the right food. A picture of Queen Victoria with her pet dog named Sharp at Balmoral Castle, c1867.