family tree queen victoria and prince albert

When young Charlotte left Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761, and came over to England to marry King George, she brought with her many of the customs that she had practised as a child, including the setting up of a yew branch in the house at Christmas. Then the parents are introduced, and each presents his little gift they then bring out the remainder one by one from their pockets, and present them with kisses and embraces’. Under this bough the children lay out the presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other. ‘On the evening before Christmas Day, one of the parlours is lighted up by the children, into which the parents must not go a great yew bough is fastened on the table at a little distance from the wall, a multitude of little tapers are fixed in the bough. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) visited Mecklenburg-Strelitz in December, 1798, and was much struck by the yew-branch ceremony that he witnessed there, the following account of which he wrote in a letter to his wife dated April 23rd, 1799: And in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, where Queen Charlotte grew up, it was the custom to deck out a single yew branch. In other parts of Germany box trees or yews were brought indoors at Christmas instead of firs. and hang thereon roses cut out of many-coloured paper, apples, wafers, gold-foil, sweets, etc.’ For in that year an anonymous writer recorded how at Yuletide the inhabitants of Strasburg ‘set up fir trees in the parlours. This wondrous sight inspired him to set up a candle-lit fir tree in his house that Christmas to remind his children of the starry heavens from whence their Saviour came.Ĭertainly by 1605 decorated Christmas trees had made their appearance in Southern Germany. One winter’s night in 1536, so the story goes, Luther was walking through a pine forest near his home in Wittenberg when he suddenly looked up and saw thousands of stars glinting jewel-like among the branches of the trees. Legend has it that Queen Charlotte’s compatriot, Martin Luther, the religious reformer, invented the Christmas tree. However, the honour of establishing this tradition in the United Kingdom rightfully belongs to ‘good Queen Charlotte’, the German wife of George III, who set up the first known English tree at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, in December, 1800. The unlikely king wed Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and the duo had daughters Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort, is usually credited with having introduced the Christmas tree into England in 1840. In one of the most controversial moves in the history of the monarchy, Edward abdicated the crown to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. The royals had six children together: Edward VIII, George VI, Mary, Princess Royal, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, Prince George, Duke of Kent, Prince John.Įdward VIII was briefly monarch from Jan. 20, 1936 and was married to Mary of Teck. They had Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, George V, Louise, Princess Royal, Princess Victoria, Maud, Queen of Norway, Prince Alexander John of Wales. Of those children, Edward VII went on to be the king from Jan. Together they had Victoria, German Empress, King Edward VII, Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Helena, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg. Victoria wore black until her death in 1901. They were married until the Prince Consort died at the age of 42 on Dec. They were first cousins and had nine children. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert on Feb. 3, who was born earlier today, get his impressive lineage? Well, it all goes back to Queen Victoria. How did Prince William and Kate Middleton's royal baby no.

Family tree queen victoria and prince albert