Victoria Day May 24, 2021

Two hundred and two years ago a child was born in London, England. That baby girl would grow up to help shape the world we live in today. I wonder how many people know we still celebrate that birthday here in Canada? The May long weekend is not just the first weekend we go camping in Canada. It’s also Queen Victoria’s birthday. 

The legacy of the second longest-reigning monarch in British history surrounds us. The cities of Regina and Victoria got their names from the Queen of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Empress of India. Her offspring would be the monarchs of much of Europe and spark the beginning of World War One. Her birthday has also become a springtime long weekend to enjoy the outdoors. And if you live in Alberta it usually means a freak snowstorm. 

Most of us just enjoy the holiday and try to get out camping. Usually, I spend May long in the garden getting the rest of my seeds in the ground and preparing for the coming year.  

Queen Victoria held the title for sixty-three years and seven months. A record only surpassed by the current Queen Elizabeth, who is closing in on seventy years…

Could the current Queen be the last? 

Will the monarchy die with Elizabeth, the great-great-granddaughter of the iconic Victoria? The absurdity of the wealth possessed by the royal house of Brittain is not lost on many. Yet there is an attraction to the tradition and sense of history that comes with royalty. For almost a thousand years the crown of the United Kingdom has been passed down through the generations. Since the Norman conquest of 1066 there has been a continuous succession of kings and queens that have reigned over England. Some argue the throne of England began in 886 with Alfred The Great.

It is a history that is filled with intrigue and romance. It is also filled with atrocities. 

Victoria did her best to save the monarchy in her later years. She spent her own money to help the Irish during the great potato famine. She did many other things to help the poor and unfortunate… 

She also accepted the crown as Empress of India. She thought nothing of assimilating poor undeveloped nations into the British Empire. To her, she was “saving” the natives from themselves. She was the epitome of aristocratic arrogance. 

In today’s cancel culture she could well be considered in the same vein as the way people have begun to view Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Canadian Prime Minister. Yet Victoria gets a pass; they were products of their times. 

The Nineteenth Century was a brutal one that should be viewed in its own context. In America, they were having a civil war over slavery, and in India, they had a civil war because the people were treated as slaves in their own country. Two centuries later we see the world for what it was throughout history – oppressive and one where the conquerers wrote the histories.

We cannot cancel history – we can only learn from it.

By becoming Empress, Victoria thought she was saving the Indian people from the British East India Company. In reality, it merely transferred the oppressors of the country from the company to the government. Even though the Queen had no real political power she held great influence on the government of the UK for most of her long reign.

Whether you are a monarchist or a federalist, the influence of the British monarchy is undeniable. It is one of the few royal families that adapted to the changing times and survived the millennium. It remains to be seen If royalty survives into the next one.

The next monarch should pay taxes and be made to give much of their wealth back to the people of the countries they have taken from over the centuries. Of course, that will probably not happen but it may be the best way to ensure their survival. As it stands the royal house of the United Kingdom is a big tourist draw for London and that in itself may be enough to save them.

I hope everyone had a good long weekend and is recharged for the coming months ahead. As the world reopens and returns to a semblance of normal, change is coming to our world. Will part of that change be the end of the royal family? Or will the legacy of Alexandrina Victoria of the house of Hanover continue on into the next century?

God save the Queen?