This week we’re returning to Osborne, Queen Victoria’s home on the Isle of Wight. With its sandy beach and beautiful gardens, it’s often been depicted as something of a holiday home for Victoria and her family. But, as we’ll discover, this impressive island retreat was also a real political powerhouse. Joining us to explain more are English Heritage’s Properties Historians’ Team Leader Dr Andrew Hann and Dr Lee Butcher, who researched Osborne’s place as a global diplomatic hub as part of his PhD studies.

To discover more about Osborne or plan a visit, go to www.english-heritage.org.uk/osborne

Episode 198 - Osborne and Victorian politics, diplomacy and Empire

The queen of England was propelled by grief and pain to travel with her Munshi to deepest, darkest Ireland seeking rejuvenation.

The Fountain Of Perimenopause

The Night they Shifted Vickie

For John Coffey

Oh! the night they shifted Vicki, Johnny Coffee showed his head;
The Mammy was in agony and Ecstasy in bed,
When they told her of auld Vicki, Oh her screams were ones of joy!
And her tears were ones of solace when they told her “It’s a boy!”

Chorus
And the neighbourhood of Hollis Street, they heard the Mammy say:
‘Thank God for John — and that other wan!  they’ve taken her away!’

Oh Vickie was the bugbear, never mind the Labour pains —
We’d not forgot the Famine, and their dirty tricks and games!
But through the birth pang agony she writhed on the bed, 
But she had some consolation when the midwife turned and said:

Chorus
They’ve taken Vicki’s statue down,they’re sending her away —
Ah! Mrs Coffee, it’s a boy! Well you’re twice blessed today!’

She swaddled little Johnny, and she put him to her breast,
‘This day will be remembered! Ah! I love me boy the best!
But I’m glad they’ve lifted Vickie from her pedestal at last,
The Empress of India, whose heart was made of brass!

Chorus
And the neighbourhood of Hollis Street, they heard the Mammy say:
‘Thank God for John — and that other wan! they’ve taken her away!’

Now she’s melting in the Blistering heat of Sydney’s grandest Street.
And all the outlaws that she sent to Oz, about her feat,
And Johnny’s Ma, remembers well the day we tore her down,
The little Queen who shared the biggest part of Mr. Brown.
 
Chorus
And the neighbourhood of Hollis Street, they heard the Mammy say:
‘Thank God for John — and that other wan! they’ve taken her away!’

The Night They Shifted Vicki

Bram Stoker passes through a whalebone arch into a time shift, buys an ice cream from a van owned by Stranglers' drummer Jet Black. Sir Henry Irving morphs into Christopher Lee. Monkey Puzzle Trees do something even more astonishing.

Whitby

We consider the efforts of the British state, in the Victorian era and in the early 20th century, to maintain its position as the premier naval and imperial power on Earth, and to contain the political and military challenges from the borderlands of the empire, the German challenge from Europe, and the series of internal threats to the British social system -- including the radicalized labour and women's suffrage movements and the bitter fight over Irish Home Rule, which brought the United Kingdom to the brink of civil war mere weeks before the assassination in Sarajevo.

Image:  Liberal Party propaganda poster promoting the People's Budget, ca. 1910.

Suggested further reading:  George Dangerfield, "The Strange Death of Liberal England."

Please sign up as a patron to hear patron-only lectures on Germany and Bosnia! -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

Origins of the First World War, pt. 9 -- Great Britain

English Heritage cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites, and brings the story of England to life for over 10 million people each year. 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk

History lectures by Samuel Biagetti, a historian (and antique dealer) with a Phd in early American history; my dissertation was on Freemasonry in the 1700s. I focus on the historical myths and distortions, from "the Middle Ages" to "Race," that people use to rationalize the world in which we live.   More info at www.historiansplaining.com

Please see my Patreon page, https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632, if you want to keep the lectures coming, and to hear the patron-only materials.

Psychic Investigations:
exploring the weird British Isles

New tracks tagged #Queen Victoria