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On May the 24th in 1819 Victoria Alexandrina was born in Kensington Palace, London as the only child of Edward the Duke of Kent (he died one year after her birth) and his German wife, princess Victoria Mary Louisa of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her uncle William IV. was King in this time. She was educated in the common way of aristocrats in French, German, geography, history and politics. It can be supposed that she was well-educated, but she herself later often blamed herself for not knowing enough and was often unconfident therefore, but without making efforts to change this situation.
She had no remarkable close relationship to her parents or to the rest of her family. For instance her mother she respected, but did not love her, for the education of aristocrats was mostly done by nurses and teachers, not by the parents.
Since she was 16 Victoria wrote a regular journal, which was even published later, and she also was fond of correspondance by letter, both seemed to be a need to her. Later she had a extensive corresponding especially with her daughter Victoria in Germany. Her letters all in all would make up a book of 7000 pages.
Her character always was kind of split. On the one hand she often wrote down, that she wanted to be a good person and tried hard to fit in that ideal of high moral standards, but on the other hand she could be rude and stubborn, if she did not like something or someone. Victoria always had problems with her looks, for she did not fit in the ideal of beauty.
Her youth was ended quite abruptly when she became queen of Britain and Ireland in 1837.
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