On this episode of the Broad Chronicles, I got a little over ambitious and decided to cover Queen Victoria, and well, that one episode has turned into three. In this particular section, we look at the circumstances of Victoria's birth (which end up being very similar to her cousin Charlotte, from episode 1) all the way up to Victoria's coronation as queen.

Queen Victoria was born under similar circumstances to Charlotte--George III had no legitimate grandchildren to inherit the throne, and a bunch of unmarried sons, so Edward, the Duke of Kent set off to make a match with Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld's sister, Victoire. The pair had a brief but companionable union which produced their only daughter, Victoria. Victoria's father died when she was less than a year old, leaving her German-born mother the sole guardian of the future queen. For 18 years, Victoria was kept under the strict eye of her mother and her domineering companion, John Conroy, until she finally ascended to the throne.

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