The UK’s leading Queen Victoria and Prince Albert historical interpreters.
Historical Interpretation
Providing educational workshops, walk about characters, speeches, film, TV and much more.
Have you seen our new replica section on our website?
Here you can see our collection of replicas which help us provide an authentic performance. From The George IV Diadem to Queen Victoria’s engagement ring, we strive to provide the upmost authentic appearance.
No matter how small the detail, we strive to get it right!
Osborne House
Filming in Queen Victoria’s bedroom at Brighton Royal Pavilion 📸
I have had a wonderful time filming promotional content for Portsmouth Historic Dockyard keep your eyes peeled on their social media!
📸 Brighton Royal Pavillion
From the correct garter riband to monogrammed handkerchiefs, we take pride in perfecting every detail no matter how big or small!
We are continuously expanding our collection to provide an authentic experience. Our website now has an updated page showing our collection of replicas ⬇️
https://www.youngqueenvictoria.co.uk
Wether your event be summer or winter, rain or shine, we have a whole range of period correct clothing to choose from. We take pride in our attention to detail and can proudly say we are The UK’s leading Queen Victoria & Prince Albert historical interpreters.
Not only do we provide historical interpretation but we also provide a whole range of educational talks, workshops and hands on history sessions. Our historical interpreters will teach you the ways of Victorian life not only in an educational but an immersive way.
Did you know? We also provide Victorian characters from everyday life! Have you ever wanted to learn Victorian etiquette from a Victorian housekeeper? Or perhaps you have always wondered how tough the life of a chimney sweep was. How about an audience with Florence Nightingale herself? Keep an eye on our website for upcoming news…
A very Happy New year to you all!
2023 has been an interesting year, I finally opened up my official blog sharing research and information on Queen Victoria & her family! You can find my blog on my website under ‘Queen Victoria Revival’
We had a fantastic time working across The UK providing historical interpretation as both Victoria and Albert but also as everyday Victorians.
One of our many highlights from this year was working with Black Knight Historical and Birmingham Botanical Gardens to provide an authentic Victorian garden party in August. A royal tea tent kindly provided by BKG was assembled so the public were able to have an insight into how Queen Victoria and court would have dined for afternoon tea.
Her Majesty was also photographed by Rikard Österlund in December using the wet plate process. Victoria and Albert were avid patrons of the new medium of technology, Victoria was the most photographed monarch of her time! We recreated an 1860 photograph of Victoria in winter garb to celebrate the festive season. In the photograph Her Majesty is wearing a beautiful crinoline dress & cape from Prior Attire and a stunning bonnet from Farthingale Historical Hats
We attended Military Odyssey for the first time which was an absolute pleasure, a mix of all periods of history provided an immersive experience not just for the public but for the performers and historical interpreters. We even purchased outfits of various eras so look out for our next portrayal!
We also provided various hands on history workshops across The Uk throughout the year- displaying our antique clothing, replica jewellery/crowns, Victorian household items and some of Her Majesty’s garments. We look forward to what 2024 holds! 🥳
All photographic copyright held by Rikard Österlund
©Rikard Osterlund
We have had a marvellous time attending The Rochester Dickensian Festival over the weekend, first kicking off the festivities with attending The Mistletoe Ball ( photographs and lots of other exciting posts to come) then attending the festival on Saturday and Sunday.
We provided historical interpretation as walkabout characters, providing photograph opportunities and attending an interview with Graham Woodward.
Her Majesty wore a beautiful new 1850’s dress by Prior Attire alongside a festive cape and beautiful bonnet by Farthingale Historical Hats Prince Albert also wore a fetching new waistcoat and trousers.
This blessed season is officially upon us! ‘ it is a pleasure to have this blessed festival associated with one’s happiest days. The very smell of the Christmas tree of pleasant memories’ - Queen Victoria 24th December 1841
Royal winter pastimes -
How are you celebrating the festivities? Snow sports and other outdoor winter activities have long been a fashionable past time for Royals, Victoria and Albert were no exception. Prince Albert was an accomplished and enthusiastic skater who ‘skates so beautifully’ on the other hand Queen Victoria could skate but much preferred to be pushed around in a sledge.
Like many things Prince Albert also designed a sledge for Her Majesty, painted red and gold with a lining of crimson velvet. The royal children were also enthusiastic participants in Wintersports, enjoying skating and sledging with their parents. Prince Albert continued this tradition with his children as it was a popular pastime for adults and children in Germany.
📸 photograph of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the candlelit parade alongside guards and various Dickensian characters. All copyright held by It's Just Us Photography
Happy 1st December! 🎄
Today starts a whole month of Christmas festivities for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert!
We are kicking off the Festive period with our annual appearance at The Rochester Dickens Festival. This year there will be an Offical photograph opportunity with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, alongside an interview with Graham Woodward on the main stage at 3:35pm.
Why not let the Queen and Consort of Christmas entertain you this Christmas? Learn all about the popularisation of the Christmas tree, the very first Christmas cracker, pantomimes and more!
From hands on history, character interactions, antique & replica displays to educational talks we have entertainment over the Christmas period sorted for you 😉
Available for corporate events,commemorative events,online sessions,educational filming and more
To book please visit - https://www.youngqueenvictoria.co.uk
Bat and Ball Station heritage day 2023
Both children and adults loved handling antiques and replicas with care. Even the adults had fun dressing up and trying on all sorts of regalia. We had much fun talking about various pieces of Victorian history and replicas 😄
We have added more items to our ever growing collection of replicas, antiques and everyday Victorian items to bring an interactive and immersive display.
Thank you for having us Bat & Ball Station !
We are having the most amazing time at Birmingham Botanical Gardens with our friends at Black Knight Historical
The royal couple have promenaded around the gardens interacting with members of the public and even had a military es**rt present. A magnificent tea tent fit for the royal couple has been erected in the grounds for this weekend. Her Majesty took tea today with members of high society including Mr Charles Dickens himself and will be doing it all again tomorrow. Come down to Birmingham botanical gardens and see Victorians of all classes and decades !
Victorian singalong, fashion show, tea with Queen Victoria and court, croquet and interactive historical characters through the weekend all in an incredible backdrop of a marvellous botanical garden 😍
Yesterday was Garter day… held in June every year. A grand procession of Knights takes place in Windsor castle which is accompanied by a marching band and Officers of The Order dressed in ceremonial dress. The day begins with the Sovereign formally investing any new Companions with the Order's insignia in the Throne Room of the Castle. Members and Officers of The Order attend luncheon held by The Sovereign and then begin a procession to St George’s Chapel. A short service is held and new memembers are installed as companions.
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry and the United Kingdoms third most prestigious honour, only inferior to the Victoria Cross and George Cross.
The Monarch alone can grant membership. He or she is known as the Sovereign of the Garter, and the Prince of Wales is known as a Royal Knight Companion of the Garter, plus not more than 24 Companions, and various supernumerary members known as Royal Knights and Ladies of the Garter.
Tradition says that to cover a lady’s embarrassment King Edward picked up her garter which had fallen and with the words, ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense’, (roughly translated as ‘shame on anyone who thinks evil of this’) buckled it on to his own leg. The phrase remains the motto of the Order.
According to another legend, King Richard I was inspired in the 12th century by St George the Martyr while fighting in the Crusades to tie garters around the legs of his knights, who subsequently won the battle. King Edward III supposedly recalled the event in the 14th century when he founded the Order.
Soon after the founding of the Order, many women were appointed "Ladies of the Garter," but were not knighted as companions. King Henry VII stopped the practice in 1488 and created no more Ladies of the Garter after his mother Margaret Beaufort. The Order was thereafter exclusively male (except, of course, for the occasional female sovereign) until 1901, when King Edward VII created his wife Queen Alexandra a Lady of the Garter. The same occurred when King George V made his consort Queen Mary a Lady of the Garter.
Looking back to the 15th century - Alice Chaucer was granted the honour of being made a Lady of the Garter, her husband had been made a knight of the Garter in 1421, and Alice herself was first granted Garter robes in 1432 and then again in the years 1434-36
Her tomb was used centuries later by Queen Victoria to learn how a lady should wear the Garter insignia including the arm garter when Victoria was to wear the Garter herself at her coronation. Her effigy was examined by Queen Victoria's commissioners in order to discover how a lady should wear the Order of the Garter, which she wears on her left wrist.
Did you know…. you can have a behind the scenes interaction with ‘ Queen Victoria ‘ herself !
Amelia whom portrays Queen Victoria is an ambitious and dedicated actor who loves to share her journey. Last year we came up with ‘ Becoming Victoria’ which is a relaxed yet informative talk on how Amelia takes on the role as Queen Victoria and what it takes to portray such a prominent woman in history.
From historically accurate clothing to an accurate performance it’s not all fun and games portraying a Royal. To perfect the accent and make sure everything is perfect down to the very detail takes much dedication and has taken years to develop.
This informative talk will bring you behind the scenes and discover what is below the crown. Extant garments, memorabilia, replica clothing, antiques and replica jewellery are just a small part of portraying this character and will be on display at all talks.
https://www.youngqueenvictoria.co.uk/royal-visits
We are incredibly proud to say that we are always improving and we never stop researching. Although we strive to bring you an authentic portrayal it is not always possible to be 100% authentic and therefore we provide this disclaimer. Although some of our costume accessories are antique we try to use reproductions as close as possible when needed.
Prince Albert is often accredited for introducing the Christmas tree to Britain, but in fact, it was the work of his wife’s grandmother, Queen Charlotte. Like Prince Albert, Charlotte was born and raised in Germany, where the tradition of bringing a tree inside at Christmas time, decorated with lights and sweets originated. As a child, Charlotte’s family always decorated single yew branches and laid presents for each other underneath. When she married King George III in 1761 this was the custom she brought with her to England. In her diary, a teenage Princess Victoria recorded her delight at the Christmas trees at her home at Kensington Palace, which were hung with lights and sugar ornaments.
However, away from the royal court the Christmas tree was a relatively unfamiliar custom.
That is, until media interest in the young Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert reached fever pitch. By the 1840s, the popular press was reporting on every detail of the young couple’s life, including how they celebrated Christmas. At first, newspapers had to explain the concept of the Christmas tree to their readers, but it was pictures such as this one in the Illustrated London News in 1848 which saw the Christmas tree really take off.
The middle classes rushed to emulate the royals with a tree of their own, and by the end of the 1850s it was established as a Christmas custom. Every year Albert arranged for trees from the royal estates to be gifted to schools and army barracks.
Victoria and Albert themselves usually had several trees at Windsor Castle. They had one each, and there was also one each for the family and one for the members of the Royal Household. The trees were placed in the centre of a table, on which would rest the presents, always exchanged on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.
V&A’s trees were spruce firs rather than yew trees and always lavishly decorated. They are thought to have had some of the first specially manufactured tree decorations, imported from Germany, along with the trees themselves, which came from Albert’s native Coburg.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert celebrated every one of their 20 Christmases together at Windsor Castle. Their gifts to family and friends were arranged on tables decorated with seasonal foliage and small individual Christmas trees. Gifts were exchanged on Christmas Eve, 24 December, in keeping with the German tradition. The gifts celebrated places they had visited during the previous year, the couple’s interest in art and jewellery design, and often featured images of their nine children.
Queen Victoria herself sent the first official Christmas card and began sending out Royal Christmas cards every year, which showed important events from the royal family’s life the previous year. She began the practice in the 1840s, so it didn’t take long for sending Christmas cards to be a runaway success in the Victorian era.
The birth of the Penny Post in 1840 had given impetus to Prince Albert’s encouragement of another German influence– the exchange of Christmas cards. Although in Germany it was not common to send Christmas cards in the early Victorian era but it was extremely common to send ‘ New Years ‘ cards in which the inspiration came from.
The first initial print run was for 1000 cards by Sir Henry Cole ( who was also an assistant to Sir Rowland Hill in the design of The Penny Post and the first director of The V&A museum) Designed by painter John Callcott Horsley, cards were printed lithographically and then hand-coloured by the professional colourer Mason. Cole used as many of these cards as he required and sold the rest for one shilling each.
It is said that queen Victoria was a big fan of Christmas cards and she encouraged her own children to create and send Christmas cards.
Christmas is an incredibly important time for Their Royal Highnesses and brings back many memories for Prince Albert. Not only is it about gift giving but it is a time to appreciate your family.
Her Majesty had grown up with the tradition of decorating a tree at Christmas time. The custom had been introduced to the English court by her Hanoverian ancestors and was continued by her German mother. However, it was the queen’s husband, Prince Albert, who truly relished this ritual.
After Victoria and Alberts marriage, Albert took it upon himself to personally organise the bringing in and decorating of the trees at Windsor castle. The trees were decorated with candles, wooden toys, nuts, gingerbread and fruits. Often gifts were hung from the tree and also placed below it, the children often had their own tree which was decorated with gifts for them.
Christmas already ?!?
That’s right ! We are planning the festive period already…
We are pleased to say our regular appearance at Rochester Dickens Festival will take place on the 3-4th December for this years Christmas festival.
Not only do we attend events as walkabout characters but we also deliver educational workshops tailored to your needs.
Step back in time and indulge yourself in a very Dickensian Christmas whilst we teach you not only how The Royal Family celebrated Christmas but how those living in the slums celebrated it less extravagantly.
From gift exchanges under candle lit trees on Christmas Eve to the first Christmas card we have a jam packed Christmas workshop waiting for you ! 🎄🎁
Creating your own Christmas card, designing your own present for The Queen and much more. Hands on history is underway and we cannot wait to celebrate with you 🧸🎅🏻
Wow ! Thank you everyone, with your help we reached 2k likes and 2k follows. This means the world to me and I am so glad you all want to share my Royal Victorian journey.
We have come so far already in 4 years. I started my journey at 15. It started just as a one off dress up for a festival. I had bare legs, a bridal hoop skirt, handmade regalia out of clay/ foam and an Aliexpress crown. I thought corsets and stays were the same thing and didn’t even know what a crinoline was.
Through the years I have tried my hardest to research, improve, learn and progress. With the help of friends, historians, museum visits and the amazing ‘ Royal Collection ‘ I have been able to learn so much in these years and hope to spend the rest of my life learning about Victoria.
Through the good and the bad I have had amazing friends support me and help me learn. I cannot thank them enough. Every like, every comment and every share helps my portrayal reach people from all over the world and teach them about Victoria and her robust reign.
I look forward to collaborating, learning, adventuring and teaching as Victoria. I am currently the same age as Victoria when she was coronated. At the young age of 19 I hope to grow and mature into my role .
London
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Have you seen our new replica section on our website? Here you can see our collection of replicas which help us provide an authentic performance. From The George IV Diadem to Queen Victoria’s engagement ring, we strive to provide the upmost authentic appearance. No matter how small the detail, we strive to get it right! #QueenVictoria #OsborneHouse #YoungVictoria #YoungQueenVictoria #OrderOfTheGarter #Historicalinterpretation #HistoricalInterpreter #Actor #Actress #LivingHistory #HandsOnHistory #PrinceAlbert #SapphireCoronet #QueenVictoriasSapphireCoronet #FringeTiara #RoyalReplica Osborne House
Dozens of trips to museums and royal residences sparked an interest to Amelia, she began looking into local Victorian events and came across Rochester Dickens. Amelia attended Rochester Dickens as a normal Victorian lady; her friend noticed she would fit the royal role, prompting her to play Queen Victoria Amelia finally gave in and took on the role. With months of research, sewing and making Amelia finally had her costume ready.
When Amelia put on her first dress she knew this is what she wanted, to bring history back to life to young and old, attending multiple history events Amelia plays Victoria in parades, afternoon tea, balls and opening events.
London Museum of Water & Steam
Green Dragon Lane
The Royal Air Force Museum London
Grahame Park Way
The Royal Air Force Museum - RAFM, RAF Museum
Grahame Park Way
