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Who Was Queen Victoria?

Nothing was out of the ordinary when eighteen-year-old Princess Victoria went to bed on the evening of Monday, June 19, 1837. She fell asleep in Kensington Palace in London, in the room she shared with her mother, the Duchess of Kent. She had always shared a room with her mother. Her mother never allowed her to be alone.

At six o’clock the next morning, though, Victoria’s world changed. She woke up to hear her mother say that two men had arrived at the palace. They wished to see Victoria.

The men were the archbishop of Canterbury and the lord chamberlain. The archbishop of Canterbury was the leader of the Church of England. The lord chamberlain was the top official in the royal household, where the king lived.