DEVOUT DIARIST Victoria continued writing journals throughout her reign, and had completed 122 volumes by her death in 1901
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QUEEN VICTORIA’S CORONATION
Queen Victoria wrote in her diary of the awe she felt at seeing “millions of my loyal subjects” as she made her way to Westminster Abbey for her coronation on 28 June, though as with so many teenage diary entries – the young Queen was just 19 – it embellishes the truth somewhat. The assembled crowd was in the region of 400,000. The unrehearsed five-hour ceremony that followed did not go to plan. The elderly Lord Rolle fell down the stairs to the throne, Victoria was handed the orb early and the Archbishop of Canterbury jammed the coronation ring on the wrong finger; it took an hour of soaking her hand in icy water to remove it. Still, she described the moment that the crown was placed on her head as the “most beautiful impressive moment”.