Tag: Queen Victoria

On This Day 178 Years Ago – Victoria crowned Queen of England

On: By: Philip Wake
On 28th June 1838 the Coronation of Queen Victoria took place just over a year after she ascended the throne at the tender age of 18 when her uncle King William IV died in 1837. The procession to and from the ceremony at Westminster Abbey was witnessed by huge crowds because the new railways made it possible for an unprecedented 400,000 people to come to London from the rest of the country! Only four years later Queen Victoria became the first monarch to ride on a train! An interesting Read more [...]

On This Day 174 Year Ago – Queen Victoria is the first monarch to ride on a train!

On: By: Philip Wake
On 13th June 1842 Queen Victoria became the the first monarch to ride on a train.  She traveled from Slough to Paddington in the Royal Carriage pulled by the Phlegethon and its tender.  A replica of this train may be seen at the Didcot Railway Centre. It is regularly steamed up to give an authentic taste of travel at the dawn of the railway era. Later in her reign Queen Victoria often passed by my house (which in the late 1800s was part of the Blenheim Pub) on the way to her favourite holiday Read more [...]