How “popular” were the Royal Family in Victorian times?
Victoria’s reign was when the monarchy went from being the rulers to figureheads. So there was some animosity towards them for their bad decisions and some for the bad decisions of governemnt (that Victoria had no part in) There were a number of assasination attempts made on Victoria throughout her life. After Albert died, she retreated from public life. The opinon then would be much like the opinion now. Certainly people question their usefulness, but there is still pride in their monarchy. Keep in mind that Victoria’s reign was the height of Imperialism and she was the longest reigning monarch until Elizabeth II. For many people this motherly old widow, who had a kid in every royal family in Europe, who collected countries under the rule of their little island represented England (nevermind the fact that she didn’t even have a perfect grasp of English.).
