Description:

Victoria of England Queen

Queen Victoria Signed Son's Burial Instructions

 

2pp letter  signed by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) as "Victoria R" (Regina) at top of second page. On cream bifold semi-transparent stationery, in very good to near fine condition. With toning and expected paper folds, some worn and with a few closed tears. Each page measures 5.25" x 8.125."

 

Queen Victoria dictated this confidential memorandum on August 31, 1865, regarding burial instructions for her second son and naval officer Alfred Ernest Albert (1844-1900).

 

"Confidential.

 

Memorandum.

 

31 August 1865.

 

In case it should please God to call away Prince Alfred, Either by illness, or incident, while he is at sea, The Queen wishes that his remains should be carefully Embalmed (by the simplest process - of which there is one frequently used now - by letting some preparation into a vein which is opened for the purpose) and brought home.

 

The Queen wishes on no account that he should be buried at sea. Some of his hair should be cut off to be given to The Queen. --

 

Victoria RI".

 

The "spare", Alfred had joined the Royal Navy as a teenaged midshipman in 1858. He sailed all over the world on various cruises, serving on such vessels as H.M.S. Euryalus, H.M.S. Racoon, H.M.S. Galatea, H.M.S. Penelope, and H.M.S. Alexandra. By the end of his career, he would command fleets at Plymouth, the Channel, and the Mediterranean. Victoria's fears were never realized; Alfred would die of throat cancer 6 months before his mother.

 

Embalming was indeed increasingly popular in the mid-nineteenth century. It was a more hygienic and euphemistic way to preserve, transport, and display the dead. It usually entailed draining body fluids and replacing them with chemicals like mercury or arsenic, or "preparations" as Victoria called them. The presence of the deceased's physical remains, as well as tokens such as hair, were essential parts of the Victorian death ritual.

 

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