“In 1846, an American visitor to London who had attended one of the queen’s receptions described her as a “pleasing lady-like little woman” whose height “cannot exceed five feet”. Some writers have stated that she was shorter than this: 4’ 10” or 4’ 11”.
However, in her recent biography of the queen historian Lucy Worsley revealed that the portrait painter Thomas Sully, who executed one of the first and most lovely portraits of the young Queen Victoria in 1838, claimed to have measured her with a tape measure at 5’ 1¼” precisely.
Victoria's Uncle Leopold, solicitous about the young princess’s wellbeing in his many letters to her, worried that she was not getting enough exercise or eating the right food. But despite all his advice on her diet, Victoria never grew. Her marriage, nine pregnancies and a lifetime’s overeating inexorably took their toll on her figure, which spread ever outwards rather than upwards as she aged, thus making her appear even shorter.
Victoria’s lack of height always frustrated her – she was once heard to exclaim in frustration: “Everyone grows but me!”
Was Queen Victoria pretty?
As the young Victoria grew older her fair hair became darker and mousier and straighter, and although she had a very good complexion, her intolerance of heat caused her face to flush. Her mouth was rather thin and rabbity, and, when she smiled the princess displayed small, short teeth “like those of a mouse”, according to Princess Marie of Romania. Victoria’s half-sister, Feodora, noted her habit of keeping her mouth always a little open and advised her to try hard to keep it closed, though another commentator noted that her mouth, when closed, was “vacant and inexpressive”.”
[ Ссылка ]
Subscribe to learn more about history!
![](https://s2.save4k.ru/pic/dfLfdd-C4L4/maxresdefault.jpg)