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VISIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA TO CITY OF LONDON
BARBER, J.: England, 1837, Bronze, 61 mm
Obv: Crowned bust of Victoria VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA.
(Victoria,
Queen by the grace of God).
Below: PUBLISHED BY GRIFFIN & HYAMS.
Rev: The Lord Mayor of London, the Rt. Hon. Sir John Cowan, wearing robes
and chain of office, welcoming Queen Victoria. The young queen is attended by
Britannia standing right, Fortune with a cornucopia to the left and
Fame blowing on a trumpet behind. WELCOME.
Exergue: IN COMMEMORATION. OF. HER MAJESTYS. VISIT. TO. THE. CITY OF .
LONDON. NOVR. 9TH 1837
Below: THE. RIGHT. HONORBL. JOHN. COWAN. LORD. MAYOR
Signed: I. BARBER F.
Ref: BHM ii, 6/1772; Eimer 1303; Fearon 67/288.17;
Weiss BW008
Alexandrina Victoria (1819-1901), Queen of England (1837-1901), was the daughter of
Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, and Mary Louisa Victoria of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Princess Victoria succeeded to the throne on the death
of her uncle William IV in 1837. On the eve of her proclamation the Queen
wrote in her diary, "Since it has pleased Providence to place me in
this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country; I
am very young, and perhaps in many, though not all things, inexperienced,
but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to
do what is fit and right than I have".
The visit of the
Queen to the
Guildhall at the City of London followed a well-established
precedent begun centuries before. It was the custom of the monarch to attend
the mayoralty banquet immediately following the new monarch's accession to
the throne. Several members of the royal family were present at the banquet.
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