While looking up images of Victoria, Duchess of Kent (Queen V's momma) I came across this 1821 print on Wikipedia depicting the Duchess and the future queen.
Any Georgiana fans might look at that and go "Hmmm, that looks quite familiar." Why yes, because Joshua Reynolds has one just like it from 1759 portraying Lady Spencer and Georgiana. Interesting, no?
There was actually a few similarities between Victoria and Georgiana when it came to their relationship with their mothers. First of all, they both were named after their mother, with the intention of being their mother's obedient little clone. Both the Duchess of Kent and the Countess Spencer had strong and planned-out aspirations for their daughters, they were both somewhat over-protective, and they both were criticized for it by their contemporaries (you may recall Walpole sarcastically referring to Lady Spencer as the "goddess of wisdom"). Both the Duchess and Countess dearly loved their daughters and wanted the best for them but their stern ways made them seem cold and even unloving. This really backfired on the Duchess of Kent since Victoria would later ground her mother when she became queen. Georgiana, however, always looking to please, always seemed to accept her mother's ways and believe herself a better person for them.
Well, it's better to have a clear vision for your children and try to instil what is right and wrong at the risk of being overbearing than being a Kardashian mother pushing her daughters into posing nude.
ReplyDeleteJust musing....
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet seen the Young Victoria but am planning to do so this week. As for overbearing parenting styles, it seems to be pretty common these days.
ReplyDelete123, sorry but your comment seemed more like spam than genuine good input!
ReplyDeleteBoth Georgiana and the Duchess of Kent never seemed to listen to what their daughters wanted. It's intereting, Georgiana seemed to be much more of a people pleaser than Victoria. Victoria certainly didn't care what people thought when she went into deep mourning for years after Albert died, and then her relationship with John Brown. It says something about both their characters how they dealt with their mothers. I do agree that both meddling mamas loved their daughters, although they definitely didn't seem to know them very well.
ReplyDeletei also loved The Young Victoria. i particularly liked the part when victoria told her mother that she will never forget that her mother just stood by while victoria was being mistreated by Conroy. :)
ReplyDeleteI loved that part too! She said the same thing in the miniseries, Victoria and Albert so it makes me think that that actually happened. Can any Vicky experts confirm that?
ReplyDeleteI just saw Young Victoria the other night and really enjoyed it. (I did a mini-review of it on my blog.) Drawing the comparison between G & V is interesting, it makes me wonder how G's life would have been different if she had a more loving relationship with her husband? Would she still have been such a fixture in society and politics or would she have been happier at home with her family?
ReplyDelete(Long time reader, but first time commenting.)
I've often wondered the same thing. Having unhappy aspects of life can often serve as a muse. And yay for a first time gossip!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that comparison! I don't know much of their backgrounds so wasn't aware of their similarities. I wondered if they might be related somehow but realize that just because they're both in England that does not a relative make!
ReplyDeleteAlthough they do tend to marry within the same families right?! I guess I wondered if Victoria might be able to be traced back to someone in Georgiana's ancestry.
I'm trying to think if it's possible...but the more I think about it the more I am realizing just how German Victoria was! Her mother was, and her father was a son of George III; George I was definitely German, barely speaking a word of English. Then of course, she went and married a German... So they married into the same family, it just happened to be German!
ReplyDeleteWhen you mentioned King George, it struck me that Georgiana has her name derived from 'George'. Wondering if the name itself has German roots.
ReplyDelete