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How Victoria Day became the May 2-4

May 16, 2007

Written by Adam Reese

For many of us May 24th long weekend represents the gateway to summer. Many make plans to open their cottages or to bask in the sun that occasionally deigns to shine on glorious Sauble Beach, or to drink as many wobbly pops as their systems can (or probably can’t) handle. However, not too many of us pause to reflect on the strange nomenclature our parents or historically inclined friends use to label this weekend of sun, fun and general debauchery. This has led we here at theOwen.com to wonder just who this Queen Victoria was and why we are still celebrating her birthday 106 years after her death.

First, a little bit about the lady. She was born Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg at Kensington Palace in London on May 24th, 1819, the daughter of Prince Edward and granddaughter of King George III. Her grandfather,had suffered from intermittent insanity throughout his adult life creating the inspiration for a decent movie on the subject, “The Madness of King George”. It wasn’t until recently that George III’s illness was understood to be porphyria, a blood illness. Towards the end of George III’s life it became a matter of some concern that none of his 15 children had heirs. George’s eldest son George IV took the throne after his fathers death. However, due to the death of George IV’s daughter Charlotte in 1817 and the fact that he was estranged from his wife, the succession was still in question. As a result, the rest of George III’s children got busy procreating.

Queen VictoriaUnder pressure from Parliament and the public George III’s fourth oldest child Edward married the German princess, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg. She was 31 years old. On May 24, 1819 Victoire gave birth to a daughter. She was christened Alexandrina Victoria, and it is this monumental birth that we have to thank for one of our favorite holidays.

But the question remains, why do we celebrate Victoria’s Birthday when there have been five monarchs on the throne since her reign? Well, aside from how obviously amazing it is to have a long weekend just when we need to open our cottages and shake off our winter glooms, there is historical precedence at work here. What we are really celebrating on the May 24th long weekend is the symbolic birthday of whichever monarch happens to be on the throne at the time. This practice of lumping monarchs’ birthdays together was seen one generation earlier, as George IV’s birthday was celebrated on the birthday of George III. From 1953 to 1956, the Queen’s birthday was celebrated in Canada on Victoria Day, by proclamation of the Governor General, with Her Majesty’s approval. In 1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed as the Queen’s birthday in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the Queen’s birthday is celebrated in June.

TylerfishingHopefully that clears things up for those of us from the younger generation who often wondered why it was called Victoria Day as opposed to Elizabeth Day. Now we know where our glorious, much-needed long holiday break at the gateway to summer comes from. May your beer be crispy cold this Victoria Day, and may it be sunny at the cottage and the beach!!!

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Written by adam · Filed Under Sauble Beach, Administrivia, theOwen 

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One Response to “How Victoria Day became the May 2-4”

  1. Solar Charged Lawnmower : theOwen.com Says:
    February 18th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    […] you get started on this one now you should be able to pull together all the bits in time for the May 24 Weekend. If you actually consider starting this process drop us a […]

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