When you think of Queen Victoria, the image that springs to mind is often that of a stern monarch who set the moral compass for an entire era. The Victorian age, named after her, demanded chastity, strict public conduct, and a low tolerance for crime. Yet beneath that austere exterior, Britain surged forward with unprecedented industrial growth and economic vigor. To many outsiders, Victoria seemed a grim, imposing figure, but behind the crown she harbored a surprisingly playful and human side. Below are the 10 lesser known facts that paint a richer portrait of the queen. Have a look!

10 Lesser Known Facts About Queen Victoria

10 Her Proposal To Prince Albert

On the crisp autumn day of 15 October 1839, the future monarch took the bold step of proposing to her first cousin, Prince Albert. In a later diary entry she confessed, “we embraced each other over and over again, and he was so kind, so affectionate… I really felt it was the happiest, brightest moment in my life.” Their marriage in 1840 marked the beginning of a partnership that would be both personally joyous and politically influential. When Albert died in 1861, Victoria slipped into a profound, years‑long mourning that eclipsed even her public duties.

9 Block Of Cheese As A Wedding Gift

Among the more curious tokens presented to the royal couple was a massive wheel of cheddar, weighing in at over 500 kilograms and crafted from the milk of roughly 750 cows. The generous farmers behind this gargantuan cheese hoped it would be displayed for public admiration. Victoria, ever the gracious hostess, allowed the exhibition but, true to her eccentric side, never reclaimed the dairy leviathan after the show ended.

8 Her Fear Of Bishops

Legend has it that a youthful Victoria harboured an irrational dread of bishops, specifically their towering wigs. The sight of those towering headpieces apparently triggered a deep‑seated fright of the men beneath them. The fear began to wane when the Bishop of Salisbury kindly let the young princess play with his ornate badge of the Order of the Garter, offering a comforting bridge between her anxiety and the ecclesiastical world.

7 Seven Survived Assassinations

Throughout her reign, the queen faced at least seven assassination attempts. The inaugural plot unfolded in 1837, a mere months after she ascended the throne, orchestrated by a self‑styled heir claiming descent from George IV. Subsequent schemes varied in motive: in 1840 a gunman objected to a woman ruling England, while an Irish nationalist in 1872 attempted to force her signature on a document promising Irish emancipation (source: express.co.uk). The final recorded attempt arrived in 1882, perpetrated by a man who harboured an irrational hatred for both the queen and the number four, and who bizarrely believed that “blue things” concealed supernatural forces.

6 Her Strained Relationship With Her Children

Victoria’s nine offspring experienced a childhood under the shadow of a monarch who loathed pregnancy, viewing it as a theft of her sovereign authority, and even described breastfeeding as “disgusting.” Her disciplinary style was severe, leaving little room for affection. The most turbulent bond was with her eldest son, Bertie (later Edward VII). Educated at home, Bertie was deemed a “half‑wit” by his parents. At 19, he was caught in an Irish army barracks sharing a bed with a prostitute, prompting a stern reprimand from Albert. The king even visited Bertie in Cambridge, walked with him in the rain, and fell ill shortly after—an illness that preceded Albert’s death. Victoria blamed Bertie for Albert’s demise for the remainder of her life.

5 Spying On Her Children

Victoria’s insatiable desire for control manifested in a covert network of spies and informants tasked with monitoring her own brood. When her eldest daughter wed and relocated to Germany, Victoria flooded her with daily letters, effectively micromanaging every aspect of her life. Similarly, after Bertie’s marriage to Danish Princess Alexandra, a doctor—acting on Victoria’s orders—sent meticulous reports on Alexandra’s health, down to the minutiae of her menstrual cycle. Victoria even attempted to keep her youngest daughter, Beatrice, single; when Beatrice defied her wishes and became engaged to a German prince, the queen cut off communication for six months, eventually relenting only on the condition that the couple reside under her roof (source: BBC).

4 ‘The Grandmother Of Europe’

In the twilight of her reign, Victoria earned the affectionate moniker “the Grandmother of Europe.” This nickname reflected the strategic marriages of her nine children into the royal houses of Denmark, Prussia, Russia, Schleswig‑Holstein, Battenberg, and Waldeck. Her grandchildren further cemented this dynastic web, producing figures such as Queen Sofie of Greece, German Emperor Wilhelm II, and Russia’s Czarina Alix. Through these alliances, Victoria’s lineage wove itself into the fabric of European royalty.

3 The Carrier Of The ‘Royal Disease’

Medical historians attribute to Victoria the unwitting role of carrier for hemophilia B, ominously dubbed the “royal disease.” She passed the clotting‑factor deficiency to three of her nine children. Her son Leopold, a frail boy, suffered a fatal hemorrhage after a modest fall. Victoria’s daughters, Beatrice and Alice, subsequently transmitted the condition to several of their offspring, spreading it across England, Germany, Russia, and Spain for three generations before the gene finally vanished from the royal bloodlines.

2 Prolific Writer

Victoria’s pen was never idle. Beginning at age thirteen in 1832, she launched a diary that would become a lifelong companion. Her mother inspected each entry until Victoria’s coronation, after which the queen continued unabated, amassing 121 journals and averaging roughly 2,000 words daily. Her final entry, penned merely ten days before her death, capped a literary legacy of over 40,000 pages. Before passing, she instructed a child to censor any “improper” passages; her daughter Beatrice dutifully complied, resulting in the destruction of many original pages.

1 First Sovereign To Rule From Buckingham Palace

Victoria broke tradition by becoming the inaugural monarch to reside in Buckingham Palace, moving in upon her accession in 1837. The palace transformed into a bustling nexus of royal family life, state affairs, and grand entertainment under Albert’s influence. Yet after Albert’s untimely death, Victoria’s affection for the grand edifice waned, and she favored residences such as Windsor Castle, Scotland’s Balmoral, and the seaside Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

In bygone days, before modern technology, people had to rely more on their imaginations to come up with entertaining pastimes. This often resulted in some very strange games, especially for children, during the Victorian Age and long before. Some of these games are silly, while others are a little disturbing, and versions of some are still played today.

Here are 10 of the weirdest children’s games from the Victorian era and earlier.

10 Funeral

Some children’s pastimes during this era were startlingly macabre, such as one make-believe game known as Funeral. As strange and disturbing as it may seem today, laying out a doll and performing a mock funeral, sometimes even burying the doll, was common in the 19th century and referred to by authors of the day.

One publication noted that Charles Dickens referenced such a game in his 1840 novel The Old Curiosity Shop. In the story, the protagonist, Nell, stumbles across a group of children in a graveyard “playing funeral” with a very realistic doll—their baby brother or sister.

Considering the high infant and child mortality rate in this era, it makes sense that end-of-life rituals would be reflected in children’s play. Not only did kids gather together pretending to mourn a loved one, but there were toys made for this purpose, including a tiny black coffin and a tiny black mourning dress.^[1]

9 Honey-Pots

There isn’t much to the 19th-century game Honey-Pots, but that doesn’t mean it was easy. One player rolls their body into a very tight ball, and another player has to lift the person and carry them as if they were a jar of honey being brought home from the market. Depending on the size of the player who’s impersonating the honey-pot and the one doing the lifting, this could be a challenging task. It was probably also uncomfortable being transported in this strange manner.^[2]

8 Apple and Candle

The Victorians liked games involving fire, like Ghostly Fire and the very popular Snap Dragon. Some of these were clearly hazardous, such as the Halloween game Apple and Candle, in which a stick was strung up horizontally with an apple attached to one end and a lit candle attached to the other. Participants would take their turn jumping up and using their teeth to try to snatch the apple from the quickly twirling stick.

However, as The Book of Days explains, “it very frequently happens that the candle comes round before they are aware, and scorches them in the face, or anoints them with grease.”^[3]

7 Knucklebones

The ancient game of Knucklebones is suspected of having originated in either ancient Egypt or Lydia and eventually made its way into Roman and Greek culture. The children’s version of the game involves simultaneously throwing five game pieces up in the air. As they fall, a player tries to catch as many as possible on the back of their hand. In another version, players try to throw one or two pieces at a time into a small hole in the ground or the opening of some small object.

The strangest thing about this pastime is that the actual knucklebones of goats and sheep were originally used as game pieces. Later, they were made of all sorts of different materials, including glass, wood, stone, and even bronze and gold. Games similar to Knucklebones are still played today, such as the children’s game, Jackstones.^[4]

6 Hot Cockles

One famous Victorian party game for children and adults, Hot Cockles, is possibly the most bizarre and violent, which may be why the memory of it has not been lost to history—except for maybe on an episode of Jackass.

A player kneels down, blindfolded, and places their head in the lap of a seated person, then waits for the other guests to take turns kicking them from behind. The objective is for the player to “guess who has just kicked them.” In another version of the game, the blindfolded player would guess the identity of the person who has just slapped them.^[5]

5 Ring Around the Rosie

Everyone’s familiar with the cute childhood game Ring Around the Rosie, which is still popular today. This activity started long before the Victorian era and involves kids holding hands as they dance around in a circle, singing the words to this old nursery rhyme. However, the lyrics may be rooted in a tragic chapter of history. There is a widespread belief that the words describe symptoms of the bubonic plague.

The first line, “Ring around the Rosie,” could easily refer to the bright red rash visible on infected people. The line “Pocket full of posies” could be included because the flower was considered a good luck charm that was thought to guard against the contraction of the virus. Posies were also “sometimes used to overpower the stench of dead bodies.”

The line “Atischoo, atischoo,” is meant to sound like sneezes, so that also fits in with the theory. But children in some places instead say “Ashes, ashes,” which could be a reference to the frequent cremations that were done during the plague. Sadly, the phrase “We all fall down” might symbolize death, as the plague, of course, had a very high fatality rate.^[6]

4 The Bellman

There are many variations on the 2,000-year-old game we know today as Blind Man’s Bluff, in which a player is blindfolded and spun around before chasing after other players who are calling out to them. One version known as The Bellman is a reverse of the standard game. All the players are blindfolded except one, who rings a bell. When the blindfolded players hear the bell, they run in the direction the sound came from, trying to catch the person who rang it.

This is one of many games played in the Victorian Era and earlier that could be somewhat dangerous. As History Collection points out: “It’s very likely that the blindfolded kids collided into one another, and possibly ended up getting a concussion.” ^[7]

3 Ball of Wool

It’s hard to imagine being so bored that it would seem like fun to try to blow a ball of wool off the opposite side of a table, but maybe that’s because we’re not in the Victorian Age. Yes, this was a game. The challenging part was trying to get the ball of wool past the person on the other side, who was supposed to block it from going over the edge. In another version, a player would use their breath to keep a feather in the air for as long as possible.

Imagine trying to entertain children with this game at your next family gathering.^[8]

2 Predictions of Future Husbands

During the Victorian era, there were a number of games that revolved around girls trying to glean information about their future husbands. These were especially popular during Halloween parties. One such game involved the pouring of melted lead through a key into a bowl of water and analyzing the shapes for hints of their future husband’s occupation.

In another game, a girl was supposed to eat an apple by candlelight while looking into a mirror and hopefully see the reflection of her intended standing behind her.

Three Luggies called for a girl to be blindfolded, so common in this era, and have three turns at placing her left hand in one of three bowls to determine what kind of husband she would get, but it only counted if her hand was in the same bowl at least twice. If she dipped her hand in a bowl of water, she was destined to wed a bachelor. A bowl of milk meant she would marry a widower, but if the bowl was empty, it meant spinsterhood, a frightening prospect in the 1800s. No wonder they played it on Halloween.

There was also a version of this game for males, but the bowl that meant the young man would marry a widow contained fowl water instead of milk.^[9]

1 Marriage Games

A marriage-themed game might sound goofy today, but since Victorians, in general, seemed to be so preoccupied with who was going to marry whom, it makes sense that there would be a party game based on the topic. These games tended to be geared toward teenagers and young adults. Marriages and Divorces almost sounds like the predecessor to speed dating and has been compared to it. However, the old-fashioned parlor game may have actually been a more effective matchmaking technique. In Marriages and Divorces, all the girls would line up on one side of the room while the boys would line up on the other side. Whoever you happened to be standing across from was your partner. Each player had to write a “character sketch,” including their flaws and their good points.

As if this game wasn’t awkward and embarrassing enough, each participant was required to read these descriptions aloud in front of the group. Depending on how well a couple hit it off, they would either ask the game’s judge to be “married” or “divorced.” However, it was up to the judge to decide if they were compatible enough. In the event that a couple asked to be divorced, despite the judge’s opinion that they were suitable, there was a penalty. The two players had to pay a forfeit.

In a different version of the game, just called Marriages, everyone would name a famous person, alive or dead, or a fictional character. The male participants, assuming the role of one of these celebrities, would propose to a female player, who would either accept or reject the proposal. However, if she declined, she was obligated to explain why. After everyone was matched up, the males had to explain why their character proposed to the female player. This game could be a way to explore romantic attitudes in mixed company but with a less personal and direct approach than Marriages and Divorces.^[10]