一代女王的童年

欲戴王冠必承其重 咕噠鎮

【No.19】

書名丨Who Was Queen Victoria？

作者丨Jim Gigliotti

Goodreads丨4.00 / 5.00

via Amazon

Who Was Queen Victoria?

誰是維多利亞女王？

翻譯：Catrina Chiang

Nothing was out of the ordinary when eighteen-year-old Princess Victoria went to bed on the evening of Monday, June 19, 1837. She fell asleep in Kensington Palace in London, in the room she shared with her mother, the Duchess of Kent. She had always shared a room with her mother. Her mother never allowed her to be alone.

1837年6月19日，星期一，當晚十八歲的維多利亞公主準備就寢，一切都再平常不過。她在倫敦肯辛頓宮入睡，和母親肯特公爵夫人同住一個房間。她一直都與母親同住一個房間，母親從不允許她獨自一人。

皇家宮殿肯辛頓宮(Kensington Palace） via Architectural Digest

At six o'clock the next morning, though, Victoria's world changed. She woke up to hear her mother say that two men had arrived at the palace. They wished to see Victoria.

可是，第二天早晨六點鐘時，維多利亞的世界變了。她醒來時聽見母親說，宮殿裡來了兩名男子，他們要參見維多利亞。

The men were the archbishop of Canterbury and the lord chamberlain. The archbishop of Canterbury was the leader of the Church of England. The lord chamberlain was the top official in the royal household, where the king lived.

兩名男子是坎特伯雷大主教和內務大臣。坎特伯雷大主教是英格蘭教會的首領；內務大臣是國王居住的王宮的高級官員。

via NBC News

Victoria put on her dressing gown and went to her sitting room. The men came in, and the lord chamberlain knelt before her. Victoria knew what that meant: Her uncle, King William IV, had died.

維多利亞穿上晨袍，進了起居室。兩名男子進來，內務大臣向她屈膝行禮。維多利亞知道這是什麼意思：她的伯父，國王威廉四世去世了。

Victoria extended her hand, and the lord chamberlain kissed it. "The king died at twelve minutes past two o'clock in the morning," the lord chamberlain said. Princess Victoria was now Queen Victoria. She was the queen of the United Kingdom.

維多利亞伸出手，內務大臣親吻了一下。「國王於今日凌晨兩點十二分離世了，」內務大臣說道。維多利亞公主現在是維多利亞女王了，是聯合王國的女王。

（譯者註：the United Kingdom的全稱是the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland（大不列顛及北愛爾蘭聯合王國），簡稱「聯合王國」，俗稱「英國」。）

"Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station," Victoria wrote in her journal later that night, "I shall do my utmost to fulfill my duty towards my country."

「既是上帝的恩意，讓我擔此重任，」那天夜裡，維多利亞在她的日記中寫道，「我將竭盡所能，履行我對國家的責任。」

via Country Life

Although Victoria was only eighteen, she had been preparing for her role since she was eleven years old. That was when she became the next in line to the throne.

雖然維多利亞年僅18歲，但她從11歲開始，就一直在為她的角色做準備。那時候，她剛剛成為王位第一繼承人。

"I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced," the queen wrote, "but I am sure that very few have more real goodwill and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have."

「我很年輕，或許在許多方面經驗不足，儘管不是所有方面。」女王寫道，「但我確信，很少有人會比我還更有誠意，更加渴望去做合適且正確的事情。」

Victoria did what she felt was fit and right for more than sixty-three as queen. She had the longest reign of any king or queen in Britain's history.

維多利亞女王，在位超過六十三年，做了許多她認為合適且正確的事情。她是英國歷史上在位時間最長的國王或女王（譯者註：本書出版時的數據。但如今依然健在的英國女王伊莉莎白二世，已經打破了這個記錄）。

英國女王伊莉莎白二世與坎特伯雷大主教 via Harper's Bazaar

She helped maintain peace and prosperity in her country, and she ruled at a time when exciting new discoveries were made in many fields. Victoria was so important to this time period that it had been named after her: the Victorian era.

她協助維持了國家的和平與繁榮；在她統治期間，許多領域出現了激動人心的新發現。維多利亞對這一時期極為重要，於是該時期便以她的名字命名：維多利亞時代。

Before any of that, however, one of Victoria's first declarations as queen was that her bed be moved into her own room. She would not share a room with her mother any longer.

然而在此之前，維多利亞最早以女王身份發布的口諭之一卻是，將她的床搬進自己的房間。從此，她不再和母親共用一個房間。

The king was dead. Long live the queen.

國王已逝，女王萬歲。

Chapter 1 Childhood

第一章童年

When Princess Victoria was seven years old, she went for long carriage rides in the countryside outside London, England, with her grandmother, who was visiting from Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in what is now Germany.

維多利亞公主7歲的時候，她和祖母一起乘坐馬車，在英格蘭倫敦郊外的鄉村進行長途旅行。她的祖母從薩克森-科堡-薩爾費爾德而來，這地方位於現在的德國。

via Royal Collection Trust

Victoria loved her grandmother and enjoyed the beautiful horses, but she didn't care to be driven around the countryside. Like many young girls, she later admitted in her journal, she "preferred running about."

維多利亞喜歡祖母，喜歡漂亮的馬兒們；但她不喜歡被人帶著在鄉下跑來跑去。她後來在日記中承認，跟許多小女孩一樣，她更喜歡自己到處亂跑。

Victoria loved running and playing with her dog, a King Charles spaniel named Dash. Other times, she played with her doll collection. She loved dolls so much that she had more than one hundred of them!

維多利亞喜歡跑步，跟自己的狗一起玩。她的狗是一條查爾斯國王獵犬，名字叫達什。其它時候，她就玩自己收藏的洋娃娃。她非常喜歡洋娃娃，收集了100多個！

via Royal Collection Trust

Victoria had a full schedule of schoolwork, too, and enjoyed some of her academic subjects more than others. She was fascinated by history, and excellent at learning languages.

維多利亞還有滿滿的課程安排；她喜歡某些學科，也不喜歡另一些學科。她對歷史十分著迷，還擅長學習多種語言。

That all may sound as if Victoria had a typical childhood. She didn't. Certainly anyone born into royalty will have a different upbringing. Victoria, however, had a particularly uncommon childhood, and it was not an especially happy one.

這一切聽起來，好像維多利亞的童年並不出奇，其實並非如此。任何出生在王室的人，當然會有一段與眾不同的成長經歷。然而，維多利亞的童年尤為不同尋常，而且那不是一個特別開心的童年。

Victoria was born as Alexandrina Victoria in Kensington Palace in London on May 24, 1819. Her father was Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent. Her mother was Victoire, the Duchess of Kent. Sometimes the newborn's family called her "Drina" at home, but mostly she was just "Victoria."

維多利亞1819年5月24日，出生於倫敦肯辛頓宮，全名是亞歷山德麗娜·維多利亞。她的父親是愛德華王子，肯特公爵；她的母親是維多利公主，肯特公爵夫人。小傢伙的家人有時在家裡叫她「德麗娜」，但大多數時候，她就是「維多利亞」。

via Wikimedia Commons

Victoria was only eight months old when her father died unexpectedly. The duke caught a severe cold, which turned to pneumonia. He died on January 23, 1820.

維多利亞只有八個月大的時候，父親就突然去世了。肯特公爵得了很嚴重的感冒，後來轉變成了肺炎。他於1820年1月23日逝世。

Victoria grew up without a father. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, did not remarry, but she did ask a close friend of her husband's, Sir John Conroy, to help run the household. He became a financial adviser and secretary to the duchess. Victoria did not trust Conroy—and with good reason.

維多利亞在沒有父親的環境下長大。她的母親肯特公爵夫人，沒有再嫁，但她請了丈夫的一位密友，約翰·康羅伊爵士，協助打理宮廷事務。他成了公爵夫人的財務顧問兼秘書。維多利亞並不信任康羅伊——並且理由充分。

After her father's death, Victoria's mother made a plan with Conroy. They both hoped to keep young Victoria so dependent on them that their opinions would come to matter more than her own.

她父親死後，維多利亞的母親與康羅伊制定了一個計劃。他們都希望小維多利亞能強烈依賴他們，從而使他們的意志高過她自己的意願。

Conroy wanted power. He could never be king because he was not born into the right family, but he was determined to exert great influence on Victoria.

康羅伊渴求權力。因為沒有出生在正確的家族，他永遠都不能當上國王。但他決心要對維多利亞施加巨大的影響。

via The Sun

The atmosphere in the palace was one of drama and intrigue in the early years of Victoria's life. If Victoria's uncle, King William IV, died before she turned eighteen, her mother would become queen regent and rule the United Kingdom on Victoria's behalf. If he died after she turned eighteen, Victoria would be queen. Either way, Conroy and the duchess wanted to be in control.

在維多利亞人生的早些年裡，王宮的空氣中充斥著虛情假意和陰謀詭計。如果維多利亞的伯父國王威廉四世，在她年滿十八歲之前去世了，她的母親就會成為攝政女王，代表維多利亞統治聯合王國。如果威廉四世在維多利亞年滿十八歲之後去世，則維多利亞就會成為女王。無論哪種情況，康羅伊和公爵夫人都想掌控局面。

Victoria was not allowed to make or play with friends her age. She was never left alone, not even at night. That's why she shared a bedroom with her mother. She did not talk to adults unless either Conroy, her mother, or her governess also was present.

維多利亞不允許和同齡的孩子交朋友，或者一起玩。她從來不能單獨相處，即便是在晚上。這也是她和母親同住一間臥室的原因。她不能和大人交談，除非康羅伊、她母親，或者家庭女教師在場。

She couldn't even walk up and down the stairs in the palace by herself! She was required to hold her governess's hand on the staircase right up until the time she became queen.

在王宮裡，她甚至不能獨自上下樓梯！在樓梯上，她被要求必須緊緊抓住家庭教師的手，直到她成為女王時才作罷。

via Wikimedia Commons

Victoria did not have many childhood friends, and she was the only child the Duke and Duchess of Kent had together. Victoria had a half sister, Feodore, but Feodore was eleven years older. Instead, Victoria was closest to her governess, Miss Louise Lehzen.

維多利亞沒幾個兒時玩伴，而且她是公爵和公爵夫人的獨生女。維多利亞有一個同母異父的姐姐叫菲奧多莉，但是菲奧多莉比她大了十一歲。相反，維多利亞最親近的人是她的家庭女教師，路易斯·萊純。

A governess is a woman who help raise the children in a private home.When Victoria was five years old, Miss Lehzen became her governess. By then, Victoria had shown that she could sometimes be stubborn, impatient, and rude. Later in life, Victoria diplomatically called it being "passionate."

家庭女教師是在私人家庭幫助撫養孩子的女人。維多利亞五歲的時候，萊純小姐成了她的家庭教師。那時候，維多利亞已經顯示出時而比較固執、不耐煩和無禮的一面。後來，維多利亞委婉地稱之為「熱情」。

Miss Lehzen quickly taught Victoria to be polite and to apologize when she was too "passionate." But Miss Lehzen also quietly encouraged Victoria to maintain her independence from Conroy and her mother.

萊純小姐很快教會了維多利亞為人禮貌，以及當她過於「熱情」的時候，要懂得道歉。不過，萊純小姐也悄悄地鼓勵維多利亞保持獨立，與康羅伊和她母親保持距離。

via KPBS

Although Conroy and the Duchess of Kent wanted Victoria to be dependent on them, Victoria developed an incredibly strong will and rebelled by becoming fiercely independent. That would serve her well in her adult life as queen.

雖然康羅伊和公爵夫人想要維多利亞依賴他們，但是維多利亞仍然養成了驚人的堅強意志，變得格外獨立，極為叛逆。這對她成年後的女王生涯裨益良多。

Victoria's childhood wasn't all bad, of course. She was very close to Miss Lehzen, and she was often pampered. For her fourteenth birthday, the king gave a ball in her honor. Victoria danced all night and didn't get home until half past midnight. "I was very much amused," she wrote before going to sleep.

當然，維多利亞的童年也不全是一團糟。她和萊純小姐十分親近，後者對她也經常有所驕縱。她14歲生日那天，國王為她舉辦了一場舞會。維多利亞跳了一整夜的舞，過了半夜都沒有回家。「我非常非常開心，」她入睡之前如此寫道。

via Pinterest

TIPS

Next in Line

第一順位繼承人

At the time of Victoria's birth in 1819, her grandfather, George III, was king of the United Kingdom. It was called the United Kingdom because in 1707, England (which already included the small country of Wales) and Scotland joined to create Great Britain. In 1801, Great Britain added Ireland to"Unite the Kingdom." (Most of Ireland regained independence in 1922; Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom.)

1819年維多利亞出生的時候，她的祖父喬治三世，是當時的聯合王國國王。之所以被稱為聯合王國，是因為在1707年，英格蘭（已經吞併了威爾斯這個小國家）和蘇格蘭合併、建立了大不列顛。而1801年，大不列顛將愛爾蘭併入「聯合王國」。（愛爾蘭大部分地區於1922年重獲獨立；北愛爾蘭則仍屬於聯合王國。）

Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after three uncles (the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Clarence) and her father, the Duke of Kent.

維多利亞那時是第五順位繼承人，位居三個叔叔（威爾斯親王，約克公爵，克拉倫斯公爵）和她的父親肯特公爵之後。

目前英國王位的繼承順序(藍圈頭像) via Business Insider

The Prince of Wales officially became King George IV when George III died in 1820, only six days after Victoria's own father died.

1820年，在維多利亞父親去世僅六天後，喬治三世去世，威爾斯親王正式成為英王喬治四世。

The Duke of York, whose name was Frederick, died in 1827. George IV died shortly thereafter in 1830, and the Duke of Clarence reigned as William IV for seven years before Victoria was crowned queen.

約克公爵名為弗雷德裡克，於1827年去世。此後不久，喬治四世於1830年去世。克拉倫斯公爵成為英王，他作為威廉四世治國7年，直至維多利亞加冕女王。

維多利亞女王，是現任女王伊莉莎白二世的爺爺的奶奶，理清楚了嗎

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