Queen Victoria

The links to Queen Victoria, who reigned between 1837 and 1901, with the county are perhaps naturally strong. She was, after, the only daughter of the then Duke and Duchess of Kent.

And as you wind your way up and out of Ramsgate’s picturesque marina, it would be easy to drive by a place of royal relevance.

Because in what is now the Albion House hotel, is the room in which Victoria stayed as a child with her mother and Sir John Conroy, the Duchess’ confidante and advisor.

It was there, in 1835, and at the age 16, she suffered a severe fever and had to be nursed back to good health - apparently using a secret tunnel to take her down to the beach.

They were no strangers to Ramsgate - she’d stayed in the town as a four-year-old where she played with other children and enjoyed donkey rides.

They were also regular visitors to Tunbridge Wells at the opposite end of the county - attending services at the Church of King Charles the Martyr in the Pantiles. She stayed at what was then Calverley House - now the Hotel du Vin, opposite the town centre police station.

The town would be given its ‘Royal’ status by Victoria’s successor to the throne, Edward VII.

www.kentonline.co.uk

www.kentonline.co.uk

www.kentonline.co.uk