Queen Victoria and Catherine the Great

The historical writing of these amazing rulers is vast. This erudite card is just a very small drop, a comparison between: Queen Victoria, Empress of India and Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Which had more in common than one might think.

Beginning with stating the obvious Queen Victoria and Tsarina Catherine the Great, two queens who proved that they could rule and even better than anyone could have wished for, two enlightened strong, determined, and passionate about their countries, women and queens.

The first similarity is in their national origins. While Queen Victoria was born on 24 May 1819, Kent and as such on the territory of the country she will rule, she was of Germanic origin. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, born in Coburg. And she belonged to the Royal house of Hanover (European royal house of German origins).

Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst (later baptized as Catherine) was also born in May, on 2nd May 1729, exactly 90 years before Victoria in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia.

Catherine II was expected to be just the wife of the future tsar Peter III (grandson of Peter the Great). Dropped in a very unhappy marriage that resulted in just one heir, future tsar Paul, Catherine soon realized that the only way to save Russia from an unfit ruler, was to attempt to seize the throne for herself, which she did with the support of the military. An Empress that despite her foreign origins became involved with Russia and did everything to modernize the country and reigned over it from 1762 to 1796 in her own right.

Victoria was at the time of her birth 5th in line of succession, as the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, whom in turn was King George III fourth son. As such the probability of her becoming queen was slim. However even in her name there is a tie to Empress Catherine. Future Queen Victoria first name was Alexandrina, after her godparent Tsar Alexander I of Russia (Catherine's grandson to whom she wished to pass the throne directly).

Both Queens would go through difficult uphill path until able to assume a full governing in a male dominated world, and where her advisors tried to dominate their rule. They were mocked, at first for their petite height: Victoria was 5 feet (1.52 cm) while Catherine was 5.16 feet (1.57 cm), but they rose to a height beyond past rulers.

Tsarina Catherine the Great was considered by historians an enlightened ruler and the list of facts to support this is vast. In 1763 she opened Paul's hospital (Pavlovskaya hospital), she founded multiple foundling homes (Moscow orphanage in 1764 is just one example), centralized the medical administrating with one of their first task being the vaccination.

To lead the country policies by example, she asked Thomas Dimsdale, a British doctor to inoculate her and her son Paul, in 1768 with the smallpox vaccine, making her the first ruler to be vaccinated. By the end of her reign, more than 2 million people in the Russian Empire would have had the smallpox vaccine.

The same attention to health policies was taken by Queen Victoria. Through the act of 1840, she provided free vaccination to all classes of citizens, even the poor that could not afford it. To combat disease spread, like cholera, she establishes vast works in plumbing and drainage not just to the palaces, but also throughout London, big cities and domestic homes. And to lead progress by example as well, during her childbirth in 1853, she was the first British monarch to use anesthesia, in the form of chloroform.

One of the largest museums in Europe, the Hermitage Museum starts its story in Saint Petersburg in 1764, with the Winter palace (started by Peter I and expanded by Catherine). The art items got their starting point with the Tsarinas personal collection, as she was a great lover of books and art objects. Until 1790 the Hermitage had almost 40,000 books, 10,000 paintings and over 10,000 gems.

Tsarskoye Selo, palace of her favorite grandson (future Tsar Alexander I), she arranged to be planted the first "English garden". Writing to Voltaire she expressed her admiration towards the English style of landscapes: "Right now I adore English gardens, curves, gentle slopes, ponds in the form of lakes, archipelagos on dry land, and I have a profound scorn for straight lines, symmetric avenues. I hate fountains that torture water in order to make it take a course contrary to its nature: Statues are relegated to galleries, vestibules etc.; in a word, Anglomania is the master of my plantomania". Assisted by the Scottish architect Charles Cameron to further improve the.

She sponsored and encouraged intellectuals from Great Britain, France, Holland and even Prussia to come and develop Saint Petersburg into a beacon of culture. Not neglecting Moscow, as in March 1776 she founded the great Bolshoi theatre and ballet.

A lover of art and modernization can be said in equal if not greater measure about Queen Victoria. The steam locomotive was invented in Great Britain and enjoyed the full support of the queen. An invention that will further push the Industrial revolution.

Her love and her husbands (Prince Albert) love for history can be seen in the museums and Historical institutions they founded or supported to start in her reign: Victoria and Albert Museum (the largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design), established in 1852. The Imperial college of London has its beginnings in the founding of the Royal College of Chemistry in 1845. Natural History Muesum is founded in 1881. While another amazing institution is without a doubt the opening of Royal Albert Hall that hosted exquisite Ballet, Opera, Classical music concerts with artists from across the world. The dome in itself is an architectural masterpiece, but the events that take place there are just a delight to the brain.

The first underground railway was opened between Paddington and Farringdon. And Queen Victoria encouraged, supported and became a patron of all innovations and inventions in Britain. Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition is a statement to that. A 5 month huge exposition of the British and English inventors, in which Queen Victoria wanted to push the development of her country and share with the world improvements that could benefit all.

Queen Victoria’s kind heart found a place for multiple pets and dogs that she simply adored. Sharp (the collie), Fatima, Dandie and of course the crown jewel Dash, her most faithful companion, a King Charles Spaniel, buried at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Home Park, with its own marble effigy erected over the grave, with an inscription of his selfishness, playfulness without malice and fidelity.

Catherine was a great animal lover too, especially for an Italian Greyhound "Zemira". She would have her own pink silk cradle and joined Catherine on her walk. Upon Zemira’s death Catherine have shut herself in her room for days. Zemira was buried in Catherine’s pet cemetery.

Queen Victoria’s reign (1837-1901) was the longest for an English monarch, at the time. And by 1901 the British Empire was the largest Empire the world has ever known. With territories in Africa, Asia, Canada and Australia. She modernized and progressed India that in 1876 she received the title of Empress of India. The British Empire managed to fulfill a Pax Britannica in which the greatest minds could travel, infancy deaths decreased and all territories both in the British Island and beyond came to an increased and advanced economical, cultural progress. Making the Victorian age a Golden age for multiple countries today.

As Empress of Russia, Catherine’s empire doubled in population due to an addition of an extra 200,000 sq mi, but also to creation of 144 cities which saw the life conditions improve. During her reign Russia conquered Crimea, freeing the local population from constant Ottoman raids, and constructed multiple cities there, among others: Sevastopol, through which gained access to the black sea and sea of Azov. After the Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish war (1787-1792), Catherine II dressed in the military uniforms of Great Britain (as depicted in paintings). She established a good trade deal with Great Britain that needed bar iron for its ongoing Industrial Revolution and timber for the Royal Navy, which Russia could provide. The two countries were just short of a military treaty, in the time of Catherine the Great. While in the east, the Russians started to colonize Alaska, establishing Russian America.