Victoria, Queen (1819-1901)

Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (1837-1901), Empress of India (1876-1901), who presided over the great days of the British Empire. She was known to be sympathetic to Spiritualism, and to have held séances with Prince Albert and other individuals. She approved of the book Our Life After Death by medium Robert James Lees and was said to have used Lees as a personal medium. Her belief in the possibility of communication between the spirit world and the living is illustrated by an entry in her journal commenting on the story that Princess Feo-dora, when at the point of death, had talked about a beloved child who had died earlier: "Surely at the approach of death the veil is raised and such pure spirits are allowed to see a glimpse of those dear ones waiting for them."

A short time before the death of Prince Albert, he had told the Queen: "We don't know in what state we shall meet again, but that we shall recognize each other and be together in eternity I am perfectly certain." After Albert's death, Victoria relied heavily on the companionship of her personal servant, the rough Highlander John Brown. Rumors suggested both that he was her lover and that together they participated in Spiritualist séances. After his death in 1883, the Queen erected a statue to him at Balmoral.

The Queen's Prime Minister W. E. Gladstone was also sympathetic to psychical research and was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research, London. He once summoned the famous palmist " Cheiro " to explain his theories and also sat with the medium William Eglinton.

Sources:

Underwood, Peter. Queen Victoria's Other World. London: Harrap, 1986.