Exactly 150 years, Queen Victoria and a small entourage headed to central Switzerland for a five-week getaway. It was the first visit to the Alpine country by a reigning British monarch and left its mark not only on Victoria but also on the Swiss tourism industry. Queen Victoria Victoria was born in 1819, became Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837, married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840, and died in 1901. She and Albert had nine children and 40 grandchildren, many of whom married into royal families across Europe. Their 142 (legitimate) great-great-grandchildren include Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Philip, King Juan Carlos I of Spain and his wife Queen Sofia, King Constantine II of Greece and his wife Queen Anne-Marie, King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, King Michael I of Romania. “Oh, it is too awful, too dreadful. And a ...
