What Is Queen Victoria Syndrome? Episode 1 of 'The Crown' Explained

The importance of tradition to the British monarchy is no secret, but in The Crown Season 5, the legacy of Queen Elizabeth II's (played by Imelda Staunton) ancestors comes to haunt her.

In the first episode of the new series, a poll by The Sunday Times newspaper showed that about half of the British public was in favor of Prince Charles (Dominic West) becoming monarch and the queen abdicating. Additionally, over 88 percent surveyed believed Charles would be a good king.

In The Crown, when Prince Charles puts forward the idea to Prime Minister John Major (Jonny Lee Miller), he remarks his mother may be suffering from "Queen Victoria Syndrome" and is "out of touch" with the public.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about the phrase and what it all means.

What Is Queen Victoria Syndrome?

Queen Victoria Syndrome was the name given to a poll in the Sunday Times, where the results showed almost half of the British population was in favor of the "eventual" abdication of Queen Elizabeth II.

The phrase in The Crown is used to explain the phenomenon that the British public grew tired of an older monarch and by extension, frustrated with a royal family that leads a hugely different life and has a different worldview than ordinary citizens.

At the time the poll was taken, the popularity of the monarchy was in jeopardy. The private lives of the royal family had begun to overspill into the public, most notably through the separations and later divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debecki) and Princess Anne (Claudia Harrison) and Captain Mark Phillips.

Queen Elizabeth II herself even referred to the year 1992 as her "annus horribilis."

Simultaneously, there was discontent amongst the British people that the monarchy was costing the public too much money, especially during a global recession. In November 1992, the queen volunteered to pay income tax and to take responsibility for the working expenses of her family from 1993, according to The Independent.

Writing in a 2015 article for the Huffington Post, historian Sarah Gristwood explained: "By the end of the decade [the 1980s], courtiers had begun to talk about QVS or Queen Victoria Syndrome, whereby a nation could become tired of an aging monarch and a parasitic royal family."

Queen Victoria reigned from June 20, 1837, until her death on January 22, 1901. She was 81 years old and succeeded by her son Edward VII. Her reign of 63 years and seven months was the longest of any previous British monarch.

In total, Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years and 214 days, overtaking her great-great-grandmother. She died on September 8, 2022, with her son Prince Charles III taking the throne.

Like Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria inherited the throne in 1837 following her father's death in 1820 and the subsequent passing of his three brothers who died without a legitimate heir, putting Victoria on the throne. She was 18 years old at the time, and Elizabeth II was 25.

In The Crown Season 5 when Queen Elizabeth II learns of Queen Victoria Syndrome, she rebukes the criticism by sharing her admiration for her ancestor, stating: "It could only ever be taken as a compliment."

Queen Victoria Syndrome is not to be confused with the blood clotting disease, hemophilia that spread through European royalty, passed down by Queen Victoria.

Known as the "grandmother of Europe", Victoria and her husband Prince Albert had 10 children, who married into royal and noble families across the continent.
Their son, Leopold was affected by this disease and at least two of her five daughters, Alice and Beatrice were hemophilia carriers.

Royal hemophiliacs descendants from Victoria included her great-grandsons, Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia; Alfonso, Prince of Asturias; and Infante Gonzalo of Spain.

The Crown Season 5 is streaming on Netflix now.