Few holidays come with more trappings than Christmas. Gingerbread houses. Eggnog. Sparkling house lights. Ugly sweaters. Holiday carols. Stockings hung by the chimney. Boxes wrapped with care. You get the point… But hands down, the number one accessory remains the tree. Whether fake or real, what would Christmas be without them?
Yet, not so long ago, decorated evergreens were met with a hefty dose of “meh!” Both in the United Kingdom and the United States. How did tinsel-adorned twigs come into vogue in the Isles and States? Because of one very popular and well-loved British monarch, Queen Victoria.
To call Queen Victoria a trendsetter is a serious understatement. Britain’s most celebrated ruler made white wedding dresses a thing. And tiered wedding cakes. She was the first British ruler to live in Buckingham Palace . It remains one of the best spots for royal watching to this day.
Victoria spent an incredible 63 years and 216 days on the throne. This makes her the longest-reigning monarch, apart from Queen Elizabeth II. And she proposed to her husband, Prince Albert. Talk about girl power! The result? A love so legendary PBS still makes TV series about it. Queen Victoria’s even why people wear black when mourning.
Still, her biggest boss move remains popularizing Christmas trees in the English-speaking world. That’s not to say she invented the idea of decorating with evergreens. Livening up domestic interiors and temples with greenery is an ancient practice. But she modernized the trend, making it something we still do today.
British aristocrats had toyed with the idea of Christmas trees since Queen Charlotte ruled England alongside King George III. Charlotte came from modern-day Germany, where the whole tree-in-the-house thing really took off.
During her lifetime, one guest, Miss Georgina Townshend, recounted celebrating the Yuletide at the Queen’s lodge in Windsor. She noted , “The Queen entertained the children here, Christmas-evening with a German fashion. A fir tree about as high again as any of us, lighted all over with small tapers, several little wax dolls among the branches in different places, and strings of almonds and raisins alternately tied from one to the other…”
Townshend described the tree as decorated with various gifts. These included skipping ropes, cloth for dresses, fans, handkerchiefs, and even jewelry. Topping it all off were candles. (Hello, fire hazard!) Despite the decked-out fir’s impression on guests, Charlotte’s trees never caught on in any big way. Except for among the upper crust. But her granddaughter, Victoria, changed all that.
One of the biggest misnomers about Christmas trees coming to England is that Prince Albert introduced them. This makes sense, considering he was a German prince. And he was in charge of royal Christmas festivities in 1840.
Nevertheless, Victoria grew up with the evergreen holiday staple thanks to Queen Charlotte. So, when her hubby suggested putting the green in English Christmas, Victoria embraced it. On Christmas Eve of 1841, she waxed on about the tradition. “The very smell of the Christmas trees of pleasant memories. To think, we have already two children now, and one who already enjoys the sight, — it seems like a dream.”
How did Victoria decorate her arbors compared to her grandmother? With candles and edible baubles. These baubles were molded from shaped and boiled sugar flavored with aniseed and caraway. Then, they were molded to resemble dolls and figurines and fitted with hooks to hang on branches.
Of course, this begs the question. What made Queen Victoria’s Christmas trees go viral? Especially when Granny Charlotte’s remained the equivalent of one-hit wonders? Two factors should be factored in.
The first? A large middle class thirsting to keep up with the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas . (That was the royal last name before Windsor.) Second, the nineteenth century ushered in professional journalism and widely circulating publications like The London News . Remember those previously mentioned middle-class folks? They gobbled these publications up. And they sought to conform to the trends promoted in them. Like Victoria’s Christmas decorating tips.
Long story short, Christmas trees took off like wildfire. And I don’t need to tell you they remain highly popular today. Consider this. Ninety-eight percent of trees are grown on farms. In the US alone, more than 15,000 Christmas tree farms supply Queen Victoria’s ultimate Christmas accessory. That’s an impressive testament to her powers of influence. Even in a country famous for kicking her grandfather out!
