At the age of 50, Edward, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of George III, married a widow, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Victoria, the couple's only child, was born in Kensington Palace, London on May 24, 1819. At birth she was fifth in line for the British crown, after her grandfather, George III, her father's three older brothers, and her father.
Victoria was christened in the Cupola Room of Kensington Palace on June 24, 1819 by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Charles Manners-Sutton). Her godparents were the Prince Regent, the Emperor Alexander I of Russia (in whose honour she received her first name), Princess Charlotte, Princess Royal and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Although christened Alexandrina Victoria - and from birth formally styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent - Victoria was called Drina within the family.[2] She was taught German, English, Italian, Greek and French, arithmetic, music and her favourite subject, history.[3] Her teachers were the Reverend George Davys and Baroness Louise Lehzen, her governess.[4] When she learned from Baroness Lehzen that one day she could be queen, Victoria replied, "I will be good."[5]