Secret medical diaries have revealed one of the best-kept secrets of the British monarchy: Queen Victoria suffered a severe psychotic breakdown following the birth of her eighth child, Prince Albert, with physicians fearing she had inherited the notorious 'Hanoverian madness' that afflicted her royal predecessors.
The Royal Crisis That Nearly Toppled a Monarch
According to newly uncovered physician notes from 1857, Queen Victoria experienced what modern medicine would recognise as postnatal psychosis - a condition so severe that her husband, Prince Albert, and medical staff feared for both her sanity and the stability of the monarchy itself.
The monarch's mental state deteriorated alarmingly after giving birth to Prince Albert, with doctors documenting symptoms including:
- Severe paranoia and delusional thinking
- Rapid mood swings between extreme agitation and deep depression
- Bouts of uncontrollable weeping and hysterical laughter
- Moments of complete mental detachment from reality
The Ghost of Royal Madness Returns
Court physicians were particularly concerned that Victoria's condition represented a resurgence of the mental instability that plagued her Hanoverian ancestors. King George III's famous 'madness' - now believed to be porphyria - had created a constitutional crisis decades earlier, and the medical establishment feared history was repeating itself.
Prince Albert took unprecedented control of state affairs during his wife's illness, effectively acting as regent while doctors attempted to stabilise the Queen's condition through then-contemporary treatments including isolation, sedation, and strict bed rest.
A Monarch's Secret Struggle
The medical journals reveal how carefully the crisis was concealed from the public and political establishment. At a time when women's mental health was poorly understood and heavily stigmatised, Victoria's condition threatened not only her personal reputation but the very legitimacy of the monarchy.
Contemporary accounts described the Queen as being 'gripped by madness' and 'not in her right mind,' with one physician noting that she exhibited 'all the tragic signs of mental alienation' that had characterised her grandfather King George III's episodes.
This remarkable historical discovery provides new insight into one of Britain's longest-reigning monarchs and challenges the traditional image of Victoria as the perpetually stoic 'Widow of Windsor.' The documents suggest her famous withdrawal from public life following Albert's death may have been influenced by these earlier traumatic experiences with mental health.
