VISIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA TO CITY OF LONDON

BARBER, J.: England, 1837, Bronze, 61 mm
Obv: Crowned bust of Victoria     VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA. (Victoria, Queen by the grace of God).
Below:  PUBLISHED BY GRIFFIN & HYAMS.
Rev: The Lord Mayor of London, the Rt. Hon. Sir John Cowan, wearing robes and chain of office, welcoming Queen Victoria.  The young queen is attended by Britannia standing right, Fortune with a cornucopia to the left and  Fame blowing on a trumpet behind.   WELCOME.   
Exergue:   IN COMMEMORATION. OF. HER MAJESTYS. VISIT. TO. THE. CITY OF . LONDON. NOVR. 9TH 1837
Below:  THE. RIGHT. HONORBL. JOHN. COWAN. LORD. MAYOR
Signed:  I. BARBER F.
Ref: BHM ii, 6/1772; Eimer 1303; Fearon 67/288.17;  Weiss BW008

Alexandrina Victoria (1819-1901), Queen of England (1837-1901), was the daughter of Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, and Mary Louisa Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Princess Victoria succeeded to the throne on the death of her uncle William IV in 1837. On the eve of her proclamation the Queen wrote in her diary, "Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country; I am very young, and perhaps in many, though not all things, inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have".
The visit of the Queen to the Guildhall at the City of London followed a well-established precedent begun centuries before. It was the custom of the monarch to attend the mayoralty banquet immediately following the new monarch's accession to the throne. Several members of the royal family were present at the banquet.

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