Skating on thin ice

Queen Victoria to the Crown Princess

Osborne, January 19, 1867

Our severe frost continues but with such bright sun and blue sky that it is very pleasant.  The skating (it is quite safe here – for one can’t be too careful after the frightful catastrophe in London) I cannot look at.  It brings back too fearfully the absence of that one noble, splendid figure that used to sail about so beautifully.

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(The rescue efforts at Regent's Park following the collapse of the ice.  Photo credit: historyhouse.co.uk)

Today’s entry deals with the picturesque and bucolic sport of ice-skating, enjoyed by Victoria, her family, and many others of her time.  But ice-skating can be dangerous at times, as Victoria references a very dreadful accident now known as the Regent’s Park Tragedy. 

During the middle of the nineteenth century, winter sports were enjoying something of a renaissance in Europe.  The third stage of the so-called Little Ice Age, a 300-year period of the cooling of global temperatures, may have contributed to the enthusiasm for outdoor winter activities.  In addition, the winter of 1866-7 was an especially cold one for Britain.  Ice-skating was particularly popular, and newspapers often advertised the opening of parks and ponds at the start of the skating season. There were warnings of thin and broken ice at the ornamental pond at Regent’s Park due to the gamekeepers breaking the ice in several places around the shore to create open water for birds.  But the weather was cold, which made excited skaters confident of the ice’s thickness.  A light covering of snow on the ice may have also disguised tell-tale cracks. 

On January 14, a large crack in the ice sent 21 people into the frigid water.  All were rescued safely, although one person was unconscious and had to be revived.  This incident did not seem to be enough to scare off dedicated skaters, as several hundred showed to the park the following day.

Over 200 people were thought to be on the pond when the ice quickly cracked and collapsed again.  At that time, the pond was about twelve feet deep.  The shock of the icy water, the thick winter clothing, heavy skates, and inability of many skaters to swim caused unbelievable chaos.  There were people screaming and clinging to broken pieces of ice, frantically looking for submerged skaters.  Those close to the shore attempted to use branches and human chains to bring as many submerged skaters as possible to the shore. 

Given the cold and the confusion, it is remarkable that over 100 lives were saved that day.  People from all over the park came running to help upon hearing the screaming from frightened skaters.  Police officers and doctors living and working near the park came to help those pulled from the water.  Boats were also deployed to gather those trapped in the middle and clinging to the ice. 

But it was clear that the rescue would not be as successful as the one the previous day.  Over the next several days – involving the breaking of re-frozen ice – 40 bodies of men, women, and children were pulled from the pond.  The tragedy remains the most deadly ice-skating accident in Britain.  Following the accident, the Regent’s Park pond was drained and refilled with a water level of four feet to avert any further tragedies. 

Victoria and her family had long enjoyed ice-skating, as she alludes to Albert’s love of the sport above.  Beatrice’s husband Henry of Battenberg was an excellent skater who made use of the skating pond at Windsor Castle.  Victoria criticized Alexandra when she ice-skated throughout her first pregnancy, causing the Queen to question whether these over exertions had caused Eddy’spremature birth.  Daughter Louise was also an enthusiastic skater, particularly during time in Canada in the 1870s and 1880.

Although there were no recorded accidents at Osborne, Albert had fallen through the ice while skating on the lake at Buckingham Palace on February 9, 1841, the day before their first wedding anniversary and Vicky’s christening.  Victoria wrote in her journal at the time of the accident:

The ice cracked, and Albert was in the water up to his head, even for a moment below. In my agony of fright and despair I screamed and stretched out my arm... My Dearest Albert managed to catch my arm and reached the ground in safety.

Albert’s account of the incident was much the same.  In a letter to his stepmother, he gave rare praise for Victoria’s quick thinking and bravery in getting him out of the water:

The cold has been intense... Nevertheless, I managed, in skating, three days ago, to break through the ice in Buckingham Palace Gardens. I was making my way to Victoria, who was standing on the bank with one of her ladies, and when within some few yards of the bank I fell plump into the water, and had to swim for two or three minutes in order to get out. Victoria was the only person who had the presence of mind to lend me assistance, her lady being more occupied in screaming for help. The shock from the cold was extremely painful, and I cannot thank Heaven enough, that I escaped with nothing more than a severe cold.

Had Victoria not remained so level-headed, this incident could have easily ended not only in tragedy, but in a drastic change in British royal history.  Bertie had not yet been born; considering he was born the November after Albert’s accident, he may not yet have even been conceived.  It’s possible that had Albert drowned or otherwise perished in the skating accident, the succession may have rested entirely on the shoulders of Vicky and any children Victoria might have through a second marriage.  Who knew an innocent sport such as ice-skating could have a profound effect on history?