The victoria is an elegant style of doorless four-wheeled open

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

, drawn by one or two horses, based on the phaeton with the addition of a coachman's seat at the front, and with a retractable roof over the passenger bench. Named for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, According to ''Britannica'', it developed in France. it was possibly based on a phaeton made for

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

. The type was made some time before 1844, but acquired the name ''victoria'' around 1870, after one was imported to England by

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

, then Prince of Wales, in 1869. Drawn by one or two horses, it became a fashionable style of carriage for ladies riding in the park. The victoria has a low body with a forward-facing seat for two passengers under a retractable ''calash'' top and a raised driver's seat on an iron frame. In the panel-boot type of victoria, sometimes confusingly called a

cabriolet A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

, a box under the driver's seat provides storage, a "

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is c ...

", and forms a dashboard. In a Grand Victoria, a collapsible backwards-facing seat behind the driver accommodates additional passengers; the Victoria-Hansom was a later form of

hansom cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safety ca ...

based on the victoria. The

Ford Crown Victoria The Ford Crown Victoria ("Crown Vic") is a full-size sedan that was marketed and manufactured by Ford. The successor to the Ford LTD Crown Victoria, two generations of the model line were produced from the 1992 to 2012 model years. The Fo ...

takes its name from the carriage. It has been used as a generic term for light horse carriages in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

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Gallery

Victorias

File:Victoria C Spring (3292208638).jpg, Victoria in Raymond, Washington File:Victoria, 19th century.jpg, 19th-century victoria design by Hooper & Co., coachbuilders to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales File:Kungsbron03.jpg, Swedish bride and groom in a victoria, 2012

Panel-boot victorias

File:Panel Boot Victoria carriage, made by John Kingbury, Albany, New York, 1860 - Luray Caverns Car and Carriage Museum - Luray, Virginia - DSC01155.jpg, 1860 panel-boot victoria by John Kingbury,

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

File:Museo del Bicentenario - Victoria, de José Evaristo Uriburu.jpg, Argentine Presidential Victoria in the Museo del Bicentenario,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

File:Victoria carriage1.jpg, Panel-boot victoria with drop-down front bench, Ellwood House,

DeKalb, Illinois DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconian-French war hero Johann de Kalb, who died d ...

References

External links

* Carriages {{vehicle-stub

Gallery

Victorias

Panel-boot victorias

See also

References

External links