It's amazing how someone as famous as Queen Victoria, a woman who ruled much of the world, had truly fascinating aspects of her life that are so little known to most. Such as the Regency that almost was, and the Prince Regent's relationship with the future queen.

King William IV's reign (1830-37) was royally sandwiched between the compelling personalities of King George IV and Queen Victoria and gets little press. When George IV died without an heir, it was his brother, William, who became monarch. But William, too, died without benefit of an heir, despite the 10 illegitimate children he had with actress Dorothea Jordan. Both daughters, born to William and his Queen, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, had died in infancy and all of his brothers had died before him, including Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, making Victoria next in line to the throne. For some time, al were aware that should William die before Victoria reached her majority at age eighteen, a Regency would become necessary. Victoria's mother, the power hungry Duchess of Kent, campaigned to have herself appointed Regent if need be. After much debate, Parliament approved the Regency Bill, appointing the Duchess "Regent in case of need."

On the day before King William's birthday that year, his feud with the Duchess came to a head when she went against his orders and took for herself a suite of 17 rooms at Kensington Palace. At his birthday dinner the next evening, William sat before 100 guests, the Duchess to his right hand, the Princess Victoria opposite. At meal's end, the King's health was toasted, which called for an impromptu speech from the King. And what a speech it was! The King launched into a vehement soliloquy on the Duchess' impertinence, her negligent treatment of Victoria and the schemes of various members of her inner circle. The guests sat throughout in stunned silence. The Duchess of Kent grew red of face and Princess Victoria burst into tears. But the King had not yet finished. His outburst ended with the prayer that he be allowed to live for just six months more, until the Princess reached majority in May, if only to thwart the Duchess' schemes of becoming Regent. William did live to see the month of May and also held a ball to honor the occasion at St. James' Palace, though asthma and other chronic illnesses prevented him from attending. King William IV died on June 20, 1837.

And so a Regency was averted, but what of Victoria's bond with Prinny (King George IV)? It began at her christening at Kensington Palace on June 24, 1819, when her uncle stood as godfather. He'd been asked to name the child, but had refused to discuss his choice beforehand, so that the assembled guests, and Victoria's parents themselves, only learned of his choice as they stood before the baptismal font. George IV declared that she be named Alexandrina Victoria, the first in honor of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, who, though unable to attend the service, had been chosen to stand as Victoria's second godfather.

The child Victoria was called Drina and she, in turn, called George IV "Uncle King." In 1826, at age seven, she and her mother visited the King at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, where he presented her with a miniature doll of himself. His early years of overindulgence affected the King's appearance later in life and Victoria, in her writings, described him as having been "large and gouty but with a wonderful charm of manner." The king and princess met often during her stay. Once when he was driving out alone, the King directed those nearby to, "pop her in" beside him, and they spent a good part of that day together. "[We] stopped at the Fishing Temple. Here there was a large barge and everyone went on board and fished, while a band played in another," Victoria wrote.

At the end of her visit, the King asked Victoria what she had most enjoyed, to which she earnestly replied that she'd particularly enjoyed their rides together in his phaeton. Years later, the Princess Victoria's enduring affection for George IV would result in her choosing to wear his diadem at her Coronation.