Victoria
Queen
Victoria was the daughter of Alfred I and Maria Alexandrovna of Canada. With the death of her brother in 1899 by apparent suicide, the question of succession arose. As her eldest sister was Queen of Romania, she was made to renounce her claim to the throne as the Canadian government did not wish to have a personal union with Romania. Victoria herself was similarly nearly disbarred, as she was married to a German Grand Duke and thus the Canadian monarchy would technically be subject to the unpopular German Empire. However, shortly after the death of her brother, she divorced her husband, and thus was allowed to retain her claim. In 1900, with the death of her father, Victoria became the first Queen Regnant in the Americas.
In 1905, Victoria married her first cousin, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Ukraine. They did so without the permission of their cousin, Nicholas I of Ukraine, and thus Kirill was subsequently stripped of all Ukrainian titles and honors. This was a blessing in disguise, as it removed opposition to Kirill taking his place as Prince Consort of Canada.
In 1915, at the onset of the Great War, Victoria was urged by her mother, the dowager queen, to enter the war on the side of Britain and Ukraine. She elected to do so in support of her cousins, George V of Britain and Nicholas I of Ukraine. She declared her intention to do so in the Congress of Columbia, and Canada became the only nation of the Americas to send troops to Europe. With their defeat, Victoria received significant backlash from the citizens and the newly elected government.
With the new government taking power in Canada, many under Victoria's name began to persecute the residents of Quebec. Legislation was passed through parliament removing protections of the French language and culture, believing they were closely linked to the rise of the Comintern Republic. Victoria hesitated to give royal ascent to the bills, but was convinced by her Prime Minister to do so after protests from the Quebecois turned violent. Victoria was made to believe this was evidence of Quebec's violent nature. The french language was outlawed in favor of English, and the French culture was suppressed. The favoritism to the English culture was also prevalent in the royal family, as Victoria's son was reported to be born with the name Vladimir. However, Victoria seemingly changed her mind and the child was named Walter.
Social
Reign
Family Ties
Great article Tynen! In the last paragraph, you mention the suppression of french-canadian culture. Does that include the catholic church? What happened to its influence over the french-speaking population?