The Duchess of Kent has always firmly believed that Victoria could succeed as king.
The reason for this belief includes a touch of mysticism.
Back when Victoria was just born, her husband, the Duke of Kent, disguised himself as a commoner and secretly took Victoria's birthdate to a reputedly prophetic Gypsy witch for a reading.
The wrinkled old Gypsy woman merely glanced at the birthdate, asked a few simple questions, and then confidently proclaimed, while stroking her crystal ball, that this child was destined to become king, her future majestic beyond words.
Of course, if the old woman had merely uttered a few auspicious words, the Duchess of Kent might not have taken it seriously.
What made her believe was that the Duke of Kent returned to tell her that the Gypsy witch also predicted the death of a member of the royal family within the month.
