The victoria is an elegant style of doorless four-wheeled open carriage, 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,^[1][2] it was possibly based on a phaeton made for George IV.^[3] The type was made some time before 1844, but acquired the name victoria around 1860, and was being presented as such at the 1862 International Exhibition in London.^[4] Drawn by one or two horses, it became a fashionable style of carriage for ladies riding in the park.^[3]

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.^[3] In the panel-boot type of victoria, sometimes confusingly called a cabriolet,^[2] a box under the driver's seat provides storage, a "boot", and forms a dashboard.^[3] 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 based on the victoria.^[2]

The Ford Crown Victoria takes its name from the carriage. It has been used as a generic term for light horse carriages in Mumbai.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

Victorias

• 
  Victoria in Raymond, Washington
• 
  19th-century victoria design by Hooper & Co., coachbuilders to Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales
• 
  Swedish bride and groom in a victoria, 2012

Panel-boot victorias

• 
  1860 panel-boot victoria by John Kingbury, Albany, New York
• 
  Argentine Presidential Victoria in the Museo del Bicentenario, Buenos Aires
• 
  Panel-boot victoria with drop-down front bench, Ellwood House, DeKalb, Illinois

See also

• Steering undercarriage

References

External links

• Media related to Victorias at Wikimedia Commons

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