Queen Victoria became the first British monarch to use chloroform during childbirth in 1853. She received the anaesthetic while giving birth to her eighth child, Prince Leopold, on 7 April at Buckingham Palace.
The chloroform was administered by John Snow, a pioneering physician better known for his work tracing a cholera outbreak in London. At the time, using anaesthesia during childbirth was controversial: some clergy considered pain relief contrary to biblical teaching, while many doctors worried about the drug’s dangers.
Victoria’s experience was positive enough that she used chloroform again in 1857 during the birth of her ninth and final child, Princess Beatrice. Her public approval helped make obstetric anaesthesia more socially acceptable, especially among wealthy women.
A common mix-up is the year 1857, but that was Victoria’s second use of chloroform in childbirth. The landmark first use occurred four years earlier, during Leopold’s birth.