We dug patiently into the insurance archives and found that Queen Victoria had a life insurance policy!

As per the records, Queen Victoria had a policy worth £2,000 (= £200,000 today) with Sun Life Assurance taken in July 1851, fourteen years after she came to the throne. An entry in the medical officer’s book suggests that the policy was taken out either by Victoria herself or someone very close to her. The policy states her occupation as ‘Queen’.  

In those days, policies could be taken by anyone! Even by someone without any insurable interest in a person’s life.

In 1901, at the age of 81, Queen Victoria had serious health issues and the public sensed the end of her reign. Five days before her death, theatre company Engelbach & Greet took a life policy to protect themselves in the event of the queen’s death for £5,000 for six months and the premium was £500.

But why would a theater company take out an insurance policy on the Queen’s life?

Engelbach & Greet had to pay for their theatres and artists, so they needed to be sure they would not lose money if the theatres were closed in the event of Queen’s demise.

According to the records, they regularly insured Queen Victoria and other members of the royal family.

Engelbach & Greet’s gamble paid!

A receipt in Aviva’s archives shows that Engelbach & Greet received £5,000 from Norwich Union on 26th February 1901 (= £500,000 today). In total, the insurers paid £250,000 (= £25mn today) to people insuring themselves against the Queen’s death!

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