Queen Victoria is often considered a symbol of a moral, hard-working era in British history. Yet the global economic machinery at work during her reign included one of the most controversial trades of the 19th century: the export of opium from British-controlled India to China. Historians have long studied how the British Empire’s opium trade reshaped global trade, sparked conflict with China and became deeply intertwined with imperial finances. in his 2025 book The Human History of Drugs: A Scandalous But Completely True Look at History Under the Influence of DrugsAuthor Sam Kelly re-examines the scale of the system and the role played by the Victorian Empire in maintaining it. At the same time, Kelly points out that Queen Victoria, the monarch who presided over the empire during its expansion, also lived in a period when many narcotics that are now considered illegal were widely used for medical purposes.
The young monarch and the drugs she used
Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 at the age of 18 and inherited an empire spanning Asia, Africa and the Americas. She also lived in an era when many substances that are now strictly regulated were considered common drugs. As Sam Kelly points out in A History of Human Medicine, the young monarch frequently used several medicines that Victorian doctors considered highly respectable.the most common one The remedy for this period is laudanumA mixture of opium and alcohol used to treat everything from pain and anxiety to general fatigue. Kelly wrote that the Queen began drinking laudanum many mornings, noting that “Queen Victoria would take a swig of laudanum every morning.” At the time, laudanum was so widely accepted that it appeared in medicine cabinets across Britain and was even recommended for children suffering from teething pain.
Queen Victoria Helton Archive/Getty Images
Victoria also experimented with cocaine, which had only recently entered the European medical community and had not yet been criminalized. In the late 19th century, it was marketed as an energy-boosting stimulant, which Kelly described as providing “a powerful burst of confidence.” The Queen reportedly consumed the drug in the form of chewing gum or alcohol, which were popular medicinal preparations at the time.Other substances entered her life through medical advice. Her doctor prescribed liquid cannabis to help relieve menstrual discomfort, and chloroform was used during childbirth after it was introduced as an anesthetic in the mid-19th century. Victoria accepted the treatment enthusiastically. After inhaling chloroform during labor, she described the sensation as “incalculable pleasure.”Writing in Smithsonian Magazine, historian Tony McMahon looked back at these habits and summed up the Queen’s relationship with medicines rather bluntly: “I think that by any measure, Queen Victoria loved medicines.”
Britain’s tea addiction and the search for trade solutions
While Victoria’s personal drug use reflected the medical norms of the time, the larger story involved Britain’s economic relationship with China. In the early 19th century, Britain imported large quantities of Chinese tea, and tea became a staple food in British households. Kelly believes that this demand has created a serious trade imbalance. He writes that the average London household spends about 5% of its income on Chinese tea and sends large amounts of silver to China because there is little in the UK that the Chinese market wants in return.
French satire about an Englishman who orders the Chinese emperor to buy opium. A Chinese man lies dead on the floor, with the military in the background. The text reads: “You must buy this poison immediately. We want you to poison yourself completely because we need a lot of tea to digest our steaks.”
The solution British merchants sought was opium. The drug was cultivated in British-controlled India, particularly under the economic influence of the East India Company, which dominated much of the region’s agricultural production.
A group of opium growers weigh opium in an Indian factory Wikimedia Commons
Opium is highly addictive and widely used as a painkiller, making it very valuable in the Chinese market. Kelly explained that Britain had been exporting opium to China for many years, but the trade expanded dramatically during the Victorian period. “China was forced to return all the silver Britain had spent on tea and more,” Kelly wrote. “It is now China, not the UK, that is causing the devastating trade deficit.” At its peak, the opium trade accounted for 15 to 20 percent of the British Empire’s annual revenue, making it one of the most profitable commercial systems associated with the empire’s economy.
China tries to stop opium trade
Chinese officials increasingly view the growing opiate addiction crisis as a national emergency. The Qing emperor appointed scholar and imperial envoy Lin Zexu (Tse-Hsu) to suppress the drug trade. Lin tried to resolve the crisis through diplomacy. he wrote a letter The letter to Queen Victoria said China was exporting useful goods, including tea, silk and porcelain, while Britain was exporting addictive drugs that harmed Chinese citizens.
Opium seized and destroyed under orders from Lin Zexu/Image: history-uk
Lin asked why Britain was exporting “poison” to China. The appeal failed to stop the deal.
epileptic seizures first opium war
In 1839, Lin Zexu stepped up law enforcement against foreign businessmen. He ordered the confiscation of large quantities of opium from British traders operating in Chinese ports.Confrontation escalated dramatically in 1839 when Chinese authorities seized large quantities of British opium, according to historical accounts Kelly cites. Under orders from Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu, approximately 2.5 million pounds of the drug were confiscated, publicly destroyed, and dumped into the South China Sea in an attempt to stem the illegal drug trade sweeping the country.This move prompted a swift response from Britain and soon led to the outbreak of the First Opium War (1839-1842). The British navy and army eventually defeated the Qing Dynasty, forcing the Qing government to accept Treaty of Nanjing (Nanjing). Under its terms, China was forced to hand Hong Kong over to British control, open several additional ports to foreign commerce, and grant special legal protections to British citizens operating in China under extraterritorial arrangements.
On August 29, 1842, Britain and the Qing Dynasty signed the Treaty of Nanking on the USS Cornwallis, officially ending the first Opium War between Britain and the Qing Dynasty.
For China, the consequences extend far beyond the treaty itself. The conflict exposed the Qing empire’s military vulnerability and marked the beginning of a long period of foreign interference and political pressure from Western powers, a period that historians later described as the beginning of China’s “Century of Humiliation.”
Empire, Medicine and the Contradictions of the Victorian Era
Historians generally note that the opium trade was not directed by Queen Victoria personally, but operated through wider mechanisms of empire, merchants, colonial governments and the powerful East India Company, which controlled much of India’s economy.Still, the period presents striking historical contrasts. While Victorian Britain established a reputation for strict social values at home, the empire also profited from the global drug trade that reshaped commerce and diplomacy across continents.
Kelly also noticed an unusual ambivalence in Victoria’s attitude toward drugs. Although the British Empire continued to export large quantities of opium to China, the Queen considered cocaine a harmless stimulant and reportedly refused to allow it to be included in the trade. As Kelly put it, she was willing to sell “all the opium in the world” to China, but they “were not allowed to touch her cocaine.”
