1890: Doctor prescribes cannabis tincture to Queen Victoria

1890: Doctor prescribes cannabis tincture to Queen Victoria

It is said that the Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom used cannabis against period pains. According an unsubstantiated report, in 1890, Sir J. Russell Reynolds, the renowned British neurologist and personal physician to the Queen, prescribed a cannabis tincture to alleviate the monarch’s menstrual cramps.

Although there is no actual proof of this at all, Sir Robert Russell did write extensively on cannabis. He recommended it for use in dysmenorrhoea. Reynolds wrote about cannabis in The Lancet, one of the world’s oldest and most esteemed medical journals: “When pure and administered carefully, [cannabis] is one of the most valuable medicines we possess.” [1]

During the late 1800s, cannabis was widely used in Western medicine. It was included in the British Pharmacopoeia and prescribed for various ailments, including pain, insomnia, and muscle spasms. The medical community recognized its therapeutic potential, and it was commonly available in pharmacies.

Prince Harry

Notably, in more recent times, one of the queen’s descendants, Prince Harry admitted to having used recreational cannabis. The Duke of Sussex revealed he smoked marijuana one night during the Corona lockdown in 2020, when he and wife Meghan Markle lived in Los Angeles.

Writing in his memoir, Spare, he said: “Late at night with everyone asleep, I’d walk the house, checking the doors and windows. Then I’d sit on the balcony or the edge of the garden and roll a joint.” [2] Harry also admitted he smoked weed after his first date with Meghan in 2016.

1. REYNOLDS,J. RUSSELL (1890): Therapeutic Uses and Toxic Effects of Cannabis Indica. Lancet, pages 637-638. Reprinted in Mikuriya, 1973, 145-149.
2. WINDSOR, PRINCE HARRY (2023) Spare, memoir by the Duke of Sussex, page 127.

Research and text © Hempshopper Amsterdam.