Victoria (carriage)

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 automobile takes its name from this horse-drawn carriage. It has been used as a generic term for light horse carriages in Mumbai.^{[citation needed]}