Queen
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria;
24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland
from 20 June 1837 until her
death. From 1 May 1876, she
was the first Empress of India of the British Raj. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and
Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III.
Both the Duke of Kent and the King died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born
mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at
the age of 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving
legitimate issue. She ascended the throne when the United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy,
in which the Sovereign held relatively few direct political powers.
Privately,
she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments.
Publicly, she became the iconic symbol of the nation and empire, and was identified
with strict standards of personal morality. Victoria
married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
in 1840. Their 9 children and 42 grandchildren married into royal families
across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname
"the grandmother of Europe".[1] After Albert's
death in 1862, Victoria plunged
into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her
seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the later half of
her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times
of public celebration.
At
63 years and 7 months, her reign as the Queen lasted longer than that of any
other British monarch, and is the longest of any female monarch in history. Her
reign is known as the Victorian era, and was a period of industrial, cultural,
political, scientific, and military progress within the United
Kingdom. It was marked by a great expansion
of the British Empire, which reached its zenith and
became the foremost global power. She was the last British monarch of the House
of Hanover; her son and successor King Edward VII
belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.