what is the best biography of queen victoria

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20 Best Books on Queen Victoria (2022 Review)

September 10, 2020 by James Wilson

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Alexandria Victoria, also known as Queen Victoria, was the Queen of the United Kingdom and Ireland from 1837 until she died in 1901. She was also known as the Empress of India and is the second British monarch with the longest reign of 63 years with Queen Elizabeth II in the lead of 68 years and present.

Her reign was known as the Victorian era and saw significant industrial advances and cultural expansion. Work into industry, science, and communication took place and brought about a great revolution. During her reign, Britain expanded to Canada, Australia, India, and various colonies of Africa and the South Pacific. She exercised influence on foreign affairs and often expressed her preferences within the limits of constitutional propriety.

What are the Best Books on Queen Victoria to read?

Queen Victoria continued her duties until her death. She was strict and a profound figure since becoming the Queen at the age of 18. She also popularized the white wedding dress tradition, and she wore black for the rest of her reign ever since her husband passed away to whom she was devoted to immensely.  There are many excellent books written on her personal life as well as her reign; out of which, I have reviewed a few as below:

Best Books on Queen Victoria: Our Top 20 Picks

Here are some of the best books on queen victoria that you can consider to expand your knowledge on the subject:

1. Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird

Biography of the life of Queen Victoria. It is well defined and well researched. The global style of this biography is very satisfying. Julia Baird brings us closer to Victoria by first telling us about her history, her life, anecdotes, her reign, and politics with a very well-rounded piece of writing. It focused on not only Queen Victoria herself but also her ancestors, her descendants as well as her husband’s family, etc. it was part history, part personal story. It transports the reader into Victorian life, and we are set to imagine the scenes and the tribulations of her life even though most of her journals and letters are heavily censored. It was very well written.

• Authors : Julia Baird (Author)
• Publisher : Random House (November 22, 2016)
• Pages : 670 pages

2. Queen Victoria: A Life from Beginning to End by Hourly History

Celebrates the life of Queen Victoria. It is very informative and an easy read. This book portrays her as a unique and strong-willed woman. She didn’t care for motherhood and had a complicated relationship with her children. In her life, she suffered much pain and loss, especially when she lost her beloved husband, Prince Albert. She brought about a change in the monarchy and empire, and one can see a lot of steep paths that she had to cross and reading all this in this book makes one wonder about her life and reign, and as intrigued as I was, it sparked me to learn more about her and get to know her. It is a very interesting read and, much like others, delivers what it says.

• Authors : Hourly History (Author)
• Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (September 19, 2016)
• Pages : 49 pages

3. We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill

People who say they love Victorian literature, they must be interested in the couple that created their lifestyle that was based on sexual morality, premarital chastity, conjugal fidelity, and hypocrisy. The book is very clear, and history has been made clear. It is presented simply. Although the details of the whole family might become a bit too much, the events leading up to the Crimean War are fascinating and well explained. You look at this couple, and you will understand what they were all about and what the Victorian Era means. The title aptly covers what it says and speaks of their relationship, rivals, partners, and rulers.

• Authors : Gillian Gill (Author)
• Publisher : Ballantine Books (May 14, 2009)
• Pages : 616 pages

4. Queen Victoria’s Granddaughters 1860-1918 by Christina Croft

Covers a great variety of royals amongst Queen Victoria’s granddaughters. It is not in-depth as it would have been in the singular biographies, but it still provides a well-defined information structure to the readers. The author offers a list of names of the figures to be discussed and a brief note on each of them at the beginning of each chapter hence making it much easier to track the European royalty and how they were connected. This audiobook is a well-planned and well-thought-out book that gives a unique and different detail every time.

• Authors : Christina Croft (Author)
• Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 28, 2013)
• Pages : 423 pages

5. Victoria: A Life by A. N. Wilson

An interesting and exhaustive biography of Queen Victoria. The author has a good sense of humor, and his humorous references are delightful especially when he relates the history to the modern world. It is extensively researched and noted, and there are excerpts from her journals and letters. He doesn’t hide her imperfections nor her many faults.  It is a 600-page book filled with British and European politics, this book could seem overwhelming, but if you want to get immersed in Victoria’s life, you will love this book. It acts as an ideal detailed biography, and you cannot go wrong in reading this. It is very easy to read and easy on the pocket.

• Authors : A. N. Wilson (Author)
• Publisher : Penguin Press; First Edition (October 23, 2014)
• Pages : 656 pages

6. Victoria & Albert: A Royal Love Affair by Daisy Goodwin

Focuses on the relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. It acts as a companion book to the PBS television series. It is covered tremendously, and their relationship is described as no less than a fairy tale and how their love for each other and how they were perceived by the nation. The final part of this book reflects how she felt about her constant pregnancies and her children to her clothing and food and the entire culture that made the Victorian Era so unique from the others. Some gorgeous pictures and illustrations made this edition are stunning, and the content is so well written that you get an exposure to the real royals. It is very informative and value for its money. Daisy Goodwin did an amazing job of bringing these two together in her book. Definitely worth the read.

• Authors : Daisy Goodwin (Author), Sara Sheridan (Author)
• Publisher : St. Martin’s Press (November 21, 2017)
• Pages : 304 pages

7. Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

To a certain degree, Queen Victoria’s reign cannot be compared to any other monarch in British history. She utterly defined her age and not as a label, but definitely as a symbol, an institution, and an enduring pillar of the British Empire. This recollection gives an insight into her court and household staff – people who were close to her in her everyday life. It follows the lives of six members of her household, from governess to the royal children and her maid-of-honor to her chaplain and personal physician and draws their letters and diaries. This book offers an insight into the happenings of the court with all its frustrations and absurdities with the Queen sitting at the center.  It is an interesting read for all the curious readers who love to see things from a different perspective.

• Authors : Kate Hubbard (Author)
• Publisher : Harper; Reprint Edition (April 30, 2013)
• Pages : 451 pages

8. Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley

Concentrates on twenty-four days in Victoria’s life through which the readers come to understand her family background and relationships and her immense love for her husband Albert, who stood by her throughout his life. The author wanted to make the Queen more human in the eyes of the reader and bring her out of her famous image of being a dour recluse widow with the thirst for power, wine, and dancing. She draws all the information from Victoria’s diaries and journals and presents us with a version of the woman who is more human, complicated, and compassionate at the same time and someone we can and more and dislike at once. This biography is a work of art, and one must give it a read.

• Authors : Lucy Worsley (Author)
• Publisher : St. Martin’s Press; Illustrated Edition (January 8, 2019)
• Pages : 432 pages

9. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Unexpected Rise of Britain’s Greatest Monarch by Kate Williams

Two-part book devoted to first to Queen Victoria and her lesser-known cousin Charlotte, daughter of George IV, who was heir-presumptive during her short life. This book contrasts the two scenarios and compares how the world would have been talking about the Charlottian age rather than Victorian. Victoria would have been a footnote in history if Charlotte had lived long enough to be Queen. It is a dual biography, and it helps understand the vital point in British history – the transition between the reign of Hanoverians and the German Princes to the new age of the Victorian era. It a well-worded biography and a recollection of history that one must-read.

• Authors : Kate Williams (Author)
• Publisher : Ballantine Books; 1st Edition (August 10, 2010)
• Pages : 464 pages

10. Queen Victoria’s Children by John Van der Kiste

Focus more on Queen Victoria’s heirs and their relationship with her. It is in the form of an audiobook, and it contains apt information about all of them. It gives us a different perspective on their lives. One can understand them to a new level and can empathize to their situation of how some of them were quite unhappy with their lives and marriages and the constant sibling rivalry and quarreling who put the needs of various countries before family and their sibling bonds and how much each of them had to sacrifice in their way, and John Van der Kiste does an excellent job at delivering this information in a light and interesting way while keeping all the listeners involved.

• Authors : John Van der Kiste (Author)
• Publisher : The History Press (June 1, 2010)
• Pages : 239 pages

11. Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by Helen Rappaport

Based on the masterpiece series Victoria that currently airs on PBS and is served as a companion book to the original series. The author plunges into the Queen’s writings and gives evidence of scholarly insight. Throughout the book, there are quotes from the Queen’s diaries and journals, along with letters to her family and confidants. It also contains family trees and pictures, and one is compelled to watch the series and lookup relatable information online of the details of the events that took place. This book is a unique resource designed to cater to the questions that one must have after watching the series.

• Authors : Helen Rappaport (Author), Daisy Goodwin (Foreword)
• Publisher : Harper Design; Illustrated Edition (January 31, 2017)

12. Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages that Shaped Europe by Deborah Cadbury

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria saw dynastic marriages between their children and European royalty to avoid wars and create a balance in powers along with spreading British values across the continent. After her husband’s death, she had a vision that needed to come true through her forty-two grandchildren. Deborah Cadbury writes this book, which provokes the readers to look at Queen Victoria’s desire to be involved in matchmaking marriage for her grandchildren, who were elevated to the throne at a critical time in Europe’s history. The author does include many snippets from personal letters of the Queen, thus making this book a fascinating read for the audience.

• Authors : Deborah Cadbury (Author)
• Publisher : PublicAffairs; Illustrated Edition (April 16, 2019)
• Pages : 416 pages

13. Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Christopher Hibbert

Christopher Hibbert paints a fresh and intimate portrait of Queen Victoria, who not only shaped the country but also revolutionized an era. This book is a fascinating and enjoyable biography of the Queen. Well-accounted and thoroughly researched, this book gives an exciting picture to the powerful woman of an empire. The insights into the contradictions of the Queen’s attitude and her voice against women’s suffrage are quite commendable, and the inclusion of her journal pages made her seem more accessible as a person rather than a historical figure. This biography is well structured and constructed and is in a standard format that depicts her life from cradle to her grave.

• Authors : Christopher Hibbert (Author)
• Publisher : Da Capo Press; Illustrated Edition (November 1, 2001)
• Pages : 608 pages

14. Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria by Jean Plaidy

Long fictional biography of Queen Victoria, which explains her unhappy childhood and her marriage with Prince Albert, who was someone she loved dearly, and they had nine children together who all lived. It is an interesting read about Queen Victoria and how Great Britain came about in over 300 years. It is written and dramatized in the first-person point of view that is Queen Victoria. It is a comprehensive and very informative read that will give you comfort. It follows from her birth to her death. Very enjoyable and value for money.

• Authors : Jean Plaidy (Author)
• Publisher : Broadway Books (February 19, 2009)
• Pages : 578 pages

15. Who was Queen Victoria? By Jim Gigliotti

Book specifically written for children with amazing fun facts for kids who want to know who Queen Victoria was. It is perfect for elementary school students who would be interested in reading about a featured person. This biography covers her life as a child and how she would be sad and happy and grew up with much scrutiny. Facts like Queen Victoria introducing the white wedding gown and her husband, Prince Albert, introducing the Christmas tree are highlighted in this book. It is excellent for kids and for adults too who are looking for something light and easy to read.

• Authors : Jim Gigliotti (Author), Who HQ (Author), Max Hergenrother (Illustrator)
• Publisher : Penguin Workshop; DGS Edition (July 10, 2014)
• Pages : 112 pages

16. Queen Victoria’s Little Wars by Byron Farwell

Another terrific book by one of the great historians of the British experience. It contains the reign of Queen Victoria and the “little wars” that were continually prevailing over 60 years. Some were direct, while others were small skirmishes that are mostly forgotten over the years. It sheds light on the uprisings, revolts, and wars that happened across the empire. The author provides new and fascinating biographical sketches of the leading military leaders and those armies which showed bravery and foolhardiness. This book is an excellent synopsis of the many colonial wars fought under the reign of Queen Victoria.

• Authors : Byron Farwell (Author)
• Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint Edition (June 17, 1985)

17. Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef

Comprehensive introduction to the life of Queen Victoria, especially written for young adults, which appeals to them to learn more about Queen Victoria and the times that she lived in. The author Catherine Reef includes many resources such as personal pictures and drawings of the Queen, letters, and articles, and much more. It is well-written and well-organized biography that is not only interesting but also fascinating because it makes one aware of their history in which they came from. It is enlightening and readable and starts off with the words: “if another princess had not died tragically and young, Victoria never would have been born.”

• Authors : Catherine Reef (Author)
• Publisher : Clarion Books; Illustrated Edition (November 7, 2017)
• Pages : 256 pages

18. The Victorian Era: A Captivating Guide to the Life of Queen Victoria and an Era in the History of the United Kingdom Known for its Hierarchy-Based Social Order by Captivating History

Serves as a captivating guide to the life of the powerful Queen. It is a concise biography that provides an excellent and straight forward narrative that is not only engaging but also readily comprehensible. It is thoroughly researched and presented in a clear and unbiased perspective. The information contained within is supplemented by the snippets from her journals and letters – much like other books. There is also a window of information that taps into the people of London of that time and their wealth, social status, and the impact of the cultural revolution that she brought about during that era. Its quality of the narrative is quite enjoyable, and it is an interesting read and a value for money.

• Authors : Captivating History (Author)
• Publisher : Ch Publications (November 26, 2019)
• Pages : 122 pages

19. Queen Victoria’s Buckingham Palace by Amanda Foreman

Tells the story of how Queen Victoria transformed the Buckingham Place from a bachelor pad to an iconic historical symbol of the monarchy, which became a rallying point for Great Britain and became a cherished family home for any generations to come. This new and delightful book features many objects and paintings present in the Buckingham Palace. It illustrates how Queen Victoria ascended the throne and her ceremony of coronation and how she transformed it into a symbol of national solidarity. It gives an insight into one of Britain’s most influential and famous monarchs. It is a beautiful read, and one should give it a try.

• Authors : Amanda Foreman (Author), Lucy Peter (Author)
• Publisher : Royal Collection Trust; 1st Edition (September 15, 2019)

20. Curtain Down at Her Majesty’s: The Death of Queen Victoria in the Words of Those Who Were There by Stewart Richards

Covers the life after the death of the second longest-reigning monarch who ruled for over six decades. It tells us about the aftermath and shock that the people fell in. The confusion, the chaos, the grief, and the turmoil that struck her kingdom. The author delves into the archives of the event and creates this book, which is an interesting read and a well-researched account of the happenings. It reveals the ceremony around the deaths of the royals and how history is then made. Do give it a read.

• Authors : Stewart Richards (Author)
• Publisher : The History Press (September 1, 2019)

Choosing the Best Books on Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was amongst the influential leaders of all time, and she is not only a figure to be looked up to but the one who should be remembered throughout history. These books explain her life and define her as a person, and one must give it a read as it will increase our knowledge about how our world came to be.

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Queen Victoria

By: History.com Editors

Updated: November 9, 2022 | Original: November 9, 2009

Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire for nearly 64 years, after ascending the throne just weeks after turning 18. She was the second-longest-reigning English royal in history, topped only by her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II . While short in stature–she was 4 feet 11 inches tall–Victoria was a giant in shaping the modern monarchy, leaving her mark on what has come to be called the Victorian Era .

Early Life and Ascension to the Throne

Alexandrina Victoria was born on May 24, 1819, at London’s Kensington Palace to Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III , and his wife, Princess Maria Louisa Victoria, who was of German descent. Named for her godfather, Russian Tsar Alexander I, she was fifth in line for the crown at birth.

Before Victoria turned 1, Edward died of pneumonia. When King George died, her uncle, William IV, was named king, and, because Edward’s brothers had no surviving legitimate heirs, Victoria became first in line to the throne. In preparation for her daughter’s reign, Victoria’s mother soon aligned with courtier John Conroy, and the two forced Victoria to follow what came to be known as the Kensington System. The set of strict, manipulative rules were as isolating as they were demanding on the girl, a gifted artist and avid diarist who was made to share her bedroom with her mother and was never left alone.

Just a few weeks after turning 18, Victoria ascended the throne as Queen of England on June 20, 1837, following William’s death, with the coronation taking place a year later on June 28, 1838. She almost immediately dismissed Conroy and moved into Buckingham Palace, which had been owned by William, making her the first monarch to reside at the estate.

“I shall do my utmost to do fulfil my duty towards my country,” she wrote in her diary soon after taking the crown. “I am very young and perhaps in many, although not all, inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have.”

British Prime Minister Lord Melbourne became her trusted advisor and confidante, and, under her rule, Victoria began to win back public approval of the monarchy as she worked to modernize the empire, supporting the arts and charities and championing industrial advancements. In fact, she was the first monarch to ride a train, in 1842, at the age of 23, writing that the “motion was very slight, and much easier than a carriage—also no dust or great heat.”

WATCH: How Department Stories Liberated Victorian-Era Women

Family and Descendants

Victoria married her first cousin, the German Prince Albert, on February 10, 1840, whom she loved dearly. "I never, never spent such an evening!!” she wrote in her diary following their wedding night. “My dearest dearest dear Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before!"

Along with Melbourne, Albert carried great influence in setting the queen’s priorities and projects, which largely centered on arts, sciences, trade and industry. Among Albert’s projects was the Great Exhibition of 1851 , which brought 6 million people to London in celebration of global industry, technology and culture and is considered the first World’s Fair.

The couple had nine children from 1840-1857: Victoria, Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice. Nearly all of them married into European royal families and many of her 42 grandchildren, including Kaiser Wilhelm II , the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruled monarchies across the continent.

Notable great-great-grandchildren include Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, King Constantine II of Greece, King Michael I of Romania, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. King Charles III is her great-great-great-grandson.

Albert’s Death and Victoria’s Later Years

Albert died in 1861 at the age of 42 from typhoid fever. Devastated, Victoria spent the next 10-plus years in seclusion, and wore black as a symbol of mourning for the rest of her life.

While in isolation, her popularity sank, but once she returned to public life, her penchant for foreign policy based on peace, support of charities that focused on the poor, health care and education, and wide expansion of the British Empire—along with her survival of at least seven assassination attempts during that led her to carry a chain mail “bulletproof” umbrella —won over public opinion.

Acting on advice from British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Victoria took the title of Empress of India in 1877, extending the empire’s imperialist reach. In 1887, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee , which marked the 50th anniversary of her accession, followed by the Diamond Jubilee, taking place a decade later in 1897, on the 60th anniversary, cemented her image and popularity among her subjects, earning her the nickname “Grandmother of Europe.”

During Victoria’s nearly 64-year reign, the British Empire was at its largest and most powerful. The empire included India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, and covered one-fifth of the globe and accounted for roughly one in four people on Earth. Locations around the world, from Victoria, Canada to Victoria Falls, Zambia to Queensland, Australia are named in her honor. The Victorian Era is noted for advancements in the arts and industry, inventions including telephone and telegraph and political reform and change.

She also helped shape popular culture: It was Victoria who started the trend of a bride wearing white on her wedding day and a widow wearing all black in mourning. Albert and Victoria made decorating Christmas trees customary. She is also credited with restoring the public’s view of the monarchy.

Victoria died January 22, 1901 at the age of 81, with her heir Edward VII and Emperor Wilhelm II at her side. She was succeeded by her oldest son, Edward VII, and was buried next to Albert at the Frogmore Mausoleum near Windsor.

“Queen Victoria (r. 1837-1901),” Royal.uk .

“How Queen Victoria remade the British monarchy,” National Geographic .

“Queen Victoria: From Pampered Princess to Elderly Empress: Wife, Mother, and Queen,” Historic Royal Palaces .

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7 Best Books On Queen Victoria

“We will not have failure – only success and new learning.”

When you have a whole era named after you, you know that you’ve left a serious imprint on history. Queen Victoria ruled the United Kingdom from 1837-1901. At sixty-four years, she was the longest-ruling monarch in British history until Elizabeth II surpassed that record in 2015 and her time on the throne coincided with some of the most profound transformations in the technological, cultural, economic and political landscapes both in her dominions and across the globe.

From her devoted marriage to Prince Albert, and her sprawling extended family, to the complexities in her personality as a monarch and as a woman in the nineteenth century, check out the best Queen Victoria books at What We Reading ! 

Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire – Julia Baird

Kicking off our list of the best Queen Victoria books is Julia Baird’s Goodreads nominated biography, Victoria The Queen . Drawing on numerous unpublished papers and other materials, Baird attempts to reveal the true figure behind the stereotypical image history normally presents. Bold, glamorous and unbreakable, Baird traces the path of Victoria from fifth in line to the throne to take the crown during a period of incredible and turbulent shifts both in her kingdom and beyond. 

Through her compelling storytelling, Baird vividly brings Victoria to life, humanising her by exploring some of the relatable challenges and obstacles she was forced to endure and overcome. 

Victoria: A Life – A.N. Wilson

Award-winning biographer A.N. Wilson presents an exhaustingly researched and definitive overview book on Queen Victoria in Victoria: A Life . Featuring a wealth of new material and never-before-utilised sources, Wilson’s biography explores everything from the strange series of circumstances that led to her coronation, her isolated childhood, devoted marriage to Albert to her intimate friendship with Highland servant John Brown. 

A Life successfully takes on the long-held presumptions about the woman and her reign and presents a far more colourful character with far more complexities than most realise. 

Empress: Queen Victoria And India – Miles Taylor

As the first Empress of India , Queen Victoria’s reign has become as synonymous with the subcontinent as it has with her home isles. In Empress: Queen Victoria and India , Miles Taylor dissects Victoria’s relationship with India. In what is undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic and engaging Queen Victoria books, he argues that the queen and her husband Albert were passionately fascinated by the domain long before her final years. 

He also argues that the influence of Victoria played a significant role in the cultural, political and economic modernisation of India, making this one of the most engaging works on Victoria, India and imperial rule.

My Dearest, Dearest Albert: Queen Victoria’s Life Through Her Letters And Journals – Karen Dolby

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s marriage has become one of the greatest love stories in history. However, it is only through the personal letters and memoirs curated by Karen Dolby in My Dearest, Dearest Albert do we get a real insight into how passionate this relationship is. 

Using extracts from 122 volumes of Victoria’s diaries written from the age of 13, My Dearest, Dearest Albert gives readers the most intimate illumination on what Victoria felt about her husband, children and family, the people she came into contact with as well as her private opinions on both domestic and global affairs. 

Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow – Dr. Lucy Worsley

Another one of the best Queen Victoria books for understanding the personality behind the crown comes from Dr Lucy Worsley in Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow . In it, Worsley explores the various family roles Victoria played during her lifetime. 

Examining how society’s values affected how a queen behaved in a domestic environment, the book covers 24 days of Victoria’s life. It uses diaries, letters and other primary sources to demonstrate how the queen was from the dour-faced and glum figure history has led us to picture. 

Serving Victoria: Life In The Royal Household – Kate Hubbard

Looking for a Queen Victoria book from the perspective of those closest to her? Kate Hubbard’s Serving Victoria is for you! Using letters and diary entries from six members of the queen’s household, this book takes readers behind the scenes of Osbourne house, illuminating what Victoria’s home and family life was truly like. 

Unlike other books on the monarch, Serving Victoria is a unique perspective thanks to its decidedly un-royal or academic narrators. 

Grandmama Of Europe: The Crowned Descendants Of Queen Victoria – Theo Aronson

On the back of producing well over 700 descendants, Queen Victoria’s title as the ‘ grandmama of Europe ’ is a fitting one. With many of those descendants sitting in powerful positions across the continent, Theo Aronson breaks down the lasting legacy of Victoria in his biography, Grandmama of Europe . 

In it, he looks at the many families of mainland Europe that can trace their bloodlines back to Victoria, exploring the complicated relations among the royal houses of Europe in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 

Check Out The Best Victorian Historical Fiction Books

Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).

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Queen Victoria

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Queen Victoria of Great Britain (r. 1837-1901) was one of the most loved of all Britain's monarchs. Her longevity, devotion to her role as figurehead of an empire , and recovery from the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert won her a unique status as the ever-present symbol of 19th-century Britain, an era of tremendous political, industrial, and social changes.

The last of the British Hanoverian monarchs, Victoria reigned for 63 years. She weathered the storms of life – outliving three of her children – and survived assassination attempts, family scandals, gossip over her relationship with her beloved servant John Brown, and reformers who wanted to topple the Crown. Britain and the British Empire would never be quite as great again when Victoria died in January 1901. Queen Victoria was succeeded by her eldest son who became Edward VII of Great Britain (r. 1901-1910).

The Hanoverians & Succession

The royal house of Hanover had taken over the British throne in 1714 following the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain (r. 1702-1714), who had no children. The Hanoverians were also electors of Hanover, a small principality in Germany, and so both George I of Great Britain (r. 1714-1727) and George II of Great Britain (r. 1727-1760) were very much Germans ruling in Britain. George III of Great Britain was the first Hanoverian to be born in Britain and to speak English as his first language; he was succeeded by two of his sons: George IV of Great Britain (r. 1820-1830) and William IV of Great Britain (r. 1830-1837).

William IV died of cirrhosis of the liver and pneumonia on 20 June 1837, but he had no surviving legitimate children. As planned, the British Crown passed to his niece Victoria, daughter of George III's late fourth-eldest son, Edward Augustus , Duke of Kent (1766-1820) and Marie Louise Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (later to become Saxe-Coburg-Gotha). This niece became Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland .

Alexandrina Victoria was born in Kensington Palace on 24 May 1819. She had no memories of her father who died in 1820 and her mother, therefore, grew in importance, as did her mother's younger brother Prince Leopold who became King of the Belgians in 1831. A third key figure in the young Victoria's childhood was her German governess Baroness Louise Lehzen (1784-1870). Victoria's education was limited to that of a lady of the period and was not that of a future monarch, but Victoria was intelligent and keen to learn. The celebrated royal biographer C. Woodham-Smith gives the following summary of Victoria's character, abilities, and weaknesses:

She was not an easy character, possessing remarkable qualities allied with emotions so intense as, at times, to reach violence ... She spoke and wrote several languages with considerable fluency. Physically she was strong ... She was obstinate – obstinacy was her chief failing – but she could be converted and when she gave way she did so with a good grace. Honesty, generosity, loyalty were her good qualities; she never bore malice and it was rare to come into close contact with her without being inspired with devotion. (431)

Victoria's childhood had been a lonely and relatively impoverished one (considering her future position) and was led primarily in apartments in Kensington Palace. She had not been allowed to cavort with her cousins, the crowd of illegitimate children of William IV that went under the invented family name of FitzClarence. Victoria's only real company were her 132 dolls. This sheltered life, where Victoria "longed sadly for some gaiety" (diary entry quoted in Cannon, 337) all changed with her succession in 1837.

Victoria had just turned 18 when she became queen. The succession meant that the British and Hanover titles were split, as no female was permitted to rule the principality if there was a male heir, no matter how remote. Accordingly, George III's fifth son Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale (1771-1851), became the new King of Hanover. Victoria was the last of the British Hanoverians as her children were classed as part of her husband Prince Albert's' family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (which was later renamed Windsor).

Prince Albert & Personal Life

The magnificent coronation was held in Westminster Abbey on 28 June 1838. To guide her in her political role, Victoria had Lord Melbourne, prime minister in 1834 and from 1835 to 1841. The queen called her first prime minister "Lord M". Small in stature (4ft 11 in / 1.5 m tall) and with large blue eyes and a rather small mouth, the young queen was independent-minded and determined to take on fully her role as a constitutional monarch. The monarchy was by now severely limited in terms of political power but remained an important figurehead and point of intervention when the politicians could not agree. As Walter Bagehot (1826-1877) noted in his famous work of 1867, The English Constitution , Victoria, in regard to government, retained "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn" (Cavendish, 412). Victoria began her reign favouring the Whig party, but Albert's influence ensured she soon rose above party politics. As Whig and Tory prime ministers came and went during her long reign, the queen's extensive experience of state matters made her a valuable sounding board and source of wisdom.

On 10 February 1840, Victoria married her cousin Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819-1861) after a one-year engagement. The wedding took place at St. James' Palace. The union had been championed by Albert's uncle King Leopold, but Victoria found herself greatly attracted to the prince who she described as "beautiful" (written in italics and underlined for emphasis in her diary). Unusually for monarchs, Victoria and Albert were of the same age, but as sovereign, the protocol required Victoria to ask Albert to marry her and not vice-versa. He agreed and was eventually given the title Albert, Prince Consort as Victoria remained the outright sovereign. Albert, nevertheless, read Victoria's state papers and gave her advice when required; he described himself as "the private secretary of the sovereign and her permanent minister" (402).

The royal couple had nine children: five girls and four boys, the eldest of whom, Albert Edward (b. 1841), known as 'Bertie', became Prince of Wales. Victoria, despite her experience, always feared the risks of childbirth and the forced absences from her role as monarch. Pregnancy, she said, was the "shadow-side of marriage" (Phillips, 217). The royal family deliberately set out to provide the nation with a role model of respectability and family duty; this was in stark contrast to the previous Hanoverian monarchs. 'Bertie' proved a disappointment in this department and had a highly unsuitable affair with the courtesan Nellie Clifden just when his parents were trying to arrange his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Denmark (a union which did go through in 1863).

Facing Radicalism

Victoria's succession was not looked upon favourably by everyone. Radicals and republicans were in the minority, but their views manifested themselves in an assassination attempt on the queen whilst riding in a carriage in London. On 10 June 1840, an 18-year-old took two pistol shots at the royal couple but missed with both. On 30 May 1842, a second assassin – although bizarrely his gun was not loaded – accosted the queen in Pall Mall and was apprehended with Victoria unharmed. Later that summer, on 3 July, yet another young would-be-assassin took a potshot at the queen, but he had not loaded his gun well, and he, too, missed his target. On 19 May 1849, an Irish assassin shot at the queen as she drove home in her carriage, but he also had not properly loaded his gun. There would be a few more attempted attacks on the queen, one madman even managing to strike Victoria with a stick that left her badly bruised in the face. Through it all, Victoria seemed to live a charmed life.

The period was a testing one for many monarchs in Europe with revolutions attempting to depose sovereigns, sometimes with success, as happened in France. It can be considered one of Victoria's many achievements not only to have weathered the radical storm but to actually have increased the popularity of the monarchy through her reign.

Tragedy & Withdrawal

The queen suffered her greatest tragedy on 14 December 1861 when Albert died of typhoid fever (or perhaps really the final phases of stomach or bowel cancer). The Prince Consort, already ill with stomach pains and tired out worrying about 'Bertie's' escapades, had got caught in the rain out visiting a new architectural project, and his condition deteriorated from there. He was just 42 years of age. Perhaps the queen never really recovered from her loss; she once wrote, simply, and encompassing all that Albert had meant to her in just four words: "He was my life" (Phillips, 217). In a sense, for the next few years, Victoria herself died. The queen could not bring herself to attend Albert's funeral, and she wore black for the remaining second half of her long life. The queen made sure that Albert and the causes he had championed were not forgotten. The fallen prince was commemorated in countless public buildings, perhaps most notably with the Royal Albert Hall in London, first opened on 8 April 1871.

Until the early 1870s, the queen withdrew from public life and spent a great deal of time at Windsor Castle or Balmoral, her and Albert's favourite royal residence and one which had been designed by the Prince Consort. The queen conducted her role in government via correspondence. Blaming 'Bertie' for his role in his father's demise, Victoria restricted his public royal roles as best she could so that the Prince of Wales and heir was, at least in official circles if not the pleasure haunts, an absent figure, too. Unimpressed with her son, Victoria described the prince as having "a small, empty brain" (Cannon, 345). This royal vacuum gave ammunition to republicans who were calling for the abolition of a monarchy that could not perform its already limited role.

The mystery surrounding the hidden queen, who became known as the 'widow of Windsor', led to unkind rumours such as an unsuitable relationship existed with her colourful and plain-speaking Scottish servant John Brown (1826-1883). The queen even gained the nickname 'Mrs Brown'. By the time Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) took office for a second time (1874-80) and established himself as Victoria's favourite prime minister, the queen was slowly returning to a more public role as the head of state. The queen also travelled abroad for rest, notably to Biarritz and the Côte d'Azur in France, greatly helping these places become fashionable resorts for Europe's well-to-do.

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Victoria was unfortunate to outlive three of her children. Princess Alice (b. 1843) died of diphtheria on 14 December 1878, in a cruel coincidence, the same date as Albert's death. In March 1884, the queen's youngest son Leopold, Duke of Albany (b. 1853) died after a bad fall. Leopold had suffered from haemophilia and possibly also epilepsy. In July 1900, Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844) died of throat cancer aged 55.

Empire & Wars

Britain was involved in the Crimean War (1853-6) where Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and others joined to defeat Russia. Victoria had opposed the war and personally visited wounded combatants being treated in hospitals back home. The conflict saw the creation of the Victoria Cross (1856), the highest British military award, and it was the queen's decision to have the words "for valour" added to the front of the medal.

Through the 19th century, the British Empire became the largest the world had ever seen, and it ranged from massive territories like Canada, India , and Australia to small outposts like Barbados, Gibraltar, Aden, Hong Kong, and Fiji. Most of the eastern half of Africa was under British rule in an almost uninterrupted line from Cairo to Cape Town.

Britain's empire-building was relentless, but there were some serious setbacks along the way. India was almost lost during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-8, but, regaining control, the East India Company possessions were taken over by the British government. Victoria was made Empress of India on 1 June 1877. In the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War, almost an entire British army was destroyed at the Battle of Isandlwana. In 1885, the great military hero General Gordon was killed defending Khartoum and its residents against the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. This disaster in the Sudan was an infamous episode of military and political dilly-dallying.

Most of the colonies had to be defended – against other powers and insurrections from local populations – and so there was a conflict somewhere in the empire in every single year of Victoria's reign. The empire was about wealth and resource extraction, and these usually came at the expense of the indigenous peoples. Many colonies were only too glad to gain their independence in the 20th century. Colonization had brutal consequences, but the records do show that Victoria did seem to take a genuine interest in her subjects, who totalled one-fifth of the world's population.

Other Reign Events

Victoria's reign witnessed an extraordinary series of innovations and social and economic changes, many of which were displayed in one form or another at the Great Exhibition of 1851, held in the Crystal Palace, a massive purpose-built hall of glass and cast iron. Prince Albert's pet project and triumph , over 6 million visitors marvelled not only at the weird and wonderful machines but thousands of exhibits from around the world, everything from the latest set of false teeth to the fabulous Koh-i-Noor diamond.

Britain's first national census was conducted in 1851, and it revealed that now more people lived in towns and cities than in the countryside. People moved around much more, too. By the end of the 19th century, Britons could travel around with much greater ease with the arrival of the railways , the motor car, and the London Underground. Life at home was more pleasant, too, with the invention of the electric light, gas fire, gramophone, and radio. People also became more connected thanks to the penny post system, and more people could write than ever before because free schools were made available to all from 1891. The 1867 Reform Act and its successor of 1884 both greatly increased the number of males who could participate in elections. In contrast to the progression in Britain's democracy, the new structure for Parliament (necessary after the great fire of 1834) was a riot of medieval and Tudor architecture . The queen officially opened the new building on 3 February 1852.

The royal family played its own role in changes of behaviour, for example, Victoria popularised the use of chloroform during child labour and Prince Albert ensured the German Christmas tree took over from the traditional mistletoe rings as the centre-piece of many a family home.

The influence of Victoria spread even further thanks to her 31 grandchildren. One grandson became the German emperor as Kaiser Wilhelm II (r. 1888-1918), one granddaughter became Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia (1894-1917), and five others became queens of European kingdoms. Victoria had certainly left her mark both in Britain and abroad, so much so, she was known towards the end of her life as the 'matriarch of Europe'.

Death & Successor

The success of the British Empire and her longevity as a calm rock in the sweeping seas of change of the 19th century greatly helped boost Victoria's popularity which had waned somewhat during her mourning period for Albert. The esteem with which she was held in the public's gaze was best seen in the celebrations of Victoria's Golden and Diamond Jubilees (1887 and 1897, respectively). After the latter celebration, on 22 June, the queen noted in her diary:

A never to be forgotten day. No one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation as was given me ... The crowds were quite indescribable ... The cheering was quite deafening, and every face seemed to be filled with real joy. (Phillips, 222)

Queen Victoria, suffering ill health and rheumatism in her final year, died shortly after a stroke at her holiday retreat, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901. She was 82 years old. Inside her coffin, according to her wishes, was a veritable curiosity shop of mementoes: a lock of John Brown's hair, a dress embroidered by her daughter Alice, several photographs, some small figurines, and even a quantity of jewels. In her never-dying love for Albert, the queen was buried, too, with a cast of the Prince Consort's hand and his dressing gown. The late queen's face was covered with her wedding veil. Now, after 40 years of separation, Victoria was reunited with her husband, buried beside him in the Royal Mausoleum, Frogmore in Windsor Great Park.

The number of Victoria's British subjects had doubled during her reign, and few indeed could remember a time when she was not queen. The Victorian era was finally over. Next on the throne was Victoria's eldest son who became Edward VII of Great Britain and who ensured the pomp and spectacle of the monarchy returned in full.

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Bibliography

• Cannon, John & Hargreaves, Anne. The Kings and Queens of Britain . Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Cavendish, Richard. Kings & Queens. David & Charles, 2007.
• Erickson, Carolly. Her Little Majesty. Simon & Schuster, 1997.
• Lewis, Brenda Ralph. Dark History of the Kings and Queens of England . Amber Books Ltd, 2012.
• Phillips, Charles. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Kings & Queens of Britain. Lorenz Books, 2006.
• Starkey, David. Crown and Country. HarperPress, 2010.
• Woodham-Smith, Cecil. Queen Victoria. Plume, 1986.

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Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901 — the second-longest reign of any British monarch.

(1819-1901)

Who Was Queen Victoria?

Victoria's reign saw great cultural expansion; advances in industry, science and communications; and the building of railways and the London Underground.

Born Alexandrina Victoria on May 24, 1819, Queen Victoria’s father died when she was 8 months old. Her mother became a domineering influence in her life. As a child, she was said to be warm-hearted and lively.

Educated at the Royal Palace by a governess, she had a gift for drawing and painting and developed a passion for journal writing.

Despite a feisty temperament, Victoria was famously tiny in stature, measuring just 4 feet 11 inches tall. Later in life, her weight ballooned, with her waist reportedly measuring 50 inches.

Parents and Half-Sister

Queen Victoria was the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, who was King George III 's fourth son. Her mother was Victoria Saxe-Saalfield-Coburg, sister of Leopold, king of the Belgians.

Queen Victoria also had a half-sister who was 12 years her senior, Princess Feodora, from her mother’s first marriage to Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen. When Princess Feodora was 6 years old, her father died. Her mother remarried Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent, and promptly moved from Germany to England for the future queen’s birth.

Ascension to the Throne

At birth, Victoria was fifth in line to the throne. However, upon her father’s death in 1820, Victoria became the heir apparent, since her three surviving uncles — who were ahead of her in succession — had no legitimate heirs who survived childhood. When King William IV died in June 1837, Victoria became queen at the age of 18.

Lord Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s First Prime Minister

Lord Melbourne was Victoria’s first prime minister, who served in 1834 and again from 1835 to 1841. When she first took the crown at the young age of 18 in 1837, Melbourne helped teach Victoria the intricacies of being a constitutional monarch. He acted as the queen’s political advisor and confidant during the early years of her reign.

In 1840, when Great Britain was fighting wars with Afghanistan and China and facing a working-class movement, Melbourne helped the queen work with an uncooperative Conservative government and suggested she let her husband, Albert, take the reigns of state responsibilities.

Victoria ascended to the throne at age 18 on June 20, 1837, and she served until her death at the age of 81 on January 22, 1901. Under Victoria's reign, Great Britain experienced unprecedented expansion in industry, building railways, bridges, underground sewers and power distribution networks throughout much of the empire. Seven assassination attempts were made on Victoria's life between 1840 and 1882.

There were advances in science ( Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution) and technology (the telegraph and popular press), with vast numbers of inventions; tremendous wealth and poverty; growth of great cities like Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham; increased literacy; and great civic works, often funded by industrial philanthropists.

During Victoria’s reign, Britain expanded its imperial reach, doubling in size and encompassing Canada, Australia, India and various possessions in Africa and the South Pacific. The Queen was emblematic of the time: an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire, which stretched across the globe and earned the adage: “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

At various points in her reign, Victoria exercised some influence over foreign affairs, expressing her preference, but not pressing beyond the bounds of constitutional propriety. During this time, the British Empire experienced only a few small wars, exerting its authority over foreign possessions.

One of the major factors that helped Britain avoid European entanglements was the marriage of Victoria's children: either directly or by marriage, she was related to the royal houses of nearly every major European power. Though the English constitutional arrangement denied her powers in foreign affairs, she ruled her family with an iron hand that helped keep Great Britain away from the intrigues of European politics.

During Victoria’s reign, the political climate in British Parliament went through a major transition. The Tory Party split, forming the Liberal and Conservative parties, and started a succession of opposing administrations. Victoria played a crucial role as a mediator between arriving and departing prime ministers.

Though she detested Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone, she found ways to work with him, even during her mourning period. She was particularly fond of Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who linked the monarchy to the expansion of the empire, which helped restore public opinion following Victoria’s long seclusion after the death of her beloved husband Albert.

Victoria continued in her duties up to her death. In keeping with tradition, she spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where her health quickly declined to the point that she was unable to return to London.

The Victorian Era

Life in Britain during the 19th century was known as Victorian England because of Victoria’s long reign and the indelible stamp it and her persona placed on the country. Her strict ethics and personality have become synonymous with the era.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

In 1840, Victoria married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the son of her mother’s brother. The couple met when Victoria was just 16; their uncle Leopold suggested they marry.

Since Victoria was queen, Albert couldn’t propose to her. So she proposed to him on October 15, 1839.

At first, the British public didn’t warm up to the German prince and he was excluded from holding any official political position. At times, their marriage was tempestuous, a clash of wills between two extremely strong personalities.

However, the couple was intensely devoted to each other. Prince Albert became Victoria’s strongest ally, helping her navigate difficult political waters.

After several years of suffering from stomach ailments, Victoria's beloved Albert died of typhoid fever in 1861 at the age of 42. Victoria was devastated, sleeping with a plaster cast of his hand by her side, and went into a 25-year seclusion. For the rest of her reign, she wore black.

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Queen Victoria's Children

Victoria and Albert had nine children together:

• Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise (1840-1901), who married the future emperor of Germany Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia in 1858. On his death three months after taking the throne, their eldest son became Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
• Prince Albert Edward Wettin (1841-1910), who succeeded his mother to the crown as King Edward VII in 1901.
• Princess Alice Maude Mary (1843-1878), whose daughter Alix married Nicholas II , the last Russian tzar.
• Prince Alfred Ernest Albert (1844-1900), who married the daughter of Tzar Alexander II of Russia. His oldest daughter, Marie, wed the crown Prince of Romania.
• Princess Helena Augusta Victoria (1846-1923)
• Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939) created quite a scandal when she married a commoner, John Douglas Sutherland Campbell (later the Duke of Argyll).
• Prince Arthur William Patrick (1850-1942), who married Princess Louise Margarete of Prussia.
• Prince Leopold George Duncan (1853-1884)
• Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria (1857-1944)

Relationship with John Brown

John Brown was Victoria’s Scottish servant and one of her closest friends, with some suggestions that the two may have been lovers. Seven years her junior and many ranks below her, the queen said Brown was her dearest friend — an unthinkable relationship at the time. He became known as “the queen’s stallion” in the royal household and pledged his lifelong loyalty to her.

There were rumors that Brown and Victoria were lovers, especially after the death of Albert. Historians have since parsed through her journals — which were edited by her daughter Beatrice — and never found evidence of an affair. But one thing is clear: She loved him. When Brown died suddenly in March 1883, Victoria told his sister-in-law that he was the “best, the truest heart that ever beat.”

Relationship with Abdul Karim

Following Brown’s death in 1883, Victoria’s servant Abdul Karim ascended into the queen’s inner circle and became her closest confidant. Karim was the son of a hospital assistant in Northern India and was brought to England to serve at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 1887. He quickly impressed the queen with his cooking, and she asked him to teach her Urdu. Victoria lavished Karim with gifts including a private carriage, titles and honors. She also commissioned several portraits.

In letters to Karim, the queen referred to herself as “your loving mother” and “your closest friend.” However, historians do not believe that the two had a physical relationship.

Abdul’s great-grandson Javed Mahmood told The Telegraph in 2010 that they shared “a mother and son relationship. She became an Indophile in part because of her affection for him. But the prejudice of her family percolated down to Victoria’s staff.”

Victoria and Karim’s close relationship was scandalous to the royal family. Upon the queen’s death in 1901, they had all of the pair’s letters burned, and Victoria’s daughter Beatrice removed all references of Karim from the queen’s journals. Although the family followed through with the queen’s wish for Karim to be among a small group of mourners at her funeral, they later evicted Karim from the home Victoria gave to him and sent him back to India.

Karim’s relationship with Victoria was uncovered decades later by journalist Shrabani Basu, who visited the queen’s summer home in 2003 and noticed several paintings and a bust of Karim. Basu investigated their relationship and wrote a book, Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant .

Death and Successor

Victoria died after a lengthy period of poor health on January 22, 1901, at the age of 81. Her son, the future King Edward VII, and her eldest grandson, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, were both at her bedside.

Prince Albert Edward Wettin, Victoria’s eldest son, succeeded her to the British throne as King Edward VII upon her death in 1901.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Victoria
• Birth Year: 1819
• Birth date: May 24, 1819
• Birth City: London, England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Female
• Best Known For: Queen Victoria was queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 to 1901 — the second-longest reign of any British monarch.
• World Politics
• Astrological Sign: Gemini
• Interesting Facts
• Queen Victoria was tiny, standing at 4 feet, 11 inches tall.
• Queen Victoria's reign lasted 63 years, surpassed by great-great granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II in 2015.
• Death Year: 1901
• Death date: January 22, 1901
• Death City: Near Cowes, Isle of Wight, England
• Death Country: United Kingdom

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The Most Interesting Queen Victoria Reading List

With it being Victoria Day weekend in Canada, I decided it couldn’t be a better time to post my new Queen Victoria reading list. (Especially given that a lot of us have a lot more reading time…) Victoria is often seen as a myth and an icon of an entire era, but she was also a monarch and a woman. I have picked my favourite Queen Victoria books to give you insight into the people around Victoria and the woman herself. We are spoilt for choice with her, so it wasn’t an easy choice to make, but I’ve done it. Here is my Queen Victoria reading list, for your enjoyment!

Before Victoria

Understanding the stage of the royal family before Victoria can make a big difference in understanding her life… Princess Charlotte of Wales is key piece of the puzzle of Victoria’s life. 

Charlotte and Leopold : The True Story of the Original People’s Princess , James Chambers

Charlotte was the only legitimate royal child of her generation, and her death in childbirth resulted in a public outpouring of grief the like of which was not to be seen again until the death of Diana, over 150 years later. Charlotte’s death was followed by an unseemly scramble to produce a substitute heir. Queen Victoria was the product. James Chambers masterfully demonstrates how the personal and the political inevitably collide in scheming post-Napoleonic Europe, offering a vivid and sympathetic portrait of a couple whose lives are in many ways not their own. From the day she was born, Charlotte won the hearts of her subjects and yet, behind the scenes, she was used, abused, and victimized by rivalries—between her parents; between her father (the Prince Regent, later King George IV) and (Mad) King George III; between her tutors, governesses, and other members of her discordant household; and ultimately between the Whig opposition and the Tory government. Set in one of the most glamorous eras of British history, against the background of a famously dysfunctional royal family, Charlotte & Leopold: The True Story of The Original People’s Princess is an accessible, moving, funny, and entertaining royal biography with alluring contemporary resonance.

Sadly, Princess Charlotte of Wales is largely forgotten in royal history. The only child of the Prince Regent and Future George IV, she carried the future of the British monarchy on her shoulders. However, it is Charlotte’s trajectory that led to Victoria taking the throne. Charlotte died in childbirth, meaning that two generations of heirs were lost in a day. And after her death, her uncles began a race to find to get married and father the next heir. Obviously, the Duke of Kent won that race… Charlotte led a fascinating, albeit somewhat sad, life and deserves much more attention.

This biography looks at both Charlotte and her husband Leopold. Leopold was Victoria’s uncle, and Chambers does a wonderful job of introducing the man who continues to appear in Victoria’s story. However, this book’s strength is Charlotte- the majority focuses on her. Charlotte’s father, the Prince Regent, was a difficult and particular man. He hated Charlotte’s mother, and the strained relationship between her parents absolutely trickles down to Charlotte. Despite an often-isolated childhood (much like Victoria), Charlotte blossomed in adulthood. Chambers covers Charlotte’s short life, without a constant sense of foreboding that often accompanies biographies where death features heavily. This isn’t a long biography, but is a wonderful introduction to Charlotte and Leopold. 

You will want to read this before any Victoria biographies, to give you a solid context for the later Georgians. Victoria’s life will make more sense when you have Charlotte’s background to explain why everyone around Victoria acted like they did. 

Victoria Herself

And now for Victoria herself. There is really no shortage of Queen Victoria biographies, but these four are my favourites. They all take different approaches, but have their own strengths. 

The Young Victoria , Deirdre Murphy 

This beautiful, extensively researched volume investigates the birth and early life of one of the most familiar British monarchs, Queen Victoria (1819–1901). A wealth of material, including many unexamined sources and unpublished images, sheds new light on Victoria’s youth. Included here are portraits of the queen as princess, childhood diaries and sketchbooks, clothing, jewelery, and correspondence.    Deirdre Murphy paints a vivid picture of Victoria’s early years. Among her most surprising conclusions is the idea that the queen’s personal mythology of a childhood characterized by sadness and isolation is less accurate than is generally thought. Victoria’s personal relationships are brought brilliantly to life, from her affectionate but increasingly suffocating bond with her mother, the Duchess of Kent, to the controlling influence of Sir John Conroy, a man she came to despise, and her courtship with Prince Albert. Lesser-known figures are also explored, including Victoria’s first schoolmaster the Reverend George Davys, her governess Louise Lehzen, and her half-sister Feodora. This fascinating cast of characters enhances our image of Victoria, who emerges as both willful and submissive, fickle and affectionate, and with the explosive temper of her Hanoverian ancestors.

This is one of my favourite Victoria books, and I’m only halfway through. There have been countless books written on Queen Victoria’s adulthood. Her marriage, her widowhood, her royal matchmaking. However, we rarely get to read or hear about her childhood and adolescence past “the Kensington system”.  The Young Victoria gives us a window into her formative years, and pulls back the curtain with different pieces that have never been shown before. 

Murphy was a senior curator with Historic Royal Palaces, and being based out of Kensington Palace , she had access to sources that most of us dream about. Clothing, childhood toys, Victoria’s own sketches- all included here! (Many of the sources included here are held by the Royal Collection Trust.) And not only does she include these sources, she also delves into people in Victoria’s life that we usually don’t see. Given that Victoria’s adulthood is largely marked by attachments to various people, I am appreciating the earlier context. Sure, we all are familiar with Prince Albert, but have you heard of Reverend George Bathys? 

I would read this before any full-length biographies of Victoria. The interesting sources and specific focus on her earlier years are going to make it easier to understand and draw connections across her life as a whole. 

Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire , Julia Baird

When Victoria was born, in 1819, the world was a very different place. Revolution would threaten many of Europe’s monarchies in the coming decades. In Britain, a generation of royals had indulged their whims at the public’s expense, and republican sentiment was growing. The Industrial Revolution was transforming the landscape, and the British Empire was commanding ever larger tracts of the globe. In a world where women were often powerless, during a century roiling with change, Victoria went on to rule the most powerful country on earth with a decisive hand. Fifth in line to the throne at the time of her birth, Victoria was an ordinary woman thrust into an extraordinary role. As a girl, she defied her mother’s meddling and an adviser’s bullying, forging an iron will of her own. As a teenage queen, she eagerly grasped the crown and relished the freedom it brought her. At twenty, she fell passionately in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, eventually giving birth to nine children. She loved sex and delighted in power. She was outspoken with her ministers, overstepping conventional boundaries and asserting her opinions. After the death of her adored Albert, she began a controversial, intimate relationship with her servant John Brown. She survived eight assassination attempts over the course of her lifetime. And as science, technology, and democracy were dramatically reshaping the world, Victoria was a symbol of steadfastness and security–queen of a quarter of the world’s population at the height of the British Empire’s reach. Drawing on sources that include fresh revelations about Victoria’s relationship with John Brown, Julia Baird brings vividly to life the fascinating story of a woman who struggled with so many of the things we do today: balancing work and family, raising children, navigating marital strife, losing parents, combating anxiety and self-doubt, finding an identity, searching for meaning.

I admit, I put off reading this because I was slightly unsure of the size. At 750+ pages, it can be a tad overwhelming. However, it reads like a novel and moves quickly! Baird covers Julia’s life from beginning to end, no easy feat for a woman who reigned for over 60 years. She doesn’t fall into the trap of romanticising or demonising Victoria, and takes a balanced approach. She also works hard to keep the reader informed of what was happening in politics and society at the time, which is important in the era where the government was still fighting for power. 

Baird is not an historian, but rather a journalist, and I think that is a strength here. She isn’t bogged down in day-to-day minutiae, a dangerous possibility with the Victorian period. When needed, Baird gives details, but she doesn’t waste your time.  I watched a talk that she gave where she discussed not having much access to the Royal Collection (due to being a journalist), so this book is even more impressive for the fact that she had limited access to her sources.

If you know nothing of Victoria at all, this is the book for you! (And now that I’ve read it, I don’t think a Queen Victoria reading list is complete without it.)

Queen Victoria: Daughter, Wife, Mother, Widow , Lucy Worsley

Who was Queen Victoria? A little old lady, potato-like in appearance, dressed in everlasting black? Or a passionate young princess, a romantic heroine with a love of dancing? There is also a third Victoria – a woman who was also a remarkably successful queen, one who invented a new role for the monarchy. She found a way of being a respected sovereign in an age when people were deeply uncomfortable with having a woman on the throne. As well as a queen, Victoria was a daughter, a wife, a mother and a widow, and at each of these steps along life’s journey she was expected to conform to what society demanded of a woman. On the face of it, she was deeply conservative. But if you look at her actions rather than her words, she was in fact tearing up the rule book for how to be female. By looking at the detail of twenty-four days of her life, through diaries, letters and more, we can see Victoria up close and personal. Examining her face-to-face, as she lived hour to hour, allows us to see, and to celebrate, the contradictions at the heart of British history’s most recognisable woman.

Another Historic Royal Palaces curator! I have recommended this book on the blog before, but I had to include it here. Victoria’s life can be overwhelming, and I think that deters a lot of people from reading about her. However, Worsley’s approach of selecting key dates/episodes throughout her life to highlight different people and themes is a creative way to cover a lot of ground. She looks at 24 different episodes, and through these, we can see the evolution of a Queen and a woman. Worsley does include quotes from Victoria’s own letters and diaries, which lends a needed weight to the book. (Although her daughter, Beatrice, unfortunately cut out much of her diaries after her death…) 

It is a lighter biography of Victoria, but I think that Worsley does an excellent job of poking us to rethink her and highlighting those contrasts. Victoria wouldn’t have considered herself a feminist but she was the head of the largest Empire to ever have existed. And the idea that she was a perpetual widow who was permanently dour and angry? Doubtful, given all of the surviving sources we have. Given that there have been so many books written about Victoria, this opposition is a new approach!

If you are new or somewhat new to Victoria and her life, this book will give you a needed introduction but also challenge you to reconsider what you do know.

Those After Victoria

I think that the people around Victoria can give you just as much insight into her life as she can, and her children are no exception!

The Mystery of Princess Louise: Queen Victoria’s Rebellious Daughter , Lucinda Hawksley

The secrets of Queen Victoria’s sixth child, Princess Louise, may be destined to remain hidden forever. What was so dangerous about this artistic, tempestuous royal that her life has been documented more by rumour and gossip than hard facts? When Lucinda Hawksley started to investigate, often thwarted by inexplicable secrecy, she discovered a fascinating woman, modern before her time, whose story has been shielded for years from public view. Louise was a sculptor and painter, friend to the Pre-Raphaelites and a keen member of the Aesthetic movement. The most feisty of the Victorian princesses, she kicked against her mother’s controlling nature and remained fiercely loyal to her brothers – especially the sickly Leopold and the much-maligned Bertie. She sought out other unconventional women, including Josephine Butler and George Eliot, and campaigned for education and health reform and for the rights of women. She battled with her indomitable mother for permission to practice the ‘masculine’ art of sculpture and go to art college and in doing so became the first British princess to attend a public school. The rumours of Louise’s colourful love life persist even today, with hints of love affairs dating as far back as her teenage years, and notable scandals included entanglements with her sculpting tutor Joseph Edgar Boehm and possibly even her sister Princess Beatrice’s handsome husband, Liko. True to rebellious form, she refused all royal suitors and became the first member of the royal family to marry a commoner since the sixteenth century. Spirited and lively, The Mystery of Princess Louise is richly packed with arguments, intrigues, scandals and secrets, and is a vivid portrait of a princess desperate to escape her inheritance

I had to include this book- Princess Louise is one of my favourite royals in history. All nine of Victoria and Albert’s children were unique, strong personalities in their own ways. But Louise was absolutely leading the pack in independence. I personally think that it was Louise’s path that cleared the way for Princess Margaret to seek out her artistic circle, and for royal siblings in the later twentieth centuries to forge their own path. And with Louise’s sculpture of Queen Victoria sitting outside Kensington Palace to this day, I can only imagine that she has inspired many royals to take up artistic pursuits, be it painting, photography, or other. (And spending several years in Canada when her husband was Governor General, she left her mark all over my home country also!) 

I would argue that each of Victoria’s children rebelled in their own ways, but Louise’s path is constant rebellion, and it makes for a fantastic read. It isn’t overly long, with shorter chapters- it doesn’t labour the point. I don’t necessarily agree with every single one of Hawksley’s conclusions, but she brings in enough evidence for you to draw your own. (No, I don’t believe that Princess Louise had a child out of wedlock- I don’t think it would have stayed this quiet.)

If you want to see the effect that Victoria had on her children, and get lost in a fascinating life, The Mystery of Princess Louise should be your next book! 

The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince , Jane Ridley

“This is not only the best biography of King Edward VII; it’s also one of the best books about royalty ever published.” So began the London Independent’s review of this wonderfully entertaining biography of Britain’s playboy king-a Prince Charles of the Victorian age, only a lot more fun-who waited for nearly six decades to get his chance to rule. A notorious gambler, glutton and womanizer (he was dubbed “Edward the Caresser”), the world was his oyster as this aging Prince of Wales took advantage of his royal entitlements to travel, hunt, socialize, over-indulge-he smoked a dozen cigars a day-and bed a string of mistresses and married women in addition to his own wife. His mother Queen Victoria despaired: “Bertie, I grieve to say, shows more and more how totally, totally unfit he is for ever becoming king.” And yet by the time he died in 1910, after only nine years on the throne, he had proven to be a hard working, effective king and an ace diplomat, at home and abroad. 

What would a Queen Victoria reading list be without a look at her heir, the often-dismissed Edward VII? Because Victoria lived until 1901, Edward’s own reign was less than a decade. However, the Edwardian period is still its own distinct era, and there are reasons for that. Not a quiet or reserved man, Edward and his social set were larger than life in every single way possible. When he finally did take the throne, that only spread further. I do see a few similarities between Victoria and Edward, but it is quite the exercise to compare such different monarchs and people. The relationship between monarch and heir is a complex one, and Victoria and her son were no different. 

Edward had quite a difficult childhood. Prince Albert had very specific theories on raising children, and it appears that if something was good for Bertie (Edward’s family name), Albert put a stop to it. Still, he very much became his own person, and an interesting one at that. While I wouldn’t want to have personally lived his life of carousing and debauchery, it is quite entertaining to read about it! (It also clearly explains the Edwardian period…) Ridley takes quite a sarcastic tone to Bertie’s life, and it works perfectly for him. Authors, take note!

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey or the Edwardian period in general, or are just curious what having parents like Victoria and Albert would do to you, The Heir Apparent is for you!

What books would you put on your Queen Victoria reading list? 

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2 thoughts on “the most interesting queen victoria reading list”.

Great recommendations- thanks! I am about halfway through the Lucy Worsley book now and it is such a good read.

It offers wonderful insights without getting lost in 80+ years of history! 😊 And her behind-the-scenes access is key 😁

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Biography Online

Queen Victoria Biography

Short Biography of Queen Victoria (1819 –1901)

Queen Victoria was born 24 May 1819. Aged 18 she became Queen of Great Britain and she went on to rule for 63 years – at the time – she was the longest-serving Monarch in Europe. She ruled through a period of British imperialism with the British Empire expanding and she became Empress of India. She came to epitomise an era of social conservatism and economic expansion.

She was the granddaughter of George III, and her father, Edward was fourth in line to the throne. However, her father’s three brothers all died without leaving any living relatives. She was crowned Queen on 20 June 1837 and ruled until her death 63 years later in 1901.

Her early life until the age of 18 was closeted and carefully controlled by her mother and her assistant John Conroy. Her mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld kept Victoria very close and allowed her little real-life experience. She was brought up with a strict set of rules and regulations known as the ‘Kensington System’. Victoria described her childhood as “rather melancholy.” In 1830 her grandfather George III died. He was succeeded by King William IV, but in 1837, he also passed away, meaning the crown passed onto Victoria who was aged only 18, and somewhat unprepared for the role.

One of her first decisions was to cut free from her mother and gain more independence from the controlling atmosphere she had been brought up in. She also took her new duties very seriously. On her ascendency to the throne, she said:

“Since it has pleased Providence to place me in this station, I shall do my utmost to fulfil my duty towards my country; I am very young and perhaps in many, though not in all things, inexperienced, but I am sure that very few have more real good will and more real desire to do what is fit and right than I have.”

Queen Victoria, Extract from the Queen’s Journal, Tuesday, 20th June 1837.

After her coronation, Queen Victoria met many potential suitors from Royal houses across Europe. She fell in love with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany. There were married in 1840. Victoria and Prince Albert had a very close, intimate relationship and she described the intensity of feelings towards her beloved husband. She wrote in her diary shortly after their marriage.

“MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before!”

– Queen Victoria.

In the same year as her marriage, Queen Victoria gave birth to her first child – a daughter named Victoria. They had nine children in total. She found pregnancy and childbirth difficult and once exclaimed. “An ugly baby is a very nasty object – and the prettiest is frightful.”

Queen Victoria and Nineteenth-Century Britain

The 19th Century was a time of unprecedented expansion for Britain in term of both industry and Empire. Although her popularity ebbed and flowed during her reign, towards the end of her crown, she had become a symbol of British imperialism and pride.

The Victorian period also witnessed great advances in science and technology. It became known as the steam age, enabling people to easily travel throughout the UK and the World.

Queen Victoria was emblematic of this period. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire. She celebrated at Lord Kitchener’s victory in the Sudan; she supported British involvement in the Boer War. She was also happy to preside over the expansion of the British Empire, which was to stretch across the globe. In 1877 Queen Victoria was made Empress of India, in a move instigated by the imperialist Disraeli. Famously, at the end of the Victorian period, people could say ‘the sun never set on the British Empire.’

Queen Victoria was conservative in her politics and social views. She opposed women’s rights and was socially conservative. This led to an unfortunate episode. When she saw a servant who appeared to be pregnant, Victoria claimed she was having an affair. The Queen actually made her take a test to prove she was a virgin. The test was positive and the growth in her stomach was actually a form of cancer; a few months later the servant died, and Queen Victoria suffered a decline in her popularity as a result of this episode.

In the early part of her reign, she became a close friend and confidant of the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. She spent many hours talking to him and relied on his political advice. Lord Melbourne was a Whig, with conservative attitudes. He tried to shield Queen Victoria from the extreme poverty that was endemic in parts of the UK.

Queen Victoria was also highly devoted to her husband, Prince Albert; together they had nine children. When Prince Albert died in 1861, at the age of 41, Queen Victoria went into deep mourning and struggled to overcome this loss. She became reclusive and was reluctant to appear in public. Parliament and Benjamin Disraeli had to use all their persuasive power to get her to open parliament in 1866 and 1867. Her hiding from the public led to a decline in popularity. However, by the end of her reign, her popularity was restored. This was partly due to the rise of Great Britain as the leading superpower of the era.

For various reasons, several attempts were made on the life of Queen Victoria. These were mostly between 1840 and 1882. She was always unharmed, but her courageous attitude helped to endear her to the public.

Personality of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was successful in portraying a public image of an aloof Queen who embodied the virtues of the British Empire. In person, away from the public glare, she was known to be a combination of honesty, plain-speaking but also prone to emotional outbursts and quite obstinate.

“Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves.”

– Queen Victoria

Despite her social conservativism, she was passionate about her husband and greatly enjoyed spending time in close proximity. However, even their relationship could be punctuated with loud, emotional arguments. Despite perceptions of her being dry and serious, members of the household stated she could have a great sense of humour and laugh uproariously.

The death of her husband in 1861 was a huge blow and she was deeply affected with grief. She wore black and mourned for several years. Her grief was so intense, it affected the nation. She struggled to overcome the grief and Albert’s early death led to a further worsening of relationships with her first son Edward VII – whom Victoria blamed for his playboy lifestyle causing stress for his father Albert.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. “Biography of Queen Victoria”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net, 23rd May 2014. Last updated 8 March 2019.

Queen Victoria – A Life

Queen Victoria at Amazon.com

Queen Victoria Pictures

Queen Victoria Pictures at Amazon.com

Related pages

Further reading

• Quotes of Queen Victoria
• Queen Victoria at BBC
• Queen Victoria Biography from Encyclopedia Britannica

Your guide to Queen Victoria and a timeline of her life – plus 16 fascinating facts

One of history's most iconic monarchs, Queen Victoria (1819-1901) ruled for more than 60 years. She was empress of the world's largest ever empire, and her name denotes an entire era of British history. Here, we bring you a guide to her life, plus 16 facts…

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At the time of her birth, Victoria was never expected to be queen. Yet upon the death of her uncle, King William IV, she succeeded him at the age of 18. She is remembered for her reign that spanned more than six decades, overseeing the expansion of the British empire for almost 64 years. Here are facts you need to know about the diminutive monarch – from her famed love and mourning for her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, to the many attempts on her life…

Queen Victoria: a biography

Victoria was born fifth in line to the throne.

“Plump as a partridge… more of a pocket Hercules than a pocket Venus”, is how the Duke of Kent described his spirited newborn daughter Princess Victoria when she was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace.

Yet though she went on to become one of Britain’s most iconic monarchs, Victoria’s birth did not herald national celebration. As the daughter of King George III ’s fourth son, at the time of her birth Victoria was only fifth in line to the throne. Expected to be just another minor royal relative who would end up married into a European royal family, Victoria’s arrival slipped under the radar somewhat. Few could have predicted that she would sit on the throne for more than 60 years. By the time Victoria reached her teens, however, the death of her father, his brothers and any other legitimate heirs left the young princess as King William IV’s closest surviving heir.

On 24 June 1819, the princess was christened in a low-key ceremony. Frustrated by his own inability to produce a surviving heir, Victoria’s uncle, the Prince Regent, only allowed a handful of people to attend. Also under the direction of her uncle, she was given the name ‘Alexandrina Victoria’. At the time, Victoria was far from a regal name – it was highly unusual and of French origin. When it became clear that Victoria would indeed accede to the throne, her name was seen to be completely inappropriate for a queen of England. She was advised to change it to something more traditional, but refused.

More like this

Queen Victoria had an unhappy childhood

Victoria spent her formative years at Kensington Palace. However, in many ways the palace proved a prison for the princess, and her childhood there was far from rosy.

Following her father’s death from pneumonia when she was just eight months old, Victoria’s early life was dominated by her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her ambitious adviser Sir John Conroy. Keen to establish himself as the power behind the throne in the event of a Regency (in which Victoria’s mother would rule with her if she acceded while still underage), Conroy sought to keep tight control of the princess. Both he and the Duchess had a hostile relationship with Victoria’s uncle, King William, and consequently kept Victoria isolated from the royal court, even preventing her from attending her uncle’s coronation.

The pair imposed a stifling code of discipline on the young Victoria, which came to be known as the ‘Kensington System’ . Along with a strict timetable of lessons to improve her moral and intellectual rigor, this suffocating regime dictated that the princess spent hardly any time with other children and was under constant adult supervision. Right up until the time she became queen, Victoria was forced to share a bedroom with her mother. She was forbidden from ever being alone, or even walking down stairs without someone holding her hand.

Later in life, Victoria reflected that she “led a very unhappy life as a child… and did not know what a happy domestic life was”. She retained a deep-seated hatred of John Conroy for manipulating her mother and imposing such rigid rules on her, later describing him as “demon incarnate”.

Victoria was only 18 when she became queen

“I went into my sitting room (only in my dressing gown) alone and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at twelve minutes past two this morning and consequently that I was Queen.”

This is how Victoria recalled the moment that would change her life forever. At 6am on 20 June 1837, the young princess was woken from her bed to be informed that her uncle, King William IV, had died during the night. This meant that Victoria, who was only 18 at the time, was now queen of England.

Although it came as a shock, Victoria took the news extremely stoically. Despite her young age she remained calm and had no need for the smelling salts her governess had prepared for her. In her first meeting with her privy council just a few hours later, Victoria’s new ministers towered over her – at just 4ft 11, she had to be seated on a raised platform in order to be seen. What Victoria lacked in height, however, she made up for in determination, and she quickly made a favourable impression.

• How tall was Queen Victoria? And what did she really look like?

Victoria had turned 18 less than a month before acceding to the throne. This was a crucial milestone, as it meant that she was able to rule under her own steam, rather than alongside her mother in a regency. She began her new life by moving away from her childhood home at Kensington to Buckingham Palace, in part to escape from the controlling influence of Conroy and her mother. Her relationship with her mother remained strained and distant for many years and she limited Conroy’s influence at court. Just two years after Victoria took the throne, he resigned his post and left for Italy amid shame and scandal.

In June the following year, Victoria was crowned in a five-hour-long ceremony at Westminster Abbey followed by a royal banquet and fireworks. “I shall ever remember this day as the proudest of my life” she recorded in her diary.

• Read more about the young Victoria's struggle to gain the throne

Queen Victoria proposed to Prince Albert

Though as a young woman she had many suitors , a key figure throughout Victoria’s life and reign was her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria met the German prince at Kensington Palace when the pair were both just 17. The meeting of Victoria and Albert, who were also first cousins, had been masterminded by Victoria’s uncle, Leopold I of Belgium, who believed he could benefit politically from the match.

Yet despite the marriage brokering that had led the couple to meet, this was most definitely a love match. Victoria’s diary revealed that she found the young prince “extremely handsome”. She wrote, “his eyes are large and blue, and he has a beautiful nose and a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful”. As royal tradition dictated that no one could propose to a reigning monarch, in October 1839 it was Victoria who proposed to Albert.

Victoria's marriage was the first of a reigning queen of England in 286 years

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's wedding , which took place in St James’s Palace chapel on 10 February 1840, was the first marriage of a reigning queen of England since Mary I in 1554. Victoria wore an 18-foot-long train carried by 12 bridesmaids and kicked off a modern-day tradition by wearing white. Outside, the nation erupted into huge public celebration. Victoria recorded how she “never saw such crowds of people… they cheered most enthusiastically”. She reflected on the event as “ the happiest day of my life”.

Over the course of their 21-year marriage, Victoria and Albert had a passionate, if sometimes tempestuous, relationship. Although the couple had blazing arguments, Victoria clearly adored her husband, describing him in her diary as “perfection in every way … oh how I adore and love him”.

• Read more about Victoria and Albert's marriage

Queen Victoria had nine children… but she hated being pregnant

Just over nine months after their wedding, Victoria and Albert’s first child, Princess Victoria, was born at Buckingham Palace. The queen soon after recorded how “after a good many hours suffering, a perfect little child was born… but alas! A girl & not a boy, as we both had so hoped & wished for”. The royal couple’s wishes were granted less than a year later, however, when Victoria gave birth to a male heir: Edward, known by the family as Bertie. Victoria and Albert went on to have a total of nine children – four boys and five girls .

Surprisingly, Victoria hated being pregnant, and historians have suggested that she may have suffered from post-natal depression. She compared pregnancy to feeling like a cow and wrote that “an ugly baby is a very nasty object – and the prettiest is frightful when undressed”.

Many of Victoria’s children were married into the royal families of Europe, yet throughout her life she maintained a close, perhaps even suffocating, relationship with them. She had a notoriously fractious relationship with her eldest son, the charismatic yet quick-tempered Bertie.

The 1839 'Bedchamber Crisis' got Queen Victoria into trouble

Victoria took the throne at a time when the monarch’s role was intended to be largely apolitical. Yet early in her reign, the inexperienced queen got into hot water for meddling in political matters, in an event termed ‘The Bedchamber Crisis’.

The first prime minister of Victoria’s reign was the Whig politician Lord Melbourne, with whom she enjoyed a remarkably close relationship. Melbourne held significant sway over the young queen, who appointed the majority of her ladies-in-waiting according to his advice.

In 1839, Melbourne resigned following several parliamentary defeats. Tory Robert Peel stepped forward to become prime minister, on one condition: he requested that Victoria dismiss some of her existing household – who largely held Whig sympathies and were loyal to Melbourne – and replace them with Tory ladies. As many of Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting were also her closest friends, she took offence at Peel’s request and refused.

The queen had already been criticised for her over-reliance on Lord Melbourne, and now she was widely condemned for being not just politically partisan, but unconstitutional. The tense situation was eventually defused by the ever-reasonable Prince Albert, who arranged for some of Victoria’s ladies to resign their posts voluntarily.

Queen Victoria spoke several languages

Perhaps in part due to her strict schooling under the ‘Kensington system’, Victoria proved herself to be a remarkably adept linguist. As well as being fluent in both English and German, she also spoke French, Italian and Latin.

As her mother and governess both hailed from Germany, Victoria grew up speaking the language and at one stage reportedly even had a German accent, which had to be erased by tutors. When she later married her German cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the couple regularly spoke German together. Although Albert was fluent in English, he and Victoria could often be heard talking – and indeed arguing – in German when in private.

Later in life, Victoria also experimented with some of the languages from across her vast empire. Following the arrival of Indian servants at Windsor Castle in August 1887, she was taught Hindustani and Urdu phrases by her favourite Indian attendant, Abdul Karim . The queen recorded in her diary: "I am learning a few words of Hindustani to speak to my servants. It is a great interest to me for both the language and the people, I have naturally never come into real contact with before".

The queen's relationship with her prime ministers wasn’t always easy

Over the course of the six decades she sat on the throne, Victoria saw many prime ministers come and go. Yet while she established a remarkably close bond with some, others failed spectacularly to win her favour.

Victoria’s first prime minister, Lord Melbourne, was keen to flatter, instruct and influence the young queen from the very beginning. The pair were so close that Victoria claimed to love him “like a father”. However, this intense friendship with ‘Lord M’ made the queen unpopular with many – she was criticised for being politically partisan and was even mockingly called her “Mrs Melbourne”. Later in her reign, Benjamin Disraeli similarly pulled out all the stops to win Victoria’s favour with charm and flattery. His tactics clearly worked, as the queen told her eldest daughter [also named Victoria] that he would “do very well” and was “full of poetry, romance and chivalry”.

Other ministers, however, received a much less enthusiastic response from her majesty: she found Lord John Russell stubborn and rude and referred to Lord Palmerston as a “dreadful old man”. As foreign secretary, Palmerston had invoked Victoria’s wrath by ignoring Albert’s suggested amendments to dispatches and apparently attempting to seduce one of her ladies-in-waiting. Victoria found Gladstone similarly infuriating, and with her characteristically sharp tongue dismissed him as a “half-crazy and in many ways ridiculous, wild and incomprehensible old fanatic”.

Britain's imperial conquests increased nearly fivefold during Victoria's reign

Over the course of her reign, Victoria witnessed a mammoth expansion of the British empire . During her first 20 years on the throne, Britain’s imperial conquests had increased almost fivefold. By the time she died, it was the largest empire the world had ever known and included a quarter of the world’s population. As the monarchy was seen as a focal point for imperial pride, and a means of uniting the empire’s disparate peoples, Victoria’s image was spread across the empire.

The queen herself took a great interest in imperial affairs. In 1877, prime minister Benjamin Disraeli pronounced her empress of India in a move to cement Britain’s link to the “jewel in the empire’s crown”. The queen had pushed for the title for several years, but, concerned about its absolutist connotations, Disraeli had been hesitant to agree. By 1877, however, Victoria had become so insistent he felt he could not resist any longer, for fear of offending her.

Queen Victoria was known as the “grandmother of Europe”

Over the course of their 21-year marriage, Victoria and Albert raised nine children together . As a means of extending Britain’s influence and building international allegiances, several of their sons and daughters were married into various European monarchies, and within just a couple of generations Victoria’s descendants were spread across the continent. Her 42 grandchildren could be found in the royal families of Germany, Russia, Greece, Romania, Sweden, Norway and Spain.

Warring First World War royals Kaiser Wilhelm (of Germany), Tsarina Alexandra (of Russia) and George V (of Britain) were all grandchildren of Victoria. Kaiser Wilhelm reportedly remarked that had his grandmother still been alive, the First World War may never have happened, as she simply would not have allowed her relatives to go to war with one another.

• Could Queen Victoria have prevented World War I?

Victoria’s widespread influence had unexpected genetic, as well as political, implications for Europe’s monarchies. It is believed that the queen was a carrier of haemophilia and had unwittingly introduced the rare inherited disease into her bloodline. Over subsequent generations the condition resurfaced in royal families across the continent. In an age of limited medical facilities, haemophilia – which affects the blood’s ability to clot – could have disastrous consequences. Victoria’s own son Leopold suffered from the disease and died aged 30 after he slipped and fell, triggering a cerebral haemorrhage. Three of the queen’s grandchildren also suffered from the disease, as did her great-grandson, the murdered heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Alexei.

• Listen | Deborah Cadbury shows how Queen Victoria sought to influence the future of Europe through the marriages of her descendants

Queen Victoria survived at least six assassination attempts

During the course of her 63-year-long reign, Victoria came out unscathed from at least six serious attempts on her life, some of which were terrifyingly close calls.

In June 1840, while four months pregnant with her first child, Victoria was shot at while on an evening carriage ride with Prince Albert. For a moment it seemed as though the queen had been hit, but Albert spurred the driver to speed away to safety and the would-be assassin, Edward Oxford, was apprehended.

Oxford – who was later acquitted on grounds of insanity – proved to be the first of many to target the queen while she was driving in her open-top carriage. In 1850, as the carriage slowed down to pass through the gates of Buckingham Palace, retired soldier Robert Pate ran forward and managed to strike the queen sharply on the head with a small cane. Although it transpired that the cane weighed less than three ounces, so could not have done much damage, the incident nonetheless unnerved Victoria. She escaped several more assassination attempts while riding in her carriage in 1842, 1849 and 1872.

Victoria was also infamously targeted by a stalker – a notorious teenager known in the newspapers as ‘The Boy Jones’. Between 1838 and 1841, Edward Jones managed to break into Buckingham Palace several times, hiding under the queen’s sofa, sitting on her throne and reportedly even stealing her underwear, before being caught.

Victoria mourned Prince Albert for 40 years

On 14 December 1861, Victoria’s life was rocked by the death of her beloved husband, Albert. As the prince was aged just 42 and generally enjoyed good health, his death from typhoid was highly unexpected. It came as a huge blow to the queen, who had been intensely reliant on his support, practically and politically as well as emotionally.

• Read more about Prince Albert's death

Following Albert’s death, Victoria retreated from public life , adopting elaborate mourning rituals that rapidly became obsessive. As time went on, the situation began to spiral out of control as it became clear the queen’s period of mourning would last much longer than the two years that convention dictated. Consumed by grief, Victoria fell into a state of depression and began neglecting her royal duties. As she repeatedly refused to take part in public events, her popularity began to deteriorate. The British people began to lose patience with their queen, questioning what the ‘Widow of Windsor’ did to earn her royal income. It was not until the 1870s that Victoria was coaxed back into gradually engaging in public life once more.

Queen Victoria had a set of clothes laid out for Prince Albert each morning, right up until her own death 40 years later in 1901

Despite the decades that passed, Victoria never fully recovered from the loss of Albert. Although she had other intimate relationships – most notably a close friendship with her Scottish servant John Brown – she never remarried. She continued to wear black and sleep beside an image of Albert, and she even had a set of clothes laid out for him each morning, right up until her own death 40 years later in 1901.

Both Queen Victoria's golden and diamond jubilees were celebrated

Years after her damaging retreat from public life following Albert’s death, Victoria was eventually coaxed back into the limelight. Her golden and diamond jubilees of 1887 and 1897 were crucial to restoring her reputation. Designed to be show-stopping crowd-pleasers, these national festivities reinvented the ‘widow of Windsor’ as a source of national (and imperial) pride and celebration. Grand processions and military displays were jam-packed with patriotic pomp, while Victoria’s face was plastered on all manner of commemorative products.

During 1897’s diamond jubilee (marking Victoria’s 60th year on the throne), street parties, parades, fireworks and cricket games took place across the country. Some 300,000 of Britain’s poor were treated to a special jubilee dinner, while in India 19,000 prisoners were pardoned. During a royal procession to St Paul’s Cathedral, Victoria was reportedly so overwhelmed by the cheering crowds that she burst into tears.

Queen Victoria was buried with a lock of John Brown's hair

As she entered her eighties, Victoria was still actively taking on her royal duties. Yet, after six decades on the throne, her health finally began to decline. After being diagnosed with ‘cerebral exhaustion’, Queen Victoria died at the age of 81 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901. The queen had refused to be embalmed, so part of the preparations that followed her death included preparing the coffin to combat the smell and absorb moisture, by scattering coal across its floor. The queen's staff also cut off her hair, dressed her in a white silk dressing gown with garter ribbon and star and placed her wedding veil over her face, before summoning members of the queen's family – the royal dukes, the kaiser and the new king, Edward VII – to lift her body into the coffin.

The family then retired, leaving staff to carry out the queen’s secret instructions that were never to be revealed to her children. The wedding ring of the mother of her personal servant, John Brown, was placed on her finger; a photograph of Brown and a lock of his hair were laid beside her, along with Brown’s pocket handkerchief, all carefully hidden from view.

The queen was buried beside her beloved Prince Albert on 4 February 1901, in the mausoleum the queen had built for her husband at Frogmore , adjoining Windsor Castle.

Queen Victoria was succeeded by Edward VII, her eldest son

Victoria and Albert's first son and second child was named Albert Edward, although he was known as ‘Bertie’. As Prince of Wales, he had a love of society and 'good living' and was known for his hearty appetites, Bertie – who was crowned King Edward VII on 9 August 1902 – defied expectations by proving himself to be a very successful and well-loved monarch.

Think you know everything about Queen Victoria? Put your knowledge to the test in our Queen Victoria quiz !

Ellie Cawthorne is staff writer at BBC History Magazine .

This article was first published by HistoryExtra in 2016

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Victoria summary

Learn about the life of queen victoria.

Victoria , orig. Alexandrina Victoria , (born May 24, 1819, Kensington Palace, London, Eng.—died Jan. 22, 1901, Osborne, near Cowes, Isle of Wight), Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1837–1901) and Empress of India (from 1876). The only child of Edward, duke of Kent, she succeeded her uncle, William IV, in 1837. She was first guided as queen by the Whig prime minister Lord Melbourne and then by her husband, Prince Albert , whom she married in 1840. Devoted to him, she accepted his decisions on all issues in the period sometimes called the “Albertine monarchy.” They had nine children, through whose marriages descended many of the royal families of Europe. From 1861 Victoria deeply mourned Albert’s death and thereafter made royal decisions as she believed he would have advised. She was frequently at odds with Prime Minister William E. Gladstone and welcomed his replacement by Benjamin Disraeli in 1874. Her reign, called the Victorian Age, was marked by a period of British expansion and a restoration of dignity and popularity to the monarchy, as shown by her Jubilees of 1887 and 1897. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history until surpassed by Elizabeth II in 2015.

The life of Queen Victoria: A queen in a man's world

Queen victoria:.

Born: 24 May, 1819, Kensington Palace

Died: 22 January 1901 (aged 81) Osborne House, Isle of Wight

Reign: 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901

Despite monarchy being largely constitutional at the start of Queen Victoria’s ascension, her 63-year reign saw her preside over the abolition of slavery, the expansion of workers’ welfare, the speedy innovation of industrial engineering and the invention of the telephone.

Behind the famous image of the stout old lady in black, Victoria was a passionate romantic woman who was frequently amused.

Woman in a man’s world: The prime ministers loved and detested

Queen Victoria was never meant to rule. She was the fifth in line to the throne and became heir presumptive to her uncle George IV after both her father, Prince Edward and grandfather King George III died within a year of each other.

Brought up in a world of manipulative men, Victoria married a controlling husband, Prince Albert at just 21 years of age. Victoria’s formidable personality saw her undergo a battle of wills with guardians and politicians from the day she became Queen. One of the first men Victoria found herself in conflict with before ascending the throne was her advisor Sir John Conroy, who conspired with the young princess’ mother the Duchess of Kent, to gain influence once Victoria became Queen.

Lord Melbourne (William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne) was Victoria’s first prime minister in 1837 who greatly influenced her, coaching the young Queen in ways of politics and who became a trusted friend. The friendship was formed through Melbourne’s wit, fatherly attitude, and ability to make the young Victoria laugh, a skill she admired in men. It was this quality, Victoria appreciated in her seventh prime minister Benjamin Disrael i, a Conservative politician whose ideological views of expanding the British Empire were popular with both the queen and the public.

Read more about Kings and Queens

The 'Godmother of Europe': Queen Victoria's family ties across the continent

The theatrical statesman treated Victoria as an equal, demonstrating deference as well as a surfeit of charm and an inclination to gossip which the Queen loved. Conscious of Victoria’s diminutive stature Disraeli even had the feet of a dining table chair at his private Buckinghamshire home sawn down by two inches, so that the royal feet wouldn’t be left dangling.

Despite the image of Victoria as an emblem of emotional constraint and propriety, the Queen disliked reserved people. The buttoned-up liberal Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who succeeded Disraeli and served Victoria from 1868 for 12 years over four consecutive terms, was a man she particularly loathed. Victoria saw Gladstone as a threat to the monarchy itself. She wrote in her diary ‘Mr Gladstone is a very dangerous man and so very arrogant, tyrannical and obstinate with no knowledge of the world or human nature’. When Gladstone stayed at Balmoral neither the Queen nor Gladstone could stand the idea of talking to each other and instead corresponded by heated letters despite occupying the same building.

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The German kings and queens of England

Mourning to emancipation.

In 1861 the deaths of Queen Victoria’s estranged mother and husband Prince Albert left her distraught, and she left London to escape into a self-inflicted prison of solitude. Widowed aged 42, she turned her delirium into an extreme form of hero-worshipping, turning Prince Albert, a man she often battled with, into a demigod. Even her grown-up children were dragged into her orbit of morbid mourning, forcing them to visit the room their father died in on every anniversary of his death.

Victoria’s marriage to Albert had infantilised her as she relied on him for everything, whether seeking Albert’s approval for what dress she should wear to daily political decisions. After Albert’s death, Victoria was finally free and able to become her own woman. Her journey to liberation began in her favourite German town of Coburg in Bavaria, a place where her German lineage from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha had its roots and where she felt most at home. The region of Saxe-Coburg was also the birthplace of her husband Albert and her mother Princess Victoria. In Queen Victoria’s journal, she confessed her love for Germany. ‘If I were not who I am my real home would be here’.]

Surprising facts about England's lesser-known kings and queens

Victoria the mediator: germany v prussia.

Before 1871 Germany was not a unified country but a series of small Duchy city-states in need. Victoria was worried that the German regions would be bullied by the northern kingdom of Prussia to become a militaristic nation rather than a peaceful federation.

In the summer of 1863 Queen Victoria, in her first diplomatic role since the death of Albert, attended a gathering of the rulers of both Prussia and Austria. In the same hall where her parents were married, she met the Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph and they drank a toast to the unity of Germany.

As an independent monarch, she negotiated on behalf of England and a peaceful Europe. She acted as an arbiter between two rival kingdoms led by William I of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria and succeeded in carrying out her late husband’s political work on her own to unify Germany. Rather than shutting herself away in a world of funereal indulgence as the English newspapers saw her, Queen Victoria was becoming intimately involved in European politics.

6 scandalous royal heirs and playboy princes

Platonic love affair: john brown.

From being a young woman who was orphaned as a child Victoria had always sought father figures. At 45-years-of-age Victoria’s next ‘devoted soul’ and of whom she wrote in her journal longing to be ‘taken care of’, was in the form of Prince Albert’s Highland manservant, Mr John Brown.

The gruff, bearded, and straight-talking tall Scotsman was brought down from Balmoral to attend Victoria at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight in 1864. Some historians believe that Brown’s company at Osborne, beginning ten years after the death of Prince Albert, kept the depressed Queen sane. The still mourning Victoria found laughter and fun in her life again due to Brown’s company.

The Queen’s love of Scotland contributed to her fondness for the unmarried and kilted Brown, who was the only person allowed to carry and hug her. She loved the down-to-earth humour of Brown, in contrast to the stuffiness and decorous attitudes of her aristocratic brethren and royal aides.

During his 18 years of service to the Queen, Brown became her closest companion and best friend before his unexpected death at Windsor Castle from a bacterial infection in 1883. Queen Victoria wrote to Brown’s sister-in-law ‘He was the best, truest heart that ever beat,’. Later the bereft Victoria wrote in her journal ‘The comfort of my daily life is gone—the void is terrible—the loss is irreparable!’

Read more about British History

Was the British Empire a force for good?

Scandal: queen victoria’s published journals.

Years before the confessionals of modern royals and in particular Lady Diana Spencer, Queen Victoria, a woman known for shying away from the public, decided to share her thoughts in published extracts of her private diaries. ‘Leaves from the journal of our life in the Highlands’ came out in 1868 and was an instant best seller.

The journals sold over 100,000 copies with John Brown depicted as its hero, while Victoria’s children got scant attention. Eldest daughter, Princess Vicki of Prussia felt her mother’s published adoration of John Brown was scandalous. In New York, a scurrilous pamphlet titled ‘John Brown’s Legs’ showed a cartoon of the Queen attending to Brown’s damaged knee.

A potential third journal and biography of John Brown prompted the horrified court and politicians to step in and request Victoria to put down her pen on the grounds that the books were ‘inappropriate’ and likely to suggest that her friendship with Brown could be misconstrued. Victoria’s children, in particular Princess Beatrice, deleted all reference to John Brown in her mother’s memoirs.

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The empress of india.

The exotic title bestowed on Queen Victoria was part of Prime minister Disraeli’s plans for Victoria to become a symbol of British power, both at home and across the world. Disraeli announced that Victoria was the Empress of India on the 1st of January 1877. She was delighted with the new title which made Britain an imperial power and created the impression the country was rich in the eyes of the public.

For eighty years the ‘Empire’ was the pride of Britain’s Conservatives and the envy of many beyond its borders. The title was a publicity coup in India where millions saw Queen Victoria almost as a goddess figure, even though she never visited the country in her entire life.

How different British monarchs celebrated their Jubilees

The golden and silver jubilees.

In 1887 at 68-years-of-age, Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee. Free from her past with her beloved Albert, the Queen’s newfound zest for life and ruling a global population was characterised by her recreating a wing of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight as the Durbar Room, a celebration of Indian architecture and culture.

Victoria was at the height of popularity again as she marked the fiftieth anniversary of her accession with a banquet inviting fifty kings and princes. Nine years later, marking her Diamond Jubilee on 22 June 1897 the public’s affection for Victoria was still as strong. The Jubilee procession followed a route six miles long through London. The 78-year-old Queen paused in front of vast cheering crowds in an open carriage outside St Paul’s to avoid having to climb the steps to the building.

Four years later after a lengthy period of failing health, rheumatism and deteriorating eyesight Queen Victoria, Empress of India died on 22 January 1901 at Osborne House.

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Who Was Queen Victoria? What Was She Famous For?

General Education

Queen Victoria of England is one of the most iconic figures of the British monarchy. Plenty of other kings and queens have captivated attention throughout history, but few have done so with the fervor of Queen Victoria, in part because her reign was one of the longest in British history.

Queen Victoria kept diaries from the age of 13. Because of this, we have detailed records of her thoughts, feelings, and actions throughout her reign in a way that we don’t for many other famous leaders. 

The length of her reign was just one piece of why Victoria is still so famous today. In this article, we’ll cover Queen Victoria facts, including her life story, important events in her reign, the Queen Victoria family tree, and why she remains such a popular figure today.

Queen Victoria’s Biography

Victoria, birth name Alexandrina Victoria, was born May 24, 1819 to Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Germany at Kensington Palace.

Victoria was born fifth in line to succeed the British throne , with her father as well as three uncles, George IV, Frederick Duke of York, and William IV, ahead of her. When her father died in 1820, just a year after she was born, she became fourth in line—and, because her uncles were aging and had no legitimate, living children, it became increasingly likely that she would rule the country one day . When young Victoria was told that she would likely become princess, and perhaps even Queen, she responded by saying, “I will be good.”

King George III, Victoria's grandfather, died in 1820 and her uncle George IV took the throne. Frederick, the Duke of York died in 1827, making William IV heir presumptive, or the next person in line for the throne. When George IV died in 1830, William IV took the throne and the role of heir presumptive passed to Victoria.  

A new Act made it possible for Victoria’s mother to rule as regent—a substitute ruler in case the true ruler is sick, absent, or otherwise unable to rule—but William IV doubted her mother’s ability to rule and wanted to live until Victoria’s 18th birthday so she could be the one to take the throne.

In 1837, one month after Victoria turned 18, William IV died. Victoria was crowned on June 28, 1838, and ruled for a total of 64 years, the longest reign in British history until Queen Elizabeth.

Important Events in Queen Victoria’s History

Victoria’s lengthy reign was marked by a number of important events in English history. Early in her time as Queen of England, she made a number of decisions that made her an unpopular ruler. However, as time went on, her strong personality, leadership, and commitment to her ideals won over the public.

May 1839 - Bedchamber Crisis

Two years after she took the throne, a series of events led to what would be called the Bedchamber Crisis. Early in 1839, one of Queen Victoria’s ladies in waiting, Lady Flora Hastings, began experiencing abdominal pain. After repeated doctor visits, there was no apparent cause, and Hastings' enemies began to spread rumors that she was pregnant with John Conroy’s illegitimate child.

The rumors reached Victoria, who was no fan of Hastings and an especially bitter enemy of Conroy. As the rumor grew, pressure increased on Hastings, and she consented to an invasive examination. The examination revealed that she was not pregnant, but did not cite a cause for her pain and swelling.

Unfortunately, Hastings’ condition worsened. Before her death, she asked that a thorough examination be done, and the results published for the public to see. During her postmortem examination, it was revealed that she had an advanced, cancerous liver tumor .

Victoria’s actions in the case of Lady Hastings were a source of great controversy. Not only had she believed baseless rumors about her lady in waiting, but she’d pushed her toward an invasive medical exam that had failed to detect what was actually wrong with her. The public booed Queen Victoria when she went out on rides, starting her reign off on a poor foot.

Unfortunately, things got worse. Queen Victoria had surrounded herself with Whig supporters. In fact, many Tories believed she was a Whig herself, despite monarchs generally being regarded as non-partisan.

Lord Melbourne, a Whig and Queen Victoria’s longtime friend, was set to resign from his position as prime minister after a series of political defeats. He suggested Robert Peel, a Tory, to take his place. Because the Tories held a minority position in Parliament, Peel hoped that Victoria would make some changes to her household as a mark of confidence in the new party. He suggested replacing some of her Whig ladies in waiting with Tory ladies to signify that she was not showing favoritism toward the Whig party.

Victoria refused to make any changes, and Melbourne, along with many other friends of the queen, suggested that Peel was being unreasonable and pushing too hard. Due to a misunderstanding, they had assumed that Peel wanted Victoria to replace all of her ladies in waiting, effectively stripping her of friends and confidants, rather than just some of them. Peel responded by refusing to form a ministry, as he did not feel that he had adequate support from the queen.

Victoria’s refusal was considered to be unconstitutional, as it seemed that she was throwing her support behind the Whigs even though monarchs were expected to be neutral. Because Peel refused to form a ministry due to her lack of compliance with his wishes, Victoria was said to have denied him his lawful position. In fact, she reinstated Melbourne as prime minister because of Peel’s refusal to form a ministry.

Ultimately, Victoria and Peel were able to settle the disagreement. Victoria accepted a Tory woman into her household , and in 1840, she married Prince Albert, giving her a new companion. In 1841, the Tories won the majority, letting Peel take his position with authority.

June 1840 - Assassination Attempts

Queen Victoria was a frequent target for assassination beginning in 1840. The first person to make an attempt on her life was Edward Oxford, a teenager who fired a gun at her as she was on a carriage ride with Albert. The shot missed, and Oxford was seized by people nearby. To show that the royals were still confident in their people, they continued on their ride, smiling at crowds as they went. Oxford was found to be of “unsound mind,” and was sentenced to Bedlam for 24 years, before being deported to Australia.

John Francis made two attempts on the queen’s life within a day of one another. On May 29, 1842, his pistol failed to fire when he pointed it at Victoria while she was on another carriage ride, and, a day later, he tried again. This time his pistol fired, but he was caught by police and sentenced to be hanged until the queen changed his sentence to lifetime banishment.

In 1850, Robert Pate, a former British Army officer, attacked the queen with a cane. He hit her once before being subdued by the crowd. He was sentenced to seven years in a Tasmanian penal colony.

The final attempt on Queen Victoria’s life came in 1882. Roderick Maclean fired his pistol at the queen as she was leaving Windsor Station , and was tackled and beaten by boys from the nearby Eton school. He was found to be mentally unsound and institutionalized.

May 1857 - Sepoy Mutiny

The East India Company ruled India as a British colony. Throughout the 1800s, they eroded India’s previous ruling structure, replacing it with British control. In 1840, Lord Dalhousie introduced the doctrine of lapse , preventing a Hindu ruler from appointing a successor to their throne if they didn’t have a natural heir.

Combined with the practice of westernization, which replaced Indian customs with British ones, the erosion of India autonomy pushed the people of India toward revolution. In 1857, Indian soldiers in the employ of the East India Company began to fight back, standing up to the British army by attacking their superior officers , refusing to use rifle cartridges for fear they had been contaminated with animal fat that was against the Muslim and Hindu fighters’ religions, and seizing control of Delhi.

Though some have argued that the Indian fighters started the slaughter by killing the British officers who were oppressing them, some 800,000 Indian lives were lost compared to 6,000 British lives .

To end the bloodshed, the East India Company was dismantled, and rule of India was transferred to the British crown. In 1858, Victoria announced that Indian people would be given similar rights to British subjects and condemned violence on both sides.

Benjamin Disraeli was elected to Parliament in 1874 and took great pains to win over Queen Victoria, as they had had a previously tumultuous relationship. Because England had been pushing their expansive empire even further, Victoria wanted a title to reflect that. In response, Disraeli passed the Royal Titles Act, which gave the Queen the additional title of Empress of India in 1877. 

To celebrate her Golden Jubilee 10 years later, Queen Victoria brought on Abdul Karim, an Indian servant to help teach her Urdu and about Indian culture. Karim became a beloved mentor for Victoria, and as a result became an unpopular figure around the Royal Household, who felt that he should be treated as inferior.

June 1887 - Golden Jubilee

Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrated 50 years of her reign on June 20, 1887. The queen dined with 50 foreign kings, princes, princesses, dukes, and duchesses from all around the world. 

A commemorative coin was produced, as well as a bust of the queen’s head, to be spread throughout the empire. During the Jubilee, the queen chose two Indian subjects as waiters, one of whom—Abdul Karim—later became her personal teacher.

June 1897 - Diamond Jubilee

In 1896, Queen Victoria became the longest-reigning monarch in British history, but elected to hold off on celebrations until the following year, the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the throne.

Unlike the previous jubilee, foreign heads of state were excluded from the event. Victoria and her advisors were afraid that Wilhelm II, Victoria’s grandson and German Emperor, would cause trouble at the event due to his erratic personality.

As part of a 17-carriage procession, Queen Victoria rode through many of London’s most famous landmarks and attended a Thanksgiving service at St. Paul’s Cathedral .

Important Events in Queen Victoria’s Personal Life

Many of the Queen Victoria facts that make her so compelling relate to her personal life. Because she was queen for over 60 years, Victoria lived much of her life in the public eye, and, thanks to her diaries, we have a great insight into what her personal thoughts and feelings were.

Biographers and contemporaries of Queen Victoria have also chronicled her life and personality. She was known to be particularly stubborn, which, though it made her a resolute ruler, proved difficult in her early reign with issues like the Bedchamber Crisis. Victoria also had a great desire to be well-liked, but was unwilling to change herself or her opinions to suit public opinion—again, this is best demonstrated early in her rule, where public scorn for her treatment of her Lady Flora Hastings nonetheless did not prompt her to apologize until much later in life.

Queen Victoria was also quite invested in expanding the British empire. Throughout her reign, England advanced its economic and colonial interests around the world, expanding colonies in Canada and Australia after the loss of the American colonies in the previous century. A desire to grow the empire shaped Victoria’s personal life as much as her political life, as she was dedicated to advancing England’s cause.

Queen Victoria’s Childhood

Queen Victoria’s childhood was a difficult one. Her father died just a year after she was born, and her upbringing was left largely to her mother and Sir John Conroy, her mother’s attendant. Together, they devised the “Kensington System,” named after the palace where they lived in London.

The Kensington System was deliberately designed to keep the young Victoria dependent on her mother. Her mother and Conroy were allied against the House of Hanover, which included Victoria’s father’s family, and aimed to keep the potential power of Victoria inheriting the throne amongst themselves.

One of the chief principles of the Kensington System was that Victoria was never allowed to be alone. She was always attended by her mother, governesses, and other authority figures, and prohibited from meeting or playing with other children with the exception of her half sister and Conroy’s own daughter. Victoria was almost never allowed to leave Kensington and grew to resent all those involved in her upbringing.

In fact, though the Kensington System was intended to make Victoria dependent on her mother and her associates, it backfired. When they attempted to bully her into taking on Conroy as her personal secretary, she refused. Following her coronation, Victoria requested one single hour alone—something that she had never experienced up until that point—and that her bed be removed from her mother’s room. She later banished Conroy from her apartments, and, after marrying Prince Albert, she evicted her mother from her palace entirely as there was no longer any societal pressure to have her there.

The Kensington System was also partially to blame for her later conflict with Lady Flora Hastings. Hastings had been one of Victoria’s mother’s ladies in waiting, leading the queen to distrust her.

Queen Victoria’s Coronation

Queen Victoria was crowned on June 28, 1838 . As part of the House of Hanover on her father’s side, she should also have inherited the crown of Hanover in Germany. However, because the Salic Law of Succession prevented a woman from ruling Hanover, the crown instead passed to her uncle, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, who was an unpopular figure. Ernest also served as her heir presumptive until she had her first child.

Over 400,000 people attended Queen Victoria’s coronation. The ceremony lasted five hours and was uniquely chaotic . The Dean of Westminster, who usually administered the ceremony, was ill that day , and was replaced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop, unfamiliar with the ceremony, placed the Coronation Ring onto the incorrect finger, which later took an hour to remove. Victoria was also handed the ceremonial orb at the wrong time, and the Bishop of Bath and Wells missed a page in the Order of Service , leading him to later recall Victoria to repeat the process to make it official.

Queen Victoria’s Wedding

Queen Victoria met and fell in love with her future husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on one of his visits to Britain in 1839. As head of state, she had to propose to him. Victoria also had other unconventional traditions—she wore a white wedding dress and had a tiered wedding cake, two unique features that later caught on with other brides.

Albert, in marriage, became something like Victoria’s “moral tutor.” His presence softened her somewhat, and she reconsidered some of her earlier stances on things like the Bedchamber Crisis. 

Despite being fully in love with one another, Albert and Victoria’s marriage was not without problems. They fought frequently, and Albert was not initially allowed to participate in governing the country. However, within six months he was taking more of a role in running England, in part due to Victoria’s pregnancy with her first child.

The marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also led to more political conflict with the Tories. Only five Tories were extended invites to the wedding, and the party later responded by rejecting the request to assign Albert rank within the government. The queen responded by saying “Monsters! You Tories shall be punished! Revenge! Revenge!”

Queen Victoria’s Family Tree and Children

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had nine children over their marriage, beginning with Victoria, Princess Royal, in 1840. Queen Victoria's other children were Albert Edward (1841), Alice (1843), Alfred (1844), Helena (1846), Louise (1848), Arthur (1850), Leopold (1853) and Beatrice (1857).

Though she had many children, the queen was not fond of being a mother . She despised being pregnant and particularly disliked breastfeeding. Victoria took a stern approach to being a mother, remaining distant from her children, who were primarily raised by Victoria’s own governess, Louise Lehzen.

Victoria also experienced postnatal depression after several of her pregnancies, contributing to her dislike of having children. Her experience after giving birth to Albert Edward was so intense that she experienced hallucinations, and wrote that she was affected for an entire year.

Victoria was also a carrier of hemophilia, which was passed on to 10 of Queen Victoria's children. Her son, Leopold, experienced the disease, and Alice and Beatrice were also carriers. This led to some speculation that Victoria’s father was not actually the Duke of Kent , as her ancestors showed no evidence of carrying the disease, but it’s more likely that her father experienced a spontaneous mutation that caused him to become a carrier, as spontaneous mutations occur more frequently in older men, and he was in his 50s when she was conceived. 

Queen Victoria’s Mourning Period

In 1861, Edward, Albert and Victoria’s oldest son, wanted to get some real military experience by spending time at an army camp in Ireland. While there, he spent three nights with Nellie Clifden, an actress. Prince Albert found out about the tryst and, though he was sick at the time, traveled to Ireland to reprimand his son. The two went for a walk in the rain, and, upon his return to England, Albert’s sickness worsened. He was diagnosed with typhoid on December 9, and died just five days later. 

Today, some have speculated that Albert actually suffered from Crohn's disease or abdominal cancer, as he had chronic stomach pain for two years prior to his death.

Albert’s death devastated Victoria, and she blamed Edward’s indiscretion for the loss of his father, writing that he had been “killed by that dreadful business” and claiming that she could not look at Edward without shuddering.

Victoria entered into a period of mourning that lasted the rest of her life. She wore black and stopped appearing in public for many years, earning the nickname the “widow of Windsor” for her reclusiveness. In fact, not appearing in the public eye began to erode the public’s confidence in her. She was criticized for remaining in seclusion, and was accused of having an affair with one of her servants, John Brown. 

Republicans called for her removal in the early 1870s with a rally in Trafalgar Square. In 1871, Edward contracted typhoid himself, and the queen became worried for his safety. He grew increasingly ill, but eventually recovered, and Victoria’s grand return to the public eye was at a thanksgiving ceremony celebrating her son’s recovery in 1872. This appearance helped renew confidence in her leadership, and republican opposition to her absent rule died down.

Queen Victoria’s Death

After 64 years as Queen of England, Victoria died on January 22, 1901. She was 81 years old, and beginning to experience health problems, including rheumatism and cataracts. According to her writing, she felt ill throughout January, and the condition, which included being dazed and confused, worsened throughout the month. Edward, her successor, and Emperor Wilhelm II, her grandson, were present at her deathbed.

Her funeral was executed in accordance with her wishes. She was given a military funeral to honor her father , a soldier, and wore a white dress with her wedding veil. She was buried with a variety of mementos from her loved ones, including one of Albert’s dressing gowns and a plaster cast of his hand, as well as a lock of hair from John Brown. The hair was concealed from public view with flower, likely because of the allegations that she had carried on an affair with him. 

Lasting Impacts of Queen Victoria’s Reign

There have been plenty of influential monarchs in English history, but Queen Victoria is one of the most famous. Part of that comes from her lengthy reign, the longest until her great-great-grandaughter, the current Queen Elizabeth II. But Victoria also presided over a great many important events of the 1800s, adding to her legacy.

Industrial Expansion

As the British Empire grew, so too did its industry. This was the Industrial Revolution, which shifted population from rural areas to being concentrated in cities. The poor were notoriously oppressed, with horrific sanitation conditions and incredibly high infant mortality— half of all children died before they reached five years old .

Despite the plight of the poor, the industrial revolution brought a new era of wealth to business owners throughout England, fundamentally changing the relationship between the classes. Though Victoria, as a monarch and therefore a member of the aristocracy, was not particularly involved in this revolution, Albert was particularly fond of technological advancement.

One area that Victoria was invested in was train travel. She found the experience far preferable to traditional travel by carriage , even if she had some reservations, and gave her approval. Because the queen favored trail travel, it grew in popularity regardless of class differences throughout England.

Empire and Foreign Relations

Queen Victoria ruled over a rapidly expanding empire. At the end of her reign, almost 25 percent of the world was part of the British Empire, giving rise to the phrase, “the sun never sets on the British empire.” 

Though Victoria herself promoted peace in many 19th-century conflicts, such as the Prussia-Denmark War, the century was far from bloodless. The empire’s relentless expansion led to colonial violence, and Victoria’s reluctance to intervene in the conflict between Bulgaria and Turkey—often referred to as the “Eastern Question” of the declining stability of the Ottoman Empire—indirectly supported the massacre of around 15,000 people .

Victoria believed that England should push the Turkish empire for reforms, but that they should support the existing government rather than those seeking independence from it.

Victoria Cross

Queen Victoria established the Victoria Cross, which originally honored acts of bravery during the Crimean War. Since then, the Cross has become the highest award of the British honors system.

Unlike many previous awards in the system, the Victoria Cross was based on merit rather than rank. Soldiers of any rank could receive the award for their actions during the war regardless of their birth or status within the military, and the Cross marked the first time in British history that officers and men were decorated together.

Some suspected Victoria of secretly supporting Tsar Nicholas I during the Crimean War, despite her government’s strongly anti-Russian stance. However, her involvement in the Crimean War, which included nursing wounded soldiers, helped put that suspicion aside. In fact, Victoria awarded 62 of the medals herself in 1857, showing support for the British army.

Changing Monarchy

Trust in the monarchy had begun to erode somewhat as people questioned whether the Royal Family earned their keep. During Victoria’s reign, the role of the monarch began to shift, as multiple acts and reforms strengthened the electorate at the expense of the queen .

The Second Reform Act of 1867 granted the right to vote to all men who owned houses in the boroughs as well as renters who paid more than £10 per year in rent. It also allowed more people in counties and agricultural landowners and tenants the ability to vote without such steep land requirements. This effectively doubled the voting populace of England, though women were still not granted the right to vote. Victoria personally opposed women’s suffrage, despite being a woman leader.

The Ballot Act of 1872 further strengthened the electoral base. Thanks to this act, ballots in local and regional elections were no longer public knowledge, and voters could not be punished or intimidated into choosing particular candidates.

The Third Reform Act, also known as the Representation of the People Act 1884, extended voting rights like those of the Second Reform Act to rural people as well as those in the boroughs. However, this still represented just 60 percent of men in England, as 40 percent still could not vote, and women were not yet given suffrage.

Social Change

Queen Victoria is remembered as a queen interested in social change, but only under certain circumstances. As previously mentioned, she opposed women’s suffrage despite her own position as a woman leader. And though she supported reformations for the poor, as well as supporting charities for education, hospitals, and poor, her interest was largely focused on England. When the potato famine struck Ireland, efforts from the British government were halfhearted and ultimately ineffective.

Though Victoria donated £2,000 of her own resources as aid, one story suggests that Sultan Abdulmecid intended to donate £10,000 until it was pointed out that this might embarrass the queen. However, Victoria did visit Ireland in 1849, helping ease some of the ill will brewing over the British government’s lackluster response to the crisis.

Though Victoria was patron of some 150 institutions, some of her support of the arts and intellectual communities faded after Albert’s death. But despite this, Victoria’s interest in her people helped restore confidence in the monarchy, even as power shifted away from the king and queen and toward the electorate.

What’s Next?

Trying to bolster your European history knowledge for your AP exam? Check out this guide to the AP European History test !

If you love history, these are the high school history classes you need to be taking.

Queen Victoria's reign was so long and wide-reaching that it left its mark on the history of the world. Learn more with this collection of AP World History notes !

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Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

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10 Facts About Queen Victoria!

Ng kids travels back in time to meet her majesty, queen victoria….

Pop on your history hats as we learn about one of Britain’s most famous historical figures – Queen Victoria !

Here you’ll find our top ten facts about Queen Victoria, who until very recently was the longest-reigning queen in history – beaten only by the late Queen Elizabeth II !

10 facts about Queen Victoria

1) Queen Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 in Kensington Palace in London, England. Her full name was Alexandrina Victoria .

2) Queen Victoria was born to an English father, Edward , Duke of Kent , and a German mother, Princess Maria Louisa Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfald.

3) Victoria became Queen in June 1837 , when she was just 18 years old. Her coronation took place at Westminster Abbey a year later in June 1838, where everyone cheered “Long live the Queen!”

4) Did you know that Queen Victoria was a linguist? She spoke fluent English and German, and studied other languages, too, including French, Italian and Latin. Later in life, she also learnt the Indian language of Hindustani. Impressive, eh?!

5) Queen Victoria’s husband was Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha – her first cousin, who she married in February 1840. The royal couple met four years earlier, a few days before Victoria’s 17th birthday party.

6)  Victoria and Albert had a whopping nine children together – their names were Victoria, Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice.

7)  Albert died in December 1861, when the Queen was 42 years old. The Queen never recovered from his death, and dressed in black as a sign of mourning for the rest of her life.

8)  Ruling for over 60 years, Victoria would become the  longest reigning British Monarch , and Queen of the  biggest empire in history . During her time as Queen, the British Empire included Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and India.

9)  There are lots of famous places and sites around the world named after this famous British Queen, such as the state of  Queensland  in Australia,  Victoria Falls  in Zambia and Zimbabwe, the city of  Victoria  in Canada, and  Victoria Square  in Athens, Greece.

10)  After a long and eventful life, Queen Victoria died in January 1901 , aged 81. She was buried beside her husband Albert at Frogmore Mausoleum near Windsor.

The life of Queen Victoria – in a comic!

Check out more Queen Victoria facts in this comic about her life…

LEAVE A COMMENT

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wow so cool and interesting

This is amazing! It helped me alot with my homework.

the comic is funny and helpfull

These are cool and interesting facts about queen Victoria

the comic was awesome thanks for everything you do you rock

Nice work Victorians is my first topic in year 6 in moorland primary scool.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were very romantic and that comic strip was hilarious!

amazing facts love it!

Very funny!

Simply spectacular

Wow awesome facts

Although this is true, a prince from India or Egypt or anywhere Arabic ruled for 84 years!! That was a long time ago and he first started ruling when he was only a baby!!!

awesome facts about queen Victoria this helped me to do my homework!!!!!

I loved the comic it was so funny but the writing was a bit to small. I zoomed in though.

awesome and interesting

funny comic indeed cool facts as well sooooooooo cool :)

It was cool!!

Cool, amazing I really leant something LOL

GOOD FACTS ABOUT QUEEN VICTORIA

It is sad that Albert died.

This comic could be a little bit bigger but other than that... OMG!!!! So cool

I'll have fun showing off my general knowledge with these cool facts!

These are some really good fact love them my teacher said they are the best facts

Really interesting

hi i like the story

epic so funny

that was the funniest thing i have seen on victorians LOL

i really think this is good because i am having a school assembly in my school so it is very handy because the subject we are doing are victorians and this website helps a lot and as well other one for kids. this website is good because i need to help my teacher some facts about. like queen victoria and other victorians. and this website is good as well because there is more facts than about victorians there is about tudors and the wives of henry viii that means eight (henry th eighth)

victora is not as great as elisabith

This really helped with my homework thank you national geographic

wow brilliant comic make some more but make writing bit bigger THUMBS UP !!!!!!!

it was really helpful for my work

This comic was educating and hilarious total LOL

WOW SHES OLD

Home work help is awsome

These are great facts! I love the comic as well. This is a good help for me as I am learning about Queen Vic

I liked the comment but it was just a bit small to me. Maybe its just because I have glasses and I cant see very well

Good but small writing

This website was so useful for my unfortunate summer homework, thanks so much national geographic ( also i love playing animal jam keep up the good work!)

Epic you should make more of these. :)

Awesome comic

nice comic.

Cool. Though I new all of the facts, awesome display

The comic is really funny! It explained it to me really well and in a amusing way!

Amazing comics please make more?

AMAZING you should create more.

Super duper funny

AWESOME ;) but too small writing :(

how could she have 10 children with her cousin yuck

Awesome Comic!! So funny! the writing could be a little bigger though ...........

WOW. That really helped me with my homework.

The comic was interesting but the font is really small.

Wow. Now I know all about her life - (more or less).

interesting and cool

Very good,funny,and interesting.So... THE QUEEN IS AMUSED!!!

very interesting.

i read the whole comic

You are GREAT Queen Victoria.

Amazing Comic.

Exciting and interesting facts!

5) her first cousin, WHOM she married in February 1840.

Love it! Awesome!

that was a great comic you should make more

the comic could be a bit bigger but other than that awesome!

THUMBS UP!!!!!!!!! sooo cool LOL on the comic!

i loved it, but the writing was a bit small and you got your dates wrong from your comic, but other than that cool, ill save this website.

dude this is sick it really helped me out ;)

I LIKE CHEESE AND MILK

cool comic dud

lol super cool

Great facts and comics I didnt no that she had nine children

It was very good

very good but it is small writing :)

Pretty cool facts!

Cool awesome comic guys

Not good. A bit boring.

AWESOME. TOO COOL !

That is very interesting:- :-) :-)

LOL! It is so funny!!!!

thanks realy helped me with my homework ! ;-)

helped me with homwork, thanks :-)

this help me with my homework!!!!!!thanks!!!!!!!!

This is rather bad quality it helps me with work but I could not read the comic so please make it so we can read it and I will enjoy it more thank you

I loved the comic I love history I got an A!!!!!!!!!!!

boooorrrrriiiinnnnggg

You can hardly read the stupid thing

Ha! You know that she was so small that she had to sit on a stool at the dinner table (I found that out at her holiday home in the Isle Of Wight).

Really...some good information!!! The comic made it look more good!!!!

helped my report.... THANKS!!!!! :)

Helped my homework.

great thanks its really good to know

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More like monarchy.

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16 Fascinating Facts You Didn't Know About Queen Victoria

The British monarch survived a number of assassination attempts over the course of her life.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

1. Her first name wasn't Victoria.

Born in Kensington Palace on May 24, 1819, Queen Victoria was originally named Alexandrina Victoria, after her godfather, Tsar Alexander I , but always preferred to go by her second name, or the nickname 'Drina. At birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession for the British crown, behind the four eldest sons of George III, including her three uncles and her father, Edward.

2. She was (quite literally) born to be Queen.

Despite her grandparents, King George III and Queen Charlotte having 15 children, before Victoria was born there was only one legitimate heir to the throne in her generation—King George IV's daughter Princess Charlotte. However Charlotte tragically died in childbirth before producing an heir, leading her uncles, including Victoria's father, Edward, on a feverish quest to marry and produce a legitimate heir. Edward swiftly married the widowed German princess Victoria (sometimes written as Victoire) of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and together they had Victoria a year later in 1819.

3. She was the first member of the Royal family to live at Buckingham Palace.

Shortly after her accession to the throne, Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace, which was previously owned by her late uncle King William IV. This made Queen Victoria the first reigning monarch to take up residence at Buckingham , though her move did not come without its struggles. As the royal family's website puts it , "Her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840 soon showed up the Palace's shortcomings."

The Palace was in need of extreme renovations if it was going to be a family home as Queen Victoria intended it to be. Victoria put in the work, adding an entirely new wing, and years later, Buckingham continues to serve as a place of royal business and the London residence of Queen Elizabeth.

4. She was barely five feet tall.

The famously petite monarch was four inches shorter than Queen Elizabeth II.

5. She became Queen when she was 18.

At 6 a.m. on June 20, 1837 , Victoria was woken from her bed at and informed that her uncle, King William IV, had suffered a heart attack and died during the night. Less than a month after turning 18, Victoria was Queen.

6. Growing up, she was under constant supervision.

Less than a year after Queen Victoria's birth, her father, Edward, Duke of Kent (the fourth son of George III) died of pneumonia, leaving the young princess to be raised by her mother. Following his death, Victoria's mother, Duchess Victoria, was prepared to rule alongside her daughter if Victoria's uncle died and she ascended to the throne before she was officially of age. For this reason, Victoria's mother used a strict code of discipline to shape the Queen-to-be. Later known as the "Kensington System," it involved a strict timetable of lessons to improve Victoria's morality and intellect.

This meant she rarely got to interact with children her own age because of the demands on her time. Princess Victoria was under constant adult supervision and was also made to share a bedroom with her mother until she became Queen.

Her first act upon learning she had become Queen was to demand an hour alone.

7. She was multilingual.

The young queen was an adept linguist, fluent in both English and German. Her mother and governess both had German roots, so Victoria grew up speaking the language and later used it frequently when speaking to her German husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Queen also studied French, Italian, and Latin.

Toward the end of her reign, when servants from India arrived at Windsor Castle in 1877, her attendant, Abdul Karim , taught the Queen many Hindu and Urdu phrases to better communicate with her servants. "I am learning a few words of Hindustani to speak to my servants," she wrote in her diary, according to a book about the period, Victoria & Abdul . "It is a great interest to me for both the language and the people, I have naturally never come into real contact with before."

8. She survived at multiple assassination attempts.

During her reign, several attempts were made at Queen Victoria's life , all of them unsuccessful. The first notable attempt was made in 1840, when 18-year-old Edward Oxford fired at the Queen’s carriage in London. Oxford was accused of high treason for his crime and was ultimately found not guilty for reasons of insanity, according to the History channel's website . Two men tried to shoot her in 1842, and in 1849, her carriage was attacked by William Hamilton, an unemployed Irish immigrant who later pled guilty to the crime and was banished for seven years, History reports. One year later, Robert Pate, a former soldier, used an iron-tipped cane to hit the Queen in the head, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

The final notable attempt took place in March of 1882, when a Scottish poet named Roderick Maclean shot at Queen Victoria's carriage with a pistol while leaving the Windsor train station. According to Time , this was Maclean's eighth attempt at assassinating the Queen. Maclean was tried for high treason and was found "not guilty, but insane," so Maclean was sentenced to live out his days in an asylum until his death in 1921, the Guardian reports. Despite the chaos and fear that followed the many assassination attempts, Queen Victoria became more and more popular with the public after each attempt.

9. She proposed to her husband.

In the lead up to her 17th birthday party, then-Princess Victoria met her first cousin , Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Four years later, Victoria, now the monarch, proposed to Prince Albert on October 15, 1839 and they were married on February 10, 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St. James's Palace in London .

Victoria was deeply in love with Albert and, once they were married, she claimed to be truly happy for the first time in her life. After their wedding night, Queen Victoria wrote in her diary, "I never, never spent such an evening!! My dearest dearest dear Albert ... his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before!"

10. She began more than one popular wedding trend.

At the time of her wedding , it was common for wedding dresses to come in a variety of colors. Queen Victoria, however, wished to show off the lace embroidery of her dress and requested it in white. She also asked that none of her guests wear white so as not to draw attention away from her, and she even had the pattern for her dress destroyed so that it could not be copied, according to Vogue . Queen Victoria accessorized the dress—complete with an 18-foot train—with white satin shoes, Turkish diamond earrings, and a sapphire brooch that belonged to Prince Albert. Over her veil, the queen wore a wreath of myrtle and orange blossoms .

11. And a popular Christmas one as well.

You can thank Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert for your Christmas tree. They popularized the custom in 1848 when Albert sent decorated trees to schools and army barracks around Windsor . An image of the royal family decorating a tree was also published that year, inspiring other British families to do the same.

Victoria and Albert were very hands-on in the process. "Queen Victoria and Prince Albert brought the tree into Windsor Castle on Christmas Eve and they would decorate it themselves," Royal Collection curator Kathryn Jones explained to the BBC . "They would light the candles and put gingerbread on the tree and the children would be brought in."

12. She and her husband had nine children.

Over the course of her life, Queen Victoria was mother to nine children with Prince Albert (though she, famously, wasn't the biggest fan of babies.) Her sons and daughters would later go on to marry into several other European monarchies, and would go on to produce the Queen's 42 grandchildren. Her descendants still rule over several countries in Europe .

13. She became the first known carrier of hemophilia, known as the "Royal disease."

Queen Victoria was the first in her family to carry hemophilia B, a blood clotting disorder, but the Queen herself was not a hemophiliac. Because of Victoria's vast lineage, the disorder was passed on to the members of royal and noble families across Europe . A 2009 study in Science Magazine even linked the hemophilia mutation to members of the Russian royal family, the Romanovs.

The disease claimed several of her descendants: Queen Victoria's son Leopold, the Duke of Albany, died at age 30 after he slipped and fell, and two of Queen Victoria's grandsons— Friedrich and Leopold—also bled to death due to the affliction. It is believed that the last royal carrier of the disease was Prince Waldemar of Prussia, who died in 1945, Science Magazine reports.

14. She was the first monarch to ride a train.

The Victorian era was a time of rapid technological advancement and industrialization. Electricity started to become more common and photography became a popular medium, and rail systems spread across Britain. In 1842, Victoria became the first monarch to ride a train, according to PBS . The ride from Slough, near Windsor Castle, to Paddington in West London took about 30 minutes to complete. The 23-year-old Queen found the ride delightful and said the “motion was very slight, and much easier than a carriage—also no dust or great heat,” according to People .

15. She is the second-longest reigning British monarch.

Not long ago, Queen Victoria held the title of longest reigning British monarch, with a total reign of 63 years and seven months. In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II broke Queen Victoria's record and continues to hold it today.

16. Her name lives on all over the world.

As the Queen of England during Britain's imperial height, Queen Victoria inspired the title of everything from lakes and mountains to cities across what was then the empire. From the 33 Victoria Roads in the United Kingdom to Victoria Park in Bhavnagar, India and two Mount Victorias in New Zealand, her name lives on all over the world.

Our Favorite Books About Queen Victoria

Victoria: The Queen by Julia Baird

Victoria: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin

We Two by Gillian Gill

Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen by Helen Rappaport

Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams

Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting by Carolyn Harris

Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days That Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley

Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

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The 10 Best Documentaries About Queen Victoria

Sep 26, 2023 | Best Of , Celebrities , History , Political

Queen Victoria’s reign is remembered as a time of grandeur and splendor, but films have also sought to capture the complexities and richness of her life. Whether you’re an avid historian or simply curious about one of Britain’s most iconic monarchs, there are several captivating documentaries exploring different aspects of Queen Victoria’s life. From her personal relationships to her political legacy, these documentaries provide an insightful look into the life and times of Queen Victoria. Here are some of the best documentaries about Queen Victoria that you can watch today. Immerse yourself in her story with fascinating facts and compelling interviews – it’s a journey through history like no other.

1. Queen Victoria & the Victorian Era Documentary

The Victorian era of British history was one of the most fascinating periods in our island’s story. It began with the coronation of Queen Victoria and saw a period of great change, both socially and politically. This is when Britain rose to become one of the greatest empires the world has ever known. This remarkable era is explored in depth by some brilliant documentaries. From exploring the Queen’s personal life, to examining the impact of her reign on British culture, these documentaries capture all aspects of the Victorian era. One standout documentary is ‘Victoria: A Royal Love Story’.

2. The Secrets Of Queen Victoria’s Life In Her Own Words | A Monarch Unveiled

Discover the captivating secrets of Queen Victoria’s life in her own words – the story of a woman who became one of Britain’s most powerful and long-standing monarchs. Join biographer A.N Wilson as he dives deep into the private writings of his subject to uncover an intimate look at her life and reign. Through heartfelt letters and personal journals, Anna Chancellor brings Victoria’s words to life in this psychological portrait of a monarch. Discover the personal side of one of Britain’s oldest and most influential rulers, as you journey into her captivating world.

3. What Was Queen Victoria Like Behind Closed Doors? | Victoria’s Secrets

As a young woman, Queen Victoria was no stranger to contradictions. She inherited the throne of Great Britain at 18 and presided over the country for 63 years, giving her name to an entire era – yet she led a life of secrets and complex emotions. Now we can uncover Victoria’s Secrets and gain insight into her remarkable life with this captivating documentary. We’ll take a close look at what made the Queen tick, uncovering her unique personality and exploring how she balanced her feelings of strength and vulnerability. It’s an eye-opening journey into the past that will provide fascinating insight into one of history’s most influential monarchs.

4. Queen Victoria’s Private Life Described In Her Own Words | A Monarch Unveiled

Discover the life and times of one of history’s most renowned monarchs, Queen Victoria. See Queen Victoria in her own words with Real Royalty’s newest documentary–A Monarch Unveiled. This full-length feature delves into the intimate details of private life that shaped this remarkable woman. From her infamous morning walks to her love letters, this documentary offers an unprecedented look into the life of one of history’s most beloved queens. Audiences will see Queen Victoria in her own words and learn more about her upbringing, marriage to Prince Albert, relationships with political leaders, and even how she dealt with personal tragedy.

5. Queen Victoria In Her Own Words – From Grief To Glory

Queen Victoria: The Drama of a Monarch – From Grief to GloryThis British documentary provides an in-depth look at the life and legacy of Queen Victoria. Through interviews with key figures, as well as archival footage and photographs, audiences can get a unique glimpse into her world. Featuring insightful narration from Professor Kate Williams, this captivating film is sure to give viewers an intimate look at the life and times of one of the most beloved monarchs in British history. From her early days as a young princess, through her tumultuous marriage with Prince Albert, to her long reign as Queen, Queen Victoria’s story is sure to be a riveting watch.

6. Queen Victoria – In Her Golden Reign – From Grief To Glory – British Royal Documentary

This documentary from Britain’s royal family offers an insightful look into the life of Queen Victoria. From her initial period of grief over the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert, to her later years filled with glory and importance as monarch, this film will explore every aspect of her remarkable life. See how she maintained a strong relationship with the British people, while bringing imperial power and influence to the Commonwealth. In her reign, Queen Victoria experienced moments of both tragedy and triumph, while leaving a lasting legacy on British history. From her widely popular Royal Courtship Tour to the abolition of slavery in India, explore how she shaped the country and changed the world.

7. Queen Victoria – The Death Of Prince Albert – From Grief To Glory – British Royal Documentary

This captivating documentary follows the story of Queen Victoria’s life and reign as seen through her powerful love for Prince Albert. Queen Victoria was likely one of the most influential British monarchs in history and her love for Albert allowed her to find strength in even the darkest moments. We will explore how his death changed her life, as well as how she was able to rise above her grief and lead Britain into a period of growth and prosperity. We will also trace the legacy of Queen Victoria throughout British history, examining how she has remained an iconic figure centuries later.

8. BBC Lucy Worsley : Encounters with Queen Victoria – Omnibus

BBC Lucy Worsley: An Intimate Exploration of Queen Victoria Discover the remarkable life and reign of one of Britain’s greatest monarchs. Join BBC presenter and historian Dr. Lucy Worsley as she embarks on an intimate journey into the world of Queen Victoria. Through archival footage, interviews with scholars, and expert analysis, viewers will gain a deeper understanding of Queen Victoria’s life, her personal relationships, and the legacy she left behind. Uncover the details of Queen Victoria’s royal court and explore her complex relationship with the people of Britain as well as her beloved husband, Prince Albert.

9. The Final Years Of Queen Victoria’s Reign | A Monarch Unveiled

A.N. Wilson delves into the captivating personal life of Queen Victoria, uncovering rare insights about Britain’s longest reigning monarch from her journals and letters in this insightful documentary. As her reign comes to its final years, audiences get to uncover a side of the queen that has been long kept hidden – a more intimate portrait of one of history’s most iconic figures is finally unveiled. From the private moments to her political legacy, The Final Years Of Queen Victoria’s Reign: A Monarch Unveiled truly presents a captivating look at one of the most influential women in history.

10. The Censored Diaries Of Queen Victoria | Queen Victoria’s Letters Full Series

Do you yearn to explore the fascinating life of Queen Victoria? Dive into her tumultuous world and gain a new perspective on one of history’s greatest monarchs. With our series, The Censored Diaries of Queen Victoria and Queen Victoria’s Letters Full Series, we bring you an insightful look at the personal life of this regal figure. Follow along as we detail her day-to-day matters, her innermost thoughts, and various key events throughout her reign. It’s a captivating experience you won’t want to miss! Whether you’re a history buff or simply curious about Victoria’s life, our series is sure to provide an enjoyable journey through the past. So grab your popcorn and get ready for some royal entertainment!

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Queen Victoria

• Occupation: Queen of the United Kingdom
• Born: May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace, London
• Died: January 22, 1901 at Osborne House, Isle of Wight
• Reign: June 20, 1837 to January 22, 1901
• Nicknames: The Grandmother of Europe, Mrs. Brown
• Best known for: Ruling the United Kingdom for 63 years
• She was named after her mother as well Alexander I, the Emperor of Russia.
• Victoria's favorite pet growing up was her dog, a King Charles spaniel named Dash.
• Prince Edward Island in Canada was named after Victoria's father.
• She went by the nickname "Drina" while growing up.
• Victoria was told she would someday be queen when she was thirteen years old. She remarked "I will be good."
• In 1887, the United Kingdom celebrated the 50th anniversary of her reign with a big party called the Golden Jubilee. They celebrated again in 1897 with the Diamond Jubilee.
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

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