Victoria (1840-1901)

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 January 1877, until her death in 1901. more...

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Her reign lasted more than sixty-three years, longer than that of any other British monarch. Victoria's reign was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. The Victorian Era was at the height of the Industrial Revolution, a period of significant social, economic, and technological change in the United Kingdom. In that period the British Empire reached its zenith and became the formidable global power of the time.

Victoria, who was almost entirely of German descent (except from her ancestor Sophia of Hanover, who was a female-line granddaughter of James I), was the last monarch of the House of Hanover; her son King Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Early life

Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn, was the fourth son of King George III and Queen Charlotte. Her mother was Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. George III's eldest son, the Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), had only one child, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales. When she died in 1817, the remaining unmarried sons of King George III scrambled to marry and father children to guarantee the line of succession.

At the age of fifty the Duke of Kent and Strathearn married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the sister of Princess Charlotte's widower Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and widow of Karl, Prince of Leiningen. Victoria, the only child of the couple, was born in Kensington Palace, London on 24 May 1819. She was christened in the Cupola Room of Kensington Palace on 24 June 1819 by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Charles Manners-Sutton), and her godparents were the Prince Regent, the Emperor Alexander I of Russia (in whose honour she received her first name), Queen Charlotte of Württemberg and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Although christened Alexandrina Victoria, from birth she was formally styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent. She was called Drina within the family. Princess Victoria's father died of pneumonia eight months after she was born. Her grandfather, George III, died six days later. Princess Victoria's uncle, the Prince of Wales, inherited the Crown, becoming King George IV.

Though she occupied a high position in the line of succession, Victoria was taught only German, the first language of both her mother and her governess, during her early years. After reaching the age of three, however, she was schooled in English. She eventually learned to speak Italian, Greek, Latin, and French. Her educator was the Reverend George Davys and her governess was Louise Lehzen.

When Princess Victoria of Kent was eleven years old, King George IV died childless, leaving the throne to his brother, the Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, who became King William IV. Although he was the father of ten illegitimate children by his mistress, the actress Dorothy Jordan, the new king had no living legitimate children. Hence the young Princess Victoria became heiress presumptive. Since the law at that time made no special provision for a child monarch, Victoria would have been no less eligible to reign than an adult would. In order to prevent such a scenario, Parliament passed the Regency Act 1830, under which it was provided that Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, would act as Regent during the queen's minority. Ignoring precedent, Parliament did not create a council to limit the powers of the Regent.

Read more at Wikipedia.org