Historical Figure
Queen Victoria
d. 1901
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901
Talk to Queen Victoria
Have a conversation with this historical figure through AI
Biography
Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than those of any of her predecessors, constituted the Victorian era, a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.
In Their Own Words (5)
It is worth being shot at to see how much one is loved.
After being shot at by Roderick Maclean on 2 March 1882, as quoted in Stanley Weintraub, Victoria. Biography of a queen (1987), p. 450. , 1987
Affairs go on, and all will take some shape or other, but it keeps one in hot water all the time.
Letter to King of the Belgians, Nuneham, 15th June, 1841 (Note: Nuneham was the house of Edward Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York). , 1841
All marriage is such a lottery -- the happiness is always an exchange -- though it may be a very happy one -- still the poor woman is bodily and morally the husband's slave. That always sticks in my throat. When I think of a merry, happy, and free young girl -- and look at the ailing aching state a young wife is generally doomed to -- which you can't deny is the penalty of marriage.
Letter (16 May 1860), published in Dearest Child: Letters Between Queen Victoria and the Princess Royal Previously Unpublished edited by Roger Fulfold (1964), p. 254. Also quoted in the article "Queen Victoria's Not So Victorian Writings" by Heather Palmer (1997). , 1964
My dearest Uncle,- I have the greatest pleasure in announcing to you a piece of news which I know will give you as much satisfaction and relief as it does to us, and will do to the whole of the world. Lord Palmerston is no longer Foreign Secretary—and Lord Granville has already named his successor!
Early Belgian colonial Efforts: The long and fateful shadow of Leopold I, Page 67 Victoria to Leopold, 23 December, 1851, in Benson, 2:345. , 1851
We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.
December 1899 letter to Arthur Balfour during the "Black Week" of the Boer War, as quoted in The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations (1993), p. 539. , 1993
Timeline
The story of Queen Victoria, told in moments.
Born at Kensington Palace, London. Her father, the Duke of Kent, is the fourth son of George III. He dies before her first birthday. She's raised under the strict "Kensington System" by her mother and comptroller John Conroy, who control every aspect of her life. She grows to hate them both.
Inherits the throne at 18 after her father's three elder brothers all die without surviving legitimate heirs. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain arrive at Kensington Palace at 6 a.m. to tell her. She holds her first Privy Council meeting that same day. Alone.
Marries her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She proposes to him, not the other way around. Protocol required it since she outranked him. They have nine children in 17 years. She dislikes pregnancy but loves Albert fiercely.
Albert dies of typhoid fever at Windsor Castle. He is 42. Victoria wears black for the remaining 40 years of her life. She retreats from public view so completely that republicans begin calling for her removal. His rooms are kept exactly as he left them. Servants lay out his clothes each morning.
Parliament votes to grant her the title Empress of India. She never visits. Her nine children marry into royal houses across the continent. Her grandchildren sit on the thrones of Germany, Russia, Spain, Norway, Romania, and Greece. They call her the Grandmother of Europe.
Dies at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight at 81. Her reign has lasted 63 years and 216 days. Longer than any British monarch before her. The era that bears her name has reshaped the world through industry, empire, science, and the strict personal morality she embodied. Her grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II is at her bedside.
Artifacts (7)
The Letters of Queen Victoria: A Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence Between the Years ...
PREFACE Entrusted by His Majesty the King with the duty of making a selection from Queen Victoria's correspondence, we think it well to describe briefly the nature of the documents which we have been...
More from the Early 20th Century
Explore what happened on the days that shaped Queen Victoria's life. Today In History connects historical figures with the events, births, and deaths that defined their era. Browse all historical figures or explore today's events.