Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) is the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death.
From 1 May 1876, she uses the additional title of Empress of India.
Victoria wis the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III.
Both the Duke of Kent and the King die in 1820, and Victoria is raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
She inherits the throne at the age of 18, after her father's three elder brothers have all died without surviving legitimate issue.
The United Kingdom is already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the Sovereign holds relatively few direct political powers.
Privately, she attempts to influence government policy and ministerial appointments.
Publicly, she becomes a national icon, and is identified with strict standards of personal morality.
She marries her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840.
Their nine children marry into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe".
After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunges into deep mourning and avoids public appearances.
As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gains strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovers.
Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees are times of public celebration.
Her reign of 63 years and 7 months, which is longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history, is known as the Victorian era.
It is a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.
She is the last British monarch of the House of Hanover; her son and successor Edward VII belong to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father.
