Victoria was
born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. She was the only daughter of
Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. Her father died shortly after
her birth and she became heir to the throne because the three uncles who were
ahead of her in succession - George IV, Frederick Duke of York, and William IV
- had no legitimate children who survived.
Queen
Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial expansion,
economic progress and, especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain
had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set.
In the early
part of her reign, she was influenced by two men: her first Prime Minister,
Lord Melbourne, and her husband, Prince Albert, whom she married in 1840. Both
men taught her much about how to be a ruler in a 'constitutional monarchy'
where the monarch had very few powers but could use much influence.
Albert took
an active interest in the arts, science, trade and industry; the project for
which he is best remembered was the Great Exhibition of 1851, the profits from
which helped to establish the South Kensington museums complex in London.
Her marriage
to Prince Albert brought nine children between 1840 and 1857. Most of her
children married into other Royal families of Europe.
Edward VII
(born 1841), married Alexandra, daughter of Christian IX of Denmark. Alfred, Duke
of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1844) married Marie of Russia.
Arthur, Duke of Connaught (born 1850) married Louise Margaret of Prussia.
Leopold, Duke of Albany (born 1853) married Helen of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
Victoria, Princess
Royal (born 1840) married Friedrich III, German Emperor. Alice (born 1843)
married Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Helena (born 1846) married
Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Louise (born 1848) married John Campbell, 9th
Duke of Argyll. Beatrice (born 1857) married Henry of Battenberg.
Victoria
bought Osborne House (later presented to the nation by Edward VII) on the Isle
of Wight as a family home in 1845, and Albert bought Balmoral in 1852.
Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she sank into depression after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black.
Victoria was deeply attached to her husband and she sank into depression after he died, aged 42, in 1861. She had lost a devoted husband and her principal trusted adviser in affairs of state. For the rest of her reign she wore black.
Until the
late 1860s she rarely appeared in public; although she never neglected her
official Correspondence, and continued to give audiences to her ministers and
official visitors, she was reluctant to resume a full public life.
She was
persuaded to open Parliament in person in 1866 and 1867, but she was widely
criticised for living in seclusion and quite a strong republican movement
developed.
Seven
attempts were made on Victoria's life, between 1840 and 1882 - her courageous
attitude towards these attacks greatly strengthened her popularity.
With time,
the private urgings of her family and the flattering attention of Benjamin
Disraeli, Prime Minister in 1868 and from 1874 to 1880, the Queen gradually
resumed her public duties.
In foreign
policy, the Queen's influence during the middle years of her reign was
generally used to support peace and reconciliation. In 1864, Victoria pressed
her ministers not to intervene in the Prussia-Austria-Denmark war, and her
letter to the German Emperor (whose son had married her daughter) in 1875
helped to avert a second Franco-German war.
On the
Eastern Question in the 1870s - the issue of Britain's policy towards the
declining Turkish Empire in Europe - Victoria (unlike Gladstone) believed that
Britain, while pressing for necessary reforms, ought to uphold Turkish hegemony
as a bulwark of stability against Russia, and maintain bi-partisanship at a
time when Britain could be involved in war.
Victoria's
popularity grew with the increasing imperial sentiment from the 1870s onwards.
After the Indian Mutiny of 1857, the government of India was transferred from
the East India Company to the Crown with the position of Governor General
upgraded to Viceroy, and in 1877 Victoria became Empress of India under the
Royal Titles Act passed by Disraeli's government.
During Victoria's long reign, direct political power moved away from the sovereign. A series of Acts broadened the social and economic base of the electorate.
During Victoria's long reign, direct political power moved away from the sovereign. A series of Acts broadened the social and economic base of the electorate.
These acts
included the Second Reform Act of 1867; the introduction of the secret ballot
in 1872, which made it impossible to pressurise voters by bribery or
intimidation; and the Representation of the Peoples Act of 1884 - all
householders and lodgers in accommodation worth at least £10 a year, and
occupiers of land worth £10 a year, were entitled to vote.
Despite this
decline in the Sovereign's power, Victoria showed that a monarch who had a high
level of prestige and who was prepared to master the details of political life
could exert an important influence.
This was
demonstrated by her mediation between the Commons and the Lords, during the
acrimonious passing of the Irish Church Disestablishment Act of 1869 and the
1884 Reform Act.
It was
during Victoria's reign that the modern idea of the constitutional monarch,
whose role was to remain above political parties, began to evolve. But Victoria
herself was not always non-partisan and she took the opportunity to give her
opinions, sometimes very forcefully, in private.
After the
Second Reform Act of 1867, and the growth of the two-party (Liberal and
Conservative) system, the Queen's room for manoeuvre decreased. Her freedom to
choose which individual should occupy the premiership was increasingly
restricted.
In 1880, she
tried, unsuccessfully, to stop William Gladstone - whom she disliked as much as
she admired Disraeli and whose policies she distrusted - from becoming Prime
Minister. She much preferred the Marquess of Hartington, another statesman from
the Liberal party which had just won the general election. She did not get her
way.
She was a
very strong supporter of Empire, which brought her closer both to Disraeli and
to the Marquess of Salisbury, her last Prime Minister.
Although
conservative in some respects - like many at the time she opposed giving women
the vote - on social issues, she tended to favour measures to improve the lot
of the poor, such as the Royal Commission on housing. She also supported many
charities involved in education, hospitals and other areas.
Victoria and
her family travelled and were seen on an unprecedented scale, thanks to transport
improvements and other technical changes such as the spread of newspapers and
the invention of photography. Victoria was the first reigning monarch to use
trains - she made her first train journey in 1842.
In her later years, she almost became the symbol of the British Empire. Both the Golden (1887) and the Diamond (1897) Jubilees, held to celebrate the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the queen's accession, were marked with great displays and public ceremonies. On both occasions, Colonial Conferences attended by the Prime Ministers of the self-governing colonies were held.
In her later years, she almost became the symbol of the British Empire. Both the Golden (1887) and the Diamond (1897) Jubilees, held to celebrate the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the queen's accession, were marked with great displays and public ceremonies. On both occasions, Colonial Conferences attended by the Prime Ministers of the self-governing colonies were held.
Despite her
advanced age, Victoria continued her duties to the end - including an official
visit to Dublin in 1900. The Boer War in South Africa overshadowed the end of
her reign. As in the Crimean War nearly half a century earlier, Victoria
reviewed her troops and visited hospitals; she remained undaunted by British
reverses during the campaign: 'We are not interested in the possibilities of
defeat; they do not exist.'
Victoria
died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, on 22 January 1901 after a reign
which lasted almost 64 years, the longest in British history.
She was
buried at Windsor beside Prince Albert, in the Frogmore Royal Mausoleum, which
she had built for their final resting place. Above the Mausoleum door are
inscribed Victoria's words: 'farewell best beloved, here at last I shall rest
with thee, with thee in Christ I shall rise again'.
Source http://www.royal.gov.uk
The Statue
of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World is a 
